Leo Turchen
LightNews LightNews
leoturchen.bsky.social
Leo Turchen
@leoturchen.bsky.social
11 followers 29 following 3 posts
Posts Replies Media Videos
leoturchen.bsky.social
I'm glad to share my latest contribution focusing on the Warty Birch Caterpillar 🐛! This project was both challenging and rewarding, involving detailed observations of morphological and behavioural traits in different life stages. It was a learning journey.

Check it out: doi.org/10.1007/s109...
Warty Birch Caterpillar, Falcaria bilineata (Drepanidae): Ontogenetic Changes in Morphology and Behavior - Journal of Insect Behavior
Drepanidae caterpillars exhibit vibratory communication and variability in social behaviors within and between species, offering an excellent opportunity to test hypotheses on the function and evoluti...
doi.org
July 30, 2025 at 11:22 AM
Reposted by Leo Turchen
biologists.bsky.social
We've just released another set of peer reviewer trees. Each digital tree represents a real-life tree in Great Knott Wood that is being protected, thanks to the important work of our peer reviewers. Check out the full #forestofbiologists on forest.biologists.com/landscape
Schematic of The Forest of Biologists
April 25, 2025 at 4:01 PM
leoturchen.bsky.social
Our paper got featured in ScienceShots by Science!

This tiny, newborn caterpillar buzzes to defend its territory | Science | AAAS www.science.org/content/arti...
This tiny, newborn caterpillar buzzes to defend its territory
The 2-millimeter-long bug is among the smallest animals ever observed performing territorial displays
www.science.org
April 5, 2025 at 3:36 PM
leoturchen.bsky.social
The New York Times wrote about our paper…

Check it out: www.nytimes.com/2025/04/04/s...
The Territory Is Tiny and So Is the Newborn Caterpillar Defending It
As they cling to leaf tips, newborn warty birch caterpillars produce vibrations that can ward off invaders approaching their millimeter-size domain.
www.nytimes.com
April 4, 2025 at 11:11 AM
Reposted by Leo Turchen
jexpbiol.bsky.social
Read the full story at journals.biologists.com/jeb/article/...
A screenshot of the first page of the PDF of the research article, Buzzing boundaries: tiny caterpillars vibrate to defend leaf tip territories, by Sarah Matheson, Leonardo Turchen, Emilie Mauduit and Jayne Yack. The publishing information at the top of the page reads: © 2025. Published by The Company of Biologists | Journal of Experimental Biology (2025) 228, jeb249796. doi:10.1242/jeb.249796. The first sentence of the Abstract reads: Territorial displays include some of the most elaborate behaviours in the animal kingdom.
April 1, 2025 at 5:05 PM
Reposted by Leo Turchen
jexpbiol.bsky.social
Many creatures defend their territory & now it turns out that newborn warty birch caterpillars, at 1-2mm long, are the tiniest & youngest territorial animals defending their birch leaf tip homes against other caterpillar intruders with warning vibrations
journals.biologists.com/jeb/article/...
A composite image of three photos: two stacked one above the other on the left and one on the right. The top image on the left shows a birch leaf. The image below shows a leaf tip with a resident warty birch caterpillar. The image on the right shows a close-up of a newborn warty birch caterpillar on a birch leaf tip in the process of scraping its rear along the leaf to produce the warning vibrations. Photo credit: Yack laboratory.
April 1, 2025 at 5:05 PM