Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Gustavo Silva de Miranda @gustavo-de-miranda.bsky.social · 13h

New preprint out!
We investigated how climate and habitat influenced the evolution of body size and shape in whip spiders (Amblypygi). This is the first large-scale study on their morphology and its evolutionary patterns.

Feedback and comments welcome! tinyurl.com/2jtnaxj5

New Insights into the Evolution of Whip Spider Body Form

Our latest study, “The impact of climate and habitat on body shape and size evolution in whip spiders (Amblypygi),” is now available as a preprint. Whip spiders are an ancient group of arachnids...

gustavomiranda.weebly.com

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Gustavo Silva de Miranda @gustavo-de-miranda.bsky.social · 6d

🎓🐟 The Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History & OU’s School of Biological Sciences are hiring a tenure-track Assistant Curator of Ichthyology / Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences (start Fall 2026).

Apply here 👉 apply.interfolio.com/174674

#AcademicJobs #Ichthyology #Museum #Biology

Apply - Interfolio {{$ctrl.$state.data.pageTitle}} - Apply - Interfolio

apply.interfolio.com

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Gustavo Silva de Miranda @gustavo-de-miranda.bsky.social · 9d

Last week, the Recent Invertebrates collection participated in Twilight at Water’s Edge, a program connecting families with Oklahoma’s nocturnal wildlife. From museum specimens to field observations, participants explored the hidden world that comes alive after sunset. tinyurl.com/3ruynucb

Hands-On Science at Dusk: Twilight at Water’s Edge

On September 26, the Recent Invertebrates team joined the Education Department of the Sam Noble Museum for Twilight at Water’s Edge , an all-ages program designed to explore the hidden world of...

tinyurl.com

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Gustavo Silva de Miranda @gustavo-de-miranda.bsky.social · 12d

We’re thrilled to welcome Shelby Hernandez as our new Collections Manager! 🪲 A true beetle lover and collections expert, Shelby will help care for and grow the incredible invertebrate collection at the Sam Noble Museum. 🎉

gustavomiranda.weebly.com/news/welcome...

Welcome, Shelby Hernandez – Our New Collections ManageR

We are thrilled to welcome Shelby Hernandez as the new Collections Manager for Recent Invertebrates at the Sam Noble Museum. Shelby joins us from Texas Tech University, where she honed her...

gustavomiranda.weebly.com

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Gustavo Silva de Miranda @gustavo-de-miranda.bsky.social · 15d

Whip spiders, beetles, and beyond! 🕷️🪲
I’ll be posting stories from research, collections, and fieldwork at the Sam Noble Museum (OU). Take a look: 👉 gustavomiranda.weebly.com/news

News

We were delighted to host Matthew Pintar at the Sam Noble Museum, where he focused on assessing the museum’s holdings of Tropisternus beetles (Coleoptera: Hydrophilidae) and backswimmers...

gustavomiranda.weebly.com

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Reposted by Gustavo Silva de Miranda

Erica McAlister @flygirlnhm.bsky.social · 19d

www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/new...

Mosquitoes that have been in the collection for nearly a hundred years are helping us in dealing with an even older but also current problem - malaria

@sangerinstitute.bsky.social @nhm-london.bsky.social

Genetic study of malaria-carrying mosquitoes tracks evolution of insecticide resistance | Natural History Museum

It crucially also reveals promising genetic targets for potential control.

www.nhm.ac.uk

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Reposted by Gustavo Silva de Miranda

Torsten Dikow @tdikow.bsky.social · 19d

@nhmdk.bsky.social is advertising a PhD fellowship in collection-based Natural History Research focused on dark taxa and unknown species, preferably including representatives of Danish flora, fauna or geology

deadline 5 October 2025

candidate.hr-manager.net/ApplicationI...

PhD fellowship in collection-based Natural History Research

Natural History Museum Denmark Faculty of SCIENCE University of Copenhagen   Natural History Museum Denmark invites applicants for a PhD fellowship in coll

candidate.hr-manager.net

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Gustavo Silva de Miranda @gustavo-de-miranda.bsky.social · Aug 27

Thanks, Davey!! I am very happy to have joined the Sam Noble Museum and to work with such an amazing collection! 😊

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Reposted by Gustavo Silva de Miranda

Dr. Jessica L Ware @jessicalwarelab.bsky.social · Aug 16

So excited to have this #dragonfly paper out! #Odonata systematics: past, present, and future: a review of the phylogenetic works in #Anisoptera (dragonflies) url: academic.oup.com/isd/article/... @ethantolman.bsky.social

Odonata systematics: past, present, and future: a review of the phylogenetic works in Anisoptera (dragonflies)

Abstract. Odonata is an insect order that comprises ~6420 described species distributed among three suborders. Here we review the dragonflies, or Anisopter

academic.oup.com

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Gustavo Silva de Miranda @gustavo-de-miranda.bsky.social · Jun 15

Job alert! Sam Noble Museum (OU) seeks a Collection Manager for the Recent Invertebrates collection (insects, mollusks, arachnids & more). You’ll team up with the incoming Curator (👋 me). Apply via jobs.ou.edu, Job # 251244. DM questions. #museumjobs #arthropods #collections

Jobs - OU Human Resources

jobs.ou.edu

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Reposted by Gustavo Silva de Miranda

Sandy Kawano, PhD @sandyk.bsky.social · Apr 14

Do you have a PhD in STEM and looking to pivot to a different subdiscipline? The Simons Foundation's Pivot Fellowship provides 1 year of salary + $10k for research + travel to the fellow and $50k to their mentor. Apply by 12:00 PM (ET), May 15, 2025. www.simonsfoundation.org/grant/pivot-... 🧪

Pivot Fellowship

Pivot Fellowship on Simons Foundation

www.simonsfoundation.org

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Gustavo Silva de Miranda @gustavo-de-miranda.bsky.social · Feb 27

Wait, what?! 😱

Russell Garwood @russellgarwood.co.uk · Feb 26

Ever since @harrysavage.bsky.social mentioned it, stolonization has been haunting my waking hours. Now it can haunt yours too: some annelid worms develop a gamete-filled structure (stolon), which detaches and swims to find a mate. Some stolons have eyes, antennae, and nervous system 🤯

🧪🦀🦑 #evosky

A panel showing two stolons from an Annelid - these are segmented organic things that look a lot like worms. The image shows a female stolon (left), and male one (right). Both are yellowish on a grey to blue background, with red eyes, and segmental structures poking off.

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Reposted by Gustavo Silva de Miranda

Canadian Women in STEM @cdnwomenstem.bsky.social · Feb 18

Looking for a faculty position? How about a postdoc position?

Canadian Women in STEM launches an easy to use Job Board.

canadianwomeninstem.org/job-board/

Canadian Women in STEM - Job Board

canadianwomeninstem.org

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Gustavo Silva de Miranda @gustavo-de-miranda.bsky.social · Feb 18

Hello! Yes, I can help or find someone who can give you all the pseudoscorpion answers :)

Reposted by Gustavo Silva de Miranda

Thomas Shahan @tshahan.bsky.social · Jan 13

Some local (NE Oklahoma) symphylans to illustrate a difference between the two families -

Scolopendrellidae has sharp pointed tergites (pics 1 and 2)

...while Scutigerellidae has more rounded/lobed tergites (pics 3 and 4)

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Reposted by Gustavo Silva de Miranda

Mary Williams @PlantTeaching @plantteaching.bsky.social · Jan 7

Thanks @plantpollinator.bsky.social Kelsey Byers for sharing knowledge about accessible fieldwork & a link to a useful guide created by Chloe Stevens. Take homes include bidirectional communication and trust, and improving accessibility helps EVERYone!! #PlantSciEd
www.bristol.ac.uk/media-librar...

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Reposted by Gustavo Silva de Miranda

Jillian Suh Kurovski-Legris @bugsorbust.bsky.social · Jan 2

🧵 1/ Words cannot describe publishing my first article in Korea as an adoptee. I am coauthoring a series on arachnid behavior in Donga Science (과학동아). It is surreal to see my Korean name in print.

Korea, I am still here and I am still your daughter.

[Korean and English translation in alt text.]

A dialogue box showing a conversation between my colleague and I discussing how we got into spiders.

Korean text: 한글
Dialogue "거미 연구자들이 거미와 사랑에 빠진 순간"
이항: 어떻게 처음 거미를 좋아하게 됐어?
정화: 어릴 땐 거미를 무서워했어. 어쩌다가 학부 때 곤충 박물관에서 거미를 관리하는 일을 맡아서 관심이 생겼지. 그러다가 2018년에 마다가스카르에 여행을 갔는데, 거기서 'Darwin's bark spider(다원의 나무껍질거미)'라는 세계에서 가장 큰 거미줄을 만드는 거미를 보게 됐어. 거미줄이 얼마나 멋지던지!
이항: 너도 취향이 참....

English Translation:
Dialogue
“The moment spider researchers fell in love with spiders.”
Yihang: How did you first like spiders?
Jeong-hwa: I was afraid of spiders when I was young. I got interested in taking care of them at an insect museum when I was an undergraduate. Then, in 2018, I went on a trip to Madagascar, where I saw Darwin's Bark Spider, a spider that makes the world's largest web. How wonderful the web is!
Yihang: You have very interesting taste.

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Reposted by Gustavo Silva de Miranda

Evelyndroid's Aperture Séance and Spooky Spood-Finding 🏳️‍⚧️🕷️ @apsciencebylyn.bsky.social · Dec 26

There's at least 4 different pseudoscorpion species living under the bark of a small patch of mahogany trees, and that makes me happy. 🤎
I don't know which species, but they're all silly in their own special ways.
#InverteFest

Chonky teardrop shaped pseudoscorpion with sparse white setae all over, and modest pinchy claws at the ready

Slim reddish brown pseudoscorpion with long pinchy arms and extremely long crabby grabby claws on them.

Pale chonky pseudoscorpion with red legs and thick beefy pinchy arms

Tiny pale slim pseudoscorpion with long delicate grabby claws

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Reposted by Gustavo Silva de Miranda

Rob Waterhouse @rmwaterhouse.bsky.social · Dec 22

🟠New #genome resources expand possibilities for #insect models
🟢Assembly quality varies in contiguity & completeness
🔵Technological advances support new models with high-quality #data
🟣Emerging models advance knowledge of insect #biology & #evolution www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

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Reposted by Gustavo Silva de Miranda

franz @franzanth.bsky.social · May 1

Quick crab drawing guides that @jopabinia.bsky.social and I made a few years back to get you all started for this month's #InsertAnInvert2024 theme: Carcinization.

Fun fact, this was the beginning of the whole "Insert An Invert" series

crab anatomy diagram that covers the basics of the crab anatomy and names of various body parts

diagram that shows the various different shapes of crab claws and how the shapes relate to their lifestyles

diagram showing the various segments of crab legs and how the different leg shapes relate to their lifestyles

diagram showing all the complicated limbs that sprout out from a crab's face

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Reposted by Gustavo Silva de Miranda

Mindy Weisberger @laminda.bsky.social · Nov 27

It occurs to me that many of you may never have seen a squirting cucumber in action, please allow me remedy that for you

As you may imagine, naturalists have been gobsmacked by these seed-spurting gourds for centuries (Pliny the Elder described them and warned observers to mind their eyeballs) 🧪

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Gustavo Silva de Miranda @gustavo-de-miranda.bsky.social · Nov 26

Thank you!

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Reposted by Gustavo Silva de Miranda

Jillian Suh Kurovski-Legris @bugsorbust.bsky.social · Nov 26

My first time being part of a published article! Everything about Dolomedes in one place. I wrote the section on parental care. 🕷️

I am very grateful to all of the collaborators on this paper especially Dr. Chrissie Painting and my advisor Eileen.

www.frontiersin.org/journals/ara...

Frontiers | Dolomedes fishing spider biology: gaps and opportunities for future research

www.frontiersin.org

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Gustavo Silva de Miranda @gustavo-de-miranda.bsky.social · Nov 26

😊🤚

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Reposted by Gustavo Silva de Miranda

Phil Levin @phillevin.bsky.social · Nov 25

A Lancet editorial highlights the reality: nature & biodiversity underpin our survival. We must act decisively-75% of emerging diseases stem from disrupted ecosystems. There are ethical/moral arguments for protecting biodiversity. + Nature's health is our health. www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...

Biodiversity loss: a health crisis

The Earth is approaching a critical threshold of irreversible biodiversity loss. World leaders, environmental activists, and prominent researchers are gathered in Colombia for the 16th meeting of the ...

www.thelancet.com

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