New paper on seeing in air and water with compound eyes! The problem: physics The solution: physics Elegantly described with the dream team @tannermierow.bsky.social and @alexkingston.bsky.social royalsocietypublishing.org/rspb/article...

Pixie robber flies are merciless predators, successfully intercepting perched victims, & in their recent JEB paper, @rossonisergio.bsky.social &co reveal that the insects use their motion relative to the prey to determine the victim's size and how far off they are doi.org/10.1242/jeb....

🚨 New paper out in @jexpbiol.bsky.social! doi.org/10.1242/jeb.... Some robber flies hunt resting prey and judge their distance well despite limited vision. We show their looping flights help them estimate this via motion parallax. A neat example of active vision making up for optical limitations! 👀🪰

Predators must estimate the size of a potential prey. Size of a moving target is assessed by angular speed/size, rules that not apply for stationary prey. Unlike damselflies, pixie robber flies use motion parallax to infer prey size. @rossonisergio.bsky.social journals.biologists.com/jeb/article/...

Netcasting spiders hurl a stretchy net to capture prey, a net that can double in size during full extension. A study explores how the silk achieves such impressive elasticity without sacrificing strength. In PNAS: https://ow.ly/qRYu50Y5z8x

New #OpenAccess work in #RESEcolEnt Vegetation #biomass & landscape context influence web-building #spider dietary breadth in urban vacant lots doi.org/10.1111/een.70022 #UrbanArthropods #Biodiversity #UrbanLandscapes @sheborg.bsky.social @robwilsonmncn.bsky.social @callomac.bsky.social @wiley.com

🚨 Our study from @bethbees.bsky.social lab is out in @royalsocietypublishing.org . We show that bumblebees taste some amino acids (valine), but not others (lysine). Bees might choose flowers not just by how sweet they taste! #bees 🐝 #taste 👅 #pollen #nectar 🌺 #protein 🥩 doi.org/10.1098/rsos...