I suspect the New York Times might be trivialising our field of study here but a nice puzzle to kick the day off #Entomology

Unknown wireworm help! The singular urogomphus is confusing myself and colleagues - can not for the life of me find an answer and it's seemingly not in 'Die Käffer Mitteleuropas: Larven 2' though my German is stodgy. Found in East, UK. Anyone point me in the right direction? @colsocbi.bsky.social

Thank you @nhm-london.bsky.social, what a day for it! @hau-entomology.bsky.social @flygirlnhm.bsky.social

Last but not least, the Lepidoptera - some excellent anecdotes about record-breaking proboscises and fenugreek smelling moths @hau-entomology.bsky.social

Of course we have @flygirlnhm.bsky.social taking us through the Diptera - from the cute and fluffy beeflies to the weird and wonderful stalk-eyed flies on to the (to the non-entomological populace anyway) macabre botflies @hau-entomology.bsky.social

'Small Orders' before lunch - inclusive of some other invertebrate intruders. Including a 'pasty spider' - my Cornish pride shining through here @hau-entomology.bsky.social

And to the most massive of all (in terms of size and species), the Coleoptera. Lots of Darwin and Wallace chat of course, and the joys of dung-baited pitfall trapping!

From the massive to the miniscule with the marvellous @gavinbroad.bsky.social talking (mainly wasps!) through the hymenoptera - @hau-entomology.bsky.social

And we're off - annual trip to the @nhm-london.bsky.social Entomology collections for BSc and MSc Entomology and IPM students @hau-entomology.bsky.social. As always thanks to @flygirlnhm.bsky.social for organisation and all of the curators for sharing their wealth of knowledge

And a great way for me to find some #wireworm that aren't Agriotes! Here's some Melanotus under bark on some felled trees

Thankful the weather has allowed for some surveying transects of the @harperadamsuni.bsky.social campus today with final year @hau-entomology.bsky.social students. A great way to see out the module and practice ID skills in the field

The #Christmas Aphid is up on the tree. Bringing Christmas spirit, good cheer, and vectoring viruses straight into your Norwegian pine. Needles gone by Boxing Day. Christmas Aphid - Ho Ho Homoptera!

Finishing up with the really interesting stuff... Freshwater inverts and general insect ID with specimens (largely) collected here on the @HarperAdamsUni campus #entomology #undergraduate

First offer holder day activity with future Zoology undergraduate students @HarperAdamsUni - owl pellet dissection! Groups carefully taking apart steam-cleaned owl pellets and ID'ing the bones within @HAU_Entomology @DrJohnReade

First days sampling on the robotic strip cropping project - with Ed Dickin and Paul O'Hagan from @HarperAdamsUni at NP Holloway & Son field site nr Lichfield. Pan traps, pitfalls and my #007 audition shot. Next bond...?

Fitting for a first Bluesky post. Completed set up today for the #HarperAdamsUni branch of the #RothamstedRIS moth trapping survey. Looking forward to kicking off our contribution to a vital national resource - right on the Ento building doorstep!