Tres machos de Eucera rufa (Apidae) no entienden qué pasa: la hembra que buscan copular está paralizada por una Danacosa merlini (Lycosidae). Cuando intenta llevársela, reaccionan y se enfrentan a ella. Naturaleza pura: instinto, confusión y lucha. Laguna del Ojillo (EBD) 🕷️vs🐝 @ebdonana.bsky.social

Plano de acção para reverter declínio dos polinizadores foi aprovado com verba para dois anos. Zero aplaude documento, mas lamenta falta de “músculo” político e financeiro.

🐝🪰🦋 O Polinizadores em Ação: Plano para a Conservação e Sustentabilidade dos Polinizadores foi alvo de destaque no @publico.pt, com declarações de Helena Ceia, do ICNF, Sílvia Castro, coordenadora da polli.NET e do PolinizAÇÃO, e Paulo Lucas da ZERO. Leiam abaixo! www.publico.pt/2026/04/12/a...

De esta pequeña visitante de las coles de al lado estoy más seguro de que es Lasioglossum.

One month of sampling completed in the urban area Coimbra for BeeConnected SUDOE 🌿🐝 We surveyed pollinator diversity, floral resources and nesting resources across 16 urban green spaces. Now it is time to process samples and analyse the first data. We return in May for the second sampling month.

João Loureiro (@jloureiro13.bsky.social), co-PI of the FLOWer Lab, spoke with Wilder about the approval of Portugal’s Action Plan for Pollinator Conservation and Sustainability 🌼 Find out more at the link below. wilder.pt/historias/po...

Já estão disponíveis na página WEB do ICNF as versões finais, ilustradas, do Polinizadores em Ação e do respetivo resumo para stakeholders 🐝🌼 Consulta aqui: www.icnf.pt/noticias/con... Obrigado a tod@s @s envolvidos, com destaque para a equipa PolinizAÇÃO e para a designer Maria Carlos Oliveira 🙌

Um marco para a conservação dos polinizadores em Portugal 🐝🌼 O Polinizadores em Ação foi oficialmente aprovado e publicado hoje (Despacho n.º 4214/2026). Um esforço coletivo da polli.NET e de muitos parceiros no território. 🧾 diariodarepublica.pt/dr/detalhe/d...

First flowers are now blooming in the restored beds at Pátio das Químicas, University of Coimbra 🌸 The first pollinators are here too, including a male and a female Anthophora plumipes, and we are now starting pollinator monitoring with the FITCount citizen science app 🐝

Los mirones de las abejas en los canteros de la Universidad! Também tu podes ser um mirone de las abejas! Instala o FITCount e vem espiar as abelhas e outros polinizadores connosco!

Meet the expert… Hugo Gaspar 🐝 Read more about Hugo in this post! Do you have any questions for him? Let us know the comments 👇🏻👇🏾 #PollinatorAcademy #Meettheexpert #Pollinators #Bees #Taxonomy

An unrequited love story between an Andrena bee and Ophrys fusca 💔🌸 A classic case of sexual deception, where the orchid mimics female cues to attract pollinators, not always successfully.

🍎Did you Know? Apples depend on honeybees, wildbees and bumblebees for pollination🍏

𝗔 𝗱𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗖𝗶𝘁𝗶𝘇𝗲𝗻 𝗦𝗰𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗲𝘁𝗲𝗻𝗰𝘆 𝗙𝗿𝗮𝗺𝗲𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗯𝘂𝘁𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗶𝘁 Join a session to know more, to contribute to finalising this first version of a citizen science competency framework. 𝗥𝗲𝗴𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

First nocturnal moth sampling at the Station of the Botanical Garden of the Universidade de Coimbra 🌙🦋 A total of 9 individuals recorded, belonging to 6 different species.

🌍 Join us for #InsectHour! Our free online talk series is open to everyone, everywhere, making #InsectScience accessible across the globe. Join leading researchers as they explore the fascinating questions shaping our understanding of insects today. More to be announced 🔽

A new Assets page is available at our website! It features our pollinator entomological collection, with about 25,000 insect specimens, including ~20,000 bees and ~1,000 hoverflies, as well as the flow cytometer used to estimate genome size and ploidy in plants. ucpages.uc.pt/flowerlab/as...

🎙️🐝 Hugo Gaspar from FLOWer Lab joined the podcast Palavra de Cientista to discuss the 2nd IUCN European Bee Red List. The assessment covered 1,928 species and found 171 threatened with extinction, while reducing Data Deficient species from 57% to 14% since 2014. 🎧 open.spotify.com/episode/2SWr...

🦋 First butterfly transect of the FLOWer Lab! As part of the Butterfly Monitoring Scheme, a citizen science initiative coordinated by TAGIS, we surveyed our site in Souselas. Despite marginal weather conditions, we recorded Gonopteryx sp., Pieris rapae and Callophrys rubi. A promising start! 🌿

Last Thursday, Biology students from @ucoimbra.bsky.social visited the Entomological Collection of the Department of Life Sciences (CE-DCV). The visit was part of the course Natural History Collections, and was hosted by Hugo Gaspar. CE-DCV houses ~25,000 insect specimens, including ~20,000 bees 🐝

🌍🐝 World Wildlife Day Plant–pollinator interactions are at the heart of biodiversity. Every flower visit sustains ecological networks that support wild plants, crops and ecosystem functioning 🌸🦋 Conserving wildlife means conserving these connections.

News in PT: www.uc.pt/fctuc/notici...

Hugo Gaspar (FLOWer Lab, UC) contributed to the new IUCN European Red List of Bees 🐝 10% of Europe’s wild bees are threatened. The report highlights the need for national Red Lists – Portugal still lacks one. Report: op.europa.eu/en/publicati... A2P report: op.europa.eu/en/publicati...

Today, plants take the spotlight 👑🌿 We’re sharing some of the winter diversity we found in Coimbra and Souselas, a reminder that even in the colder months, botanical richness quietly persists across the landscape.

Today we’re sharing a wonderful interaction between a hoverfly (Eristalis sp.) and a gorse shrub (Ulex sp.) 🌼 Hoverflies are key generalist pollinators, and observations like this highlight their role in Mediterranean shrubland plant–pollinator networks.

Meet the expert… Juan Pablo Cancela 🦋 Read more about Juan Pablo in this post! Do you have any questions for him? Let us know the comments 👇🏻👇🏾 #PollinatorAcademy #Meettheexpert #Pollinators #Butterfly #Taxonomy

Huge milestone for #pollinators! 🐝🪰 Members of FLOWer Lab contributed to a new paper in Scientific Data led by the University of Mons. The study compiles 5.3M+ records of European bees & hoverflies, covering 97% of species! Vital data for pollinator conservation. 🌍📉 Infographic made with NotebookLM

A fungus gnat (cf. Sciaridae) visiting Euphorbia characias (Mediterranean spurge) in Coimbra, Portugal

Interaction recorded in Mata de Santa Catarina, Coimbra, PT: a fungus gnat (cf. Sciaridae) visiting Euphorbia characias (Mediterranean spurge). Observations like this contribute to documenting underexplored Diptera–Euphorbia interactions. Apologies for the brief focus instability in the video.

Yesterday in the Mata de Santa Catarina, an Eristalis hoverfly during its daily grooming routine 🪰 A small but meticulous ritual, cleaning wings and antennae, keeping flight performance at its best. Even brief sunny intervals matter.

Coimbra hosted the BeeConnected SUDOE participatory workshop 🐝 Stakeholders worked in groups to identify threats to pollinators, prioritize actions and co-create solutions for urban biodiversity. Thank you to all participants for your engagement and valuable contributions. 🌼 #BeeConnectedSUDOE

Até já Carolina! Foi um gosto enorme aprendermos contigo ao longo destes dois últimos anos! Estamos sempre aqui para o que necessitares! Muito obrigado por tudo! Boa sorte e muito sucesso para esta nova etapa!

First ever evidence that multi-actor collaborative conservation produces biodiversity benefits (as far as I know) doi.org/10.1016/j.bi...

[1/3] We’re closing out the year with THREE new tools for pollinator identification. 1) Bee image database: Explore over 8,000 macro images covering more than 2,000 European Wild Bee species. Search by family, genus, or country to see diagnostic features in vivid detail 🐝 pollinatoracademy.eu/images

The EU has published rules for the Pollinator Monitoring Scheme. Butterflies, moths, bees and hoverflies will all be monitored by every Member State. Target to reverse decline in Pollinators by 2030 and increase pops. A big step in conserving biodiversity environment.ec.europa.eu/news/better-...

A Comissão Europeia aprovou o EU-PoMS, o novo esquema que harmoniza a monitorização de polinizadores na UE. O primeiro período abrange 2027 a 2030. A proposta de PT-PoMS desenvolvida no PolinizAÇÃO e entregue ao ICNF está alinhada com o Ato Delegado aprovado. 🐝💛 📃 eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-conten...

🐝 Pollinators are worth billions. A new study from the FLOWer Lab shows they secure over €2B/year for PT agriculture, with €1.1B coming from wild pollinators. Protecting them is essential for our food, economy and future. Read it: link.springer.com/article/10.1... News: www.uc.pt/fctuc/notici...

🐝 Os polinizadores valem milhões... Um novo estudo do FLOWer Lab revela que garantem mais de 2 mil milhões de €/ano à agricultura PT, sendo 1,1 mil milhões assegurados por polinizadores selvagens. Protegê-los é vital para a nossa alimentação, economia e futuro. Notícia: www.uc.pt/fctuc/notici...

O suspense acabou… 🤭 Já podemos revelar a data e o programa de inauguração da nova exposição do #PavilhaodoConhecimento: “SUPERBICHOS! Incríveis por Natureza”. 📢 Marquem na agenda: 24 de outubro, sexta-feira, a partir das 18.30. Entrada livre. Programa: www.pavconhecimento.pt/exposicoes/s...

Butterfly's website is live! Follow @butterfly-project.bsky.social Please repost widely @restpoll.bsky.social @safeguard-pollinators.eu pollinators.eu @wildposh.eu osh.eu @pollinera-horizon.eu @pollinis.org @bioagora.eu @pollinet.bsky.social @horizoneu.bsky.social @davegoulson.bsky.social ‬

Very proud to hear this wonderful talk by #SilviaCastro from @pollinet.bsky.social. 👏 #SPECO has been very well represented at @sibecol.bsky.social #congress

The Dutch Grassland Butterfly indicator (www.clo.nl/indicatoren/...) shows a decline of more than 70%. It will be hard to achieve an increasing trend in 2030, as required in art 11 in the Nature Restoration Regulation (eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-conten...).

How to create a #nature-literate society. My latest article @theconversation.com Revaluing naturalists' skills is essential for a future where we work with, not against, nature. Notice Name Nurture #GreenJobs theconversation.com/heres-how-to... @uclnews.bsky.social @curlewaction.bsky.social

Ontem foi um dia muito bonito! Obrigado a todos os envolvidos! Visitem a exposição Pequenos Gigantes - Guardiões da Biodiversidade para ficarem a conhecer melhor alguns da diversidade de polinizadores que podem encontrar em Portugal através do olho e da lente do Albano Soares!

🌿 New publication with FLOWer Lab’s contribution! With Sílvia Castro, led by Catarina Gomes from Madeira Botanical Group, this study on Musschia wollastonii reveals its mixed reproductive system—self-pollination and insect pollinators, mostly hoverflies and butterflies. Many act as pollen robbers!

🐝 New publication! The chapter "Taxonomy of European Apoidea: Anthophila", by Hugo Gaspar (FLOWer Lab) & Simone Flaminio (Univ. of Mons), provides a practical guide to bee diversity & identification in Europe. 📖 Part of "Hidden and Wild: An Integrated Study of European Wild Bees". Read it 👇

Not one but three Andrena cineraria nesting aggregations spotted today. They love these south facing walls. (Also, it was ~20C today 😵‍💫)

Could ChatGPT help us to protect #biodiversity? An international panel of experts has come up with 21 ideas where #AI could revolutionize biodiversity conservation 🤖🐛