Cool idea! The perks of having a brother with a 3D printer 😁

One of my 2025 highlights was getting to visit Windsor Great Park with the BENHS Saproxylic Group. The trees were phenomenal and we found the Windsor Weevil! 😃 #Saproxylic #Entomology #Coleoptera

Some genera of Money #spiders Linyphyiidae are present as adults throughout the year, often with peak male activity in the #winter months (see chart for Walckenaeria acuminata). Whatever the weather, it's a good time to be out looking for them and their wonderfully distinctive headgear! #Christmas

Can't make the @dipteristsforum.bsky.social Dipterist Day 2025 in Cambridge this Saturday 15th November - fear not! Sign up through the link in the page below and we'll send you the recordings. The wonders of Modern technology... dipterists.org.uk/events/dipte... Please share the love ❤️

Hey @jamesimcc.bsky.social , here’s another one from my compost heap. I think it might be Proisotoma minuta (although I struggled with the ocelli and abdominal seg separation). What do you think?

It is generally frowned upon to mount multiple insects on the same pin. It makes databaseing difficult + the chance that multiple species could be mounted together - a nightmare! Even so, you have to admire the creativity and precision of this example from the UK Latridiidae collection at the NHM

@jamesimcc.bsky.social Hi James! I recently learnt that my village has no springtail records so I wanted to try and add a few. Do you think this could be Hypogastrura manubrialis? Think it has some tiny anl spines, 8x8 ocelli, foot with empodium, and skinny mucro. Found in compost

Send me records: I am excited to be taking on the role of national springtail recorder. I have huge shoes to fill, but I hope to continue the progress Peter Shaw made in understanding the taxonomy and biology of the UK's #springtails. www.brc.ac.uk/scheme/colle...

Saw this lovely moss on a survey a few weeks ago. It is Hookeria lucens. I like how the field guide account describes jt as ‘a pleasure to find’ 🥰

@arnoldtortoise.bsky.social Hi Derek, we found hundreds of these tiny wasps in a flight interception trap from an oak tree. Are they Trichogrammatidae? We’d be very grateful of your help 🙂

Hello @bsky.app. we are Norfolk Ponds Project - a science-led partnership NGO focused on pond restoration & #ghostpond ressurection. We aim to educate, lobby & inspire others on ponds. We used to Tweet & had 5000+ followers. ***Please follow & help us achieve the same here***!!!

A male Oligosita pallida parasitoid wasp of the Trichogrammatidae found in the garden birch tree. #UKWildlife #wasps #Trichogrammatidae

In prep for the #Bioblitz at Mote Park today, we set up a few bottle vane traps in lovely old oaks. Highlights so far included Thanasimus formicarius, Tomoxia bucephala, and the chalcid wasp, Astichus arithmeticus 🌳 @kentfieldclub.bsky.social

Look what arrived yesterday hot off the press. The amazing Alpine flower book by my good friend Bob Gibbons. Published posthumously it is a wonderful legacy of one of the greatest modern botanists. It was a privilege to have shared many European tours with him @saveplants.bsky.social

I thought yesterday was good when I found a posing Golden-bloomed Grey Longhorn. But as they say about busses - today I found another 4 of them at Coombeswood in a field of Hogweed and to cap it off - a Hazel Leaf-Roller - and it's only the 3rd June as well ! What next ?

Been hoping to find this species for a few years, and yesterday it finally happened! Sat in a patch of nettles by the River Dove in the Peak District, I peeled some loose bark from a log and was delighted to spot these tiny ball-rollers! Armadillidium pulchellum ❤️

Who’s joining us for the #LloydOfTheFlies Wetland Bug Hunt? We're partnering with Aardman and @wwtworldwide.bsky.social to bring you a completely unique and exciting way to explore our wonderful wetlands between 5 April - 1 June 🪰 buff.ly/bFvfe0q #WWTLloyd #KidsDaysOut #VisitLondon #ThingsToDo

Really like the name "Pleasing Fungus Beetles" (Erotylidae), even the scientific name is from the Greek for darling. This one (Triplax aenea) was found with several others hiding in the gills of an old Oyster fungi at Leasowes NR. Common but they hide during the day so not many records.

You really wouldn't think it, but it's a Rove Beetle. A very impressive looking one at that. Scaphidium quadrimaculatum found under loose bark on a fallen Ash tree, feeding on white fungus. At Leasowes NR.

Went back to the allotments where I spotted a Blue Mint Beetle and saw 5 without much effort. One appeared to be a gravid female, chomping on a mint leaf. 1st UK breeding record was apparently from 2012. I found 14 records from Kent on iRecord, plus others further afield. #KentNature #beetles

A great day out in the Norfolk Brecks yesterday, managed to find a #harvestman and a #pseudoscorpion in woodland by Lynford Water. Rilaena triangularis aka the spring harvestman and Neobisium carcinoides. More dots to add to the distribution maps. #arachnids

Saw this crazy slime mould while on the BMIG field meeting last week. It was under a log in wet woodland. I think it’s Metatrichia floriformis. If you look closely, you can spot a globular springtail clambering around on it ❤️

Recently, I found these weevils in a freshwater sample that was particularly dense in duckweed (mostly Spirodela polyrhiza). They are duckweed weevils! They walk around on the floating platform of duckweed and their larvae mine within the leaves! Cool that even the tiniest of leaves have leaf miners

Throwback, while I make new art, and grapple with reality. #ProjectAnimalia (my daily #animalart project) Day 49: Green lynx spider (Peucetia viridans) #sciart #medart #dailyart #scicomm #sciviz #wildlifeart #illustration #scientificillustration #lynxspider #spider #arachnid #spiderart

Collection of beetles found during tonight’s visit to Easter Craiglockhart Hill, #Edinburgh, with @lukeholman.bsky.social & Warren Maguire. Logs & tree trunks searched after dark. Species found include False Ladybird (Endomychus coccineus) …

After @stephskipp.bsky.social pointed out that my post about two Acrotriches found together by suctioning my lawn involved both atomaria and sitkaensis, I had another quick go with the suction sampler. Once again it seems I have both species. At least I think so - tricky little beasties!

Hey BlueSky 👋 Please excuse the lateness, but we have arrived! We’re here to promote the recording of #CarrionBeetles in the UK and help with any of your ID queries. Please join the #CarrionClub and help us spread the word! 💀 🪲

Three and a half weeks collecting ants in Borneo rainforests for my PhD is now complete ✅️

Watched this for work and found it really valuable and educational. Nice work @moorsforthefuture.bsky.social ! youtu.be/yDVSVRIxNLU?...

This week's daily 5 minute drawings were octopus spiders. #Invertebrate #TradArt

Aenasius encyrtid wasps are the most perfect nugget creatures. Two of them appeared for me Friday, and I was delighted. A Beetle-Wasp, Coleohymenoptera (not an actual thing. Unless... 👀)

Just posted a new video on my Pond Lab channel, all about a special worm that lives on pond snails, and helps stop it getting infected with parasites, including those that can go on to parasitise mammals like us! You can watch it here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHsy... #bugsky #pondlife #ukwildlife

Its nearly March, which means its nearly BEEFLY TIME! Here's a shot of one "Twerking" as @flygirlnhm.bsky.social put it, rubbing the eggs at the end of her abdomen on the ground so they get coated in sand grains. to gives them some ballast so she can fling them into solitary bee burrows!

We found this Land Caddis, Enoicyla pusilla, larva, at a known site near the Wyre Forest today. The Wyre area is home to the entire UK population of our only terrestrial caddis species. Case about 6mm long. A treat to see.

🐞 Beetle Research & Conservation Virtual Symposium 🐞 💻 Virtual | 💷 £25 / Pay What You Can Join top experts 26 June for talks on beetle ecology, taxonomy & conservation + live Q&A! 🌍 🧪 🎟️ www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1222872738... #BeetleSymposium #NationalInsectWeek #Biodiversity #Conservation

My first Marmalade Hoverfly for 2025, a male of the dark form that is often seen in the spring #hoverflies

Buckinghamshire Invertebrate Group has its 1st ever conference on Sun 27 April, Great Missenden. A great range of talks including Dr Chris Wilson's lecture in memory of Eric Hollowday, rotifer enthusiast extraordinaire & long-time member of BIG. Details & bookings: sites.google.com/site/bucksin...

A great day studying rove beetles @britentsoc.bsky.social - an impressive 1123 species, about 25% of our beetle fauna. The secret of their success? Wings & highly flexible bodies, good for reaching new places & getting into awkward corners. #beetles #insects #biodiversity

Dicranopalpus ramosus sens lat on plane tree in Kensington Gardens in London, TQ27/VC21 Middlesex, England. Probably far too cold to run away from camera! @megabunus.bsky.social @vannabartlett.bsky.social is 'Zorro mask' on this male good enough for D ramosus sens str? Happy to iRecord either way.

This lush, starry moss caught my eye yesterday. Thinking it is Homalothecium sericeum.

Newsflash for all fans of spiny-winged #flies (Heleomyzidae): thanks to @suillia.bsky.social for providing updated versions of two identification keys, now available from the Heleomyzid Recording Scheme page on our website: dipterists.org.uk/heleomyzid-s... #Diptera

Stenus bimaculatus from flood litter along the River Trent earlier today. Common but very pretty and one of our biggest at 6-7mm #Staphylinidae #Coleoptera

Pinky and the Brain… Australian wasps always surprise.

I'm an artist that incorporates insect themes and products. Some of my favorite media are stained glass, oak galls (for jewelry and dying), and wasp paper. Here's some of my more recent stained glass works.

✨Meloid beetle sketch✨ (Aka blister beetle, oil beetle). Among my favorite beetle groups, partially because their large bug booty is adorable, but also because they have a unique way of defending themselves. They secrete a toxic substance called cantharidin! #SciArt #invert 🧪🐞🦋🌱🐡🎨🕷️🐛

Lots of lovely mosses and liverworts seen yesterday at @wildhaweswater.bsky.social with the Cumbria Lichen and Bryophyte Group. Here are 8 of my favourites out of the 80+ species we recorded in a small area of Atlantic woodland.

Beetle doodle of the day

A search of leaf litter between Christmas and New Year, to fill in a gap on the map, provided several non-natives including Strumigenys perplexa and the tricky to ID Hypoponera eduardi. Outdoors in #Guernsey, 3rd location for the Hypoponera and 11th for the Strumigenys. #ants #hymenoptera