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🇦🇺🐨🧬 Congratulations Rebecca Johnson - Member of the Order of Australia for services to forensic wildlife services and young women scientists (and koalas)! Smithsonian NMNH Smithsonian Australian Embassy, USA 🇦🇺🇺🇸

Our press release is now up about last weekend's #AsianGiantHornet nest eradication! Press conference at 2 p.m. agr.wa.gov/about-wsda/new…

It’s #TaxonomistAppreciationDay and we could not be more thankful! Our curators and staff work hard every day-regardless if its done remotely or in person. There are so many mysteries held in these cabinets and #taxonomists are the key to solving them. (📸: E. Kolski).

#TaxonomistAppreciationDay Smithsonian NMNH spider curator Dr. Hannah Wood recently described Eriauchenius zirafy. This is 1/18 sps Wood & Scharff described in 2018. This unusual look is due to their unique predatory behavior: the long “jaws” are used to attack other spiders at a distance

Dr. Margaret S. Collins (1922-1996) was a renowned expert on termite ecology & distribution. Over her almost 50 year career, Collins taught as a professor at multiple universities & was a research associate at Smithsonian NMNH from 1983 to 1996. #HerNaturalHistory #WHM #BecauseOfHerStory

Meet Dr. Floyd Shockley, @Beetle_Guy, out collection manager and this month’s SI-entist!

It's #Worldrobberflyday! #DYK that you can search for all digitized robber fly records by searching "Asilidae" in our collection search? collections.nmnh.si.edu/search/ento/

In honor of Mother's Day, a throwback to this 2018 post on Entomology Today, highlighting insect mothers that go to awe-inspiring lengths to care for their babies. entomologytoday.org/2018/05/11/res…

As 17-year cicadas, commonly referred to as #BroodX, continue to emerge, Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center scientists are looking at how bird songs might change in response to the volume of cicada calls + how nest success (more surviving chicks) might change thanks to the new food. nationalzoo.si.edu/migratory-bird…

#BroodX has arrived! This year, 3 species of Magicicada (periodical cicadas) are emerging after 17 years underground. Today on our blog, BHL Program Director explores the Brood and its species via books in #BHLib. ➡️ s.si.edu/3v3YSyQ #Magicicada21

10/1 is National Hair Day! When we talk of hairy insects, flies and bumblebees are usually first, but there are fuzzy folks across many insect groups. Let's meet some! 1st up: the longhorn beetle Aristobia horridula has velvety hair on its body and antennae with pop-poms.

Next up for #NationalHairDay is the terrible hairy fly! Mormotomyia hirsuta, the terrible hairy fly, is a species known from only a single location in Kenya. The adults have small, non-functional wings and eyes and possibly feed on the bodily secretions of bats.

Our 3rd insect for #NationHairDay is a family of moths, Megalopygidae. Members of this family are called Flannel moths due to soft fur-like hairs that cover their body. The caterpillars are also hairy, but don’t touch-the hairs conceal venomous spines that can give painful stings

Our 4th insect my may look like a bee, but it's actually the bee-mimic robber fly (Laphria thoracica). Robber flies catch their insect prey in flight, then use their sharp mouthparts to inject digestive enzymes and then suck up the liquified insides.

The striking yellow tufts of hair on the jewel beetle, Julodis viridipes, is a perfect way to celebrate #NationalHairDay

#NationalHairDay wouldn’t be complete w/o famous fuzzy Hymenopterans! Bumblebees (Bombus sp.)&honeybees (Apis mellifera) groom pollen from hairs into pollen baskets found on hind legs. The velvet ant (Mutillidae) is actually a wasp that has one of the most painful insect stings