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Reposted by Dr. Catherine Scott

Derek Hennen, Ph.D. @derekhennen.bsky.social · 2d

I started a list for scientists and others interested in leaf litter fauna, please share and let me know if you want to be added! Do you love a good hand lens, soil sieves, and Berlese funnels? Perhaps this is the place for you.

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Dr. Catherine Scott @cataranea.bsky.social · 4d

Hot tip for @canentomologist.bsky.social members arriving in Calgary today:

The conference hotel has an airport shuttle (for $5) that runs on the half hour, but you have to call to book a spot.

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Dr. Catherine Scott @cataranea.bsky.social · 4d

For those not coming to the #ESCJAM in Calgary, if you like the look of these bags (laptop sleeve, pencil/dissection tools cases, etc.), I would be happy to make you a custom one (any size/your favourite bugs) in exchange for a donation to the @canentomologist.bsky.social student scholarsip fund!

photo of several quilted patchwork zipper pouches of various sizes, all featuring colourful insect-themed fabrics

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Dr. Catherine Scott @cataranea.bsky.social · 4d

In addition to this amazing selection of gear from Donna, the silent auction will also include several bags I made out of scraps leftover from my early-pandemic era mask-making: laptop/tablet sleeve, pencil cases, change purses, etc. (more than in this photo).
@canentomologist.bsky.social #ESCJAM

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Reposted by Dr. Catherine Scott

Donna Giberson (Elbows UP!) 🇨🇦🇺🇦 @donnag.bsky.social · 4d

@canentomologist.bsky.social members: I'm doing a partial clearout of my home lab & bringing some great stuff for the student auction at the ESC meeting in Calgary next week: nets, vials, malaise trap, pinning/mounting supplies, & a Wild M5 stereoscope (see photo)! Also books!
#ESCmeeting #ESCJAM

an image of a person examining an insect using a Wild M5 stereoscopic dissecting microscope. He is peering down the eyepieces of the microscope.

Two packages of glass vials, each package holding about 12 dozen vials.

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Reposted by Dr. Catherine Scott

The Breach @breachmedia.ca · 6d

Who stands to benefit from the gutting of Canada Post?

The billionaire class.

If Mark Carney were really serious about nation-building, Dru OJa Jay writes how the post office could become an engine for green energy, public banking, and better services. breachmedia.ca/canada-post-...

Canada Post faces two futures—a revitalized public service or a billionaire cash machine ⋆ The Breach

The Liberal government is dismantling Canada Post for the billionaire class, while ignoring bold proposals from postal workers to reinvent the public service

breachmedia.ca

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Reposted by Dr. Catherine Scott

Michael Caterino @mcaterino.bsky.social · 8d

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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Reposted by Dr. Catherine Scott

franz @franzanth.bsky.social · Feb 29

Absolutely nobody asked for this but I reformatted my animal yeetability thread into printable poster & zine files.

Introducing, the "Pocket Guide to Responsible & Sustainable Animal YEETING" featuring a revamped rating system. Download links below.

Poster showing various animals and their yeetability rating. For full rating, see the link in the reply. Intro text reads:

POCKET GUIDE TO RESPONSIBLE & SUSTAINABLE ANIMAL YEETING
by franzanth

In this context, YEETING is defined as the act of throwing a “projectile” at a slightly upward angle with low initial velocity. The goal here is relocation, not destruction. Therefore, YEETING is ideally performed toward soft surfaces like leaves to minimize downward acceleration that might result in said projectile's discomfort.

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Dr. Catherine Scott @cataranea.bsky.social · 11d

The second baby was referenced in this paper: www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/2... (Sleeping Habits of Certain Hymenoptera)

www.jstor.org

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Dr. Catherine Scott @cataranea.bsky.social · 11d

I took probably too much time trying to track down the previous baby-wheeling science by checking all Banks' previous papers published in the Journal of the New York Entomological Society but no joy.

If anyone wants to continue this silly quest, here's a bibliography: core.ac.uk/download/pdf...

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Dr. Catherine Scott @cataranea.bsky.social · 11d

I was just copying this sentence down to possibly use in a talk!

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Dr. Catherine Scott @cataranea.bsky.social · 12d

I love the way science used to be written. Is it necessary to know that the author was pushing his baby in a pram while making observations of insects? Perhaps not, but it provides delightful context, while assuming the reader is familiar with his previously published baby-wheeling-related work.

A screenshot of some text of a paper, with the following sentence highlighted: "One July evening last summer, while engaged in wheeling the baby (another one this time) through some tall grass in the corner of my yard, I noticed..." It continues "an Ammophila attached to a grass-stem in the peculiar..."

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Dr. Catherine Scott @cataranea.bsky.social · 12d

Some harsh judgments of noctuid larvae by Bird (1902). 🐛

Screen shot of an old paper titled "Boring Noctuid Larvae" by Henry Bird. There is a chunk of text (which makes clear it is about larvae that bore into objects) with a section highlighted that says "Among the more important noctuids..."

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Dr. Catherine Scott @cataranea.bsky.social · 12d

Canada Post “lost” 1 billion dollars last year?

How about, “it cost Canadians 1 billion dollars to have a national postal service” which works out to costing about $25 a year per person (population of Canada in 2024 = 40 million). Seems like a pretty reasonable cost to me.

Julie S. Lalonde @julieslalonde.bsky.social · 12d

"Canada Post is on track to lose money" Hum. Duh. It cost less than a toonie to send a letter across Canada.

"Canada Post is a service and not a business" was common knowledge until late stage capitalism brain rotted most people into think if it ain't making money for shareholders, it's failing.

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Reposted by Dr. Catherine Scott

Julie S. Lalonde @julieslalonde.bsky.social · 12d

I am begging Canadians to understand that Canada Post, like public transit, should not be a business - it's a service.

Canada Post is a lifeline for rural, remote and Northern communities and overall, we need to re-evaluate why people think they "need" random shit delivered ASAP.

Paris Marx @parismarx.com · 12d

The government is reducing service standards and Canada Post’s biggest advantage: its nationwide network.

This plan is about cutting back the postal service instead of investing to give it new revenue tools through things like postal banking. It’s shameful.

Liberal government frees Canada Post to end home delivery, close some post offices | CBC News

With Canada Post on track to lose $1.5 billion in 2025 and contract discussions between the union and the corporation stalled, the federal government is embarking on a modernization plan it says will ...

www.cbc.ca

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Reposted by Dr. Catherine Scott

Marshal Hedin @mhedin.bsky.social · 15d

let me share a little story about a remarkable wasp that I encountered yesterday in our local deserts

I stumbled across her, and scrambled to get a few crappy photos .... but then realized that she had a burrow, perhaps a better photo op was possible ??

here she is at her burrow entrance.

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Reposted by Dr. Catherine Scott

Dr. Jessica L Ware @jessicalwarelab.bsky.social · 20d

Geopolitical trends in spider taxonomy! academic.oup.com/biolinnean/a...

If history is written by the victors, who describes the spiders? Species author trends reflect gender and geopolitical disparities in biodiversity science

Abstract. Gathering data on species description authorship is one way to track who has had access to a career in taxonomy. Via data from the World Spider C

academic.oup.com

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Reposted by Dr. Catherine Scott

Sarah McAnulty, Ph.D. @sarahmackattack.bsky.social · 20d

Conference organizers: If you want people who work outside of academia (or financially secure company), to give a talk at your conference bc you value their expertise, it's unreasonable to make them pay for registration. Artists/Nonprofit folks do not have the funding to pay you to share expertise.

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Reposted by Dr. Catherine Scott

Jen Cross @jencross.bsky.social · 20d

If you’re in need of an uplifting story, check out this thread. 🥲

Dr. Solomon David @solomonrdavid.bsky.social · May 1

My pet gar that I donated to Shedd Aquarium would recognize me and swim over to say hi when I visited her exhibit ❤️🐠

A rare hybrid gar, I raised her since she was 2 inches long, and had to re-home her when I moved to Chicago. I was happy I could visit her in her new home!

TO BE CONTINUED…

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Reposted by Dr. Catherine Scott

Colin Carlson @colincarlson.bsky.social · 21d

🚨 NEW: Climate change is already causing 30,000 deaths per year - a global annual economic loss of $100-350B USD - but the true damage is probably 10x higher. Out TODAY in Nature Climate Change: the first systematic look at the science of "health impact attribution" 🔓 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

"Health losses attributed to anthropogenic climate change," a brief communication in the journal Nature Climate Change. There's a map showing regions of the world, and pie charts of relevant studies as they apply to different health impacts like "heat-related deaths" and "maternal and child health"

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Dr. Catherine Scott @cataranea.bsky.social · 23d

Awesome!!

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Dr. Catherine Scott @cataranea.bsky.social · 27d

Thank you!!

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Dr. Catherine Scott @cataranea.bsky.social · 27d

is #iCanHazPDF a thing on bluesky?

Dumais, J. 1994. Premieres mentions pour le Canada
d'Amaurobius similis (Blackwall) (Araneae : Amaurobii-
dae). Pirata 1:230-231.

I can find no record of the journal 'Pirata' anywhere.
cc @seq.ca

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Dr. Catherine Scott @cataranea.bsky.social · 29d

cc @entsocontario.bsky.social @entsocbc.bsky.social @canentomologist.bsky.social

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Reposted by Dr. Catherine Scott

Dr. Jessica L Ware @jessicalwarelab.bsky.social · 29d

Do you fish in freshwater? Please share or/and complete survey gathering data on observations of insects for a study on aquatic insect population declines! The link to survey is here: www.surveymonkey.com/r/VXLMY89. Especially in need of information from #Canada, #SouthAmerica, #Africa & #Australia!

Angler Hatch Survey

Take this survey powered by surveymonkey.com. Create your own surveys for free.

www.surveymonkey.com

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