PJ Liesch

Always good to see proper PPE being worn in lab settings. Everyone knows Noctuid #moths are scrappy fighters, so helmets definitely needed for safety.

An historic black and white illustration of a paper nautilus floating on the ocean. There are boats, a city and hills in the background.

🎉 Huge news for BHL: The Field Museum is taking over the hosting of BHL’s website, servers & infrastructure, ensuring long-term stability and access for its 63+ million pages of open biodiversity literature. Learn more:
blog.biodiversitylibrary.org/2026/02/tran...
#BHLTransition #ILoveBHL 🌍 📚 🧪

So much cheaper than Riker Mounts and I feel the foam looks nicer than the cottony padding in old-school Rikers. I’ll be curious to see how they hold up in the long run, but the low cost is certainly a plus.

BENECREAT 48Pcs White Gemstone Display Box, 1.57x1.57x0.6Inch Plastic Transparent Bare Stone Box Square Gem Box with Clear Top Lids for Gems Jewelry Packing You will receive 48pcs white gemstone display boxes, ample quantity to meet your daily storage needs. It's a great choice for jewelry, loose diamond and various gemstone collection, displaying gemstone, bracelets, necklaces, earrings, etc. Useful for gemstone enthusiasts.

I randomly found them on Amazon while looking for something else. I’m planning to buy some of the larger ones at some point as well.

www.amazon.com/BENECREAT-Ge...

Finished product: Mini Riker Mounts for an upcoming workshop:
#entomology #education #outreach

Turns out, these inexpensive, small foam-padded coin/gem boxes make great mini Riker Mounts. #entomology #outreach #education

Drake meme showing displeasure at AI & cryptocurrency, while approving of Arctic Insect News, a Canadian publication.

My thoughts, exactly:
#entomology #arctic #biodiversity

Day 8 of #InsectAdvent

Want to attract the opposite sex but fed up being bashed on the dancefloor? This male fly, Deuterophlebia sp., never lands but dances over fast-flowing rivers, guarding it for a receptive lady, using its really long antennae to make/guard his space

@royentsoc.bsky.social

Definitely alarming....frustrating too. Bad information has always bene out there, but AI is making it show up so much faster and more often. What scares me the most is that as AI improves, it'll be harder for folks to tell what's real and fake. 🤦‍♂️

A photo from commercial tree care business reportedly showing sawfly larvae. The photo used by the company is AI generated and is grossly inaccurate with many erroneous anatomical features.

Screams in entomologist....what the actual Fulgorid? If the article is as horribly inaccurate as as the photo, we're all doomed...

#Entomology #TaxonomyFail #AIisGarbage

Its day 2 of #InsectAdvent

I think that this little fly ate too many mince pies! Welcome to Platyna hastata - whose bum maybe as wide as they are long!

Soldierflies or Stratiomyidae are some of the most eye-catching of the flies.

@royentsoc.bsky.social @dipterists.bsky.social

An illustrated poster with numbers and an identification key, highlighting the diversity of Hoverfly species found in North America. 18 flies are drawn on the poster. These flies are generally striped/have patterns that make them resemble bees. They are illustrated on a light earthy yellow-green background.

North American Hoverflies! 🪰

Some really tiny (~1 mm) Platygastrid wasps associated with whiteflies.

The lovely Halloween Pennant dragonfly 🎃

Took the quiz to find out that I’m a Platygastrid wasp 🤘

Seems about right 🤷🏻‍♂️

Infographic describing the appearance of the eastern condone kissing bug, which does not occur in Wisconsin or the Upper Midwest, and a common look-alike—the western conifer seed bug.

Chagas disease and kissing bugs have been in the news lately. I'll just leave this here:

#chagasdisease #kissingbugs

A white drepanid moth that looks like a bird poop with two flies eating it

MOST importantly, I found a single specimen of Macrocilix nr. maia in the unsorted/pro tempore section, the magnum opus of visual ecology

Back from vacation on the shores of Lake Superior and digging myself out of a pit of emails, just like this ant getting out of an antlion nest. At least my risk of getting eaten is much lower… #entomology

The graphic includes text that reads, “New Special Collection. Asian Longhorned Beetle. Read Now,” as well as publication title, “Environmental Entomology.” It also includes logos for Oxford University Press and the Entomological Society of America. There is a photo offset in a circle of the Asian Longhorned Beetle (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae). Photo courtesy David Coyle, Clemson University. Forestry and Environmental Conservation, South Carolina.

Learn all about Asian longhorned beetles in a new special collection from Environmental Entomology!

Articles cover biology, behavior, natural enemies, survey tools, eradication methods, and more: academic.oup.com/insect-scien... @oxfordacademic.bsky.social

There are white grubs and then there’s this heckin chonker I found while building a fence last weekend. Larva of the stag beetle Lucanus capreolus.

Safely placed it back down amongst the mulch. #beetles #Coleoptera #WisconsinBugs

🐞 🐝 I'm recruiting students to join my lab at the University of Minnesota! Hoping to bring on 2-3 MS or PhD students (MS a pre-req for PhD students). Take a peek at the opportunities available and feel free to reach out with questions. Please share widely!

jhemberger.github.io/ibug_lab_web...

Goczał, Beutel & Gorb. 2025. Formation of #beetles #elytra and the most spectacular animal #radiation in the history of Earth. #evolution doi.org/10.1093/zool...

By default, I automatically repost awesome #scorpionflies 🤩
#Mecoptera

Large chunks of people's favorite trees seemingly go leafless overnight this time of year, usually thanks to caterpillars. Our paper (w/ @kellyoten.bsky.social & #nobluesky Robert Jetton) in @entsocamerica.bsky.social's JIPM highlights several species in the SE US: academic.oup.com/jipm/article...

I think the greenish one is the limited edition, Baja Blast flavor

I was wondering the same. That August 2018 flood was a crazy event. Totally wiped out the creek bike path near my house.

Invertebrates rule, vertebrates drool…

More Intense El Niños May Be Driving Loss of Tropical Insects

Insects and spiders are declining in tropical forests around the world, even in areas untouched by logging, mining, or farming.

In these places, new research posits, more potent El Niños are driving the losses.