Laura Torrado-Blanco

A yellow historic tram travels along a narrow cobblestone street lined with bright-colored buildings in Lisbon, Portugal. The 10kLepGenomes and LepEU logos are overlaid in the bottom corner.

(1/4) 📢 Applications are open for the #LepEU Workshop 2026: a joint training + hackathon event focused on the analysis of #Lepidoptera genomic data.

🗓️ 26–29 May 2026
📍 Faculty of Sciences, University of Lisbon (Portugal)

Save the date! ⬇️

A group of researchers and participants gather at night in a mountain landscape around a glowing blue light trap used for collecting moths. The scene is illuminated by the bright light, with trees and dark mountain silhouettes in the background. The group is examining specimens and taking notes during fieldwork. Photo credit: Alena Suchackova.

(1/2) Applications are open for the second field workshop of WG 2: Specimen collection for genomic work
📍 Vlahi, Pirin Mountains (Bulgaria)
📅 15–19 June 2026
We’re bringing together Lepidoptera taxonomists, enthusiasts, bioinformaticians, and students for real hands-on learning and exchange.
⬇️ ⬇️

Participants of the workshop during Charlotte's presentation. Many screens show Hi-C maps being curated in real time.

(1/3) The 2nd Genome Curation Workshop continues!

Today, participants explored Merian elements and chromosome evolution in #Lepidoptera in a fantastic talk by @charlottewright.bsky.social

More info below 👇🦋

Participants attending a talk on day one of the 2nd Genome Curation Workshop (Cambridge, Wellcome Sanger Institute, Feb 16-17). The screen shows an image of Phalera bucephala alongside information about its genome.

Mark Blaxter giving a talk during day one of the 2nd Genome Curation Workshop (Feb 16-27, Wellcome Sanger Institute, Cambridge).

📢 Today marks the start of the 2nd Genome Curation Workshop, organised by #10kLepGenomes and @projectpsyche.bsky.social

From Feb 16–27, seventeen participants will learn how to interpret and edit Hi-C maps alongside senior curators at the @sangerinstitute.bsky.social

Stay tuned for updates! 🦋🧬

Si es que @entomoprofessor.bsky.social es la mejor! 💜🦋

10kLepGenomes | COST Action CA23122 The 10kLepGenomes COST Action aims to take advantage of the massive amount of data being produced by genome initiatives, in order to understand pressing issues of biodiversity loss, pest control, and ...

📣 The 2nd #STSM call of #10kLepGenomes is complete!
Eight researchers have been awarded funding for short scientific missions to boost collaboration, training, and knowledge exchange across the network.

Congrats to the selected candidates and thanks to everyone who applied! 🦋
www.10klepgenomes.eu

Hoy publicamos la primera cita para España del sírfido Anasimyia contracta, a partir de un ejemplar conservado en la Colección Entomológica @universidadoviedo.bsky.social. Con Pablo Aguado @entomoprofessor.bsky.social y @erebiologa.bsky.social

www.entomologica.es/publicacione...

Some butterflies may seem more beautiful than others. And believe it or not, this is influencing their conservation and researchers' interest! - Take this 10-min test to contribute to a research into our perception of butterfly beauty:
www.unveiling.eu/en_US/introd...

Project Psyche: reference genomes for all Lepidoptera in Europe Project Psyche is a transnational initiative to generate and study chromosome-level reference genomes of all ~11 000 species of Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths) found in Europe. Here, we describe t...

🦋 🧬 Feature review @cp-trendsecolevo.bsky.social: "Project Psyche @projectpsyche.bsky.social : reference genomes for all Lepidoptera in Europe", with @erebiologa.bsky.social and @entomoprofessor.bsky.social from @universidadoviedo.bsky.social

www.cell.com/trends/ecolo...

The hand of a researcher holding one of the grids containing samples for barcoding. Photo credits: Alena Sucháčková.

View of the stunning landscape in Mals (Italy), where the first field campaign of CA 10kLepGenomes was conducted this summer. Photo credits: Alena Sucháčková.

Moths resting over one of the UV-light traps set during the samplings conducted in Mals for the first field campaign of CA 10kLepGenomes (July 2025). Photo credits: Alena Sucháčková.

🎉 #Barcoding results from specimens collected in the Mals field-workshop are in — thank you Marko Mutanen!
🧬We confirmed IDs of tricky specimens (mostly microleps), adding 43 new species to @projectpsyche.bsky.social and identifying 14 that need recollection.

Thanks to all who took part!

Photo of Mark Blaxter, Joana Meier & Charlotte Wright with butterfly nets and wings!

A huge butterfly-themed cake and cupcakes

A butterfly mobile made by colouring butterflies on paper cutouts

Many members of the Tree of Life programme making paper butterflies for the mobile

This week we celebrated reaching 1000 lepidopteran genomes in the Tree of Life (ToL) programme @ the @sangerinstitute.bsky.social with butterfly crafts and cake! Many of these genomes were sequenced by the wonderful ToL teams as part of @projectpsyche.bsky.social & the Darwin Tree of Life project 🦋🧬

Mónica Doblas and Laura Torrado, members of the Science Communications team, presenting a communication on Project Psyche and 10kLepGenomes during the XXI Iberian Congress of Entomology

Mónica Doblas and Laura Torrado, members of the Science Communications team, presenting a communication on Project Psyche and 10kLepGenomes during the XXI Iberian Congress of Entomology

Our Science Communications team has presented the initiatives of @projectpsyche.bsky.social and #10kLepGenomes at the XXI Iberian Congress of Entomology #CIEÁvila2025🦋
Congrats to @erebiologa.bsky.social and @entomoprofessor.bsky.social!

Dos charlas geniales, abriendo el día 2 por todo lo alto! 🐝🪰
#CIEÁvila2025

A photo of an entomological box full of carpenter bees of the species Xylocopa valga from the MNCN Entomological colletion. Author: Adrián Sánchez Albert (MNCN)

I: What are the main challenges for collections?

LL: "From what I could observe during my internship, digitization 💻 is a major challenge due to the large volume of material. Another challenge is managing to carry out all the work with the limited staff available 👥."

Allí estaremos @entomoprofessor.bsky.social! Hablaremos de la Coleccion Zoológica, del fantástico trabajo de los alumnos de TFG que hemos tenido con nosotras este año y de nuestras aventuras con @projectpsyche.bsky.social y @10klepgenomes.bsky.social
🦋⛰️🧬👩🏽‍🔬👩🏽‍🔬

Our social media managers, @erebiologa.bsky.social and @entomoprofessor.bsky.social, will be presenting #10kLepGenomes and @projectpsyche.bsky.social next week at the Iberian Congress of Entomology!

... presentando una nueva edición de cartas #Zookémon con la que dar a conocer especies de nuestra fauna y sus amenazas de conservación. Ven a por ellas!!!

... y por la tarde seguiremos hablando de diversidad animal y conservación en la Noche Europea de los Investigadores @universidadoviedo.bsky.social @uodivulga.bsky.social mostrando los trabajos que hacemos en la Colección Zoológica de la universidad.

Ya estamos en marcha con #CienciaSINdiferencia @universidadoviedo.bsky.social @uodivulga.bsky.social enseñado la diversidad animal al alumnado de colegios de educación especial de la región.

Celebrating the first 1,000 sequenced genomes on @projectpsyche.bsky.social 😎🧬🦋 #ProjectPsyche #MothStitching

A large grey moth with blue striped hindwings, resting on yellow leaves

A large grey moth with blue striped hindwings feeding on something sticky on a tree trunk

A long, beige caterpillar outstretched on a log

Big, blue & beautiful 💙

The Clifden Nonpareil (Catocala fraxini), whose name means ‘beyond compare’, is our Species of the Month 👉 https://butterfly-conservation.org/news-and-blog/species-of-the-month-clifden-nonpareil

📷: Peter Maton, Andrew Cooper, Mark Parsons
#MothMonday #MothsMatter #TeamMoth

WG1 meeting of @10klepgenomes.bsky.social, this time at Senckenberg German Entomological Institute, was again a big success! We discussed strategies to promote the use of Leps genomic data by society - and we agreed on the next steps!

🥹🦋 1000 genomas de referencia para los Lepidoptera europeos 🦋🥹

(6/6)📄 In our new whitepaper (EcoEvoRxiv) we discuss our aims to coordinate this collaborative analysis of Lepidoptera genomes, turning data into impact for science, conservation and society.
Now available at 👉 ecoevorxiv.org/repository/v...

#ProjectPsyche #Genomics

Genome sequencing progress for Lepidoptera. Stacked bar charts represent the cumulative number of lepidopteran species with a reference genome per year. The colours represent the different levels of genome assembly quality, ranging from contig to chromosome-level. Numbers in brackets represent the range in numbers of species that have a given assembly level per year. Data derived from GoaT on 05.09.2025.

(1/6) 🦋 We are thrilled to announce the release of the 1,000th reference genome of Lepidoptera species found in Europe!
This goal was reached with the release of Stenoptilia islandicus, also known as the mountain plume moth.
Read the story below!👇🏽

Constraints on chromosome evolution revealed by the 229 chromosome pairs of the Atlas blue butterfly The genome of the Atlas blue butterfly contains ten times more chromosomes than most butterflies, and more than any other known diploid animal. Wright et al. show that this extraordinary karyotype is ...

How many chromosomes can an animal have?

In our paper out now in @currentbiology.bsky.social we show that the Atlas blue butterfly has 229 chromosome pairs- the highest in diploid Metazoa! These arose by rapid autosome fragmentation while sex chromosomes stayed intact.
www.cell.com/current-biol...

Group picture of the WG2 in the scientific collection.

After a productive day of work, the WG1 visited the archive and scientific collection of the Senckenberg Institute 👀🦋 All eyes on Maria Sibylla Merian 🥹 #10KLepGenomes

Picture of the 19 attendees of the WG1 in front of the Senckenberg German Entomological Institute in Müncheberg, Germany.

Today kicks off the first meeting organised by WG1 at the Senckenberg German Entomological Institute in Müncheberg, Germany 🦋

From Sept. 10th-12th, 19 participants will discuss how to connect with key stakeholders who may benefit from Lepidoptera genomes

Stay tuned for updates!

#COST10KLepGenomes

New meeting of @10klepgenomes.bsky.social with fabulous @erebiologa.bsky.social and @entomoprofessor.bsky.social in Müncheberg!!!

Here we go again! Estos días @entomoprofessor.bsky.social y yo estaremos en la reunión de @10klepgenomes.bsky.social, donde hablaremos acerca del potencial de las redes sociales para la divulgación sobre genómica y conservación de polillas (y mariposas) 🦋