I'm arriving in Paris for a week at the CNRS. Great timing: Roland Garros, PSG celebrations in the streets, and high temperatures... The week's off to a great start!

40 ans d’écologie.

Our new paper is out in Frontiers in Zoology on the molecular basis of parental care. We show that in the burying beetle Nicrophorus vespilloides, extensive molecular reprogramming already occurs before offspring hatch. Congrats to Julius! #Nicrophorus

I am hiring a postdoc for a project on herbivory of Rhododendron by insects in North Wales! Genomics expertise required, field experience preferred. Hoping to hire quickly! Bangor is awesome! Get in touch if you want any more details! jobs.bangor.ac.uk/details.php....

New research in #RESPhysEnt Comparative analysis of immune responses in ovipositing and non-ovipositing females of European #earwig doi.org/10.1111/phen.70048 #InsectImmunity #Oviposition @wybouw.bsky.social @tbuescher.bsky.social @tobybruce.bsky.social @wileyecology.bsky.social

📣 EvolDir is now managed by @eseb.bsky.social! We are delighted to be taking the reins and express our gratitude to both Brian Golding who began this service to the community in the mid-1980s and to @rdmpage.bsky.social who ran this account until now 👏 You can now find evoldir here: evoldir.net

And another paper out today in Physiological Entomology 🪲 We show that egg laying reshape immunity in earwigs: mothers had fewer immune cells and shifts in haemocyte types. These findings reveal physiological costs of motherhood in insects. resjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10....

New paper accepted in Proc B! 🎉 We disentangled how heatwaves affect maternal egg care in earwigs. We found that mothers adjust care depending on both their own heat stress and the stress of their eggs, but these effects act independently rather than interactively. doi.org/10.1098/rspb...

📢 Mark your calendars for the Joint Graduate Meeting 2026, sponsored by @ethoges.bsky.social and the German Zoological Society (DZG)! Don't miss this fantastic opportunity to showcase your research & network with peers! 📆 30.09. - 02.10.2026 🌍 @uni-muenster.de Abstract submission will open soon.

Applications now open for the UNIL Summer School on Modelling for Evolutionary Biology (31 Aug–5 Sep 2026, Lausanne)! For PhD & postdocs interested in formal approaches to evolutionary ecology (incl. social evo, life-history, species interactions). Scholarships available, Pls RP! shorturl.at/fo1GA

New paper out in #Ecology Letters: We manipulated the presence of "fighter" and "scrambler" males in soil mite populations and showed that aggressive male behaviour reduces population size and stability. 🧪#SexualSelection #PopulationEcology onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

I'm heading to Paris for the CNRS for a week full of interviews. As always, there aren't many positions available this year, while we've got loads of great candidates doing brilliant research... The pressure is on🤞🤞🤞

Yes, seals have lice! Under water, lice close their spiracles and reduce their oxygen consumption to a minimum www.nature.com/articles/s42...

🌱 Nous ouvrons une thèse (financée) sur l’utilisation du perce-oreille européen comme agent de lutte biologique dans les vergers de pommes et poires du Centre-Val de Loire. 📌 Candidature avant le 11 mai 2026 via le portail emploi CNRS uniquement . Plus d’infos via le QR code ci-dessous.

New interview! 🎙️ @jmeunierearwig.bsky.social explains the recent partnership between Insectes Sociaux and Peer Community In, which promotes transparency and supports open science. ✍️ insectessociaux.com/2026/03/10/i... #SocialInsects #OpenScience #PeerReview #Preprints #InsectScience

An interview for the journal Insectes Sociaux (@insectessociaux.bsky.social), which's now PCI friendly (@peercommunityin.bsky.social) ! Happy to promote open science wherever it is possible. insectessociaux.com/2026/03/10/i...

New study out with @steigerlab.bsky.social! We investigated male care in a biparentally caring 🪲. Why does male contribution vary so much? Turns out there are repeatable individual differences, and how much the female does only affects some male care behaviors. authors.elsevier.com/sd/article/S...

I am hiring a research assistant (vampire bats), a Panama fieldwork coordinator (vampire bats), and also considering postdoc apps (social behavior, any species): socialbat.org/2026/02/19/h...

What a dedicated dad! The male tiger #jawfish holds the clutch of eggs in his mouth until the behbehies hatch, ~8-9 days later. I usually find them in small groups of 3-5 individuals, each in their own private burrow, spread over an area of ~6’ or so. #tulamben #gug #fisheggs

A super handy database to help support academic society journals and other ethical publishing. academic.oup.com/jeb/article/...

Ants recognize their nestmates by their distinctive hydrocarbons, including alkenes. Ozone pollution can degrade these alkene compounds, leaving these social insects stranded in a world of strangers . In PNAS: https://ow.ly/qrCn50Yaq1f

Join us in Brittany? One week left to apply for this postdoc position deciphering the mysteries of inbreeding depression...

🪲 Insect parental care in the spotlight! Join our dedicated symposium at #ECE2026 in Tours, France. 🗓️ Abstracts due 31 Jan – don’t miss out! www.ece2026.org

Ant colonies prioritize quantity over quality when it comes to their workers, new #ScienceAdvances research finds. https://scim.ag/3L5oJUc

Link to read in full for free: rdcu.be/dI6BS

Our recent paper on lizard societies now online in a special issue of Animal Behaviour. DM if you want me to send you a PDF.

#RejoignezleCNRS 🫵 Envie de repousser les limites de la science ? Le #CNRS recrute des chercheurs (F/H) passionnés. 📅 Concours ouverts jusqu’au 12 janvier 2026. Candidatez dès maintenant ! 👉 carrieres.cnrs.fr/concours-ext... #Recrutement #Innovation #Recherche #Icicarecrute

📢 Don’t forget! This is the last week of early bird registration for what promises to be a great meeting in Tours, France, next year. Exciting program on all aspects of insects research, great food, lovely wine, a beautiful historic city, castles … it will be memorable! ✨ www.ece2026.org

⚠️ Open science action on the day: Use OpenAlex (openalex.org) instead of Web of Science! 💪 The CNRS has taken the bold step of unsubscribing from WoS! This means €1.4 million will go back into open science initiatives. 👏👏👏 www.cnrs.fr/fr/actualite...

🆕 in "Ecology": Who spreads more disease - males or females? At least in water fleas, it depends on temperature 📄The sicker sex is plastic: Thermal plasticity determines sex biases in pathogen transmission doi.org/10.1002/ecy....

Got some nice work about ant foraging? Can't decide where to send it? We have a special issue just for you! And, as a bonus, it's in (afaiac*) the best journal in the world @insectessociaux.bsky.social link.springer.com/collections/... *As Far As I Am Concerned

Yesterday, Laura Pasquier successfully defended her PhD thesis, which focused on environmental and endocrine disruptions in parental care, using the European earwig as a case study. After 3 years of hard work, the outcome was fantastic!! Congrats Laura, and all the best for the future!

Sounds good, doesn't it? ("The predicted demise of scientific publications?" - a special day of discussion organised by the CNRS)

Harmony in the hive? Think again! 🐝⚔️ Insect societies are famous for cooperation, but beneath the surface lies a brutal conflict over who gets to wear the crown! Our new review in Biological Reviews explores the evolutionary battleground caused by such caste fate conflict. 🧵

Pauline Domenech, illustratrice indépendante à Toulouse, a fait de supers dessins lors de la conférence grand public sur les forficules que j'ai donné le WE dernier. Un talent incroyable pour capturer les petits moments et mettre en image les anecdotes amusantes. Bravo, Bravo, Bravo (et merci) !! 👏

#Bugsky 🐙🌿 Who wants another baby earwig update? Everyone? Thought so. The babies are now two days old and slightly darker than when they hatched. Mama is guarding them and will stay on the job until their second molt. Btw, in the earlier post, the newly-hatched babies only had--

Lots of Earwig activity at Cali Heath @yorkswildlife.bsky.social reserve today, with individuals burrowing into the sandy turf, leaving just the formidable pincers exposed. Common enough, but actually rather extraordinary things. @ynuorg.bsky.social #ukwildlife

Soutenance de thèse Laura Pasquier Date(s) - Le 26 novembre 2025 à 14h Lieu(x)- amphi 030 du bâtiment E1 Perturbations environnementales et endocriniennes des soins parentaux : le cas du forficule européen / Environmental and endocrine disruptions in parental care: the case of the European earwig

--in which you can better see the eyes and mandibles on the new babies, plus see both structures clearly showing through the shells on the still-unhatched eggs. (Btw, mama earwig was close by in a burrow. She didn't want to come out into the light, so I carefully replaced the rock.)

Very cool study: matricide in ants as a maniputing behaviour favouring social parasitism! 🤯🤯 ->Socially parasitic ant queens chemically induce queen-matricide in host workers. Current Biology. www.cell.com/current-biol...

New paper: "A formal theory of group-level adaptation for obligate eusociality", with Kalyani Twyman (@kztwyman.bsky.social) #OpenAccess academic.oup.com/jeb/advance-... #Image #GoogleGemini @jevbio.bsky.social #OA

This weekend, I was invited by the association A.L.L.E.E. in Toulouse to present earwigs to a broad and curious audience. It was a fantastic opportunity to share our work, highlight why fundamental research matters, and spark new appreciation for these often-misunderstood insects. 😃😃😃

Amis Toulousains : C'est demain ! Venez nombreuses et nombreux 😄👍🐛

Je donnerais une conférence grand public sur les perce-oreilles à Toulouse. Venez découvrir les secrets de ces petits insectes discrets, souvent mal-aimés, mais à la vie sociale fascinante. 📅 Samedi 15 nov. 2025 à 14h. ➡️ Infos & inscription via l’affiche ci-dessous #Conférence #Insectes #Nature

To learn more about research into the Triangle Weaver's astounding hunting technique, check out this article which includes video: www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/ar...

Better safe than sorry: leg amputations as a prophylactic wound care behaviour in carpenter ants buff.ly/INPxtKN | #ProcB #Behaviour #Evolution #WoundInfection

Editor's Choice article in our latest issue: "The genetic basis of natural variation in sociability " by Arteen Torabi-Marashi, Dania Daanish, Andrew M Scott, Reuven Dukas, & Ian Dworkin. academic.oup.com/evolut/artic... @idworkin.bsky.social