What makes this parrot look green? It's more than just a pigment! We found that the color comes from the interaction of pigments, nano- and even microstructures of the feather itself. @jessica-dobson.bsky.social @michaelnicolai.bsky.social @wybouw.bsky.social @lilianadalba.bsky.social.

Well done, Emma!! It was a cool congress in sun-lit Montpellier

Emma Van Reempts@emmavanreempts.bsky.social · 2w ago

Had the best time listening to the most fascinating talks at ICA 2026. Also presented my research and won my first ever award!

📣 📣 📣 📣 To all Drosophilists: the call for Workshop proposals at the 2027 European Drosophila Research Conference in Bonn (20-23 September 2027) is OPEN! Go to link below for instructions. Closing date: 30 September 2026. 👇🏻👇🏻👇🏻 tinyurl.com/45y8trzd

New preprint from the lab, led by PhD student Leopold Preuß, with @marta-tischer.bsky.social, @cblei.bsky.social, and others. We show genomic evidence for #Wolbachia being an overlooked nutritional symbiont in solitary #bees. #SymbioSky https://tinyurl.com/3wzt27hy Short thread: (1/8)

Very happy to welcome @wybouw.bsky.social to our DBIO #Seminar series at @vubrussel.bsky.social🎉 He’ll speak on symbiont-mediated #cytoplasmicincompatibility, #Wolbachia, host genetics, mobile elements & pest control. 📅 Mon 15 June 🕑 14:00–15:00 📍 F.5.66 Looking forward to a great seminar! #VUB

How do alternative reproductive modes arise? In this @pnas.org paper, we show that hybridogenesis -where a haploid set of chromosomes is transmitted clonally across generations- acted as an intermediate step between sexual and asexual reproduction in stick insects. doi.org/10.1073/pnas...

Soutenance d'HDR, Vendredi 22/05, 9h30 🔊 Génétique évolutive d’un insecte polyphage : impact des interactions insecte-symbiontes sur l’adaptation et la dynamique des populations Par #Nicolas_Rode @inrae-dpt-spe.bsky.social @cbgpmontpellier.bsky.social lien YT : www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7R5...

Please check out our pre-print! It was a 3- year high school study. Partially crowd-funded by experiment.com It was a very fun study and I hope it contributes to Wolbachia research in some way. Help us amplify if you can! doi.org/10.5281/zeno...

Did you know that many organisms delete parts of their genome during development? To know more please join us at the Roscoff meeting on "Mechanistic and Evolutionary Basis of Programmed DNA Elimination" Sep21- 25, 2026. Please share!
cjm.sb-roscoff.fr/en/conferenc...

This is wild: the authors find evidence for giant, macro-predatory octopuses in Late Cretaceous oceans that might max out at *62 feet long,* comfortably large enough to attack, kill and eat mosasaurs

Earliest octopuses were giant top predators in Cretaceous oceans

Top predators drive changes in ecosystem structure. For the last ~370 million years, large-sized vertebrates have dominated the apex of the marine food chain, while invertebrates have served as smalle...

science.org

Two new calls: FRB-Cesab 2026 synthesis call for proposals, which will support two general projects, and a thematic marine project #FRB-Cesab, #Motpellier r.info.fondationbiodiversite.fr/mk/mr/sh/1t6...

Big opportunities for researchers 🌍 We are investing nearly €400 million to help researchers share their work and collaborate with the best scientific teams across the EU. The 2026 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Postdoctoral Fellowships are now open. More: link.europa.eu/PNxpxw

Our study on complex cryptic co-infections of Spiroplasma in European Myrmica ants is now published with @tparmentier.bsky.social @emmavanreempts.bsky.social @selfishmeme.bsky.social Tessa, Wouter and Diego doi.org/10.1111/mec.... .

Open postdoc position in my lab at Cornell, conducting comparative and experimental studies on transcriptomic responses to diet and toxins, utilizing the milkweed-insect community. Background in molecular bio & herbivory desired. academicjobsonline.org/ajo/jobs/31867

We found that Rickia wasmannii, known from Myrmica workers, also infects queens, males, and larvae, with spillover to nest associates (incl. Lomechusa). doi.org/10.1007/s000... Complex dynamics in the ant microcosm --> more ant–fungus work coming @insectessociaux.bsky.social @dhaelewa.bsky.social

Our paper is out! Trade‐offs in thermal response: Schizotetranychus brevisetosus winter eggs outperform summer eggs at low temperatures - Yamawaki - Physiological Entomology - Wiley Online Library resjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Trade‐offs in thermal response: Schizotetranychus brevisetosus winter eggs outperform summer eggs at low temperatures

We investigated maternal effects in Schizotetranychus brevisetosus (Tetranychidae), where females oviposit summer and winter eggs in response to photoperiod on evergreen hosts. Developmental rates o...

resjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com

How specific are heritable symbioses? And what can we learn from swapping obligate symbionts across host species? We address this in our latest, led by @inespons.bsky.social & in our collaboration w/ @microbiome.bsky.social 🦠🪲 Out today in @natcomms.nature.com! 1/n www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Can plant pathogens boost vector fitness? Together with @hassansalem.bsky.social, we review how phytopathogens can spread further by moonlighting as insect symbionts 🪲 More on this nifty lifestyle in @annualreviews.bsky.social! www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...

Plant Pathogens Moonlighting as Beneficial Insect Symbionts

Herbivorous insects can shape the epidemiology of disease in plants by vectoring numerous phytopathogens. While the consequences of infection are often well-characterized in the host plant, the extent...

annualreviews.org

Check out our latest Special Section guest edited by @mitopozzi.bsky.social and Sophie Breton: Beyond ATP: New insight into mitochondrial function and evolution 🎨 Cover image - artwork by Iain G Johnston academic.oup.com/jeb/pages/be...

I had an excellent and inspiring time with the suzukii team at @cbgpmontpellier.bsky.social . Enjoyed presenting our ongoing @erc.europa.eu project to the SEEM Montpellier community!

Three #postdoc positions available in my lab @unibz.bsky.social focusing on #genomics of #eriosoma #aphids #psyllids and #phytoplasma please repost

(1/9) Join us in Bern, Switzerland (8–11 Feb 2026) for our EMBO Workshop on Molecular Mechanisms of Selfish Elements and Strategies! Organized with Tanja Schwander, Laura Ross (@laurarossevo.bsky.social) and Axel Imhof. meetings.embo.org/event/26-sel... #EMBOselfishElements #EMBOevents

Molecular mechanisms of selfish elements and strategies

Certain genes, chromosomes, organelles, or entire sets of chromosomes can bias their transmission to the next generation, propagating themselves at the expense of the rest of the genome. Referred to …

meetings.embo.org

Last two days of our campaign. It's all or nothing, so help us if you can! experiment.com/citypillbugs

Thrilled to share the first full paper from @AntLabUNAM! 🐜💥 Our paper examines how queen and worker harvester ants differ in ovarian morphology and gene expression, shedding light on the ovary as a hub for multiple physiological systems, not just reproduction. Check it out! rdcu.be/ePNP8

Age, caste, and social context shape ovarian morphology and transcriptomic profiles in red harvester ants

npj Aging - Age, caste, and social context shape ovarian morphology and transcriptomic profiles in red harvester ants

rdcu.be

We are in Bluesky and we are happy to share our two last consortium publications: the DrosEU expanded DEST dataset and a Continent-wide study of phenotypic differentiation among European #Drosophila melanogaster populations (1/7)

📢New preprint on the impact of dengue virus genetic diversity on inhibition by Wolbachia 🦟🦠🧬 Project led by Afeez Sodeinde, @emiliefinch.bsky.social, and @keli5734.bsky.social! ✨ Key findings in thread below 👇 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Heterogeneity in inhibition of genetically diverse dengue virus strains by Wolbachia

The release of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes transinfected with the virus-inhibiting Wolbachia bacterium has the potential to reduce the burden caused by dengue virus (DENV). However, the robustness of thi...

biorxiv.org

Hi! We are looking for a PhD to work on the cross talk between transposable elements, insects and intracellular bacteria on the bioinformatics side. The PhD would be supervised by @mariefablet.bsky.social and myself along with @nicolasparisot.bsky.social Deadline December 2025! Please share! #tesky

If you’ve heard about our study on ants producing two different species but are still confused about how it works (and don’t have time to read the paper), this 10-minute video made by @bengthomas.bsky.social is very informative: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-O4... Paper: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

The Ants That Broke Biology

YouTube video by 7 Days of Science

youtube.com

A common type of ant in Europe breaks a fundamental rule in biology: its queens can produce male offspring that are a whole different species go.nature.com/4mOb5T9

‘Almost unimaginable’: these ants are different species but share a mother

Ant queens of one species clone ants of another to create hybrid workers that do their bidding.

go.nature.com

Had a blast presenting my work on Wolbachia and Spiroplasma-induced sex allocation distortion in haplodiploids at #ESEB2025!