Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Priyantha Wijesinghe

Colin Purrington @colinpurrington.bsky.social · 7h

In another exciting installment of "Tiny Wasps That Emerge from Redbud Seedpods" here are a male and female that I think are in the genus Heterospilus (Doryctinae). Two species in the genus are known parasitoids of redbud bruchids but I'm not sure how to tell them apart. #wasps #insects #braconidae

Dark-bodied wasp with long antennae, yellow legs, and an amber head.

Amber-bodied wasp with long antennae, yellow legs, and an ovipositor that extends as far as the wings.

1 3 25

Reposted by Priyantha Wijesinghe

BSBI Botany @bsbibotany.bsky.social · 1d

Want to up your #WildFlowerID game this winter?
We just launched our Winter Webinar programme!
7-8pm, every Tuesday from 4 Nov - 10 Feb.
Thanks to funding from @daera-ni.gov.uk, these 10 great plant ID webinars are FREE for all of you to attend!
Programme & booking links: bsbi.org/botanical-sk...

22 65

Reposted by Priyantha Wijesinghe

Colin Purrington @colinpurrington.bsky.social · 1d

Male and female chalcids that emerged from redbud seedpods. Both are in the genus Eurytoma and are possibly the same species but further identification is beyond my skill set. I can't find any mention of them being recorded as parasitoids of redbud bruchids. 🌿 #wasps #hymenoptera #insects #bruchidae

Two photographs of black wasps that look roughly the same except that top one has hairy antennae with large gaps in between the segments, while the bottom one has more beadlike antennae. The lower one also has an ovipositor. Their legs are partly orange and their head and thorax have pits and short white hairs.

3 11 55

Priyantha Wijesinghe @elaphrornis.bsky.social · 1d

This new European butterfly field guide looks pretty cool!
Butterflies of Britain and Western Europe and Their Caterpillars: An Identification Guide
Jean-Pierre Moussus
@princetonupress.bsky.social
Expected Nov 2025 in UK, Jan 2026 in US. #WILDGuides series.
press.princeton.edu/books/paperb...

Front cover of Butterflies of Britain and Western Europe and Their Caterpillars: An Identification Guide by Jean-Pierre Moussus. Photo of a black-spotted orange fritillary type butterfly with spread wings against a mostly dark background, white lettering.

1 2

Priyantha Wijesinghe @elaphrornis.bsky.social · 1d

Wasp Season. From Matthew Wills’ blog. #NatureNYC
matthewwills.com/2025/10/10/w...

Wasp Season

Visit the post for more.

matthewwills.com

Priyantha Wijesinghe @elaphrornis.bsky.social · 2d

Link to Matthew Wills’ blog post with photos of Craspedacusta sowerbii Lankester, 1880 (Cnidaria: Hydrozoa) in Green-Wood Cemetery’s Sylvan Water. (Deleted accidentally.) At least some photos show the medusae holding tentacles pointing up, as in Lankester’s figure.
matthewwills.com/2025/10/08/f...

Freshwater Jellyfish?

Yes, a thing. Common Freshwater Jellyfish/Craspedacusta sowerbii. Introduced, all of the world now. They just showed up in Green-Wood’s Sylvan Water. On the plus size, the largest are the siz…

matthewwills.com

1

Priyantha Wijesinghe @elaphrornis.bsky.social · 2d

Lankester described Craspedacusta sowerbii in Nature, June 17, 1880; it was also described by G J Allman as Limnocodium victoria on June 24, 1880, also in Nature. Lankester published a 2nd paper in Q. J. Micr. Sci. in which he gave some interesting figures. www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/49018902

1 2

Reposted by Priyantha Wijesinghe

Jonathan Romiguier @selfishmeme.bsky.social · 26d

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

www.youtube.com

1 13 28

Priyantha Wijesinghe @elaphrornis.bsky.social · 3d

Grey [now Long-tailed] Sibia: a colour plate from 1937. Plate from Aviculture Magazine.
Zoology Jottings. Malcolm Peaker. Tuesday, 7 October 2025.
zoologyweblog.blogspot.com/2025/10/grey...

Grey [now Long-tailed] Sibia: a colour plate from 1937

In the days when colour printing was extremely expensive, the Avicultural Society had special appeals for funds to support the appearance in...

zoologyweblog.blogspot.com

Priyantha Wijesinghe @elaphrornis.bsky.social · 4d

I know at least one person who would appreciate this as a gift!

Mosses, Liverworts, and Hornworts of the World: A Guide to Every Order
Joanna Wilbraham
August 2025. @princetonupress.bsky.social

press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...

Mosses, Liverworts, and Hornworts of the World

A magnificently illustrated guide to the bryophyte species found across the world

press.princeton.edu

3 4

Priyantha Wijesinghe @elaphrornis.bsky.social · 4d

If you missed @entosamm.bsky.social’s talk earlier today via @biologicalrecording.co.uk about hover flies & their migratory behavior you can catch the recording on YouTube here 👉
youtu.be/rZbWiIWKsy8

Syrph-ing the Continents: Hoverflies, Our Unsung Agricultural Heroes

YouTube video by Biological Recording Company

youtu.be

1

Priyantha Wijesinghe @elaphrornis.bsky.social · 5d

Background for talk is this paper from 2024:
resjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

A comprehensive review of long‐distance hover fly migration (Diptera: Syrphidae)

This review summarises and synthesises 150+ years of global hover fly (Syrphidae) migration research to better understand the evidence of, mechanisms for and associated ecological and economic impac...

resjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com

1

Priyantha Wijesinghe @elaphrornis.bsky.social · 5d

Listening to a really fascinating talk about hover flies & their migratory behavior by @entosamm.bsky.social via @biologicalrecording.co.uk . If you miss the talk catch the recording via the BRC’s YouTube channel later.

Biological Recording Company @biologicalrecording.co.uk · 15d

Quiz question: What do the three hoverfly species in the top row have in common that those in the bottom row do not?

To learn all about the fascinating insects, join us for a FREE webinar with @entosamm.bsky.social on 6th October. 🪰 🌎 🧪

Sign up here: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1490885461...

2 3

Priyantha Wijesinghe @elaphrornis.bsky.social · 5d

NTB WNPS Monthly Lecture

The Study of Sri Lanka’s Endemic Biota: A Malacologist's View
By Dinarzarde Raheem

When: 16th October 2025, 6.00 p.m.
Where: Jasmine Hall, BMICH, Colombo

Monochrome portrait photograph of Dr Dinarzarde Raheem against a background of an aerial view of a rainforest, with three small photographs of different snail species vertically positioned along the right margin. With text:

The Study of Sri Lanka’s Endemic Biota: A Malacologist's View
By Dinarzarde Raheem

16th October 2025 6.00 p.m. Jasmine Hall, BMICH

Priyantha Wijesinghe @elaphrornis.bsky.social · 6d

"On a birding trip to Delaware's Bombay Hook, the trip leader suggested @inaturalist.bsky.social to me, and it has been life-changing ever since. All these taxa that had previously been inaccessible suddenly came within reach, and I am utterly fascinated by the diversity of life."
- SpyingNaturalist

1

Priyantha Wijesinghe @elaphrornis.bsky.social · 6d

Spotted Lanternflies are actually pretty interesting critters. Lots about them in the invasive species & crop pest literature, but perhaps not so much about them as wild organisms worthy of study in their own right. From September 26th.

Priyantha Wijesinghe @elaphrornis.bsky.social · 7d

Should have added this video clip of Atteva aurea (Ailanthus Webworm) caterpillars in their communal web as it’s from the same observation. See how the caterpillars “scoot” away smoothly from danger.

Priyantha Wijesinghe @elaphrornis.bsky.social · 8d

Illustration by Colleen Witkowski of life cycle of Spotted Lanternfly, from Penn State Extension (extension.psu.edu/spotted-lant...). Gravid females with or without males on Ailanthus trees, wonder if low nighttime temperature will kill them before egg laying. Old egg mass in tire track pattern.

Old egg mass of Spotted Lanternfly showing tire track like arrangement.

Reposted by Priyantha Wijesinghe

AJCann @ajcann.bsky.social · 8d

Whole lotta Paroligolophus agrestis out there at present.

#Arachnids #Opiliones #VC55 #Arachtober

2 17

Reposted by Priyantha Wijesinghe

Heather Wolf @heatherbirds.bsky.social · 8d

Join us for some fall migration urban birding in Washington Square Park on Sunday, October 12 @ 9am! Register here: www.eventbrite.com/e/fall-birdi... #nyc #birds

Fall Birding in Washington Square Park with Heather Wolf

Join us to observe the birds of fall in Washington Square Park led by author and photographer Heather Wolf.

www.eventbrite.com

1 3

Reposted by Priyantha Wijesinghe

Marc A. Milne @forthespiders.bsky.social · 11d

Thrilled our paper is finally out! A great collaboration between @mcaterino.bsky.social, Ernesto Recuero, and myself. We looked at endemism in spiders in southern Appalachia (largely NC).

This is also likely the most species-rich phylogeny (although just COI-based) of linyphiids yet published!

Michael Caterino @mcaterino.bsky.social · 11d

High elevation litter spiders of southern Appalachia show less local endemism than other arthropods - ballooning by spiderlings apparently overcomes geographic isolation. A great collaboration with @forthespiders.bsky.social & Ernesto Recuero

doi.org/10.1636/JoA-... (if paywalled write me for pdf)

One fourth of a phylogenetic tree of southern Appalachian spiders, with photos of three representative taxa along the right side, Wadotes hybridus (reddish brown cephalothorax with zig-zag stripey gray and white abdomen), Neon nelli (large-eyed gray jumping spider), and Antrodiaetus sp. (a large-jawed mygalomorph trapdoor spider, light tan with a reddish abdomen.

One fourth of a phylogenetic tree of southern Appalachian spiders, with photos of four representative taxa along the right side, Centromerus denticulatus and Centromerus tennapax (both mostly golden brown with gray abdomen, both males with enlarged palps), Bathyphantes bishopi (dark brown cephalothorax, long legs, dark gray abdomen), Tenuiphantes sabulosus (golden cephalothorax, long legs, pale dark-striped abdomen).

One fourth of a phylogenetic tree of southern Appalachian spiders, with photos of four representative taxa along the right side, Collinsia sp. and Collinsia oxypaederotipus (both with light brown cephalothorax, pale legs, gray-green abdomen, both males with enlarged palps), Ceraticelus laetabilis (stout, with brown cephalothorax and lighter brown abdomen, palps slightly enlarged), Ceraticelus fissiceps (orange cephalothorax with distinctly enlarged dark snout, lighter abdomen).

One fourth of a phylogenetic tree of southern Appalachian spiders, with photos of four representative taxa along the right side, Sisicus n. sp (not yet described, light brown round cephalothorax, with pale abdomen and legs, large male palps), Floricomus praedesignatus (dark tuberculate male cephalothorax, gray-green abdomen, pale legs), Blestia sarcocuon (anteriorly pointed cephalothorax, dark with long yellowish legs, impressive male palps), and Ceratinops carolinus (prolonged elevated, brown male cephalothorax, gray-green abdomen).

3 8 26

Priyantha Wijesinghe @elaphrornis.bsky.social · 10d

Interesting!

1

Priyantha Wijesinghe @elaphrornis.bsky.social · 11d

Nilanthi Rajapakse is the author of these two guides to Strobilanthes in Sri Lanka, published by the Department of Wildlife Conservation, Sri Lanka. (Thanks to Gehan de Silva Wijeyeratne for the images.)

Priyantha Wijesinghe @elaphrornis.bsky.social · 11d

Is there an actual decline in the Spotted Lanternfly in NYC or has the "novelty" aspect worn off now? [Raw observations for each year (1 January to 31 December) since it was first recorded from NYC on @inaturalist.bsky.social in 2020 (52 observations, by 20 observers; 2025 numbers to date.]

2

Reposted by Priyantha Wijesinghe

Andrew Jewels @andrew-jewels.bsky.social · 11d

A tight cluster of Striped Shielbugs (Graphosoma italicum), plus a 7-spot Ladybird, on a Hemlock stem in Abbey Gardens, Waltham Abbey yesterday. A total of 19 adults and five nymphs counted on this one plant. #EssexWildlife #UKBugs

A tight cluster of Striped Shieldbugs on a Hemlock stem with a 7-spot Ladybird at the back.

1 6 30