Andrei Sourakov

Published today by @PrincetonUPress

Same location, a few minutes apart, yesterday. A model (bumblebee) and its mimic - the robber fly.

Skeletons of Anthropologist Grover Krantz & his Irish Wolfhound Clyde displayed at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History 2009-2011 smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-in…

The evolutionary path that brought us to butterflies is intriguing. Moths originated 300 million years ago and diversified with a little help from a fungus and bacterium. Then... Scientists lay out what we do & don’t yet know about moths and butterflies: floridamuseum.ufl.edu/science/scient…

Apparently, today is Taxonomist Appreciation Day, which has been celebrated (albeit quietly) annually on March 19th. Here are some recent taxonomic works published by the McGuire Center for Lepidoptera and Biodiversity @floridamuseum: floridamuseum.ufl.edu/mcguire/news/2…

#ICYMI 👏👏👏 Our Herbarium recently accessioned their 300,000th vascular plant specimen into the collection! Founded in 1891, the University of Florida Herbarium (FLAS) here at the Florida Museum houses over 530,000 preserved plant specimens. More: floridamuseum.ufl.edu/museum-blog/ba…

At the Natural Area Teaching Laboratory on @UF campus behind @FloridaMuseum, a cat is teaching about camouflage.

Online Exhibit 🪱 Rare, Beautiful & Fascinating Feature: Giant Seep Worms (Lamellibrachia luymesi) Giant Seep Worms can have very long life spans, growing to 2 meters long over 170 to 250 years. 🎧 Story and more with Jenna Moore: floridamuseum.ufl.edu/100-years/obje…

Not long now till these insects emerge and can start doing these videos again :) Damselflies with dew are one of my favourite things to photograph and video! I'm talking at the Photography Show this weekend about this subject too if you are there on the Sunday.

@rlewington2 Congrats! Was glad to see our "The Lives of Moths" on that shelf too. Our butterfly book has probably sold out 😉

Just visited Blackwells in Oxford on #WorldBookDay2026 & delighted with full-frontal coverage of several of my books in the Natural History dept. 😉

Roofing nail mimicry

Part 2. 11 families of Lepidoptera in this collage (3 of which are also in Part 1 of this thread).

Test yourself: there are 13 families of butterflies and moths featured here. Can you recognize them?

A new family tree helps reconstruct the evolution of mimicry in Adelpha butterflies through their 25-million-year history and lead to the establishment of a new genus of butterflies in South America. Story: floridamuseum.ufl.edu/science/butter… Study: doi.org/10.1111/syen.7…

Blue Morpho butterflies in the Amazon! #entomology #morpho #butterfly

Online Exhibit 🦆 Rare, Beautiful & Fascinating Feature: Coiled Gift Basket by Pomo people of CA The Pomo made this small basket with feathers, abalone pendants and clamshell beads tied with glass trade beads. 🎧 Read more + listen to Susan Milbrath: floridamuseum.ufl.edu/100-years/obje…

New post: floridamuseum.ufl.edu/mcguire/news/2…

Museum Resource 🐍 Florida Snake ID Guide Easy visual ID and searchable tool for learning about our state's snakes including range, diet & lookalikes. Featured: Dusky Pygmy Rattlesnake (Sistrurus miliarius barbouri) Info & explore more: floridamuseum.ufl.edu/florida-snake-… VENOMOUS ⚠️

Online Exhibit 🐢 Rare, Beautiful & Fascinating Feature: Cofrin’s Side-necked Turtle (Carbonemys cofrinii) This massive fossil is the largest freshwater turtle species found from the Paleocene. 🎧 Read the story + listen to paleontologist Jon Bloch: floridamuseum.ufl.edu/100-years/obje…

Arthropod Photo of the Week: January 14, 2026 Robber fly with winged termite Asilus sp. / Reticulitermes sp. Diptera: Asilidae / Blattodea: Termitidae Observed in West Bengal, India By Sekhar Bandyopadhyay, West Bengal, India #arthropodPOTW

Chilling outside of @FloridaMuseum