New article out in The Conversation with @dr-brock-hedges.bsky.social! We described and named three new species of cave cricket, one being the first known use of a Gundungurra word in Western #taxonomy. #bugsky theconversation.com/ever-seen-a-...

Ever seen a cave cricket? Australia now has three new species of these spindly, spider-like creatures

Caves have long been a refuge. But climate change could pose an existential threat to cave crickets and other cave dwellers.

theconversation.com

Check out the news article that @pbeasleyhall.bsky.social and I just published in @theconversation.com! theconversation.com/ever-seen-a-... It introduces the three new species of Australian cave crickets that we described and named in our article: doi.org/10.1111/aen....

Ever seen a cave cricket? Australia now has three new species of these spindly, spider-like creatures

Caves have long been a refuge. But climate change could pose an existential threat to cave crickets and other cave dwellers.

theconversation.com

New paper alert! "Estimating global bee species richness and taxonomic gaps" suggests that we have thousands of bee species left to describe and decades of taxonomic work ahead of us. We also provide the methods needed to apply more broadly :) doi.org/10.1038/s414...

Estimating global bee species richness and taxonomic gaps - Nature Communications

Bees are crucial for the maintenance of healthy ecosystems, yet rigorous estimates of their species’ richness are lacking. This study estimates taxonomic gaps for bees around the world and provides a ...

doi.org

I recently published in the Conversation! theconversation.com/meet-the-wei... This article is based on my newest, fully open-access publication in Marine and Freshwater Research. It summarises our eDNA study that investigated the invertebrate assemblages in South Australian arid-lands rock-holes.

Meet the weird, wonderful creatures that live in Australia’s desert water holes. They might not be there much longer

From water fleas to seed shrimp, Australia’s desert rock holes shelter unique animals found nowhere else. But as the climate warms, their homes are at risk.

theconversation.com

Last week, I was lucky enough to travel across Japan with Prof. Hiroshi Yajima and Assoc. Prof. Man Xiao to visit three freshwater lakes, and meet researchers working in various aspects of lake management science. You can read about the trip on my website: brockhedges.wordpress.com/2025/09/02/t...

Three lakes across Japan

In August of 2025, I was lucky enough to travel across Japan to visit three lakes, and meet researchers working in various aspects of lake management science. This trip was led by Professor Hiroshi…

brockhedges.wordpress.com

In May, we undertook the Invertebrate Systematics and Biodiversity Lab’s annual writing retreat. This year we returned to the Waite Campus, but at a ‘new-old’ venue: the heritage-listed Waite Gatehouse. invertebratelab.com/2025/07/14/l...

Lab Retreat in the Gatehouse

In May, we undertook the Invertebrate Systematics and Biodiversity Lab’s annual writing retreat. In the past, we’ve held this retreat at the University of Adelaide’s Waite Campus,…

invertebratelab.com

New paper out with @pbeasleyhall.bsky.social in Australia Entomology. In it, three new species of cave cricket are described in the genus 𝘚𝘱𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘰𝘵𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘹, and a fourth is transferred across from 𝘊𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘹. The article is open-access and can be viewed at: dx.doi.org/10.1111/aen....

Exciting news! I have just commenced a two-year Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) Postdoctoral Research Fellowship. I am being hosted by Professor Hiroshi Yajima at the Estuary Research Centre, and Shimane University.