Its WORLD WASP DAY!

Wroughtonia spinator (Lepeletier & Serville, 1827) first record for Shropshire. A rarely recorded species in the U.K. Parasitoids of cerambycid beetles

Volume 8 (1) of @integsyst.bsky.social was published on 30 June 2025. It includes the descriptions of 7 new genera and 31 new species of insects. The articles are Open Access and available for download at @bioone.bsky.social: tinyurl.com/yeytj2bh

Male description, bionomics, and phylogenetic placement of Phytodietus (Weisia) clavotibialis Shimizu & Konishi (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae: Tryphoninae: Phytodietini), with insights into the subgeneric systematics of the genus Phytodietus Gravenhors https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40531409/

New publication! Review of Tetramopria (Diapriidae) of E Palaearctic - mating behaviour and interactions with host ants. with Ryoji Kawai and Seonwoo Yoon. Free download: www.researchgate.net/publication/...

Smicroplectrus perkinsorum a darwinwasp, collected in Stavanger, Norway

Happy to announce that my paper describing Anisobas irwini and recording two host records for Anisobas coloradensis is finally out! The species name honors the prodigious collector Mike Irwin who collected the holotype. centerforsystematicentomology.org/insecta_mund... #Ichneumonidae #parasioid

🚨 The #EMM's 2nd issue of 2025 is now out! 🚨 We have species new to science (living and in amber); new to Britain; entomological history; and, lengthy taxonomic revisions 👇 More highlights to follow! We're also thrilled welcome Dr Adrian Spalding to the Editorial Board 👏

New Plagiotrypes species from Arizona I'm working on describing. The genus is otherwise known from eastern NA and the wet neotropics, so it was surprising to discover this one from an arid mountain in southern Arizona.

Lathrolestes verticalis (Brischke, 1871) a male, I have seen only one previous specimen record from England, collected in 1941. It has also been found in Scotland and Ireland, but not yet recorded from Wales as far as I know #Ichneumonidae

Diphyus latebricola #parasitoid #newtobritain. Grateful to @entmonmag.bsky.social for all their support in bringing this to publication. tinyurl.com/5c5xvh9b

Diphyus latebricola www.researchgate.net/publication/... #Ichneumonidae #parasitoid #newtobritain

DONE. I may have to do little adjustments and fixes here and there, but overall I'm happy with how this turned out in the end. 🥳 48 different wasps from around the world! #Wasps #Hymenoptera #Apocrita #Aculeata #Parasitica #TraditionalArt #Illustration

The BEES were good again this week, here are my top two... Scarcely distinguishable gorgeous ginger B. muscorum and B. laesus from Kyrgyzstan collected by Denis Michez, Villu Soon, Simone Flaminio, & Paolo Rosa (credit to @weratedogs.com)

Read my paper to find out the etymology of the names of my wasps! I think they're fun but then again I'm rather biased bdj.pensoft.net/article/1229...

All of this year’s Christmas presents solved as it’s due out in November… @pelagic.bsky.social @georgemcgavin.bsky.social pelagicpublishing.com/products/the...

#Bioblitz2025 ⚡️ Do | 27.03. | 17 Uhr | Schloss Rosenstein Mini-BioBlitz-Exkursion im Rosensteinpark Dr. Holger Thüs nimmt euch mit zu den geheimnisvollsten Bewohnern des Parks: Pilze, Algen, Flechten & Moose. Infos zu #LifeImPark unter: www.naturkundemuseum-bw.de/besuch/veran... 📷H. Thüs

Thanks to the always brilliant @gavinbroad.bsky.social for an amazing Ctenopelmatinae workshop with the Tanyptera Tust.

Euryproctus annulatus, female. Hosts are a variety of tenthredinid sawflies

NEW publication! Gall wasps associated with buds of Holm oak Quercus ilex in Britain: Plagiotrochus britaniae new to Britain (Scotland, England & Wales), Saphonecrus barbotini new to Britain and Ceroptres cerri new host record. FREE download here: www.researchgate.net/publication/...

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to secure funding to expand my ichneumonid AI ID tool on ichsofna.org. But if any curator is interested in becoming self-sufficient with my AI workflow (imaging to deployment), I'd be happy to help set up the system for a reasonable contract fee.

Made it into the news! Now if I can only get this kind of coverage for my big monographs with 70 new microparasitoids... 🧪🐝

Malaise Trap Polka Dots vs. Biodiversity Smudge: Similar latitudinal data deficiency gradients for DNA barcodes and all data. Read more in "Illuminating Entomological Dark Matter with DNA Barcodes in an Era of Insect Decline, Deep Learning, and Genomics" Ann. Rev. Entomol.: doi.org/10.1146/annu...

I said I wouldn't post an update until completely finished, but given the circumstances, I'll just post where I'm at. Masona popeye will be replaced with Ypsilonigaster tiger. I have 7 left to do. I hope they're accurate enough. I can always redraw the ones with mistakes. Peace. 🕊️ #Wasps

🚨 First issue of the #EMM for 2025 is out now! 🚨 We're also very pleased to welcome Dr Andrew Chick, Dr Danniella Sherwood, and Professor Evandson José dos Anjos Silva to the journal's editorial team.

Find out what the IUCN Bumblebee Specialist Group has been up to around the world during 2024 - reports from regional coordinators www.researchgate.net/publication/...

Dolichomitus quercicolus www.ingentaconnect.com/content/pemb... #Ichneumonidae #parasitoid #newwaspfoundinbritain

I’m thrilled to announce the first chapter of my PhD, finally out on my bday😍🎉🎉 Saproxylic beetles and their complicated relantionship with sun exposure☀️🪲 #ecology #saproxylic #communityecology #macroecology #beetles #deadwood resjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

@ionace.bsky.social and I identified and databased 6,600 UK ichneumonoids light-trapped by an amazing crew of moth trappers in 2024. Wonderful dataset. Recent highlights: first Rogas luteus for over 100 years and Enicospilus myricae, haven’t seen since I described it in 2016.

Liotryphon caudatus, a parasitoid of Lepidoptera under bark #Ichneumonidae #Hymenoptera

A group of students came back from the woods today clutching this monster - a Sabre Wasp Rhyssa persuasoria. The body is fully 4cm long, the ovipositor doubles that. Absolute beast! #30DaysWild #FieldCourseFortnight

Banchus sp. (Banchinae) according to Jaswinder Boparai. https://twitter.com/kiwibyrne/status/1672670532934815745

A rather handsome Netelia tarsata found on the South Downs near Alfriston yesterday. Ichneumons are usually beyond my id capability, but I feel reasonably sure of this one. UKWildlife #wasps #Ichneumon

The colours, the elegance! And the name! ... Bassus calculator. Perfect all the way! More images (and text in Swedish) here: utgangspunktnykarleby.blogspot.com/2024/01/bass... #Invertebrate 🐙 #Hymenoptera 🦟 #Braconidae #Agathidinae #Biodiversity

Xorides wasp ovipositing eggs into long-horned beetle larva on log pile at Great Dixter. The wasp 'listens' for the beetle larva activity with its antennae, locates its location and then drives its ovipositor through the wood straight into the larval burrow. Wasps are awesome!

Better watch out if you're a Cobweb Spider (Theridiidae). Or you needn't. This particular Zatypota percontatoria won't harm you. More images and some text (in Swedish) here: utgangspunktnykarleby.blogspot.com/2023/12/zaty... #Invertebrate 🐙 #Hymenoptera #Ichneumonidae #Pimplinae #Biodiversity

Positive reviews for this #Darwintreeoflife genome of Cylloceria caligata wellcomeopenresearch.org/articles/9-4... llots more and upcoming ichneumonid genomes for the Darwin Tree of Life project can be found here www.darwintreeoflife.org/genomes/geno...

My favourite termite mound, Nasutitermes magnus from wet savanna in northern Queensland. A grass harvester.

Bumblebee (Bombus pyrosoma) having a bad day thanks to a hornet (Vespa bicolor)

Always nice to photograph mutillids for enquiries. The South African Smicromyrme praedatrix.

Check out this fly boxing away a parasitic wasp who is trying to lay eggs in its abdomen. I've watched a lot of fly behavior, but never seen anything like this. Makes you wonder how much we miss by studying lab organisms in isolation from their natural threats. Vid from: doi.org/10.1038/s415...

We have spent a great amount of time and energy defining and analyzing the causal effect of X on Y. It is finally time to start analyzing the causal effects of other letters of the alphabet on Y! 🤣 I made this joke in class today. Nobody laughed. 😭