Wolfgang Wüster
@wolfgangwuster.bsky.social
🐍🐍🐍 Herpetologist, love snakes and venoms! 🐍🐍🐍 😎
Professor at Bangor University, UK
All views strictly my own!
Professor at Bangor University, UK
All views strictly my own!
Reposted by Wolfgang Wüster
Accepted manuscript now online! The first paper from @miaryras.bsky.social's exciting PhD work on the consequences of warming winters for lizard physiology and behaviour, in collab w/ @wolfgangwuster.bsky.social, @arc-trust.bsky.social, & others:
doi.org/10.1242/jeb....
doi.org/10.1242/jeb....
Sleeping beauty awakened: Experimental winter warming increases activity with signs of potential DNA damage in common wall lizards
Winter is warming faster than summer, posing substantial threat to hibernating ectotherms, whose physiology depends directly on environmental conditions. While the effects of active season warming are...
doi.org
November 10, 2025 at 3:36 PM
Accepted manuscript now online! The first paper from @miaryras.bsky.social's exciting PhD work on the consequences of warming winters for lizard physiology and behaviour, in collab w/ @wolfgangwuster.bsky.social, @arc-trust.bsky.social, & others:
doi.org/10.1242/jeb....
doi.org/10.1242/jeb....
Reposted by Wolfgang Wüster
How does life evolve to adapt to modern cities?
Out now in Science, my PhD work with @lindymcbr.bsky.social uncovers the ancient origin of the “London Underground mosquito” – one of the most iconic examples of urban adaptation.
🧵(1/n)
@science.org
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.ady4515
Out now in Science, my PhD work with @lindymcbr.bsky.social uncovers the ancient origin of the “London Underground mosquito” – one of the most iconic examples of urban adaptation.
🧵(1/n)
@science.org
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.ady4515
Ancient origin of an urban underground mosquito
Understanding how life is adapting to urban environments represents an important challenge in evolutionary biology. In this work, we investigate a widely cited example of urban adaptation, Culex pipie...
www.science.org
October 25, 2025 at 4:46 AM
How does life evolve to adapt to modern cities?
Out now in Science, my PhD work with @lindymcbr.bsky.social uncovers the ancient origin of the “London Underground mosquito” – one of the most iconic examples of urban adaptation.
🧵(1/n)
@science.org
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.ady4515
Out now in Science, my PhD work with @lindymcbr.bsky.social uncovers the ancient origin of the “London Underground mosquito” – one of the most iconic examples of urban adaptation.
🧵(1/n)
@science.org
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.ady4515
Reposted by Wolfgang Wüster
An exciting new study now out in which I played a small part - Wood Frog Testicular Microstructure
Correlates with Plasma Hormone Concentrations
During Late-Stage Spermatogenesis www.herpconbio.org/Volume_20/Is...
Excited to see this out, and to add a new taxonomic group to my pub list!! 🐸❤️
Correlates with Plasma Hormone Concentrations
During Late-Stage Spermatogenesis www.herpconbio.org/Volume_20/Is...
Excited to see this out, and to add a new taxonomic group to my pub list!! 🐸❤️
www.herpconbio.org
September 4, 2025 at 2:35 PM
An exciting new study now out in which I played a small part - Wood Frog Testicular Microstructure
Correlates with Plasma Hormone Concentrations
During Late-Stage Spermatogenesis www.herpconbio.org/Volume_20/Is...
Excited to see this out, and to add a new taxonomic group to my pub list!! 🐸❤️
Correlates with Plasma Hormone Concentrations
During Late-Stage Spermatogenesis www.herpconbio.org/Volume_20/Is...
Excited to see this out, and to add a new taxonomic group to my pub list!! 🐸❤️
Reposted by Wolfgang Wüster
The GRC Venom Evolution, Function and Biomedical Applications is back for 2026! The conference and corresponding ECR seminar will be held in Barcelona in May 🐍🐜🐌🐝🦂🐡🪼🕷️🐞🇪🇸🌞
August 19, 2025 at 12:10 PM
The GRC Venom Evolution, Function and Biomedical Applications is back for 2026! The conference and corresponding ECR seminar will be held in Barcelona in May 🐍🐜🐌🐝🦂🐡🪼🕷️🐞🇪🇸🌞
My kind of homecoming after an evening of roadcruising in Arizona!
August 17, 2025 at 3:21 PM
My kind of homecoming after an evening of roadcruising in Arizona!
Reposted by Wolfgang Wüster
I traveled to Guinea to find out what U.S. budget cuts mean for the fight against malaria. Here's my story in @science.org - with powerful photography by Marta Moreiras. www.science.org/content/arti...
In Guinea, the United States helped beat back malaria. Now, the disease is set to soar
Foreign aid cuts are expected to cause a rise in malaria cases and deaths across sub-Saharan Africa
www.science.org
August 8, 2025 at 6:09 PM
I traveled to Guinea to find out what U.S. budget cuts mean for the fight against malaria. Here's my story in @science.org - with powerful photography by Marta Moreiras. www.science.org/content/arti...
Reposted by Wolfgang Wüster
reverse heist movie where a single snake has to chase all the priests back into ireland
August 9, 2025 at 7:26 AM
reverse heist movie where a single snake has to chase all the priests back into ireland
Reposted by Wolfgang Wüster
Whenever I (or other shark conservation experts) say "Ocean Ramsey does not raise awareness, she says very wrong things about threats to sharks and their policy solutions," some people feel the need to say "but she taught me something" ...and what they say is always a very wrong thing!
What Ocean Ramsey does is not shark science or conservation: some brief thoughts on “the Shark Whisperer” documentary
Netflix has a new (sarcastic air quotes) “documentary” out about Ocean Ramsey, who longtime readers and followers know is a serial wildlife harasser who also coordinates massive online …
www.southernfriedscience.com
August 3, 2025 at 1:34 PM
Whenever I (or other shark conservation experts) say "Ocean Ramsey does not raise awareness, she says very wrong things about threats to sharks and their policy solutions," some people feel the need to say "but she taught me something" ...and what they say is always a very wrong thing!
Feeding on crocodile tears… sounds like a staff meeting after the latest round of redundancies is announced…
This photograph series by Mark Cowan documents a phenomenon called 'lachryphagy' ("tear-feeding").
The caiman excretes salt in their tears & the butterflies need the precious minerals for their metabolism & reproduction.
So, they're feeding on crocodilian tears.
(📷: Mark Cowan, Curtin Uni.)
The caiman excretes salt in their tears & the butterflies need the precious minerals for their metabolism & reproduction.
So, they're feeding on crocodilian tears.
(📷: Mark Cowan, Curtin Uni.)
July 23, 2025 at 7:39 PM
Feeding on crocodile tears… sounds like a staff meeting after the latest round of redundancies is announced…
Happy #WorldSnakeDay
Here’s my favourite lifer of the year so far: four-lined snake, Elaphe quatuorlineata, from Krk Island, Croatia, earlier this year. Why not post yours? 🐍 #herp #herpetology #herper
Here’s my favourite lifer of the year so far: four-lined snake, Elaphe quatuorlineata, from Krk Island, Croatia, earlier this year. Why not post yours? 🐍 #herp #herpetology #herper
July 16, 2025 at 11:22 PM
Happy #WorldSnakeDay
Here’s my favourite lifer of the year so far: four-lined snake, Elaphe quatuorlineata, from Krk Island, Croatia, earlier this year. Why not post yours? 🐍 #herp #herpetology #herper
Here’s my favourite lifer of the year so far: four-lined snake, Elaphe quatuorlineata, from Krk Island, Croatia, earlier this year. Why not post yours? 🐍 #herp #herpetology #herper
How many mamba species are there? Find out from our new paper: Phylogeny and species delimitation in an iconic snake genus: the African mambas (Serpentes: Elapidae: Dendroaspis)
academic.oup.com/zoolinnean/a...
academic.oup.com/zoolinnean/a...
Phylogeny and species delimitation in an iconic snake genus: the African mambas (Serpentes: Elapidae: Dendroaspis)
Abstract. The African mambas (Dendroaspis) comprise an iconic genus of four large-bodied, highly venomous elapid snakes: the black mamba (D. polylepis) fro
academic.oup.com
July 8, 2025 at 12:16 PM
How many mamba species are there? Find out from our new paper: Phylogeny and species delimitation in an iconic snake genus: the African mambas (Serpentes: Elapidae: Dendroaspis)
academic.oup.com/zoolinnean/a...
academic.oup.com/zoolinnean/a...
Reposted by Wolfgang Wüster
Join our @naturambyth.bsky.social #AdderAction team for Celebration of Nature at St Fagans National Museum of History, Cardiff on 12th July. Project Officer Matt will be running an info stall and talking about adder awareness, conservation & attitudes. More info 👇
www.arc-trust.org/Event/celebr...
www.arc-trust.org/Event/celebr...
July 8, 2025 at 12:09 PM
Join our @naturambyth.bsky.social #AdderAction team for Celebration of Nature at St Fagans National Museum of History, Cardiff on 12th July. Project Officer Matt will be running an info stall and talking about adder awareness, conservation & attitudes. More info 👇
www.arc-trust.org/Event/celebr...
www.arc-trust.org/Event/celebr...
Reposted by Wolfgang Wüster
Thank you to everyone who has shared & responded to our Call for Support thus far. Our Call proposes a more distributed & sustainable future where BHL is shared across multiple hosts supported by multiple funding sources. Find out more: blog.biodiversitylibrary.org/2025/06/tran... 🌱 📖 🧪 🌏 #ILoveBHL
BHL Transition Update #2
Help us shape the future of the Biodiversity Heritage Library The Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL) is at a turning point. After nearly two decades of calling the Smithsonian Institution home, BH…
blog.biodiversitylibrary.org
July 7, 2025 at 4:25 AM
Thank you to everyone who has shared & responded to our Call for Support thus far. Our Call proposes a more distributed & sustainable future where BHL is shared across multiple hosts supported by multiple funding sources. Find out more: blog.biodiversitylibrary.org/2025/06/tran... 🌱 📖 🧪 🌏 #ILoveBHL
Reposted by Wolfgang Wüster
Many congratulations to Molly Allum! She studied the crop foraging behaviour of the Zanzibar red colobus here in Jozani last year for her third year dissertation at @bangoruniversity.bsky.social @beps-bangor.bsky.social ! Great dissertation - currently working on making it into a journal article!
We're delighted to announce the winner of our most recent Undergraduate Primatology Recognition Award: Molly Alum. 🎉
June 25, 2025 at 4:53 AM
Many congratulations to Molly Allum! She studied the crop foraging behaviour of the Zanzibar red colobus here in Jozani last year for her third year dissertation at @bangoruniversity.bsky.social @beps-bangor.bsky.social ! Great dissertation - currently working on making it into a journal article!
Reposted by Wolfgang Wüster
1. It’s good to see this scandal being called out at last. My thanks and congratulations go to Lee Schofield, Karen Lloyd and Ian Convery. But it’s also absolutely infuriating that it has come to this point, as I explain in this thread.
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Conservationists call for Lake District to lose Unesco world heritage status
Campaigners say designation promotes unsustainable sheep farming at expense of nature recovery and local communities
www.theguardian.com
June 8, 2025 at 9:04 AM
1. It’s good to see this scandal being called out at last. My thanks and congratulations go to Lee Schofield, Karen Lloyd and Ian Convery. But it’s also absolutely infuriating that it has come to this point, as I explain in this thread.
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
www.nature.com/articles/s44...
New review paper on the large Middle Eastern vipers of the genus Macrovipera, led by Ignazio Avella. For those interested in #nomenclature, check out out little act of rebellion against changes to established names imposed by nomenclatural historians! #ICZN #taxonomy
New review paper on the large Middle Eastern vipers of the genus Macrovipera, led by Ignazio Avella. For those interested in #nomenclature, check out out little act of rebellion against changes to established names imposed by nomenclatural historians! #ICZN #taxonomy
The biology and toxinology of blunt-nosed vipers - npj Biodiversity
npj Biodiversity - The biology and toxinology of blunt-nosed vipers
www.nature.com
June 7, 2025 at 10:01 PM
www.nature.com/articles/s44...
New review paper on the large Middle Eastern vipers of the genus Macrovipera, led by Ignazio Avella. For those interested in #nomenclature, check out out little act of rebellion against changes to established names imposed by nomenclatural historians! #ICZN #taxonomy
New review paper on the large Middle Eastern vipers of the genus Macrovipera, led by Ignazio Avella. For those interested in #nomenclature, check out out little act of rebellion against changes to established names imposed by nomenclatural historians! #ICZN #taxonomy
Reposted by Wolfgang Wüster
Over the course of taxonomic history, a small but nefarious band of researchers have taken to publishing taxonomic names that their colleagues have regarded as poorly founded, poorly supported by good data, or unneeded and contradicting existing work... 1/n
May 27, 2025 at 4:19 PM
Over the course of taxonomic history, a small but nefarious band of researchers have taken to publishing taxonomic names that their colleagues have regarded as poorly founded, poorly supported by good data, or unneeded and contradicting existing work... 1/n
Reposted by Wolfgang Wüster
CW: Another baby rattlesnake is taken by a magpie!
This footage is from "after hours" when we do not operate the cam, but live observers watched as a magpie boldly strode right into the den opening and snagged a baby.
youtu.be/c4d2Cu6vkCg
This footage is from "after hours" when we do not operate the cam, but live observers watched as a magpie boldly strode right into the den opening and snagged a baby.
youtu.be/c4d2Cu6vkCg
Magpie goes inside rattlesnake den to eat baby snake!
YouTube video by Project RattleCam
youtu.be
May 27, 2025 at 1:57 AM
CW: Another baby rattlesnake is taken by a magpie!
This footage is from "after hours" when we do not operate the cam, but live observers watched as a magpie boldly strode right into the den opening and snagged a baby.
youtu.be/c4d2Cu6vkCg
This footage is from "after hours" when we do not operate the cam, but live observers watched as a magpie boldly strode right into the den opening and snagged a baby.
youtu.be/c4d2Cu6vkCg
Reposted by Wolfgang Wüster
NEW GUEST BLOG 🐍
In this Guest Blog, the adder author Nicholas Milton discusses sensationalist stories and recommends reporting them to the Independent press regulator. Read more 👇
www.arc-trust.org/ne...
In this Guest Blog, the adder author Nicholas Milton discusses sensationalist stories and recommends reporting them to the Independent press regulator. Read more 👇
www.arc-trust.org/ne...
May 23, 2025 at 12:00 PM
NEW GUEST BLOG 🐍
In this Guest Blog, the adder author Nicholas Milton discusses sensationalist stories and recommends reporting them to the Independent press regulator. Read more 👇
www.arc-trust.org/ne...
In this Guest Blog, the adder author Nicholas Milton discusses sensationalist stories and recommends reporting them to the Independent press regulator. Read more 👇
www.arc-trust.org/ne...
Reposted by Wolfgang Wüster
Announcing our Vanishing Viper 2025 conference to be held in September at Chester This special two-day event focused on our native adder, Viper berus, seeks to unlock the drivers behind adder declines & determine how research & landscape-level projects can meet the challenges #vanishingviper2025
May 7, 2025 at 9:39 PM
Announcing our Vanishing Viper 2025 conference to be held in September at Chester This special two-day event focused on our native adder, Viper berus, seeks to unlock the drivers behind adder declines & determine how research & landscape-level projects can meet the challenges #vanishingviper2025
Reposted by Wolfgang Wüster
Divergent selection and plasticity increases reproductive isolation early during incipient speciation. Find our new meta-analysis on experimental speciation studies here: rdcu.be/ek019 🧪 @EvolOdonata.ecoevo.social.ap.brid.gy @pipdowning.bsky.social
Meta-analysis reveals that phenotypic plasticity and divergent selection promote reproductive isolation during incipient speciation
Nature Ecology & Evolution - The authors examine factors affecting reproductive isolation in the early stages of speciation by collating data from 34 experimental speciation studies in 15...
rdcu.be
May 7, 2025 at 3:32 PM
Divergent selection and plasticity increases reproductive isolation early during incipient speciation. Find our new meta-analysis on experimental speciation studies here: rdcu.be/ek019 🧪 @EvolOdonata.ecoevo.social.ap.brid.gy @pipdowning.bsky.social
Reposted by Wolfgang Wüster
Scientists have experimentally recreated the speciation process in several species. They split one population of the same species into two, let them adapt to environment A or B, and then bring them back together. Our meta-analysis of these experiments may surprise you: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
May 7, 2025 at 3:19 PM
Scientists have experimentally recreated the speciation process in several species. They split one population of the same species into two, let them adapt to environment A or B, and then bring them back together. Our meta-analysis of these experiments may surprise you: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
#herpers #herper #herps #herpetology #thanatosis #Natrixhelvetica #grasssnake #snakes 🐍
Me: "God, is there anything more annoying to photograph than a snake that just will not sit still?
God
Me: "God, is there anything more annoying to photograph than a snake that just will not sit still?
God
May 4, 2025 at 10:03 AM
#herpers #herper #herps #herpetology #thanatosis #Natrixhelvetica #grasssnake #snakes 🐍
Me: "God, is there anything more annoying to photograph than a snake that just will not sit still?
God
Me: "God, is there anything more annoying to photograph than a snake that just will not sit still?
God
Reposted by Wolfgang Wüster
Junior faculty job alert in Germany - Marine Evolutionary Genomics @geomarkiel.bsky.social / University of Kiel www.geomar.de/en/karriere/... Marine study system of your choice (no microbes, sorry…), excellent infrastructure and ship access, moderate teaching requirements, closing date 6 June
April 26, 2025 at 3:10 PM
Junior faculty job alert in Germany - Marine Evolutionary Genomics @geomarkiel.bsky.social / University of Kiel www.geomar.de/en/karriere/... Marine study system of your choice (no microbes, sorry…), excellent infrastructure and ship access, moderate teaching requirements, closing date 6 June
Reposted by Wolfgang Wüster
Please share - UK folks help the BTO collect information on how our Blackbirds are doing. The emergence of #Usutu- a mosquito-borne virus- may be causing their populations to fall in southern England. Need to understand if this impact is occurring more widely, including in Scotland
1/⚠️ Blackbirds are in trouble & we need your help! Threatened by the Usutu virus, we need you to submit your garden Blackbird sightings so scientists can better understand the virus’ spread & potential impacts on these songbirds. 🌍 Sign up ➡️ www.bto.org/blackbirds #UKBirding #Ornithology
April 27, 2025 at 8:53 PM
Please share - UK folks help the BTO collect information on how our Blackbirds are doing. The emergence of #Usutu- a mosquito-borne virus- may be causing their populations to fall in southern England. Need to understand if this impact is occurring more widely, including in Scotland