Anurag Agrawal
anurag-asclepias.bsky.social
Anurag Agrawal
@anurag-asclepias.bsky.social
Evolutionary ecologist studying species interactions, plant chemistry, community ecology, and comparative biology. Author of Monarchs & Milkweed and Professor at Cornell University. Proud parent and friend.
A mentor, Spencer Barrett, and mentee, Marc Johnson - 20 years apart
November 9, 2025 at 1:18 AM
Reposted by Anurag Agrawal
Part of a large patch of Devil's Fingers fungus (aka Octopus Stinkhorn) in Rye, East Sussex. I smelt them before I saw them. An intense bouquet of rotting flesh to attract insects that then help spread spores. Brilliant!
@sussexwildlife.bsky.social
#fungi
#mycology
#UKwildlife
November 4, 2025 at 1:27 PM
AGRAWAL | A Theory of Life
The Cornell Daily Sun - Independent Since 1880.
www.cornellsun.com
November 4, 2025 at 10:52 AM
The wooly bear, or #Isabella tiger #moth #caterpillar, Pyrrharctia isabella, still looking for overwintering spots on warm days. I'm still collecting them for research. Many years ago I became allergic to the hairs, a painful reminder of my love gone sour: agrawal.eeb.cornell.edu/2018/11/24/c...
November 4, 2025 at 10:51 AM
By popular demand, I'm offering "More #MONARCHS - No #Monarchy!" shirts and mugs at cost (no profit, just joy). Spread the word, decent quality for <$20

monarchs.printful.me

#NoKings #butterfly #peace #naturalhistory #plantinsect
November 1, 2025 at 12:34 PM
Reposted by Anurag Agrawal
🕷️ Britain’s craziest creature? Meet Megabunus diadema — a harvestman with eyes on a spiky turret! Not a spider, but part of its own Order: Opiliones.

Learn more in our UK Harvestmen webinar on 5 Feb 2026:

🔗 www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1720584467...

@britishspiders.bsky.social @megabunus.bsky.social
November 1, 2025 at 11:26 AM
Reposted by Anurag Agrawal
I am an author being overwhelmed by emails from people offering their services to promote my new book. This is a brand new problem, and I do not have an agent or publicist to sift through the offers. Help? #writingcommunity #authors
October 31, 2025 at 1:10 AM
Red oak fall colors
October 26, 2025 at 8:39 PM
Witch hazel, Hamamelis virginiana, Hamamelidaceae in the Saxifragales, now in #flower around #Ithaca
October 26, 2025 at 8:38 PM
The maple leaf #Viburnum, when not eaten by deer #ithaca #fruit #naturalhistory
October 26, 2025 at 8:35 PM
My monkey slug getting ready to transform to hag moth, Phobetron pithecium Limacodidae
October 22, 2025 at 12:28 AM
Pear rust's spore-dispersing bodies... This #fungus, Gymnosporangium sabinae, is an obligate host - alternating #parasite (like many fungi and aphids) - alternate host = juniper
October 20, 2025 at 1:39 AM
New biology: stink bugs inoculate their eggs with a fungus that protects them from parasitoids

www.sciencemagazinedigital.org/sciencemagaz...
Science Magazine - Defensive fungal symbiosis on insect hindlegs
Tympanal organs have repeatedly evolved in diverse insects and were thought to be required for auditory perception (1).
www.sciencemagazinedigital.org
October 17, 2025 at 11:35 AM
Reposted by Anurag Agrawal
Melampyrum pratense has a huge distribution across Europe to central Siberia thanks to ants. It has myrmecochorus seeds—seeds carried by ants—unlike most holo- and hemiparasitic species, which have wind-dispersed seeds. #parasite #Orobanchaceae #Botany 🌾🧪🌱
October 16, 2025 at 11:03 AM
Monkey slug caterpillar, or "hag #moth" Phobetron pithecium. A late season Limacodidae of eastern forests, A generalized feeder of mostly blue plants

Courtesy of Sam Jaffe and the amazing #caterpillar lab in New Hampshire!

www.thecaterpillarlab.org
October 14, 2025 at 8:52 PM
Matelea cyclophylla, a vining succulent #milkweed vine with a corky #caudex from western Mexico, hairy burgundy #flowers
October 12, 2025 at 1:31 AM
Two more Asclepiadoideae (among 3000 #milkweed species), a Hoya and Cynanchum - every thing comes in fives #flower #oldworld
October 12, 2025 at 1:02 AM
Hoodia and Huernia, two Ascleps flowering in my house
October 11, 2025 at 11:36 PM
Two pairs of wild turkeys in Cambridge, Mass
October 11, 2025 at 11:35 PM
Echinopsis tubiflora an Argentinian endemic Cactaceae, night blooming, open <18 hours (120x = 2 hours) #timelapse #cactus #flower #sweetsmell
October 6, 2025 at 1:56 AM
Scaldweed, Cuscuta gronovii, a native annual non-photosynthetic #parasitic #plant - haustoria instead of roots; shares #herbivores with its host plants (you are what you eat) - but a #flowering plant nonetheless. Most plant communities have several distantly related species of parasitic angiosperms
October 2, 2025 at 2:00 AM
Temnothorax sp., a small #ant that lives in colony in acorns (and in #galls formed on #oaks
October 2, 2025 at 1:55 AM
Galling #aphids on staghorn sumac make plump succulent galls full of aphids and predators - near Watertown, NY
September 30, 2025 at 12:37 AM
I've been seeing more of the Jerusalem artichoke Helianthus tuberosus around the great lakes region. This is from the sandy east shores of Lake Ontario. Said to be native, I wonder if it's being planted more and spreading?
September 30, 2025 at 12:36 AM