New paper covering what we think is a pretty nice and comprehensive overview over tools suitable for neuroethology in butterflies and moths. Also, check out the whole special issue if you're an insect neuroethologist. @neuroethology.org @dzg-neurobiology.bsky.social doi.org/10.1007/s003...

This is my boss! 💪

An impressive review on classification and study of #ants, taken from an historical perspective 🖥️🧬🐜 includes also loads of insightful sections 👀 #bugsky #phylogenetics academic.oup.com/isd/article/...

Happy to share Jialin's first publication. She did a great job exploring the transition to land in animals. Co-supervised by the great Jordi Paps and me and in collaboration with Davide Pisani and @phil-donoghue.bsky.social

😱

Really like this paper, led by @ficusorganensis.bsky.social, the supplementary videos aren’t up yet but will post them when I’m back in the office!

Exceptionally arrogant for sure 😊 share.google/zjLDckGoX3Xt...

New paper out! A nice collaboration. We explore how olfactory brain structures and receptors evolved across this remarkable group, Heliconiini butterflies.

🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯

Finally... Grant proposal submitted!

Villalobos-Leiva et al. analysed population structure, genetic diversity, and geometric morphometrics of wing shape in Vanessa carye, supporting its status as a migratory species with the longest journey among American butterflies. 🔗 doi.org/10.1093/molb... #evobio #molbio #migration

Women, non-native English speakers & those form low-income countries are disadvantaged in science but by how much? We found that women with non-English first languages from low-income countries publish up to 70% fewer in English than their counterparts. 1/5 doi.org/10.1371/jour... #languagebarriers

Very proud of this extremely collaborative piece: academic.oup.com/mbe/article/... Here, we show that divergence in visual systems - in response to differences in the light environment - leads to rapid divergence in sexually selected colour traits. Work brilliantly led by Madeleine Carruthers. 🐟👀🎨

A new Science study of ants in Fiji—involving genomic sequencing of over 4000 ant specimens from museum collections—shows that most native species have been in decline since humans first arrived in the archipelago 3000 years ago. https://scim.ag/489mI2o

𝘊𝘳𝘺𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘭𝘢 𝘴𝘱.

Our paper on central complex evolution in Heliconiini butterflies is now available as reviewed preprint at @elife.bsky.social 🎉🎉. Please check out the helpful and constructive reviews which we are going to address in the next weeks 🤗 elifesciences.org/reviewed-pre... @ebablab.bsky.social

Protecting Indigenous territories in areas of the Amazon rainforest with high levels of forest cover may help reduce the number of cases of several diseases in the surrounding areas, according to an analysis in Communications Earth & Environment. go.nature.com/47z1jPX 🧪

🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋

Boop!

More on the ancient foundation of animal development. Coyle & King illustrate how core regulatory modules were present in our pre-animal ancestors. The key was not invention, but recycling & new protein interactions. #CellBiology #multicellularity #protistsOnSky www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Red devil spiders from the Canary Islands have a genome half the size of mainland counterparts - Pisarenco, @jrozasub.bsky.social et al. show how purifying selection against slightly deleterious DNA and TE insertions is the primary mechanism. 🔗 doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msaf206 #evobio #molbio #TEsky

Hines et al. examined the genetics of parallel color pattern acquisition in three bumble bees in Western N. America - in three lineages, color shifts map to the regulatory region of a segmental-fate-determining Hox gene called Abdominal B. 🔗 doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msaf187 #evobio #molbio

Finally good news!

This is a great opportunity to learn all about genomics!!!!!

“Bedazzled Jewels” The #metalmark butterflies (Fam. #Riodinidae) include many stunning species w/ diverse forms. In this group are the #Helicopiini, which are furry & often adorned w/ metallic scales. Here are Elegant #Jewelmark, #Anteros allectus, & Black-bellied Jewelmark, A. formosus. #Ecuador

A study in Nature Medicine identifies the Mediterranean diet as a promising approach to mitigate genetically dependent Alzheimer’s disease-related dementias risk by targeting a broad spectrum of metabolic pathways. go.nature.com/469m6s3 #medsky 🍎📃 🧪

"#Antisemitism" cuts... edition.cnn.com/2025/08/25/u...

Love this photo of Monarch Butterflies in Ontario Canada probably Point Peel National that i went to yearly in Sept in my twenties as they gathered to cross Lake erie migrating south waited for the wind to change

What is the scientific community doing about this genocide?

😲😲😲😲😲

Evolution has produced an incredible array of ways to be male & female. In some tiny cave-dwelling insect species, the female is the one with a penis. She uses it to hook into the male's vagina-like structure (for up to 70hrs) while "voluminous & probably nutritious semen is passed to the female"🧪🧬🪲

Probably a Dirphia... From Brazil...

Goodbye #eseb2025 @eseb2025.bsky.social see you next time! Perhaps what stuck most was powerful talk on resilience and survival by Palestinian researcher, play director, and ESEB EUEA awardee May Shehady. Let's not forget, let's not look away. 🇵🇸

It was fun. It felt like "genomics on heliconiini radiation part 2"

If the stars will align...

Oh... Me...