Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Matt Bertone

Chentomology @chentomology.bsky.social · 10h

Welcome to the horns & jaws club!

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Reposted by Matt Bertone

Nash Turley @nashturley.bsky.social · 10h

Big fan of this weevil's color scheme, pointy snoot, and huge feet!

www.inaturalist.org/observations...

black and yellow weevil on a green leaf with long thin rostrum and very large foot pads

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Reposted by Matt Bertone

cambrian epic wet animal @dinoserious.bsky.social · 1d

#invertober 8, bee killer robber fly. GO my diptera 👐

#invertober2025

thick lineart drawing of a bee-killer robber fly from the side, head angled to look towards the viewer. there is a pattern of simple bees and honeycomb on the yellow background

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Reposted by Matt Bertone

Davis Bickford @davis.social · 13h

This video never names it, but it nails the “woozle effect”: when something seems true bc sources cite each other instead of an original. The term’s from Winnie the Pooh, where Pooh and Piglet follow their own tracks in circles looking for "woozles." Perfect metaphor for AI ouroboros poisoning info.

AI Slop Is Destroying The Internet

YouTube video by Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell

www.youtube.com

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Reposted by Matt Bertone

Tom Astle @tjalamont.bsky.social · 12h

Throwback pic from October '21 of a female Golden Orb Weaver (Trichonephila clavipes) at Green Swamp Preserve, NC. The background shows a hint of the habitat, longleaf pine savanna. I love this shot because it reminds me of a gorgeous day; I saw only one other person in six hours. #Arachtober 🌿🐙📷

A closeup photo of a golden orb weaver spider, hanging upside down diagonally along a strand of silk. The spider has an elongated orange abdomen, and long orange and black banded legs. The background is out of focus vertical tree trunks in the upper third, with greenery in the lower two thirds.

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Matt Bertone @bertonemyia.bsky.social · 13h

ATTENTION: The deadline to submit talks for this session is tomorrow! Please DM me for the link if you would like to submit a presentation for consideration.

Thanks and please share!

Matt Bertone @bertonemyia.bsky.social · 29d

**Attention fly enthusiasts!** We're looking for presenters for the Dipterists Society General Meeting at ESA @entsocamerica.bsky.social in Portland, OR (November 11th)

If you're interested in giving a talk, please DM me for a link to submit a title/abstract. Deadline to submit is October 10th.

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Reposted by Matt Bertone

Helen Whistberry @whistberry.bsky.social · 1d

Happy #Invertober day 8!

Bee-killer robber fly (mallophora fautrix)

#SciArt #Invertober2025

A black and gold insect that looks like a bee but is actually a species of fly that mimics bees. It is crawling through thick green grass.

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Reposted by Matt Bertone

D. Allan Drummond @dadrummond.art · 1d

Loving the burst of pseudoscorpion posts! Gave this grabby guy some bristles and a bit more attitude 😈 (remember in reality they’re like sesame seeds with attitude) #arachtober

A gray resin sculpture of a pseudoscorpion, sitting in my open hand against a white background.

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Reposted by Matt Bertone

Andy @andyoregon.bsky.social · 3d

Jess Waters recycling the same guy over and over to represent “former” different enemies

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Colin Purrington @colinpurrington.bsky.social · 2d

Got word last week that my legal battle with Spartan Mosquito will be included in a book chapter on the legal risks of science communication. And by the way, if anyone gets SLAPPed and wants to chat, DM me. 🧪🌿⚖️ #legal #mosquitoes #scicomm #science #slapp #defamation #lawsuit

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Reposted by Matt Bertone

Rosemary Mosco @rosemarymosco.com · 3d

Working on a bloödcheëp shirt. I'm proud of those letters.

A black tshirt design with a bald red cardinal in a circle surrounded by flames, with the word bloodcheep in red death metal style letters above it.

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Matt Bertone @bertonemyia.bsky.social · 3d

REMINDER: The deadline to submit a fly talk at ESA for the Dipterists Society is this Friday, October 10th.

Please share and/or let me know if you'd like to submit!

Matt Bertone @bertonemyia.bsky.social · 29d

**Attention fly enthusiasts!** We're looking for presenters for the Dipterists Society General Meeting at ESA @entsocamerica.bsky.social in Portland, OR (November 11th)

If you're interested in giving a talk, please DM me for a link to submit a title/abstract. Deadline to submit is October 10th.

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Matt Bertone @bertonemyia.bsky.social · 4d

This week's project: oak machacadora for smashing beans

If you know me well enough you know this is not for me 😂 ...I suppose it can be used to smash other things too 🤔 🔨

A wooden mallet like smasher with a squarish head and long handle. It is unfinished and the handle needs to be shaped more.

A wooden mallet like smasher with a squarish head and long handle. It is unfinished but the final shape

A wooden mallet like smasher with a squarish head and long handle. It's finished with mineral oil.

A wooden mallet like smasher with a squarish head and long handle showing the flat end. It's finished with mineral oil.

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Matt Bertone @bertonemyia.bsky.social · 4d

Continuing the series of caterpillars that look like candy, this pine sphinx larva looks very edible. I'm sure it's not, though 😂

Note that this species of hawkmoth larva does not have a "horn", so I guess it's not technically a "hornworm".

#Sphingidae: #Lapara
NC, USA

A smooth green caterpillar with off-white stripes running down its back sits among pine needles on a pine twig. It has a reddish brown stripe in the middle of the back between two of the off-white stripes. The neck is turquoise and it has yellow stripes on the head.

A smooth green caterpillar with off-white stripes sits among pine needles on a pine twig. It's looking at the camera. The neck is turquoise and it has yellow and black stripes on the head and face.

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Reposted by Matt Bertone

Colin Purrington @colinpurrington.bsky.social · 4d

Not my photograph but thought others would enjoy. And if you know what it is, Kenneth Geisert would appreciate an ID. 🌿 #lepidoptera #peru #insects #moths #inaturalist www.inaturalist.org/observations...

Butterflies and Moths (Order Lepidoptera)

Butterflies and Moths from Tambopata, Peru on June 2, 2025 at 10:28 PM by Kenneth Geisert. Finca Las Piedras Time and location approximate

www.inaturalist.org

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Reposted by Matt Bertone

Tom Astle @tjalamont.bsky.social · 5d

Here is your Saturday Spider. It's a twig spider (maybe Ariamnes sp.?) in Madagascar, at night in the forest; it has captured another spider, which is the soccer-ball thing near its fangs. About 1 inch long. (I've shared this elsewhere before, but I think not here. Sorry, if so.) #Arachtober 🐙🌿

A photo of a spider called a twig spider, standing atop a straight, thin, dry twig, parallel to it, stretching in a level line left to right. The background is pure black. The spider has very long legs and an extremely elongated, twig-like abdomen. It has captured a smaller spider and has it wrapped up in a silk ball; two straight strands of silk are visible, one starting at the spinnerets and anchored to the twig, the other attached to the prey and leading left, out of frame.

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Matt Bertone @bertonemyia.bsky.social · 6d

Congratulations! Must have been a lot of work (and legs)

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Reposted by Matt Bertone

Derek Hennen, Ph.D. @derekhennen.bsky.social · 6d

Millipede fans rejoice: we published our revision of Apheloria! This is the most common cherry millipede genus, but its taxonomy has been riddled with nebulous subspecies names. No longer! We clarify species limits and provide a distribution map. mapress.com/zt/article/v... @apheloria.bsky.social

Revision of the millipede genus Apheloria Chamberlin, 1921 (Polydesmida, Xystodesmidae, Apheloriini) | Zootaxa

mapress.com

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Reposted by Matt Bertone

Petra Korlević @petrathepostdoc.bsky.social · 7d

Day 2 #Invertober2025 - Red-banded leafhopper (Graphocephala coccinea) 🍁

#SciArt #invertebrates

semi realistic drawing of a Red-banded leafhopper, a very thin insect with a yellowish green body and bright blue and red striped back/wings, on a black background.

semi realistic drawing of a Red-banded leafhopper, a very thin insect with a yellowish green body and bright blue and red striped back/wings, on a white background.

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Matt Bertone @bertonemyia.bsky.social · 7d

It was one of the last groups of hyms I found out about (Ceraphronoidea) because I worked in a lab where they were the experts. They're interesting little wasps

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Matt Bertone @bertonemyia.bsky.social · 7d

Sweet!!! It's a cool wasp, Megaspilidae

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Reposted by Matt Bertone

Michael Caterino @mcaterino.bsky.social · 9d

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).

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Matt Bertone @bertonemyia.bsky.social · 9d

Reminder to submit a talk for the Dipterists Meeting at @entsocamerica.bsky.social if you're interested.

Please also share with others 🙏

Matt Bertone @bertonemyia.bsky.social · 29d

**Attention fly enthusiasts!** We're looking for presenters for the Dipterists Society General Meeting at ESA @entsocamerica.bsky.social in Portland, OR (November 11th)

If you're interested in giving a talk, please DM me for a link to submit a title/abstract. Deadline to submit is October 10th.

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Reposted by Matt Bertone

Rosemary Mosco @rosemarymosco.com · 10d

Spooky season approaches, so I'm going to repost some of my Halloween comics from years past.

A four panel comic called Happy Halloween From The Birds. In panel 1, a pileated woodpecker has pecked its huge gaping rectangular holes in a pumpkin. In panel 2, a yellow-bellied sapsucker has pecked a face using its standard rows of small holes. In panel 3, a satin bowerbird has carved a pumpkin into a bower and placed its favorite blue candies all around it. In panel 4, a loggerhead shrike has impaled mini pumpkins on a fence's metal spikes and is saying "fight me."

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Reposted by Matt Bertone

🌴 Scott Zona, Ph.D. 🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social · 9d

Ipomoea spp. are mostly twining climbers (Ipomoea is one of the most common climbers worldwide), but a few species are trees! This is I. murucoides of the seasonally dry forests of Mexico. Habit 📷: Alejandra Zayas CCBYNC4. #Convolvulaceae #Botany 🌾🧪🌱

Close-up photo of a leafy branch bearing a white morning-glory flower. Photo by Scott Zona CCBYNC2.

Photo of a medium-sized, roadside tree in front of a house. A few white flowers are visible on the tips of branches.

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