Attn graduate and undergraduate students! 🚨 🪲 🦋🚨 New research funding opportunity from @xercessociety.bsky.social! $5000; deadline is Jan 7 2026. xerces.org/bandrosky

Love Fulgorids! The butt fireworks are wax lines along which honeydew waste can drip away from the body. They also serve as a defense.

This is a spectacular mosquito sculpture. And these students were charged with *felonies* and held on thousands of dollars of bail! SHAME UCPD. Someone let me know if there is a place to help with bail.

Also a small nag to some of the AMAZING insect macro photographers that are joining us here: please don't forget to add alt-text to your photos! You can enable a reminder for that here:

Y'all. I do know that the F's are just how S was printed then. Pls stop S-plaining.

Get offline for a day. Create something. I'm serious. You cannot endure our current reality in ANY timeline if you are constantly scraping your raw nerves across the jagged edges of the evil that people do. You need tangible, embodied reminders that we endure through hope and love, not despair.

I absolutely snorted out loud in an important, quiet historic reading room. And then had the giggles for 5 minutes. Fingle rows of tentaculated fuckers!

Western Pygmy Blue, America’s smallest butterfly and one of the world’s smallest. About the size of a thumbnail. [Alameda, CA 11-8-25] #butterflies

Read the thread for a lovely story of teens making a difference 🪲🦋🙂

The very beautiful and always very welcome Aphanus rolandri. #Bugs #Hemiptera #VC55 #Lygaeidae #macrophotography #macro #OMSystem

Hey folks, as news of Watson's demise spreads, please don't set aside his weighty legacy of misogyny and racism. He was truly among the worst of us. www.vox.com/2019/1/15/18...

Always here for a giant spider web story www.livescience.com/animals/spid...

A delightful weevil for your morning.

My favorite comment on the FT story

Hmmm, between the crab lice and harvest people, maybe too much? Here is a pretty orchid mantis as a palate cleanser www.flickr.com/photos/total...

A closer look at this cutie (not a spider; a relative) www.sciencealert.com/what-the-hec...

This is a bunny harvest-person (Opiliones) giving itself a good clean before the day starts. Self care is important! From the late Andreas Kay; wish you were here. www.youtube.com/watch?v=483t...

Fantastic news!! This entomology club was fully funded to purchase pinning and other supplies. Thank you friends! 🪲🐛🥳❤️

Are you a POC student, early career researcher, or professional entomologist from a country in the Global South? We are now funding memberships! Apply from October 1st to December 15th. More info: www.entopoc.org/apply.html Apply: docs.google.com/.../1FAIpQLS...

A moment of beauty on a lovely fall day 🍂

And now for something completely different: #EntSoc25 Entomologists! Please contribute to the iNaturalist collection of pubic lice! It's mostly from the EU at the moment. www.inaturalist.org/taxa/395978-...

*SHINY!!* 😍🪲

A beautiful #SpotTheInsect challenge for your afternoon 😍

I normally am a cheerful optimist, but I am just at a loss about what to even say to young scientists right now. Devastating overview of the cuts: www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Also, have you checked out @laminda.bsky.social's new book? press.jhu.edu/books/title/...

Do you need a (non-transphobic) comfort read about a wizard school? Check out this YA series from my friend Ryan. Last in the series released today (book 4) 🌟🇨🇦

Hey EntFriends #EntSoc25: This high school entomology club in California is looking for funds to support their pinning and collections. Can we make that happen? Any donations large and small will help! www.donorschoose.org/project/inse...

Something cute to pick you up -- a worksheet from an elementary student whose classroom got butterfly eggs from a @donorschoose.bsky.social donation I made! Who cares about spelling when the learning is so adorable. 🦋🐛😀

FFS @bsky.app @support.bsky.team. We don't want an algorithm. We don't want dislikes. We want better moderation that lets Link back in. techcrunch.com/2025/10/31/b...

A very fall photo 🍂

SNAP funding is on pause. That means thousands of Detroit families who rely on the food assistance program will face a challenging November. Do you need food resources? Here’s how Detroiters are showing up for each other:

Ok, it *is* true that the idea of Daylight savings was invented by an entomologist that wanted more time to catch bugs, but I assure you few modern entomologists support it. nautil.us/the-19th-cen...

Whoa! Next Level Pumpkin Skills here!! 🕷️🎃 (also if you haven't read @aptshadow.bsky.social's Children of Time, pls do that asap)

Today's Halloween costume review: "Sexy Bee Dude." This natty bee gentleman isn't a bee; with only 2 wings and incomplete venation, he's a syrphid fly for sure. As a mimic, he's likely just hoping to fool predators with his warning coloration and blue steel gaze.

Today's Halloween Costume review: “Sexy Moth.” The wing venation indicates a female Polyphemus moth. Antennae are plumose, which is correct for this species. There should be more fur on the abdomen, though. Pants are optional for moths.

Revisiting my earlier "Sexy Halloween Insect" costume reviews for a bit of amusement.

Things are still grim, so here's another review of an entomological Halloween costume: Sexy Monarch Butterfly. I think we can all agree yellow Ugg boots are not sensible footwear for intercontinental migration. Body:Wing surface ratio is also problematic.

If you care about: academic freedom; accurate public health information; & safety of women in public facing science communication, pls consider donating. @siouxsiew.bsky.social was left with $400K legal costs after she WON her lawsuit. (1/2) www.pledgeme.co.nz/projects/852...

It's that time of year again... time for #DisabledInSTEM 2026 Mentorship applications! I'm so excited to be running this program for the sixth year and seeing the growth over the years! Mentee form: forms.gle/um5DvYnBi3tn... Mentor form: forms.gle/BvaxnQm8uhUR... Applications due December 5th!

FYI the new 2026 health insurance prices at Healthcare.gov have been posted. The cheapest HSA plan I qualify for is $978.15/MONTH. My current plan, if I renewed, would be $1,391.87/Month.

A beautiful bit of art for your morning. Painting by Yamamoto Baiitsu, Japan, 1847. The full work is 250cm long! Full scroll with 50 insects at: www.metmuseum.org/art/collecti...

A little insect art for the afternoon

No tricks - just treats! 🎃 Use code HGHOST25 to save 30% on select ghoulishly good books, like "Rise of the Zombie Bugs" by Mindy Weisberger, "The Secret History of the Jersey Devil," and more now through 11/1. https://ow.ly/FmX950XhPp3

Detroit has one of the largest urban farming communities in the US. The D has always been a great city, and keeps getting better. COMMUNITY is how we all get through this. ❤️

Support Jamaica. Donate at this .gov.jm website. “In [Melissa’s] aftermath, recovery will take every helping hand. Together, let us stand ready to protect and help families recover, rebuild homes and restore livelihoods once the storm passes.” supportjamaica.gov.jm

Yikes! The second study I've seen recently showing most people are aware of the risk of tick-borne disease... but don't actually take action to protect themselves. (link to research paper in this story) www.cidrap.umn.edu/lyme-disease...

Beautiful! Leaf-cutter bees swaddle their babies with a blanket of leaves or petals. 😍🐝

I defy you to produce a finer example of: toesies

I've worked with USDA colleagues for my entire career and I'm just GUTTED that their work is being used for this political bullshit. Also this is a blatant violation of the Hatch Act. Also there *are* funds, the "leadership" just won't release them. 🤬🤬🤬

Let's start Monday with some whimsy. These delightful grasshoppers (possibly also katydids?) are from a water jar created by Makuzu Kōzan in 1870. To see full size images: www.metmuseum.org/art/collecti...