The honeybee-killing Varroa mite is marching across the country, as two experts explain.

Australian beekeepers can’t tackle Varroa mite alone. Here’s how we can help

theconversation.com

Australian beekeepers are facing a tough time, with spreading varroa mites adding to rising fuel and operating costs. My colleague Dr Casey Forster and I wrote about the challenges facing honeybees and the industry—and how we can help. theconversation.com/australian-b... #honeybees #australia

Australian beekeepers can’t tackle Varroa mite alone. Here’s how we can help

The honeybee-killing Varroa mite is marching across the country, as two experts explain.

theconversation.com

A cool Australian insect sound. Not a cricket, cicada or katydid - it's a male Common Whistling Moth (Hecatesia fenestrata)! They have special structures on the edge of their forewings to make these very unmothlike sounds while they buzz around in circles in to attract a mate! #wildoz #bioacoustics

Not all wasps have wings. Female Catocheilus flower wasps are parasites of ground beetle larvae and have lost the wings. They attract flying males with pheromones from exposed perches. Some orchids mimic them, tricking males for pollination. #orchids #entomology #macrophotography #ecology

let me share a little story about a remarkable wasp that I encountered yesterday in our local deserts I stumbled across her, and scrambled to get a few crappy photos .... but then realized that she had a burrow, perhaps a better photo op was possible ?? here she is at her burrow entrance.

We developed a simple method to detect bee colony failure using a single temperature sensor per hive and that is not dependent on the season. Tested on 96 bee colonies from three apiaries. #honeybee #beeresearch #science #sensors #ecology www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Temperature as an early warning signal of honeybee colony failure

How to identify ecological systems at risk of failure is a central question of modern biology and agriculture. Due to human impacts and global change,…

sciencedirect.com

Varroa mites are spreading across Australia—posing a serious threat to honeybee colonies. Here's what beekeepers can do to protect their hives. #bee #honeybees #varroa #australia #agriculture theconversation.com/australian-h...

Australian honeybees are under attack by mites and beetles. Here’s how to keep your backyard hive safe

Varroa mites and small hive beetles are threatening Australian honey producers. Here’s how backyard beekeepers, and everyday honey lovers, can help.

theconversation.com

We don't know much about these odd-looking Zasphinctus ants, except they seem to raid other ant nests, steal their larvae and eat them... Their narrow elongated bodies probably help them enter small galleries. #ants #myrmecology non #armyants #fourmis #science

Finally found a nest of Polyrhachis semiaurata, definitely one of the most beautiful ant species. It's really hard to take good photos of them because of their iridescence and general body shape. #ants #fourmis #myrmecology #entomology

Nous lançons "Chroniques Sauvages", une collection chez Tana dédiée au comportement animal 🐾 Dans le premier opus, Mathieu nous embarque dans le monde des insectes 🐝🪳et nous fait voyager de son rucher toulousain aux terres irradiées de Fukushima 😱 #Science #Ecologie

A Velvet Worm. They can spit adhesive slime to capture a prey. Velvet worms have short, stubby legs called lobopods, that don't have joints. They have a really complex muscular system that allows them to move, partly by changing the pressure of the fluids inside their limbs.

(7/12) Megaponera has some amazing adaptations. Here’s a raiding party returning home. Note how the large workers carry the termites, and the small ones don’t? However, two of the large workers are carrying small workers instead. Megaponera rescues injured combatants and even disinfects the wounds.

Pony ants often have amazing metallic colours to help other animals like me remember how painful their sting is. It works just fine. This is Rhytidoponera confusa. #ants #fourmis #myrmecology #nature #wildlife

The intricate cuticle of a Botany Bay Diamond Weevil is a complex blend of trying to be seen by other weevils, trying not to be seen by weevil-eaters, and preventing parasitic mites from attaching. #weevils #entomology #nature #bugs #macro

Epopostruma wardi, one of my favorite ant species because of the unusual triangular shape of their head. We don't know too much yet about their biology. #ants #fourmis #myrmecology #insects #bugs #nature #macro

Wow, just wow. V different approach reveals numerous problems in Scientific Reports - cf deevybee.blogspot.com/2024/10/an-o... I do hope @springernature.bsky.social will start to publish reviewer reports and editor info as we suggested

Nikolay Tumanov@ntumanovxray.bsky.social · 2y ago

Bad. But how bad? I once asked myself, while finding fakes in the Scientific Report @natureportfolio.bsky.social. So I decide to "do my our research" - I took 100 articles in a row from Physical sciences that contains diffraction. Result - 15 fakes out 100. Details in the 🧵 #ResearchIntegrity 1/x

Mayriella overbecki is one of the smallest ant species living in Australia (~2mm). They have large grooves on their heads, called antennal scrobes, to protect their antennae when in danger. #ants #macro #macrophotography #myrmecology #insects

This Endoxyla encalypti moth got attracted and "trapped" by the lights of a train station. Light pollution is still a big issue. Took close-ups of the scales on the wings and moved the moth to a darker place. #moth #lepidoptera #macro #macrophotography #science #nature #entomology #insects #bugs

Probably the largest caterpillar I have found so far (Chelepteryx collesi or batwing moth), perfect for close-ups of the prolegs and their claws, and the spiracles that open up to the tracheal system of insects. #macro #nature #science #macrophotography #lepidoptera #entomology #insects #bugs

There are many non-honeybee insects that pollinate flowers, but not a lot of images showing it clearly. I got lucky to accidentally catch this beetle literally depositing pollen on a flower's pistil. #pollination #insects #bugs #photography #science #pollen

A #honeybee from one of my research hives, which are currently packed with hive sensors to help me understand how temperature and humidity correlate with colony health. #bee #beekeeping #entomology #science #apiculture #macro #photography

Anyone able to confirm Colobostruma elliotti for these minuscule #ants I found today south of Sydney, #Australia? There are barely any photos of this group, they are so small and hard to photograph. #myrmecology #entomology #antsofaustralia #ant #macro #macrophotography

🐝 We're currently advertising three PhD projects to study bees at Bristol University, UK. Two focus on foraging behaviour, ecology & nutrition, one on parasitic bees and their impact on indigenous stingless beekeeping in Peru. Feel free to share: www.socialinsect-research.com/opportunitie...

Seems we have enough Australian Entomology / other insect people to start a starter pack. Who have I missed? go.bsky.app/8d9RtMC

what a beautiful bumble bee... oh wait, that's a fly! a robber fly that that is a predator of bees and wasp, so cool! www.inaturalist.org/observations...

And another starter pack for bee people. Who am I missing here? go.bsky.app/3sLLXsG Happy to get the list growing and spread the word.

Time for an introduction? I am a honeybee researcher, interested in how colonies maintain nest homeostasis and in improving bee health. I have a background in ecology & entomology and have worked on invasive ants before switching to bees. In my spare time, I take bug pics, these are my bees:

Polyrhachis femorata #ants from Australia. They may not be the most colourful, but the fine sculpture of their cuticle is amazing. #myrmecology #macro #entomology #insects

We have a new paper on using weight to manage and study #honeybee colonies. link.springer.com/article/10.1... #beekeeping #science #research #apidologie

Next-generation colony weight monitoring: a review and prospectus - Apidologie

Healthy honey bee colonies follow predictable patterns of weight change through the season, gaining weight when resources are abundant and losing weight during periods of scarcity. Divergence from thi...

link.springer.com

In our new paper we quantified the impact of crop covers on the activity of honeybee colonies during almond pollination: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... #bee #honeybee #pollination #science #research