Could NFTs Fund the Discovery of New Insect Species?
An entomologist envisions a future in which non-fungible tokens (NFTs) could drive collecting of 3D virtual models of insect holotype specimens, thereby subsidizing increased digitization of entomological collections and discovery of new species.
What’s That Beetle? Ask the Algorithm
Can machine learning be used for accurate species identification of beetles and other invertebrates? Researchers using carabid beetle data from the National Ecological Observatory Network created an algorithm that reached 85 percent accuracy on unidentified images. Eventually, they hope machine learning could one day be used to classify unidentified species in NEON bycatch and answer new questions about invertebrate diversity and abundance across North America.
What the Fossil Record Tells Us About Insect Extinctions in Deep Time
Fossils provide the only direct evidence of how mass extinctions unfold. But the fossil record of insects is very different from the fossil records of other groups. A new review in the Annals of the Entomological Society of America explores what we can learn about past insect extinctions from their fossils.
Unexpected Treasure: The Entomological Value of Bycatch Examination
The research director of a busy mosquito control district reports on the scientific discoveries made over years of examining bycatch in mosquito surveillance traps—and makes the case for bycatch as an underutilized resource with the potential to fill knowledge gaps that impede invertebrate conservation efforts.