Looking at 31 dung beetle species on a mountain in the Mexican Transition Zone, variation in wing morphology was quantified, finding that species with more elliptical wings & a high aspect ratio were better suited to colonisation of higher mountains! Find out more 🧪 👇 (2/2) doi.org/10.1093/biol...

Here are two species of #Squill found in the UK, Spring squill #Scillaverna and Autumn squill #Scillaautumnalis. They're members of the #Scilloideae, along with bluebells, hyacinth, and Grape hyacinth. The biggest challenge was ensuring the flowers are as nuanced as possible, and not a vivid blue

Job opportunity in #Australia 🧪

www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DRO233/d... one year post in Old Norse #medievalsky

#Beetles #Coleoptera #insects #entomology

New blog out on why #Dandelions #Taraxacum officinale are such a brilliant #wildflower lizzieharper.co.uk/2026/03/dand... Excellent for pollinators, adaptable, gorgeous, & fabulous subjects for #sciart and #botanicalillustration; with over 235 species in the UK along (oh yes) what's not to love?

We're excited to announce that applications for our 2026 Young Darwin Scholarship are open! This unique opportunity offers 16-25-year-olds a 90% subsidised, Darwin-inspired scholarship, combining environmental education and ongoing support. Apply now 👉 buff.ly/sDcR3AM #YoungDarwinScholarship

So pleased to have my botanical illustrations in Grasslands by John Wright, published this month. The cover, by Luna North, is a beautiful print, and my pictures, reproduced in monochrome, sit well with the text. It's a lovely book, and a fascinating read, too. Well done @profilebooks.bsky.social !

Don’t reach for ChatGPT Images or Nano Banana as your first option when creating scientific images There are multiple free and open-source images, icons, and tools for creating scientific illustrations. #plantscience @stephenturner.us blog.stephenturner.us/p/free-open-...

Plant Science Research Weekly: May 1, 2026 plantae.org/plant-scienc... Reviews: Wild plants as promising crops; Arbuscular apoplastic signaling; Bidirectional food-environment impacts. Also, biosynthetic pathways of nicotine and withanolide (1/2) @plantbioeng.bsky.social @lmueller.bsky.social

🌸 Into cherry blossoms? We are looking for someone to help uncover how cherry flowers & fruits get their colors 🍒 Focus: genetics + tissue-specific gene expression in ornamental plants & crops 🔗 www.izmb.uni-bonn.de/en/pbb/teach... #PlantScience #Genetics #CherryBlossom @puckerlab.bsky.social

There's still time! Extending the deadline for the special issue of Poisonous Plants in the Annals of Botany until the end of MAY. All types of papers considered. #plantscience #toxins 🧪🪴🌾🌱⚕️☠️ academic.oup.com/aob

#Bumblebee queens can survive underwater for days. A new University of Ottawa study finds they keep exchanging respiratory gases and shift to #anaerobicmetabolism to meet their energy demands. #ecophysiology #bees #entomology #pollinators #ScienceNews www.sciencenews.org/article/bumb...

The Thrift clearwing moth Pyropteron muscaeforme on a Thrift flower. One of a series of insects completed for Devon area of Natural beauty. This moth is found in rocky seaside habitats where thrift grows in abundance, and has window-clear rear wings, demarked with dark veins. It also visits thyme.

New blog out, all about #Bluebells: lizzieharper.co.uk/2026/04/blue... How to identify them and tell them from other bluebells, & a bit on threats and folklore. Have a read if you fancy something suitably vernal. #Hyacinthoides #botanicalart #botanicalillustration #NoToAIGeneratedImages

Lovely job being advertised on facebook by #Buglife Buglife: The Invertebrate Conservation Trust Closes Tuesday 21 April 2026 Senior Conservation Officer for Northern Ireland: forging new partnerships & overseeing delivery of our charitable aims & objectives. 👇 buglife.org.uk/.../senior-c... .

I've been drawing Pear blossom this week, in pencil, and loving it. Drawing blossom is always a challenge as the petals tend to uncurl as you draw, and very often simply fall off. Anyone who suggests plants stay still as you draw them hasn't spent long enough alone with a flower and a sketchbook!

🌱🌾🌍🌺🍄🌳🌲🌿🍃 🧪🐡 The crowdfunder for #BUC2026, specifically the 4th Student Botany Festival in August, is underway. This event has such an impact on UK & Irish students keen on botany. Look at reading.hubbub.net/p/botanicalu... Keep them smiling! Please donate or share!!

New blog out, about #grasses and #grassblindness, & my day spent at The Fitzwilliam & @cuherb.bsky.social exploring why we ignore them: lizzieharper.co.uk/2026/04/gras... I do lots of #botanicalillustrations of grasses, but why are they overlooked by so many, and how can we change that?

Scientists found a bug that generates its own heat in freezing cold - Snow flies survive freezing by making their own heat and blocking ice. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/202... #biology #genomics #Entomology #science #SciChat

#Frogs for Friday. The smaller one is the #Montserrat #whistlingfrog, #Eleutherodactylus johnstonei. The larger is Montserrat #mountainchicken frog #Leptodactylus fallax. This species was almost eradicated by chytrid, but has been successfully reintroduced: www.mountainchicken.org/conservation...

Check out our new paper focusing on unaccessioned herbarium specimens. nhcm.pensoft.net/article/1829... We found that bryophytes and fungi/lichens were over-represented in the specimen backlog, compared to vascular plants. This highlights the need for more bryophyte and fungi/lichen identification!

Check out the revisited Punicealis, a genus of net-winged beetles, re-describing all 6 species and documenting their female genitalia for the first time in 4 of them: doi.org/10.3897/dez.... #entomology #coleoptera #taxonomy

✅📄Now Free Access: Floral traits and their connection with pollinators and climate Get the Paper: doi.org/10.1093/aob/...

I am happy to share that my most recent publication is now live and open access! academic.oup.com/isd/article/... Our amazing team of Erebidae experts has brought together foundational information about one of the most biodiverse families on Earth, including photos for all subfamilies!

talking of five pound notes - I've launched a petition - not for Otters, but Bog-Moss, to replace Churchill. Will you help spread the word? www.change.org/p/replace-wi...

In my latest post for @botany.one, I bring you exciting research led by Dr Efisio Mattana on how the seeds of common species in the UK might respond to increasing temperatures and how that might affect their use in #EcologicalRestoration #Botany #PlantScience 🧪 www.botany.one/sowing-for-a...

Hey #fungal26 our lab is hiring a postdoctoral researcher for an NSF funded project in ectomycorrhizal competition. Come find me for more info! www.lotuslofgren.com/pd2026

Ligule: membranous projection from the top of the leaf sheath in monocotyledons. A useful ID feature From the Latin ‘ligula’ for strap or small tongue. Rough Meadow-grass (top left), Tufted Hair-grass (top right), Yorkshire Fog (bottom right) & Sweet Vernal grass (bottom left)

This just made me laugh a lot. In the bleakest of ways. Perfect.

Our new short communication is out in Aquatic Botany! 🌊 We show how the key canopy-former in the Atlantic, Fucus serratus, shifts its form and function along wave-exposure gradients. #seaweed #rockyshores #marine #ecology #intraspecific #traits doi.org/10.1016/j.aquabot.2026.104021

ASHS Webinar University Case Studies on Promoting New and Underutilized Crops March 23, 2 pm ET This is the 3rd webinar of the Asian Interest Group's Plant Innovation Webinar Series https://ashs.org/page/ASHSWebinars #plantscience

This week's blog talks about the #illustrations I've done for #colouring-in books over the years: lizzieharper.co.uk/.../illustra... From humming birds to snowflakes, butterflies to puffballs, any plant or animal can be a good subject for colouring-in. #penandink #botanicalillustration #sciart

This is the Great green bush #cricket #Tettigonia viridissima, #sciart illustration, in watercolour. I've seen these insects in the wild, but although large they're amazingly well camouflaged. I loved painting the the network of wing veins, and the sweep of the antennae. #insect #entomology

Very interesting! Thank you @beccyscottuk.bsky.social theconversation.com/the-black-de...

New blog out, it's on Ginseng. I illustrated this crop plant, and a few others, for The Crop Trust, then decided I wanted to know more about it: lizzieharper.co.uk/2026/03/crop... #ginseng #botanicalart #botanicalillustration #byhand #sciart #naturalscienceillustration #NoAI #cropplants

This is the Polka dot wasp #moth #Syntomeida epilais, also known as the #Oleander moth (on which its yellow caterpillars with their long black setae feed voraciously). Completed for the National Trust of #Montserrat, & UKOTCF. It's used in a colouring book, in a section about patterns in nature.

🧵 New paper out in @PlantPhysiology! We asked: how do trees talk to their fungal partners during ectomycorrhizal symbiosis? Turns out, tiny secreted peptides play a big role. 1/ Read the full paper here 👇 academic.oup.com/plphys/advan...

🚨Our cross-journal special feature is open to proposals!🚨 🐛Focus: how climate change affects plant–antagonist interactions, including those involving phytophagous insects, plant pathogens and more 💡Find out more: buff.ly/fFy6ker @jappliedecology.bsky.social @journalofecology.bsky.social 🧪🌍️

Check out this great opportunity to join the @kamounlab.bsky.social! Apply online by 16 March 2026 www.tsl.ac.uk/working-at-t... #PlantSciJobs #PlantScience #STEMJobs

There is a vacancy in our project 'Pages of Prayer: The Ecosystem of Vernacular Prayer Books in the Late Medieval Low Countries, c. 1380-1550' for a junior or postdoctoral researcher! #medievalsky careers.universiteitleiden.nl/job/Junior-R...

Lots of new features on ichsofna.org: - species lists now provide complete synonym history - hover over a species name to see a popup with images (if available), a distribution map, and a list of recorded hosts - toggle species between Nearctic and worldwide #ichneumonidae #insects #entomology

🐞 Interested in taking a #course in #entomology? We’ve compiled a list of institutions in the UK and Ireland offering full and part-time #entomologically-related courses to help you build a #career in #InsectScience 🔽 🔗 buff.ly/dHNEFRi #Education #Research #Science

This is the Antillean crested #hummingbird #Orthorhyncus cristatus. I painted a pair for Montserrat National Trust & UKOTCF. They feature in a lovely "Montserrat's Biodiversity Rainbow" educational booklet, which I'm loving. There's a black and white version too, to colour in.

Here's another of the #naturalhistoryillustrations I did of #Montserrat wildlife. This is the #Greenseaturtle, #Cheloniamydas. The pattern of the shell is tough to try and capture. Lots of layers of paint, and treating each scute individually. #seaturtle #naturalscienceillustration #sciart

I'm often asked how I got to be a #botanicalillustrator, & how to start out. youtu.be/KALAt7xaiE8 This film explains this, my work, passions, how I got here, and how I promote myself. (Its just me talking to the camera) #illustration #naturalhistoryillustration #sciart #illustrator

This is the Lettuce #seaslug #Elysia crispata, found in the #Caribbean. Completed #sciart #illustration for Montserrat national trust, one version in watercolour, one in pen and ink. Blue is unusual in nature, so working on such an insanely glorious animal was, of course, a massive treat.

Spent the day illustrating this St. Cecelia apple for a commission. #Apples are some of the toughest things to #illustrate, I struggle with the waxy shine and depth of colour. This time its gone ok. And now....I can eat them!

This is the #Bloody-nosedbeetle, #Timarchatenebricosa. When threatened it exudes a red drop of liquid from its mouth It has distinctive beaded antennae.Unlike most #beetles, it's flightless Completed in watercolour for use on #interp & information materials. #sciart #naturalhistoryillustration

RSB BERG Plant Science Education Working Group will be at the ASE annual conference 2026 tomorrow on Thursday 8 January. Join us at our session "Solutions-based approaches to teaching primary/secondary plant science" 12.25 - 1.20 pm Coates C27 sched.co/1yMpk #plantscience