Richard Merrill
@dickmerrill.bsky.social
Evolutionary biologist at LMU Munich interested behaviour and speciation. Tropical butterfly hunter. Dog father. https://www.evol.bio.lmu.de/research/merrill/index.html
Reposted by Richard Merrill
And apparently #Heliconius live in Kent now
November 22, 2025 at 7:37 AM
And apparently #Heliconius live in Kent now
Reposted by Richard Merrill
I am so excited to share new work on a TE insertion that regulates iridescence in swordtails, led by fantastic grad student @nadiahaghani.bsky.social and with help from many coauthors! In a time that has been so difficult to navigate, this & other projects have kept my spirits up: shorturl.at/NE65A
Insertion of an invading retrovirus regulates a novel color trait in swordtail fish
For over a century, evolutionary biologists have been motivated to understand the mechanisms through which organisms adapt to their environments. Coloration and pigmentation are remarkably variable wi...
shorturl.at
November 12, 2025 at 8:34 PM
I am so excited to share new work on a TE insertion that regulates iridescence in swordtails, led by fantastic grad student @nadiahaghani.bsky.social and with help from many coauthors! In a time that has been so difficult to navigate, this & other projects have kept my spirits up: shorturl.at/NE65A
Reposted by Richard Merrill
Join us! 🧬🪰🎉🔬
We are currently advertising two #PhD projects to study the #evolution, #development and #genomics of sexual traits in stalk-eyed flies.
Deadline for applying is Wednesday, January 7, 2026. Get in touch for more info!
We are currently advertising two #PhD projects to study the #evolution, #development and #genomics of sexual traits in stalk-eyed flies.
Deadline for applying is Wednesday, January 7, 2026. Get in touch for more info!
November 17, 2025 at 3:58 PM
Join us! 🧬🪰🎉🔬
We are currently advertising two #PhD projects to study the #evolution, #development and #genomics of sexual traits in stalk-eyed flies.
Deadline for applying is Wednesday, January 7, 2026. Get in touch for more info!
We are currently advertising two #PhD projects to study the #evolution, #development and #genomics of sexual traits in stalk-eyed flies.
Deadline for applying is Wednesday, January 7, 2026. Get in touch for more info!
Reposted by Richard Merrill
Two rainforest butterflies have evolved to look more alike, likely to confuse shared predators. But why don’t they get confused themselves?
To avoid mating with the wrong species, they’ve cleverly evolved distinct scents.
buff.ly/fxVrlCI
To avoid mating with the wrong species, they’ve cleverly evolved distinct scents.
buff.ly/fxVrlCI
November 8, 2025 at 11:44 PM
Two rainforest butterflies have evolved to look more alike, likely to confuse shared predators. But why don’t they get confused themselves?
To avoid mating with the wrong species, they’ve cleverly evolved distinct scents.
buff.ly/fxVrlCI
To avoid mating with the wrong species, they’ve cleverly evolved distinct scents.
buff.ly/fxVrlCI
Reposted by Richard Merrill
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
@ebablab.bsky.social and I helped a bit in this really informative article by Robin Grob in the el Jundi lab on spatial orientation strategies in Lepidoptera. Have a read :-)
@ebablab.bsky.social and I helped a bit in this really informative article by Robin Grob in the el Jundi lab on spatial orientation strategies in Lepidoptera. Have a read :-)
The diversity of lepidopteran spatial orientation strategies – neuronal mechanisms and emerging challenges in a changing world - Journal of Comparative Physiology A
The Lepidoptera, butterflies and moths, display an astonishing diversity of spatial orientation strategies essential for survival, reproduction, and ecological success. These spatial orientation strat...
link.springer.com
November 10, 2025 at 9:18 AM
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
@ebablab.bsky.social and I helped a bit in this really informative article by Robin Grob in the el Jundi lab on spatial orientation strategies in Lepidoptera. Have a read :-)
@ebablab.bsky.social and I helped a bit in this really informative article by Robin Grob in the el Jundi lab on spatial orientation strategies in Lepidoptera. Have a read :-)
Reposted by Richard Merrill
Our new @science.org paper is out! Cuckoos and hosts are locked in a coevolutionary arms race over egg mimicry.
But how are these egg types inherited, and could this drive speciation? We sequenced hundreds of genomes to find out!
doi.org/10.1126/scie...
🧵1/6
But how are these egg types inherited, and could this drive speciation? We sequenced hundreds of genomes to find out!
doi.org/10.1126/scie...
🧵1/6
Genomic architecture of egg mimicry and its consequences for speciation in parasitic cuckoos
Host-parasite arms races facilitate rapid evolution and can fuel speciation. Cuculus cuckoos are deceptive egg mimics that exhibit a broad diversity of counterfeit egg phenotypes, representing host-ad...
doi.org
October 30, 2025 at 7:15 PM
Our new @science.org paper is out! Cuckoos and hosts are locked in a coevolutionary arms race over egg mimicry.
But how are these egg types inherited, and could this drive speciation? We sequenced hundreds of genomes to find out!
doi.org/10.1126/scie...
🧵1/6
But how are these egg types inherited, and could this drive speciation? We sequenced hundreds of genomes to find out!
doi.org/10.1126/scie...
🧵1/6
Reposted by Richard Merrill
Gotta love Private Eye.
Always cuts through the crap.
Always cuts through the crap.
October 31, 2025 at 7:38 PM
Gotta love Private Eye.
Always cuts through the crap.
Always cuts through the crap.
Reposted by Richard Merrill
Really like this paper, led by @ficusorganensis.bsky.social, the supplementary videos aren’t up yet but will post them when I’m back in the office!
Protein-rich flowers are spatially scattered food sources for Heliconinii 🦋. This requires a sophisticated spatial memory. @ebablab.bsky.social et al. monitors the flight behavior when 🦋 encounter novel 🌺 and compare this behavior with other 🦋 species.
journals.biologists.com/jeb/article/...
journals.biologists.com/jeb/article/...
Heliconinii butterflies display flight behaviours reminiscent of orientation flights when using new floral sources
Despite their small brains, many insects form long-term memories of the spatial distribution of resources. To support this, some species display ‘orientation’ flights to increase capture of landscape ...
journals.biologists.com
October 17, 2025 at 7:42 PM
Really like this paper, led by @ficusorganensis.bsky.social, the supplementary videos aren’t up yet but will post them when I’m back in the office!
Reposted by Richard Merrill
Nice paper showing a major effect of wing morphology on diptera flight by Camille Le Roy, Florian Muijres and collegues!
doi.org/10.7554/eLif...
doi.org/10.7554/eLif...
October 19, 2025 at 12:22 PM
Nice paper showing a major effect of wing morphology on diptera flight by Camille Le Roy, Florian Muijres and collegues!
doi.org/10.7554/eLif...
doi.org/10.7554/eLif...
Reposted by Richard Merrill
🚨🚨Job! 🚨🚨Permanent (75% time) job! We are a pretty awesome research group & seek a manager who deals with everything: personnel tasks, organizing retreats, preparing code for teaching / data structures for research... Fluency in German & English essential. stellenboerse.uni-mainz.de#/jgu/job/51527
stellenboerse.uni-mainz.de
October 17, 2025 at 7:38 AM
🚨🚨Job! 🚨🚨Permanent (75% time) job! We are a pretty awesome research group & seek a manager who deals with everything: personnel tasks, organizing retreats, preparing code for teaching / data structures for research... Fluency in German & English essential. stellenboerse.uni-mainz.de#/jgu/job/51527
Reposted by Richard Merrill
Excited to share our new #biorxivpreprint
We discovered that the fruit fly #drosophila erecta requires food odor to mate and arousal is further enhanced by social group motion.
Cross-species analysis of brain activity reveals a novel gate evolved from within a conserved circuit
shorturl.at/gGYm7
We discovered that the fruit fly #drosophila erecta requires food odor to mate and arousal is further enhanced by social group motion.
Cross-species analysis of brain activity reveals a novel gate evolved from within a conserved circuit
shorturl.at/gGYm7
October 16, 2025 at 6:34 AM
Excited to share our new #biorxivpreprint
We discovered that the fruit fly #drosophila erecta requires food odor to mate and arousal is further enhanced by social group motion.
Cross-species analysis of brain activity reveals a novel gate evolved from within a conserved circuit
shorturl.at/gGYm7
We discovered that the fruit fly #drosophila erecta requires food odor to mate and arousal is further enhanced by social group motion.
Cross-species analysis of brain activity reveals a novel gate evolved from within a conserved circuit
shorturl.at/gGYm7
Reposted by Richard Merrill
The final version of our paper on how ants and possibly other insects use a crazy mechanism involving extensive transcriptional interference to regulate odorant receptor expression is now open access in my favorite journal, @currentbiology.bsky.social
authors.elsevier.com/sd/article/S...
authors.elsevier.com/sd/article/S...
ScienceDirect.com | Science, health and medical journals, full text articles and books.
authors.elsevier.com
September 19, 2025 at 3:44 PM
The final version of our paper on how ants and possibly other insects use a crazy mechanism involving extensive transcriptional interference to regulate odorant receptor expression is now open access in my favorite journal, @currentbiology.bsky.social
authors.elsevier.com/sd/article/S...
authors.elsevier.com/sd/article/S...
Reposted by Richard Merrill
Come be my colleague! Tenured Associate Professor position opening in Plant Ecology at my department @stockholm-uni.bsky.social www.su.se/department-o...
DEEP seeks Associate Professor in Plant Ecology – apply now! - Department of Ecology, Environment and Plant Sciences
DEEP seeks Associate Professor in Plant Ecology – apply now! - Department of Ecology, Environment and Plant Sciences
www.su.se
October 16, 2025 at 10:08 AM
Come be my colleague! Tenured Associate Professor position opening in Plant Ecology at my department @stockholm-uni.bsky.social www.su.se/department-o...
Reposted by Richard Merrill
Great new postdoc fellowship for foundational plant research.
If you’re into genetics and genomics of plant reproductive evolution or adaptive convergence (incl in the cool and charismatic nightshades!) I’d be happy to talk about possible projects!
www.simonsfoundation.org/grant/simons...
If you’re into genetics and genomics of plant reproductive evolution or adaptive convergence (incl in the cool and charismatic nightshades!) I’d be happy to talk about possible projects!
www.simonsfoundation.org/grant/simons...
Simons Postdoctoral Fellowships in Plant Biology
Simons Postdoctoral Fellowships in Plant Biology on Simons Foundation
www.simonsfoundation.org
October 14, 2025 at 3:47 PM
Great new postdoc fellowship for foundational plant research.
If you’re into genetics and genomics of plant reproductive evolution or adaptive convergence (incl in the cool and charismatic nightshades!) I’d be happy to talk about possible projects!
www.simonsfoundation.org/grant/simons...
If you’re into genetics and genomics of plant reproductive evolution or adaptive convergence (incl in the cool and charismatic nightshades!) I’d be happy to talk about possible projects!
www.simonsfoundation.org/grant/simons...
Reposted by Richard Merrill
Excited to see our most recent MS finally out in the world. We used F1 female hybrids (of two behaviourally-isolated cricket species) to show that broad gene expression divergence in the brain underpins context-dependent divergence of female response to male sexual signals.
Cis-regulatory divergence and mate recognition in behaviourally isolated cricket species. https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.05.19.654830v1
May 23, 2025 at 10:54 AM
Excited to see our most recent MS finally out in the world. We used F1 female hybrids (of two behaviourally-isolated cricket species) to show that broad gene expression divergence in the brain underpins context-dependent divergence of female response to male sexual signals.
On my (slow journey) back to Munich from an awesome visit to Stockholm uni. Thanks @rawwiberg.bsky.social and others for the invite!
October 14, 2025 at 4:56 PM
On my (slow journey) back to Munich from an awesome visit to Stockholm uni. Thanks @rawwiberg.bsky.social and others for the invite!
Reposted by Richard Merrill
2 job adverts on a NERC project w myself + @darrenobbard.bsky.social on “What determines the virome: ecology and the environment, evolution, or species history?” early 2026 in
@uniexecec.bsky.social
- Postdoc: jobs.exeter.ac.uk/hrpr_webrecr...
- RA: jobs.exeter.ac.uk/hrpr_webrecr...
Pls share!
@uniexecec.bsky.social
- Postdoc: jobs.exeter.ac.uk/hrpr_webrecr...
- RA: jobs.exeter.ac.uk/hrpr_webrecr...
Pls share!
September 25, 2025 at 3:55 PM
2 job adverts on a NERC project w myself + @darrenobbard.bsky.social on “What determines the virome: ecology and the environment, evolution, or species history?” early 2026 in
@uniexecec.bsky.social
- Postdoc: jobs.exeter.ac.uk/hrpr_webrecr...
- RA: jobs.exeter.ac.uk/hrpr_webrecr...
Pls share!
@uniexecec.bsky.social
- Postdoc: jobs.exeter.ac.uk/hrpr_webrecr...
- RA: jobs.exeter.ac.uk/hrpr_webrecr...
Pls share!
Reposted by Richard Merrill
Funded PhD position available 🎉 Come and work with me in Helsinki to uncover the pathways producing colourful tiger moth wings. Lots of options for genomics, CRISPR, fieldwork, behaviour experiments… Email with questions! jobs.helsinki.fi/job/Helsinki...
September 24, 2025 at 8:53 AM
Funded PhD position available 🎉 Come and work with me in Helsinki to uncover the pathways producing colourful tiger moth wings. Lots of options for genomics, CRISPR, fieldwork, behaviour experiments… Email with questions! jobs.helsinki.fi/job/Helsinki...
first road trip in our van has been a mixed bag …
September 17, 2025 at 6:57 AM
first road trip in our van has been a mixed bag …
Reposted by Richard Merrill
I'm looking for PhD students to join the lab starting August 2026. We study the evolution of insect chemical signals so if you're interested in evolutionary biology, chemical ecology, molecular biology, behavior, or genetics, this could be a good fit for you! More info here: tinyurl.com/mrxchwfm
September 11, 2025 at 1:45 PM
I'm looking for PhD students to join the lab starting August 2026. We study the evolution of insect chemical signals so if you're interested in evolutionary biology, chemical ecology, molecular biology, behavior, or genetics, this could be a good fit for you! More info here: tinyurl.com/mrxchwfm
Reposted by Richard Merrill
José Borrero from Richard Merrill's lab studies how the visual acuity changes with age in different species of Heliconius butterflies and how it is related to brain morphology and neurogenesis. #dzg2025
@borreroja.bsky.social
@dickmerrill.bsky.social
@borreroja.bsky.social
@dickmerrill.bsky.social
September 12, 2025 at 10:45 AM
José Borrero from Richard Merrill's lab studies how the visual acuity changes with age in different species of Heliconius butterflies and how it is related to brain morphology and neurogenesis. #dzg2025
@borreroja.bsky.social
@dickmerrill.bsky.social
@borreroja.bsky.social
@dickmerrill.bsky.social
Reposted by Richard Merrill
Looking for a PhD? I am advertising two industry sponsored PhD projects. One on black soldier fly genetics with #betabugs and another on searching insect biodiversity for novel enzymes #Syngenta. Get in touch if you are interested!! bbsrcdtp.lifesci.cam.ac.uk/available-ic...
Available iCASE projects | Cambridge Biosciences DTP PhD Programme
iCASE projects for academic year 2026-2027 line_divider.png Project: Understanding cellulose digestion by cryo-EM structure of cellulose microfibril-enzyme complexes Project reference: ICS-BIO-PD26 S...
bbsrcdtp.lifesci.cam.ac.uk
September 10, 2025 at 2:08 PM
Looking for a PhD? I am advertising two industry sponsored PhD projects. One on black soldier fly genetics with #betabugs and another on searching insect biodiversity for novel enzymes #Syngenta. Get in touch if you are interested!! bbsrcdtp.lifesci.cam.ac.uk/available-ic...
Reposted by Richard Merrill
A little late, but I still want to share the good news 🎊: I recently started my #MSCA postdoctoral fellowship. I will assess the impact of climate change on wood ants🐜 & their hybrids 🧬. My project is based at the Uni #Amsterdam with Jonna Kulmuni & @dickmerrill.bsky.social @lmumuenchen.bsky.social
September 11, 2025 at 5:51 PM
A little late, but I still want to share the good news 🎊: I recently started my #MSCA postdoctoral fellowship. I will assess the impact of climate change on wood ants🐜 & their hybrids 🧬. My project is based at the Uni #Amsterdam with Jonna Kulmuni & @dickmerrill.bsky.social @lmumuenchen.bsky.social
Reposted by Richard Merrill
🧪 #source request: Are you a PhD student from Singapore, Japan, Korea, Australia, South Africa, Germany, or China who *recently graduated or will soon graduate?* If so, I'd like to hear about your next steps for a story in @nature.com. Send me a DM, email me, or find me on Signal (aheidt.16).
August 27, 2025 at 2:42 PM
🧪 #source request: Are you a PhD student from Singapore, Japan, Korea, Australia, South Africa, Germany, or China who *recently graduated or will soon graduate?* If so, I'd like to hear about your next steps for a story in @nature.com. Send me a DM, email me, or find me on Signal (aheidt.16).