#WorldRobberFlyDay Australasian Asilidae: male Chrysopogon albopunctatus (Macquart, 1846) (Brachyrhopalinae, USNMENT00832795) from Western Australia, Australia - an amazing wasp mimic - more info at n2t.net/ark:/65665/3... #asiloidflies

First round of malaise trap setups from this past weekend. The vastly under-collected Colorado Plateau (at least for ichneumonids) is one of my main focal areas this year. This first spot is near Kanab, Utah. #ichneumonidae #entomology #malaisetrap #insect #hymenoptera #diptera #trackerwasps

The species lists can now be can now be filtered by state or country to help narrow down options for identification. #ichneumonidae #entomology #trackerwasps #insect #taxonomy

It is a unique pleasure to have someone send you pictures of a species you described. It's like a report that one of your kids is doing all right. This beauty is Orectoscelis westwoodi, a myrmecophile (probably with Pheidole) described back in 2005 from Queensland, AU. (photo by Jan Pražák)

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

‘I love midges because I know what their hearts look like’: is the passion for taxonomy in danger of dying out?

Insect taxonomist Art Borkent has described and named more than 300 species of midges but fears his field of science is dying out, despite millions of insects, fungi and other organisms waiting to be ...

theguardian.com

I'm just finishing interpreting the DNA barcodes on my wasps, and now it turns out you can regularly have different barcodes in the same (sawfly) wasp! 😅 Nice work, and something to keep in mind when splitting wasps into species based on DNA.🧪

RES Publications@respublications.bsky.social · 5mo ago

New #OpenAccess research by M. Prous, @niinakiljunen.bsky.social et al. in #RESSystematicEnt found that multiple full-length variants of the mitochondrial COI DNA barcode region are prevalent in north European sawflies. doi.org/10.1111/syen.70031 @gkergoat.bsky.social @wileyecology.bsky.social

Lots of new features on ichsofna.org: - species lists now provide complete synonym history - hover over a species name to see a popup with images (if available), a distribution map, and a list of recorded hosts - toggle species between Nearctic and worldwide #ichneumonidae #insects #entomology

Another new species out! 🥳 Please welcome Sericopimpla kibalensis. 🧪 A genus earlier mainly known from tropical Asia and Australia, with just one African species. After our Ugandan collecting, there are now two. In @zookeys.pensoft.net with @ilarisaaksjarvi.bsky.social, me, Emil, Kari, Simon.

On the genus Sericopimpla Kriechbaumer, 1895 (Ichneumonidae, Pimplinae) in the Afrotropics, with the description of a new species

Sericopimpla Kriechbaumer, 1895 (Hymenoptera, Ichneumonidae, Pimplinae) is a moderately large Darwin wasp genus distributed mostly in the Paleotropics and Australasian region. Here, we describe a new ...

doi.org

A long time in preparation, the 'big monograph' from my sabbatical last year is finally submitted. These beauties (and about ~350 more) will soon be known to the world!

I've added country species distribution data from Taxapad (still need to get data for a few subfamilies) to ichsofna.org. By clicking on a country/state you will get a list of all ichneumonids that occur there (up to 2016). #trackerwasps #ichneumonidae #insect #taxonomy #biodiversity #entomology

New #IONA feature! The choropleths on the genus page now not only show diversity per state/province, but when you click on one, it will show you the list of recorded species. ichsofna.org/Ichneumonina... #wasps #JS #ichneumonidae #entomology #biodiversity #taxonomy

Been adding a lot of new species to ichsofna.org. Here's a stunning species of as yet unidentified Glypta from Wyoming. It's no trivial task to ID these since there are 316 Glypta species in North America! #insect #entomology #ichneumonidae #parasitoid

Yay, our new species is out! Only two Xanthephialtes species were known to exist from before, now we've added a third from Uganda. Please welcome: Xanthephialtes iida sp. nov! 🧪🐣🥳 Named after Emil's wife. In @zookeys.pensoft.net with @ilarisaaksjarvi.bsky.social, me, Emil, Kari, Simon.

Review of the genus Xanthephialtes Cameron (Hymenoptera, Ichneumonidae), with re-definition of the genus and description of a new species from Uganda

Xanthephialtes Cameron, 1906 (Hymenoptera, Ichneumonidae, Pimplinae) is a small Afrotropical Darwin wasp genus with only two previously known species, for which we provide images of the holotypes. Her...

doi.org

Two interesting things in this paper: Idiobionts* were caught more in the dry season, koinobionts not, which is what I'm starting to see in the Ugandan data too. 40 trap years of collecting gave only 10,000 wasps, wonder why so much less than in Uganda? 🤔

Here are the figures for the two new Ctenichneumon species. How many differences can you spot?? #entomology #Ichneumonidae #parasitoid #insects #taxonomy #newspecies

From website development to image classification apps, I've been interested in improving ID resources for a long time. I've been exploring using NotebookLM as an ID tool and am extremely impressed. Here's a test based on one of my publications: #entomology #taxonomy #ichneumonidae #insects #ai

Working on describing this couple of new Ctenichneumon species from the Huachuca Mountains in #Arizona. Too bad they are both singletons! Hopefully someone can find the males eventually. #insect #newspecies #entomology #nature #photography #ichneumonidae #trackerwasp #wasp

Added a few newly collected Ichneumon species to Ichneumonids of North America. Amazingly, I've found 31 different species based on females when records only show 4 for the state! Compare that with 57 species in Main, which is probably a fairly complete inventory. #entomology #newspecies #taxonomy

My first pseudoscorpion observation was pure luck. Happen to see this wasp and took a shot. It was only later did I see what was hanging on the antenna. On iNaturalist [ www.inaturalist.org/observations... ]

Very preliminary but below should be a #newspecies and the first record of the #ichneumonid genus Patroclus in the US! This newly collected singleton specimen is from central Utah but Patroclus is neotropical, getting as far north as Mexico. #taxonomy #insects #wasps #Hymenoptera #parasitoid

I've only sorted and pinned a very small fraction of the ichneumonds collected by the 6-meter Malaise I have in central Utah. Among other discoveries is a new species of Tricholabus! #Ichneumonidae #newpsecies #entomology #insects #Utah #taxonomy #wasps

#FlyFriday one of my favorite assassin flies - Sisyrnodytes subater Oldroyd, 1957 (Asilidae: Willistonininae, USNMENT00870084) - collected in north-western South Africa near Pella - more info here n2t.net/ark:/65665/3... #asiloidflies

So many undescribed species, too many unknown interactions, no time. www.mdpi.com/1424-2818/17...

My friend Cameron Ramsey (chrysomelid taxonomist) and I have a 6-meter Malaise trap set up in a wash in central Utah right now. Between the large trap size and the location, it's collecting an insane amount. There's going to be a lot of bycatch for anyone looking to trade!

I started a blog and my first post is online! The posts will try to explore topics which are not typically covered by introductory literature and textbooks, e.g. because they are considered to be "too basic". Let me know what you think! weevil-see.github.io/taxonomy/Ide...

Species Identifications: Common Pitfalls

Some thoughts about Identifications. How do we identify properly? How do we avoid mistakes?

weevil-see.github.io

For all the lep enthusiasts out there celebrating #NationalMothWeek, please check out #ClaridgeTraps for a great light sheet setup! Let me know if you have any questions!

studying #asiloidflies at @amnh.org today - one of the best collections of apiocerid flies (Apioceridae) with almost every of the 65 North American species present - often with primary + secondary type material

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

The corollary to this is, with some basic knowledge of insect taxonomy, you too can become the world expert on a group! Just spend a few years obsessively reading about and looking at them and you'll know more than anyone else. The downside is you'll then be asked to review every paper on them...

Alex Wild@alexwild.bsky.social · last yr.

What is common knowledge in your field, but shocks outsiders? A majority of the world’s insect species have no living expert who can identify them.

Happy to announce that my paper describing Anisobas irwini and recording two host records for Anisobas coloradensis is finally out! The species name honors the prodigious collector Mike Irwin who collected the holotype. centerforsystematicentomology.org/insecta_mund... #Ichneumonidae #parasioid