Peter Mulhair
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petermulhair.bsky.social
Peter Mulhair
@petermulhair.bsky.social
510 followers 540 following 37 posts
BBSRC fellow at Liverpool Uni - insect adaptation to freshwater environments, comparative genomics and gene evolution.
I enjoy genomes, bioinformatics, and moths.
Treasurer for Systematics Association systass.org
He/Him 🇮🇪
🔗 http://petermulhair.com
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petermulhair.bsky.social
This was a really fun project which would not have been possible without Ale, Carlos, and @peterhox.bsky.social.
It involved bioinformatics, field sampling, and wet-lab experiments!

Shoutout to the dark-edged bee-fly (Bombylius major) who keeps surprising us with interesting biological stories.
Photo of the dark-edged bee-fly sitting on a brown, wilted leaf. The bee-fly has a fluffy brown coat and a long proboscis sticking out. There is a gap between the eyes on the top of the head indicating that this is a female bee-fly.
October 17, 2025 at 3:17 PM
petermulhair.bsky.social
Incredibly happy to have my first glance of the infamous Clifden nonpareil (Catocala fraxini) moth this morning. The nonpareil in the common name comes from the French ‘non pareil’ meaning ‘without equal’, which is certainly true of this large and fabulous moth! 🧪
A moth with zigzag markings on broad silver-grey forewings, can also see a glimpse of the lilac blue flashes across the hindwings. Its missing a chunk of its wing, like the result of an encounter with a hungry bird. It is sitting on a branch with some moss on it. A close up of the moths head, it is sitting on a chunk of moss.
October 4, 2023 at 5:15 PM
petermulhair.bsky.social
*NEW* preprint lead by Masters student extraordinaire Ricky Kyriacou

GC content across insect genomes: phylogenetic patterns, causes and consequences
biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.09.11.557135v1

Some fascinating insights using 150 genomes from 4 holometabolous insects orders 🦋🪰🐝🪲

🧪🧬🖥️ #evosky
Figure 2 from the preprint linked. Description: Phylogenetic plots comparing GC percentage across the genome (outer circle), in coding genes (middle circle) and at third codon position of single copy orthologs (SCO GC3; inner circle). For each order, families with two or more representative species are alternatively highlighted. Lepidoptera in blue, Diptera in green, Hymenoptera in yellow, Coleoptera in red. In the Diptera tree, Bombyliidae species are labelled with an asterisk
September 13, 2023 at 3:18 PM
petermulhair.bsky.social
My office this morning was beautiful, in search of a fly with a funky genome, unfortunately to no avail :(
Back to the security of the computer for the afternoon.
The genomes never let me down!! 🧪🧬🖥️
Image of open grassland in the foreground, with a wooded region behind it. The sky above is a light blue/grey. A meadow with an abundance of flowering plants in the foreground. Some large trees line the edge of the meadow.
September 8, 2023 at 11:42 AM
petermulhair.bsky.social
Lots of leafmines too, which the amazing site leafmines.co.uk tells me are likely those belonging to the larvae of Phytomyza miniscula, a schizophora fly!
Picture of some leaves of the Columbine plant (Aquilegia) with pale worm-like tracks indicating the presence of a leafminer fly.
September 5, 2023 at 12:25 PM
petermulhair.bsky.social
A lovely visitor to the garden, Brimstone butterfly (Gonepteryx rhamni, family Pieridae), doing frankly an amazing job looking like a leaf!
The yellow-green underwing means this is likely a male (females have a pale green/white colour), although I'm not certain of this 🧪
Common brimstone butterfly with folded pale green wings resting on some green leaves. The colour and shape of the wings, along with strong veining mean the butterfly is camoflauged amongst the leaves. Some blue sky can be seen in the background.
September 5, 2023 at 12:21 PM