Dr. Viktor Baranov🧪🦟🐛🪲
@swarmofthoughts.bsky.social
German/ Ukrainian Entomologist, at @ebdonana.bsky.social, Fossils, climate change studies using Diptera fossils, insect decline and microplastic pollution - once @swarmofthoughts/ Investigador Ramon y Cajal en EBD-CSIC, Entomologo y Paleontologo
Pinned
Hi, I am Viktor! Pleased to meet you, I entomologist and paleontologist originally from Ukraine, now working in Spain, after a decade in German academia. I study amber fossils, Jurassic of Australia, Insect decline, climate change in the pas, and gleefully use Synchrotrons. Languages: EN, ES, DE, UA
Not a widely known fact about #Ukraine, is that it has rich amber deposits, contemporary but distinct from Baltic one (Rovno amber), so mid-Eocene, 38 MYA. Here is a frog-biting midge from our old paper on Rovno amber tinyurl.com/2jdmaz7j #Ukraine have many #fossils waiting peace to be studied 🦖⚒️
February 17, 2026 at 5:56 PM
Not a widely known fact about #Ukraine, is that it has rich amber deposits, contemporary but distinct from Baltic one (Rovno amber), so mid-Eocene, 38 MYA. Here is a frog-biting midge from our old paper on Rovno amber tinyurl.com/2jdmaz7j #Ukraine have many #fossils waiting peace to be studied 🦖⚒️
Reposted by Dr. Viktor Baranov🧪🦟🐛🪲
Have you noticed how people calling out Epstein and systemic misogyny in sciences, are usually early career women. They put emotional labour, time, and career on the line.
While men, in the field they dominate, earn more, and behaviour they enable, just go on as if nothing has happened.
While men, in the field they dominate, earn more, and behaviour they enable, just go on as if nothing has happened.
February 13, 2026 at 11:26 PM
Have you noticed how people calling out Epstein and systemic misogyny in sciences, are usually early career women. They put emotional labour, time, and career on the line.
While men, in the field they dominate, earn more, and behaviour they enable, just go on as if nothing has happened.
While men, in the field they dominate, earn more, and behaviour they enable, just go on as if nothing has happened.
Hi @hormiga.bsky.social ,
Can you tell me, why did you picked 19th of March for Taxonomists appreciation day? I will be running an event at @ebdonana.bsky.social on 19th of March, talking about of role in taxonomy in ecology , and I wanted to tell a couple of words about "taxonomis appr. day"
Can you tell me, why did you picked 19th of March for Taxonomists appreciation day? I will be running an event at @ebdonana.bsky.social on 19th of March, talking about of role in taxonomy in ecology , and I wanted to tell a couple of words about "taxonomis appr. day"
February 16, 2026 at 10:27 AM
Hi @hormiga.bsky.social ,
Can you tell me, why did you picked 19th of March for Taxonomists appreciation day? I will be running an event at @ebdonana.bsky.social on 19th of March, talking about of role in taxonomy in ecology , and I wanted to tell a couple of words about "taxonomis appr. day"
Can you tell me, why did you picked 19th of March for Taxonomists appreciation day? I will be running an event at @ebdonana.bsky.social on 19th of March, talking about of role in taxonomy in ecology , and I wanted to tell a couple of words about "taxonomis appr. day"
I am 3d modelling catchment of a river in the mountains of Pacific North-West, how is your saturday going?🧪🪰
February 14, 2026 at 10:08 AM
I am 3d modelling catchment of a river in the mountains of Pacific North-West, how is your saturday going?🧪🪰
Do you like caterpillars? What's not too love, they are always hungry and they turn into butterflies (or moths, and technically- some into the sawlies). For #fossilfriday I want to highlight our Miocene caterpillars paper 🦖⚒️🐛https://www.scup.com/doi/10.18261/let.55.3.7
February 13, 2026 at 7:12 PM
Do you like caterpillars? What's not too love, they are always hungry and they turn into butterflies (or moths, and technically- some into the sawlies). For #fossilfriday I want to highlight our Miocene caterpillars paper 🦖⚒️🐛https://www.scup.com/doi/10.18261/let.55.3.7
Reposted by Dr. Viktor Baranov🧪🦟🐛🪲
Late to this but I owe my career in paleo to women, especially Akiko Shinya. Akiko is the chief vertebrate fossil preparator at the Field Museum and likes to joke that when we met, I was close to her height lol
February 11, 2026 at 4:16 PM
Late to this but I owe my career in paleo to women, especially Akiko Shinya. Akiko is the chief vertebrate fossil preparator at the Field Museum and likes to joke that when we met, I was close to her height lol
Its #InternationalDayofWomenandGirlsinScience 👩🔬🔬🧪 I am very fortunate to be colleague with, mentor of, & to be mentored by so many fantastic #womeninscience. I just want to remind, that the more equal science is, the more diverse it is, the better it is for everyone (even grumpy white man like self)
February 11, 2026 at 10:28 AM
Its #InternationalDayofWomenandGirlsinScience 👩🔬🔬🧪 I am very fortunate to be colleague with, mentor of, & to be mentored by so many fantastic #womeninscience. I just want to remind, that the more equal science is, the more diverse it is, the better it is for everyone (even grumpy white man like self)
Fantastic song by Yura Zvonar "No matter what comes our way" is very funny, but also encapsulates defiance of Ukrainians, boiling down to "you bomb our power stations - we will throw an outdoor rave in the dead of winter" #standwithUkraine www.youtube.com/watch?v=X11t...
YURA ZVONAR-Щоб тут не було ( Київське море)
YouTube video by YURA ZVONAR
www.youtube.com
February 10, 2026 at 5:54 AM
Fantastic song by Yura Zvonar "No matter what comes our way" is very funny, but also encapsulates defiance of Ukrainians, boiling down to "you bomb our power stations - we will throw an outdoor rave in the dead of winter" #standwithUkraine www.youtube.com/watch?v=X11t...
🦀 of Arrecife, Lanzarote, Spain, from last week at the Island - Grapsus adsceonensis and Erephia verrucosa
February 7, 2026 at 10:00 AM
🦀 of Arrecife, Lanzarote, Spain, from last week at the Island - Grapsus adsceonensis and Erephia verrucosa
#Fossilfriday what happens if you are a a palaeontologist and you find a #ossil vertebrate in (Chipas, Mexican) amber? You drag the specimen to synchrothrone scan of course - our paper with Kevin de Queiroz on tail of Anole #lizard in Miocene amber 🦖⚒️🦎
bioone.org/journals/jou...
bioone.org/journals/jou...
February 6, 2026 at 8:49 PM
#Fossilfriday what happens if you are a a palaeontologist and you find a #ossil vertebrate in (Chipas, Mexican) amber? You drag the specimen to synchrothrone scan of course - our paper with Kevin de Queiroz on tail of Anole #lizard in Miocene amber 🦖⚒️🦎
bioone.org/journals/jou...
bioone.org/journals/jou...
How fossil insects projects are going: 2016 "Oh, cute poorly preserved Jurassic Chironomid, subject for a very quick note" - 2024 "All right, learning curve for BioGeoBears is steep, but we also need a morphological phylogeny in this paper..." #Fossilfriday www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... 🦖⚒️
February 6, 2026 at 10:39 AM
How fossil insects projects are going: 2016 "Oh, cute poorly preserved Jurassic Chironomid, subject for a very quick note" - 2024 "All right, learning curve for BioGeoBears is steep, but we also need a morphological phylogeny in this paper..." #Fossilfriday www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... 🦖⚒️
beautifull Keeltail Needlefish (Platybelone argalus) in Arrecife, Lanzarote, Spain #fish #naturephotgraphy 🐙🐟
February 5, 2026 at 11:05 AM
beautifull Keeltail Needlefish (Platybelone argalus) in Arrecife, Lanzarote, Spain #fish #naturephotgraphy 🐙🐟
I know that @tetzoo.bsky.social likes those dinosaur-y moments
Grey shrike (Lanius excubitor) hunting migratory locust at Lanzarote, Spain. If you still don¨t mentally accept modern birds as dinosaurs, maybe that will help 🦖⚒️ #birding
February 5, 2026 at 9:23 AM
I know that @tetzoo.bsky.social likes those dinosaur-y moments
Grey shrike (Lanius excubitor) hunting migratory locust at Lanzarote, Spain. If you still don¨t mentally accept modern birds as dinosaurs, maybe that will help 🦖⚒️ #birding
February 5, 2026 at 7:08 AM
Grey shrike (Lanius excubitor) hunting migratory locust at Lanzarote, Spain. If you still don¨t mentally accept modern birds as dinosaurs, maybe that will help 🦖⚒️ #birding
Syninclusions from hell - piece of Baltic amber with ants, flies and pupa of Anisopodidae #fossils. I was mostly looking up for this window gnat (Mycetobia sp) larva, a regular fixture in Eocene ambers from Europe, commonly associated with decomposing plant matter🦖⚒️
February 4, 2026 at 6:55 PM
Syninclusions from hell - piece of Baltic amber with ants, flies and pupa of Anisopodidae #fossils. I was mostly looking up for this window gnat (Mycetobia sp) larva, a regular fixture in Eocene ambers from Europe, commonly associated with decomposing plant matter🦖⚒️
We submitted a manuscript ,dealing with impacts of war and colonialism on geodiversity of #Ukraine. I am not at liberty to discuss unpublished research - but I want to highlight some published sources and amplify Ukrainian voices, and impact of war on #fossils in UA @nataliajagielska.bsky.social
February 4, 2026 at 6:06 PM
We submitted a manuscript ,dealing with impacts of war and colonialism on geodiversity of #Ukraine. I am not at liberty to discuss unpublished research - but I want to highlight some published sources and amplify Ukrainian voices, and impact of war on #fossils in UA @nataliajagielska.bsky.social
Today we submitted paleo paper with 6 UA co-authors. Its -10 to -30Cº in Kyiv in the last week. Most of my colleagues does not have heating or electricity due to russian attempts to freeze Ukraine into surrender. Most of the don't sleep that well due to air raids. Still... we finished the paper 🦖⚒️
February 4, 2026 at 12:09 PM
Today we submitted paleo paper with 6 UA co-authors. Its -10 to -30Cº in Kyiv in the last week. Most of my colleagues does not have heating or electricity due to russian attempts to freeze Ukraine into surrender. Most of the don't sleep that well due to air raids. Still... we finished the paper 🦖⚒️
Tips to annoy an editor (well this editor): - I am fine with subpar English (because my English is subpar too), less then stellar drawings or inadequate stats - we all live and learn... but THREE styles of scalebars on ONE plate? that's too much... (all for scale). @stephenbheard.bsky.social
February 4, 2026 at 11:14 AM
Tips to annoy an editor (well this editor): - I am fine with subpar English (because my English is subpar too), less then stellar drawings or inadequate stats - we all live and learn... but THREE styles of scalebars on ONE plate? that's too much... (all for scale). @stephenbheard.bsky.social
Reposted by Dr. Viktor Baranov🧪🦟🐛🪲
Description of a new species of non-biting midge in the genus Xestochironomus from the Dominican Republic: doi.org/10.3897/zook...
#insects #DNAbarcoding #biodiversity
@swarmofthoughts.bsky.social @ebdonana.bsky.social
#insects #DNAbarcoding #biodiversity
@swarmofthoughts.bsky.social @ebdonana.bsky.social
February 4, 2026 at 7:21 AM
Description of a new species of non-biting midge in the genus Xestochironomus from the Dominican Republic: doi.org/10.3897/zook...
#insects #DNAbarcoding #biodiversity
@swarmofthoughts.bsky.social @ebdonana.bsky.social
#insects #DNAbarcoding #biodiversity
@swarmofthoughts.bsky.social @ebdonana.bsky.social
To my great surprise, an article on a tiny (larval?) mysterious insect #fossil 🦖⚒️ from Permian of Germany, on which we were working since about Triassic, suddenly got published. Check out cute critter, its OA @cocomacro.bsky.social link.springer.com/article/10.1...
A tiny fossil representative of Insecta from the Permian with an unusually regularly segmented trunk - PalZ
The myriad representatives of the group Insecta dominate modern day terrestrial ecosystems. The fossil record of Insecta dates back to the Devonian, with large diversification events and corresponding...
link.springer.com
February 3, 2026 at 9:09 AM
To my great surprise, an article on a tiny (larval?) mysterious insect #fossil 🦖⚒️ from Permian of Germany, on which we were working since about Triassic, suddenly got published. Check out cute critter, its OA @cocomacro.bsky.social link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Most interesting outcome from the tenure papers preparation, after counting: I have described 37 species and 11 genera of mostly #fossils mostly insects (and one fish)🦖⚒️
February 1, 2026 at 4:07 PM
Most interesting outcome from the tenure papers preparation, after counting: I have described 37 species and 11 genera of mostly #fossils mostly insects (and one fish)🦖⚒️
(accepts a service commitment)-"C´mon, it will be great for your CV!"
(rewrites CV for career promotion stuff) - forgets to mention all the things which people convinced me to accept cause they are good for my CV #Academia 🧪
(rewrites CV for career promotion stuff) - forgets to mention all the things which people convinced me to accept cause they are good for my CV #Academia 🧪
January 31, 2026 at 7:08 PM
(accepts a service commitment)-"C´mon, it will be great for your CV!"
(rewrites CV for career promotion stuff) - forgets to mention all the things which people convinced me to accept cause they are good for my CV #Academia 🧪
(rewrites CV for career promotion stuff) - forgets to mention all the things which people convinced me to accept cause they are good for my CV #Academia 🧪
A SEM scan of 3D preserved cuticle of a solider fly larva(Stratiomyidae) from Miocene of Slovenia. Beautifull pattern of Calcium Carbonate "scales" armoring the larva is well visible. #FossilFriday #Fossils🪰⚒️🦖
January 16, 2026 at 7:50 PM
A SEM scan of 3D preserved cuticle of a solider fly larva(Stratiomyidae) from Miocene of Slovenia. Beautifull pattern of Calcium Carbonate "scales" armoring the larva is well visible. #FossilFriday #Fossils🪰⚒️🦖
I just wanted to highlight amazing work of @trigonotarbida.bsky.social for a grant proposal I have submitted today. Thanks Gen, I think your work and attention to details while drawing fossil invertebrates, really elevates the proposal as a whole! #fossils 🦖🐙
January 13, 2026 at 8:35 AM
I just wanted to highlight amazing work of @trigonotarbida.bsky.social for a grant proposal I have submitted today. Thanks Gen, I think your work and attention to details while drawing fossil invertebrates, really elevates the proposal as a whole! #fossils 🦖🐙
Fresh of press, new sp aquatic midge from Dominican republic - Xestochironomus digitulus, beautifull & quite colourfull animal (by chironomid standards). Work led by Dr. Livia Fusari, and was possible due to fieldwork of Amelie Hoecherl and Ruth Bastardo zookeys.pensoft.net/article/1621... 🪰🐛🐙
January 12, 2026 at 6:11 PM
Fresh of press, new sp aquatic midge from Dominican republic - Xestochironomus digitulus, beautifull & quite colourfull animal (by chironomid standards). Work led by Dr. Livia Fusari, and was possible due to fieldwork of Amelie Hoecherl and Ruth Bastardo zookeys.pensoft.net/article/1621... 🪰🐛🐙