a California classic yellow-eyed Ensatina from the Santa Cruz Mtns

Congratulations Hungary!! apnews.com/article/hung...

Look at the women at NASA. They are the ones pushing the boundaries of science, solving problems most people can’t even understand, and carrying this country forward, while our politicians right now posture and stumble through talking points. And they are doing it all with joy.👇

perhaps an uncommon photo of a relatively common cellar spider (Psilochorus) roadside rocky cliffs at night, along the lonely Hwy 58, Temblor Range CA

🏴‍☠️ 🕷️

Humanity did that. Science did that. Publicly-funded research did that. Excellent universities did that. Diversity did that. International cooperation did that. Artemis II is a perfect example of what we can do at our best. Welcome home, Integrity crew!

a male Silvestri's Cave Spider (Typhlonesticus silvestrii) shows off his hardware photographed in situ, beneath redwood woody debris

what i call the "peace & quiet" of a slender salamander time to slow down, smile, appreciate a brief moment of joy, ponder their millions of years of persistence here and then go back to looking for spiders .....

I'm thinking today about @ricksteves.bsky.social's great episode on Iran

Ortholasma levipes, a type of Opiliones, or "harvester" on our recent trip along the central coast of CA we found many of these, in fact dozens at some locations. spectacular little animals

As our university is undergoing restructuring, its partnership with the natural history museum where I work, the Academy of Natural Sciences, is in jeopardy. If you value the involvement of science museums in the community, please consider checking out this petition. c.org/Db5WKdZSQ8

Hey, I wrote a thing about AI in astrophysics ergosphere.blog/posts/the-ma...

What will happen to the 82 USFS experimental forests around the country? Many sites have decades-long experiments that are tracking how forests are changed by timber harvesting practices and climate change. As I say here, “you can't just pick up an experimental forest site and move it to SLC.”

A trapdoor spider from the CA central coast

Southern Pacific Banana Slug, near San Luis Obispo

Collecting arachnids on the CA Central Coast with some amazing folks

some compositional elements in this macro shot that I enjoyed ... Chrysoperla lacewing on Palo Verde, recent Anza Borrego Macro workshop w/ @tjalamont.bsky.social

bzzzzzzzz

Mecaphesa crab spider with a leafhopper prey item, with what I believe is a freeloader fly sneaking in 2-shot composite freeloader flies steal food from other feeding insects or spiders en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milichi...

Poppy flower nearly done. #handembroidery #handembroidereddenimjacket

after much deliberation and giving AI the benefit of the doubt, Wikipedia editors have had enough of AI slop. New policy bans LLM generated content, periodt www.404media.co/wikipedia-ba...

a pretty Chrysoperla lacewing from our SAT night Macro Workshop, with @tjalamont.bsky.social many at night on flowering Palo Verde

Photo stacking is taking a series of shots at different focus points and combining them to create more depth of field. L is a stack of only 2 shots, R is 6 shots. Which do you prefer? I like the L, but there's no right answer. (Male Hesperapis sp. native bee asleep in a flower at night) 🐙🌿📷 #BugSky

Longwing katydid, Capnobotes sp., Anza-Borrego desert, CA. (Its wings aren't long yet because it has one molt to go before adulthood.) These big katydids are happy to nom on plants or other bugs - note the spines on the forelegs, good for holding prey. Spotted by @mhedin.bsky.social. #BugSky 🐙🌿

A funky Pholcid from Mexico. I had no idea that there were Cellar spiders with weird heads. Weird heads are one of my favourite features a spider can have. Modisimus sp. #Pholcidae #CellarSpider #iNaturalist

Heading to the desert tomorrow to co-teach a macrophotography workshop with @mhedin.bsky.social - it’s gonna be toasty but fun 🕷️🪲🌼🪰🐝🌿🦟🐜🐛🐞🐍🦎

The @nhm-london.bsky.social #GenerationHope program, in collaboration with youth climate/nature advocates from across the world, aimed at empowering people to become planetary advocates I LOVE this planet (esp the flies) & will be talking Flies, collections & Hope www.nhm.ac.uk/events/gener...

A love letter to the beetles of Crete. mapress.com/zt/article/v... we recorded more than 2200 species from the island, including +350 endemics. Inspired by the work of @andrewjohnston.bsky.social and @mcaterino.bsky.social on the California island beetles. Email or DM for pdf

Without taxonomists, nothing can happen in biodiversity research!

I don’t see ‘taxonomists’ or anyone organismal on this list of biodiversity collaborators

Inside you there are two dunnarts www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03...

Colombia declares its entire Amazon biome a reserve for renewable natural resources—effectively bans any new oil exploration, hydrocarbon production, or large-scale mining. Protected area approx 483,000 sq km—equivalent to the size of Sweden #TropicalRainforest #decarbonization #envhist

Honestly, I am absolutely disgusted by academics suggesting that AI can do the reading and writing for you. At a certain point, what you're bragging about is fraud. And in a broader sense, what you're contributing to is the erosion of knowledge and the destruction of trust in academic publishing.

If you need a break from bad news, our little unpolished hexapodcast about insects is an ok 25 minute listen. youtu.be/0KKGcgw75gQ?...

Our crew had a great time yesterday at the San Diego Science Festival, getting kids excited about Biodiversity!! 😊

Biodiversity underpins human well-being & a healthy planet. But nature is declining fast, putting global progress at risk. Explore how the Global Biodiversity Framework - the world’s plan to reverse nature loss - helps advance the #GlobalGoals: www.unep.org/interactives...

Hey SoCal folks - on 3/21-22 @mhedin.bsky.social and I are teaching a 2-day macro workshop in Anza-Borrego Desert! We'll have Saturday class time to cover composition, equipment, lighting, etc., then field time Saturday afternoon, blacklighting that night, and reconvene for a morning bug-walk. 📷🐙🌿

More on the Lazarus species from west papua theconversation.com/meet-tous-an...

Meet Belonocnema mesoamericana, a new species of Belonocnema that we described on Mexican live oak! This is a fun little critter that makes velvety root galls, a great find by @scottpegan.bsky.social and Alejandro Zaldívar-Riverón's team at UNAM. jhr.pensoft.net/article/1851...

I was thrilled to find this Habronattus cambridgei hopping through leaf litter in Mexico. #Habronattus #Salticidae #iNaturalist

🪲 Another exciting season of Adventures in Nature Day Camp is nearly here! Whether it’s exploring dinosaurs or the nature all around us in new ways, our programs have provided decades of unique, hands-on experiences for campers. Summer's sessions begin June 29—register today: go.nhm.org/adventures

Brown recluse spiders exonerated! In Florida, recluses are rare, much less likely to bite than other spiders, even when provoked, and the one verified bite did not produce necrosis.

The first article is an amazing bit of taxonomic work by David Maddison and a host of collaborators: ssbbulletin.org/article/id/5....

We also provide a handy article in The Conversation! doi.org/10.64628/AA....

Looking for something Marsh-velous to do this weekend? Visit the Alabama Museum of Natural History on February 21 from 1-4 p.m. for “Family Day”! This event is a free hands-on exploration of subjects studied by The University of Alabama’s Graduate Students. Video: UA Student Anna Mullins

One can't write about ecosystem services for long without giving dung beetles their due. So, here's my inevitable attempt to Make Dung Beetles Great Again: mscaterino.pika.page/posts/dung-b... #biodiversity #nature 🌐

Don’t miss the 15th annual UC Davis Biodiversity Museum Day on Saturday, Feb. 21. 12 museums or collections will be open. A free and family friendly event, a Super Science Day, where you can talk one-on-one with the scientists. Download a map on website biodiversitymuseumday.ucdavis.edu

Review on The Chemical Ecology of Arachnids - Morphology, Behaviour and Semiochemicals now out as PREPRINT doi.org/10.32942/X22... with Kirk Hillier, Lise Roy and @nicolettafaraone.bsky.social We are grateful for any feedback to improve the review during the submission process

The first storm of the much-anticipated pattern shift brought widespread rain to CA, with some modest mountain snowfall in Sierra Nevada and points east. After a couple of quieter days, a sequence of much colder storms will follow (with much larger mountain snowfalls).

In my backyard this morning Somehow makes me so happy!