July 16, 1850. Many men walk by day; few walk by night. It is a very different season. Instead of the sun, there are the moon and stars; instead of the wood thrush, there is the whippoorwill; instead of butterflies, fireflies, winged sparks of fire! who would have believed it? [Art by Hasui Kawase]

Squash Vine Borer. From Matthew Wills’ blog. matthewwills.com/2026/07/16/s...

Rohan Pethiyagoda’s new book, “The Curious Naturalist”. youtu.be/ewQO7uIdMgc?...

On Wild Carrot. Gasteruption sp.

Binoculars available for borrowing at the Salt Marsh Nature Center, Marine Park, Brooklyn #MarinePark @nycparks.bsky.social

The Tree of Life (A User’s Manual) by @maxjtelford.bsky.social via @linneansociety.bsky.social youtu.be/SzT2dEhQN7M?...

More Beetles. From Matthew Wills’ blog. Check out the Wharf Borer Beetle (Narcedes melanura)! Plus 6 other beetle species. #NatureNYC matthewwills.com/2026/07/10/m...

I think I heard a Swamp (Morning) Cicada calling. (Too far off for an iNaturalist audio observation.)

🌿 An updated account of the economically damaging Myllocerus crop weevils in Sri Lanka has been compiled to address a shortage of local taxonomic records. 🌾 Diagnostic images and the country's first illustrated identification key have been provided in this study: doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1284.191034

Bridging biodiversity gaps: Updated taxonomy and diversity of Sri Lankan Myllocerus (Coleoptera, Curculionidae, Entiminae) Dilshara D. Wijesinghe & Ki-Jeong Hong @zookeys.pensoft.net doi.org/10.3897/zook...

Marine Park Snapshots. From Matthew Wills’ blog. #NatureNYC #MarinePark #Brooklyn matthewwills.com/2026/07/07/m...

Walked a bit in Central Park yesterday. White Vervain flowers are small, so a Cabbage White butterfly visiting them caught my attention. Are all the turtles in the Lake Pond Sliders? One of the best places to watch them from is the Western Shore Boat Landing. Also Eastern Amberwing dragonflies.

Clammy Goosefoot (Dysphania pumilio). Cooper Square, East Village, Manhattan. In a neglected tree pit. #NYC #plants

🧬 A recent study has shown that genomic DNA can still be successfully extracted from museum specimens preserved in fluid, even when they were collected many years ago. 🔬 Read the full paper: doi.org/10.3897/nhcm.3.189111

SLNHS Public Lecture #5 | 2026 | Insects: The Almost Forgotten Biodiversity of Sri Lanka and Its Importance Dr. Nirmalie Pallewatta Thursday, 9th July 2026 6:00 PM 🇱🇰 In person (see flyer) & via Zoom: Zoom: Meeting ID: 867 2878 4891 Passcode: 413197 Link: us02web.zoom.us/j/8672878489...

Big Dippers aka Common Eastern Fireflies (Photinus pyralis) doing their J flash flights.

This plant bug (Miridae) just bit me! A quick check with @inaturalist.bsky.social gives me Campyloneura virgula, which seems possible. Apparently an European species introduced in North America.

🪲The latest and first fully #OpenAccess issue of #TheColeopteristsBulletin is out! Link: bioone.org/journals/the...

Wow, I’ve had a jumping spider named for me! Onomastus wijesinghei Benjamin & Jose, in Jose, Benjamin & Sudhikumar, 2026 Zootaxa 5839(3) mapress.com/zt/article/v... Thank you very much @sureshbenjamin.bsky.social & Athira Jose for this honor! 🙏🏾

June 2026 Malaysian Bird Report now available for download. Articles on ID of Hawk-Cuckoos, diet & nesting, intraspecific conflicts, etc. Please feel free to download & share link to report: malaysianbird.report/report/vol-2... @birdsoftheworld.bsky.social @tonyrinaud.bsky.social

Crematogaster “acrobat” ants tending aphids on groundsel tree.

News from the local Wasp Bank: Beewolves very active now also two new spp. for the site: Orange-horned Nomad Bee (Nomada fulvicornis) and White-spotted Digger Wasp (Harpactus tumidus). This tiny spot just gets better and better! Details in ALT Texts. #hymenoptera

Up on Bear Mountain I & II. From Matthew Wills’ blog. matthewwills.com/2026/06/27/u... matthewwills.com/2026/06/28/u...

Perhaps the most extreme example of commercial publishers retrospectively rewriting metadata (e.g., applying new journal title to papers published under old title) is to apply current tools to detect “plagiarism” or copyright violation doi.org/10.1126/scie... HT @egonw.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy

“Diversity & Conservation of Fireflies in Sri Lanka” Dr. Dammika Wijekoon Zoom meeting. June 27, 2026 07:00 PM (🇱🇰 Time) Register in advance for this meeting: learn.zoom.us/meeting/regi... (After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.)

Quiz time 🐜 Which of these four ants belong to the genus Formica? Drop your guesses below 👇 Think you can tell them apart? Learn how with our upcoming webinar on Tuesday, June 30th 🌎 🧪 Sign up: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1977763231...

And related, a research assistant position on the same beetle crew:

Job! Beetle systematics, Australia:

Did you see BHL in @theguardian.com? 🌱 It’s a powerful reminder of why free & open biodiversity knowledge matters. If BHL has fuelled your research, teaching, art, writing, conservation work, or curiosity, please consider a monthly gift to support its future. 🧪 www.theguardian.com/environment/...

The other day I came across a ladybird beetle that I didn’t recognize immediately. iNaturalist tells me it is the Ursine Spurleg Lady Beetle aka Orange-spotted Lady Beetle (Brachiacantha ursina). A native North American species. Even in places we think we know well there are surprises!

Thoreau, June 21, 1852. Cherry-birds [cedar waxwings]. I have not seen, though I think I have heard them before, their fine seringo note, like a vibrating spring in the air.

A comb jelly embryo’s organizer triggered a second body axis in another comb jelly and even in a sea anemone embryo, pointing to a deeply shared developmental blueprint in early animals. doi.org/hb738w

Two important matters: feeding and reproduction. Sometimes they can be done at the same time. Ophraella notulata on Iva frutescens. Marine Park Salt Marsh, Brooklyn.

Earwig!

A bug in the hand.

UK 16yr olds will soon be able to take a GCSE in Natural History. #DofE have released the curriculum specification for public consultation. My thoughts on how it performs in @uk.theconversation.com @ucllifesciences.bsky.social @curlewaction.bsky.social theconversation.com/eco-literate...

You can travel 10,000 miles for a good wildlife story. But sometimes it just turns up in your living room. (Story by Richard Conniff, Photo by Joel Sartore) richardconniff.substack.com/p/how-a-flyi...

Like many people interested in #birds, I own many fieldguides.. here are just some of those I have on European birds. Lars Jonsson's book - this is the 1999 Christopher Helm edition - is something else... #books

I haven't yet seen the "Freshwater Jellyfish" (the hydrozoan Craspedacusta sowerbii), although it is known from at least one site in NYC. This virtual talk by John Terenzini, hosted by @biologicalrecording.co.uk, & scheduled for December 15 sounds interesting. www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/in-search-...

For more on extra-floral nectaries and interactions between plants and ants see this article by Rosemary Winnall www.wbrc.org.uk/WORCRECD/32/...

Took this photo of Common Vetch in my garden lawn simply for the beauty of the flower, but realised that it also shows an ant feeding from one of the vetch's extra-floral nectaries - the nectaries attract ants, and the ants ward off other insects that might feed on the plant #wildflowerhour

Nesting. From Matthew Wills’ blog. Includes nest of Ruby-throated Hummingbird in same maple tree in Green-Wood Cemetery, Brooklyn as the one last September. #NatureNYC matthewwills.com/2026/06/14/n...

Black-crowned Night-Heron, Brooklyn Bridge Park, Pier 1 Long Pond. #birds

Minutes after I posted about H. E. Jaques’ How to Know nature guides (see previous post) someone seated opposite me in the subway car pointed out that there was a “bug” on my pants (trousers). Should I consult How to Know the Insects or How to Know the Beetles? 🐞😃

American naturalists of an older generation will be familiar with the Pictured Key Nature Series edited by H. E. Jaques. The titles of most of the volumes began with “How to Know…” Jaques authored a good number of the books, while others were by specialists. www.librarything.com/nseries/2169...

Hope to catch this talk via Zoom today, 8:30 AM New York time (1:30 PM UK time).

Nice article by @waspwoman.bsky.social et al. The ecosystem services angle is important. But parasitoids, along with most other minute insects, are also fantastically beautiful little creatures. It's just that most people can't see them to appreciate that. Give every kid a good hand lens!

And another must view video from spider communicator extraordinaire, @travismcenery.bsky.social

Gary Nelson with Lars Brundin. (Photographed by Chris Humphries. Stockholm, 1988) Mattox, G. M. T. (2011). Gareth Nelson: os desafios atuais e o futuro da biogeografia. [Gareth Nelson: current challenges and the future of biogeography]. Revista da Biologia 7:49-55. revistas.usp.br/revbiologia/...

Wasp talks - whoop! 🙌 and thanks for including my book, alongside such fabulous wasp books! Love them all! Another top recommendation is @gavinbroad.bsky.social & Simon Van Noort’s Wasps of the World press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...