Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Samanta Orellana @coleopterasam.bsky.social · 15d

Fungus gnat! 🍄😆

Samanta Orellana @coleopterasam.bsky.social · 20d

Thanks to the KU Office of Research for the spotlight! Happy to be part of the @kunhm.bsky.social and continue contributing to preserving and digitizing the collections 🩵. #KUEntomology #PostdocAppreciationWeek #KUSEMC

➡️ research.ku.edu/news/article...

1 6

Samanta Orellana @coleopterasam.bsky.social · 21d

It's #WeevilWednesday! Perfect day to introduce our #Symbiota Weevil Portal! Still under construction, but already with some data. This beautiful Curculio, deposited in #KUSEMC, was originally digitized in #Specify and has been mobilized to our portal 💚. ➡️ weevil.symbiota.org/portal/colle...

3 6 26

Samanta Orellana @coleopterasam.bsky.social · 21d

One of my major motivations is sharing specimens I study with researchers around the world 🌎. None of this would be possible without the amazing support from #iDigBio and #Symbiota. Here are some of the collections also mobilized to #GBIF and @bionomia.net 💚.
➡️ www.gbif.org/network/0479...

3

Samanta Orellana @coleopterasam.bsky.social · 21d

Don't miss this important webinar today, during the webinar series by #iDigBio "Sustaining collections digitization beyond NSF funding", featuring @gbif.org: ➡️ ufl.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

1 2

Samanta Orellana @coleopterasam.bsky.social · 23d

Today, we are celebrating our Independence Day in #Guatemala. I'm proud to keep contributing to my country from afar, helping local collections to share their data online 🇬🇹🌎. Thanks to the #Symbiota team for making it possible, and to the amazing #BiodiversityData community for their support 🥰💚.

Portal de Biodiversidad de Guatemala 🇬🇹 @guatemalaportal.bsky.social · 23d

Cinco años compartiendo la Biodiversidad de Guatemala, en apoyo a investigadores nacionales. Nuestro Portal #Symbiota ha facilitado la generación de +45 perfiles virtuales y +56,000 registros de especímenes y observaciones de animales, plantas y hongos del país. Disponible en: biodiversidad.gt 🐞🍄🌿🇬🇹🌎

1

Samanta Orellana @coleopterasam.bsky.social · 25d

The KU Entomology group is growing! So many ideas and so much work to do! 🥰🐞🦋🐝

1 18

Reposted by Samanta Orellana

Dr. Jessica L Ware @jessicalwarelab.bsky.social · Sep 3

Join us! The Division of Invertebrate Zoology at the American Museum of Natural History is hiring a curatorial associate! For more information : careers.amnh.org/postings/4529

Curatorial Associate

The American Museum of Natural History is one of the world’s preeminent scientific and cultural institutions, and has as its mission to discover, interpret and disseminate information about human cult...

careers.amnh.org

64 55

Samanta Orellana @coleopterasam.bsky.social · Sep 3

#LivingData is quickly approaching 😱. Who is going to Bogota? 🥳. Who is attending remotely? 🌎. You can't miss our presentations (in English and Spanish) about #Symbiota and our collaborations with collections all over the world to make their data available 💚🌎.

➡️ livingdata2025.com/registration...

Samanta Orellana @coleopterasam.bsky.social · Sep 3

A long weekend was perfect to catch up on digitization 🥰. Let us know if you want your own profile to digitize and mobilize your arthropod/plant/vertebrate/fungi/fossil data 💚: [email protected]. #Symbiota
➡️ ecdysis.org/collections/... 🐞

2 7

Samanta Orellana @coleopterasam.bsky.social · Aug 22

It's amazing to see our beautiful @guatemalaportal.bsky.social back online 🥰. I'm forever grateful to the #Symbiota team for their commitment to maintaining such incredible tools and making them accessible to the global #collections community 💚.

Portal de Biodiversidad de Guatemala 🇬🇹 @guatemalaportal.bsky.social · Aug 22

✅El Portal de Biodiversidad🇬🇹 permite la generación de recursos interactivos con especies registradas en el país. Compartimos el listado actualizado de aves de la Ciudad de Guatemala, publicado en Zeledonia por investigadores del CDC-CECON. ➡️ biodiversidad.gt/portal/check... 🐦🦜🦉🐦‍⬛ #Symbiota

1

Samanta Orellana @coleopterasam.bsky.social · Jul 25

First full day of the #WeevilCourse2025 at the Southwestern Research Station, AZ! Awesome lectures, demonstrations and subfamilies identification 😄. #Curculionoidea #Weevils

1 11

Samanta Orellana @coleopterasam.bsky.social · Jul 15

Agreed. But the lack of information is more an issue with biodiversity data standards compliance (from the source) than a GBIF issue. It would be great to update the datasets but I also know it can be quite challenging if projects/collections don't use dynamic platforms 🫤.

Samanta Orellana @coleopterasam.bsky.social · Jul 15

I see your point, but "Preserved Specimen" as basisOfRecord is correct for any specimen, even the ones destroyed at some point (for any reason). There is a DwC field called "disposition" where "destroyed" should be stated when needed. That would be the solution, at least for the data quality issue.

Darwin Core List of Terms

translate.google.com

1 2

Samanta Orellana @coleopterasam.bsky.social · Jul 13

Leaving the beautiful #CostaRica 🇨🇷 after a few wonderful weeks! I deeply appreciate the hospitality of local researchers at Universidad de Costa Rica (in San José and Guanacaste 🥰), and the support given by @kunhm.bsky.social to make this trip possible! More soon! #Anthribidae #FranzLab #Collections

1 7

Reposted by Samanta Orellana

Andrew Johnston @andrewjohnston.bsky.social · Jul 8

Tried out my new blacklight funnels I built. Got chased off the eastern New Mexico plains by a nasty thunderstorm, but less than an hour produced quite a few beetles!

Transparent cascading funnels lead to a collecting jar with a blacklight hung through the middle. The whole funnel assembly hangs on a tripod in a sandy plain

A New Mexico sunset is on the horizon behind the trap assembly

A second funnel trap is hung from a dead stalk of bear grass with heavily vegetated sand hummocks in the background

A jar full of the insect bounty from just under an hour of running the traps.

2 3 19

Reposted by Samanta Orellana

The Coleopterists Society @coleopsoc.bsky.social · Jun 27

#LiteratureNotice Chatzimanolis & Brunke. Revisiting Phanolinopsis Scheerpeltz ( #Coleoptera: #Staphylinidae: #Xanthopygina), with an Updated Key and a #NewSpecies from Guatemala doi.org/10.1649/0010... #TheColeopteristsBulletin #Beetle #Beetles #RoveBeetles

Phylogeny of the Ocyolinus group of Xanthopygina, as reconstructed from a maximum likelihood analysis of a hybrid enrichment dataset using IQTREE. Analysis from Brunke and Chatzimanolis (2024).

2 9

Samanta Orellana @coleopterasam.bsky.social · Jun 23

Hi! Anthribidae? I try 😅, but I'm more familiar with Neotropical and Nearctic groups. Are you interested in a particular region? Let me know and I can send you some resources I have!

Samanta Orellana @coleopterasam.bsky.social · Jun 23

I had a wonderful time with the collection managers in Guatemala, sharing some updates about #Symbiota and our @guatemalaportal.bsky.social. It was great to visit the collections and learn more about their biodiversity projects 🥰🇬🇹🌿🍄🐞.

Portal de Biodiversidad de Guatemala 🇬🇹 @guatemalaportal.bsky.social · Jun 23

Este taller contó con la entusiasta participación de integrantes del Sistema de Colecciones EB USAC, Colecciones UVG, Centro de Estudios Conservacionistas USAC, Medicina Veterinaria USAC, INACIF e INAB 🇬🇹🌿🍄🐞. Además, se realizó una visita a la Colección Entomológica USAC para conocer sus proyectos.

4

Reposted by Samanta Orellana

Andrew Johnston @andrewjohnston.bsky.social · Jun 18

Want to set up your own photo-stacking imaging system for under $3000? This post which outlines all the off-the-shelf items I used this year along with some recommendations for how to use it. Planning to talk about this at @entcollnet.bsky.social this November, too! www.insectid.org/post/focus-s...

Focus-stacking photography: Building your own system

Ten years ago, Alex Wild published a guide on Scientific American on how to make your own focus-stacking system for under $6000. I can't seem to find that post any more, just some secondary posts with...

www.insectid.org

3 16 37

Samanta Orellana @coleopterasam.bsky.social · Jun 16

Extremely happy to be in Guatemala for a short vacation+a bit of work in the collections 🥰🐞🍄🇬🇹.

4

Samanta Orellana @coleopterasam.bsky.social · Jun 8

Looking for #weevils, but chrysomelids will always catch my eye 🔎. Collected recently by @taxonbytes.bsky.social in Kansas. Digital records live in Specify and will soon be mobilized to @gbif.org and Symbiota 💚. #BornDigital #SEMC #KUNHM

6

Samanta Orellana @coleopterasam.bsky.social · May 27

Welcome to KU, everyone! 😄 #SPNHC2025

1

Reposted by Samanta Orellana

Bernoid @bernoid.bsky.social · May 15

Every time I find King Alfred’s Cakes (Daldinia concentrica) I look for the Cramp-ball Fungus Weevil (platyrhinus resinosus). They feed and breed on this fungi. I rarely find them… so when I do it’s so exciting! Remarkable creatures. @lukaslarge.bsky.social #weevil

5 19 140

Samanta Orellana @coleopterasam.bsky.social · May 15

Great opportunity to present your research generating, sharing or using biodiversity data. Abstracts due on May 20: www.livingdata2025.com/sessions.html #LivingData2025 #TDWG2025

1