BiotechMashup

A new study revises the taxonomy of the Dioptinae, a subfamily of moths that have conquered the day in the tropical Americas. The roughly 500 described dioptines have a wide diversity of wing types -- from blue to yellow-stripes to clear -- and converge with another group of diurnal insects that probably evolved from a nocturnal, brown moth, the butterflies.

(American Museum of Natural History) Resources for Learning, an innovative online catalog of educational content for teachers and students developed by the American Museum of Natural History, has received the Science Prize for Online Resources in Education -- the first time a natural history museum has won this coveted honor. The award, sponsored by the journal Science, recognizes outstanding, free online educational materials that enrich science learning.

by Jinyao Zeng, Ning Xiang, Lei Jiang, Gareth Jones, Yongmei Zheng, Bingwan Liu, Shuyi Zhang

by Jinyao Zeng, Ning Xiang, Lei Jiang, Gareth Jones, Yongmei Zheng, Bingwan Liu, Shuyi Zhang

(American Museum of Natural History) Observation of fruit flies pollinating dracula orchids and discovery of over two dozen new goblin spiders: two recent publications from invertebrate zoologists at the American Museum of Natural History provide a timely bit of natural history.

(American Museum of Natural History) New DNA barcoding from the Sackler Institute for Comparative Genomics at the American Museum of Natural History shows that nearly a third of the tuna plated in sushi restaurants was bluefin -- even if it was not labeled bluefin on the menu.

(American Museum of Natural History) John Flynn, Frick Curator of Fossil Mammals and Professor and Dean of the Richard Gilder Graduate School at the American Museum of Natural History, has been awarded the distinction of Fellow by the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He will receive the award at the 2010 annual meeting in San Diego.

(American Museum of Natural History) In a new research paper appearing in the early online edition of Astrophysical Journal Letters, researchers affiliated with the American Museum of Natural History tie the continual rain of gas onto galaxy centers to extremely bright active galactic nuclei.

(Cleveland Museum of Natural History) Michael Ryan, Ph.D., a scientist at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, announces the discovery of a new horned dinosaur, Medusaceratops lokii. His findings will be published in the book, "New Perspectives on Horned Dinosaurs," from Indiana University Press.