Jess Awad
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parasitoidrex.bsky.social
Jess Awad
@parasitoidrex.bsky.social
1.4K followers 590 following 220 posts
Entomologist specializing in parasitoid wasps and dark taxa. Leiden, Netherlands.
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parasitoidrex.bsky.social
Jess Awad @parasitoidrex.bsky.social · Feb 12
Gall midges and their parasitoids are abundant, megadiverse, and very hard to identify! Such "double dark taxa" systems present special challenges for ecology and agriculture. 🧵🧪🐙 @smnstuttgart.bsky.social @marinamoser.bsky.social @krogmann.bsky.social doi.org/10.1093/aesa...
Untangling host specialization in a “double dark taxa” system
Abstract. Platygastrine wasps (Hymenoptera: Platygastridae) are parasitoids of gall midges (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae). They and their hosts are exceptionally
doi.org
Reposted by Jess Awad
beetlequeen.bsky.social
A belated Valentines themed podcast which was so much fun with the inimitable @nhcooper123.bsky.social and @joshlukedavis.com m.youtube.com/watch?v=2qNL... 🧙‍♀️ 🧹 Caution: do not take lessons in seduction from a scientist 🤓
Did witches ride broomsticks? Our guest explains why we might think so | The 'Perfect' Specimen Ep20
YouTube video by Natural History Museum
m.youtube.com
February 17, 2026 at 4:14 PM
Reposted by Jess Awad
swarmofthoughts.bsky.social
Not a widely known fact about #Ukraine, is that it has rich amber deposits, contemporary but distinct from Baltic one (Rovno amber), so mid-Eocene, 38 MYA. Here is a frog-biting midge from our old paper on Rovno amber tinyurl.com/2jdmaz7j #Ukraine have many #fossils waiting peace to be studied 🦖⚒️
February 17, 2026 at 5:56 PM
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amnh.org
Here’s one lobster that you might not want with a side of butter: the lobster moth! Named for its lobster-like larval form, this wide-ranging insect inhabits parts of Europe & Asia. While it resembles a crustacean, it can also mimic ants as a way to deter potential predators.
Head on shot of a brownish-red moth larva on a thin tree branch. It has little white spots on its body. Its silhouette looks not unlike that of a lobster. It's grasping the twig of a plant. The background is green.
February 17, 2026 at 1:09 AM
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stephenbheard.bsky.social
If there is one soap box I'd like to endorse with all my writing soul, IT'S THIS ONE.
jorgeapenas.bsky.social Jorge Peña @jorgeapenas.bsky.social · 11h
Don't utilize "utilize". Use "use".
February 17, 2026 at 1:05 PM
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zookeys.pensoft.net
A rare wasp species by the name of 𝘖𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘪𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘹𝘢𝘵𝘰𝘳 has been identified, marking the first confirmed case of a hymenopteran wasp acting as a primary parasite of an earwig.

This find sheds light on how these tiny wasps interact with their insect hosts in the wild: doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1268.181472
February 16, 2026 at 8:12 AM
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megdaly.bsky.social
Great opportunity for small grants for systematic research!
February 16, 2026 at 12:04 PM
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projectdrawdown.bsky.social
American climate science is losing federal support right when we need it most.

Project Drawdown is stepping up: launching the Climate Science Serving America Fellowship for early/mid-career PhD scientists to do good science that does good.

🗓️ Apply by April 17
👉 https://bit.ly/4kx2J1Q
February 12, 2026 at 6:21 PM
Reposted by Jess Awad
mutillidae.bsky.social
Reposting this for no particular reason.
February 14, 2026 at 9:42 PM
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evoldir.bsky.social
The Natural History Museum Denmark seeks a Tenure Track Assistant Professor and Curator of Lepidoptera. Candidates should have a strong research background in Lepidoptera. Applications due March 22, 2026. Info: https://snm.dk/en/about-museum. #job
About the museum
Natural History Museum Denmark is beautifully located in the corner of the Botanical Garden near Nørreport Station. Until October 2022 the museum also welcomed guests at the Zoological Museum at Østerbro, which is now closed to the public in order to prepare for the new museum building that will open in the Botanical Garden in a few years time.
snm.dk
February 15, 2026 at 11:17 AM
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smnstuttgart.bsky.social
The Stuttgart Natural History Museum is offering a postdoc position (m/f/d) in Temnospondyl Geochemistry

E 13 TV-L, 100 %, 2 years

Application deadline: March 8th, 2026

➡ Further information: https://t1p.de/nwrfi
Stellenausschreibung für eine Postdoc-Position (m/w/d) in Temnospondyl-Geochemie am Naturkundemuseum Stuttgart.
February 9, 2026 at 3:02 PM
Reposted by Jess Awad
sejarnold.bsky.social
As the last few years have seen some serious yield challenges in West African cocoa, leading to global price volatility (and noticeable increases in the price of chocolate bars, changes in recipes, etc.), let's think about just one part of this system: pollination.

A thread 🧵

[1/]
February 13, 2026 at 4:07 PM
Reposted by Jess Awad
dollyjorgensen.bsky.social
Phd Position: Art and Soil Ecologies, Environmental Humanities Center Amsterdam, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Closes 15 March 2026
ehc-amsterdam.nl/phd-position...
#envhum
Phd Position: Art and Soil Ecologies (closes 15 March 2026)
We are hiring! We are excited to announce a PhD position on “Art and Soil Ecologies” within the JUST ART research consortium. The project engages with the vital role crucial role soil plays within …
ehc-amsterdam.nl
February 13, 2026 at 11:53 AM
Reposted by Jess Awad
passionpeachy.bsky.social
got you some chocolates. don’t worry about the title
Digital drawing of a pink heart-shaped box that says “OOPS…ALL BUGS. assorted chocolates” on the cover with colorful bug-shaped chocolates inside.
February 12, 2026 at 7:43 PM
Reposted by Jess Awad
pascal-frey.bsky.social
🎉 Happy International Day of Women and Girls in Science 🔬

Today I would like to celebrate Johanna Westerdijk (1883-1961), a Dutch #forest #pathologist who discovered the cause of #DutchElmDisease in the 1920’s
(1/3)

#WomenInSTEM
#WomenInScience

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johanna...
Johanna Westerdijk - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
February 11, 2026 at 4:13 PM
Reposted by Jess Awad
arnoldtortoise.bsky.social
A 0.3mm long female Trichogramma sp wasp found 2.5.2023 in Brede High Woods.

#UKWildlife #wasps #Trichogrammatidae #HighWeald
Side view of a tiny yellow wasp. Its head has large red eyes, and is to the right of picture. There are grey stripes across the wasp's back. Paddle shaped wings are held vertically above body.
February 11, 2026 at 3:24 PM
Reposted by Jess Awad
mutillidae.bsky.social
All the non-hymenopterans really wanna be hymenopterans...

😀

#MimicryFTW
#HymenopteraRule
rosariolebronentomology.com Armando Rosario-Lebrón @rosariolebronentomology.com · Jun 10
For a moment I was fooled, I took the picture assuming it was a wasp. The way it moved very specifically, suggested Hymenoptera. It even moved its antennae the same way! Then I looked closer... that’s #Cerambycidae, #Coleoptera keeps surprising me.

#Entomology 🪲🪳 #Invert 🌿 #macrophotography
A close-up macro photograph of a longhorn beetle, likely from the genus Necydalis, possibly Necydalis mellita, resting on a glossy green leaf. The insect is shown in profile and displays striking wasp-like mimicry, a classic feature of this genus. Its body is slender, elongated, and mostly black with some dark brown tones, mimicking the sleek body shape of a wasp. The exoskeleton texture is finely detailed with short, pale hairs. Long, segmented black antennae curve forward, contributing to the Hymenoptera illusion. The legs are long, thin, and reddish-brown with visible articulation and fine setae. The beetle’s elytra (wing covers) are short and reddish-brown, leaving much of the abdomen exposed, another trait that enhances the wasp disguise. Underneath the elytra, partially visible, are the delicate, membranous hindwings. The thorax appears narrow and raised, helping define a “waist,” furthering the mimicry effect. The compound eyes are large and deep black, typical of longhorn beetles. The leaf it's perched on is vibrant green with white speckling, and its waxy texture reflects the light. The background is a softly blurred mix of darker greens, ensuring the beetle remains the focal point. This detailed image captures the beetle’s impressive Batesian mimicry, where a harmless species evolves to resemble a more dangerous one, in this case, mimicking a wasp to deter predators.
February 11, 2026 at 4:08 PM
Reposted by Jess Awad
catrinwestphal.bsky.social
📢 We’re hiring!
We’re looking for an enthusiastic and highly motivated postdoctoral researcher to join our team at @funcagroeco.bsky.social

The position focuses on how collaborative agri-environment measures affect multiple taxa and ecosystem services.

See: www.uni-goettingen.de/en/vacancy+f...
February 10, 2026 at 11:28 AM
Reposted by Jess Awad
mothmonarch.bsky.social
🌘 "Starchild" 🌟
Commission for @franzanth.bsky.social & at last another of my Golden Orbits.
Digital artwork of a dragon head caterpillar (Polyura schreiber) with the many dots on its horned head and chubby body rendered to resemble little stars, a few actually being tiny four-pointed stars. Above its head a partially eclipsed moon is framed between its inner horns, and large four-pointed stars rest on the center of its upper head and hang on either side of its head between its outer horns. More stylized rays and stars radiate out into the edges of the image, rich textured gold against a dark blue framing the green bug's body. The caterpillar is outlined in metallic gold and has fairly realistic face details and feet. Art by Moth Monarch.
February 11, 2026 at 10:44 AM
parasitoidrex.bsky.social
On this International Day of Women & Girls in Science, I'm headed home from an amazing gall workshop at the Botanical Museum of the University of Padua. Grateful for all the mentors and colleagues who've treated me with dignity and respect. I would not be here without them!
Entrance to the Padua Botanical Garden, the oldest scientific botanical garden in the world! With a sign for "Complex objects, different perspectives: Studying and digitising cecidological collections". The sign has a picture of preserved historical plant galls. Interior of the historical botanical collections at the University of Padua. Tall wooden cabinets are filled with bundles of herbarium specimens. A close up of an old herbarium specimen on a wooden table. Gloved hands are holding open some folded paper, revealing the preserved galls within. An informational sign from inside the Botanical Museum of the University of Padua, with a biography of Silvia Zenari in Italian and English. She is described as "una botanica del Novecento" (a 20th century female botanist). Below the sign are some herbarium specimens from her collection.
February 11, 2026 at 11:29 AM
Reposted by Jess Awad
danstowell.bsky.social
Today is the 2026 International Day of Women and Girls in Science. Let me introduce you to some of the colleagues that I work with :) mastodon.social/@danstowell/... #womeninscience
danstowell.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy Dan Stowell @danstowell.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 6d
Today is the 2026 International Day of Women and Girls in Science. Let me introduce you to some of the colleagues that I work with :) #womeninscience
February 11, 2026 at 11:08 AM
Reposted by Jess Awad
jrossibarra.bsky.social
Fun news! @gcbias.bsky.social and I are teaching a 2-week online population genetics workshop this summer to raise money for the Center for Population Biology at UC Davis. We're trying to gauge interest -- please fill this out if you might be interested! And please share broadly!
Davis Summer Population Genomics Program
Want to learn population genetics? Please fill out this form to indicate your potential interest in a 2-week intensive online summer population genetics course taught by Jeffrey Ross-Ibarra and Graham...
docs.google.com
February 9, 2026 at 6:24 PM
Reposted by Jess Awad
ymilesz.bsky.social
I worked on euphorine braconids for my PhD but I haven't really touched it since, so it was nice to be included and help contribute in this updated version of the dichotomous key. Hope it will be useful to people as the old version was to me.

cjai.biologicalsurvey.ca/articles/ssv...
Key to the New World genera of Euphorinae (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonoidea: Braconidae) and synopses of the genera – Canadian Journal of Arthropod Identification
cjai.biologicalsurvey.ca
February 9, 2026 at 4:28 PM
Reposted by Jess Awad
nhcm.pensoft.net
By screening 4,000 historical insect specimens at the Phyletisches Museum Jena, researchers have discovered rare parasites - including two species never before documented in Germany - hidden within 100-year-old cicadas.

Read more: doi.org/10.3897/nhcm.3.173071

@uni-jena.de @mpi-ce.bsky.social
February 9, 2026 at 8:29 AM
Reposted by Jess Awad
dipteracourse.bsky.social
REMINDER: The deadline to apply for Fly School is 28 Feb.
Visit dipterists.org/fly_school.h... for info & application.
Photo by @bertonemyia.bsky.social
February 9, 2026 at 4:09 AM
Reposted by Jess Awad
mcaterino.bsky.social
Interested in the ecosystem services provided by leaf-litter arthropod communities? Read all about it in the latest 'Value in nature' post: 'Hidden treasures'. #biodiversity #nature 🌐

mscaterino.pika.page/posts/hidden...
Hidden treasures - Leaf litter arthropods and the good that they do - Value in nature
I spend the majority of my research time looking at minute arthropods that live in soil and leaf litter. These species represent a large proportion of biodiversity, hundreds of thousands...
mscaterino.pika.page
February 8, 2026 at 11:30 AM