Massimo Martini
@entomassi.bsky.social
Entomologist | PhD @ Uni Freiburg
🐝 Insect ecology & multitrophic interactions
🌿 Food web dynamics in growing forests
📸 Macrophotography
🐝 Insect ecology & multitrophic interactions
🌿 Food web dynamics in growing forests
📸 Macrophotography
Joint conference between @treedi.bsky.social and @multitroph.bsky.social has begun in Leipzig! Good way to start my last year of PhD 🕷🐛🐝🌿
October 14, 2025 at 11:21 AM
Joint conference between @treedi.bsky.social and @multitroph.bsky.social has begun in Leipzig! Good way to start my last year of PhD 🕷🐛🐝🌿
It's not only bees. Syrphid flies are also very important pollinators and are so gosh darn cute 😍
Episyrphus balteatus,☝️ for scale
Episyrphus balteatus,☝️ for scale
October 6, 2025 at 2:35 PM
It's not only bees. Syrphid flies are also very important pollinators and are so gosh darn cute 😍
Episyrphus balteatus,☝️ for scale
Episyrphus balteatus,☝️ for scale
The german+austian+swiss conference of #ecology (gfö) just wrapped up, and I was stoked to present results from a long-term biodiversity study - a huge combined effort involving a decade of insect population monitoring.
I also managed to check out some entomological collections in Würzburg! 🐝
I also managed to check out some entomological collections in Würzburg! 🐝
September 5, 2025 at 4:40 PM
The german+austian+swiss conference of #ecology (gfö) just wrapped up, and I was stoked to present results from a long-term biodiversity study - a huge combined effort involving a decade of insect population monitoring.
I also managed to check out some entomological collections in Würzburg! 🐝
I also managed to check out some entomological collections in Würzburg! 🐝
And that's #labwork also wrapped up! For the next year my PhD will exclusively exclusively involve writing manuscripts... I have mixed feelings about that 😅
This here is just a small part of the insects that we sampled. Some very cool bees and wasps, including potentially new species.
This here is just a small part of the insects that we sampled. Some very cool bees and wasps, including potentially new species.
August 11, 2025 at 11:24 PM
And that's #labwork also wrapped up! For the next year my PhD will exclusively exclusively involve writing manuscripts... I have mixed feelings about that 😅
This here is just a small part of the insects that we sampled. Some very cool bees and wasps, including potentially new species.
This here is just a small part of the insects that we sampled. Some very cool bees and wasps, including potentially new species.
Here is a picture from above, showing the skull on the thorax and the gorgeous wing pattern
July 24, 2025 at 6:38 AM
Here is a picture from above, showing the skull on the thorax and the gorgeous wing pattern
Ever seen a moth do some #pushups? 💪💪💪💪💪💪
This big guy came flying to our light trap! We handled him carefully and let him go shortly later. Here he's showing some defensive mechanism to scare us off.
Species: Greater death's head hawkmoth
This big guy came flying to our light trap! We handled him carefully and let him go shortly later. Here he's showing some defensive mechanism to scare us off.
Species: Greater death's head hawkmoth
July 24, 2025 at 6:37 AM
Ever seen a moth do some #pushups? 💪💪💪💪💪💪
This big guy came flying to our light trap! We handled him carefully and let him go shortly later. Here he's showing some defensive mechanism to scare us off.
Species: Greater death's head hawkmoth
This big guy came flying to our light trap! We handled him carefully and let him go shortly later. Here he's showing some defensive mechanism to scare us off.
Species: Greater death's head hawkmoth
Back in Jiangxi for one last PhD field trip. Couldn't help but immediately set up a light trap to see what's flying. Fingers crossed for some big beetles 🪲
July 20, 2025 at 3:29 PM
Back in Jiangxi for one last PhD field trip. Couldn't help but immediately set up a light trap to see what's flying. Fingers crossed for some big beetles 🪲
A black-striped orchard spider (Leucage celebesiana) waiting on a leaf for insect to fly into its web. Notice the single strand of silk holding the leaf in tension! Like so she'll be able to detect any minute vibration.
📍Dexing, Jiangxi China
#macromonday 🕸
📍Dexing, Jiangxi China
#macromonday 🕸
June 16, 2025 at 6:04 AM
A black-striped orchard spider (Leucage celebesiana) waiting on a leaf for insect to fly into its web. Notice the single strand of silk holding the leaf in tension! Like so she'll be able to detect any minute vibration.
📍Dexing, Jiangxi China
#macromonday 🕸
📍Dexing, Jiangxi China
#macromonday 🕸
Hopping into #macromonday with this Monkey grasshopper nymph! Wishing all a good week filled with scientific reading and perhaps writing 📚🖋
Eumastacidae sp.
Eumastacidae sp.
May 26, 2025 at 5:41 AM
Hopping into #macromonday with this Monkey grasshopper nymph! Wishing all a good week filled with scientific reading and perhaps writing 📚🖋
Eumastacidae sp.
Eumastacidae sp.
Happy world #bee day!! Today we thank them for their hard work in supporting a key ecosystem function #pollination, and appreciate their beauty 🐝. Here, a Ceratina sp. on a flower in Jiangxi, China.
#macro
#macro
May 20, 2025 at 5:13 AM
Happy world #bee day!! Today we thank them for their hard work in supporting a key ecosystem function #pollination, and appreciate their beauty 🐝. Here, a Ceratina sp. on a flower in Jiangxi, China.
#macro
#macro
Spring time... to get busy! And these two Tetanocerini wasted no time. Named marsh flies, these insects live next to water bodies, and apparently the larvae are gastropod (slugs & snails) hunters/parasites?! More trophic interactions to study? @multitroph.bsky.social
#macromonday
#macromonday
May 12, 2025 at 12:06 PM
Spring time... to get busy! And these two Tetanocerini wasted no time. Named marsh flies, these insects live next to water bodies, and apparently the larvae are gastropod (slugs & snails) hunters/parasites?! More trophic interactions to study? @multitroph.bsky.social
#macromonday
#macromonday
Taxonomists can be brutal... but just like many of the species they describe, they too are endangered: a decline that has been ongoing for decades
www.nature.com/articles/43762
op.europa.eu/en/publicati...
www.nature.com/articles/43762
op.europa.eu/en/publicati...
May 7, 2025 at 6:12 AM
Taxonomists can be brutal... but just like many of the species they describe, they too are endangered: a decline that has been ongoing for decades
www.nature.com/articles/43762
op.europa.eu/en/publicati...
www.nature.com/articles/43762
op.europa.eu/en/publicati...
Gave a seminar about long-term bee and wasp temporal dynamics at @nmbern.bsky.social today. Good thing about collaborating with a curator? You get to marvel at the hidden entomology collection 😍😍😍
May 5, 2025 at 10:14 AM
Gave a seminar about long-term bee and wasp temporal dynamics at @nmbern.bsky.social today. Good thing about collaborating with a curator? You get to marvel at the hidden entomology collection 😍😍😍
Perfectly camouflaged, this two-tailed spider (Hersiliidae sp.) waits patiently for any insect to fall into its trap: a thin coating of silk applied directly on the tree bark. Once it feels a vibration, with lighting fast movements it speeds along the tree to catch its prey.
#macromonday #spider
#macromonday #spider
April 28, 2025 at 1:29 PM
Perfectly camouflaged, this two-tailed spider (Hersiliidae sp.) waits patiently for any insect to fall into its trap: a thin coating of silk applied directly on the tree bark. Once it feels a vibration, with lighting fast movements it speeds along the tree to catch its prey.
#macromonday #spider
#macromonday #spider
Rooted in history 🌴. Martino Maggioni from Florence standing proud with Trachycarpus caespitosa - the living #type specimen described in the 1800s by his ancestor Odoardo Beccari, legendary botanist & explorer. Still thriving at the family’s 14th c. home.
April 28, 2025 at 5:35 AM
Rooted in history 🌴. Martino Maggioni from Florence standing proud with Trachycarpus caespitosa - the living #type specimen described in the 1800s by his ancestor Odoardo Beccari, legendary botanist & explorer. Still thriving at the family’s 14th c. home.
Shout-out to this curious jumping #spider I encountered while sampling reeds for cavity-nesting Hymenoptera in #jiangxi China 🐝🕷
Clearly bees and wasps were not the only arthropods attracted by the trap-nests! #macromonday
Clearly bees and wasps were not the only arthropods attracted by the trap-nests! #macromonday
April 14, 2025 at 7:28 AM
Shout-out to this curious jumping #spider I encountered while sampling reeds for cavity-nesting Hymenoptera in #jiangxi China 🐝🕷
Clearly bees and wasps were not the only arthropods attracted by the trap-nests! #macromonday
Clearly bees and wasps were not the only arthropods attracted by the trap-nests! #macromonday
Rate my setup 🐝
Spring-time #lab work done and dusted. Time to return home! Round 2 this summer 🐝💪
@multitroph.bsky.social
Spring-time #lab work done and dusted. Time to return home! Round 2 this summer 🐝💪
@multitroph.bsky.social
April 10, 2025 at 5:42 AM
Rate my setup 🐝
Spring-time #lab work done and dusted. Time to return home! Round 2 this summer 🐝💪
@multitroph.bsky.social
Spring-time #lab work done and dusted. Time to return home! Round 2 this summer 🐝💪
@multitroph.bsky.social
Here is the likely host species targeted by the #parasitoid: Anterhynchium flavomarginatum, seen here licking a leaf. Maybe picking up minerals deposited from recent rainfall 🌧🌿
April 8, 2025 at 5:52 AM
Here is the likely host species targeted by the #parasitoid: Anterhynchium flavomarginatum, seen here licking a leaf. Maybe picking up minerals deposited from recent rainfall 🌧🌿
Here's a closer look at the parasitoid digging into the host's flesh, and the tiny mites attached underneath
April 7, 2025 at 11:33 AM
Here's a closer look at the parasitoid digging into the host's flesh, and the tiny mites attached underneath
Some drama unfolding in cavity-nesting wasp nests: these Anterhynchium larvae are being attacked by parasitoid wasp larvae! One host also carries tiny symbiotic mites - likely scavengers that clean the nest. Antagonism and mutualism side by side!
#macromonday
#macromonday
April 7, 2025 at 11:29 AM
Some drama unfolding in cavity-nesting wasp nests: these Anterhynchium larvae are being attacked by parasitoid wasp larvae! One host also carries tiny symbiotic mites - likely scavengers that clean the nest. Antagonism and mutualism side by side!
#macromonday
#macromonday
Paper wasp #queens will be juuuust starting to found their colonies by now, building their nest out of... you guessed it: paper (chewed up wood fibers mixed with saliva)!
Polistes tenebricosus, Jiangxi
#macromonday
Polistes tenebricosus, Jiangxi
#macromonday
March 31, 2025 at 11:46 AM
Paper wasp #queens will be juuuust starting to found their colonies by now, building their nest out of... you guessed it: paper (chewed up wood fibers mixed with saliva)!
Polistes tenebricosus, Jiangxi
#macromonday
Polistes tenebricosus, Jiangxi
#macromonday
We're finding lots of small (and some bigger) critters as we go along our springtime #fieldwork in Jiangxi China.
Some wonderful Trametes fungi growing off deadwood we left in the forest last year! While #predators like Heteropoda (huntsman) and Telamonia (jumping) feast on termites. #macromonday
Some wonderful Trametes fungi growing off deadwood we left in the forest last year! While #predators like Heteropoda (huntsman) and Telamonia (jumping) feast on termites. #macromonday
March 24, 2025 at 4:57 AM
We're finding lots of small (and some bigger) critters as we go along our springtime #fieldwork in Jiangxi China.
Some wonderful Trametes fungi growing off deadwood we left in the forest last year! While #predators like Heteropoda (huntsman) and Telamonia (jumping) feast on termites. #macromonday
Some wonderful Trametes fungi growing off deadwood we left in the forest last year! While #predators like Heteropoda (huntsman) and Telamonia (jumping) feast on termites. #macromonday
Who me? Just hanging around! 🕷🕸
Can't let this #macromonday pass me by without sharing a #spider pic 😉
Parasteatoda sp. last summer in Jiangxi, China.
Can't let this #macromonday pass me by without sharing a #spider pic 😉
Parasteatoda sp. last summer in Jiangxi, China.
March 17, 2025 at 11:13 AM
Who me? Just hanging around! 🕷🕸
Can't let this #macromonday pass me by without sharing a #spider pic 😉
Parasteatoda sp. last summer in Jiangxi, China.
Can't let this #macromonday pass me by without sharing a #spider pic 😉
Parasteatoda sp. last summer in Jiangxi, China.
We will be assessing biotic and abiotic drivers of wood decomposition, as well as synergy and competition between ants, wood decomposers, and cavity-nesting Hymenoptera.
March 14, 2025 at 5:36 AM
We will be assessing biotic and abiotic drivers of wood decomposition, as well as synergy and competition between ants, wood decomposers, and cavity-nesting Hymenoptera.
One study we are currently conducting in the subtropics with @multitroph.bsky.social involves decomposition rates and #insect communities associated with laying and standing deadwood, including ants, termites, beetles, and #Hymenoptera, along a forest tree richness gradient. 🪵🪲🐜🐝🕷
March 14, 2025 at 5:31 AM
One study we are currently conducting in the subtropics with @multitroph.bsky.social involves decomposition rates and #insect communities associated with laying and standing deadwood, including ants, termites, beetles, and #Hymenoptera, along a forest tree richness gradient. 🪵🪲🐜🐝🕷