Benito Wainwright
@benitoexplains.bsky.social
Research fellow at the University of St Andrews 🏳️🌈 • Evolutionary and sensory ecology in 🦋+ 🦗 • He/him • I also make YouTube videos. Link here: https://youtube.com/@benitosexplenations?si=zpMANThrSJv_efM0
Pinned
Functional and evolutionary synergy of trait components can explain the existence of leaf masquerade in katydids
The evolution of complex adaptations often involves synergistic changes in multiple traits that lack standalone function. This study shows that leaf masquerade in katydids evolved through concurrent m...
plos.io
Leaf? 🍃 Or katydid? 🦗
Our new
@plosbiology.org paper sheds light on how these incredible mimics evolved their disguises, and what this reveals about how complex adaptations arise. We find that coordinated evolution between traits might be the answer… plos.io/4oUE741 1/n
Our new
@plosbiology.org paper sheds light on how these incredible mimics evolved their disguises, and what this reveals about how complex adaptations arise. We find that coordinated evolution between traits might be the answer… plos.io/4oUE741 1/n
Reposted by Benito Wainwright
#Evolution of complex adaptations can involve changes in multiple traits that lack standalone function. @benitoexplains.bsky.social &co show that leaf masquerade in #katydids evolved via concurrent modification in wing colour & shape, driven by evolutionary synergy @plosbiology.org 🧪 plos.io/4oUE741
November 4, 2025 at 8:55 AM
#Evolution of complex adaptations can involve changes in multiple traits that lack standalone function. @benitoexplains.bsky.social &co show that leaf masquerade in #katydids evolved via concurrent modification in wing colour & shape, driven by evolutionary synergy @plosbiology.org 🧪 plos.io/4oUE741
Leaf? 🍃 Or katydid? 🦗
Our new
@plosbiology.org paper sheds light on how these incredible mimics evolved their disguises, and what this reveals about how complex adaptations arise. We find that coordinated evolution between traits might be the answer… plos.io/4oUE741 1/n
Our new
@plosbiology.org paper sheds light on how these incredible mimics evolved their disguises, and what this reveals about how complex adaptations arise. We find that coordinated evolution between traits might be the answer… plos.io/4oUE741 1/n
Functional and evolutionary synergy of trait components can explain the existence of leaf masquerade in katydids
The evolution of complex adaptations often involves synergistic changes in multiple traits that lack standalone function. This study shows that leaf masquerade in katydids evolved through concurrent m...
plos.io
November 4, 2025 at 2:02 PM
Leaf? 🍃 Or katydid? 🦗
Our new
@plosbiology.org paper sheds light on how these incredible mimics evolved their disguises, and what this reveals about how complex adaptations arise. We find that coordinated evolution between traits might be the answer… plos.io/4oUE741 1/n
Our new
@plosbiology.org paper sheds light on how these incredible mimics evolved their disguises, and what this reveals about how complex adaptations arise. We find that coordinated evolution between traits might be the answer… plos.io/4oUE741 1/n
Reposted by Benito Wainwright
@pinpilinpauxa-aaa.bsky.social on her @wellcometrust.bsky.social photography competition entry! 👏🏻
www.instagram.com/reel/DO-j2rM...
@bristolbiosci.bsky.social 🧪 #Heliconiini #evobio #neuroscience
www.instagram.com/reel/DO-j2rM...
@bristolbiosci.bsky.social 🧪 #Heliconiini #evobio #neuroscience
Login • Instagram
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www.instagram.com
September 27, 2025 at 8:59 AM
@pinpilinpauxa-aaa.bsky.social on her @wellcometrust.bsky.social photography competition entry! 👏🏻
www.instagram.com/reel/DO-j2rM...
@bristolbiosci.bsky.social 🧪 #Heliconiini #evobio #neuroscience
www.instagram.com/reel/DO-j2rM...
@bristolbiosci.bsky.social 🧪 #Heliconiini #evobio #neuroscience
This has got to be the #colsci paper to end all #colsci papers! Huge congratulations to @wlallen.bsky.social and Iliana Medina for this monumental effort. 🤯 Chefs kiss 🤌🏽
📢🦋 Our paper ‘Global selection on insect antipredator coloration’ is out and featured on the cover of @science.org
We ran a huge experiment to find out how ecological context favours camouflage and warning colouration as antipredator strategies. 1/6
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
We ran a huge experiment to find out how ecological context favours camouflage and warning colouration as antipredator strategies. 1/6
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
September 26, 2025 at 1:21 PM
This has got to be the #colsci paper to end all #colsci papers! Huge congratulations to @wlallen.bsky.social and Iliana Medina for this monumental effort. 🤯 Chefs kiss 🤌🏽
Reposted by Benito Wainwright
Happy to share that our paper on the #evolution and #genomics of the most common #color polymorphism in #frogs is now out in @pnas.org! My favorite frogs even made the cover of this week’s issue! 🎉🐸🎉
Read the paper here: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Read the paper here: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
September 17, 2025 at 10:42 AM
Happy to share that our paper on the #evolution and #genomics of the most common #color polymorphism in #frogs is now out in @pnas.org! My favorite frogs even made the cover of this week’s issue! 🎉🐸🎉
Read the paper here: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Read the paper here: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Reposted by Benito Wainwright
Very proud of this extremely collaborative piece: academic.oup.com/mbe/article/...
Here, we show that divergence in visual systems - in response to differences in the light environment - leads to rapid divergence in sexually selected colour traits. Work brilliantly led by Madeleine Carruthers. 🐟👀🎨
Here, we show that divergence in visual systems - in response to differences in the light environment - leads to rapid divergence in sexually selected colour traits. Work brilliantly led by Madeleine Carruthers. 🐟👀🎨
Rapid Divergence of Visual Systems and Signaling Traits to Contrasting Light Regimes During Early Speciation of African Crater Lake Cichlid Fish
Abstract. Sensory adaptation is widely hypothesized to drive ecological speciation, yet empirical evidence from natural populations undergoing early stage
academic.oup.com
September 16, 2025 at 4:23 PM
Very proud of this extremely collaborative piece: academic.oup.com/mbe/article/...
Here, we show that divergence in visual systems - in response to differences in the light environment - leads to rapid divergence in sexually selected colour traits. Work brilliantly led by Madeleine Carruthers. 🐟👀🎨
Here, we show that divergence in visual systems - in response to differences in the light environment - leads to rapid divergence in sexually selected colour traits. Work brilliantly led by Madeleine Carruthers. 🐟👀🎨
Reposted by Benito Wainwright
A common type of ant in Europe breaks a fundamental rule in biology: its queens can produce male offspring that are a whole different species
go.nature.com/4mOb5T9
go.nature.com/4mOb5T9
‘Almost unimaginable’: these ants are different species but share a mother
Ant queens of one species clone ants of another to create hybrid workers that do their bidding.
go.nature.com
September 3, 2025 at 3:34 PM
A common type of ant in Europe breaks a fundamental rule in biology: its queens can produce male offspring that are a whole different species
go.nature.com/4mOb5T9
go.nature.com/4mOb5T9
Go Jessie, lots of cool stuff in here 👨🦳👵 (NB. these emojis symbolise the concept of ageing, not Jessie herself)
The first of Jessie Foley’s work on the #evolution of #ageing in #Heliconius for your reading pleasure.
Come for the 348 day old butterfly, stay for the evolved slower rate of ageing, species*diet effects, and weightlifting for elderly butterflies 💪🏻👵🏻
🧪
Come for the 348 day old butterfly, stay for the evolved slower rate of ageing, species*diet effects, and weightlifting for elderly butterflies 💪🏻👵🏻
🧪
Evolution of increased longevity and slowed ageing in a genus of tropical butterfly https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.08.29.673072v1
September 4, 2025 at 9:26 AM
Go Jessie, lots of cool stuff in here 👨🦳👵 (NB. these emojis symbolise the concept of ageing, not Jessie herself)
Reposted by Benito Wainwright
Why does the idea that race is biological persist despite biology so clearly refuting it? Check out a blog @kevinlala.bsky.social and I wrote about our new article titled 'Impediments to countering racist pseudoscience' (coauthored w/ @gillianrbrown1.bsky.social and Marc Feldman) for some thoughts:
Race Isn’t Biological — So Why Do So Many Still Think It Is? « Life Sciences# « Cambridge Core Blog
Even though findings from genetics and other sciences unequivocally refute biological conceptions of race, this erroneous viewpoint remains widespread among the general public. Why can’t scientists co...
www.cambridge.org
September 2, 2025 at 12:22 PM
Why does the idea that race is biological persist despite biology so clearly refuting it? Check out a blog @kevinlala.bsky.social and I wrote about our new article titled 'Impediments to countering racist pseudoscience' (coauthored w/ @gillianrbrown1.bsky.social and Marc Feldman) for some thoughts:
Thanks to those who came and chatted all things katydid camouflage at my poster on Monday! For those watching on catch-up, come and find me at the poster session on Thursday 😀🦗🍃 #ESEB2025
August 20, 2025 at 7:54 AM
Thanks to those who came and chatted all things katydid camouflage at my poster on Monday! For those watching on catch-up, come and find me at the poster session on Thursday 😀🦗🍃 #ESEB2025
Reposted by Benito Wainwright
Amaia Alcade Anton talk on expanded mushroom bodies in Heliconius butterflies @tibbe-evolneuro.bsky.social #ESEB2025 SYMPOSIUM 17.2
August 18, 2025 at 2:26 PM
Amaia Alcade Anton talk on expanded mushroom bodies in Heliconius butterflies @tibbe-evolneuro.bsky.social #ESEB2025 SYMPOSIUM 17.2
Reposted by Benito Wainwright
Elizabeth Hodge on Heliconius enhanced visual memory + expanded mushroom bodies @tibbe-evolneuro.bsky.social #ESEB2025 session 17
August 18, 2025 at 9:27 AM
Elizabeth Hodge on Heliconius enhanced visual memory + expanded mushroom bodies @tibbe-evolneuro.bsky.social #ESEB2025 session 17
Reposted by Benito Wainwright
Winter ASAB @asab.org on *Sensory Ecology* register and submit your abstracts now (abstract deadline just a month away)!
I'm organising the conference this year with @lauraakelley.bsky.social and Innes Cuthill
Register & get more info here: asabwinter.github.io/2025/
I'm organising the conference this year with @lauraakelley.bsky.social and Innes Cuthill
Register & get more info here: asabwinter.github.io/2025/
July 29, 2025 at 3:24 PM
Winter ASAB @asab.org on *Sensory Ecology* register and submit your abstracts now (abstract deadline just a month away)!
I'm organising the conference this year with @lauraakelley.bsky.social and Innes Cuthill
Register & get more info here: asabwinter.github.io/2025/
I'm organising the conference this year with @lauraakelley.bsky.social and Innes Cuthill
Register & get more info here: asabwinter.github.io/2025/
Reposted by Benito Wainwright
Excited to share that we have just been awarded a NERC Pushing the Frontiers grant to work on between-group cooperation in the Shark Bay dolphins. We will soon advertise a 3 year post-doc to join the team - drop me an email if you might be interested! Pls share widely 🙏🏻
July 31, 2025 at 6:13 AM
Excited to share that we have just been awarded a NERC Pushing the Frontiers grant to work on between-group cooperation in the Shark Bay dolphins. We will soon advertise a 3 year post-doc to join the team - drop me an email if you might be interested! Pls share widely 🙏🏻
Reposted by Benito Wainwright
Our paper, led by Eva van der Heijden, shows the work of an international team combining phylogenomics, hybridisation tests, population and comparative genomics and pheromone analyses to resolve the taxonomy and evolution of two rapid radiations of glasswing butterflies. www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
PNAS
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), a peer reviewed journal of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) - an authoritative source of high-impact, original research that broadly spans...
www.pnas.org
July 30, 2025 at 7:28 PM
Our paper, led by Eva van der Heijden, shows the work of an international team combining phylogenomics, hybridisation tests, population and comparative genomics and pheromone analyses to resolve the taxonomy and evolution of two rapid radiations of glasswing butterflies. www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Sam hasn’t stopped preaching about treehoppers to me since the day we first met seven years ago. Glad he’s finally managed to scratch this itch. Amazing work! 👏🏽⚡️
Why do treehoppers look so weird?! Our latest paper, out this week in @pnas.org, suggests a perhaps unexpected reason - static electricity ⚡ We show that treehoppers can detect the electrostatic cues of predators and that their crazy shapes may boost their electrosensitivity! doi.org/10.1073/pnas...
Electroreception in treehoppers: How extreme morphologies can increase electrical sensitivity | PNAS
The link between form and function of an organism’s morphology is usually apparent
or intuitive. However, some clades of organisms show remarkable ...
doi.org
July 24, 2025 at 2:28 PM
Sam hasn’t stopped preaching about treehoppers to me since the day we first met seven years ago. Glad he’s finally managed to scratch this itch. Amazing work! 👏🏽⚡️
Wanna see what it was REALLY like collecting data in the rainforest for our recent @pnas.org paper? I made a wee video about it, on YouTube now. As usual, thanks to my amazing field-assistant-turned-camera-operator Theodora for most of the sweaty Ecuadorean mug shots… 😇
youtu.be/6jNxgvK0kU0?...
youtu.be/6jNxgvK0kU0?...
Butterflies that look alike, see alike (PNAS paper 2025)
YouTube video by Benito's Explanations
youtu.be
July 23, 2025 at 4:22 PM
Wanna see what it was REALLY like collecting data in the rainforest for our recent @pnas.org paper? I made a wee video about it, on YouTube now. As usual, thanks to my amazing field-assistant-turned-camera-operator Theodora for most of the sweaty Ecuadorean mug shots… 😇
youtu.be/6jNxgvK0kU0?...
youtu.be/6jNxgvK0kU0?...
Reposted by Benito Wainwright
New PhD student paper!
Social conformity in lateralisation in guppies
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
by Iestyn L. Penry-Williams, with Culum Brown
#openaccess at @ecol-evol.bsky.social
Social conformity in lateralisation in guppies
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
by Iestyn L. Penry-Williams, with Culum Brown
#openaccess at @ecol-evol.bsky.social
July 16, 2025 at 9:43 AM
New PhD student paper!
Social conformity in lateralisation in guppies
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
by Iestyn L. Penry-Williams, with Culum Brown
#openaccess at @ecol-evol.bsky.social
Social conformity in lateralisation in guppies
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
by Iestyn L. Penry-Williams, with Culum Brown
#openaccess at @ecol-evol.bsky.social
So very excited for the magnum opus of my #PhD to finally be out in @pnas.org. 🎉🎉 We demosntrate that mutualistic co-mimicking tropical butterflies not only converge in light microhabitat but, as a consequence, have also converged in visual system morphology! 1/n😀
www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1...
www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1...
July 16, 2025 at 9:29 AM
So very excited for the magnum opus of my #PhD to finally be out in @pnas.org. 🎉🎉 We demosntrate that mutualistic co-mimicking tropical butterflies not only converge in light microhabitat but, as a consequence, have also converged in visual system morphology! 1/n😀
www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1...
www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1...
Back from sunny Costa Rica (it rained almost the entire time), helping teach the world’s second ever international #CricketCourse… that I know of. Apparently my lawn whites were not necessary in the end… 🏏🤦🏽 Learned a lot and great wildlife to boot! #fieldcourse @uniofstandrews.bsky.social
July 15, 2025 at 7:11 PM
Back from sunny Costa Rica (it rained almost the entire time), helping teach the world’s second ever international #CricketCourse… that I know of. Apparently my lawn whites were not necessary in the end… 🏏🤦🏽 Learned a lot and great wildlife to boot! #fieldcourse @uniofstandrews.bsky.social
Reposted by Benito Wainwright
A nice unauthored tribute to Henry Walter Bates, who was born 200 years ago. Bates famously discovered "Batesian mimicry" - between palatable and unpalatable species. However, his paper "Contributions to an insect fauna of the Amazon valley" had many other firsts! doi.org/10.1038/s415...
Bates’ many contributions - Nature Ecology & Evolution
Henry Walter Bates gave the first known scientific account of mimicry in biological systems. To mark the bicentenary of his birth, we present a collection of content that reflects on his life and lega...
doi.org
July 12, 2025 at 11:35 PM
A nice unauthored tribute to Henry Walter Bates, who was born 200 years ago. Bates famously discovered "Batesian mimicry" - between palatable and unpalatable species. However, his paper "Contributions to an insect fauna of the Amazon valley" had many other firsts! doi.org/10.1038/s415...
Reposted by Benito Wainwright
New Preprint from the lab, and the second half of Elizabeth Hodge’s masters project - we dived into whether shifts in visual #foraging behaviours and spatial #memory in #Heliconius involved changes in sensory systems🧪 1/n
Conservation of sensory pathways implies a localised change in the mushroom bodies is associated with cognitive evolution in Heliconius butterflies https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.07.08.663516v1
July 13, 2025 at 1:53 PM
New Preprint from the lab, and the second half of Elizabeth Hodge’s masters project - we dived into whether shifts in visual #foraging behaviours and spatial #memory in #Heliconius involved changes in sensory systems🧪 1/n
Reposted by Benito Wainwright
Why do imperfect mimics (such as many hoverflies) exist? We created 3D printed replicas of flies, wasps and our own custom intermediates and then "asked" various predators what they thought of our 3D stimuli. Read all about it here: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Mapping the adaptive landscape of Batesian mimicry using 3D-printed stimuli - Nature
Birds have an excellent ability to learn to discriminate harmless insects from those that they mimic on the basis of subtle differences in appearance.
www.nature.com
July 2, 2025 at 6:32 PM
Why do imperfect mimics (such as many hoverflies) exist? We created 3D printed replicas of flies, wasps and our own custom intermediates and then "asked" various predators what they thought of our 3D stimuli. Read all about it here: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Take note folks: Time not spent updating your profile photo frees up a lot of time for getting a professorship…
Could not be happier for Steve and for the future of the EBAB Lab. So very well deserved. 🦋🧠 Professor metamorphosis: ✅
Could not be happier for Steve and for the future of the EBAB Lab. So very well deserved. 🦋🧠 Professor metamorphosis: ✅
Some personal news, to be filed under “things I did not see coming”…. 1/n
🎉We are delighted to announce that Professor Stephen Montgomery @ebablab.bsky.social will be the 3rd Prince Philip Professor of Ecology and Evolution.
We look forward to welcoming him next year!
We look forward to welcoming him next year!
June 18, 2025 at 10:35 PM
Take note folks: Time not spent updating your profile photo frees up a lot of time for getting a professorship…
Could not be happier for Steve and for the future of the EBAB Lab. So very well deserved. 🦋🧠 Professor metamorphosis: ✅
Could not be happier for Steve and for the future of the EBAB Lab. So very well deserved. 🦋🧠 Professor metamorphosis: ✅
I was promised entertaining b-roll of Sam walking through the natural history museum looking pensive but oh well, I guess I’ll have to make do with this beautiful interview instead. Big congrats @samjakeengland.bsky.social! 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽
I had a lot of fun giving this interview - I wish my research always had dramatic music in the background
The Cozzarelli Prize honors exceptional scientific research. Watch our interview with the Class VI winners in Applied Biological, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences to uncover the insights behind their award-winning work: www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTjX...
May 31, 2025 at 6:17 PM
I was promised entertaining b-roll of Sam walking through the natural history museum looking pensive but oh well, I guess I’ll have to make do with this beautiful interview instead. Big congrats @samjakeengland.bsky.social! 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽