Sergio Rossoni

A few days ago I came across a late flying damselfly, a male Boreal Bluet. On a warm summer's day, he would be bright sky blue, but on a cool Yukon autumn day (9C) it was a dark grey-violet! This is a common response to cold in both bluets and the much larger blue darner dragonflies. #Odonata

I don't want to count all of the misses it took to get this Arctic Tern mid-dive. I'm just so happy that one attempt worked. #birds 🌿

Work with us! Join the team in Bristol studying the functional morphology of trilobite eyes 👀 ✍️ 30 months, @hfspo.bsky.social-funded, start by early 2027 🫵 looking for someone interested in developing new methods to analyse eyes in 3D and simulate vision 📆 Deadline 27. Aug ☎️ @laurensr.bsky.social

🚨🦋 Thrilled to share my first PhD paper published in PNAS this week, in collaboration with Sören Kannegieser and @anna-stoeckl.bsky.social @insect-vision.bsky.social: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/... We found hawkmoths use a convergent visual control strategy for appendage guidance. 👁️🫳 🧵 below.

Floral handling can be energetically costly for bees, yet these costs are rarely measured. Watch #ProcB author Natacha Rossi talk about research that provides the first direct quantification of the metabolic cost of floral buzzing in bumblebees: cassyni.com/events/51q37... #ecology

First direct quantification of floral handling costs in bees: doi.org/10.1098/rspb... #ProcB #ecology

Metallyticus splendidus wishes everyone a happy pride month.

Out today in @royalsocietypublishing.org - we show that crab spiders (the ones you usually see ambushing pollinators on flowers 🕷️🌸) get worse at hunting if their eyes are covered!🫣 Sounds obvious? It's actually quite surprising, here's why... 👀 (1/8) royalsocietypublishing.org/rsos/article...

And another paper out, which has just been covered by The Guardian! www.theguardian.com/environment/... original article: royalsocietypublishing.org/rspb/article... @bethbees.bsky.social @nicrodemo.bsky.social

New paper on seeing in air and water with compound eyes! The problem: physics The solution: physics Elegantly described with the dream team @tannermierow.bsky.social and @alexkingston.bsky.social royalsocietypublishing.org/rspb/article...

Pixie robber flies are merciless predators, successfully intercepting perched victims, & in their recent JEB paper, @rossonisergio.bsky.social &co reveal that the insects use their motion relative to the prey to determine the victim's size and how far off they are doi.org/10.1242/jeb....

🚨 New paper out in @jexpbiol.bsky.social! doi.org/10.1242/jeb.... Some robber flies hunt resting prey and judge their distance well despite limited vision. We show their looping flights help them estimate this via motion parallax. A neat example of active vision making up for optical limitations! 👀🪰

Predators must estimate the size of a potential prey. Size of a moving target is assessed by angular speed/size, rules that not apply for stationary prey. Unlike damselflies, pixie robber flies use motion parallax to infer prey size. @rossonisergio.bsky.social journals.biologists.com/jeb/article/...

Netcasting spiders hurl a stretchy net to capture prey, a net that can double in size during full extension. A study explores how the silk achieves such impressive elasticity without sacrificing strength. In PNAS: https://ow.ly/qRYu50Y5z8x

New #OpenAccess work in #RESEcolEnt Vegetation #biomass & landscape context influence web-building #spider dietary breadth in urban vacant lots doi.org/10.1111/een.70022 #UrbanArthropods #Biodiversity #UrbanLandscapes @sheborg.bsky.social @robwilsonmncn.bsky.social @callomac.bsky.social @wiley.com

🚨 Our study from @bethbees.bsky.social lab is out in @royalsocietypublishing.org . We show that bumblebees taste some amino acids (valine), but not others (lysine). Bees might choose flowers not just by how sweet they taste! #bees 🐝 #taste 👅 #pollen #nectar 🌺 #protein 🥩 doi.org/10.1098/rsos...