“…if the micro-hymenopterists would get off their lazy asses and start describing species, there would be more micro-Hymenoptera than there are Coleoptera.” pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC...

Someone's done a UK Parliamentary Petition. Let's all sign it! 🌊 #DirtyWater #DirtyBusiness petition.parliament.uk/petitions/75...

*clack-clack of tiny teef* PERILAMPUS 😍 I hadn't seen one of these stunning blue nuggets in like 3+ years. Perfect, perfect creature. 💙 (they're hyperparasitoids of hyperparasitoids, and so damn cool enough on that merit, but also they can look like this)

Telenomus spp. #Wasps #Hymenoptera #VC55 #Scelionidae

Mr Ball-Wings has appeared again (Heterospilus, braconid wasp). Silly little guy.

“The Pondering Wasp” #MacroMonday

Cyrtogaster vulgaris "I have rarely found any other Chalcidoid (except Cyrtogaster vulgaris) hibernating in grass." Graham, M.D.V. (1969) The pteromalidae of north-western Europe (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea). Under Callitula bicolor, p 461. #Wasps #Hymenoptera #VC55

Are you angry watching #DirtyBusiness on Channel 4? You should know what Thames Water is doing RIGHT NOW Its creditors want permission to pollute illegally until 2040 ⁉️ 24 Thames Water MPs have written to tell the Minister and @ofwat.bsky.social to say NO 👇👇👇 weownit.org.uk/news/is-your...

Epiclerus panyas #wasps #Hymenoptera #VC55 #Tetracampidae

New publication: #Lipids as currency in #parasitoid competition: #Interactions between two #lipidscavenging species. doi.org/10.1016/j.ji...

First (male) Hairy-footed flower bee (Anthophora plumipes) of the year. Very early. SW London, 23.02.26 @ianbeavis.bsky.social @lisawilliams30.bsky.social @brigitstrawbridge.bsky.social @cathhodsman.bsky.social @katebradbury.bsky.social @bumblebeetrust.bsky.social @vannabartlett.bsky.social

A cool new tool for IDing bees using wing morphometrics is out now. This study was led by Rob Moore at @monashbiol.bsky.social as part of his PhD and supervised by Scarlett Howard and team at @monashbiol.bsky.social 🐝 check it out! 🔬 www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

All BHL staff have been secured! 🧪 As we enter our next chapter, the team who steward BHL’s collections & infrastructure remain in place, led by Colleen Funkhouser in her new role of Managing Director. Meet the team guiding BHL forward: blog.biodiversitylibrary.org/2026/02/celebrating-bhl-team.html

#WorldPangolinDay #2026sketches Day 8 #art #illustration

First moth trap of the year at Lauriston Farm, good selection of species 5/8, March, Spring usher, Satellite and Chestnut were new for the Farm list as I've not trapped so early before. 🦋

I talk about Linnaeus so I had to draw a little Linnaeus

Forgive me for bothering you Sawfly Bluesky, which is @naturespotter.bsky.social as far as I know, but have I gone terribly wrong, with only three antennal segments I don't think I can go that wrong...., or is this Aprosthema sp. ? #sawflys #hymenoptera

A rare wasp species by the name of 𝘖𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘪𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘹𝘢𝘵𝘰𝘳 has been identified, marking the first confirmed case of a hymenopteran wasp acting as a primary parasite of an earwig. This find sheds light on how these tiny wasps interact with their insect hosts in the wild: doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1268.181472

Mud dauber wasp home on palm tree

I’m angry today, at everything. Here’s the angry end of a Polistes paper wasp.

Stuck on these two Chalcids - help please? #Wasps #Hymenoptera #VC55

Pride of Madeira, top view #flowers #photograhy #art

Callitula bicolor, first record for #VC55 :-) #Wasps #Hymenoptera #Insects #Entomology

Entomology Job! Australian native bee systematics:

Empowering national capacity for DNA-based approach to species identification and biodiversity monitoring @mbmg.pensoft.net doi.org/10.3897/arph... #DNA #metabarcoding #sciencepolicy #biodiversity

📸 We’re delighted to unveil the winners of the RES #InsectWeek Photography Competition 2025! 🏆 Overall Winner Raghuram Annadana (IG: macro_by_raghu). The image shows a parasitic wasp laying its eggs inside Banana Skipper butterfly eggs. Read more and view the galleries 🔽

A new study suggests ozone pollution can mess up ant communication systems, making it more difficult for ants to tell nestmates from strangers.

Pteryga #insects #entomology #macro #macrophotography #nature #naturephotography #wildlife #wildlifephotography #pollinators #bees

After a few years of benign neglect I am rebuilding bionames.org, which is a database of 5.4 million taxonomomic names for animals, linked to half a million DOIs and 278K PDFs. Dream is for every species name to be linked to its original publication using a persistent identifier #PID

Question for Entomology curators: what printers are you using these days for archival specimen labels?

I regret to inform everyone that The Taxonomists have gone and changed a bunch of ant names again.

A 0.4mm long female Alaptus pallidicornis wasp of the Mymaridae found 24.9.2025 in the garden birch tree. #UKWildlife #wasps #Mymaridae

The IUCN's BumbleBee Specialist Group's report on its activities in moving towards Red List assessing bumblebees worldwide and helping their conservation during 2025 is now out! www.researchgate.net/publication/...

Could you grow a bumblebee’s breakfast? When insects emerge from hibernation in February and March they’ll be looking for something to eat – so growing plants that produce nectar-rich flowers in early spring really helps. Ideas: littlegreenspace.org.uk/features/bre...

@abigaillowe.bsky.social Hi Abi, You mentioned last year you were doing a list of Welsh language names for bees. Would you be able to pass a copy on please so I can share it at the museum in Cardiff? Cheers

just a little baby child (from @mosquitolab.bsky.social's pitfall samples; I can see how this one got sorted into the beetle pile)

This month look out for early emerging Tree bumblebees 👀 Tree bumblebee queens can be seen during some winter months, but this species is more noticable in the summer when males fly around nest entrances, waiting to mate with new queens as they emerge🧡 Have you seen your first bumblebee of 2026?

Hey bsky! I’d like to share some cool work I recently coauthored that integrates entomology, paleontology, and German cultural history. 🔶🐜⚡️ We discovered a fossil ant in the amber collection of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe! Read on for a delightful story of #museomics and #collectomics. >> 1/

Gall of the week is caused by a recently discovered species new to Britain, the gall wasp Andricus coriarius f. agamic on oak, Quercus robur. Discovered and photographed by Maria Fremlin.

I'm pleased to share this new #openaccess review article on 🌻 flower constancy🌻 and how it shapes plant-pollinator interactions. I hope you'll find it useful 🐝🦋 🌺: tinyurl.com/mrx59pt3

An Ectatomma tuberculatum ant tends to Guayaquila gracilicornis treehoppers in a Colombian cloud forest. Minca, Colombia.

Moths move significantly less when exposed to artificial nighttime light, new research from the Centre for Ecology and Conservation at the University of Exeter, Cornwall shows. Read More: news.exeter.ac.uk/faculty-of-e... @uniexecec.bsky.social #ExeterEcology

This paper addresses the fundamental challenge with wet collection specimen containers: their loss of stability over time. Read about how the museum's collection was used to investigate this problem: doi.org/10.3897/nhcm.3.181881

Introduced to help pollinate crops, the non-native bee Anthophora villosula is finding its own way in the U.S., present in several mid-Atlantic states. Researchers are evaluating its range and potential impact on native bee species and ecosystems, though as yet it hasn't earned "invasive" status.

New PhD alert! We'll be applying animal welfare ideas to look at how stress affects bees, looking at the effect on bee brains with @lenariab.bsky.social, and working with @sensibee.bsky.social developing new monitoring methods. Please spread the word! #bees #PhD 🧪 www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

A 0.3mm long female Trichogramma sp wasp found 28.10.2024 in the garden birch tree. Unusually, females of this genus are almost impossible to get to species. Identification is done from the male. #UKWildlife #wasps #Trichogrammatidae #HighWeald

🐝 Historia fisica, politica y natural de la isla de Cuba.. Paris: A. Bertrand, 1838-1861.. [Source]

Warming weakens natural enemies of insects. We found that higher temperatures strongly reduce the success of parasitoids – tiny wasps that help regulate insect populations in nature - and narrows their diet. Published in Ecology Letters dx.doi.org/10.1111/ele....