The amazing value of the eLife Assessment, demonstrated:

"The fascinating role of neuropeptide Bursicon and its receptor in shaping insect seasonal polyphenism", by Zhang et al. 2024
https://elifesciences.org/reviewed-preprints/97298

"This *important* study shows that low temperature activates the bursicon signaling pathway during the transition from the summer to the winter form and that it affects cuticle pigment and chitin content, and cuticle thickness."

"The study's *solid* set of experiments and results reveal a role of bursicon signaling in regulating features of polyphenism related to the exoskeleton. Nevertheless, they only *incompletely* substantiate the authors' claims about the regulation of polyphenism itself."

In which other journal would a reader get such a valuable reviewer comment like this, right away? Only at @eLife ! ELife's Assessment for the win.

#insects #entomology #Hemiptera #Psyllidae

Surprise observation this afternoon: Homotropus sp. An ichneumonid wasp, about 5-6 mm long.

There are only 8 observations world wide.

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/216551306

#iNaturalist #Hymenoptera #entomology #insects #wasplove

Ran an insect blacklight during the totality, with a control run the evening before. Got a ton of insects during both, but very different species. Fascinating. More later.

#Entomology #eclipse2024

Job! An endowed professorship at Arizona State University in the systematics and taxonomy of ants. A rare opportunity for the right sort of ant nerd/desert rat.

#Ants #Academia #Entomology

https://apply.interfolio.com/135564

The Venezuelan poodle moth is a beautiful animal. There was an article back in 2012 in #TheAtlantic https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2012/08/venezuelan-poodle-moth-internets-favorite-real-life-pokemon-tk/324111/ that traced the story and found out that it was real and not an internet fake.

The source of the photo for the Venezuelan poodle moth: https://www.flickr.com/photos/artour_a/4207478815/in/album-72157603542118616/

That album by Arthur Anker contains many more photos of extraordinary neotropical moths https://www.flickr.com/photos/artour_a/albums/72157603542118616/with/3947813697/ plus a few other insects.

The photos are simply out of this world. Here are a couple of my favourites:

Amastus epicostosia - aposematic tiger moth https://www.flickr.com/photos/artour_a/257883479/in/album-72157603542118616/

"Bolognese caterpillar" of a moth (Megalopyge sp.) from Ecuador https://www.flickr.com/photos/artour_a/504052852/in/album-72157603542118616/

Photos by Arthur Anker.

#moths #Lepidoptera #insects #entomology #PoodleMoth #ArthurAnker #caterpillar

Quite specific, but a very interesting article about #ants and their early evolution. The authors propose a 3 step scenario based on fossils and their interpretation. Really fascinating !

https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.02.20.480183v1

#insects #nature #ecology #fossil #paleontology #entomology

Content warning: Published Science. Symbiosis in beetles Click to open/close

#Bostrichidae #beetles have two #symbionts with important functions. One encodes the pathways to produce tyrosine precursors and is presumably involved in #cuticle and #exoskeleton formation. The second recycles urea, synthesizes lysine, and is strictly #evolving with its host. These types of "dual symbioses" have only been described in sap-feeding #Hemiptera.

#Biology #Entomology #Evolution #Bacteria #Coevolution #Genome

https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.12.09.519726v1

Cuticle supplementation and nitrogen recycling by a dual bacterial symbiosis in a family of xylophagous beetles (Coleoptera: Bostrichidae)

Many insects engage in stable nutritional symbioses with bacteria that supplement limiting essential nutrients to their host.

^bioRxiv