Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Anurag Agrawal

@anurag-asclepias.bsky.social

1.5K followers 1.2K following 200 posts

Evolutionary ecologist studying species interactions, plant chemistry, community ecology, and comparative biology. Author of Monarchs & Milkweed and Professor at Cornell University. Proud parent and friend.

Videos

Anurag Agrawal is an American professor of ecology, evolutionary biology, and entomology who has written over a 150 peer-reviewed articles, which earned him an h-index of 92. He is the author of a popular science book, Monarchs and Milkweeds from Princeton University Press, and is currently the James Alfred Perkins Professor of Environmental Studies at Cornell University. .. more

Agriculture 41%

Biology 36%

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Anurag Agrawal @anurag-asclepias.bsky.social · 1d

Why I tried whale meat

www.cornellsun.com/article/2025...

AGRAWAL | Why I Tried Whale Meat

Professor Anurag Agrawal writes about the history and biological context that led to his first time trying whale meat.

www.cornellsun.com

Anurag Agrawal @anurag-asclepias.bsky.social · 4d

Echinopsis tubiflora an Argentinian endemic Cactaceae, night blooming, open <18 hours (120x = 2 hours) #timelapse #cactus #flower #sweetsmell

3 6 26

Anurag Agrawal @anurag-asclepias.bsky.social · 8d

Scaldweed, Cuscuta gronovii, a native annual non-photosynthetic #parasitic #plant - haustoria instead of roots; shares #herbivores with its host plants (you are what you eat) - but a #flowering plant nonetheless. Most plant communities have several distantly related species of parasitic angiosperms

1 1 17

Anurag Agrawal @anurag-asclepias.bsky.social · 8d

Temnothorax sp., a small #ant that lives in colony in acorns (and in #galls formed on #oaks

1 9

Anurag Agrawal @anurag-asclepias.bsky.social · 10d

Galling #aphids on staghorn sumac make plump succulent galls full of aphids and predators - near Watertown, NY

1 14

Anurag Agrawal @anurag-asclepias.bsky.social · 10d

I've been seeing more of the Jerusalem artichoke Helianthus tuberosus around the great lakes region. This is from the sandy east shores of Lake Ontario. Said to be native, I wonder if it's being planted more and spreading?

Anurag Agrawal @anurag-asclepias.bsky.social · 10d

The American searocket,
Cakile edentula, a sand loving semi-succulent #Brassicaceae. I knew this plant from the west coast; here on the shores of lake Ontario. Fruits have two-parts, one that breaks off and floats for water dispersal. immature silliques are edible, like radish pods

2 6

Anurag Agrawal @anurag-asclepias.bsky.social · 10d

A leaf mining #moth on a quaking Aspen, caterpillar apparently secretes cytokinins which suppress senescence in leaf sectors. Adaptive for the moth? #fallcolors

5 25

Anurag Agrawal @anurag-asclepias.bsky.social · 14d

Important new paper: www.frontiersin.org/journals/eco...

Frontiers | Caterpillar diet breadth in Área de Conservación Guanacaste, a large and diverse Neotropical wildland in northwestern Costa Rica: toxins, silica, aluminum, and sclerophylly

Caterpillar–food plant records collected over approximately 38 years in the Area de Conservación Guanacaste (ACG) in northwestern Costa Rica are described an...

www.frontiersin.org

Anurag Agrawal @anurag-asclepias.bsky.social · 19d

And next to the #orchid, pondside, abundant greater fringed gentians, Gentianopsis crinita, a spectacular biennial; reproductive parts heavily attacked by a plume moth. After 3 years of trial & error, we finally have a means to germinate seeds and study them in natural populations and common gardens

Bluish purple flower of the grater fringed gentian

1 14

Anurag Agrawal @anurag-asclepias.bsky.social · 19d

Nodding lady's tresses (Spiranthes cernua), a late summer flowering #orchid, abundant at pond's edge in #Ithaca, said to be fragrant, but I forgot to smell

Small white spiraling flowers of an orchid

Reposted by Anurag A. Agrawal

Phil Ngo @squamate.bsky.social · 19d

A baby sidewinder's tracks tell the story of the last few minutes.

First, an elegant change in direction and in sidewinding handedness, like the jibe of a sailboat. Then a startled squiggle as it realizes it's being followed.

Mojave Desert Sidewinder - Crotalus cerastes cerastes

#herps

The elegant track of a baby sidewinder zigs and zags up a sand dune. The sidewinder is visible at the end of the track at the top.

2 17 68

Anurag Agrawal @anurag-asclepias.bsky.social · 21d

Kleinia pendula (formerly in #Senecio) - the inchworm plant from NE Africa. A rayless creeping #succulent #aster (w/ red flowers)... here with the aphid, #Aphis nerrii, in Ithaca; I usually think of A. nerrii as a specialist on #Apocynaceae (but there are several reports on asters) #herbivory

Brownish succulent stem with a flower stalk (bud only), the stalk has yellow aphids

2 25

Anurag Agrawal @anurag-asclepias.bsky.social · 21d

Highland #milkweed from Bolivia, #Asclepias barjoniifolia #flowers

2 15

Anurag Agrawal @anurag-asclepias.bsky.social · 22d

A male large tolype #moth (or velleda lappet moth), Tolype velleda, an eastern north american tree leaf feeder (as caterpillar). Adults do not have mouth parts - no feeding, just flying and mating. Note one feathery antenna: high surface area to pick up on female-produced pheromones

1 1 17

Anurag Agrawal @anurag-asclepias.bsky.social · 22d

Beech drops, Epifagus virginiana (Orobanchaceae), non-photosynthetic & #parasitic, feeds from beech tree roots. Flowering in an old-growth pine forest. Has a ridiculous life-cycle, including both cleistogamous & chasmogamous #flowers, possible #ant #pollination, etc. wikipedia.org/wiki/Epifagus

Anurag Agrawal @anurag-asclepias.bsky.social · 23d

The smokey-winged aspen #aphid, Chaitophorus populicola, seen on eastern #cottonwood streamside in Ithaca, NY, tended by #ants. After a summer of clonal reproduction, sexually produced eggs over winter, often in crevices on their host trees #mutualism

Silhouetted ants on a cottonwood leaf, black dots are aphids

1 4

Anurag Agrawal @anurag-asclepias.bsky.social · 23d

What a motley crew!

Anurag Agrawal @anurag-asclepias.bsky.social · 24d

Tachinid #parasitoid emerging from #monarch #butterfly chrysalis... The larva was never exposed, but field collected leaves were fed to the caterpillar. Many tachinids lay their eggs on leaves, only to be consumed by caterpillars, later consuming the caterpillars from the inside out

4 3 40

Reposted by Anurag A. Agrawal

Kelly Zamudio @kzutaustin.bsky.social · 25d

Hahaha... #botanists

13 76

Reposted by Anurag A. Agrawal

Andrew Hipp @andrewlhipp.bsky.social · 25d

Say's mantidfly (Dicromantispa sayi), a lacewing relative that looks as its name suggests like a chimera between a fly and a praying mantis, here clinging to the storm door with the garden in reflection behind it. Downers Grove this morning, sighted by @art_bumble.

1 3 29

Anurag Agrawal @anurag-asclepias.bsky.social · 27d

A female pigeon horntail (Tremex columba, Hymenoptera), larva eat wood of declining trees. Note ovipositor next to the horntail. Seen here in an #Ithaca old growth forest. Aposematic but not stinging

1 2 26

Anurag Agrawal @anurag-asclepias.bsky.social · 28d

Pokeweed, Phytolacca americana -- A perennial favorite of late summer. I don't love it less now that I know that the declaration of Independence was not written in its ink. It's berries were used in the colonial era for ink and dyes, we should get back to that!

Dark purple berries on pink inflorescences of the pokeweed

3 11

Anurag Agrawal @anurag-asclepias.bsky.social · Sep 9

Ecology and sexual conflict drive the macroevolutionary dynamics of female-limited color polymorphisms in damselflies

doi.org/10.1073/pnas...

PNAS

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), a peer reviewed journal of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) - an authoritative source of high-impact, original research that broadly spans...

doi.org

3 21

Reposted by Anurag A. Agrawal

Chris Geidner @chrisgeidner.bsky.social · Sep 5

Thinking about this tonight, from 20 years ago: "Senator McConnell spoke on the Senate floor on the 50th anniversary of the polio vaccine and his childhood experience with polio."
www.c-span.org/clip/senate-...

19 120 480

Anurag Agrawal @anurag-asclepias.bsky.social · Sep 4

www.nature.com/articles/d41...

‘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.

www.nature.com

6 22

Anurag Agrawal @anurag-asclepias.bsky.social · Sep 4

The golden nugget squash, a variety of Cucurbita maxima - a winter #squash bred to taste like sweet potatoes (for climates that cannot grow them) - here with exuding mucilaginous sap, full of proteins that coagulate upon exposure to air. Wound healing, defense against insects, or...?

Orange squash with yellow flesh and droplets of sap

1 7

Reposted by Anurag A. Agrawal

ARIM Collection @arimcollection.bsky.social · Sep 3

🦟 This week, discover the unique ornaments of Anopheles gambiae Giles, 1900 ⬇️!
Explore details and distribution on GBIF🌱: https://www.gbif.org/species/1650518 Fascinating diversity of #mosquitoes !

Photos by @nil-rahola.bsky.social

#Entomology #Biodiversity 🧪🌐

A photographic plate of Anopheles gambiae Giles, 1900

4 7

Reposted by Anurag A. Agrawal

Julian Schrader @julianschrader.bsky.social · Sep 3

What is #biodiversity and why does it matter?

m.youtube.com/watch?v=lYt9...

#ecology #sustainability #science #diversity #nature #ecosystem #conservation #future

What is Biodiversity? | EcolClips

YouTube video by EcolClips

m.youtube.com

2 5

Reposted by Anurag A. Agrawal

Dave Evans @willowglass12.bsky.social · Sep 2

All on fagus at Wyver Lane today. Phyllonorycter maestingella, Stigmella hemargyrella, Phyllonorycter messaniella and Stigmella tityrella. @belperbirder.bsky.social @richardttaylor.bsky.social @cliveaderbys.bsky.social @danmartinwildlife.bsky.social @derbysnottsentsoc.bsky.social #teammoth

1 1 15