Do you work with insect collections? Yes?! Then we hope to see you at #ECN2026! 🪲 When: November Friday 6 - Saturday 7, 2026 Where: Columbus Hilton Downtown hotel, Ohio That’s right folks, we’re trialling something new and starting a day earlier than usual. We really hope you can join us!

Interested in insect macrophotography? If you are in the midwest, think about attending this workshop put on by @ageofarthropods.bsky.social and myself, 2-3 May 2026 cvent.me/qK5bOo

On this #tenebtuesday — a favorite teneb (& favorite photo of a heap of 'em), Neomida bicornis (Fabricius, 1777) [Diaperinae: Diaperini]? Their pronotal coloration is variable, from shining metallic green in some beetles to red in others, & the males have two tiny horns!

I’m really coming around on tenebs, you never know what they’re going to come up with next

If you’re at #EntSoc25 stop by Portland Ballroom 253 now (2-5pm) for some (great) entomological collections talks, including mine!

As a follow-up to my talk at #ECN2025 — here is a parts list for a budget (~$1,500) focus stacking system: www.ccwirth.com/Z-stacking

Got to maximize the time photographing specimens-so many bugs, so little time!

Entomological Collections Network@entcollnet.bsky.social · 9mo ago

Next year we will have speed trials for assembling Chris Wirth’s portable focus stacking camera system

used rubber bands in the alcohol collection? ONE THOUSAND YEARS DUNGEON

Thinking about buying a macro lens for insect photography? Along with @ageofarthropods.bsky.social we have been testing many options! Our results are summarized in 2 blog posts in the field www.insectid.org/post/macro-l... and in the lab www.insectid.org/post/lab-tes...

Macro Lens Comparison in the Field

As I continue to dive deeper into insect macrophotography, I have been exploring lens options and fallen down many YouTube rabbit holes and read probably hundreds of photography blogs and customer rev...

insectid.org

Just ONE WEEK until #ECN2025! 🪲 Head to the website to check out the full program: ecnweb.net/welcome/meet... This year’s program cover features a beautiful Rain beetle (Pleocoma sp.). Photograph courtesy of @ageofarthropods.bsky.social & the Purdue Entomological Research Collection.

Always is!

Ainsley S@americanbeetles.bsky.social · 11mo ago

IT’S TENEBRIONIDS AGAIN??

And this #TenebTuesday an answer (at last!)—this is the rarely collected Prateus fusculus LeConte, 1862, a member of the subfamily Lagriinae & type genus of the recently-established tribe Prateini (Aalbu et al. 2023)

Chris Wirth@ageofarthropods.bsky.social · last yr.

A mystery teneb for this #TenebTuesday — specimen collected by Charles Dury in Cincinnati &, until last month, was only identified as "'Tenebrionidae unknown' teste [George Henry] Horn" — any guesses?

A mystery teneb for this #TenebTuesday — specimen collected by Charles Dury in Cincinnati &, until last month, was only identified as "'Tenebrionidae unknown' teste [George Henry] Horn" — any guesses?

Found this cartoonish monstrosity of a specimen preparation while sorting through drawers of unidentified flies in @purdueentcoll.bsky.social !

Want to set up your own photo-stacking imaging system for under $3000? This post which outlines all the off-the-shelf items I used this year along with some recommendations for how to use it. Planning to talk about this at @entcollnet.bsky.social this November, too! www.insectid.org/post/focus-s...

Focus-stacking photography: Building your own system

Ten years ago, Alex Wild published a guide on Scientific American on how to make your own focus-stacking system for under $6000. I can't seem to find that post any more, just some secondary posts with...

insectid.org

But this is going to be yet another area where the taxonomists who did all the work to set up the species and the traits to identify them don't get paid. Even as many are retiring or losing their jobs, the resources get diverted away from expertise to the tech sector instead.

Spotted this “stack” of specimens collected by Charles Dury in 1904 at the Cincinnati Museum Center-upon turning over, I was surprised gold-colored corrosion(?) on the underside

And for #TenebTuesday here’s Strongylium crenatum Mäklin, 1867—this species is widespread in the southeastern US, but can separated from the other co-occurring Strongylium by its iridescent green coloration, punctate elytral striae, & indistinct, crenate pronotal margins

For #WeevilWednesday — a 106-year-old specimen of an anthribid, Toxonotus fascicularis (Schönherr 1833), described by its collector, Willis Blatchley, as "a prettily marked medium sized anthribid frequent on the dead branches" of saffron plum, Sideroxylon celastrinum.

Doyen & Lawrence (1979) note “Edrotes [Pimeliinae: Edrotini] (North America) & Epiphysa [Pimeliinae: Adesmiini] (southern Africa) are strikingly similar in external appearance [but] major differences in endoskeletal features, mouthparts & genitalia refute a close relationship" #TenebrionidTricky

Chris Wirth@ageofarthropods.bsky.social · last yr.

Back from an end-of-semester-hiatus here's Epiphysa ciliata Bates, 1872 (Pimeliinae: Adesmiini) for this #TenebTuesday —1 of 9 distinctively globose spp found across arid southern Africa. They are “crepuscular to nocturnal,” retreating to “rocky crevices or mammal burrows” in the day (Penrith 1978)

Back from an end-of-semester-hiatus here's Epiphysa ciliata Bates, 1872 (Pimeliinae: Adesmiini) for this #TenebTuesday —1 of 9 distinctively globose spp found across arid southern Africa. They are “crepuscular to nocturnal,” retreating to “rocky crevices or mammal burrows” in the day (Penrith 1978)

This specimen has been in @purdueentcoll.bsky.social for nearly 130 years — but has only two minute labels reading "Marquette, Michigan" & "H.G.H." [Henry Guernsey Hubbard] — Hubbard collected extensively in the Lake Superior region in 1876 (Mallis 1971), making this specimens over 149 years old!

Chris Wirth@ageofarthropods.bsky.social · last yr.

Back from an unintended break — for this #TenebTuesday here's very typical (looking) #tenebrionid — Bouchardandrus concolor (LeConte, 1866), only species in the genus & only known to from the Great Lakes region of Canada (MB ON QC) & US (MI MN OH WI) (Steiner 2016, Bousquet et al. 2018)

Back from an unintended break — for this #TenebTuesday here's very typical (looking) #tenebrionid — Bouchardandrus concolor (LeConte, 1866), only species in the genus & only known to from the Great Lakes region of Canada (MB ON QC) & US (MI MN OH WI) (Steiner 2016, Bousquet et al. 2018)

On this #TenebTuesday an excellent #tenebrionid — a species of Trogloderus (Blaptinae: Amphidorini) — the nine distinctively sculptured species are restricted to sandy areas & dunes in the western United States.

From a warm night last fall—several Marbled Fungus Weevils, Euparius marmoreus (Olivier, 1795), at fungus on a fallen tree—these individuals show some of the variation in size & color common in this species!

For this #TenebTuesday a deceptive #tenebrionid — Nilio (Linio) lanatus Germar, 1824 from Bahia, Brazil. Nilio adults & larvae (& sometimes aggregations of either or both stages!) can be found on trunks & branches of trees, where they have been observed feeding on fungus & lichens #Coletopera

A pair of myrmecophilus crickets, Myrmecophilus pergandei Bruner, 1884, collected September 6, 1902 in Crawford County, Indiana by W.S. Blatchley—such cool insects! #Orthoptera

And for this #TenebTuesday here's the distinctively diminutive, setose Eleodes barbata Wickham, 1918 (Blaptinae: Amphidorini)—the species is found in the Four-Corners region of the Colorado Plateau (AZ, CO, NM, & UT)—this beetle was voraciously nibbling on a dry blade of grass!

It's #TenebTuesday! This large (>2 cm), intricately sculptured #tenebrionid from Malawi is Catamerus revoili Fairmaire, 1887 (Lagriinae: Pycnocerini)—the 19 Pycnocerini genera are largely found in tropical Africa, w/ 3 in the Philippines, Indonesia, & Malaysia (Schawaller 2003)

For this late night #TenebTuesday here's a hand-colored plate of #tenebrionids from Lacordaire's monumental Genera des Coléoptères—this collection of twelve plates and text explanations was still in their original paper wrappers!