I went for a xc ski this morning and I was disappointed to not see any insects on the snow. But when I got home, this little snow scorpionfly was waiting at the foot of my stairs! #Boreus #Whitehorse #Yukon #Mecoptera

The Vegreville Pysanka, or Ukrainian Easter Egg, isn't just a very famous roadside attraction, it is a true marvel. It influenced the design of the Space Shuttle. It was a notable first in computer modelling. Oh, and it is also a weather vane! This is its story. 🧵 1/8

Honeybee swarms do not come together and fall apart in the same way 🐝 In this new preprint led by Danielle Chase, we report how to trick swarms to repeatedly assemble and disassemble in front of our cameras, while tracking individual bees in 3D! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Join us here at @laurentianu.bsky.social as we rebuild our ecology/evolution group. We are hiring an assistant professor in animal ecology Working with me is a treat, so that's a bonus not mentioned in the ad. laurentian.ca/about/career...

🎙️ New Meet the P.I. podcast episode with Anna Stöckl @anna-stoeckl.bsky.social is out! From vision to interdisciplinary science, navigating new fields, dealing with rejection, and finding your own path ✨ 🎧 Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/1DGh... 📺 YouTube: www.youtube.com/watch?v=iemB...

Fly Research & Conservation Virtual Symposium 2026 Tue 23 Jun 2026 | Online | £30 or pay what you can Explore the latest fly ecology, conservation science & practical case studies. Live Q&A, expert talks & all resources available after the event 🌍 🧪 Book here: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1981718540...

So excited to have received an #HFSPResearchGrant to study trilobite eyes with Luke Parry @oxuniearthsci.bsky.social and Gil Ju Lee (Pusan National University)!🥳 I'll be recruiting a postdoc @bristolbiosci.bsky.social - if 3D data, optical modelling, and fossils tickle your interest, stay tuned!

🧵 1/6 Our new paper is out in Journal of Experimental Biology! We've been studying the curious dancing flight of male mayflies and why they do it. Spoiler: it's not just to impress females. 🪲⬇️ journals.biologists.com/jeb/article-...

I am excited to share my new paper in @plosbiology.org . Here we show the role of chitin, a polysaccharide, in controlling the shape of the fly corneal lens. journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...

OK, take a moment away from whatever nonsense this world is throwing at you today, and have a look at this extreme insect 🪳🪲 wing macro photography by Chris Perani. (The image in the thumbnail is Xylocopa latipes, a carpenter bee.) www.thisiscolossal.com/2026/03/chri...

Mosquitoes don’t just stop biting when they’re full — their butts help flip the switch. New research reveals gut cells that signal “no more blood.” https://www.sciencenews.org/article/mosquitoes-butts-full-stop-biting

Adam Haberski (@ahaberski.bsky.social)

ICB Have you met Candido Diaz? (image from his site) Circle back and read our blog by Jacob Cummings integrativeandcomparativebiology.wordpress.com/2026/03/10/g... then visit his incredible site to learn more about Diaz candidodiazjr.wixsite.com/mysite/meet-...

There is hope for me! #birds www.cbc.ca/radio/quirks...

More auto feeder action!

What makes humans stand out to #mosquitoes? by Jacob Goldman "...why do mosquitoes lock onto certain people so easily? Are they responding to how we look, how we smell, or something more complicated than either one alone?" read in full integrativeandcomparativebiology.wordpress.com/2026/02/18/w...

🚨JOB alert🚨 We have three (yes, THREE) 🌟lectureships🌟 advertised in the School of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol. Broad remit, including #AnimalBehaviour & #GlobalChangeBiology ⏱️Deadline: 8th March 2026 🙏Please circulate widely 😊Come join us! Full #job details: tinyurl.com/y3us95rc

Distribution and diversity of terrestrial isopods (Isopoda: Oniscidea) in Canada, including new records and a species checklist doi.org/10.4039/tce.... #NewInCanEnt

This is my absolute #1 pet-peeve as a reviewer. I see it probably 6-8 times per year. And frequently from people who should absolutely know better...

And of course a huge thanks to support from UW and all my colleagues in the growing mosquito research hub in Seattle. Come for the science, stay for the scenery!

So happy to be presenting to one of my favorite community of scientists! (@neuroethology.org ) Come join us, to check out some of my “old” work with new insights about arthropod eyes and their molecular make-up! #Neuroethology

This is a devastating blow to Canadian dipterology, entomology, ecology, and beyond. Please share. #diptera @dipterists.bsky.social @teamdiptera.bsky.social @canentomologist.bsky.social @entsocamerica.bsky.social @entsocontario.bsky.social @entsocbc.bsky.social @royentsoc.bsky.social

HEY THEY SAID CANADA THAT’S WHERE WE’RE FROM (that was amazing)

UPDATE for WIDOW SPIDERS OF THE WORLD: The book is essentially done but I'm waiting to launch preorders until the huge Latrodectus revision is published. That part is out of my hands, so I don't have a specific date for book launch just yet. Thank you all for your patience! tl;dr book soon. 🕷️

If you were in North Burnaby this AM it was good conditions for hair ice. We have a lot of old cottonwood trees; lots of them are dead and rotting. Rotting, water saturated broadleaf wood with Exidiopsis effusa, and cold overnight temperatures gives you hair ice. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hair_ice

Over 1.4 million views (🤯) of this #ZeFrank video that features some of our lab’s work on gall wasps and parasitoid wasps! (And many others, too!) youtu.be/ANyJVMhOpkk

UPDATE: The 2025-2026 list of faculty and postdoc positions in ecology and evolutionary biology is out! Be sure to check out this active and helpful community run resources! docs.google.com/spreadsheets...

As the Arctic warms, mosquitoes—and the diseases they carry—float north. A recent study finds Jamestown Canyon virus and snowshoe hare virus present in mosquitoes in Arctic and sub-Arctic regions of North America.

#SICB2026 if you interested in mosquitoes, color vision or the combination of the two make sure to check out my talk on Wednesday at 11:15 AM in the Odor and Olfaction session. I'll be talking about my work trying to show true color discrimination in Aedes aegypti.

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

Here's Nasonia vitripennis and Trichogramma evanescens (on the same pencil tip, back in the lab), which I worked on together with Emma van der Woude #Entomology #ElkDagEenInsect 🐝nee #ElkeDagTweeInsecten

Be sure to see @yashsondhi.bsky.social & more for the hybrid #SICB2026 symposium on Arduinos, Raspberry Pis and 3D- printable devices used to showcase work on behavior and #environmental monitoring. linktr.ee/tfranzem

Join us at the Low-Cost & Open-Source Science Hybrid Symposium at #SICB2026 🗓️ Jan 5, 2026 | 📍 Portland, OR 🎤 8 keynote talks ⚡ Lightning talks (register below for discord & zoom links) 🧾 Special issue in @sicbjournals.bsky.social More details 🔗 linktr.ee/tfranzem #OpenSource #OpenScience #SICB

Pre-print alert 🚨🐜!!! I am really excited to share results from the first empirical chapter of my PhD. We ( @dornhaus.bsky.social and I) set out to examine how fire ants deal with perturbations to communication during foraging. Turns out their foraging is not robust to this perturbation. (1/5)

Yes, lemon pigs did gain popularity right when lots of things went to shit. But correlation is not causation! Consider that the lemon pigs appeared as guardians in our time of need. We actually need to make EVEN MORE lemon pigs if we’re gonna turn things around

It's almost #SICB2026! Who do I know that's going to be there? Hit me up! And if you don't know me & want to be friends, let me know! And of course: grad student Tabby Moul [Sun @10:30pm], undergrad Oscar Peterson [Sun @ 1:45pm], and I [Wed @ 9am] are presenting talks! @sicb.bsky.social

0.00003 foot tall xmas tree from a Drosophila flight steering muscle 🎄 image by @anne-sustar.bsky.social

An analysis of the hidden patterns on the underside of the wings in butterflies within the Agrodiaetus monomorphic complex using UV imaging: doi.org/10.3897/zook...

party larva

Very proud of this new paper from the lab! Work by the magnificent Andrea Adden and many brilliant collaborators illuminate how moth and butterfly brains have evolved in light of different ecologies. Freely available here: rdcu.be/eVR3B; @lundvision.bsky.social @biologylu.bsky.social

So reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) can't fly, but they are VERY MAGICAL. For example, their EYES CHANGE COLOR during the year & they're one of the few large mammals that can see UV. Golden brown in summer, deep blue in winter. Let's talk about the unique visual adaptations of Rudolph and company.

Thrilled to announce a Postdoc opportunity in our group on the evolutionary genetics and ecology of colour. Wonderful system, great collaborators, and room to shape your own ideas. Apply by 7 Jan: jobs.helsinki.fi/job/13477181...

Made Nanaimo bars! Recipe from the city of Nanaimo ( on their website)

Sorry Florida! Don’t look at the flash. “The #1 movie when you were 10 years old is how your 2026 is going to go.”

Update: the RFID-based automated bird feeder (a) has passed the leak test in this week’s western Washington atmospheric river and (b) is officially up and running with each box having its own WiFi connection for remote data download! Time to take it to the field!

🎉 Thrilled to see our #MosquitoCellAtlas featured on the cover of @cp-cell.bsky.social ! This mosaic represents 367K cells across 19 tissues, unveiling the complex biology that makes mosquitoes the world's deadliest animals. Beautiful art by @somedonkey.bsky.social meets the #Vosshalllab science! 🦟🎨

While many modern plants use colorful flowers to attract pollinators, ancient palm-like plants called cycads lure them by heating up and glowing in the infrared. n.pr/3MuJr08

New study from @michellebeyer.bsky.social published in Animal Behaviour: Silk of females performing maternal care elicits reduced courtship responses in male spiders.

Looking for a gift for a birding friend or a kid who loves nature? I have 10 books for adults and kids, some bestselling and some award-winning, and you can see them all here: rosemarymosco.com/books (Note: one of them, Birding Is My Favorite Video Game, is out of print but a new edition is coming!)

New #PhD ad alert! Interested in wild #bee #cognition and #brains in different #bumblebees? Want to live in #Newcastle and the beautiful north-east of England? Check out this project with me, @lenariab.bsky.social and Sarah Scott. Contact me for further information. iapetus.ac.uk/studentships...