Ajay Narendra
@pipilika.bsky.social
Associate Professor of Invertebrate Neuroethology, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia
Pinned
Ajay Narendra
@pipilika.bsky.social
· Feb 12
Our latest paper on the jump kinematics and choreography in the Oz Splendid Peacock spider. We filmed & analysed locomotory jumps in male & female spiders. The males are incredibly light - measuring just 2mg - and oh they can jump! Videos in the thread. Open Access - read here: tinyurl.com/4bnpz9tz
Reposted by Ajay Narendra
Honored to announce the Hamilton Lecture 2026!
Leigh Simmons, Emeritus Professor of Evolutionary Biology at the University of Western Australia has made an outstanding contribution to the field of sexual selection acting from the whole organism to its gametes, and to our Society.
Leigh Simmons, Emeritus Professor of Evolutionary Biology at the University of Western Australia has made an outstanding contribution to the field of sexual selection acting from the whole organism to its gametes, and to our Society.
November 19, 2025 at 12:22 PM
Honored to announce the Hamilton Lecture 2026!
Leigh Simmons, Emeritus Professor of Evolutionary Biology at the University of Western Australia has made an outstanding contribution to the field of sexual selection acting from the whole organism to its gametes, and to our Society.
Leigh Simmons, Emeritus Professor of Evolutionary Biology at the University of Western Australia has made an outstanding contribution to the field of sexual selection acting from the whole organism to its gametes, and to our Society.
Reposted by Ajay Narendra
Incredibly honored and utterly excited to have been asked to give a plenary at @isbe2026.bsky.social hope to see you in Turin! #ISBE2026 #sleep #behavior
Meet our Plenary Speaker Daniela Rößler
Fueled by curiosity and a deep love of natural history Daniela discovered a REM-like sleep state in spiders and uses integrative field, lab and comparative approaches to investigate the function, ecology, and evolution of sleep across the spider tree of life.
Fueled by curiosity and a deep love of natural history Daniela discovered a REM-like sleep state in spiders and uses integrative field, lab and comparative approaches to investigate the function, ecology, and evolution of sleep across the spider tree of life.
November 17, 2025 at 9:36 AM
Incredibly honored and utterly excited to have been asked to give a plenary at @isbe2026.bsky.social hope to see you in Turin! #ISBE2026 #sleep #behavior
Reposted by Ajay Narendra
New #PhD ad alert!
Interested in wild #bee #cognition and #brains in different #bumblebees? Want to live in #Newcastle and the beautiful north-east of England?
Check out this project with me, @lenariab.bsky.social and Sarah Scott. Contact me for further information.
iapetus.ac.uk/studentships...
Interested in wild #bee #cognition and #brains in different #bumblebees? Want to live in #Newcastle and the beautiful north-east of England?
Check out this project with me, @lenariab.bsky.social and Sarah Scott. Contact me for further information.
iapetus.ac.uk/studentships...
The cognitive ecology of wild bumblebees
iapetus.ac.uk
October 28, 2025 at 11:22 AM
New #PhD ad alert!
Interested in wild #bee #cognition and #brains in different #bumblebees? Want to live in #Newcastle and the beautiful north-east of England?
Check out this project with me, @lenariab.bsky.social and Sarah Scott. Contact me for further information.
iapetus.ac.uk/studentships...
Interested in wild #bee #cognition and #brains in different #bumblebees? Want to live in #Newcastle and the beautiful north-east of England?
Check out this project with me, @lenariab.bsky.social and Sarah Scott. Contact me for further information.
iapetus.ac.uk/studentships...
Reposted by Ajay Narendra
In insects, motion processing is affected by background motion in Target Selective Descending neurons but not in presynaptic Small Target Motion Detectors. To explain this change, @puh23.bsky.social et al. examined three candidate TSDN circuit models. journals.plos.org/ploscompbiol...
Understanding the mechanism of facilitation in hoverfly TSDNs
Author summary Many human sports, including tennis, football, and basketball, rely on the ability to visually detect and respond to the motion of a small, rapidly moving object. Indeed, some sports st...
journals.plos.org
October 18, 2025 at 10:56 PM
In insects, motion processing is affected by background motion in Target Selective Descending neurons but not in presynaptic Small Target Motion Detectors. To explain this change, @puh23.bsky.social et al. examined three candidate TSDN circuit models. journals.plos.org/ploscompbiol...
Reposted by Ajay Narendra
The next deadline for ECRs, within 5 years of their first faculty position, to apply for JEB's next round of Kickstart Travel Grants and ECR Visiting Fellowships is 28 November, so don't miss the chance to apply for helpful funding
biologists.com/grants/#jeb
biologists.com/grants/#jeb
October 17, 2025 at 10:03 AM
The next deadline for ECRs, within 5 years of their first faculty position, to apply for JEB's next round of Kickstart Travel Grants and ECR Visiting Fellowships is 28 November, so don't miss the chance to apply for helpful funding
biologists.com/grants/#jeb
biologists.com/grants/#jeb
Reposted by Ajay Narendra
New preprint from the lab: A reference brain for the clonal raider ant.
With this resource, which is based on 40 individual brains, you can register and compare all kinds of samples in a common space. It comes with lots of detailed protocols and a user-friendly GUI.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
With this resource, which is based on 40 individual brains, you can register and compare all kinds of samples in a common space. It comes with lots of detailed protocols and a user-friendly GUI.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
October 17, 2025 at 5:35 PM
New preprint from the lab: A reference brain for the clonal raider ant.
With this resource, which is based on 40 individual brains, you can register and compare all kinds of samples in a common space. It comes with lots of detailed protocols and a user-friendly GUI.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
With this resource, which is based on 40 individual brains, you can register and compare all kinds of samples in a common space. It comes with lots of detailed protocols and a user-friendly GUI.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Ajay Narendra
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 7:09 PM
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/...
Reposted by Ajay Narendra
Sublethal impacts of climate change on stingless bees, check out our hot off the press publication in @thermal-biology.bsky.social 🔥
How is flight speed impacted by changes in temperature? We tested #TPCs in an arid and subtropical bee 🐝 @pipilika.bsky.social
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
How is flight speed impacted by changes in temperature? We tested #TPCs in an arid and subtropical bee 🐝 @pipilika.bsky.social
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Before the brink: considering sublethal impacts of climate change on stingless bee flight performance
Vulnerability to climate change is often predicted using species critical thermal limits (CTMAX), the temperature at which an organism experiences a l…
www.sciencedirect.com
October 14, 2025 at 1:15 PM
Sublethal impacts of climate change on stingless bees, check out our hot off the press publication in @thermal-biology.bsky.social 🔥
How is flight speed impacted by changes in temperature? We tested #TPCs in an arid and subtropical bee 🐝 @pipilika.bsky.social
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
How is flight speed impacted by changes in temperature? We tested #TPCs in an arid and subtropical bee 🐝 @pipilika.bsky.social
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Reposted by Ajay Narendra
OIST is seeking up to four tenure-track or tenured faculty in Ecology, Environmental Science, Earth Science, and Oceanography. Application deadline: Oct 15. Please share. Thx!
www.oist.jp/careers/facu...
www.oist.jp/careers/facu...
October 7, 2025 at 10:01 AM
OIST is seeking up to four tenure-track or tenured faculty in Ecology, Environmental Science, Earth Science, and Oceanography. Application deadline: Oct 15. Please share. Thx!
www.oist.jp/careers/facu...
www.oist.jp/careers/facu...
Reposted by Ajay Narendra
Exciting news for #drosophila #connectomics and #neuroscience enthusiasts: the Drosophila male central nervous system connectome is now live for exploration. Find out more at the landing page hosted by our Janelia FlyEM collaborators www.janelia.org/project-team....
Male CNS Connectome
A team of researchers has unveiled the complete connectome of a male fruit fly central nervous system —a seamless map of all the neurons in the brain and nerve cord of a single male fruit fly and the ...
www.janelia.org
October 5, 2025 at 3:40 PM
Exciting news for #drosophila #connectomics and #neuroscience enthusiasts: the Drosophila male central nervous system connectome is now live for exploration. Find out more at the landing page hosted by our Janelia FlyEM collaborators www.janelia.org/project-team....
Reposted by Ajay Narendra
5/ Some wings have evolved strategies to help reduce damage resulting from collisions. For example, we learned a few years ago that wasp wings have a flexible joint that acts like a reversible crumple zone, allowing the wing tip to easily bend out of the way when it hits things...
April 16, 2025 at 5:44 PM
5/ Some wings have evolved strategies to help reduce damage resulting from collisions. For example, we learned a few years ago that wasp wings have a flexible joint that acts like a reversible crumple zone, allowing the wing tip to easily bend out of the way when it hits things...
Reposted by Ajay Narendra
Meet Chrissie Painting the new ASSAB president!
@cpaintingnz.bsky.social is a Senior Lecturer and behavioural ecologist at the University of Waikato. Her research seeks patterns in animal behaviour and morphology, with a particular focus on insect and arachnid mating systems.
🪰🕷️🪳
@cpaintingnz.bsky.social is a Senior Lecturer and behavioural ecologist at the University of Waikato. Her research seeks patterns in animal behaviour and morphology, with a particular focus on insect and arachnid mating systems.
🪰🕷️🪳
September 22, 2025 at 5:01 AM
Meet Chrissie Painting the new ASSAB president!
@cpaintingnz.bsky.social is a Senior Lecturer and behavioural ecologist at the University of Waikato. Her research seeks patterns in animal behaviour and morphology, with a particular focus on insect and arachnid mating systems.
🪰🕷️🪳
@cpaintingnz.bsky.social is a Senior Lecturer and behavioural ecologist at the University of Waikato. Her research seeks patterns in animal behaviour and morphology, with a particular focus on insect and arachnid mating systems.
🪰🕷️🪳
Reposted by Ajay Narendra
The Entomological Society of Victoria invites nominations for the Le Souef Memorial and Emerging Awards, closing 30 September 2025.
Awards — The Entomological Society of Victoria
To perpetuate the memory of the late John Cecil Le Souëf, an esteemed member of the Entomological Society of Victora who died in 1982, the Society proudly offers the Le Souëf Awards.
buff.ly
September 16, 2025 at 12:30 AM
The Entomological Society of Victoria invites nominations for the Le Souef Memorial and Emerging Awards, closing 30 September 2025.
Reposted by Ajay Narendra
Nesting behaviour drives the evolution of heat tolerance and climate vulnerability in bees! Check out our pre-print on 95 species of Australian native bee across the latitudinal extent of Australia! 🐝 #nativebee #climateadaptation #heattolerance #plasticity #behaviour #bees #climatechange
September 8, 2025 at 11:45 PM
Nesting behaviour drives the evolution of heat tolerance and climate vulnerability in bees! Check out our pre-print on 95 species of Australian native bee across the latitudinal extent of Australia! 🐝 #nativebee #climateadaptation #heattolerance #plasticity #behaviour #bees #climatechange
Reposted by Ajay Narendra
Look at this crazy thing!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
One mother for two species via obligate cross-species cloning in ants - Nature
In a case of obligate cross-species cloning, female ants of Messor ibericus need to clone males of Messor structor to obtain sperm for producing the worker caste, resulting in males from the same moth...
www.nature.com
September 3, 2025 at 7:05 PM
Look at this crazy thing!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Ajay Narendra
🚨Just published🚨In Bolivia’s Yungas, we studied 3 rescued stingless bees sp. We found distinct foraging patterns within & among species → niche partitioning at multiple levels. 🐝🪻🌺#Pollination #Meliponini #Neotropics
doi.org/10.1111/btp.70… @biotropica.bsky.social with @pammsantana.bsky.social
doi.org/10.1111/btp.70… @biotropica.bsky.social with @pammsantana.bsky.social
August 9, 2025 at 1:45 PM
🚨Just published🚨In Bolivia’s Yungas, we studied 3 rescued stingless bees sp. We found distinct foraging patterns within & among species → niche partitioning at multiple levels. 🐝🪻🌺#Pollination #Meliponini #Neotropics
doi.org/10.1111/btp.70… @biotropica.bsky.social with @pammsantana.bsky.social
doi.org/10.1111/btp.70… @biotropica.bsky.social with @pammsantana.bsky.social
Reposted by Ajay Narendra
4 year fixed term postdoc position in Tasmania, Australia. Drones, camera traps, population monitoring.
careers.utas.edu.au/en/job/50114...
careers.utas.edu.au/en/job/50114...
Current Vacancies
careers.utas.edu.au
July 16, 2025 at 5:03 AM
4 year fixed term postdoc position in Tasmania, Australia. Drones, camera traps, population monitoring.
careers.utas.edu.au/en/job/50114...
careers.utas.edu.au/en/job/50114...
Reposted by Ajay Narendra
The University of Sydney is recruiting senior and mid-career academics "within the top 5–10% of academics in their field, with a strong track record and availability to relocate to Australia within 6-months".
If you're a psychologist/neuroscientist and are interested, get in touch with me soon.
If you're a psychologist/neuroscientist and are interested, get in touch with me soon.
July 9, 2025 at 8:55 AM
The University of Sydney is recruiting senior and mid-career academics "within the top 5–10% of academics in their field, with a strong track record and availability to relocate to Australia within 6-months".
If you're a psychologist/neuroscientist and are interested, get in touch with me soon.
If you're a psychologist/neuroscientist and are interested, get in touch with me soon.
Reposted by Ajay Narendra
Anyone considering taking the next steps of their research career in Germany should take a look at the @dfg.de Emmy Noether programme - fantastic support and an amazing opportunity to establish an independent group, hire a team, and commit 6 years to developing a research programme!
#Prospects PhDs & postdocs of all disciplines note: Would you like to lead an independent junior research group? In our online talk you will get first-hand information about the aims and requirements of the DFG Emmy Noether Programme and more. Link to the meeting will be published here: fcld.ly/enp
July 9, 2025 at 2:03 PM
Anyone considering taking the next steps of their research career in Germany should take a look at the @dfg.de Emmy Noether programme - fantastic support and an amazing opportunity to establish an independent group, hire a team, and commit 6 years to developing a research programme!
Reposted by Ajay Narendra
🚨 In our world riddled with misinformation and sensationalization, we must be cautious about handling accusations of scientific misconduct in our community. Weaponizing a public internet campaign is not the way.
📖 Read "A plea for academic decency"
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
📖 Read "A plea for academic decency"
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
A plea for academic decency - Journal of Comparative Physiology A
In an internet age when a viral sensationalist story gains far more traction than a nuanced and balanced discussion, we have become used to some politicians, media and web-based influencers bending th...
link.springer.com
June 24, 2025 at 2:57 PM
🚨 In our world riddled with misinformation and sensationalization, we must be cautious about handling accusations of scientific misconduct in our community. Weaponizing a public internet campaign is not the way.
📖 Read "A plea for academic decency"
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
📖 Read "A plea for academic decency"
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Reposted by Ajay Narendra
In about a week we (Biological Sciences @ Monash Uni in Melbourne, Australia) will be opening a search for 3 (!!!) permanent academic positions (40% research, 40% teaching, 20% service) at Lecturer/Senior Lecturer. 1 Genomics, 2 Ecology. Please share, email me, DM, follow, send carrier pigeons…
June 24, 2025 at 12:27 PM
In about a week we (Biological Sciences @ Monash Uni in Melbourne, Australia) will be opening a search for 3 (!!!) permanent academic positions (40% research, 40% teaching, 20% service) at Lecturer/Senior Lecturer. 1 Genomics, 2 Ecology. Please share, email me, DM, follow, send carrier pigeons…
Reposted by Ajay Narendra
Come join us here at Monash. Supportive research and teaching environment. Fantastic colleagues. Inclusive. A great place to work. And Melbourne, Australia, is a wonderful place to live…
In about a week we (Biological Sciences @ Monash Uni in Melbourne, Australia) will be opening a search for 3 (!!!) permanent academic positions (40% research, 40% teaching, 20% service) at Lecturer/Senior Lecturer. 1 Genomics, 2 Ecology. Please share, email me, DM, follow, send carrier pigeons…
June 24, 2025 at 7:46 PM
Come join us here at Monash. Supportive research and teaching environment. Fantastic colleagues. Inclusive. A great place to work. And Melbourne, Australia, is a wonderful place to live…
Reposted by Ajay Narendra
New review paper out in collaboration with @pipilika.bsky.social : The relevance of goal directed movement for insect pest control. The paper is part of a special issue on behavioural ecology and pests www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
The relevance of goal directed movement for insect pest control
Efficient locomotion is a fundamental feature and requisite of all insects. Some insects, such as mosquito larvae, travel just a few centimetres, wher…
www.sciencedirect.com
May 6, 2025 at 2:13 AM
New review paper out in collaboration with @pipilika.bsky.social : The relevance of goal directed movement for insect pest control. The paper is part of a special issue on behavioural ecology and pests www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Reposted by Ajay Narendra
The chair of Zoology II @uni-wuerzburg.de is looking for a candidate as a W3 Professor in Behavioral Physiology.
'A research focus preferentially on insect species other than Drosophila is desirable.'
#neuroethology
For more details:
www.nature.com/naturecareer...
'A research focus preferentially on insect species other than Drosophila is desirable.'
#neuroethology
For more details:
www.nature.com/naturecareer...
University Professor (m/w/d) for Behavioral Physiology (grade W3) - Würzburg (Stadt), Bayern (DE) job with Julius-Maximilians-University of Würzburg - Faculty of Biology | 12839249
The University of Würzburg is offering a position of a University Professor (m/w/d) for Behavioral Physiology (grade W3) (Chair of Zoology II).
www.nature.com
May 2, 2025 at 11:28 AM
The chair of Zoology II @uni-wuerzburg.de is looking for a candidate as a W3 Professor in Behavioral Physiology.
'A research focus preferentially on insect species other than Drosophila is desirable.'
#neuroethology
For more details:
www.nature.com/naturecareer...
'A research focus preferentially on insect species other than Drosophila is desirable.'
#neuroethology
For more details:
www.nature.com/naturecareer...
In 2012 driving across Oz I had stopped at Gilgandra & found an odd looking large-eyed strobe ant. It took us 10 years to start studying them. Fast forward to 2025 - @gmramon.bsky.social submits his PhD thesis on the sensory ecology of these fantastic ants. Wohooo! Keep an EYE for his papers 🥂🎉🐜🧭
May 2, 2025 at 11:23 AM
In 2012 driving across Oz I had stopped at Gilgandra & found an odd looking large-eyed strobe ant. It took us 10 years to start studying them. Fast forward to 2025 - @gmramon.bsky.social submits his PhD thesis on the sensory ecology of these fantastic ants. Wohooo! Keep an EYE for his papers 🥂🎉🐜🧭