Entocast

What's happening to all the insects? And what can we do about it? Join Nick as he interviews Brad Lister, who recently published an article showing dramatic insect declines, and Helen Roy, a conservation biologist in the UK, as they discuss this important topic.

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Show Notes

German insect declines article

Brad’s paper

Washington Post Article

The State of Nature report

Hope in conservation biology

Helen Roy on Twitter

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This time we're joined by Dr. Heather Campbell to discuss ants. What makes ants so interesting? Why do they appear so much in popular culture? What are they? Listen to find out!

What are ants? - Morphology

Why are ants successful?

Why would being social be helpful?

Ants and popular culture

More about Heather’s research

Teddy bear ant - Tetramorium pulcherrimum. Photograph under personal license, taken by Alex Wild.

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In this episode Liam and Nick discuss their favourite weird and wonderful insects. From Phasmids to Parasites we traverse the insect group finding the best oddities.

Twisted Wing Flies (Strepsiptera)

Brazilian Tree Hopper (Bocydium globulare)

Oil Beetles (Meloe spp.)

Spiny Flower Mantis (Pseudocreobotra wahlbergi)

Hyperparisitoids

Giant Prickly Stick Insect (Extatosoma tiaratum)

Scorpionflies (Panorpidae)

CATERPIE (Papilio glaucus)

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We were at the launch of the National Insect Week learning more about this great event!

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Show Notes

National Insect Week Events

All about Carim and his artwork

M.G. Leonard and her fantastic books

Get involved!

GET IN TOUCH WITH ENTOCAST

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We're joined by Will Heany from the Longhorn Recording Scheme to discuss an awesome group of beetles the Longhorns!

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The longhorn beetles

Harlequin Beetle

Macrodontia cervicornis

The Asian Longhorn Beetle

It's been a whole year of entocast! To celebrate we're awarding some new awards to exceptional insects.

Strongest Insect

Paper finding the strongest insect

Hardest Insect

Insects and Human history

Lice defeated Napoleon

Cochineal facts

Ancient beekeepers

History of sericulture

Malaria

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Think you know flies? Think again! We're joined by fly fanatic Erica McAlister (@flygirlNHM) to learn more about this misunderstood group. From fearsome Phorids to flightless flies we're going to take you on a fun tour of this fascinating group.

Show Notes

Erica McAlister

Erica's book - The secret life of flies

Flies as pollinators

The Fearsome Phorids

Conopid flies parasitising bumblebees

Hoverflies eating maggots

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An example of a Harlequin Ladybird (Harmonia axyridis)

By spacebirdy - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0

In this episode we talk to Professor Helen Roy (@UKLadybirds) and discuss the role of citizen science in tracking invasive species. We also discuss the value of citizen science and potential advantages and disadvantages.

What is citizen science?

The monetary value of citizen science

An example of how to use citizen science to report on invasive species

What's the point of wasps? episode that has an example of citizen science with the big wasp survey

Garden entomology episode that discusses gardeners reporting new species

Professor Helen Roy

Spread of the Harlequin Ladybird

Bombus hypnorum spread in the UK

The box tree moth

Bombus terrestris invading in Japan

Bombus terrestris invading in Argentina

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Last year we went on another brilliant podcast, fieldwork diaries, and we thought you guys would love it too!

They've got loads more episodes, so check them out at: https://www.fieldworkdiaries.com/

This time Nick and Liam take a trip to the RHS headquarters in Wisley, where the ento team tells us all we could ever want to know about Garden Entomology. We're joined by principal entomologist Andrew Salisbury (@AndrewSalisbur2), entomologist Hayley Jones (@Hayleyento), and nematologist Magdalena Boshoff. If you're a gardener interested in helping wildlife or an entomologist interested in gardening then this episode is a must to listen to!

RHS Ento Team, from left: Hayley Jones, Magdalena Boshoff and Andy Salisbury

What is the RHS?

Entomology at the RHS

Advice on gardening for wildlife

Andy's research on Native and Non-native plants

Hayley's work with slugs and snails

Full list of RHS Ento team publications

Greening Grey Britain

Part of the RHS collection of Lepidoptera

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