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