Here are the figures for the two new Ctenichneumon species. How many differences can you spot?? #entomology #Ichneumonidae #parasitoid #insects #taxonomy #newspecies

From website development to image classification apps, I've been interested in improving ID resources for a long time. I've been exploring using NotebookLM as an ID tool and am extremely impressed. Here's a test based on one of my publications: #entomology #taxonomy #ichneumonidae #insects #ai

Working on describing this couple of new Ctenichneumon species from the Huachuca Mountains in #Arizona. Too bad they are both singletons! Hopefully someone can find the males eventually. #insect #newspecies #entomology #nature #photography #ichneumonidae #trackerwasp #wasp

Added a few newly collected Ichneumon species to Ichneumonids of North America. Amazingly, I've found 31 different species based on females when records only show 4 for the state! Compare that with 57 species in Main, which is probably a fairly complete inventory. #entomology #newspecies #taxonomy

My first pseudoscorpion observation was pure luck. Happen to see this wasp and took a shot. It was only later did I see what was hanging on the antenna. On iNaturalist [ www.inaturalist.org/observations... ]

Very preliminary but below should be a #newspecies and the first record of the #ichneumonid genus Patroclus in the US! This newly collected singleton specimen is from central Utah but Patroclus is neotropical, getting as far north as Mexico. #taxonomy #insects #wasps #Hymenoptera #parasitoid

I've only sorted and pinned a very small fraction of the ichneumonds collected by the 6-meter Malaise I have in central Utah. Among other discoveries is a new species of Tricholabus! #Ichneumonidae #newpsecies #entomology #insects #Utah #taxonomy #wasps

#FlyFriday one of my favorite assassin flies - Sisyrnodytes subater Oldroyd, 1957 (Asilidae: Willistonininae, USNMENT00870084) - collected in north-western South Africa near Pella - more info here n2t.net/ark:/65665/3... #asiloidflies

So many undescribed species, too many unknown interactions, no time. www.mdpi.com/1424-2818/17...

My friend Cameron Ramsey (chrysomelid taxonomist) and I have a 6-meter Malaise trap set up in a wash in central Utah right now. Between the large trap size and the location, it's collecting an insane amount. There's going to be a lot of bycatch for anyone looking to trade!

I started a blog and my first post is online! The posts will try to explore topics which are not typically covered by introductory literature and textbooks, e.g. because they are considered to be "too basic". Let me know what you think! weevil-see.github.io/taxonomy/Ide...

For all the lep enthusiasts out there celebrating #NationalMothWeek, please check out #ClaridgeTraps for a great light sheet setup! Let me know if you have any questions!

studying #asiloidflies at @amnh.org today - one of the best collections of apiocerid flies (Apioceridae) with almost every of the 65 North American species present - often with primary + secondary type material

Want to set up your own photo-stacking imaging system for under $3000? This post which outlines all the off-the-shelf items I used this year along with some recommendations for how to use it. Planning to talk about this at @entcollnet.bsky.social this November, too! www.insectid.org/post/focus-s...

The corollary to this is, with some basic knowledge of insect taxonomy, you too can become the world expert on a group! Just spend a few years obsessively reading about and looking at them and you'll know more than anyone else. The downside is you'll then be asked to review every paper on them...

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

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.

A revision of the parasitoid wasp genus parasitoid wasp genus Dolichogenide of the Neotropical region, with the description of 102 (!) species as new to science: doi.org/10.3897/zook... #DNAbarcoding #biodiversity @alexsmithants.bsky.social @smnstuttgart.bsky.social @uofguelph.bsky.social

Description of two morphologically unusual new neotropical genera of Miracinae: doi.org/10.3897/jhr.... #taxonomy #entomology #Hymenoptera

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

102 new species?! So important to get to know our community, including those of non-human form 🪲🐜🪳 #Diversity #GDFCF 🧪

There are a ton of undescribed western Ichneumon like this beautiful female from northern Utah. Despite running traps for several years I've only ever collected this specimen and seen one other. #MacroPhotography #insect #ichneumonidae #wasp #newspecies

So many Ichneumonids, so little time. I collected this Exetastes bifenestratus, a species I'd never seen before, at a blacklight in central Texas.

I mean, just look at some of these stunners!

Swift moth caterpillar-eye view of a female Alomya debellator wasp - a specialist parasitoid of root-feeding Hepialidae which it hunts in the caterpillar's underground burrow.

You can’t make this up. Actual message from Dept. of Interior: “because your facility lacks adequate fire suppression, we recommend NPS specimens be transferred or destroyed.” #government #entomology #museum

For everyone missing my talk on image classification at PBEntSoc on Tuesday, here are the main points: 1. We need taxonomists to train AI models based on museum specimens. The iNat AI is amazing but will never get to the specificity we need. #AI #insectIDs #Ichneumonidae #taxonomy #insects #wasps

I'm happy to announce we're shipping out our first orders of Claridge Traps light sheets! If you're tired of stringing a sheet between two trees, why not support a fellow entomologist and his growing insect trap business? Use the discount code "Bluesky" to get 10% off your order for the next month.

When available, more images can be seen by clicking on a species of interest.

There is a lot of functionality on IoNA (ichsofna.org) that most people aren´t aware of. Here are a couple of videos explaining what can be done with the filterable galleries. #Ichneumonidae #Ichneumoninae #biodiversity #JavaScript #insect #wasp #parasitoid

Does anyone have experience with the GBIF API? I've been exploring using it to enhance Ichneumonids of North America (ichsofna.org), including populating point occurrence maps and image galleries. Any suggestions for other uses?

A beautiful undescribed Melanichneumon species from southern #Utah collected by VFITs in a gamble oak thicket. Ichneumonids are still massively undercollected in southern Utah. More undescribed species can be seen at ichsofna.org #ichneumonidae #newspecies #undescribedspecies #trackerwasp

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.

I tried @ichsofna.bxky.social ichsofna.org subfamily classifier. One got a strong hit to subfamily Banchinae and it sure looks similar to Banchus species shows at www.zoology.ubc.ca/entomology/m... pectinate tarsal claws, scutellum with an apical spine pointing backwards and cool to look at!

Here are a few of the tens of undescribed Ophion species from the western US. More can be seen on my draft guide page for North American Ophioninae: ichsofna.org/Ophioninae/g...

I've been imaging some of our searcher wasps (Ichneumonidae), in a futile attempt to stay ahead of the hyperdiversity. There are seemingly endless variations on these wasps. This is Tromatobia notator, found in a coastal marsh along the Texas coast.

This Ichneumonine by the name of Genaemirum phacochoerus probably wins the award for the weirdest looking face. It is hypothesized that these facial modifications are used as a way to shovel through caterpillar frass-filled tunnels in wood. Native to Africa! #Genaemirumphacochoerus

New Species Alert! Say hello to Enica adelphe! This new bee fly is native to the Richtersveld in the Northern Cape of South Africa. NHRE intern Lisa Rollinson and I synonymized the genera Enica and Nomalonia, in addition we described a new species. Happy #FlyFriday ! doi.org/10.3897/afri...

We discovered 277 new species of wasp:

Cratichneumon permagnus (= very great Cratichneumon). A new species described by Claridge et al. last fall along with 10 other Cratichneumon species from Arizona. #ichneumonidae #ichneumoninae #trackerwasp #Arizona #newspecies

Eparces australis (Ichneumoninae) - described by myself and Davide dal Pos (@ddpichenumonidae.bsky.social) last year. No one has yet to figure out the host of any Eparces species, but they're probably some micro moth feeding on a semi-aquatic plant. Someone should try and rear it out. #Ichneumonidae

There are some discussions about critical situation in taxonomy - very few specialists for some groups of organisms, and none for some others. Sadly, the situation will continue to worsen. Particular causes - current funding policies in science + existing publishing bias. Some details below:

In honor of #BlueBugs and #BlueMonday here is an undescribed species of Coelichneumon from Costa Rica and several blue North American ichneumonines on ichsofna.org #Ichneumonidae #Ichneumoninae

Artificial intelligence has been almost criminally underused by insect taxonomists. See my ichneumon subfamily classifier for an example of how it can be done easily with museum specimens. #entomology #ichneumonidae #artificialintelligence #taxonomy

Ichneumonids have a bad reputation for being hard to ID because there are so many species. I'm trying to change that so on ichsofna.org I've got an image classification model to identify subfamilies and a filterable gallery for Ichneumoninae species (shown below).