Kevin Keegan
@mothpotato.bsky.social
I study moths so YOU don't have to. Lepidopterist at Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Pittsburgh, PA, U.S.A. All opinions are my own.
Found this old map of Riverview Park in our collection for some reason. Not sure when it was made. It says "Paul for historical facts" but Paul don't work here no more! Anybody have any ideas of when this could be from?
August 22, 2025 at 3:48 PM
Found this old map of Riverview Park in our collection for some reason. Not sure when it was made. It says "Paul for historical facts" but Paul don't work here no more! Anybody have any ideas of when this could be from?
There's something very wrong with my stream
August 2, 2025 at 1:33 AM
There's something very wrong with my stream
Mating eastern tailed-blues in the garden today
July 19, 2025 at 9:22 PM
Mating eastern tailed-blues in the garden today
My showcase garden plot of goldenrod, gayfeather, American asters, wingstem, dogbane, milkweed, and deer tongue grass
May 30, 2025 at 1:24 AM
My showcase garden plot of goldenrod, gayfeather, American asters, wingstem, dogbane, milkweed, and deer tongue grass
Hahaha Oneil Cruz is eating an Uncrustable after hitting an enormous home run
May 28, 2025 at 9:56 PM
Hahaha Oneil Cruz is eating an Uncrustable after hitting an enormous home run
Polished an old brass (and copper?) lamp we had in our section's storage. Made by Almond Man. Co. in Brooklyn, NY with patent number on it from 1898. Being from that era, it may have been a lamp of the museum's and section's first director, William Jacob Holland (pictured behind the polished lamp).
May 28, 2025 at 4:58 PM
Polished an old brass (and copper?) lamp we had in our section's storage. Made by Almond Man. Co. in Brooklyn, NY with patent number on it from 1898. Being from that era, it may have been a lamp of the museum's and section's first director, William Jacob Holland (pictured behind the polished lamp).
Ok everyone post with how they use their pet in their research.
I use my dog's whiskers for the very delicate process of removing scales while dissecting moth genitalia. Here are the whiskers glued to wooden dowels, and a file photo of my dog Tule.
I use my dog's whiskers for the very delicate process of removing scales while dissecting moth genitalia. Here are the whiskers glued to wooden dowels, and a file photo of my dog Tule.
May 21, 2025 at 10:39 AM
Ok everyone post with how they use their pet in their research.
I use my dog's whiskers for the very delicate process of removing scales while dissecting moth genitalia. Here are the whiskers glued to wooden dowels, and a file photo of my dog Tule.
I use my dog's whiskers for the very delicate process of removing scales while dissecting moth genitalia. Here are the whiskers glued to wooden dowels, and a file photo of my dog Tule.
We had a microscope vendor come by the museum to demo a new scope. So I gave him a toughy to photo: a species of sparkling archaic sun moth (Eriocraniidae) found in Pittsburgh. He got a great pic, but oriented it upside down ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. Right side up here, with upside down scale bar in the top left
May 20, 2025 at 3:40 PM
We had a microscope vendor come by the museum to demo a new scope. So I gave him a toughy to photo: a species of sparkling archaic sun moth (Eriocraniidae) found in Pittsburgh. He got a great pic, but oriented it upside down ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. Right side up here, with upside down scale bar in the top left
Mummy wasp, with mummy wasp cocoon (bottom left) and mummified caterpillar the wasp larva developed in (bottom right) from my recent trip to California.
bugguide.net/node/view/23...
bugguide.net/node/view/23...
May 12, 2025 at 6:09 PM
Mummy wasp, with mummy wasp cocoon (bottom left) and mummified caterpillar the wasp larva developed in (bottom right) from my recent trip to California.
bugguide.net/node/view/23...
bugguide.net/node/view/23...
Looks like they are Acrididae eggs!
May 11, 2025 at 6:28 PM
Looks like they are Acrididae eggs!
Looking for caterpillars in a field of Bigelow's tickseed in Nine Mile Canyon outside Inyokern, CA today
April 29, 2025 at 6:38 AM
Looking for caterpillars in a field of Bigelow's tickseed in Nine Mile Canyon outside Inyokern, CA today
A longhorn bee sleeping in a wild onion flower today in the Santa Lucia Mountains.
April 26, 2025 at 4:15 AM
A longhorn bee sleeping in a wild onion flower today in the Santa Lucia Mountains.
Looking for caterpillars on mistletoe in the Santa Lucia Mountains in California today.
April 25, 2025 at 11:11 PM
Looking for caterpillars on mistletoe in the Santa Lucia Mountains in California today.
Any entomologists know what these eggs? are that I found in soil in Pittsburgh?
April 14, 2025 at 3:21 PM
Any entomologists know what these eggs? are that I found in soil in Pittsburgh?
Visible from Herron Hill
April 13, 2025 at 8:19 PM
Visible from Herron Hill
How do you say "gofuckyaself" in Hebrew
April 13, 2025 at 1:16 PM
How do you say "gofuckyaself" in Hebrew
1/2 This motherfucking idiot. First: we did not resurrect the dire wolf. Second: it is way harder to reestablish a lost species than protect an extent one. Third off: if you allow one species to go extinct, you sever countless ecological interactions which can cause cascading extinctions...
April 8, 2025 at 8:35 PM
1/2 This motherfucking idiot. First: we did not resurrect the dire wolf. Second: it is way harder to reestablish a lost species than protect an extent one. Third off: if you allow one species to go extinct, you sever countless ecological interactions which can cause cascading extinctions...
Pinning up some forester moths I collected last year in Cabo region Baja California. This species has a population there and one in southwestern US and northern Mexico. Apparently doesn't occur in between but the DNA says they're the same species. VERY interesting.
April 3, 2025 at 3:42 PM
Pinning up some forester moths I collected last year in Cabo region Baja California. This species has a population there and one in southwestern US and northern Mexico. Apparently doesn't occur in between but the DNA says they're the same species. VERY interesting.
Pittsburgh early warning system for land slides. When the Sheetz bottle falls, the landslide has begun.
March 24, 2025 at 3:01 PM
Pittsburgh early warning system for land slides. When the Sheetz bottle falls, the landslide has begun.
Stand Up for Science Rally in Pittsburgh
March 7, 2025 at 4:05 PM
Stand Up for Science Rally in Pittsburgh
Curating the Noctuoidea and found a sack-bearer moth which ain't a noctuoid. Sent my buddy who studies them a pic. Turns out it is a new state record for Brazil, only the second location in the world it has ever been collected in, and likely the only male in an US collection
March 5, 2025 at 8:43 PM
Curating the Noctuoidea and found a sack-bearer moth which ain't a noctuoid. Sent my buddy who studies them a pic. Turns out it is a new state record for Brazil, only the second location in the world it has ever been collected in, and likely the only male in an US collection