🕷️#Arachnews alert! 🦂 New Foelix (the definitive reference for general spider biology, a must-have for every arachnologist & arachnophile) just dropped. Now called Spider Biology, this is an completely rewritten & updated version of the Biology of Spiders (2011). link.springer.com/book/10.1007...

AI abuse to skirt copyright law - macro photography by @nickybay.bsky.social Not only does AI steal photographers' work, it gets them wrong and introduces features that don't exist. #wildlifephotography www.nickybay.com/ai-abuse-to-...

Why do treehoppers look so weird?! Our latest paper, out this week in @pnas.org, suggests a perhaps unexpected reason - static electricity ⚡ We show that treehoppers can detect the electrostatic cues of predators and that their crazy shapes may boost their electrosensitivity! doi.org/10.1073/pnas...

We all have our favourite colours, but Adam Blake & Jeff Riffell have discovered that mosquitos can change their favourite colour, preferring to land on green when they smell flowers or dirty pond water, but love every colour when they smell dirty socks journals.biologists.com/jeb/article/...

We’ve been on a deep dive in the museum archives this week and you would not believe the letterhead game some of these gentlemen had

Foundations: please step up and take over the Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL). This is an absolutely essential scanned archive of all of the old journals and books from the 1500s to about 1920. Has been indispensable for my research. about.biodiversitylibrary.org/call-for-sup...

Why do imperfect mimics (such as many hoverflies) exist? We created 3D printed replicas of flies, wasps and our own custom intermediates and then "asked" various predators what they thought of our 3D stimuli. Read all about it here: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Probably a habronattus jumping spider

What puzzles can the Vera Rubin Observatory help solve? In just its first 10 hours of observations, the Vera Rubin observatory discovered more than 2000 new asteroids. What else will it teach us? bigthink.com/starts-with-...

PhD position open with Dr. Jutta Schneider and @mherberstein.bsky.social in Hamburg, on sub-social behavior in crab spiders 🕷️ It even includes field work in Australia! Application deadline is 15 July, more info at the link: www.uni-hamburg.de/en/stellenan...

"Part of our task in the face of generative AI is to make an argument for the value of thinking – laboured, painful, frustrating thinking." activehistory.ca/blog/2025/06...

Interested in arachnid silk structures? Read this editorial by our @matjazgregoric.bsky.social, @dinrao.bsky.social, and André Walter, and see what articles appear in the new research topic at Frontiers in Arachnid Science. www.frontiersin.org/journals/ara...

currently reading The Ten Thousand Things, by Maria Dermoût, I found this book the traditional way, tucked away in an unexpected second hand bookstore , just like in the olden days youmightaswellread.com/2019/02/01/m...

New review paper out in collaboration with @pipilika.bsky.social : The relevance of goal directed movement for insect pest control. The paper is part of a special issue on behavioural ecology and pests www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Paraphidippus aurantius

@waynemaddison.bsky.social Any idea what this is ? Veracruz, Mexico www.inaturalist.org/observations...

Old art (2022) Another moth dragon based on endemic species in Puerto Rico This one is based on Composia Credula #dragon #moth #composiacredula #PuertoRico #creaturedesign #omegayumiART

:) #invertifest

The hand-written outline for Alfred Russel Wallace's last, unrealised, book – 'Darwin & Wallace' – has been published for the first time in #NotesandRecords. Read an analysis of Wallace's fascinating book that never was: royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/... #HistSci #HistSTM

It finally came! Spanish translation of 'The Scientist's Guide to Writing'. Hablo un poco espanol - entonces, puedo leer esta. ¡Estoy muy emocionado!

🧵New pub alert! This one is very close to my heart. I teach creative writing and this time last academic semester, I rage-wrote an experimental piece about how important human writing (and all other self-expression) was in a world where ChatGPT and other LLMs pretend at human expression:

Hoverfly with interference reflection colours on the wing

New writing! For @sciam.bsky.social, I talk about misleading memes. If you understand evolution enough to know this already, great! But memes/youtubes/etc reach folks with no biology background. Science has been twisted to justify bad things, such as eugenics, before. NOT IN CRABS' NAME. 🦀🧪🦑⚒️

New Scientist video about our recent cuttlefish paper. @ecologyofvision.bsky.social @bristolbiosci.bsky.social @matteosanton.bsky.social

Reflections on gadget-birding. L. Shyamal. Catching Flies. 22 February 2025. muscicapa.blogspot.com/2025/02/refl...

Our latest paper on the jump kinematics and choreography in the Oz Splendid Peacock spider. We filmed & analysed locomotory jumps in male & female spiders. The males are incredibly light - measuring just 2mg - and oh they can jump! Videos in the thread. Open Access - read here: tinyurl.com/4bnpz9tz

I usually reserve this account for my personal views; but today I want to represent my position as President of @asn-amnat.bsky.social to post a message that will shortly go out to the membership of the American Society of Naturalists from the ASN Executive Council

Menemerus jumping spider with mosquito

Jazz hands! Commission by @franzanth.bsky.social of a very flashy arachnid Acrylic ink, pencil, and iridescent watercolors on hotpress paper

New article by Roger Santer and myself 'Insect visual perception and pest control: opportunities and challenges' available to read in Current Opinion in Insect Science: doi.org/10.1016/j.co...

We have a fully funded International 4-year position (combined Master of Research+PhD) to study visual navigation in jumping spiders. Project will be supervised by @pipilika.bsky.social, @mherberstein.bsky.social, @dinrao.bsky.social & Ximena Nelson. At Macquarie University, Sydney. Details below

Ok people. I’m drawing silhouettes this afternoon. If you have a paper coming up and you are in need of a #silhouette please let me know and I will have it ready today. As always I upload all my silhouettes to phylopic.org I also have tutorials on how to put a silhouette in a plot in R.

My latest blog post for World Soil Day 2024 #WSD #WorldSoilDay

@waynemaddison.bsky.social any idea what this is?

Butterfly wing fossilesque

Jorge Luis Borges on Go borgestodoelanio.blogspot.com/2014/06/jorg...

A feast about to happen: the very rare and critically endangered Kangaroo Island Assassin Spider showing off her impressive mouthparts, whilst carrying around her 8-legged prey 🕷️🧪 #invertebrate #conservation #biodiversity #spider #australia

Squirting cucumbers definitely earn that common name, and it took a lot of high-tech analyses to figure out how they pull off their explosive seed dispersal. That and more of the best in Science and science in this edition of #ScienceAdviser: www.science.org/content/arti... 🧪

Behaviour 2025 -- an International Conference will be held in India. Here is the poster and keynote and plenary speakers! Registration to open in December!

Hover fly