Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Michael Caterino @mcaterino.bsky.social · 38m

Entomology-herpetology solidarity!

1

Michael Caterino @mcaterino.bsky.social · 40m

Beautiful work.

Reposted by Michael Caterino

Lizzie Harper Illustrator @lizzie-harper.bsky.social · 3h

Latest blog is out, it's on the #Lamiaceae, or Dead-nettle family of #wildflowers:

lizzieharper.co.uk/2025/10/wild...

It's one of a series on common flower families I've been doing, featuring my #botanicalillustrations #sciart and attempts to simplify the complexities of #botany & classification.

Wildflower families: Lamiaceae - Lizzie Harper

Wildflower families: Lamiaceae is one of Lizzie Harper's botanically illustrated blogs on wildflower families

lizzieharper.co.uk

1 1 13

Reposted by Michael Caterino

Jennifer Molidor @jennifermolidor.bsky.social · 7h

Hanging onto every bit of good news

The river has come alive in the Klamath with wild Chinook salmon. The wider ecosystem is healing.

This most powerful story of Indigenous-led #rewilding after the largest dam removal in US history keeps getting better.

lostcoastoutpost.com/2025/oct/9/o...

One Year After Klamath Dam Removal, 'There's Just Fish Jumping All Over the Place': Scientists Describe Improvements to Water Quality and Wildlife

lostcoastoutpost.com

1 98 230

Michael Caterino @mcaterino.bsky.social · 52m

Just posted: 'Vini, Vitis, Vici!' - how wild grapes have contributed to modern winemaking.

mscaterino.pika.page/posts/vini-v...

Vini, Vitis, Vici! - Value in nature

Winemaking is right up there among the oldest human professions. Dating to about 4000 BC, the Areni-1 archaeological winery in southern Armenia boasts basins for grape crushing, fermentation vats, cla...

mscaterino.pika.page

Michael Caterino @mcaterino.bsky.social · 8h

Found a Lampyrid larva today neck-deep in a snail.

An elongate, flat, brown larva on a log with its head in the opening of a snail shell, eating the occupant.

13

Michael Caterino @mcaterino.bsky.social · 11h

Can you make a version where the beetle is in a frog costume?

1 2

Michael Caterino @mcaterino.bsky.social · 11h

Wow - see the article for video of a ptillid in flight. Majestic!

Science News Explores @snexplores.bsky.social · 1d

Turns out, tiny gaps can be powerful. New research explains why bristled wings work so well for the tiniest of flying beetles. https://www.snexplores.org/article/tiny-insects-fly-comb-wings

Comb-like wings help the tiniest insects swim through ‘syrupy’ air

When you're the size of a grain of sand, flying through air is like swimming through a syrup. Bristled wings help the tiniest insects manage this.

www.snexplores.org

3

Reposted by Michael Caterino

Adrian Dutton @nottscoleoptera.bsky.social · 23h

Like little trilobites, larva of the common Riffle Beetle, Elmis aenea. #Coleoptera #Elmidae

4 18

Michael Caterino @mcaterino.bsky.social · 21h

What big cornicles you have, my dear!

ZooKeys @zookeys.pensoft.net · 22h

The aphid genus Mollitrichosiphum is recorded as new for South Korea.

Learn more here: doi.org/10.3897/BDJ....

#entomology #insects #biodiversity

1 4

Michael Caterino @mcaterino.bsky.social · 1d

Wonderful creature!

4

Reposted by Michael Caterino

Jake Withee @witheelabs.bsky.social · 3d

My latest for @bizarrebeastsshow.bsky.social concerns these li’l cuties that live in our homes and ride around on other bugs.

The Tiny Scorpions* In Your House

YouTube video by Bizarre Beasts

youtu.be

4 14

Michael Caterino @mcaterino.bsky.social · 1d

Value in nature FAQ:

Q. Will all the posts be about bugs?

A. No! An entomologist I may be, so for the first post I had to go with my strength. But I plan to cover valuable species across the spectrum of life. Posts-in-planning include wild grapes and bacterial antibiotics.

Michael Caterino @mcaterino.bsky.social · 1d

My first official post:

mscaterino.pika.page/posts/stoppi...

Stopping a mean, green, tree-killing machine - Value in nature

Dateline: Detroit, Michigan, 2002 – Metallic green bullet of a beetle threatens native ash trees. When the Emerald ash borer (Agrilus planipennis, or EAB) was first detected in the US...

mscaterino.pika.page

1 3

Michael Caterino @mcaterino.bsky.social · 1d

Please check out my new blog: 'Value in nature'. I plan to feature the innumerable ways biodiversity benefits us - ecosystem services in the widest sense.

The punchline to nearly every post: our future flourishing depends on preserving as much biodiversity as we possibly can.

mscaterino.pika.page

Banner image from mscaterino.pika.page. The background image is a pineapple growing at the tip of a bromeliad against a tropical forest backdrop. In the lower left is the caption 'Value in nature'.

2 2 4

Reposted by Michael Caterino

Eric R. Eaton @bugeric.bsky.social · 3d

bugeric.blogspot.com/2025/10/what... #JaneGoodall #blogpost

What Would Jane Do?

If there was ever a person whom I wanted to remain immortal, it would probably be Dr. Jane Goodall. It was therefore devastating to learn of...

bugeric.blogspot.com

2 11 42

Michael Caterino @mcaterino.bsky.social · 3d

Real nice blog post, Eric.

1 2

Michael Caterino @mcaterino.bsky.social · 4d

I agree this is worth more consideration. My working rationale is that humanity inflicts so much destruction on insects (we should also aim to reduce!) that the relatively small number taken intentionally for research is a drop in the bucket. But that's not to say that their lives don't have value.

1 1

Reposted by Michael Caterino

Richard Conniff @richardconniff.bsky.social · 5d

Stop buying wildlife pets—turtles, parrots, lizards, ferrets, even tropical fish—until the global pet industry gets serious about protecting and rebuilding species and habitats. richardconniff.substack.com/p/the-wildli...

The Wildlife Pet Trade is a Global Disaster

And it's going to keep wrecking the natural world--till we stop paying for it.

richardconniff.substack.com

2 6

Michael Caterino @mcaterino.bsky.social · 6d

sounds interesting AND looks good!

1

Reposted by Michael Caterino

Sofía Muñoz-Tobar @smunoztobar.bsky.social · 7d

Twenty two new species of beetles from Ecuador’s páramo and cloud forest offer a rare glimpse into ecosystems that remain largely unexplored. Species names pay tribute to sites, communities and cultural traits of the Ecuadorian Andes zookeys.pensoft.net/article/1583... #Biodiversity #Ecuador #bugs

1 13 62

Reposted by Michael Caterino

IUCN SSC Parasite Specialist Group @iucnparasites.bsky.social · 21d

Hello, Bluesky! We're the IUCN SSC Parasite Specialist Group, a part of the Species Survival Commission! We're just starting to understand the important roles parasites play in their ecosystems, and our goal is to determine the threats wildlife parasites face and to conserve rare and unique species!

Rhinoceros Stomach Bot Fly (Gyrostigma rhinocerontis), a black-and-orange bot fly specializing in White Rhinos (Ceratotherium simum) and Black Rhinos (Diceros bicornis) in Africa. Credit: Bernard Dupont, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gyrostigma_rhinocerontis_(Owen,_1830)_1(a)_-_iNaturalist.org.jpg

A Ryukyu Rabbit Tick (Haemaphysalis pentalagi), a brown tick that specializes on the Amami Rabbit (Pentalagus furnessi) on Amami Ōshima, one of the southern islands of Japan. Credit: Takamasa Nemoto

The Manx Shearwater Flea (Ceratophyllus (Emmareus) fionnus), a flea known only from the Isle of Rùm off the west coast of Scotland, where it specializes on nesting colonies of the Manx Shearwater (Puffinus puffinus). Credit: Olha Schedrina / The Natural History Museum

Rhinoceros Tick (Dermacentor rhinocerinus), a spotted orange-and-black tick species that specializes on White Rhinos (Ceratotherium simum) and Black Rhinos (Diceros bicornis) in Africa. Credit: Moira Fitzpatrick

1 10 19

Michael Caterino @mcaterino.bsky.social · 7d

There's a krakken the fuselage.

1 2

Michael Caterino @mcaterino.bsky.social · 7d

We aren't sure where the heck they came from. But several species have distinct parameres as well as the spiral accessory sclerites. So they're not those.

1 1

Michael Caterino @mcaterino.bsky.social · 7d

In her dissertation, @smunoztobar.bsky.social showed that there was a diverse radiation of Panabachia in high-elevation Andean páramo habitats (doi.org/10.3390/inse...).

Now most of these have proper names, with 22 species described in our latest paper, in ZooKeys: doi.org/10.3897/zook...

Plate of 10 dorsal photographs of new Panabachia species, with scale bars showing each to be roughly 1mm in length. They are somewhat typical pselaphine rove beetles, short-bodied, brownish-orange, with short elytra and clubbed antennae. The species are as follows: A. Panabachia pahuma; B. P. pastazae; C. P. romeroi; D. P. salebrosa; E. P. urbana; F. P. carltoni; G. P. patera; H. P. vigilans; I. P. perdita; J. P. ambulans.

Male genitalia photos of nine new Panabachia species. Most have a thin and curved median lobe with coiled lateral accessory sclerites. Two on the bottom are more rounded with fimbriate apices, while a third at bottom right is asymmetrical with a coiled lateral plate. The species are as follows: A. Panabachia papallacta; B. P. ananay; C. P. cayambi; D. P. cryptica; E. P. caranqui; F. P. patera; G. P. vigilans; H. P. perdita; I. P. ambulans.

1 5 19