Sofía Muñoz-Tobar
@smunoztobar.bsky.social
Ecuadorian Entomologist | Love the Andes, beetles and photography | Alumni: PUCE, University of Kansas and Clemson University
Currently at Instituto Nacional de Biodiversidad (INABIO)
#Andes #beetles #Ecuador
Currently at Instituto Nacional de Biodiversidad (INABIO)
#Andes #beetles #Ecuador
Reposted by Sofía Muñoz-Tobar
Please welcome to the world: Metopiellus palamaku and M. chasqui, new species of neotropical Pselaphinae, written with friends/coauthors from INABIO. These are the 8th and 9th species of Metopiellus known, and the first ones from Ecuador.
doi.org/10.3897/zook...
doi.org/10.3897/zook...
January 8, 2026 at 2:24 PM
Please welcome to the world: Metopiellus palamaku and M. chasqui, new species of neotropical Pselaphinae, written with friends/coauthors from INABIO. These are the 8th and 9th species of Metopiellus known, and the first ones from Ecuador.
doi.org/10.3897/zook...
doi.org/10.3897/zook...
The Bosque Escuela Tena in Ecuador, children learn by exploring nature. The school was recently awarded a Global Citizenship Award - @unesco.org, which recognizes initiatives that build more peaceful and sustainable societies. www.instagram.com/bosque_escue...
December 16, 2025 at 11:04 AM
The Bosque Escuela Tena in Ecuador, children learn by exploring nature. The school was recently awarded a Global Citizenship Award - @unesco.org, which recognizes initiatives that build more peaceful and sustainable societies. www.instagram.com/bosque_escue...
A surprising diversity of Panabachia beetle species was revealed from a remarkably small area in Ecuador, with 22 newly described species: doi.org/10.3897/zook...
#newspecies #paramo #taxonomy @smunoztobar.bsky.social @mcaterino.bsky.social
#newspecies #paramo #taxonomy @smunoztobar.bsky.social @mcaterino.bsky.social
December 16, 2025 at 10:38 AM
Reposted by Sofía Muñoz-Tobar
Twelve new species of the rove beetle genus Bibrax are described from Ecuador. Find out more about them here: doi.org/10.3897/zook...
@mcaterino.bsky.social #beetles #biodiversity #newspecies
@mcaterino.bsky.social #beetles #biodiversity #newspecies
November 4, 2025 at 9:02 AM
Twelve new species of the rove beetle genus Bibrax are described from Ecuador. Find out more about them here: doi.org/10.3897/zook...
@mcaterino.bsky.social #beetles #biodiversity #newspecies
@mcaterino.bsky.social #beetles #biodiversity #newspecies
October 24, 2025 at 5:12 PM
Phyllophaga sumacoensis is a new species of scarab beetle from Sumaco National Park, Napo- Ecuador archive.org/details/faun... #Biodiversity #Beetles #Ecuador
October 13, 2025 at 3:37 PM
Phyllophaga sumacoensis is a new species of scarab beetle from Sumaco National Park, Napo- Ecuador archive.org/details/faun... #Biodiversity #Beetles #Ecuador
Reposted by Sofía Muñoz-Tobar
Please check out my new blog: 'Value in nature'. I plan to feature the innumerable ways biodiversity benefits us - ecosystem services in the widest sense.
The punchline to nearly every post: our future flourishing depends on preserving as much biodiversity as we possibly can.
mscaterino.pika.page
The punchline to nearly every post: our future flourishing depends on preserving as much biodiversity as we possibly can.
mscaterino.pika.page
October 8, 2025 at 12:56 PM
Please check out my new blog: 'Value in nature'. I plan to feature the innumerable ways biodiversity benefits us - ecosystem services in the widest sense.
The punchline to nearly every post: our future flourishing depends on preserving as much biodiversity as we possibly can.
mscaterino.pika.page
The punchline to nearly every post: our future flourishing depends on preserving as much biodiversity as we possibly can.
mscaterino.pika.page
Twenty two new species of beetles from Ecuador’s páramo and cloud forest offer a rare glimpse into ecosystems that remain largely unexplored. Species names pay tribute to sites, communities and cultural traits of the Ecuadorian Andes zookeys.pensoft.net/article/1583... #Biodiversity #Ecuador #bugs
October 2, 2025 at 8:46 PM
Twenty two new species of beetles from Ecuador’s páramo and cloud forest offer a rare glimpse into ecosystems that remain largely unexplored. Species names pay tribute to sites, communities and cultural traits of the Ecuadorian Andes zookeys.pensoft.net/article/1583... #Biodiversity #Ecuador #bugs
Reposted by Sofía Muñoz-Tobar
In her dissertation, @smunoztobar.bsky.social showed that there was a diverse radiation of Panabachia in high-elevation Andean páramo habitats (doi.org/10.3390/inse...).
Now most of these have proper names, with 22 species described in our latest paper, in ZooKeys: doi.org/10.3897/zook...
Now most of these have proper names, with 22 species described in our latest paper, in ZooKeys: doi.org/10.3897/zook...
October 2, 2025 at 2:11 PM
In her dissertation, @smunoztobar.bsky.social showed that there was a diverse radiation of Panabachia in high-elevation Andean páramo habitats (doi.org/10.3390/inse...).
Now most of these have proper names, with 22 species described in our latest paper, in ZooKeys: doi.org/10.3897/zook...
Now most of these have proper names, with 22 species described in our latest paper, in ZooKeys: doi.org/10.3897/zook...
A groundbreaking discovery from the Hollín formation in the province of Napo- Ecuador, gives an insight into Amazonian plant and arthropods biodiversity during the Cretaceous #Biodiversity #Ecuador www.nature.com/articles/s43...
Cretaceous amber of Ecuador unveils new insights into South America’s Gondwanan forests - Communications Earth & Environment
Cretaceous amber from the Ecuadorian Napo region provides exceptional evidence of a resinous forest ecosystem and diverse arthropod fauna in equatorial Gondwana, as revealed by integrated analyses of ...
www.nature.com
September 19, 2025 at 10:50 PM
A groundbreaking discovery from the Hollín formation in the province of Napo- Ecuador, gives an insight into Amazonian plant and arthropods biodiversity during the Cretaceous #Biodiversity #Ecuador www.nature.com/articles/s43...
Spotted this milkweed assassin bug (Zelus longipes) on Salvia plants at Quito's Botanical Garden, hunting for flies. Here the adult and immature #Quito #bugs #biodiversity #Ecuador
September 6, 2025 at 3:33 PM
Spotted this milkweed assassin bug (Zelus longipes) on Salvia plants at Quito's Botanical Garden, hunting for flies. Here the adult and immature #Quito #bugs #biodiversity #Ecuador
Reposted by Sofía Muñoz-Tobar
"The unknown is made up of small organisms, such as insects, mites, and crustaceans. These species are the nuts and bolts of ecosystems. And most of them have yet to be identified."
www.vox.com/down-to-eart...
www.vox.com/down-to-eart...
The search for Earth’s most mysterious creatures is turning up extraordinary results
We still haven’t documented 90 percent of animals on Earth
www.vox.com
September 5, 2025 at 9:38 AM
"The unknown is made up of small organisms, such as insects, mites, and crustaceans. These species are the nuts and bolts of ecosystems. And most of them have yet to be identified."
www.vox.com/down-to-eart...
www.vox.com/down-to-eart...
Reposted by Sofía Muñoz-Tobar
Describen doce nuevas especies de escarabajos en Ecuador efeverde.com/describen-do...
Describen doce nuevas especies de escarabajos en Ecuador - EFEverde
Investigadores de instituciones de Ecuador y Estados Unidos describieron doce nuevas especies de escarabajos del género Bibrax (Fletcher, 1927), informó este miércoles el Instituto Nacional ecuatorian...
efeverde.com
August 29, 2025 at 10:02 AM
Describen doce nuevas especies de escarabajos en Ecuador efeverde.com/describen-do...
Here the Ecuadorian Hermit Crab (Coenobita compressus) from the coast of Esmeraldas-Ecuador #biodiversity #seashore #hermitcrab #Esmeraldas #Ecuador
August 27, 2025 at 10:56 AM
Here the Ecuadorian Hermit Crab (Coenobita compressus) from the coast of Esmeraldas-Ecuador #biodiversity #seashore #hermitcrab #Esmeraldas #Ecuador
And yes, of course there are genitalia pictures. They are extremely variable for a group that doesn't vary all that much externally.
August 26, 2025 at 4:58 PM
I'll be returning to Ecuador soon, and what I am hoping to find again is one of the giant longhorn beetles like this Macrodontia cervicornis. It may look scary, but... well, IT IS actually scary! That is one feisty beetle that will not hesitate to snap its jaws at your soft sausage fingers. Chomp.
August 7, 2025 at 12:36 AM
Here's a subtropical beauty—Vanessa carye—spotted at the Quito Botanical Garden. This butterfly species ranges all the way from Venezuela down to Patagonia #lepidoptera #southamerica #ecuador #insects
August 3, 2025 at 10:53 AM
Here's a subtropical beauty—Vanessa carye—spotted at the Quito Botanical Garden. This butterfly species ranges all the way from Venezuela down to Patagonia #lepidoptera #southamerica #ecuador #insects
I have been enjoying watching the Andean Black Longhorn bee (Thygater aethiops) at Quito's Botanical Garden. Here the male and female over a shrubby Fuchsia (Fuchsia paniculata) #nativebees #biodiversity #insects #Ecuador #JardinBotanicodeQuito
June 21, 2025 at 11:24 AM
I have been enjoying watching the Andean Black Longhorn bee (Thygater aethiops) at Quito's Botanical Garden. Here the male and female over a shrubby Fuchsia (Fuchsia paniculata) #nativebees #biodiversity #insects #Ecuador #JardinBotanicodeQuito
Here Humboldt's house at Antisana National Park, Province of Napo, Ecuador from our last visit #paramo #Biodiversity
June 10, 2025 at 11:08 AM
Here Humboldt's house at Antisana National Park, Province of Napo, Ecuador from our last visit #paramo #Biodiversity
Here a Narrow-banded Dartwhite (Archonias flisa) from Quito's Botanical Garden #Biodiversity #Ecuador #insects #JardinBotanicodeQuito
June 2, 2025 at 11:27 PM
Here a Narrow-banded Dartwhite (Archonias flisa) from Quito's Botanical Garden #Biodiversity #Ecuador #insects #JardinBotanicodeQuito
Reposted by Sofía Muñoz-Tobar
A weevil at Wildsumaco in Ecuador. Easily found by following the trail of glitter he leaves behind everywhere he goes.
But really- this glitter weevil is always amazing to see and a real wonder of the world. Endless forms most beautiful, indeed.
But really- this glitter weevil is always amazing to see and a real wonder of the world. Endless forms most beautiful, indeed.
May 26, 2025 at 10:42 PM
A weevil at Wildsumaco in Ecuador. Easily found by following the trail of glitter he leaves behind everywhere he goes.
But really- this glitter weevil is always amazing to see and a real wonder of the world. Endless forms most beautiful, indeed.
But really- this glitter weevil is always amazing to see and a real wonder of the world. Endless forms most beautiful, indeed.
Reposted by Sofía Muñoz-Tobar
A portrait of the charismatic Crayola Katydid (Moncheca sp) hanging out at Wildsumaco in Ecuador. Having held SO many similar (Copiphorini) katydids, it’s jarring to be met with these bright, in your face colors. Other than being purple this guy, and his green relatives, are excellent grass mimics
May 21, 2025 at 2:27 PM
A portrait of the charismatic Crayola Katydid (Moncheca sp) hanging out at Wildsumaco in Ecuador. Having held SO many similar (Copiphorini) katydids, it’s jarring to be met with these bright, in your face colors. Other than being purple this guy, and his green relatives, are excellent grass mimics
May 20, 2025 at 6:58 PM
Trichoceros (Orchidacea) is an amazing example of bug mimicry #biodiversity #mimicry #Ecuador #JardinBotanicodeQuito
May 15, 2025 at 2:23 AM
Trichoceros (Orchidacea) is an amazing example of bug mimicry #biodiversity #mimicry #Ecuador #JardinBotanicodeQuito