It’s the second best day of the semester! Myiasis Day! I get to teach my students about myiasis and watch all their faces in real time recoil at the horror.

I had to take some time away, but we're back tonight at 10 pm (CT) with some Grounded 2! www.twitch.tv/punk_ento

Best question from today talk was being asked to explain what “being baptized” meant. If you’re in forensics, have done autopsies, or any sort of corpse removal then you understand.

Just got done giving a talk on forensic entomology to the Florida Horror Writers Association. A lot of good questions and hopefully I helped them come up with some ideas for their books.

We're going live with Grounded 2! www.twitch.tv/punk_ento Going to continue to be upset with the Hemipterans having teeth or shocked pikachu mouths

Going live in 10 minutes! An Entomologist comes back to Twitch. Time for some Grounded 2! Come learn about bugs. www.twitch.tv/punk_ento #entomology #scientiststhatstream

What a time to be alive!! #FliesofBritainandIreland coming out SOON @dipteristsforum.bsky.social @teamdiptera.bsky.social @dipterists.bsky.social

Going to do a Grounded 2 stream! Come hang out and talk about bugs or your research. Was this planned? No. But it's Friday. www.twitch.tv/punk_ento

*Imperial March starts playing*

That moment when you're reading papers, recognize a name, and remember that a lot of your colleagues and people you followed over on Twitter made their way over here as well. Sorry it took so long @mosquitolab.bsky.social 😅

Doing a test stream at 4:00 pm CST today. Going to play some Grounded 2 and figure out the bugs. Been a while since I last streamed and trying to make this a consistent thing where scientists and science enjoyers can come hangout and chat. www.twitch.tv/punk_ento

"Hello boys, I'm baaaaaack" Get ready for more grossness and multiple mentions of mouth parts this year. #DragonCon2026 #ScienceisGross #Punk_Entomology

Coquito iced coffee. That's it. That's the post. (Trust me. You need this in your life)

What you don't hear in this photo is the "brrrrttt" noise he makes as he runs up and down the stairs at top speed.

Literally made coquito and then saw this post. My partner brought me over homemade rugelach. Can confirm that they go so well together.

I did a thing! I am extremely grateful to David and Will for having me on an episode of their podcast to do a primer on Diptera. One of the highlights of the year for sure. #entomology

Some days I think to myself "I'm not that nerdy." And then I realize I got excited over an email about a Midwest bee genus identification workshop my university just sent out. I don't even study Hymenopterans, but I would definitely attend. #entomology

Was at @animefrontiertx.bsky.social so Taliesin Jaffe could sign my straight jacket. But… Uh…. My cousin Throckmorton who skateboards has a street named after him (IYKYK). Needless to say I couldn’t stop laughing. #critter #animefrontier2025

Very cool work by Wendy Valencia-Montoya out of the Bellono lab on cycads and ancient pollination. tinyurl.com/CycadPollina... #entomology #insectpollination #pollination

Have any Critters / Destiny fans made this joke yet?

We really have to standardize the language we used in forensic ento development papers. I have students confused by postfeeding, meandering, and wandering in various papers. Yes, they're all still 3rd instars, but too many students are missing that and getting confused.

Finally watched some Alien Earth and it's the first time in the franchise that we're given some plausible reason as to why the xenomorph evolved that dragonfly larvae-like mouth. It's not explicitly said, but the eyeball octopus parasite taking over hosts that attack the xeno appears to be it.

Pros of forensic entomology: any meat that goes bad I can essentially use to attract flies to collect. Can never have too many flies in your collection. Cons: The smell.

Not me seeing cockroaches in one of my spouse's period K-dramas and having to double check that they're the right species for that period and location... This is your brain on entomology, kids.

Welp. Someone broke a urinal off the wall apparently on the 5th floor. It is now “raining” on the 4th floor.

@tkingfisher.com finished my read through (sorry for the delay, was getting married).

Just got done recording an episode on Diptera with @commondescentpod.bsky.social I had so much fun and can't wait for ya'll to hear it. Now to close the bajillion tabs I have open.

I’ve been quite busy prepping for my wedding that happened on Halloween at a very special place to me and my family. The grave site of Johnny and Pamela Thompson. To most they were the Great Tomsoni & Co. To me they were uncle Johnny and Aunt Pam.

The mosquito Aedes aegypti arrived in metro Las Vegas, Nevada, eight years ago and, despite the arid conditions, has found a foothold. A new study finds the species to be present in more than half of census tracts in the area, causing concern about rising risk of vector-borne disease.

At a board game night and can’t help but think about @commondescentpod.bsky.social because of this game.

Anyone else notice videos about "infinite loot glitches" in Borderlands 4 are usually about mechanics that have been present since Borderlands 1 and aren't glitches?

Sometimes being a scientist means putting in an 18 hour work day, with 12 of that being an experiment you have to run at that time. The PORCD is done though. The photos? Awful. The smell? Awful. Now it's time to do all the fun data analysis.

I need you to understand how pretty my cat is. Will I become the annoying cat dad who shares photos of their pet on their main science account? Absolutely.

Being sick for over a week and having to balance lectures, students, research, writing, and other projects has been a “fun” experience. Do not recommend the negative modifier.

How do you spend part of your Friday night? I had a lovely time in the @commondescentpod.bsky.social’s love Q&A chat about mimicry. And now? Borderlands 4

Everyone remembers that mason jar trend from a few years back? Yeah, we do if a little differently. About 300 C. mac pupa in here. They’ll eclose in about 2-3 days, but I have to sort them for the PORCD experiment first. #entomology #forensicentomology

It's LIVE CAM TIME. Fat bear week is upon us! explore.org/livecams/bro... The live cam sets have a "meditation" highlights reel and wow do they know their audience.

I decided that today is the day students are going to learn about regionality and regional data sets and how the same species can develop at different rates at the same temp due to where they're from. They're used to working with N. American data sets, let's see how they do with S. American.

Meet Bathydoris, a deep-sea nudibranch that ROV pilots filmed almost two miles beneath the surface on an abyssal plain east of the Río de la Plata Canyon during the #uruguaysub200 expedition. 🎥ROV SuBastian / Schmidt Ocean Institute

This little butterfly has a whopping 229 pairs of chromosomes! That is, I think, the most of any multicellular animal described so far. www.the-scientist.com/an-elusive-b...

I was going to give a talk on disability and fieldwork at ESA this year. But. Uh. I’m getting married the week before. So it’ll have to wait for next time. Got a little overzealous in thinking I could make timing work.

These little chalcid wasps are my fave! And the color combo with the grass leaf goldenrod is just stunning! #insects

I do love catching up on entomology news and finding out about the weird behaviors flies do (yes, I’m biased towards Diptera). phys.org/news/2025-02... #entomology

I am having A Day (although granted it’s a lot better than some people) so here’s a flying shrimp. Ok really they’re called Hummingbird Clearwing Moths. They love this wild bergamot #invertebrates #NativePlants 🌿

@alexsmithants.bsky.social Would it be possible to be added to the 10th Entomology Starter Pack?

@tkingfisher.com I have friends DMing me on FB about the email thing. I swear you have my right email now!

A 12-year effort by entomologists in Iowa solves mysteries about an elusive planthopper, Fitchiella robertsonii, including key host plants and environments. The 219 specimens they caught are 90% of those ever collected by scientists, marking a leap forward for potential conservation of the species.

I guess I have to be more active here and talk about the gross side of entomology more. Hopefully y’all are okay with me just being upset about all things entomology not being accurately portrayed in various media 😅

Devil’s advocate to this though. It’s “stinkbug” and not “stink bug” so it’s not a Hemiptera, but some weird hybrid insect. #entomology #grounded #grounded2

Every semester I get students who are absolutely terrified of insects. By the end of my class though they’re usually minoring, double majoring, or grabbing an ent certificate. Let’s see if that pattern holds this Fall.