Merry Christmas! 🎄🎁 As such, I'm required to provide photos of insects wearing Santa hats. Whether you celebrate or not, I hope you have a wonderful day!

The Bosque Escuela Tena in Ecuador, children learn by exploring nature. The school was recently awarded a Global Citizenship Award - @unesco.org, which recognizes initiatives that build more peaceful and sustainable societies. www.instagram.com/bosque_escue...

From the surface, ant nests don't look like much. But underground, there's *a lot* going on! Learn about the complex structure & construction of ant nests, and what we have to learn from it all, in Pranay's new blog post: "Antchitecture"! hmcbee.blogspot.com/2025/12/antc... @hmc.edu

Considering the wider uses of 'de-extinction' technology, just posted on the 'Value in nature' blog: mscaterino.pika.page/posts/de-ext... #biodiversity #nature 🌐

This volunteer banana did surprisingly well here in decidely non-tropical upstate South Carolina. But the frosts are taking their toll. It'll be interesting to see if it springs back to life next year.

For those who like their beetles EXTRA strongly striate, Phelister condor, from the high Peruvian Andes.

tons of emails to send today but I'm too busy imagining a fight between Tachygonus and Cianopsis

"In the canopies of a South American rainforest, a tiny soldier termite has stunned a team of international scientists with its whale-like features." The story of Cryptotermes mobydicki, a new species just described in ZooKeys! blogs.ifas.ufl.edu/news/2025/12...

We're recruiting a project manager to help coordinate research under a new US Forest Service grant, a broad collaboration within Clemson & with other management agencies assessing damage & recovery from Hurricane Helene. Apply here: www.clemson.edu/human-resour... (Job ID 110083)

The face of Phelister egincola, one of the more common species of Neotropical Exosternini. A predator on larval flies, primarily.

Rhipidioides sp. This very small male Rhipidioides sp. beetle was a new visitor to our moth light this week. This is the only recorded observation in Western Australia. The larvae of this species parasitises cockroaches🪳 #ausinverts #wildoz #beetle #coleoptera #inaturalist

This was a very thoughtful, thought-provoking, and entertaining conversation. The snippet below isn't the most representative of the whole. My take-aways were more about how we find meaning in the world, acknowledging the advantages (~luck) we have, and how to be the most positive forces we can.

Walking with critically-endangered black rhinos in the desert wilderness of northern Namibia. 🌿 richardconniff.substack.com/p/getting-to...

Sizing up the hidden beauty. Kalama tricornis, a lace bug, not rare, lives right among us. Colored pencils

Oops reposting with the tag! One of my students earlier this year was an absolute springtail stan. This is for you, Riley. #InsertAnInvert2024 in 2025

Totally agree. But this article (both the study and the synopsis) exemplify one of the main symptoms, a dualistic perception of humans VS. nature. The education we need is one that highlights our place within the natural order. We must recognize that the fate of other species will be ours too.

Been spending some quality time with histerid genitalia the past few weeks. These are helpful, but not proving the panacea to resolving species in this particular group of neotropical Phelister. Most have external characters too, thankfully!

In response to a special request, 'Let's go Viral'. This latest Value in Nature post looks at some beneficial uses of viruses, making the case for better documentation and understanding of virus diversity. #biodiversity #nature 🌐 mscaterino.pika.page/posts/lets-g...

‘preference for entomological-themed projects’!

Ticks on an eel?! Crazy!

Small scale study (central European grasslands), but with larger scale implications: species loss, especially of larger-bodied species, accounts for a substantial proportion of arthropod declines. Community simplification is bad news for the ecosystem services that arthropods provide. rdcu.be/eSKAP

I like to see threatened species get picked up by popular culture so they get moved to an appropriate climate and helped to grow. Maybe I'll plant myself a Fraser up here by the Fraser River

Some thoughts on how to win the argument with your MAGA uncle at Thanksgiving: www.messageboxnews.com/p/how-to-han...

Check out the latest post on the Triplehorn Insect Collection’s Pinning Block blog. #curation #museums #insects #collections #entomology

'Tis the season to consider some of the ins and outs of Christmas tree production. It's quite striking that the regionally endemic and somewhat threatened Fraser fir has become so popular. This may end up being its own salvation! mscaterino.pika.page/posts/o-chri... #biodiversity #nature 🌐

The paper covered in this NPR piece justifies a brief addendum to my 'Increasing Lifespan..' post (mscaterino.pika.page/posts/increa...). Researchers found a highly effective DNA repair protein in Bowhead whales that, inserted into Drosophila, increased lifespan and tumor resistance in the flies.

When engineers struggled to make 3D printer nozzles narrow enough for their needs, they turned to nature and found the proboscis of a female mosquito had exactly the properties they needed

On the bus with ‘Tamed’, by @profaliceroberts.bsky.social , a fascinating look at early humans’ interactions with what turned out to be very useful elements of biodiversity. Highly recommended!

New on the 'Value in nature' blog: "Increasing lifespan - it ain't necessarily so easy" (a nod to the Gershwin tune that questioned Methuselah's claimed age). How can other species contribute to understanding & perhaps slowing aging? mscaterino.pika.page/posts/increa... #biodiversity #nature 🌐

The year in Ecuador already seems a lifetime away. Here's a soothing cruise over the rainforest of Mashpi from last May, short from the lodge's 'Libellula' (dragonfly) gondola.

It's week 3 of fatherhood, and today I was granted special dispensation from shopping, housework, nappies & feeding, to do some macrophotography! The highlight was this Oribatid mite (N. spinulosa) sporting long defensive spines, which I've nicknamed the Hellraiser mite! #SoilBiodiversity 🧪

When a paper on surgical instruments inspired by sawfly ovipositors came out a few weeks ago, I knew I had to write about it: mscaterino.pika.page/posts/the-ta... #biodiversity #nature 🌐

Do you want to find out what David Sharp, the famous 19th century entomologist called “the most extraordinary male characters of any Coleopterous insect”? Come to my talk tomorrow at 2:05pm in Portland Ballroom 252.

In my off-hours from the annual Entomological Society of America meeting ( #EntSoc2025 ), I've been putting the finishing touches on a longer 'Value in nature' post on one of my favorite subjects, beer. Enjoy! #biodiversity #nature #beer 🌐 mscaterino.pika.page/posts/biodiv...

I will have an opening for a Ph.D. student (M.S. required) to begin Summer 2026, studying impacts to high Appalachian arthropod communities following Hurricane Helene. I'll be at Ent. Soc. America meetings next week. Please point interested students my way. More: sites.google.com/site/caterin...

Supercool deep dive into sawfly ovipositor functional morphology, with applications to surgical tools!

Today's 'Value in nature' post is a bit of a sidebar. For readers not deeply versed in taxonomy, how do well-resolved classifications allow us to make informed predictions about important properties of species? #biodiversity #nature 🌐 mscaterino.pika.page/posts/evolut...

Twelve new species of the rove beetle genus Bibrax are described from Ecuador. Find out more about them here: doi.org/10.3897/zook... @mcaterino.bsky.social #beetles #biodiversity #newspecies ‪

Euphoria! This is both the proper genus name and the feeling associated with finding one (on a walk over to the library). Late in the year for this guy. Euphoria sepulchralis, I believe.

Would you like your acorns in small, medium, or Xtra Large? The giants are from Clemson's Centennial Bur Oak (the well-named Quercus macrocarpa), a spectacular tree. Medium is white oak (Q. alba) and small is willow oak (Q. phellos).

How protecting wild diversity will safeguard the future of flavor, this week on the 'Value in nature' blog: #biodiversity #nature 🌐 mscaterino.pika.page/posts/variet...

I had been to this site 7 or 8 times before since moving here a couple months ago and never found anything. That's how it goes, usually. If a spot looks good, keep going back under different conditions and seasons.

The possibility of strengthening environmental law seems a distant hope in the current political landscape. But this paper lays out a strong framework for doing it, should the winds change. doi.org/10.1002/pan3...

Over 400,000 beetle species exist, but how are they related? 🐞 Join Dr @beetlequeen.bsky.social ( @nhm-london.bsky.social ) on 15 Feb 2026 for a FREE webinar exploring efforts to map the global Beetle Tree of Life & uncover biodiversity patterns. 👉 www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/mapping-th...

Will talk bugs for beer, tomorrow night (and, really, pretty much any time!)

Lovely to receive the first copies of my new book, "Life on a Little-Known Planet." Thanks to www.evangaffneydesign.com for the great cover design.