Ainsley S
@americanbeetles.bsky.social
I hope you like pictures of bugs.
Curating at CMNH, teaching at CMU, beetling everywhere
Curating at CMNH, teaching at CMU, beetling everywhere
Pinned
The Pest Is Still To Come
YouTube video by Dan Warren
www.youtube.com
I'm proud of our li'l Schoolhouse Rock for Insect Taxonomists cartoon, but if you're not in Bug World here are some annotations for you... www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYSI... cc @danlwarren.bsky.social
Reposted by Ainsley S
#RodentOfTheDay Gundi (Ctenodactylus gundi)
"There are five species of gundis—North African, desert, Mzab, Felou, and Speke's—and they share certain characteristics. Topping out at a little over 7 ounces ... gundis move fast on short legs."
Ph/Inf: animals.sandiegozoo.org/animals/gundi
"There are five species of gundis—North African, desert, Mzab, Felou, and Speke's—and they share certain characteristics. Topping out at a little over 7 ounces ... gundis move fast on short legs."
Ph/Inf: animals.sandiegozoo.org/animals/gundi
January 27, 2026 at 2:28 PM
#RodentOfTheDay Gundi (Ctenodactylus gundi)
"There are five species of gundis—North African, desert, Mzab, Felou, and Speke's—and they share certain characteristics. Topping out at a little over 7 ounces ... gundis move fast on short legs."
Ph/Inf: animals.sandiegozoo.org/animals/gundi
"There are five species of gundis—North African, desert, Mzab, Felou, and Speke's—and they share certain characteristics. Topping out at a little over 7 ounces ... gundis move fast on short legs."
Ph/Inf: animals.sandiegozoo.org/animals/gundi
new LBB just dropped
#LiteratureNotice Tello & Tello-Arriagada. Aextoxicola pilolcurensis, a new genus and species of false skin beetles (Coleoptera, Biphyllidae) from the Chilean Valdivian rainforest doi.org/10.3897/zook... #Beetle #Beetles #falseskinbeetles
January 28, 2026 at 3:38 AM
new LBB just dropped
Reposted by Ainsley S
Interesting study, but coverage is undermined by using fake AI-generated fossils ("Credit: AI/ScienceDaily.com") rather than authentic specimens. I am not aware of any actual Ediacaran fossils that look like this. To be clear, this is a criticism of Science Daily, not the authors of the study.
Silica-rich and iron-rich seawater in Ediacaran oceans enabled clay minerals to grow around the buried organisms, cementing sand into the shapes of the soft creatures, preserving impressions for all time ⚒️🧪🌊
www.sciencedaily.com/releases/202...
www.sciencedaily.com/releases/202...
Scientists finally explain Earth’s strangest fossils
The Ediacara Biota are some of the strangest fossils ever found—soft-bodied organisms preserved in remarkable detail where preservation shouldn’t be possible. Scientists now think their survival in sa...
www.sciencedaily.com
January 27, 2026 at 6:41 PM
Interesting study, but coverage is undermined by using fake AI-generated fossils ("Credit: AI/ScienceDaily.com") rather than authentic specimens. I am not aware of any actual Ediacaran fossils that look like this. To be clear, this is a criticism of Science Daily, not the authors of the study.
Reposted by Ainsley S
Generate podcast??? Why the fuck is Adobe even giving me this option?? The document I have open is a receipt from the printers
January 27, 2026 at 10:05 AM
Generate podcast??? Why the fuck is Adobe even giving me this option?? The document I have open is a receipt from the printers
Thank goodness, the Lab of O has provided an antidote to the psychic damage inflicted by that mammal poster
MAJOR NEWS! We just launched an awesome new tool! The illustrated Birds of the World Phylogeny Explorer lets users trace any bird’s lineage, compare species relationships, and explore major evolutionary milestones with a click of a button. SHARE and EXPLORE! birdsoftheworld.org/bow/news/phy...
January 27, 2026 at 4:25 AM
Thank goodness, the Lab of O has provided an antidote to the psychic damage inflicted by that mammal poster
Finally, infuriating AI organisms for the vertebrate systematist
January 27, 2026 at 3:56 AM
Finally, infuriating AI organisms for the vertebrate systematist
Reposted by Ainsley S
Gotta say, it’s a bit surreal watching all these videos of Snowmageddon from North America when here in Melbourne we’re due to hit 110 Fahrenheit today
January 27, 2026 at 2:23 AM
Gotta say, it’s a bit surreal watching all these videos of Snowmageddon from North America when here in Melbourne we’re due to hit 110 Fahrenheit today
Reposted by Ainsley S
oh my god dude www.reddit.com/r/Tacoma/s/O...
From the Tacoma community on Reddit: Look what pulled into Tacoma
Explore this post and more from the Tacoma community
www.reddit.com
January 27, 2026 at 12:04 AM
oh my god dude www.reddit.com/r/Tacoma/s/O...
Reposted by Ainsley S
UVライトを当てると、まるで蒼炎のよう。
January 24, 2026 at 1:20 PM
UVライトを当てると、まるで蒼炎のよう。
Reposted by Ainsley S
Minnesota, my home, is carrying a heavy burden right now.
Being kind is not being weak. The strength to care for others, to love and protect our neighbors, to be a shield and not a sword, to be warmth in the cold is true Minnesota nice.
(Photo by local photographer Ricky Roman, MN)
Being kind is not being weak. The strength to care for others, to love and protect our neighbors, to be a shield and not a sword, to be warmth in the cold is true Minnesota nice.
(Photo by local photographer Ricky Roman, MN)
January 26, 2026 at 7:02 PM
Minnesota, my home, is carrying a heavy burden right now.
Being kind is not being weak. The strength to care for others, to love and protect our neighbors, to be a shield and not a sword, to be warmth in the cold is true Minnesota nice.
(Photo by local photographer Ricky Roman, MN)
Being kind is not being weak. The strength to care for others, to love and protect our neighbors, to be a shield and not a sword, to be warmth in the cold is true Minnesota nice.
(Photo by local photographer Ricky Roman, MN)
Reposted by Ainsley S
We are looking for a colleague with expertise in arthropod community ecology. Do you know someone with a PhD that has this background; please forward this position to them and they may just end up in Freising! 🐜🦋
We are currently looking for a postdoctoral researcher with expertise in community ecology to work in the Arthropods Core Project of the Biodiversity Exploratories @bexplo.bsky.social
Reposting is much appreciated for widest reach! Thanks.
More information here:
www.lss.ls.tum.de/fileadmin/w0...
Reposting is much appreciated for widest reach! Thanks.
More information here:
www.lss.ls.tum.de/fileadmin/w0...
www.lss.ls.tum.de
January 26, 2026 at 2:08 PM
We are looking for a colleague with expertise in arthropod community ecology. Do you know someone with a PhD that has this background; please forward this position to them and they may just end up in Freising! 🐜🦋
Reposted by Ainsley S
Because why not, I finally wrote it up:
"What’s the highest score we could get in Scrabble if we play a taxonomically valid genus/species name?"
mdahirel.github.io/posts/2026-0...
"What’s the highest score we could get in Scrabble if we play a taxonomically valid genus/species name?"
mdahirel.github.io/posts/2026-0...
January 25, 2026 at 10:30 PM
Because why not, I finally wrote it up:
"What’s the highest score we could get in Scrabble if we play a taxonomically valid genus/species name?"
mdahirel.github.io/posts/2026-0...
"What’s the highest score we could get in Scrabble if we play a taxonomically valid genus/species name?"
mdahirel.github.io/posts/2026-0...
Reposted by Ainsley S
We've got ISSUES. Literally.
We scraped >100k special issues & over 1 million articles to bring you a PISS-poor paper. We quantify just how many excess papers are published by guest editors abusing special issues to boost their CVs. How bad is it & what can we do?
arxiv.org/abs/2601.07563
A 🧵 1/n
We scraped >100k special issues & over 1 million articles to bring you a PISS-poor paper. We quantify just how many excess papers are published by guest editors abusing special issues to boost their CVs. How bad is it & what can we do?
arxiv.org/abs/2601.07563
A 🧵 1/n
January 13, 2026 at 8:27 AM
We've got ISSUES. Literally.
We scraped >100k special issues & over 1 million articles to bring you a PISS-poor paper. We quantify just how many excess papers are published by guest editors abusing special issues to boost their CVs. How bad is it & what can we do?
arxiv.org/abs/2601.07563
A 🧵 1/n
We scraped >100k special issues & over 1 million articles to bring you a PISS-poor paper. We quantify just how many excess papers are published by guest editors abusing special issues to boost their CVs. How bad is it & what can we do?
arxiv.org/abs/2601.07563
A 🧵 1/n
Reposted by Ainsley S
Various members of a colony of Usazoros hubbardi (Zoraptera, angel insects), extremely slowly decomposing a giant fallen pine. That's the life right there.
January 25, 2026 at 4:02 PM
Various members of a colony of Usazoros hubbardi (Zoraptera, angel insects), extremely slowly decomposing a giant fallen pine. That's the life right there.
ICE buying a tactical vehicle called “the Senator” to further their aims seems almost too on the nose, doesn’t it globalnews.ca/news/1155832...
‘Fantastic news’: Ford welcomes ICE plan to order Ontario armoured vehicles | Globalnews.ca
Reports emerged this week of U.S. government procurement plans to order 20 Senator vehicles for its ICE officers, a move worth roughly $10 million.
globalnews.ca
January 26, 2026 at 4:24 AM
ICE buying a tactical vehicle called “the Senator” to further their aims seems almost too on the nose, doesn’t it globalnews.ca/news/1155832...
Enthusiastic texts from Tacoma about the Seahawks, Dad is calling them “the Birds”
January 26, 2026 at 3:37 AM
Enthusiastic texts from Tacoma about the Seahawks, Dad is calling them “the Birds”
Didn’t realize until precisely today how a good snowstorm can fully pedestrianize the neighborhood. it’s PEACEFUL and I think that’s GREAT
January 26, 2026 at 3:00 AM
Didn’t realize until precisely today how a good snowstorm can fully pedestrianize the neighborhood. it’s PEACEFUL and I think that’s GREAT
Today we are BUILDING CHARACTER
January 25, 2026 at 6:53 PM
Today we are BUILDING CHARACTER
Reposted by Ainsley S
Do thou, too, remain warm among ice.
January 25, 2026 at 3:47 AM
Do thou, too, remain warm among ice.
Reposted by Ainsley S
Want do look at the population genetics of wolves in northern Canada? Apply for this 3 yr postdoc position at UNBC! Details in link or screenshots.
gounbc-my.sharepoint.com/personal/jgo...
gounbc-my.sharepoint.com/personal/jgo...
January 24, 2026 at 6:35 PM
Want do look at the population genetics of wolves in northern Canada? Apply for this 3 yr postdoc position at UNBC! Details in link or screenshots.
gounbc-my.sharepoint.com/personal/jgo...
gounbc-my.sharepoint.com/personal/jgo...
Reposted by Ainsley S
The man fatally shot by federal officers in Minneapolis this morning has been identified as Alex Jeffrey Pretti, according to sources familiar with the investigation.
Live: Federal agents shot and killed Minneapolis man, DHS officials say he was armed
A bystander video shows several agents wrestled with man on a city sidewalk moments before the shooting. Police chief Brian O’Hara issued a plea for calm, as protesters gathered at the scene: “Please do not destroy our own city.”
bit.ly
January 24, 2026 at 6:44 PM
The man fatally shot by federal officers in Minneapolis this morning has been identified as Alex Jeffrey Pretti, according to sources familiar with the investigation.
NIH gave genetic data to a BUSINESS prof??
Everything old being new again all at once is not a coincidence
Genetic Data From Over 20,000 U.S. Children Misused for ‘Race Science’
www.nytimes.com
January 24, 2026 at 3:31 PM
NIH gave genetic data to a BUSINESS prof??
Reposted by Ainsley S
Cycling race sponsored by one of Australia's biggest carbon polluters has to modify event due to extreme heat. #heatwave #climatechange www.abc.net.au/news/2026-01...
Soaring temperatures in SA force Tour Down Under changes
South Australia's hottest weather in six years creates dangerous bushfire conditions, which the head of the Country Fire Service says are "as serious as it gets".
www.abc.net.au
January 24, 2026 at 12:09 AM
Cycling race sponsored by one of Australia's biggest carbon polluters has to modify event due to extreme heat. #heatwave #climatechange www.abc.net.au/news/2026-01...
Speaking of Australian Trees That Kill You Instantly
It’s Bunya Pine cone season!
The female cones of the Bunya Pine (Araucaria bidwillii) are among the largest in the world. These three cones all fell from the tree in our garden this week and weigh ~8.1kg each.
#ozflora #wildoz #nativeplants #trees #nature
The female cones of the Bunya Pine (Araucaria bidwillii) are among the largest in the world. These three cones all fell from the tree in our garden this week and weigh ~8.1kg each.
#ozflora #wildoz #nativeplants #trees #nature
January 24, 2026 at 1:31 PM
Speaking of Australian Trees That Kill You Instantly
Reposted by Ainsley S
Extreme heatwave for most of SE Australia this week. Here in Armidale, previously cool temperate summer rainfall, it is so hot and dry our dirt is cracking while gardens still appear green. Stay safe, put your birdbaths in the shade and keep them full www.weatherzone.com.au/news/intense...
Intense heatwave spreading across Australia, catastrophic fire danger in SA on Saturday
An intense and prolonged heatwave will sweep across Australia from this weekend into next week.
www.weatherzone.com.au
January 24, 2026 at 10:11 AM
Extreme heatwave for most of SE Australia this week. Here in Armidale, previously cool temperate summer rainfall, it is so hot and dry our dirt is cracking while gardens still appear green. Stay safe, put your birdbaths in the shade and keep them full www.weatherzone.com.au/news/intense...