Perry Beasley-Hall, PhD
@pbeasleyhall.bsky.social
subterranean insect biodiversity & evolution @ adelaide uni • diversity in stem 🌈🧠 • inaturalist enjoyer 🌱 • current hyperfixation: cave cricket taxonomy 🦗 kaurna land, australia📍 • they/them 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️
The 13th annual international Gender Census 2026 is now open until at least 13th August 2026! survey.gendercensus.com It's for anyone whose gender (or lack thereof) isn't described by the M/F binary. It's short and easy, and results are useful in academia, business and self-advocacy. #LGBTQ
Public access to gender-affirming surgeries in Australia is basically nonexistent. For most trans people, their only option is to go through the extremely expensive private system. Please sign to increase pressure on SA Health to establish a public clinic in South Australia. #transrights
Implement A Public Gender Affirming Surgery Clinic
We're seeking your assistance to increase public pressure on SA Health to improve their delivery of Gender Affirming Care. SA Health continues to ban Gender Affirming Surgery in Public Hospitals. In ...
tinyurl.com
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
✨REGISTRATIONS ARE NOW OPEN!✨ Join us in December for 🧬𝗘𝘃𝗼𝗹𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗚𝗼𝗻𝗴🧬- A joint conference by Australasian Evolution Society (AES) and The Society of Australian Systematic Biologists (SASB)🤝. Register at this link: aes.corsizio.com/portal/aes Follow the thread for Key Rego Dates (1/1)
Drs Perry Beasley-Hall and Danielle Stringer have been awarded prestigious grants on the #taxonomy and #systematics of understudied Australian invertebrates. #bugsky invertebratelab.com/2026/05/28/g...
Grant success for two ISB postdocs!
Postdoctoral researchers Dr Perry Beasley-Hall and Dr Danielle Stringer have been awarded prestigious three-year research grants by the Australian Biological Research Study (ABRS), totalling $675,0…
invertebratelab.com
Research Assistant job - Lantau buffalo. Only suitable for a person already based in HK. www.cityu.edu.hk/hro/en/job/c... Further information - water buffalo research: www.hkbuffaloresearch.org
Members of the ISB lab recently described the first known eyeless wasp, discovered mummified in a remote cave on the Nullarbor Plain. #bugsky invertebratelab.com/2026/04/30/n...
New paper: the world’s first cave-adapted spider wasp.
In April 2025, a team of 18 participants — including cavers from four states, scientists from three academic institutions spanning multiple countries, and a Cultural Monitor — took part in one of t…
invertebratelab.com
ugh, this is sick, terrible stuff some of us only have ONE ring of keys?? You want us to CHOOSE between Anomalocaris and Opabinia???
Nicole 🪲@fossilforager.bsky.social · 4mo agoNew Cambrian mystery keychains just dropped! 🦐 shop.fossilforager.art #sciart
The disappearance of formal #taxonomy training for undergrads could hobble the development of medical and agricultural AI systems that rely on biological data. www.nature.com/articles/d41...
AI needs solid botanical data more than ever
An artificial-intelligence revolution in biotechnology won’t get far without human taxonomic expertise — and that’s under threat.
nature.com
To my non tech normies, PSA: when you share a link, everything after the ? is tracking. Those “query parameters” tell companies exactly how you arrived, what app you clicked, which ad or email sent you, sometimes a unique identifier tied to you. You can delete everything after the question mark.
#NewPaper alert! What factors affect incursions of non-native invertebrates across Australia's borders? 9 years of interception data show arrivals follow trade, travel, and seasonality... but species diversity still isn’t plateauing. #bugsky invertebratelab.com/2026/04/13/n...
New paper: Australian biosecurity invertebrate interceptions
An exciting new paper by Charlotte Lassaline, Erinn Fagan-Jeffries, and collaborators has just been published, presenting the first nine-year overview of terrestrial invertebrate biosecurity interc…
invertebratelab.com
New from my colleagues in the @invertebratelab.bsky.social! Paper out today. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
The first known troglomorphic, eyeless spider wasp (Hymenoptera: Pompilidae): Troglopompilus miracaecatus gen. et sp. nov. from the Nullarbor Caves, Western Australia
Surveys of caves of the Nullarbor Plain, Western Australia, revealed a remarkable assemblage of exceptionally well-preserved mummified arthropods, comprising Araneae, Blattodea, Coleoptera and Chilop...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
go follow @news.abc.net.au@abc-news.bsky.social · last yr.Nullarbor cave expedition unearths world's only known eyeless wasp: https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2025-06-25/eyeless-wasp-that-lived-in-pitch-black-cave-found-in-nullarbor/105451112
All the heart eyes for these tiny wonders 😍 Many animals that live in the dim waters of the ocean’s twilight zone have evolved powerful eyes to detect prey, mates, and predators in the dark. Hyperiid amphipods have developed remarkably diverse eyes, each with different functional capabilities.
Not all "cave" crickets live in caves - this new species is just as happy in tree hollows and wombat burrows. Living in Outer Melbourne's green wedges, it's threatened by urban sprawl. Paper coming soon. #bugsky 📸: Reiner Richter, David Illiff
Some of my favorite Orthoptera portaits I've taken in recent years. Katydids along with mantids have to be some of the most photogenic of all the insects. #katydid #grasshopper #cricket #insect #macro #nature #wildlife #bugsky #photography
This rather fantastic Black-footed Gondwanan Katydid (Metholce nigritarsis) was a recent visitor to our Perth Hills moth light. These amazing Katydids have been recorded in all states around Australia except the NT. #ausinverts #wildoz #Orthoptera #Katydid #inaturalist #nature #bugsky
The Biodiversity Heritage Library is turning 20! 🎉 We’re starting celebrations with a special anniversary blog series #BHLat20: Treasures from BHL, featuring remarkable works chosen by the people who know them best: blog.biodiversitylibrary.org/2026/03/cele... #ILoveBHL
Our lab is growing! We have new lab members joining us to work on micro-wasps, eyeless spiders, and cave crickets. Read on below to hear about their research. #bugsky 🐝🕷️🦗 invertebratelab.com/2026/03/24/welcome-new-lab-members
Welcome new lab members
A big, warm welcome to Dr Maura Haas-Renninger, Andrew Stempel, and Callum Bush – our group’s 3 newest members. We look forward to working and collaborating with you all. Keep reading t…
invertebratelab.com
An ichneumonid #wasp in genus Enicospilus. #fujifilm X-S10, #Laowa 65mm #Macro #MacroPhotography #photography #Nature #NatureIsAmazing #Invertebrates #insects
**TIL about Justin O. Schmitt, an entomologist, who developed a pain scale for the stings of Hymenoptera. Wow, Justin, you were definitely doing gawd’s work. I’m sad that I never met you. Check out the incredible graphic by @atlasobscura.com
Ranking the Pain of Stinging Insects, From ‘Spicy’ to ‘Shockingly Electric'
Remembering one passionate entomologist who poetically described and classified more than 70 species' painful stings.
atlasobscura.com
On #TaxonomistAppreciationDay I want to highlight some of the recent new species that I've described along with colleagues, many are from the global south where much of this diversity is from (and still awaits discover). First up, two species of herb gall wasps and a parasitoid from Sichuan, China.
Yes. Taxonomy is very much in danger of dying out. Simply because other scientists don't understand its importance and there is very little money for doing this work. 1/n 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
The caves of the Nullarbor Plain are fragile time capsules of biodiversity, supporting species found nowhere else on Earth. While it sounds good on paper, the proposed "green" energy hub will destroy this ancient ecosystem. Please consider signing. #SaveTheNullarbor change.org/p/save-the-nullarbor
Sign the Petition
Save the Nullarbor
change.org
Our postdoc @dr-ewilliamson.bsky.social's recent PhD study on an Australian native solitary bee, Megachile tosticauda, challenged a longheld assumption in insect biology: that all bees rely on a functional gut #microbiome. So what happens if it's missing? #bugsky invertebratelab.com/2026/02/24/a...
A bee without a gut microbiome
My recent PhD study on an Australian native solitary bee, Megachile tosticauda, challenges a longheld assumption in insect biology: that all bees rely on a functional gut microbiome. Toda…
invertebratelab.com
Did you know gum blossoms don't just attract bees - Australia's eucalypts rely on a huge range of species for pollination! Stay tuned for more stories about #OurEucalyptHome in the lead up to National Eucalypt Day on March 23rd! Cartoon in collaboration with @eucalyptaus.bsky.social!
