Pieter Vantieghem
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pietervantieghem.bsky.social
Pieter Vantieghem
@pietervantieghem.bsky.social
710 followers 470 following 360 posts

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

(westpal) butterfly ID help anytime

#refugeeswelcome #fightfascism

Every fraction of a degree is worth fighting for

(he/him)

Videos
Environmental science 40%
Biology 27%
Posts Replies Media Videos

Reposted by Pieter Vantieghem

inbo.be
INBO (Research Institute for Nature and Forest) @inbo.be · 10h
INBO publiceert zijn zesjaarlijks rapport voor Europa. www.demorgen.be/nieuws/nerge...
‘Nergens in Europa is het slechter gesteld dan bij ons’: natuur in Vlaanderen krijgt slecht rapport
Ondanks enkele succesverhalen is het met de Vlaamse natuur bedroevend gesteld. Dat blijkt uit een nieuwe, zesjaarlijkse evaluatie door het Instituut voor Natuur- en Bosonderzoek (INBO). Wat gaat goed,...
www.demorgen.be

Reposted by Simon L. Lewis, Iain Davidson, Johan P. Olsen , and 7 more

georgemonbiot.bsky.social
George Monbiot @georgemonbiot.bsky.social · 1d
Palestine Action have WON their judicial review in the High Court!
A massive victory for free speech, freedom of association and the right to protest.
A massive defeat for the draconian attempts by Keir Starmer's government to curtail our fundamental rights.

pietervantieghem.bsky.social
Pieter Vantieghem @pietervantieghem.bsky.social · 1d
Pearly heath & Alpine heath form a complex of seemingly integrades in the southern Alps known under the name Darwin's heath - Coenonympha (gardetta) darwiniana. Here's the 4 players in that complex, check ALT text for more info on these species in the making #darwinday #dailylepi #butterflies
Coenonympha arcania, pearly heath Widespread in lowland Europe, often on calcareous grasslands with a mixture of shrubbery. The white postdiscal spot is large and the upper eye spot on the hindwing is on the inside of the white zone. Coenonympha gardetta, Alpine heath Widespread on grasslands above treeline in the Alps. The white is limited and eyespots are all in line on the outer edge of the white zone. Coenonympha (gardetta) cephalidarwiniana, Darwin's heath complex On the French southern Alpine slopes there is a population with intermediate features, nowadays known as "cephalidarwiniana", externally close to C. arcania. These populations seem to have risen from hybridisation events but are stable now, species in the making. See https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.5220 for more information, the name "macromma" has been used there for this species, but this has recently been shown to be a mistake, see https://www.areeprotettealpimarittime.it/media/140e9804.pdf Coenonympha (gardetta) darwiniana, Darwin's heath complex On the border regions of Switzerland & Italy, Ticino, Domodossola etc there is a populations of heaths that look a bit like Alpine heaths but are much warmer in color and where the upper eyespot is just placed a bit more to the inside of the white zone. These populations seem to have risen from hybridisation events but are stable now, species in the making. See https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.5220 for more information. These are the true Darwin's heaths

Reposted by Anna O. Law, Lisa W. Fazio, Mark D. White , and 5 more

skwinnicki.bsky.social
SK Winnicki, PhD 🏳️‍⚧️ @skwinnicki.bsky.social · 1d
Found an additional graphic that gets even more of these quotes together.

I've kept "I hate myself, I hate clover, and I hate bees" pinned above my desk since I first started studying evolutionary biology as an undergraduate. So relatable to get extremely frustrated with your study system.
Image of Charles Darwin quotes, with the recipient of the letter and the date the letter was written. He said "I hate every wave of the ocean" to W.D. Fox on 15 February 1836, "Oh my God how I do hate species and varieties" to J.D. Hooker in 11 March 1858, "I am very tired, very stomachy, and hate nearly the whole world" to Thomas Huxley on 10 September 1860, "I am very poorly today and very stupid and hate everybody and everything" to Charles Lyell on 1 October 1861, "I hate myself, I hate clover, and I hate bees" to John Lubbock on 3 September 1862, and "I am languid and bedeviled and hate writing and hate everybody" to J.D. Hooker on 23 June 1863.

Reposted by Pieter Vantieghem

davidho.bsky.social
David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 2d
In case you didn’t hate this cycling team already because they are sponsored by a petrochemical company…
Ineos Grenadiers owner Jim Ratcliffe says UK being 'colonised by immigrants'
The billionaire made the comments in a TV interview
www.cyclingweekly.com

pietervantieghem.bsky.social
Pieter Vantieghem @pietervantieghem.bsky.social · 3d
*Arbutus (strawberry tree)

pietervantieghem.bsky.social
Pieter Vantieghem @pietervantieghem.bsky.social · 3d
And they also have one of the better butterfly books of Europe, unfortunately only in Catalan but with clear images showing features & detailed distribution maps: lynxnaturebooks.com/product/guia...

pietervantieghem.bsky.social
Pieter Vantieghem @pietervantieghem.bsky.social · 3d
Also, Catalunya has a very active monitoring network (after UK & Netherlands maybe the largest in Europe) and they have a good website, you can check their monitoring routes here and it will give you a good idea where you can see what species: www.catalanbms.org/en/xarxa/
Catalan Butterfly Monitoring Scheme
www.catalanbms.org

pietervantieghem.bsky.social
Pieter Vantieghem @pietervantieghem.bsky.social · 3d
Just N of Barcelona there are some forested hills, in 2013 I found Callophrys avis there amongst 100's of Callophrys rubi. Trick is to check Arbutu trees on eye level for territorial males rather than checking every green butterfly. I saw mine NW of Les Planes flic.kr/p/239PXTT
Callophrys avis 2013 04 09 Catalunya (1)
flic.kr

Reposted by Vaughn Shirey, Pieter Vantieghem, Marcus W. Rhodes

pavelmatosm.bsky.social
Pável Matos @pavelmatosm.bsky.social · 3d
The Map butterfly differs in wing size and color between seasons. We tested how these differences influence body temperature dynamics, revealing potentially optimized thermal performance between seasons. 🦋☀️

The study, led by Dani and Irča, is in preprint version: doi.org/10.64898/202...

Reposted by Pieter Vantieghem

theguardian.com
The Guardian @theguardian.com · 3d
Oatly banned from using word ‘milk’ to market plant-based products in UK
Oatly banned from using word ‘milk’ to market plant-based products in UK
Supreme court makes ruling after Swedish firm’s long-running battle with trade association Dairy UK * Business live – latest updates The Swedish-based drinks manufacturer Oatly has been banned from using the word “milk” to market its plant-based products, after a ruling by the UK supreme court. The alt-milk manufacturer has been in a long-running legal battle with the trade association Dairy UK after Oatly trademarked phrases associated with the dairy sector. Continue reading...
www.theguardian.com

Reposted by Pieter Vantieghem

vluchtelingenwerk.bsky.social
Vluchtelingenwerk Vlaanderen @vluchtelingenwerk.bsky.social · 3d
Één jaar regering #Arizona: wetten genegeerd, mensenrechten onder druk, en asielbeleid dat steeds verder afglijdt. Dit is geen “streng beleid”, maar afbraak van het recht op bescherming.

Wij eisen een koerswijziging: asiel is een recht.

Reposted by Jonathan Portes, Rebecca Ruth Gould, Juan Cole , and 7 more

marisakabas.bsky.social
Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · 3d
“Four of my children just evaporated,” Badran said, holding back tears. “I looked for them a million times. Not a piece was left. Where did they go?”

There are no words to adequately describe the evil here.
Israel used weapons in Gaza that made thousands of Palestinians evaporate
US-made thermal weapons burning at 3,500C caused 2,842 people to "evaporate" in Gaza, Al Jazeera investigation finds.
www.aljazeera.com

Reposted by Pieter Vantieghem

europebutterfly.bsky.social
Butterfly Conservation Europe @europebutterfly.bsky.social · 4d
Don't forget to tune in this Wednesday 11 February at 15:00 CET to hear our first masterclass on identifying European butterflies from a top expert Rudi Verovnik, covering East Continental and Balkan species
butterfly-monitoring.net/EPIC-Butterfly

Reposted by Pieter Vantieghem

joledamoisel.bsky.social
Joséphine Ledamoisel, PhD @joledamoisel.bsky.social · 4d
🦋 New preprint showing the convergent evolution of iridescence, a conspicuous colouration that likely participates in the ability of Morpho butterflies to escape their predators!

We bring evidence supporting evasive mimicry, i.e. the evolution of similar confusing patterns in hard-to-catch prey.

pietervantieghem.bsky.social
Pieter Vantieghem @pietervantieghem.bsky.social · 4d
#teammoth

Reposted by Pieter Vantieghem

sallyhayd.bsky.social
Sally Hayden @sallyhayd.bsky.social · 4d
"Two babies are among at least 53 people dead or missing after an inflatable migrant boat sank off Libya, the U.N. migration agency said on Monday" abcnews.go.com/Internationa...
Babies among 53 dead or missing after migrant boat sinks off Libya, UN says
The U.N. migration agency says a shipwreck off Libya's coast has left at least 53 Europe-bound migrants dead or missing
abcnews.go.com

Reposted by Pieter Vantieghem

the-episiarch.bsky.social
Veeloxxy Bites @the-episiarch.bsky.social · 4d
The bone collector caterpillar is a carnivorous caterpillar that lives in spider webs.
It disguises itself with the corpses of the spider's prey, while stealing food from their eight-legged host's web
🧪
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Hawaiian caterpillar patrols spiderwebs camouflaged in insect prey’s body parts
Lepidoptera is the most herbivorous of all the insect orders, with predatory caterpillars globally comprising less than 0.13% of the nearly 200,000 moth and butterfly species. Here, we report a specie...
www.science.org

Reposted by Joanna Bryson, Katharine Hayhoe, Richard S.J. Tol , and 2 more

wxnb.bsky.social
Nahel Belgherze @wxnb.bsky.social · 5d
Grazalema, Spain, received over 2,000 mm (78 inches) of rain in just the last 20 days.

Over a year’s worth of rain — and it’s only early February. This is hydrologically absurd.

Reposted by Pieter Vantieghem

caritasintbe.bsky.social
Caritas International.be @caritasintbe.bsky.social · 5d
Vijf maanden na het akkoord in de Belgische regering over Palestina blijven essentiële verbintenissen geblokkeerd.
Caritas International deelt de bevindingen van de koepels @11.be en @cncd.be en roept op tot de onmiddellijke uitvoering van de nog niet toegepaste maatregelen.
Palestina: vijf maanden na het akkoord in de Belgische regering blijven belangrijke verbintenissen dode letter | Caritas International België
Vijf maanden na het politieke akkoord dat de Belgische federale regering op 2 september 2025 goedkeurde als reactie op het geweld in Gaza en op de Westelijke Jordaanoever, zijn essentiële maatregelen ...
www.caritasinternational.be

pietervantieghem.bsky.social
Pieter Vantieghem @pietervantieghem.bsky.social · 5d
Yes, we're all awaiting Tymo his micro book in the low countries, wich is due to appear in a month or so knnvuitgeverij.nl/artikel/hand...
Handboek Motten | Determinatie van microvlinders in Nederland & België
Handboek Motten: determinatie van microvlinders in Nederland en België. Met meer dan 2600 foto’s van vlinders, rupsen en vraatsporen. Bevat een schat aan nieuwe kennis over rupsen en levenswijzen.
knnvuitgeverij.nl

pietervantieghem.bsky.social
Pieter Vantieghem @pietervantieghem.bsky.social · 5d
Thanks a lot, our (short) coast is sandy beach with marram grass dunes (where there's no urbanisation), there's R. crispus but afaik not in high densities. We have 2 estuaria/saltmarsh & maybe some ruderal sites mimicking shingle. This is the map of C. hydrolapathella on our citizen science website

pietervantieghem.bsky.social
Pieter Vantieghem @pietervantieghem.bsky.social · 6d
Agree that one should be aware of dark indiv P. rapae, especially in august-oct. But ofcourse any indiv could be a descendant of earlier arrivals. They breed on Brassicaceae that are common on ruderal locations in coastal reas as well.

pietervantieghem.bsky.social
Pieter Vantieghem @pietervantieghem.bsky.social · 6d
I haven't seen the paper so can't comment on that. A specimen may not be essential but good pics from multiple perspectives showing multiple features would be a minimum (or pics of an L1-L3 larva showing black on the head). I think there's now mainly distant single pics of promising individuals?

pietervantieghem.bsky.social
Pieter Vantieghem @pietervantieghem.bsky.social · 6d
Yes, I think I heard of that but I don't think people in Belgium have been looking out for it yet. What kind of habitats are these then found in? ping @wlangdon12.bsky.social

pietervantieghem.bsky.social
Pieter Vantieghem @pietervantieghem.bsky.social · 6d
The above pic is a first try of the internal stacking of my camera, it needed some playing around - but since I don't consider myself to be a good photographer - I'm not unhappy with the result 😊

pietervantieghem.bsky.social
Pieter Vantieghem @pietervantieghem.bsky.social · 6d
Coleophora hydrolapathella is a rare species in Belgium but maybe overlooked. We have 1 population near Ghent. The larvae winter in their cases on old stems of the larval foodplant Rumex hydrolapathum, so marshy grasslands need unmowed parts to keep this species #dailylepi #teammoth

Reposted by Pieter Vantieghem

mondiaalnieuws.bsky.social
MO*Magazine @mondiaalnieuws.bsky.social · 7d
5 maanden na Gaza-akkoord: ‘Belgische sancties blijven dode letter’ buff.ly/laciDXW
5 maanden na Gaza-akkoord: ‘Belgische sancties blijven dode letter’ – MO*
Vijf maanden na het politieke akkoord over Gaza en de Westelijke Jordaanoever, blijven cruciale maatregelen dode letter.
buff.ly

Reposted by Pieter Vantieghem

michaelemann.bsky.social
Michael E. Mann @michaelemann.bsky.social · 7d
If you still support Trump at this point, you are a racist.
phillewis.bsky.social Phil Lewis @phillewis.bsky.social · 8d
Last night, Trump posted a video to his social media platform that contained a racist clip showing Barack and Michelle Obama as monkeys. It's still up:
A racist screenshot of Michelle and Barack Obama

Reposted by Pieter Vantieghem

stephschelfhout.bsky.social
Stephanie Schelfhout @stephschelfhout.bsky.social · 8d
Afschaffing MOS, weg met natuureducatieve centra, … ik denk dat onze overheid niet snapt hoe slecht de algemene natuurkennis van onze jeugd is. Zulke onbezonnen besparingen => totale vervreemding van de lokale natuur. Vraag ze nu maar al eens hoe een vink klinkt 😢

vrtnws.be/p.M9G5y6Bpp
Natuureducatief centrum De Helix in Geraardsbergen sluit de deuren door Vlaamse besparingen | VRT NWS: nieuws
Het bekende natuureducatief centrum De Helix in de Geraardsbergse deelgemeente Grimminge stopt op 1 juli 2026 met al zijn activiteiten. De Vlaamse Regering moet besparen en heeft beslist om de middele...
vrtnws.be