Marshal Hedin
LightNews LightNews
banner
mhedin.bsky.social
Marshal Hedin
@mhedin.bsky.social
1.4K followers 720 following 390 posts
devoted to the study & understanding of biodiversity, and public sharing of biodiversity knowledge and beauty. a "curator" of biological collections, and of the planet. Dad, Univ Prof
Posts Replies Media Videos
Reposted by Marshal Hedin
ashwhiffin.bsky.social
Super useful tips & tricks for insect specimen imaging from @andrewjohnston.bsky.social! He shares how to build an affordable focus stacking system on your own.

Handy guide available here:
www.insectid.org/post/focus-s...

#ECN2025 📸 🪲
Camera set up with Schmitt box for sense of scale. Photo credit: Andrew Johnston.
November 8, 2025 at 6:08 PM
Reposted by Marshal Hedin
bertonemyia.bsky.social
It's almost the weekend! 🥳

If you're looking for something for you and/or your kids to do, I've recently re-uploaded my arthropod coloring guide 🎨

Please feel free to share, print, and [definitely] have fun with it!!!

drive.google.com/file/d/1V59i...
A few panels from the coloring guide: a scorpion, an isopod, and a tachinid fly (along with their info).
November 7, 2025 at 9:59 PM
Reposted by Marshal Hedin
respublications.bsky.social
New #OpenAccess research in #RESSystematicEnt

Alone no more — Integrative #taxonomy of New Zealand odd-clawed #spiders challenges the monotypy of #Pianoa and #Gradungula (#Araneae: #Gradungulidae)
doi.org/10.1111/syen.70006

#IntegrativeTaxonomy
@gkergoat.bsky.social @wileyeco.bsky.social
November 5, 2025 at 9:05 AM
mhedin.bsky.social
Where the red fern grows
spahn711.bsky.social Alex Spahn 🌋🌪️☄️ @spahn711.bsky.social · 4d
Tonight's pastel sunset in southeast Oklahoma. #photography
A portrait photograph of the sky immediately after sunset. The sky is partially filled with layers of clouds, all glowing with pastel colors of blue, pink, and orange. One cloud stands out at the top of the photo, with a sort of hook or claw-like shape. Below is a mountainous landscape filled with numerous dark hills. A single tree sticks up at the bottom center.
November 7, 2025 at 4:07 AM
Reposted by Marshal Hedin
secretsluglab.bsky.social
We found oyster spiders today during my oyster lab field trip for my Invertebrate Zoology class! These are marine spiders! They have special setae (hairs) that trap air and let them live underwater. #invertebrates #spider
A marine spider, Paratheuma insulana, on an oyster shell. The spider is brown with some darker brown stripes. The oyster shell is mostly white with some dirty yellow/brown edges. A marine spider, Paratheuma insulana, on an oyster shell. The spider is brown with some darker brown stripes.
November 6, 2025 at 8:11 PM
Reposted by Marshal Hedin
linneansociety.bsky.social
Ever wanted to get the lowdown on natural history museums? Interested in how they're shaped from behind the scenes? Or how they in turn shape scientific understanding?

Then join Jack Ashby's talk exploring both the scientific and social relevance of these fascinating institutions

🎟️ from £9.38
Nature’s Memory | Behind the Scenes at the World’s Natural History Museums
Get an insider guide to the secrets of natural history museums, as we consider how they shape our society and relationship with nature.
buff.ly
November 6, 2025 at 5:17 PM
Reposted by Marshal Hedin
ibycter.bsky.social
Habronattus borealis male, from Pomquet Beach, NS
a beautiful Paradise jumping spider, a male, overall he is dark on the body reddish on the legs and has nice frosty whitish blue palps and green eyes. He is on a rock with the blue sky behind.
November 6, 2025 at 5:07 PM
mhedin.bsky.social
A bunch of undescribed spider species enjoying the moisture at Burdell!
calandscapebot.bsky.social California Landscapes @calandscapebot.bsky.social · 5d
Mt Burdell 2, Marin County, CA
🗺38.1499, -122.5932 🧭133° ⛰1562 ft
https://ops.alertcalifornia.org/cam-console/15819
November 5, 2025 at 11:48 PM
Reposted by Marshal Hedin
fromthemixedupdesk.bsky.social
Book recs for Native American Heritage month.

If you aren’t already, please subscribe to my Bindery and help support my publishing goals! The easiest way to support is to become a free follower. The best way to support is to subscribe for $5 or $12.

boozhoo.binderybooks.com
November 2, 2025 at 1:48 PM
mhedin.bsky.social
western pygmy blue butterfly from a recent visit to the desert,
with a long straw .... sipping on sweetbush (Bebbia)
November 4, 2025 at 3:10 PM
Reposted by Marshal Hedin
bug-gwen.bsky.social
Hey EntFriends #EntSoc25: This high school entomology club in California is looking for funds to support their pinning and collections. Can we make that happen? Any donations large and small will help! www.donorschoose.org/project/inse...
Insect Pinning! Small Creatures, Big Impact: Support Cah Entomology Club!, a project from Mr. Lopez
Help me give my students an insect pinning kit to be able to have active and engaging insect pinning projects. The Entomology Club has the goal of engaging students in the scientific process throug...
www.donorschoose.org
November 3, 2025 at 9:36 PM
Reposted by Marshal Hedin
benhorne.bsky.social
“Content” is created for others to consume. To fill a bottomless void created by corporations.

Art is something we create for ourselves. To fill our own soul.

We need more artists in this world.
November 3, 2025 at 7:21 PM
Reposted by Marshal Hedin
bembidion.bsky.social
After almost 30 years, the Tree of Life Web Project has been retired as an actively growing site. It will be unavailable until we can build a static site that contains its final content. More details at subulatepalpomere.com/2025/11/02/t...
The Passing of the Tree of Life Web Project
The Tree of Life Web Project began its journey almost 40 years ago, and was formally announced in early 1996. It has served thousands of pages of information about the evolutionary tree of life and…
subulatepalpomere.com
November 3, 2025 at 6:28 PM
Reposted by Marshal Hedin
waynemaddison.bsky.social
The end of an era: the Tree of Life Web Project is going dark after 3 decades. Anyone interested in communicating phylogeny online should read David's account of goals, history, and future. @bembidion.bsky.social
subulatepalpomere.com/2025/11/02/t...
The Passing of the Tree of Life Web Project
The Tree of Life Web Project began its journey almost 40 years ago, and was formally announced in early 1996. It has served thousands of pages of information about the evolutionary tree of life and…
subulatepalpomere.com
November 3, 2025 at 3:54 PM
Reposted by Marshal Hedin
casswart.bsky.social
For more information about the Vaquita and more ways to help and get involved please visit: porpoise.org/save-the-vaq...
Save the Endangered Vaquita - Porpoise Conservation Society
The vaquita is the smallest cetacean, and the most critically endangered marine mammal on the planet. If conservation actions are not successful, it might go extinct within the next couple of years.
porpoise.org
November 2, 2025 at 8:22 PM
mhedin.bsky.social
beautiful foggy morning for spider webs, here from my backyard in San Diego.

f 2.8, Eriogonum in bg ..
November 2, 2025 at 6:52 PM
mhedin.bsky.social
What on Earth is wrong with people 😔😔😔
October 31, 2025 at 11:28 PM
mhedin.bsky.social
a particularly furry/fuzzy bee fly

reminds me of a little mammal. cool how you can see the actual dark thorax beneath the layer of thoracic hairs
October 31, 2025 at 3:06 AM
Reposted by Marshal Hedin
fossilforager.bsky.social
North American Hoverflies! 🪰
An illustrated poster with numbers and an identification key, highlighting the diversity of Hoverfly species found in North America. 18 flies are drawn on the poster. These flies are generally striped/have patterns that make them resemble bees. They are illustrated on a light earthy yellow-green background.
October 30, 2025 at 6:23 PM
Reposted by Marshal Hedin
kristiellingsen.bsky.social
Sorry spider haters, but this was just the most beautiful beast & I knew (nearly everyone) would need to see it 😉. It sat frozen, up on its toes, on the edge of Leeman (WA) salt lake while I took pics. Unfortunately it was too big (body length 1.4cm) for my lens. #spider #Lycosidae #Tetralycosa
Most of a wolf spider, taken from directly above. The last segments of a few legs have been cut off by the frame. It is standing on holy salty sand, so the background looks like a solid slab of black specked beige. The spider is a mainly soft grey body with four black eyes showing. The abdomen is marked with a grey line and black rimmed blobs all over it. This made it incredibly hard to see if you weren't paying close attention. The legs are a more pinky white with diffuse black barring. If it was big enough people would be wearing the "pelt" as luxury coats. It's gorgeous. The same spider taken from a low angle, looking at the face slightly angled. This shows the female palps and the entire set of 8 black eyes. It also showed how the spider was right up on its "toes" ready for a fast get-away (or maybe the blinding white salt was hot to stand on). There is a bit of a shadow from the intense sunlight. Spider description is on the other photo.
October 30, 2025 at 2:30 AM
Reposted by Marshal Hedin
lifesciencestudios.bsky.social
Check out the recent publication in Annual Reviews of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics where the authors explore genomic species delimitation in depth. You'll see a number of #sciart figures I created to help explain some of the concepts!

www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...
A scientific figure showing speciation and explaining the concept of species delimitation, and including a quote by the paper's first author.
October 29, 2025 at 1:00 PM
mhedin.bsky.social
I call this "one leg left ..."

the wasp leg is the only item that remains from the wasp meal of this "camel spider" (solifugid, not a spider)

this past weekend in our local Anza Borrego Desert
October 30, 2025 at 1:22 AM
Reposted by Marshal Hedin
forthespiders.bsky.social
Day 1 of our Okefenokee NWF trip completed. We canoed to Billy's Island (~2mi.), collected spiders all day via litter sift and vacuum, and canoed back to camp. Very productive and hopefully we collected some lost species.
October 28, 2025 at 11:24 PM
mhedin.bsky.social
My SDSU Mammalogy students came up with a cool twist on a dichotomous key for CA vesper bats

Forks include the questions, then YN take you down alternative paths. With illustrations! 👏
October 28, 2025 at 1:42 PM
mhedin.bsky.social
hmmmm .... not a good evening to be a tiphiid wasp
October 28, 2025 at 2:50 AM