Michael Caterino
@mcaterino.bsky.social
Coleopterist, documenting patterns of beetle diversity (especially histerids & staphylinoids); University prof sharing systematics with the next generation; aspiring popular science writer; would rather be in the field.
Reposted by Michael Caterino
Do you want to find out what David Sharp, the famous 19th century entomologist called “the most extraordinary male characters of any Coleopterous insect”? Come to my talk tomorrow at 2:05pm in Portland Ballroom 252.
November 11, 2025 at 3:31 AM
Do you want to find out what David Sharp, the famous 19th century entomologist called “the most extraordinary male characters of any Coleopterous insect”? Come to my talk tomorrow at 2:05pm in Portland Ballroom 252.
In my off-hours from the annual Entomological Society of America meeting ( #EntSoc2025 ), I've been putting the finishing touches on a longer 'Value in nature' post on one of my favorite subjects, beer. Enjoy! #biodiversity #nature #beer 🌐
mscaterino.pika.page/posts/biodiv...
mscaterino.pika.page/posts/biodiv...
Biodiversity and beer - Value in nature
I recently wrote about the benefits of wild grape diversity for sustaining the wine industry. But, to be honest, I’m really more of a beer guy. Fortunately, there’s perhaps no...
mscaterino.pika.page
November 10, 2025 at 9:48 PM
In my off-hours from the annual Entomological Society of America meeting ( #EntSoc2025 ), I've been putting the finishing touches on a longer 'Value in nature' post on one of my favorite subjects, beer. Enjoy! #biodiversity #nature #beer 🌐
mscaterino.pika.page/posts/biodiv...
mscaterino.pika.page/posts/biodiv...
I will have an opening for a Ph.D. student (M.S. required) to begin Summer 2026, studying impacts to high Appalachian arthropod communities following Hurricane Helene.
I'll be at Ent. Soc. America meetings next week. Please point interested students my way.
More: sites.google.com/site/caterin...
I'll be at Ent. Soc. America meetings next week. Please point interested students my way.
More: sites.google.com/site/caterin...
The Caterino Arthropod Biodiversity Lab - OPPORTUNITIES
OPPORTUNITIES
Ph.D. research assistantship
Start date: Summer (preferred) or Fall, 2026
Compensation:
· $35,000 per year (plus 2% annual cost of living increase) for up to 5 years
· Ful...
sites.google.com
November 6, 2025 at 10:18 AM
I will have an opening for a Ph.D. student (M.S. required) to begin Summer 2026, studying impacts to high Appalachian arthropod communities following Hurricane Helene.
I'll be at Ent. Soc. America meetings next week. Please point interested students my way.
More: sites.google.com/site/caterin...
I'll be at Ent. Soc. America meetings next week. Please point interested students my way.
More: sites.google.com/site/caterin...
Supercool deep dive into sawfly ovipositor functional morphology, with applications to surgical tools!
Another superb example of #biomimicry reinforcing the intrinsic significance of protecting all biodiversity including the newts, bats & invertebrates demonised as barriers to development by Rachel Reeves
As this study demonstrates one day they may literally save your life.
phys.org/news/2025-10...
As this study demonstrates one day they may literally save your life.
phys.org/news/2025-10...
Smart cutting system used by female sawflies could transform surgery and reduce patient harm
Scientists at Heriot-Watt University have unlocked the secret behind how female sawflies make specific cuts to plants—a discovery that could revolutionize surgical instruments and dramatically reduce ...
phys.org
November 5, 2025 at 5:33 PM
Supercool deep dive into sawfly ovipositor functional morphology, with applications to surgical tools!
Today's 'Value in nature' post is a bit of a sidebar. For readers not deeply versed in taxonomy, how do well-resolved classifications allow us to make informed predictions about important properties of species? #biodiversity #nature 🌐
mscaterino.pika.page/posts/evolut...
mscaterino.pika.page/posts/evolut...
Evolution & magic predictive powers! - Value in nature
As I was writing the other day it occurred to me that there’s an awful lot of evolution and taxonomy between the lines of many of my posts. A statement...
mscaterino.pika.page
November 4, 2025 at 11:01 AM
Today's 'Value in nature' post is a bit of a sidebar. For readers not deeply versed in taxonomy, how do well-resolved classifications allow us to make informed predictions about important properties of species? #biodiversity #nature 🌐
mscaterino.pika.page/posts/evolut...
mscaterino.pika.page/posts/evolut...
Reposted by Michael Caterino
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
Euphoria! This is both the proper genus name and the feeling associated with finding one (on a walk over to the library). Late in the year for this guy.
Euphoria sepulchralis, I believe.
Euphoria sepulchralis, I believe.
November 3, 2025 at 7:31 PM
Euphoria! This is both the proper genus name and the feeling associated with finding one (on a walk over to the library). Late in the year for this guy.
Euphoria sepulchralis, I believe.
Euphoria sepulchralis, I believe.
Would you like your acorns in small, medium, or Xtra Large?
The giants are from Clemson's Centennial Bur Oak (the well-named Quercus macrocarpa), a spectacular tree.
Medium is white oak (Q. alba) and small is willow oak (Q. phellos).
The giants are from Clemson's Centennial Bur Oak (the well-named Quercus macrocarpa), a spectacular tree.
Medium is white oak (Q. alba) and small is willow oak (Q. phellos).
November 3, 2025 at 4:00 PM
Would you like your acorns in small, medium, or Xtra Large?
The giants are from Clemson's Centennial Bur Oak (the well-named Quercus macrocarpa), a spectacular tree.
Medium is white oak (Q. alba) and small is willow oak (Q. phellos).
The giants are from Clemson's Centennial Bur Oak (the well-named Quercus macrocarpa), a spectacular tree.
Medium is white oak (Q. alba) and small is willow oak (Q. phellos).
How protecting wild diversity will safeguard the future of flavor, this week on the 'Value in nature' blog:
#biodiversity #nature 🌐
mscaterino.pika.page/posts/variet...
#biodiversity #nature 🌐
mscaterino.pika.page/posts/variet...
Variety - the life of spice - Value in nature
Future dinner table conversation? Father: “Johnny, could you please pass the pepper?” Precocious child: “I would, Dad, but last year’s entire pepper crop was wiped out by disease and you...
mscaterino.pika.page
November 1, 2025 at 12:45 PM
How protecting wild diversity will safeguard the future of flavor, this week on the 'Value in nature' blog:
#biodiversity #nature 🌐
mscaterino.pika.page/posts/variet...
#biodiversity #nature 🌐
mscaterino.pika.page/posts/variet...
Reposted by Michael Caterino
I had been to this site 7 or 8 times before since moving here a couple months ago and never found anything. That's how it goes, usually. If a spot looks good, keep going back under different conditions and seasons.
Another undescribed species of Arianops, and only the second sp. known from West Virginia!
#Pselaphinae
#Pselaphinae
November 1, 2025 at 2:48 AM
I had been to this site 7 or 8 times before since moving here a couple months ago and never found anything. That's how it goes, usually. If a spot looks good, keep going back under different conditions and seasons.
The possibility of strengthening environmental law seems a distant hope in the current political landscape. But this paper lays out a strong framework for doing it, should the winds change. doi.org/10.1002/pan3...
Using the criminal law to protect the environment: Possibilities and problems 🌎🌐🧪 besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
Using the criminal law to protect the environment: Possibilities and problems
Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.
besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
October 31, 2025 at 12:25 PM
The possibility of strengthening environmental law seems a distant hope in the current political landscape. But this paper lays out a strong framework for doing it, should the winds change. doi.org/10.1002/pan3...
Reposted by Michael Caterino
Over 400,000 beetle species exist, but how are they related? 🐞
Join Dr @beetlequeen.bsky.social ( @nhm-london.bsky.social ) on 15 Feb 2026 for a FREE webinar exploring efforts to map the global Beetle Tree of Life & uncover biodiversity patterns.
👉 www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/mapping-th...
Join Dr @beetlequeen.bsky.social ( @nhm-london.bsky.social ) on 15 Feb 2026 for a FREE webinar exploring efforts to map the global Beetle Tree of Life & uncover biodiversity patterns.
👉 www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/mapping-th...
October 24, 2025 at 11:41 AM
Over 400,000 beetle species exist, but how are they related? 🐞
Join Dr @beetlequeen.bsky.social ( @nhm-london.bsky.social ) on 15 Feb 2026 for a FREE webinar exploring efforts to map the global Beetle Tree of Life & uncover biodiversity patterns.
👉 www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/mapping-th...
Join Dr @beetlequeen.bsky.social ( @nhm-london.bsky.social ) on 15 Feb 2026 for a FREE webinar exploring efforts to map the global Beetle Tree of Life & uncover biodiversity patterns.
👉 www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/mapping-th...
Will talk bugs for beer, tomorrow night (and, really, pretty much any time!)
Clemson peeps - next Thursday night (October 30 @ 6:30) I'll be leading an 'Explain it like I'm drinking' session at Kite Hill Brewing Co. on our leaf litter research in the southern Appalachians. Quench your thirst for knowledge of microarthropods!
October 29, 2025 at 4:28 PM
Will talk bugs for beer, tomorrow night (and, really, pretty much any time!)
Reposted by Michael Caterino
Lovely to receive the first copies of my new book, "Life on a Little-Known Planet." Thanks to www.evangaffneydesign.com for the great cover design.
October 29, 2025 at 9:28 AM
Lovely to receive the first copies of my new book, "Life on a Little-Known Planet." Thanks to www.evangaffneydesign.com for the great cover design.
Reposted by Michael Caterino
Joro spiders want 3 things: to not be touched or held, to not be in your house, and to not bite you.
Great new article by Gayoung Lee @gizmodo.com!
gizmodo.com/theyre-huge-...
Great new article by Gayoung Lee @gizmodo.com!
gizmodo.com/theyre-huge-...
They’re Huge, They’re Creepy, and They’re Back—An Expert’s Tips for Joro Spider Season
An entomologist answers your questions about the Joro invasion this fall.
gizmodo.com
October 28, 2025 at 3:03 PM
Joro spiders want 3 things: to not be touched or held, to not be in your house, and to not bite you.
Great new article by Gayoung Lee @gizmodo.com!
gizmodo.com/theyre-huge-...
Great new article by Gayoung Lee @gizmodo.com!
gizmodo.com/theyre-huge-...
Just up on the 'Value in nature' blog, a look at how wild genetic resources can sustain and enrich the world of spices:
🌐 #biodiversity #nature
mscaterino.pika.page/posts/variet...
🌐 #biodiversity #nature
mscaterino.pika.page/posts/variet...
Variety - the life of spice - Value in nature
Future dinner table conversation? Father: “Johnny, could you please pass the pepper?” Precocious child: “I would, Dad, but last year’s entire pepper crop was wiped out by disease and you...
mscaterino.pika.page
October 28, 2025 at 1:14 PM
Just up on the 'Value in nature' blog, a look at how wild genetic resources can sustain and enrich the world of spices:
🌐 #biodiversity #nature
mscaterino.pika.page/posts/variet...
🌐 #biodiversity #nature
mscaterino.pika.page/posts/variet...
Reposted by Michael Caterino
Cemeteries: How the Dead Protect the Wild https://therevelator.org/cemeteries-protect-the-wild/
Cemeteries: How the Dead Protect the Wild • The Revelator
From wildly popular to nearly forgotten, some of our cemeteries play an unexpected role in fostering biodiversity — and may provide climate solutions, too.
therevelator.org
October 27, 2025 at 3:03 PM
Cemeteries: How the Dead Protect the Wild https://therevelator.org/cemeteries-protect-the-wild/
Reposted by Michael Caterino
The new issue of the Bad Naturalist newsletter is here, and it has goats! And sheep! And monarchs! And hoverflies! And a poodle!
🌿 #nature
🌿 #nature
Mountain Goated
badnaturalistnewsletter.beehiiv.com
October 25, 2025 at 1:43 PM
The new issue of the Bad Naturalist newsletter is here, and it has goats! And sheep! And monarchs! And hoverflies! And a poodle!
🌿 #nature
🌿 #nature
Clemson peeps - next Thursday night (October 30 @ 6:30) I'll be leading an 'Explain it like I'm drinking' session at Kite Hill Brewing Co. on our leaf litter research in the southern Appalachians. Quench your thirst for knowledge of microarthropods!
October 23, 2025 at 10:32 PM
Clemson peeps - next Thursday night (October 30 @ 6:30) I'll be leading an 'Explain it like I'm drinking' session at Kite Hill Brewing Co. on our leaf litter research in the southern Appalachians. Quench your thirst for knowledge of microarthropods!
Good work to promote pollinator appreciation in Kansas. I like the idea that honeybees can be a 'gateway bug'.
Not mentioned is that Kansas is home to one of the world's richest bee collections, thanks to decades of work by taxonomist Charles Michener.
Gift link: www.nytimes.com/2025/10/21/c...
Not mentioned is that Kansas is home to one of the world's richest bee collections, thanks to decades of work by taxonomist Charles Michener.
Gift link: www.nytimes.com/2025/10/21/c...
Bee Happy: They’re Saving Pollinators in Kansas
www.nytimes.com
October 23, 2025 at 9:29 AM
Good work to promote pollinator appreciation in Kansas. I like the idea that honeybees can be a 'gateway bug'.
Not mentioned is that Kansas is home to one of the world's richest bee collections, thanks to decades of work by taxonomist Charles Michener.
Gift link: www.nytimes.com/2025/10/21/c...
Not mentioned is that Kansas is home to one of the world's richest bee collections, thanks to decades of work by taxonomist Charles Michener.
Gift link: www.nytimes.com/2025/10/21/c...
Reposted by Michael Caterino
Still a few tickets left for this evening actionnetwork.org/ticketed_eve...
Dave Goulson: Saving Our Insects
About the Event
Insects are fascinating, beautiful, and essential — without them, ecosystems grind to a halt. Yet their numbers are in alarming decline.
In this urgent and inspiring talk, ...
actionnetwork.org
October 23, 2025 at 8:25 AM
Still a few tickets left for this evening actionnetwork.org/ticketed_eve...
Reposted by Michael Caterino
I witness my students undergo major transformations as they learn to see past the basic ways their sense of the world has been framed by human exceptionalism. As the wool is pulled from their eyes, they come to experience Nature as more alive, animate, and aware. (1/2)
October 23, 2025 at 8:24 AM
I witness my students undergo major transformations as they learn to see past the basic ways their sense of the world has been framed by human exceptionalism. As the wool is pulled from their eyes, they come to experience Nature as more alive, animate, and aware. (1/2)
Reposted by Michael Caterino
Wonderful plates with lice, fleas, fairy shrimps, mite, mosquitoes, copepods and other tiny beasts, from The Micrographic Dictionary, published in 1883
Full source: www.biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography...
Full source: www.biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography...
October 21, 2025 at 9:05 PM
Wonderful plates with lice, fleas, fairy shrimps, mite, mosquitoes, copepods and other tiny beasts, from The Micrographic Dictionary, published in 1883
Full source: www.biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography...
Full source: www.biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography...
Beetle pollinators anyone? Learn more about some unsung symbioses in 'Beetles and the plants that love them', just posted to the 'Value in nature' blog!
mscaterino.pika.page/posts/beetle...
mscaterino.pika.page/posts/beetle...
Beetles and the plants that love them - Value in nature
Whether looking out your window, or looking in your refrigerator, the view would be very different were it not for pollinators. Modern plants have evolved in concert with a diverse...
mscaterino.pika.page
October 21, 2025 at 6:57 PM
Beetle pollinators anyone? Learn more about some unsung symbioses in 'Beetles and the plants that love them', just posted to the 'Value in nature' blog!
mscaterino.pika.page/posts/beetle...
mscaterino.pika.page/posts/beetle...
Reposted by Michael Caterino
Court documents filed today reveal that the Trump administration intends to fire dozens of Fish and Wildlife Service staff. The firings are part of a larger move to cut more than 2,000 jobs at the Interior Department.
Get the rest ➡️ bit.ly/3WgcdTO
Get the rest ➡️ bit.ly/3WgcdTO
October 20, 2025 at 10:24 PM
Court documents filed today reveal that the Trump administration intends to fire dozens of Fish and Wildlife Service staff. The firings are part of a larger move to cut more than 2,000 jobs at the Interior Department.
Get the rest ➡️ bit.ly/3WgcdTO
Get the rest ➡️ bit.ly/3WgcdTO