Mia Croft (she/they)
PhD Researcher @newcastleuni.bsky.social @ForagingEcology.bsky.social investigating impacts of artifical light at night on ecological networks, using eDNA and nutritional analysis 🧬🔬🌿🐛🐜🪲🦗🦋🪳🐝🐞🕷
- I got one to species! Rugilis rufipes, with a skinny neck and funny little eyes. I love those diesel elytra
- Superfamily Aleocharinae, chunky with a mohair waistcoat, adorable
- Already amazed by the diverse morphology of these little rove beetles. This one is superfamily Tachyporinae, tribe Tachyporini
- First try at staphylinid ID, for dietary metabarcoding. I'm not going to try to get them all to species, or even genus! This one is superfamily Staphylininae, I think
- Happy to be back in the lab with my spiders. This is a male Neriene clathrata, I think
- Last day of the @nerc-eof.bsky.social course on #Python for #Bioinformatics today, learning how to process #eDNA and other #sequencing data in FASTQ format from #NGS platforms like Illumina, using biopython tools from the module seqIO 🥼🧪🧬💻 #Genomics
- Excited to be learning #Python for #Bioinformatics with @nerc-eof.bsky.social today, building my skills for ecological networks analysis once I have all my #metabarcoding data
- Exciting talk by @maximuminsect.bsky.social today on driver ants, and such an interesting finding that an extra caste in one species may result in niche differentiation to explain two otherwise similar species occupying the same habitat
- Free webinar this Monday! 🐜 Driver ants are some of nature’s most extreme superorganisms and Dr Max Tercel’s research uncovers behaviours you won’t believe. Last spaces left 👉 www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1675100022... @royentsoc.bsky.social @fieldstudiesc.bsky.social @nbntrust.bsky.social
- Drassodes with the trochanter notches and tubular spinnerets, most likely cupreus, I couldn't get a good view on a chelicera to confirm @britishspiders.bsky.social #Arachnids #Spiders
- Pardosa amenata, however this is a juvenile so I'm less confident
- Alopecosa juvenile, I think
- Pardosa nigriceps, adult female
- My first go at spider ID! Pardosa pullata
- Gorgeous metalic blue on this Leistus spinibarbis 💙
- A very nice Leistus spinibarbis, I couldn't capture the electric blue sheen
- A new carabid for me, Paradromius linearis, with its worried-looking wrinkly face
- Lots of Bembidion lampros in my samples, they look like they're made from black glass
- A lovely little Trechus obtusus
- Identifying carabid beetles in the lab, here's an easy Anchomenus dorsalis
- Reposted by Mia Croft (she/they)A common type of ant in Europe breaks a fundamental rule in biology: its queens can produce male offspring that are a whole different species go.nature.com/467N16m
- Had such a great time at #EcoNet2025 and met some really amazing researchers from this awesome international community. Bring on EcoNet 2027 in Brazil! 🇧🇷
- Having a fantastic time at #EcoNet2025 with so many impressive and inspiring talks
- Carabids, rove beetles and spiders 🕷 isolated from a dry pitfall trap for dietary metabarcoding 🧬
- Set some dry pitfall traps with a couple handfuls of LECA to catch live predators for dietary metabarcoding 🧬 the LECA provides shelter from predation (including within-trap) 🪲
- Funnels are working well to reduce small mammals mortalities in pitfall traps 🐁 just cut the narrow end shorter and you can even drop a sample pot with solution into the cup for easy collection 🪲
- Adding charcoal-plaster bases to feeding arenas, ready for some beetle bioassays soon 🪲
- Reposted by Mia Croft (she/they)Despite having seen my fair share of these #spiders at this point, I've only found two yellow morph Misumena vatia and they really are gorgeous 🌟💛☀️
- Excited to learn some practical techniques in Metabarcoding for Diet Analysis & eDNA in a 2-day workshop with @nerc-eof.bsky.social starting today 🧬
- Reposted by Mia Croft (she/they)Hi everyone, I am launching a community science scheme "Spider Spies" where we are asking you, to send us pictures and if you're keen and able samples of Misumena vatia, the Flower Crab Spider to investigate their interactions with their host flowers and the invertebrate community around them.
- This maple trunk was covered in snipefly, Rhagio scolopaceus, drinking sap at Gibside, Northumbria
- Fantastic time at the Light Pollution As A Driver Of Insect Declines symposium at University of Exeter, with a great range of talks, useful workshop on measuring light, collaborating on a paper, meeting lots of amazing researchers and sharing ideas, plus nighttime rockpooling on Falmouth beach 🏖
- My lighting rigs are up! Ready for the first round of data collection soon
- Reposted by Mia Croft (she/they)We had a great time last week putting up experimental lamp posts at one of the university's experimental farms for @miacroftento.bsky.social's upcoming artificial light experiments! We even had a mining bee digging its hole near ours - perhaps setting up their own lamp posts! 💡🐝
- Had a go at painting iridescence, which was surprisingly difficult! Cyclommatus elaphus, an Indonesian stag beetle 🎨
- Fantastic to see tawny mining bees emerging from the bare earth patch in our garden after the long British winter
- Choosing my artificial light study sites with some beautiful established field margins and hedgerows at Cockle Park Farm, Northumberland
- Buglife mention light pollution as a crucial neglected issue in insect declines, and urge the Government to take action without delay www.theguardian.com/environment/...
- Reposted by Mia Croft (she/they)Our Agricultural and Forest Entomology special issue on advances in insect biomonitoring was published today! 🌾🪲🔍🪰🌲 Explore new and upcoming advances in our ability to detect, identify and characterise insects in production systems! resjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/toc/14619563...
- Great opportunities for internships with an entomology survey and an ant survey in the alps!
- @joe-roberts.bsky.social your students may be interested in this
- Exciting PhD opportunity with my research group! Please share 🪲🐛
- 🚨PHD OPPORTUNITY!🚨 Join us in Newcastle University to assess carabid beetle ecosystem services and foraging ecology, and develop new methods for inferring interactions between beetles and their food! 🪲🍽️💻 iapetus2.ac.uk/studentships...
- Reposted by Mia Croft (she/they)Check out the latest special from The Naked Scientists on animals, featuring an interview with me about our recent paper on spider nutrition in @oikosjournal.bsky.social! Listen in here: www.thenakedscientists.com/articles/int... and check out the full episode for some incredible animal insights!
- Reposted by Mia Croft (she/they)5 #Entomology #StarterPacks are full go.bsky.app/Fq2CQNw go.bsky.app/7CaCbMC go.bsky.app/JVRwhS1 go.bsky.app/2nEuqKX go.bsky.app/VDorcVS Six? Nominate: grad students, early career, colleagues around the world, equity deserving #entomología #entomologie #Invertebrate #Arthropod 🪲🐞🐜🐛🦟🪳🦋🐝🦗🪰🕸️at://did:plc:65akt7cpte3w53rawcjkzrwm/app.bsky.graph.starterpack/3lbi56ec5aw2m
- Reposted by Mia Croft (she/they)The taxonomic biases in biodiversity data are growing over time. The amount of data we are collecting is growing, but the biases get bigger. We need to make a conscious effort to study the understudied! #SciComms #Science #Taxonomy 🧪 image from Troudet et al 2018 @natureportfolio.bsky.social
- Reposted by Mia Croft (she/they)4 #Entomology #StarterPacks have filled! go.bsky.app/Fq2CQNw go.bsky.app/7CaCbMC go.bsky.app/JVRwhS1 go.bsky.app/2nEuqKX Drive for Five! Nominate widely: grad students, early career, colleagues around the world, equity deserving #entomología #entomologie #Invertebrate #Arthropod 🪲🐞🐜🐛🦟🪳🦋🐝🦗🪰🕸️at://did:plc:65akt7cpte3w53rawcjkzrwm/app.bsky.graph.starterpack/3lbcxpnq2qw2k
