Pieter Vantieghem
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pietervantieghem.bsky.social
Pieter Vantieghem
@pietervantieghem.bsky.social

Belgian #biodiversity enthusiast, main interest in #butterflies & other things with wings

(westpal) butterfly ID help anytime

#refugeeswelcome

Every fraction of a degree is worth fighting for

(he/him)

Environmental science 40%
Biology 27%

Reposted by Pieter Vantieghem

The geometrid moth Drepanogynis insciata was only known from two historical specimens collected before 1879. Now, it has been rediscovered in South Africa's Western Cape.

@smnstuttgart.bsky.social

Find out more here: doi.org/10.3897/zook...

Ethope noirei

An attractive black Satyrid from montane bamboo forests. It is restricted to S China & N Indochina (Thailand, Laos, Vietnam). This pic is from Nam Nao NP in Thailand.

#dailylepi

Reposted by Pieter Vantieghem

I don't know why people use gen-AI for nature posting. Real animals are amazing all on their own.
From the spiders community on Reddit: A courting pair of Brazilian Jewels. This tiny (~2”), docile, and rare type of tarantula lives beneath camouflaged silken trapdoors on trees and is one of the mos...
Explore this post and more from the spiders community
www.reddit.com

Veel succes maar weet dat de soort in O-Vlaanderen erg beperkt is. Echte populaties zijn gekend uit het Z van de prov, er is 1 lichtvangst in Ursel. Zoeken met de zaklamp langs oude hagen is vaak effectiever om ze te vinden.

A lepi a day keeps troubles away!
It's freezing here now but next week night temp will rise to +5°C so maybe this one will start to get active!
Theria primaria is active mainly in jan-feb, females are flightless with reduced wings, they need black- & hawthorn hedges. Local in Flanders.
#dailylepi

Reposted by Pieter Vantieghem

Waarom Europa migranten broodnodig heeft en hoe je dat menswaardig kunt regelen zonder open grenzen. Lezenswaardig interview met de Spaanse migratiewetenschapper Javier de Lucas in De Groene Amsterdammer.
“We cannot withdraw from the fact that over 1 million species of plants and animals face extinction.”

IPBES remains committed to its mandate to provide the most credible science and evidence about biodiversity to all decision makers and actors.

@davidobura.bsky.social , @ipbes.net Chair

Reposted by Pieter Vantieghem

New Icelandic RED LIST (in Icelandic):
www.natt.is/is/frettir/2...
Country's populations of Dunlin, Golden Plover, Redshank and Whimbrel are now VULNERABLE (Threatened).
Blog in English about recent declines:
wadertales.wordpress.com/2025/02/20/i...
#ornithology

Er zijn niet veel kansen voor jonge onderzoekers om met vlinders te werken in Vlaanderen. Dit is er één!
👇
#Vacature onderzoeker argusvlinder in de Antwerpse haven: je zet ecologische experimenten op in het veld en in het laboratorium, bereidt publicaties voor, analyseert gegevens en publiceert open datasets ifv natuurbeheerplan. bit.ly/4svHZeh

Reposted by Pieter Vantieghem

#Vacature onderzoeker argusvlinder in de Antwerpse haven: je zet ecologische experimenten op in het veld en in het laboratorium, bereidt publicaties voor, analyseert gegevens en publiceert open datasets ifv natuurbeheerplan. bit.ly/4svHZeh
A new study finds significant biodiversity loss in spiders & insects including butterflies and beetles. The likely culprit is long-term changes to the El Niño cycle, fuelled by climate change.

Read more in The Conversation: https://ow.ly/KmLw50XqtvY
Climate-fuelled El Niño events are devastating butterflies, beetles and other tropical insects
The research suggests the life-support system underpinning the tropics is at serious risk in a warmer world.
ow.ly

In 2016 we found Nevada grayling still relatively easy at Puerto de la Ragua, E of Sierra Nevada. New research shows this is one of only 4 remaining locations for this species (of once 11). It was only discovered <100y ago, let's make sure this species action plan gives it a few more 100y to live!

Reposted by Pieter Vantieghem

🦋Volgens De Vlinderstichting vestigen het scheefbloemwitje en kaasjeskruiddikkopje zich in Nederland. Dankzij NDFF-data weten we precies waar ze zitten.

👉Lees het volledige bericht op Nature Today: www.naturetoday.com/intl/nl/natu...
Kaasjeskruiddikkopje - Carcharodus alceae
Verspreiding en ecologie van Kaasjeskruiddikkopje
www.verspreidingsatlas.nl

Reposted by Pieter Vantieghem

New study using @gardenmothscheme.bsky.social data shows that 125w & 80w bulbs attract more moths than any actinics, and that Robinson and Skinner traps retain more moths that Heath traps #teammoth doi.org/10.1111/icad...
Effect of bulb type on moth trap catch and composition in UK gardens
We analyse 10 years of records Garden Moth Scheme (GMS) to estimate the effect of bulb and trap type on the number of moths caught by moth traps. We find that brighter, higher wattage bulbs collect ...
doi.org
We have a new blog on our efforts to save one of Europe's most threatened butterflies: the Nevada Grayling (Pseudochazara williamsi), found in just a few locations in southern Spain.
www.bc-europe.eu/webpage.php?...

Super! Great! A very big thanks! 🙏🙏

Het vrouwtje (met het achterlijf in de lucht) is inderdaad een groot koolwitje maar het mannetje (in de vlucht) is een klein koolwitje (met middenstip en zwart van topvlek beperkt) ;-)
Dat achterlijf in de lucht is een signaal dat het vrouwtje geen zin heeft in paren.

#butterfly #paperrequest
Someone has access to this zootaxa article and is willing to share it with me?
I'm planning to go that way in a few months...
doi.org/10.11646/zoo...
On the taxonomy of the genus Lethe Hübner (Lepidoptera, Papilionoidea, Nymphalidae, Satyrinae) with description of a new species | Zootaxa
doi.org

Reposted by Pieter Vantieghem

‘2025 was, beste lezer, mijn jaar van verstilling. 2026 wordt mijn jaar van verzet. Doet u mee?’ www.mo.be/column/rouw-...
Rouw zette een domper op mijn solidariteit – MO*
MO*columniste Tuly Salumu heeft een rampjaar achter de rug en sloot een tijdje de gordijnen naar de buitenwereld.
buff.ly

Reposted by Pieter Vantieghem

Our researchers reveal that light pollution disrupts nocturnal insects & spiders' movements.🏙️🕷️

Dr Rochelle Meah & Prof Nicholas Roberts highlight two key effects:

1️⃣ Masked day-to-night transitions. 🌙🕷️
2️⃣ Blinded polarized light for navigation.☀️🦋

Read➡️: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Light pollution creates multiple threats to the movement ecology of nocturnal arthropod taxa
Light pollution is a major contributing factor to declines in global biodiversity1,2 that is steadily increasing in both severity and spatial extent.3…
www.sciencedirect.com

Reposted by Pieter Vantieghem

Reposted by Pieter Vantieghem

First report of the invasive pest species Spodoptera frugiperda (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) in Eastern Europe

Free download: doi.org/10.18476/202...

#pest #moth @braconidae-ua.bsky.social @smnstuttgart.bsky.social @bioone.bsky.social

Reposted by Pieter Vantieghem

A migratory divide in insects! 🦋 Vanessa cardui butterflies migrate in opposite directions in the Northern and Southern hemispheres 🌍, a pattern driven by a chromosomal inversion 🧬

Paper @natcomms.nature.com
doi.org/10.1038/s414...

#butterflymigration #insectmigration #migratorydivide #evolution

Reposted by Pieter Vantieghem

Killings of environmental defenders rose from 4 in 2023 to at least 20 in 2024 in Guatemala, according to Global Witness.

Despite a new government under Bernardo Arévalo, land grabbing, criminalization and violence against Indigenous and campesino defenders are escalating.
Guatemala’s eco defenders reel from surge in killings and persecution
Environmental and territorial defenders in Guatemala face a critical moment as violence targeting them increases across the country. In 2024, at least 20 such defenders were killed for their work, up…
news.mongabay.com

Reposted by Pieter Vantieghem

#ERGAReads | We start the year by highlighting our partner Project Psyche: reference genomes for all Lepidoptera in Europe! 🦋 🌍 🧬 @projectpsyche.bsky.social

🔗 www.cell.com/trends/ecolo...

#butterflies #moths #genomes
Project Psyche: reference genomes for all Lepidoptera in Europe
Project Psyche is a transnational initiative to generate and study chromosome-level reference genomes of all ~11 000 species of Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths) found in Europe. Here, we describe…
www.cell.com
We got Meta’s “general global playbook” for defeating advertiser verification regulations, which the company knows would reduce scams. It includes making scam ads “not findable” for regulators searching Meta’s ad library through targeted scrubbing.

www.reuters.com/investigatio...
Meta created ‘playbook’ to fend off pressure to crack down on scammers, documents show
As regulators pressure Meta to verify the identity of advertisers on Facebook and Instagram, the social media giant has drafted a “playbook” to stall them. A Reuters investigation examines its tactics...
www.reuters.com

Reposted by Pieter Vantieghem

"the key thing about AI is not the mistakes that it makes. It’s the scale of destruction that it allows militaries to unleash, and it’s a discourse of legitimacy that it enables – a discourse of targets and collateral damage." www.theguardian.com/world/2025/d...
‘Data is control’: what we learned from a year investigating the Israeli military’s ties to big tech
Our reporting revealed a symbiotic relationship between the IDF and Silicon Valley – with implications for the future of warfare
www.theguardian.com

I've found brown & black hairstreak eggs yesterday in the #Argonne, in the N of France, near where we are staying for a week. Today I had some time to make pictures of the #brownhairstreak eggs. Can you find hibernating #butterflies near you?

Reposted by Pieter Vantieghem

A new study has revealed that even modest levels of road traffic across Iceland's lowlands can significantly reduce the abundance of breeding birds, including globally important populations of waders:
Small roads, big impacts: breeding birds fall by 20% near Icelandic thoroughfares
New research reveals that low-traffic roads in Iceland reduce breeding bird abundance by up to 20% within 200 m of the road edge, with Whimbrel, Golden Plover, Dunlin and Meadow Pipit being the most-affected species.
bit.ly

Reposted by Pieter Vantieghem

Graslanden lijden onder de klimaatverstoring. Meer info in ons rapport ‘Habitats en soorten in een veranderend klimaat’ (p.102 en volgende) bit.ly/3MVwI6P