Sex sells, and sex kills.

You can find out more about our #NMCCbiodiversity work by tuning into Gardeners World this Friday, at 8pm on BBC TWO. 📺 www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

What a moth! Eggplant Leafroller, Lineodes integra. On our backyard fence. Leavenworth, Kansas, USA, September 29, 2025. It’s facing north, abdomen curled back to nearly reach its face. Totally convincing of a wisp of dry grass.

Can’t see me. Just leaf only. Opps … I guess you can. California Tortoiseshell (Nymphalis californica) 🌿

🔈 We're #Hiring: Arthropod Taxonomic Specialists (10 positions) 1 WEEK LEFT TO APPLY! Positions are open to Canadian and international applicants. Share this post with your network! 🔗 Learn more:

Funded PhD position available 🎉 Come and work with me in Helsinki to uncover the pathways producing colourful tiger moth wings. Lots of options for genomics, CRISPR, fieldwork, behaviour experiments… Email with questions! jobs.helsinki.fi/job/Helsinki...

FYI: Despite recent info suggesting otherwise, my lab at CU Boulder is in fact accepting grad students fall 2026! Reach out if interested in insect systematics, phylogenetics, life history, insect-plant interactions.

Today is the last day to help make your voice heard for protection of our wilderness, places where we need to get away from the trauma of being human. Places of solitude. Please speak up for roadless rule. It’s easy and it only takes a few minutes at this link. earthjustice.org/action/prote...

GOP Senate bill mandates 3 million acres of public land to be sold, but NOW authorizes ANOTHER 255 million acres for sale. This is 40 percent of all public lands! An environmental disaster. Please call your senators, it takes less than five minutes. wessiler.substack.com/p/lee-daines...

Oh to be a moth that cannot fly... Meet the newly described genus/species Coloradactria frigida, a moth with females that don't fly- they scurry around on the ground like a spider or silverfish... lepscience.com/wp-content/u... @inaturalist.bsky.social observations helped us locate populations!

Oh to be a moth that cannot fly... Meet the newly described genus/species Coloradactria frigida, a moth with females that don't fly- they scurry around on the ground like a spider or silverfish... lepscience.com/wp-content/u... @inaturalist.bsky.social observations helped us locate populations!

I'm thrilled to announce that the Entomology department at the NHMLAC is hiring a full-time collections manager! 🪰🐜🕸️🦋 I'm biased, but the museum is a great place to work, and our department is full of fun, thoughtful people. Job description and information for applying are here: shorturl.at/iRqOB

Glover's silk moth (Hyalophora gloveri), Pryor Mountains, Montana. This is a male, told by the large, feathery antennae. These moths don't feed as adults, and only live about a week, just long enough to reproduce. Phone pic from last weekend. 🐙🌿

while flipping rotten logs for Bimastos earthworms, I found another wood-eating “worm”: Scolecocampa liburna, the deadwood borer! this is an erebid moth and unlike the leaf-munching larvae you might associate with Lepidoptera these caterpillars eat rotten wood

robberfly- 1 wasp- 0 Happy #worldrobberflyday everyone!

Mallophora bomboides is called the 'bee killer' because, well, you get the idea... #worldrobberflyday

Check out this incredible bilateral gynandromorph moth my friend found in Japan! The left side is female, right side male. Look at those two completely different antennae, and different hindwing shapes!

📢 JOB KLAXON! The Yale Peabody Museum is hiring a permanent, full-time Museum Assistant in #Entomology 🦋 Full details & how to apply: sjobs.brassring.com/TGnewUI/Sear... #EntoJobs #InsectCollections

Monkey slug? Hag moth caterpillar? Both phenomenal names. But I ❤️ the genus name most: Phobetron. Sounds like a malevolent transformer or a giant alien space television. These caterpillars have fleshy deciduous appendages (this one lost a few) & stinging hairs. Watch out! ☣️☠️ North Carolina, USA

Such a wonderful butterfly, the Julia Orangetip (Anthocharis julia) yesterday along the Colombia Gorge, Washington #butterflies #bugsky #nature

I stumbled upon this most extremely perfect Mountain Ball Cactus last week, and realized it would be rude not to share this incredible beauty with you! Pediocactus simpsonii Douglas County, Colorado, USA

Hi Everyone! Been silent here lately as Dad passed away last month. There has been plenty to keep me busy. Will try to reingage soon!

There is no rational justification for listing the butterfly Euchloe ausonides (the 'Large Marble") as Endangered/Threatened in the USA. The current effort by the Xerces Society (@xercessociety.bsky.social) to list them is complete nonsense, as we explain here: www.regulations.gov/comment/FWS-...

From north Africa and Europe to Siberia and North America, The Swallowtail thrills and inspires everyone who is lucky enough to see it! Papilio machaon aliaska Brooks Range, North Slope, Alaska, USA

This is one sneaky little moth! The caterpillars live in a Polistes wasp nest, creeping around at night eating the wasp larvae and pupae while the parents are asleep! 😱 Chalcoela iphitalis Douglas County, Colorado, USA

These butterflies are bilateral gynandromorphs. Each of them is exactly half male and half female!

Despite sporting some pretty loud warning coloration, the Red Peacock is not known to be toxic. Anartia amathea Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil

This female Zebra Swallowtail spent 10 minutes searching for the perfect place to deposit an egg on this young Pawpaw. She ended up flying away without ovipositing- something about this plant was just not quite right... Eurytides marcellus Levy County, Florida, USA

If I told you this is a caterpillar, would you believe me? Spun Glass Slug Moth (Isochaetes beutenmulleri) Gainesville, Florida, USA

To avoid males as much as possible, female Rocky Mountain Parnassians don’t fly much. Instead, they spend most of their time running around on the ground! Douglas County, Colorado, USA

Just in time: 4 insects from 4 orders (in only 2 photos) for #Hexapodecember Coleoptera: Mycotrupes gaigei (Florida endemic dung beetle) Diptera: Ceroptera longicauda (phoretic kleptoparasite) Lepidoptera: Euphyes pilatka (barely escaped alive) Hemiptera: Ambush bug (Phymatinae).

Spent the afternoon picking up trash in the neighborhood and on my adjacent routes. So much trash! I just hope it will help the wildlife, including the greenies that are barely holding on here...

Happy Holidays everyone! Here are some seasonally appropriate Parides swallowtail butterflies from the New World Tropics!

OK, 4 insects from 4 orders for #Hexapodecember Odonata: Western Red Damsel (Amphiagrion abbreviatum) Lepidoptera: Copper (Lycaena sp.) Diptera: Fly (Bombyliidae?) Hemiptera: Jagged Ambush Bug (Phymata americana) #Inverts Ofc tagging @andybugguy.bsky.social

Astonished to have found TWO species of butterflies today! A lovely winter-form Dainty Sulphur (Nathalis iole- in pic), with its vivid greenish underside, and an Orange Sulphur (Colias eurytheme- no pic). It's the latest in the year that either species has been found in Colorado!

Please enjoy this 'Solstice Swallowtail', likely flying now in S Florida... Zebra Swallowtail (Eurytides marcellus), Alachua County, Florida, USA

Check out those spiracles and tracheae! Brazilian Skipper caterpillar here to show us how insects breathe... Alachua County, Florida, USA

Check out those spiracles and tracheae! Brazilian Skipper caterpillar here to show us how insects breathe... Alachua County, Florida, USA

Move along now... There's nothing to see here... Just a couple of jumping spiders... nothing special... (Mating pair of Gemmed Satyrs, Cyllopsis gemma) Levy County, Florida, USA

This is the unique form of the Anicia Checkerspot in Colorado's Front Range- subspecies capella- and they are absolute stunners with their mainly orange-red upperside coloration! This one is feasting on the nectar of Spearleaf Stonecrop (Sedum lanceolatum). Douglas County, Colorado, USA

Happy #macromonday again! This is Iolaos lalos, photographed in the Arabuko Sokoke Forest, coastal Kenya. You wouldn’t believe how happy this particular shot made me… #photography #tropics #theclinae #lepidoptera

Be careful! If you stare at this Ruddy Copper for too long, it could damage your retina... 😂 Vail Mountain, Eagle County, Colorado, USA

The African Map Butterfly is very unique, being the only member of its subfamily in Africa. It is also super cool and breathtakingly beautiful! Cyrestis camillus camillus, Kakamega Forest, Kenya.

Aquilegia coerulea var. coerulea, the spurless form of our Colorado Blue Columbine syn. Aquilegia coerulea var daileyae, blooming at Reynolds Park #nativeplants. Lacks nectar spurs to reward pollinators. #FallBackFlowers #FallBack to June 14 🌿

What's up butterfly butt? Behr's Hairstreak (Satyrium behrii) sipping nectar on Yarrow (Achillea millefolium). Behr's larvae are obligate to Mountain Mahogany & Bitterbrush so my mid-summer is overwhelmed with them. And I love it. #FallBackFlowers June 14, 2024 #Inverts 🌿

This perfect little gem is North America's tiniest skipper! It takes some effort to see them, and a lot of patience to sneak up on them, but it is well worth it! Southern Skipperling (Copaeodes minima), Marion County, Florida, USA

Here's an exotic Metalmark to help get you though the week... Anteros formosus, Parque Estadual do Guartelá, SW of Tibagi, Paraná, Brazil

So...., you think you're tough? I bet you don't eat wasps for breakfast! 😉 Chonky robber fly snacking on a yellowjacket wasp (Vespula sp.), Douglas County, Colorado, USA

This bee's stinger is on the front end 😂 Super-cool robber fly, Laphria saffrana Levy County, Florida, USA