I know that everyone loves iNaturalist and racking up observations from photographs. But there really is no substitute for physical specimens, so many species are not easily identified from photos.

All of my genus and family-level fly and ant observations on iNaturalist would agree.

Francis Hallé, botaniste et infatigable défenseur des arbres, est mort à l’âge de 87 ans

Heading slow and steady into 2026 like this chunk from Poring, Borneo. Happy New Year!

Genomic study reveals how people moved pigs across the Pacific 🐖⛵️🌏 phys.org/news/2025-12...

Durian and panettone going cheap in Singapore (surplus Xmas stock…I’m not complaining!)

Taxonomist post at the Herbarium, Singapore Botanic Gardens. www.careers.hrp.gov.sg/sap/bc/ui5_u...

The Sumatra floods are a reminder that deforestation isn't merely an environmental concern. It's a public health issue, an economic issue & a security issue. Forests regulate water flows, filter pollutants, reduce disaster risk & support rural livelihoods. www.thestar.com.my/news/environ...

Phang-Nga Bay. To Phuket for Christmas #Thailand

They just cannot get rid of these endangered Tapanuli orangutans fast enough Tapanuli orangutan, devastated by cyclone, now faces habitat loss under zoning plans, threatening the last remaining habitat of the critically endangered Tapanuli orangutan. news.mongabay.com/2025/12/tapa...

Honoured to have been invited to FRIM, Kepong as a member of the 2025 Research Advisory Committee to discuss and help guide their excellent range of research into the future. Very pleased to meet all the FRIM staff and make new connections with specialists from across Malaysia.

Kapur (Dryobalanops aromatica C.F. Gaertn., Dipterocarpaceae), when growing together and the same age (ie usually plantation) is famous for “crown shyness”. Fruiting heavily today in FRIM, Kepong. The bright pink radicle (seed root) jumped out from the leaf litter.

Excited to launch the new improved Reproducible Code guide from @britishecologicalsociety.org @methodsinecoevol.bsky.social FREE online here! www.britishecologicalsociety.org//wp-content/... Amazing work by some very talented ECRs. We hope it’s useful!

Devastating news for the Tapanuli orangutan. "The destroyed areas would have contained some 35 orangutans, and considering the violence of the destruction it wouldn't surprise us if they are all dead. That's a major blow to the population." www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Registration is NOW OPEN for our State of the World's Plants and Fungi Symposium, 29 June - 1 July 2026! 🌍 The theme will be 'Harnessing the benefits of specimen digitisation' & will follow the release of the next State of the World's Report 🌱🍄 Learn more & register here 👉 https://ow.ly/CuNg50XFOH1

🌍 Almost USD 35,000 raised — from supporters in 35 countries! 🌏 Your global support is helping #GiveBHLWings as BHL prepares for independence on 1 Jan 2026. #BHLTransition 🌱 📖 Let’s keep biodiversity knowledge open & accessible worldwide. 💚 Donate: ancrywkv.donorsupport.co/page/GiveBHL... 🧪

Tropical Treats & Sweets! Coming soon to the Centre for Ethnobotany, Singapore Botanic Gardens. Featuring plants that make up our treats, and a wall of fame (with far too many of my cendol pics!) www.nparks.gov.sg/sbg/our-gard... #Singapore #dessert #puddings

Flora of Thailand continues heading to the finish line…vol 16 just arrived 450 pages! (with my extremely tiny contribution - 7 species of Pittosporum) #flora #Thailand #botany #SBGScience

#Rice and #Maize cultivation cheek by jowl with montane rainforest in northern #Thailand - choices to be made around #biodiversity stores, #carbon, #water and #air regulation vs food production. DoiTung has been developing a model to support ecosystems AND livelihoods. @mtnresearchmri.bsky.social

Flying Rhamnaceae fruits - the day Daniel Cahen and I tested the aerodynamics of Ventilago fruits in Wing B of the Kew Herbarium. There’s a cool x-over physics/botany project there… #physics #flying #botany (No specimens were harmed in the making of this movie!)

Expanding Ventilago to incorporate Smythea: new combinations in Ventilagineae (#Rhamnaceae) based on novel sequence data and phylogenetic analysis. Kew Bull (2025). rdcu.be/eTrK6 Ventilago lanceata Tul. and Ventilago novoguineensis Cahen, Utteridge & Henry Mill. nom. nov.

Two new species of Tapeinosperma (Primulaceae-Myrsinoideae) from Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. Kew Bull (2025). doi.org/10.1007/s12225…#taxonomym#botanyn#Primulaceaea#Ardisiai#PNGN#SolomonIslandsd#Pacificic

IAPT’s Research Grants support research in systematics, nomenclature, and floristics of algae, fungi, and plants. www.iaptglobal.org/grants

Rare Rafflesia haseltii Blooms Repeatedly in Bengkulu en.tempo.co/read/2070894...

Include Aceh, north Sumatra, west Sumatra

Floods in #Indonesia. The animation shows the impact of severe inundation in the northeastern part of #Sumatra, comparing #Copernicus #Sentinel2 images from Aug. and Dec. 1, 2025. Relentless monsoon rains and tropical cyclones have devastated parts of Asia. #ClimateEmergency

Deadly Sumatra flooding triggers memories of Indian Ocean tsunami reut.rs/48TMDLl

Watching over my bird books…

It's International #OpenAccessWeek! At Singapore Botanic Gardens, all of the (old, new and future) papers in Gardens’ Bulletin Singapore, our magazine, Gardenwise, as well as books like the Flora of Singapore, are openly available through our websites www.nparks.gov.sg/sbg/research...

Ben Scott @nhm-london.bsky.social shares how his team has extracted trait data from species descriptions on BHL. Result? 706,842 trait terms & the largest trait database in the world. BHL = the foundation of our understanding of biodiversity. #LivingData2025 @biodivlibrary.bsky.social

📣 Calling all biodiversity institutions! Meise Botanic Garden is supporting the continuation of BHL by auditing/cancelling non-Open Access journal subscriptions & diverting all saved funds to BHL. Patricia Mergen encourages other institutions to do the same 🧪 🌱🌎 #LivingData2025 #OpenAccess #ILoveBHL

‘Bark salon’. The remarkable bark painting room at the NVG Australia, Melbourne.

Doryanthes palmeri A.W.Hill (Doryanthaceae), giant spear lily, endemic to eastern Australia, flowering below Flinders Street Station along the Yarra River, Melbourne. #Australia

This is always a major target on many visitors' needs lists, which is always funny since this bird is easily found in one of the most accessible parks in the country: the car park.

I'm excited to be speaking at #LivingData2025 about the future of BHL. I'll be sharing a critical update on our transition toward a sustainable, global & community-governed future. 🧪 📖 🌱 🗓️ Info: www.livingdata2025.com/program.html... 🌎 #BHLTransition news: blog.biodiversitylibrary.org/tag/transition

Learn to work with Singapore’s archaeological finds at new heritage centre in Jalan Sultan ⛏️🇸🇬 Very cool. www.straitstimes.com/singapore/le...

Digitising the Singapore Herbarium: the equipment now nearly set up and all on view in a public gallery. #herbarium

Latin America’s feline species are losing their habitat and becoming trapped in small patches. Researchers say biological corridors are vital for their conservation. 🐆 Read more w/ @mongabay.com : https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/conservation-corridors-provide-hope-for-latin-americas-felines/

Prof Francis Hallé speaks at Singapore Botanic Gardens - “New insights into plant architecture.” A real privilege to hear him talk through the different models so succinctly and accurately illuminated with his illustrations. #SBGScience

Will phylogeny for food

Thanks to everyone who came along/tuned in to my PhD exit seminar! What a thing to do at the end of almost four years. So close to submitting, just need to tidy up this last chapter and I’m done! PS does anyone need a mycology/botany genomics/systematics postdoc? 👀

Gynostoma sp, a member of the Casuarinaceae - the she-oaks, flowering plants with equisetoid foliage and cone-like fruits. powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:ls...

No its not rude - its simple fact that if you destroy one of the lungs of the Earth you put life on this planet in peril

Hutu (Ascarina lucida) is the first New Zealand native plant shown to have heterodichogamy (explained in ALT) and also the first report of it for Chloranthaceae. Most heterodichogamoous plants are wind pollinated and monoecious. Details in latest @ijpsjournal.bsky.social (see above post)

The #NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program #GRFP solicitation is coming soon! The due date for Life Sciences proposals is 27 October 2025. For more info: www.nsf.gov/funding/oppo...

oh crap. MNHN-the Paris Natural History Museum paralyzed by cyber-attack! If you've been unable to access their database, website or other resources, here is why.. www.sortiraparis.com/en/news/in-p...

With the Tapanuli Orangutan Population Down to 577–760, KI and BRIN are Pushing for the Strengthening of Ecological Corridors. Both corridors play an important role in restoring the connectivity of the Batang Toru forest. esgnow.republika.co.id/berita/t2bny...

Do you love interesting things in jars? Do we have the opportunity for you! We are hiring a Spirit Store Project Assistant to help us prepare the fluid preserved collections held at the Museum for transport to the collections storage facility. oumnh.web.ox.ac.uk/spirit-store-project-assistant

Russian air strike kills Ukrainian pensioners on.ft.com/42oWZ2b

Octopus chief says ‘enormous amounts’ of public money spent on technology should be saved: on.ft.com/3KbdOHy