🦋 Long-term citizen science observations can help us understand climate impacts 👉 Using 44 years of #Lepidoptera observations, models suggest that diurnal vs nocturnal species respond differently to warming, highlighting diel activity as a key factor shaping phenology. www.nature.com/articles/s42...

The forecasts are always low; I think we easily see another over 300millon flight night this evening. #birds #spring #migration #LightsOutForBirds #EarthDay

It's amazing what you can find along a little stretch of forest trail! Whether you're a curious newbie or a seasoned bug enthusiast, sign up at the link for an enjoyable community-building walk led by yours truly as part of #CityNatureChallenge2026. Saturday, April 25, 1:00–4:30pm. #iNaturalist

Still space in our Caterpillars Count! webinar tomorrow, April 21 @ 11 am ET Learn how to survey foliage arthropods 🐛🐜🦋🐞🕷️🪲 and contribute to a continental (and beyond!) scale monitoring project! #insects #phenology #CitizenScience caterpillarscount.unc.edu/getStarted

Happy Hatch Day to these Carolina Chickadee chicks! 🐣 🐣 2 out and 3 to go! #birds #phenology #CaterpillarEaters

Next week!!! Please share widely with your bug-loving friends! #insect #phenology #citizenscience

These chickadee eggs are set to hatch any day now. Parents will need 6,000-9,000 🐛🐛 in the next 2 weeks in order to raise them! #CaterpillarsCount

lol apparently those cute little japanese emperor butterfly (sasakia) caterpillars that have antlers and a :3 face have such bad breath that they scare away predatory wasps. look they're making them take breathalyzer tests. the results are in: stinky!! link.springer.com/article/10.1...

This paper is making the rounds again! Exciting update is we just got some funding to study caterpillar performance on local and nonlocal ecotypes! (Plant genotypes adapted to other ecoregions). Stay tuned for more caterpillar pictures this summer! 🐛

It's finally hear, it's Citizen Science Month!!! This April, join a global movement and help create 2.5 Million Acts of Science with @scistarter.bsky.social! #SciStarter #America250 #Semiquincentennial #nisenet #nisenetwork #museums #planetarium #InformalScience #sciencecenters #childrensmuseum

Here is the Cornell Chronicle article about our PNAS paper on the evolution of milkweed toxins (N,S-cardenolides), to which the monarch butterfly is sensitive, despite being co-evolved with milkweeds! @cornellentomology.bsky.social news.cornell.edu/stories/2026...

The things that can be found during a child’s 1hr soccer practice ….

Takes a minute to establish which end is the head of this copper underwing (Amphipyra pyramidoides) caterpillar On sourwood #insect #phenology #birdfood #bugsky

April 7th, leaves are relatively fresh, and yet many trees already have substantial herbivore damage. #VeryHungryCaterpillars

Can you imagine hatching out in the spring and having unlimited acres of fresh, undefended (as of yet) hickory leaves to eat? #phenology #insects #bugsky

April is #CitSciMonth! Learn how to participate in foliage arthropod monitoring 🐛🐜🐞🕷️🦋 thru the Caterpillars Count! Register for one of 2 free webinars at caterpillarscount.unc.edu/getStarted/ Apr 21st, Tue, @ 11 am ET Apr 29th, Wed, @ 12 pm ET Help understand #insectdeclines & #birdfood!

Luna Moth selfie! This male was hanging from a branch of invasive honeysuckle close to the forest floor. Leavenworth, Kansas, USA, April 6, 2026. #bugsky #moths #mothing

Third caterpillar of the year, dangling from a recently leafed out red maple. Can’t wait to start some branch surveys! Join us! #CaterpillarsCount caterpillars.unc.edu

April is #CitSciMonth! Learn how to participate in foliage arthropod monitoring 🐛🐜🐞🕷️🦋 thru the Caterpillars Count! Register for one of 2 free webinars at caterpillarscount.unc.edu/getStarted/ Apr 21st, Tue, @ 11 am ET Apr 29th, Wed, @ 12 pm ET Help understand #insectdeclines & #birdfood!

Really nice article and visuals in @washingtonpost.com this morning showing how spring has arrived early - very early - in much of the lower 48 states www.washingtonpost.com/weather/inte... @usa-npn.bsky.social #phenology @bennollweather.bsky.social

Eastern tent caterpillars are the first caterpillars of 2026! And boy are they moving on this warm day yesterday 🐛🐛🐛

We're celebrating #PhenologyWeek! Today, we challenge you to find a plant showing flowers and observe it in Nature's Notebook. Please share any images of your plant with us @usa-npn.bsky.social! Image credits: flowers or flower buds and open flowers by Dulcey Lima Photography.

I think I found another one 😮🐛 (from a few days ago, back in MD) #insects 🌱 #nativeplants

The prettiest camouflage you've ever seen 🦋🌱 #invert #moths #nativeplants

Spring is springing (unless you’ve got a blizzard right now), which means getting ready for the new foliage arthropod monitoring season! 🐞🐛🐜🪲🕷️🦋 Check out our first newsletter of 2026! mailchi.mp/bbd9b2066279...

A Calligrapha beetle- named of course for the beautiful inscriptions on its elytra- sits on its dogwood host plant. Texas.

Decided to put out the blacklight for the first time this year, in our back yard in Leavenworth, Kansas, USA. Several kinds of moths, plus midges and other flies, lacewings, a few beetles. I will get a blog post up soon and post the link. #bugsky

Bone Collector Caterpillar has been decorating its 5mm body with a hodgebodge of insect body parts... with an ant head and leg, fly wing, bark beetle abdomen, and weevil head, precisely sized, positioned, and woven to cover the caterpillar's body (Rubinoff et al. 2025) #2026MMM

SPRING IS COMING! Birds singing, frogs eeping, bees buzzing!! After the muffled hush of winter I can’t wait! #birds 🌿

Interested in joining our monitoring network to better understand #insect #trends near you? Check the link for free webinar offerings in April for #CitizenScienceMonth caterpillarscount.unc.edu/getStarted/ Works great @ Nature/EE centers, with Master Naturalist groups, etc!

Northern mockingbird hunting the recently emerged ground nesting bees on UNC campus

Warm day in N.C. has spurred the annual emergence of ground nesting bees! (Colletes and Andrena spp) #bugsky #phenology #insects

Why are insects important, and what have they ever done for us? 🐝 This #WorldWildlifeDay, take a closer look at the miniature world around you. From garden beetles to urban pollinators, every insect has a role to play 🪲🦋 Find out more 🔽 buff.ly/kPMW5OL #StandTallForTheSmall

Now online! In this review, we cover four major topics on butterflies and moths: their evolutionary history and diversification dynamics, genomics, global diversity patterns, and conservation 🦋🌏 (1/8) @natrevbiodiv.nature.com www.nature.com/articles/s44...

learningmole.com/backyard-eco... You don't have to visit somewhere exotic to see complex ecology in action. #ecology #nature #gardens #science

Check out our new preprint from the @insectai.bsky.social project! Seven steps to making the most of automated insect monitoring systems and AI. A huge collaborative effort expertly led by @jamiealison.bsky.social and Luca Pegoraro 👏 📸🦋✨️

The bone collector caterpillar is a carnivorous caterpillar that lives in spider webs. It disguises itself with the corpses of the spider's prey, while stealing food from their eight-legged host's web 🧪 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Wow, UK moth recording really on the up. Nearly 900K records in 2025, probably reach over 1 million in due course. Well done everyone. National Moth Recording Scheme meeting online now @savebutterflies.bsky.social

This is really cool, it's a display of all the bugs found on a single tree. #Invertebrate

The magic of Christmas Eve was another stunning male Atlas moth. My 5th Atlas of the week. Finding these magnificent magical moths means so much to me.

They are ubiquitous in my neighborhood!! They cover entire branches of sidewalk oak trees. I rarely see the adults but they are gorgeous in both forms!

What a terrific year for #insectmonitoring with Caterpillars Count! Which sites and users conducted the most surveys, found the most caterpillars, found the largest caterpillar? Check out our 2025 Site Awards here mailchi.mp/432f840dbbd6...

Here is your Monday Moth. I think this pretty little insect is Portentomorpha xanthialis. They're found from the southern U.S. down into S. America; this one was in Colombia. #bugsky 🐙🌿

This monkey slug caterpillar (Phobetron sp.) from Ecuador has evolved to look like a discarded tarantula molt. This one mimics the tarantula Avicularia juruensis (see my previous post) so accurately, down to the pink toes and yellow bands! The hairs cause skin irritation, just like Avicularia hairs.

New study on arthropod declines @natecoevo.nature.com 🪲 In two time series @jena-experiment.bsky.social & @bexplo.bsky.social we show how community (dis)assembly underpins local biomass declines. It mostly boils down to species loss, with identity losing relevance. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

New study confirms that short wavelength light (UV & blue) attracts the most nocturnal insects & that intensity increases attraction for all colours. Longer wavelength & lower intensity outdoor lights should reduce biodiversity impacts resjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... #teammoth 🌍

Checking in on Flatty Munchipede, who is halfway through an entire oak leaf 💚 (Isla textula, the crowned slug moth)

Does anyone know why Rhododendron #Leafhoppers seem to line up like this? Makes them look bigger? Using the same leaf vein to feed? Precursor to mating? #Entomology

For #Arachtober, here is a spider that's not a spider. It's Petrophila jaliscalis, a jumping-spider-mimicking moth - see the face-on spider pattern, with orange legs and sparkly dark eyes? I love finding these - I think they breed in my small goldfish pond, because the caterpillars are aquatic. 🌿🐙