Menno Schilthuizen

Menno Schilthuizen

@schilthuizen.bsky.social

New book "The Urban Naturalist" (MIT Press, 1 Apr. 2025) Author of 'Darwin Comes to Town' and 'Nature's Nether Regions' Rubber-stamped 'tweets' on ecology & evolution. TED speaker http://schilthuizen.com http://taxonexpeditions.com Leyden, Netherlands

1.6K followers1K following387 posts

Menno Schilthuizen reposted

Entomological Society of America
@entsocamerica.bsky.social

Researchers at the University of Florida have launched a new edition of a global database of bark and ambrosia beetles, providing records for nearly 8,000 species and tens of thousands of images to improve pest identification, biosecurity, and forest management worldwide.

entomologytoday.orgUnveiling the World's Largest Bark and Ambrosia Beetle DatabaseA group of researchers has launched a new global database of bark and ambrosia beetles, with nearly 8,000 species records and tens of thousands of images.

Menno Schilthuizen reposted

Alex Wild
@alexwild.bsky.social

At some point a bear is going to get stuck in a Waymo and I would watch that movie

Declan Troy@troydeclan.bsky.social

Bear locks itself in Subaru, destroys interior before police free it www.alaskasnewssource.com/2026/10/27/b...

alaskasnewssource.comBear locks itself in Subaru, destroys interior before police free itA Juneau family says a black bear got trapped in their unlocked Subaru early Monday morning and destroyed the interior before Juneau police freed it.

Menno Schilthuizen reposted

The Associated Press
@apnews.com

The long-serving strongman leader of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, has conceded defeat in an election that pitted him and his right-wing party against a diverse student-led opposition movement that spent two years protesting his government.

bit.lySerbia’s strongman leader Vucic concedes defeat to student-led movement in seismic political shiftThe long-serving strongman leader of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, has conceded defeat in an election that pitted him and his right-wing party against a diverse student-led opposition movement that spent two years protesting his government.

Menno Schilthuizen reposted

Europe Elects
@europeelects.bsky.social

Serbia: The Serbian Progressive Party (SNS-EPP) has admitted defeat in today's parliamentary elections. The Student List (SL-*) has won a majority of votes. #Serbia #Srbija #Izbori2026

Menno Schilthuizen reposted

Bibliofilie
@bibliofilie.bsky.social

Geboortedag Carl Sicherer (1807-1886). Wie, zult u zich afvragen? Sicherer was een Duitse leraar die doceerde in Leiden en rond 1880 het woord 'spieken' introduceerde in de Nederlandse taal ('Nicht spicken!'). Zijn leerlingen maakten het woord al snel populair.

Menno Schilthuizen
@schilthuizen.bsky.social

In Bosnia, a partly Chinese-funded project is under way that will drive species to extinction, destroy nature reserves, quench fisheries, and impact the hydrology of a large part of the Western Balkans. Yet, it stays under the radar -- so read this article! balkaninsight.com/2026/10/19/h...

balkaninsight.comHydropower Scheme Threatens to Irrevocably Alter Iconic Neretva in Bosnia, CroatiaThe Upper Horizons hydropower scheme threatens to forever alter the vital Neretva river that flows from Bosnia to the Adriatic via Croatia, threatening ecosystems, communities and a centuries-old way ...

Menno Schilthuizen reposted

Vatniksoep
@vatniksoepnl.bsky.social

Besef dit goed, stel we zouden een land hebben dat Bolle Jos zou willen uitleveren aan ons en we zouden een premier hebben die zou zeggen "Oh nee laat maar zitten joh."

ChrisO_wiki@chriso-wiki.bsky.social

1/ The Trump Administration is said to have refused to extradite from Montenegro the arrested co-founder of the Russian Rybar blog, Mikhail Zvinchuk, despite its own $10 million bounty on its capture. It also reportedly blocked several European countries from extraditing him. ⬇️

Menno Schilthuizen reposted

Michael Caterino
@mcaterino.bsky.social

Working on a plant-insect relationships lecture and found something new to me. Midgley et al (2015) (doi.org/10.1038/npla...) reported a smelly, dung-mimicking seed that is primarily dispersed by deceived dung beetles! 'a' and 'b' below are Ceratocaryum seeds. 'g' is the beetles' typical target

Menno Schilthuizen
@schilthuizen.bsky.social

Help requested from our field expedition in Suriname: Can anyone supply us with a pdf of: Borgmeier, 1961. Beitrag zur Kenntnis der ecitophilen Staphyliniden‐Gattung Vatesus Sharp, nebst Beschreibung von sieben neuen Arten (Col. Staphylinidae)

Menno Schilthuizen reposted

Ainsley S
@americanbeetles.bsky.social

tiny brown creatures who all kind of look the same and you can only tell them apart by dissecting the genitalia? CHIPMUNKS ARE NOW BEETLES

Sarah Hird, PhD@sarahhird.bsky.social

They all kind of look the same. They separate ecologically and altitudinally in some places. They hybridize sometimes. Beside genetics, there’s one good way to tell them apart… (Pic from www.cokesmithwildlife.com/genus-neotam...)

Menno Schilthuizen reposted

Jerry Coyne
@evolutionistrue.bsky.social

In a dumb video, Colossal Biosciences again claims it's "de-extincted" the dire wolf. What it's really done is tweak 15 bits of DNA in a gray wolf, making 20 changes or about 0.002% of the differences between dire dire and gray wolves. It's not de-exinction. whyevolutionistrue.com/2026/10/05/c...

whyevolutionistrue.comColossal Biosciences continues to tout its faux “dire wolves”Remember the “Dire Wolves” that Colossal Biosciences pretended to have brought back from extinction? (See all my posts on this ruse here.) Although Colossal said it had “de-extinc…

Menno Schilthuizen reposted

KNNV 2ehands natuurboeken
@knnv2ehandsboek.bsky.social

Aanstaande donderdag vindt het jaarlijkse symposium van Hogeschool Van Hall Larenstein plaats. De studenten van Studievereniging LaarX verkopen daar geheel belangeloos onze #KNNV natuurboeken! Lotte van der Logt en Tobias Coenen hebben net een bus vol leesvoer bij ons opgehaald! Succes toppers!

Menno Schilthuizen reposted

Jan Wieringa
@janwieringa.bsky.social

Kijk, je kunt paniek zaaien, of bedenken dat het eigenlijk allemaal wel meevalt met de gevaren van de #geelpoothoornaar. Gelukkig heeft d66 in Alblasserdam zich wel ingelezen. www.hetkontakt.nl/klaroen/nieu...

hetkontakt.nlD66 relativeert waarschuwingen ChristenUnie voor gevaren geelpoothoornaar in Alblasserdam: ‘Kijk naar de wetenschap’Alblasserdam - Waar de ChristenUnie grote risico’s ziet met de komst van de veelbesproken geelpoothoornaar (eerder bekend als Aziatische hoornaar) in Alblasserdam, vindt D66 juist dat dit niet..

Menno Schilthuizen reposted

Ben Coates
@bencoates1.bsky.social

in 1950 a zoo in Wuppertal took an elephant named Tuffi on a monorail. Passengers screamed, and Tuffi smashed a window and fell out. She was unhurt and had “a wonderful time” playing in the river below. One passenger was seriously hurt; when she woke up in hospital her 1st words were: how is Tuffi?

Menno Schilthuizen reposted

Sean Carroll
@seanmcarroll.bsky.social

Glad to see that mathematicians are taking seriously the question of what graduate education should look like in the AI era. Neither giving in to doom nor pretending it’s no big deal.

emilyriehl.bsky.social@emilyriehl.bsky.social

I was part of a group that met last week to try to propose recommended changes to the structure of math PhD programs in an age of AI. Our report, together with a collection of related resources, is now available here: cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/aimathphd_su...

cmsa.fas.harvard.eduSummit on PhD Math Education in the Age of AI - CMSAOn September 17–18, 2026 a group of 24 mathematicians met at Harvard to grapple with the changing landscape for mathematics PhD programs in the age of AI. We produced recommendations given […]

Menno Schilthuizen reposted

Sarah McAnulty, Ph.D.
@sarahmackattack.bsky.social

One really good day of advent calendar sales brought @skypeascientist.bsky.social's annual deficit from -33k to -22k! Now i just need to have 2.5 more incredible advent calendar days lol. Help me dig us out of the financial hole of 2026 SquidFacts.net Or donate here givebutter.com/SupportSAS26

Sarah McAnulty, Ph.D.@sarahmackattack.bsky.social

Snail Facts advent calendars are ready 4 u Scratch off a shell a day for facts about the snails of the world. Get one for you, for your kids, for your niblings, your neighbors' kids, hell, your grandma. Snails are for everyone! SquidFacts.net

Menno Schilthuizen reposted

Ainsley S
@americanbeetles.bsky.social

pls note the bats have been carefully depicted HANGING FROM THEIR LITTLE BRANCHES on this radial phylogeny (bats drawn by Fiona Reid, whose portfolio is here --> fionareid.ca)

Michael Hiller@hillermich.bsky.social

Happy to share results of the @bat1kgenomes.bsky.social phase 1, providing reference genomes covering 21 bat families. New insights into bat phylogeny, ancestral genome reconstruction, European origin & ancestral echolocation. Great work by a team of 100+ colleagues www.nature.com/articles/s41...

nature.comReference genomes and fossils revise bat family phylogeny and biogeography - NatureAn updated phylogeny of bats is presented, based on new genome assemblies and many ancient fossils and including all known bat families.

Menno Schilthuizen reposted

Roos Vonk
@roosvonk.bsky.social

😳Hoezo controversieel? A) NS was naar mijn indruk geen uiterst conservatieve of rechts-radicale organisatie, B) Heeft NS ooit campagnes geweigerd om wél vlees te eten? C) Het gaat godbetert over 1 dag! D) De poster bevat totaal geen schokkende inhoud. Het enige schokkende is de weigering van NS

Menno Schilthuizen
@schilthuizen.bsky.social

De binnenstad van Leiden zit vol met vochtige middeleeuwse kelders. Daar leven nog kelderkevers (Blaps mucronata), een ondergronds levende soort die tegenwoordig niet meer zo algemeen is. Op de Breestraat vond ik vandaag deze, waarschijnlijk was een lid van het winkelende publiek er op gaan staan...