Increasing interest in entomology 1 cat at a time

New Ant Lab video today about pincer wasps and a new research project. This one has some really cool, newly-filmed insect behavior in it! youtu.be/9osTBzQ0zbk

Did you consume too much depressing news on your timeline? Here's your palate cleanser from @dradriansmith.bsky.social www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJNa...

Ants: Tiny Creatures, Big Lives is officially open at the Bruce Museum! Enter the tunnel and you will meet "Buckley", our five foot long scaled-up Dinoponera ant. Buckley is named after her creator, the great Dan Buckley. The smaller ant is my daughter, dressed as an alate queen for the opener.

Still looking for horror now that Halloween's over? Fortunately/unfortunately it's all around! 💀 A parasitoid laid a few eggs in a moth egg. As the caterpillar hatched & grew, wasp embryos multiplied inside to 100s of larvae that ate the entire host, eventually killing & turning it into a husk 😳 🤢

In this video, the biologist Adrian Smith @dradriansmith.bsky.social provides close-ups of a diverse array of caterpillars and shows how they support healthy ecosystems, employ a range of strategies to protect themselves from predators and transform into seemingly entirely different creatures

New video today: CATERPILLARS!!! youtu.be/aJNaDyHARNw

🚨 Spicy gummy worm alert! 🚨 🐛 Though it may look delicious, the bright colors warn of its ability to sting. Kinda looks like it's wearing pajamas... Thanks to @dradriansmith.bsky.social for hosting the specimen. stinging rose #caterpillar #Limacodidae: #Parasa indetermina NC, USA

We put out some social science research via preprint: "Natural history museums are missing an opportunity to present research and collections on YouTube" doi.org/10.1101/2025...

🐜⚡ These Indian jumping ants don't just jump for show – they use powerful leaps to pounce on prey like crickets. Researcher @dradriansmith.bsky.social 's slow-motion footage shows how these predatory ants hunt with the agility of much larger predators. #science #nature 👉 Learn more: zurl.co/kyQs1

From fire ants in Florida to filming batflies in North Carolina, our latest interview is with @dradriansmith.bsky.social, who has built a career at the intersection of insect science and storytelling. 🐜🎥 #scicomm #science #sciants #stem #YouTube #twitch youtu.be/xEXwFel5DEY

New video today! Megaloptera, owlflies, bioluminescent click beetles, and MORE! youtu.be/lD8sKzA_FZU

How do tiny ripple bugs surf raging rivers? Check out our new work in @science.org Work led by Victor Ortega-Jimenez, Dongjin Kim, Sunny Kumar, Changhwan Kim, Je-Sung Koh, and Saad Bhamla - a collaboration between UC Berkeley, Georgia Tech, and Ajou University. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

I don't think I've ever posted this here on Bluesky, so have some bug-drawing tutorials... (1/3)

Here's a super cool documentary about the Mothbox! Learn about the development and use of this fun #openscience #opensource tool for DIY biodiversity monitoring! youtu.be/1LGz3aWpeVE?...

This is such a good video by @dradriansmith.bsky.social. Not only does it show cool Harpegnathus jumping and stinging action, but it also features Gigantiops, one of my favorite ants, for a quick comparison! www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hBX...

New video today on one of the coolest ants, Harpegnathos! youtu.be/-hBXOAJ7l1I

Fluffy. Sparkly. Adorable. These are not the things you usually say about a fly, but here we are. Let this little creature warm your heart 🥰 #Psychodidae #Setomima nitida North Carolina, USA (w/ @dradriansmith.bsky.social)

Adrian Smith @dradriansmith.bsky.social is at BugShot Arizona, explaining how to tell stories.

New Ant Lab video out today: Ants mating and flying at the same time! youtu.be/bG9I9u-aM8g

We will be live tonight with a special SciAnts Thursday! We will be interviewing @dradriansmith.bsky.social, insect scientist and behavior expert, on his scientific journey, his incredible YT videos, and more! 9pm EDT #scicomm #sciants #science #stem #twitch www.twitch.tv/sciants_stre...

🪲✈️ Slow-motion footage of 23 flying #insects by @dradriansmith.bsky.social explains the wide variety of flight mechanics out there. From beetles to stoneflies, each species developed different strategies. 👉 Learn more: zurl.co/OclZV

Finally checked off "rove beetle wing folding" from my need to film list. New video up now: youtu.be/uvXxiUjw-xY

Quote tweeting myself because I ❤️ MAKING THIS VIDEO!!!

"What's the Point of Natural History Collections?" is out today on the YouTube/AntLab check it out and long live basic research!!!!!!!!!! youtu.be/dxUbTn7d6Fw

My favorite 🪲 lump Acrylic ink & pencils on 3x4" hotpress #InverteFest

Losing the Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS) would be an act of monumental neglect. I made a video about what’s at risk, and how orgs like @amlibraryassoc.bsky.social and the American Alliance of Museums need us to help advocate for these critical places. youtu.be/fYLC-KWy-Ks?...

Monkey slug? Hag moth caterpillar? Both phenomenal names. But I ❤️ the genus name most: Phobetron. Sounds like a malevolent transformer or a giant alien space television. These caterpillars have fleshy deciduous appendages (this one lost a few) & stinging hairs. Watch out! ☣️☠️ North Carolina, USA

🐜 #ant nest architecture came up in a lab meeting today and so we were obviously sharing photos of Walter Tschinkel's work - so beautiful! Also so beautiful is the video that @dradriansmith.bsky.social made with Walt of the process and the history of the method! Enjoy! youtu.be/1LDja40tLAM?...

Just posted a new video on my Pond Lab channel, all about a special worm that lives on pond snails, and helps stop it getting infected with parasites, including those that can go on to parasitise mammals like us! You can watch it here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHsy... #bugsky #pondlife #ukwildlife

New video! Flight footage from 23 species across 7 insect orders! youtu.be/gDI5g3rd0Ls

True Facts: Fireflies Need Your Help! youtu.be/czt_io0h-CA

How small can moths get? 🔎 Very. shield bearer #moth at UV light #Heliozelidae: #Coptodisca Raleigh, NC, USA @dradriansmith.bsky.social finger for scale

Never know what you're going to find in the NCSU Insect Collection! 🔎 This very charismatic #beetle was among many interesting specimens in unsorted drawers. 🔬 Anyone want to guess the family? #Coleoptera

Finally got an opportunity to use my interests in comics & entomology at the same time!

Here's a weird horsefly (Fidena sp) I found in the EC Amazon. Those with a long proboscis can both blood feed and feed on nectar. Some horse flies are important pollinators. This one is female (likely) because her eyes don't meet in the middle. Often male horse flies have two large eyes that touch.

We've opened registration for our annual BugShot insect photography workshop! This summer we'll be in Portal, Arizona for the start of the monsoon. And for the first time, slo-motion video guy @dradriansmith.bsky.social is on board as an instructor. www.bugshot.net/bugshot-port...

A lichen katydid eating the same lichen it has evolved to mimic and live on. Look at those Maxillae- like little mouth fingers

New social science from the lab! 👇

New Ant Lab video today: HONEYBEES! I've been meaning to make this video for a long time. One of the reasons to make it was to try to capture slow motion macro footage of the honeybee stinger in action. You'll have to watch to see if I got that footage or not! youtu.be/EoFsWF1qWWU

⭐ 2024 Top Finds/Pics ⭐ Easily one of the best photos I've ever taken; amazingly took only 1 shot! These dance #flies were hovering slowly, mating mid-air. As many do, the ♀️ is feeding on prey as a nuptial gift 🎁 given by the ♂️ Grateful that Geo Rojas Malavasi saw them 🙏 #Empididae Costa Rica

⭐ 2024 Top Finds/Pics ⭐ Like a copper bead that comes to life, this little contracile scarab #beetle is as charismatic as can be 🥰 There's something mechanical & robotic about its transformation into a tight little ball to hide from danger. #Hybosoridae: #Ceratocanthus Costa Rica (August)

You're probably better off just buying art of insects rather than actual specimens.

New Ant Lab video out today about jumping parasitoid wasp cocoons! youtu.be/7FNXl1xes18

Proud of most of my papers but the serendipity of discovering a beetle larva that "jumps" using a latch-mediated spring mechanism was pretty darn neat. Plus worked w/the amazing @dradriansmith.bsky.social @drstrangeant.bsky.social & @americanbeetles.bsky.social journals.plos.org/plosone/arti...