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stevetypesstuff.bsky.social
Steve
@stevetypesstuff.bsky.social
990 followers 1.9K following 1.6K posts
Ants, fossils, beer. Drone mapping & GIS. Science PhD. Bambu Labs P1S. He/him, will also respond to “Oi you!”. AuADHD - if I seem over familiar in posts etc. that is probably why. 🇬🇧🇪🇺
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Reposted by Steve
alexwild.bsky.social
Sneaking around the world in plant pots, soil, and other shipments, the granulate crypt ant Hypoponera opaciceps is native to South America but is now found broadly across North America and Pacific islands.
Macro photograph in side view of an elongate, short-legged ant with a dull, reddish brown sculpture. The ant's eyes are barely visible spots just above the mandibles, and the ant is carrying a large, pale larva.
February 16, 2026 at 5:05 PM
Reposted by Steve
alexwild.bsky.social
Apparently some paints contain chemicals attractive to ants, which leads the ants to create really intricate patterns as they cut away and carry off paint chips. From Reddit:
From the ants community on Reddit: Just saw some artsy ants in Dominican Republic, creating a cool pattern through paint!
Explore this post and more from the ants community
www.reddit.com
February 16, 2026 at 6:14 PM
stevetypesstuff.bsky.social
It’s an excellent book too. My wife used it in the classroom, both for the bug content and also to show the girls that scientists aren’t just men with beards.

Recommended for teachers and small people alike!
#entobooks
#books
A Bugs World by Dr Erica McAlister illustrated by Stephanie Fizer Coleman.
February 16, 2026 at 10:46 AM
stevetypesstuff.bsky.social
What the actual 🤬 #Canada ?

C’mon eh? Might expect sort of thing south of your border maybe but one of the most significant and diverse parts of the ento fauna?

#diptera
#entomology
donnag.bsky.social Donna Giberson (Elbows UP!) 🇨🇦🇺🇦 @donnag.bsky.social · 5d
From Chris Borkent: Fellow Dipterists/systematists/ecologists: Agri./Agri-Food Canada plans to eliminate the Diptera Unit at the Canadian National Collection of Insects. Dr. Art Borkent has prepared an open letter to support keeping the unit open. To sign, please read & follow the instructions here.
Fellow Dipterists / systematists / ecologists, if you have not yet heard, Agriculture & Agri-Food Canada is planning to eliminate the Diptera Unit at the Canadian National Collection of Insects, supposedly for financial reasons. The open letter below has been prepared by Dr. Art Borkent. If you agree with the letter, and would like to add your name in support, please follow the directions below. Message is as follows: ********************* The following is an “Open Letter” that will be presented to the Canadian press by a Member of Parliament, Ms. Elizabeth May. If you can support this petition, please send your name, full affiliation and address (including country) to Art Borkent’s email: artborkent@telus.net Your name will be added to a supporting list that will likely never be seen publicly but needs to be noted by our member of parliament. Please consider helping to stop the removal of the Diptera Unit in Ottawa, Canada. Please remember that we are writing this for the press – someone gave advice that it should be written at about the level of an intelligent 14 year old. If any of you are members of another society of specialized Dipterists or otherwise, please feel free to send this on to your other colleagues. I am hoping to have this submitted to Elizabeth May with all the signatures by Friday, Feb. 13. Time is of the essence. best wishes, Art Borkent and David Grimaldi (Message too long for alt-text): the text of the first page of an open letter to support keeping the Diptera Unit open at the Canadian National Collection of Insects and Nematodes. (Message too long for alt-text): the text of the second page of an open letter to support keeping the Diptera Unit open at the Canadian National Collection of Insects and Nematodes. A sampling of output from the Diptera Unit at the CNC
February 12, 2026 at 7:54 PM
stevetypesstuff.bsky.social
It is #DarwinDay2026 #DarwinDay

When you have self doubt and hate all species, don’t forget that you are not alone:
I hate every wave of the ocean. —Charles Darwin to W. D. Fox 15 Feb 1836 Oh my God how I do hate species & varieties. - Charles Darwin to J. D. Hooker, 11 Mar 1858 I am very tired, very stomachy & hate nearly the whole world. - Charles Darwin to Thomas Huxley, 10 Sep 1860 I am very poorly today & very stupid & hate everybody & everything. -Charles Darwin to Charles Lyell, 1 Oct 1861 I hate myself, I hate clover, and I hate bees. -Charles Darwin to John Lubbock, 3 Sep 1862 I am languid & bedeviled & hate writing & hate everybody. —Charles Darwin to J. D. Hooker 23 Jun 1863
February 12, 2026 at 7:31 PM
Reposted by Steve
naturebureau.bsky.social
Just 3 days left to get your hands on a copy of our new guide to #FliesofBritainandIreland at the pre-pub price bit.ly/4dqQI8Z – delivery expected to us by 21 Feb 2026 @rdimond.bsky.social @flygirlnhm.bsky.social @gailashton.bsky.social @dipteristsforum.bsky.social @the-wildlifetrusts.bsky.social
February 12, 2026 at 12:33 PM
Reposted by Steve
jittebug.nl
Marcel Dicke: "Op zaterdag 25 april is er op de campus in het kader van ‘100 Jaar Entomologie’ een open dag rond insecten".

www.stadwageningen.nl/lokaal/overi...
February 12, 2026 at 4:58 PM
Reposted by Steve
teamdiptera.bsky.social
Let it fly!! Check out this awesome fly art from jyoon_bug on instagram! 🪰❤️ #Diptera #FliesAreAwesome
A yellow round sticker with the words Let It Fly surrounded by 5 flies
February 12, 2026 at 6:10 PM
Reposted by Steve
petrathepostdoc.bsky.social
Artists, quote with something silly!
digital doodle of four horseflies as the four horsemen of the apocalypse death- grey dead fly which is a museum specimen pestilence- yellow fly covered in fungal growth war- red pink fly with a sewing needle as a weapon famine- olive green fly in a bowl of soup with a spoon in it
February 12, 2026 at 10:39 AM
stevetypesstuff.bsky.social
Hey @museumbums.bsky.social here is one for you. Round the corner from @nhm-london.bsky.social Tring is a shop selling interesting ‘stuff’ with a lamp in the window. Made my wife smile on her birthday!
A tall lamp with the bottom half of two naked people standing holding the lamp shade
February 12, 2026 at 7:50 AM
Reposted by Steve
tjalamont.bsky.social
Why don't you come with me, little frog
On a magic carpet ride 🐸

(Today someone on my Flickr feed liked this 2021 pic of a young pine woods tree frog atop a yellow pitcher plant in a N. Carolina bog. So I figured why not share here, too) 🌿📷
A closeup photo, side view, of a cute little green tree frog with a brown eye stripe, sitting atop the flat upper surface of a pitcher plant. The plant is greenish-yellow with red striping on the underside. The background is out of focus yellow-orange from other pitcher plants.
February 11, 2026 at 4:43 PM
Reposted by Steve
alexwild.bsky.social
Death by Fungus: a photo gallery.
Death by Fungus - Alex Wild
Among the most spectacular threats faced by insects are pathogenic, insect-killing fungi. Some of the more specialized fungal species invade the brains of their hosts, altering the insects' behaviors ...
www.alexanderwild.com
February 10, 2026 at 9:53 PM
Reposted by Steve
markjfbrown.bsky.social
Ants 🐜 are my first scientific love, so this week’s post is a reminder of the little creatures that run the world! Ants are dominant predators, herbivores, and ecosystem engineers around the planet. We couldn’t live without them. And they’re also beautiful! @zoologymuseum.bsky.social
Ants in a museum
February 9, 2026 at 3:47 PM
stevetypesstuff.bsky.social
Parking in the UK is like:
* Find a space
* Find the sign
* Go up a floor & hang over the edge to get 4G
* Download app
* Register an account
* Now register a payment card
* Now register your car
* Pay to park

Your train left 10 mins ago.

…and stay awake because the next car park, different app!
February 9, 2026 at 10:49 AM
Reposted by Steve
alexwild.bsky.social
The lovely Tetraponera merita, from Madagascar.
Macro photograph in top view of an elongate, wasplike orange ant standing on a pale dead leaf.
February 8, 2026 at 3:06 PM
Reposted by Steve
mutillidae.bsky.social
I decided to print a dedicated tool for holding bees while viewing through a microscope.

A bee-spoke manipulator, if you will...

#3DprintingFTW
#NaturalHistoryCollections
#MakeItYourself
Close up view of a 3D-printed insect specimen manipulator on a white background. The manipulator is all black except the two rotating knobs and the foam filled socket for holding the insect are yellow. There is a pinned queen of the rusty patched bumble bee, Bombus affinis in stuck in the foam.
February 8, 2026 at 4:49 PM
Reposted by Steve
jittebug.nl
Vandaag op de Landelijke Insectendag! Mooie organisatie door EIS, en nu al een goed bezochte markt 😁
Fijn om zo met mijn snuisterijen verwondering voor/over beestjes te delen.
February 7, 2026 at 11:32 AM
stevetypesstuff.bsky.social
I couldn’t repost @sardonicus.eu post so post from scratch. Look at the islands of fragmentated vegetation surrounded by a human made desert of monoculture.

I would love to set some pitfall traps for ants on the hills & fields there to compare the results!

www.yunnanexploration.com/attractions/...
Qujing Luoping Rapeseed Flowers Travel: Entrance Tickets, Travel Tips, Photos and Maps
Qujing Luoping Rapeseed Flowers travel guide introduces the main attractions, entrance tickets booking, The best time to visit, How to Get there, the highlights, facts, history, photos, weather, accom...
www.yunnanexploration.com
February 7, 2026 at 11:32 AM
Reposted by Steve
georgemcgavin.bsky.social
Humans continue to poison the species that sustain planetary ecosystems. We are so very stupid....
www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/new...
Nature is under threat from rapidly rising pesticide use | Natural History Museum
An international target to slash pesticide use by 2030 is unlikely to be met.
www.nhm.ac.uk
February 6, 2026 at 7:33 PM
Reposted by Steve
seismatters.bsky.social
I’m an old(ish) man, and I’ve seen a decent amount of weird stuff.

But this? This is new.

www.bbc.co.uk/sport/articl...
Ski jumping: Wada responds to penis injection claims
The World Anti-Doping Agency could investigate if evidence emerges that male ski jumpers are injecting their penises in a bid to improve sporting performance.
www.bbc.co.uk
February 5, 2026 at 9:50 PM
Reposted by Steve
americanbeetles.bsky.social
just a little baby child (from @mosquitolab.bsky.social's pitfall samples; I can see how this one got sorted into the beetle pile)
teeny tiny wingless parasitic wasp, probably genus Baeus. It is so round and fat and perfect. Its head is the size of the rest of its body.
February 6, 2026 at 7:29 PM
stevetypesstuff.bsky.social
If only someone could come up with a process to reduce the risk of bacteria in milk… they might even name the process after them 🤯

#PasteurisedMilkIsFine
#PasteurizedMilkIsFine
newsjennifer.bsky.social @NewsJennifer (Jennifer Schulze) @newsjennifer.bsky.social · 13d
This is bonkers. MAHA 'farmers' with ecoli tainted raw milk admit they really don't know how to make the stuff after all.

"Producing raw milk takes careful planning from a facility and infrastructure standpoint. Unfortunately, we learned this after the fact."

people.com/ballerina-fa...
Hannah Neeleman's Ballerina Farm Halts Sale of Raw Milk Due to Bacteria Concerns: Report
Hannah and Daniel Neeleman have paused Ballerina Farm's sale of raw milk following health violations discovered during routine testing. Screenings from summer 2025 showed high levels of coliform, the ...
people.com
February 6, 2026 at 4:58 PM
stevetypesstuff.bsky.social
Ye gods this is strong. From Shakespeare, yet so resonant for us today in both the UK and especially the USA.

Humanity anyone?
kjhealy.co Kieran Healy @kjhealy.co · 11d
Ian McKellen performs “The Strangers’ Case” speech from “Sir Thomas More” on Colbert.
February 5, 2026 at 7:04 PM
Reposted by Steve
animbehsociety.bsky.social
Looking to make your science accessible and meaningful? Need help developing science education & outreach materials or ideas?

Well then do we have the resource for you! The ABS Communications Committee developed this excellent repository of resources, so check it out!

tinyurl.com/4evx8wyx
Screenshot of repository of science education and outreach resources
February 4, 2026 at 10:45 PM
Reposted by Steve
bealeiderman.bsky.social
Wood stained blue by Chlorociboria fungus. There are a couple of areas in the forest where I step on twigs and they crack open to reveal this beauty. 🌱

#bluemonday
A close-up view of a twig opened lengthwise revealing blue wood fibers under the bark.
January 26, 2026 at 4:16 PM