Ancient Peruvians in the Chincha Valley used seabird guano from the Chincha Islands to fertilize maize, helping pre-Inca societies expand. Nitrogen in 2,200-year-old maize matches local seabirds — evidence of an early, tightly managed fertilizer system later controlled by the Inca.

#leafbeetles to the rescue

I’ve been a supporter of @wwf.org.uk for over 40 years & I think it’s the first time I’ve seen flies in their magazine! Hoverflies (& 100000s more spp) are not just excellent pollinators as adults, as the larvae are either recyclers of organic waste or predators of your garden pests 🤓🪰

Creatures from the deepest sea

Oh to be a little Tardigrade walking around a microscopic volvox algae colony. 🫧🐻🧪

#frogs #toxin www.nytimes.com/2026/02/14/w...

Glenn Wiggins' love of #AnimalArchitecture #insects Finally, I have a copy of this book on my shelf.

Happy Darwin Day!!!! Last year, for Darwin Day, I gave a presentation to the Piedmont Chapter of the North American Rock Garden Society, “Celebrating the Botany of Charles Darwin.” You can see a recording here: https://bit.ly/4qNCYMS 📷: Matt Brown CCBY2 #DarwinDay #Darwin

Did you know? Insects eat plants as medicine. #OpenAccess onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Planting #trees 🌴 #India www.nytimes.com/2026/02/06/w...

“Exquisite Creatures: An Immersive Journey into Nature's Art” #Seattle bio-sculptural #nature #art #exhibition by artist Christopher Marley

#cats #puma #conservation #Andes #Peru #Quechua news.mongabay.com/video/2026/0...

FLAWLESS DEPICTION OF HOLOLEPTA

#WomenInSTEM www.npr.org/2026/02/05/n...

fabulous TV show from NOVA on recent #archeological findings in the #Amazon www.tpt.org/nova/video/a... [Spiral mound in #Peru, older than the Egyptian pyramids]

#Chile #Atacama #pisco #biodiversity www.npr.org/2026/02/01/n...

3/1(金)～25(日)、THE STUDY ROOM エキュート上野店にて期間限定で展示販売致します。宜しければ是非お立ち寄り下さい(^-^)/

Early Arthropods xkcd.com/3199/

#ants #insects in the art www.nytimes.com/2026/01/21/a...

Such strange #beetles! doi.org/10.1093/zool...

Making plans for plants #museum #exhibitions ansp.org/exhibits/bot...

Two of these cool art renderings are based on my photos of Lamprosoma, from this post: gilwizen.com/lamprosoma/

A comedic take www.nytimes.com/2026/01/16/o...

An integrative taxonomic treatment of the Mycetophilidae of Singapore, describing 98 new species of fungus gnat Now also with a brand new cover, featuring Integricypta fergusondavie gen. et sp. nov. Free download: doi.org/10.18476/202... @rudolf-meier.bsky.social @derschwingfliegen.bsky.social

#Inca mummy #indigenous #Argentina #Peru www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWao...

theconversation.com/tiny-treetop... 10.64628/AAI.cmps6mdn5 DOIs being added to articles @theconversation.com

Everything is really scary and horrible, and on the utter flipside, we made these really adorable valentines. The dissonance of seeing horror, then posting "hey buy some cute valentines" is making me feel loopy. But also nice things persist despite terror? Ugh idk. Get 'em at SquidFacts.net

#Watercolor #Illustrations by Steeven Salvat Cloak Natural Specimens with Elaborate Metallic Motifs Link for more information and to see more of hos amazing #art: www.thisiscolossal.com/2021/08/stee...

Meant to post this some days ago but I got distracted. My latest for @invertebratepal.bsky.social's work on Hallucigenia's ecology, interpreting the little fellas as scavengers of soft-bodied carcasses. Read the preprint here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... #Art #SciArt #FossilFriday

Congratulations to Dr Margaret Bradshaw, who has done more than anyone to promote understanding and conservation of Upper Teesdale's unique arctic-alpine flora. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

WomenInSTEM

“Uruguay did what most nations still call impossible: it built a power grid that runs almost entirely on renewables—at half the cost of fossil fuels. The physicist who led that transformation says the same playbook could work anywhere—if governments have the courage to change the rules.”

Explorer & naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace was born #OTD in 1823. He independently conceived the theory of evolution by natural selection & was the father of biogeography. His portrait hangs at the Society alongside Charles Darwin, commemorating the 1858 reading of their joint paper on evolution.

A living fossil... www.forbes.com/sites/scottt...

#OTD in 1823, Alfred R Wallace was born. He independently co-discovered the "Darwin-Wallace" theory of evolution by natural selection, & much more! Suggested reading: Costa's book (2023 @princetonupress.bsky.social) Summary: jgpausas.blogs.uv.es/2024/01/06/h... 🧪🌍💙📚👀📅🗃️ #histsci #ecoevo

if you need a moment's distraction from Events, pls consider @monotomidae.bsky.social's extremely good new paper on passandrid beetles stridulating with their armpits. THERE'S VIDEO, WITH SOUND link.springer.com/article/10.1...