Arthropod Photo of the Week: January 14, 2026 Robber fly with winged termite Asilus sp. / Reticulitermes sp. Diptera: Asilidae / Blattodea: Termitidae Observed in West Bengal, India By Sekhar Bandyopadhyay, West Bengal, India #arthropodPOTW

Very disappointing - also, how many fellows of the Royal Society are there who are not scientists but business men ?

An excellent talk by @tweetisaurus.bsky.social . What a remarkable story. This was recorded. If you can, give it a watch. #dinosaurs #palaeontology www.bilnas.org/event/bizarr...

Can’t wait for this! Very excited to be one of the tutors - great team, great habitat

Lasius claviger citronella ants tend to eggs in their underground nest. This species is abundant in eastern North America, but as it is subterranean most people never see them unless they happen across a late summer mating flight.

#ElkeDagEenInsect Glanzende houtmier (doet haar naam eer aan) overbrugt een groot ravijn.  #Entomologie #Entomology🐜

Myrmicinae have two isolated node segments in the waist, with the abdomen pointed downward. Here is Chelaner, from Australia:

Formicinae have a single isolated node segment in the waist, and the abdomen oriented more backwards and straight. Here is Polyergus, from Illinois:

Worker ants run through an underground tunnel. Linepithema micans, Argentina. This species, like most insects, has no common name.

I was searching for a photograph on my iPhone and realised that almost _every_ image of a flower that I have ever taken also has an insect in it! #flowers #insects #macrophotography #photography

#ElkeDagEenInsect "pretty in pink" een van de eerste foto's toen ik aan het klooien was met dubbele flitskoppen. Erg leuk, maar was onhandig meenemen altijd. #Entomologie #Entomology🪰

Did a really fun video with the V&A at their cool storehouse location! WAs such a delight to get to see some of really cool objects up close and chat about art ehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Js3LV1KZ7M

Damnit. I was hoping someone world transfer me their Nobel Prize in Literature.

#ElkeDagEenInsect De havenpissebed. Wat een joekels! #Entomologie #Entomology

When putting out containers of water for wildlife on hot days, please place a rock and a stick or two in there, so small animals, including insects and reptiles, can get in and out easily. Placing containers in a shady and protected spot is best.

This is such a great show! I was lucky enough to get tickets to a recording of two episodes of this series on my birthday in November. We had trees, copulating frogs & rotifers. Tickets to the NHM would have been in demand. “I brought… maggots” they’d have been disappointed if there weren’t any!

Oh yes gods another anthem for our times. Dolores died far too young. I say the Cranberries play live 30yrs ago. If you go to Dublin it’s an unwritten rule that any band will play ‘Zombie’ at least twice in their set. Play it LOUD.

Back from 2004 (I think?) this is #GreenDay ’s anthem to the America that they saw. Still horribly relevant! Play it LOUD!

#ElkeDagEenInsect Waarom zou de kokersteekmier toch zo heten? #Entomologie #Entomology🐜

The US has some of the world’s best climate scientists (and more of them than anywhere else) & has contributed disproportionately to understanding the climate system. It’s idiotic for the US to withdraw from the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change & the IPCC but it’s on brand for this regime.

Dr. Jane Goodall filmed an interview with Netflix in March 2025 that she understood would only be released after her death.

✨ your regular reminder to give blood if you can✨ www.blood.co.uk

A NOTE TO ANYONE WHO NEEDS IT: When fitting new floorboards upstairs, do not drive two sharp screws through the same 15mm PEX (plastic) hot water pipe. Also, test your rising main stop cock (cut off valve) you may need it one day. I will not be taking questions… 💦 💦 💦

Bothroponera soror, a common African huntress ant. Photographed in Kibale Forest, Uganda.

Next Tuesday evening I'm giving an online seminar on Spicomellus for our funders, the British Institute of Libyan and Northern African Studies. It's free and anyone can come! Sign up here if you're interested us02web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

A winter ant, Prenolepis imparis. Georgia.

In honour of my new job as Director of the University Museum of Zoology at Cambridge University, this is the first of a series of weekly posts celebrating our amazing collection. And what better to start with than the Fin Whale, who will welcome you when you come to visit! @zoologymuseum.bsky.social

Yay, our new species is out! Only two Xanthephialtes species were known to exist from before, now we've added a third from Uganda. Please welcome: Xanthephialtes iida sp. nov! 🧪🐣🥳 Named after Emil's wife. In @zookeys.pensoft.net with @ilarisaaksjarvi.bsky.social, me, Emil, Kari, Simon.

Great new paper! Many stinging wasps, bees, and ants have controlled the sex of their developing eggs for millions of year using an ancient segment of their genome- always the same segment- but what's weird is, *the exact DNA sequence of that segment doesn't seem to matter*.

March flies (Diptera: Bibionidae) spend most of their lives as larvae in shallow soil. Once or twice a year those of the same species in a given area pupate and emerge as adults in unison. They then spend just a few days mating and laying eggs before they die. Palmyra Michigan, 28 May 2017.

Speaking as a professional biologist, there is no greater sign of incoming pigheaded movement bigotry than someone attempting to apply the term "biological sex" in the context of human gender fluidity. The term is meaningless, biologically speaking, and tautological.

Frost studies....

In other Hymenoptera macro size comparison news: ~3/4" Sweat Bee so sweet and teeny... ...then there's the chalcid wasp following her... #inverts #becurious

Discerning a sense of size from macro photographs is hard. Camponotus intrepidus, for example, is one of Australia’s largest sugar ants at slightly under an inch long. But did you see the little Pheidole ant at her heels?

Just 3 days left to apply for this PhD position - email me with any Qs :)

So happy to see this published! Led by the very talented @marinamoser.bsky.social who also did all the line drawings, a valuable and increasingly rare skill. Congrats team!

#ElkeDagEenInsect Een leuke wants, toen ik met een groothoek aan het experimenteren was. #Entomologie #Entomology🪲

Ok so reposting as I forgot to crop the image after editing… that’s 2026 for you!

At 5.15pm GMT today, the Earth will be at perihelion, the closest point to the Sun in our annual round. This should be the start of the year. Happy new orbit, everyone!

#ElkeDagEenInsect Ik maak vaak stacks, dikwijls illustratie habitus foto's van beetjes, maar als het kan ook onderzoeksgerelateerd. Hier 3 zussen uit een kolonie Messor mieren, waarbij ik het brein zichtbaar heb geprepareerd. Bij de major moest er veel spierweefsel uit! #Entomologie #Entomology🐜

Is this the older, more experienced workers trusted for out door activities who do the carrying, moving younger ‘indoor’ ants?🐜 I have seen this in Surrey in the UK and it is a fascinating behaviour.

Whenever I see this photo of harvester ants working on their nest, I think how it looks like they planted a decorative tree by their door like they have an HOA or something. (Pogonomyrmex desertorum, west Texas)

#ElkeDagEenInsect Proost! #Entomologie #Entomology🐜🪲

OH WOW! A whole web page DEVOTED to SPONGE SPICULE Imagery ! #porifera #spongeThursday www.spicules.org

One of Australia's most common and distinctive ants is the colorful Rhytidoponera metallica, seen here with silken cocoons in the brood nest. Diamond Creek, Victoria.

Yep

Nature - fun, odd, amazing, beautiful and totally this planet. 2025 - what a year, what a rollercoaster, some tears, some hope Please let us look after our world in 2026, it’s the only one that I live on and I happen to like it..

My wife is just freezing the last of the #Aldi mince pies and I have just realised… oh the horror… the snowflake has pentameral symmetry!