Recent Emergence and Distributional Expansion of the Parasitic Copepod Lernaeenicus cf. ramosus in Japanese Waters Revealed by Web Image Surveys by @ryotahasegawa922.bsky.social onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

Combined effects of microplastics and nitrogen on bivalve-mediated biogeochemical cycling - aslopubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Neurod2 knockdown in Xenopus laevis tadpole brain retains cells in a proliferating, progenitor-like state doi.org/10.17912/mic... - I invite you to read the Beck lab's first ever micropublication! @zoologyotago.bsky.social and @otagobiochemist.bsky.social 🐸🧪 @micropub7n.bsky.social thank you!

New Zealand bug of the year: moth named Avatar after mining threat crowned winner www.theguardian.com/world/2026/f...

New Zealand bug of the year: moth named Avatar after mining threat crowned winner

Arctesthes avatar moth, which won nearly half of the votes, was discovered in 2012 and is critically endangered

theguardian.com

A review of fossil goose (Aves: Anserinae) records from the Miocene St Bathans deposits, New Zealand, with the description of a new species doi.org/10.1080/0891...

🐾🔬 Hands-on University of Otago Zoology Project 2026 — what a week! So great meeting everyone 🙌 From Orokonui Ecosanctuary visits 🌿 to dissection day, pest control chats, Tūhura Otago Museum, and getting up close with our skull collection 💀 Such an awesome experience!

@zoologyotago.bsky.social will have some new captive reared juvenile Southern Bell Frogs on display soon. Today they had a physical, and this one was especially grumpy about it. 🧪🐸

Huge congratulations to Cassie Mealey who submitted her MSc thesis entitled ‘Scaling Up Detection: eDNA for Elusive Lizards’ yesterday. Ka rawe Cassie!! :) 🎉

Editorial: Biodiversity of Antarctic and Subantarctic ecosystems doi.org/10.3389/fevo...

Frontiers | Editorial: Biodiversity of Antarctic and Subantarctic ecosystems

The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) adopted a work program (2019-2030) that included, under its firs...

doi.org

Reconstructing ecological niche and feeding ecology of pre-contact New Zealand avifauna from Harwood, Otago Peninsula doi.org/10.20417/nzj...

Fear responses in a nationally threatened seabird: habitat and landscape contexts influence flight initiation distance in red-billed gulls doi.org/10.1007/s002...

Fear responses in a nationally threatened seabird: habitat and landscape contexts influence flight initiation distance in red-billed gulls - Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology

Urbanisation is a major land-use change that introduces novel disturbances and risks into ecosystems, requiring species to adjust their fear responses to avoid fitness costs associated with mismatched...

doi.org

Plastic pollution and parasitism: Impact of nanoplastics on the transmission of a marine trematode parasite doi.org/10.1016/j.sc...

Mixing in Moderation: Slow Transmission of Non-Local Macroparasites Following a Population Augmentation of an Endangered Australian Skink doi.org/10.1111/mec....

📸🐚 Zoology Photo/Video Competition 2025 – Staff Entry! Limpet collection Photo by Chenhua Li 📷 Out in the field collecting limpets for parasite examination 🦠🔬 Chenhua Li is a postdoc in the Poulin Lab who studies parasites — the tiny organisms with big ecological impact! 🌊✨

Alison Cree & I were interviewed for an article that just came out in New Zealand Geographic! The graphics are brilliant. #WaspLove @zoologyotago.bsky.social @nzgeo.bsky.social www.nzgeo.com/stories/ther...

There’s no place like home

All around you, animals are building, burrowing or stealing dwellings for themselves and their families. For others, home is a state of mind.

nzgeo.com

📸 Zoology 2025 Photo Competition - Staff Entry Photo by Connal McLean, Teaching fellow Big Nose, Little Bee 🐝 Digger bees (Leioproctus) usually nest in the ground or forage in flowers. This Leioproctus fulvescens went digging for sunscreen and/or boogers! 😄

📸 Zoology 2025 Photo/Video Competition Photo by: Caitlyn Trotman 🦎 Unhand me! Skink captured in pitfall traps near Tekapo Caitlyn Trotman is a student studying a Masters of Wildlife Management 🎓

📸 Zoology 2025 Photo entries Photos by Kate Bonné, Postgrad Botany student drawn into zoology via conservation work Maybe don’t touch – marine polychaete worm on Rakiura 🌊 Kake – adult female sea lion at Hooper’s Inlet 🦭 Courting – cicadas on thistle 🌿 Hitching a ride – orbweaver on kahukura 🕷️🦋

📸 Zoology 2025 Photo/Video Competition Photos by Ava Thomas 🐦 Takahē – once thought extinct, now increasing in predator-free areas incl. Orokonui 🏞️ Miromiro – common native bush bird, least concern (female) 🌿 Tītitipounamu – common native bush bird, least concern 💚

📸 Zoology 2025 Photo/Video Competition Navigating Mackenzie Basin 🌿🏞️ Photo by Kristine Grayson WLM Techniques course observing braided river habitat supporting the last remaining kakī 🐦 Visiting Academic (University of Richmond), Semester 1, 2025 🎓🌏

Huge congratulations to Oscar Thomas who submitted his MSc thesis at the weekend. It’s possible that he was the first student to submit a thesis from a boat anchored off the Sub-Antarctic Islands..... (in keeping with the adventures of his research journey!). Ka rawe Oscar! 🎉

Congratulations to Cameron McDougall, who placed 2nd in the standard talk category, and to Kahu Hema and Harrison Foor, who jointly won 1st place in the speed talk category, at the recent New Zealand Molecular Ecology Conference. 🎉

 Congratulations to Mia Milsom and Cassidy Storey, our 2025 recipients of the Jamieson-Bishop Research Award! 🎉The award provides small grants to assist outstanding Zoology research students with their thesis research.

Otago has joined forces with Ngāti Hine Health Trust, one of the largest Māori health providers in Aotearoa, to address and improve persistent inequities in diabetes care for Māori ❤️‍🩹 Read more here ⬇️

Groundbreaking partnership to tackle diabetes inequities

The University of Otago – Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka has joined forces with Ngāti Hine Health Trust, one of the largest Māori health providers in Aotearoa, to improve diabetes care for Māori.

otago.ac.nz

Mixing in Moderation: Slow Transmission of Non-Local Macroparasites Following a Population Augmentation of an Endangered Australian Skink doi.org/10.1111/mec....

🦭📸 Student entry for the Zoology Photo/Video Comp 2025! “Kekeno” by Ava Thomas, a beautiful shot of an NZ fur seal, one of Aotearoa’s coastal regulars and classified as Least Concern. Ava is a second-year Zoology & Ecology major with a soft spot for native birds. 🌿✨

🦅📸 Student entry - Zoology Photo/Video Comp 2025! “A Collection of Native Birds” by Diego Carena-Santiago featuring a feeding Tarapirohe, stretching Tōrea pango, strutting Hoiho, intense Kārearea portrait, and Pāpango in flight. Diego is a BSc student in Ecology & Zoology 🌿✨

🐦📸 Juvenile tern contemplating life… and fish traps 🐟😂 Shot by Ross Thompson (Carolyn Burns Chair in Freshwater Science) for the 2025 Zoology Photo/Video Comp. 💧✨

Huge thanks to Dr. Jerusha Bennett at the University of Otago @zoologyotago.bsky.social for the opportunity for us to create the animation of this incredible trematode parasite Copiatestes!! ❤️ Check out the video and learn more about the mysterious anklets on sea bird legs! youtu.be/EAt9cONTD88

Threads of Trouble: The Story of Copiatestes and Our Manu by Dr. Jerusha Bennett

YouTube video by Global Parasitologist Coalition

youtu.be

How Important Is the Precise Matching of Provenance in Weed Biocontrol? A Case Study With Acacia auriculiformis Herbivores doi.org/10.1111/eea....

How Important Is the Precise Matching of Provenance in Weed Biocontrol? A Case Study With Acacia auriculiformis Herbivores

We compared the fecundity and damage caused by Calomela intemerata beetles on Acacia auriculiformis plants from different provenances. Beetles from Queensland laid more eggs and caused significantly ...

doi.org