I’m currently on holiday, and was unable to put together a typical post of links of discoveries for Expiscor. I therefore thought it would be a nice change of pace to provide a short list of people who I rely on heavily for links and images that are published on Expiscor. This post is, therefore, a “thank you” of sorts – Expiscor would just not be possible without constantly seeing terrific content, and this depends on people promoting interesting stories on Twitter or Facebook, or through other means. Creating lists is far from a solitary activity – quite the opposite. It’s about a community, and the people below are one part of that community.

Here’s a list of great people who consistently provide terrific content (in no particular order):

• Dr. Dez: an entomologist with broad interests, from photography, to odd stories, and a deep love of old literature.

• Bug Girl: it would be hard to have a set of links about entomology without mentioning Bug Girl – she provides a great dose of entomology, often with sense of humour, wit and sarcasm. Check out her blog here.

• Alex Wild: most people who follow Expiscor probably already follow Alex. Entomologist and photographer!

• Morgan Jackson is one of my key sources for entomology news in Canada. A Dipterist (that’s OK with me!), a great guy, generous, thoughtful, and a man with a great sense of humour. (he has, by the way, helped me a great deal as I started my venture into the world of social media!)

• Terry McGynn is the creator of Small Pond Science – a brilliant blog about Academia, ants, and more.

• Malcolm Campbell – the creator of #sixincrediblethingsbeforebreakfast, wonderful writer of blog posts, and someone who finds the most amazing stories from the world of science

• For all things #scicomm in Canada, thank goodness for Science Borealis

• Ainsley Seago: an American entomologist, currently in Australia. In addition to entomological content, Ainsley is a source of “art with a twist”, Thripsters, anyone?

• More from Australia, Cameron Webb provides links about biting flies, medical and veterinary entomology, and so much more.

• From South America, Daniel Llavaneras is a source for stunning photos and commentary about biodiversity in the tropics.

• Over in Europe, Matthew Cobb, from Academia to Entomology, contributor to “Why Evolution is True” and historian.

• Still in the UK, Simon Leather, amazing scientist, and source of great blogs and terrific papers with entomological content.

• For spidery great-ness, thanks to Spider Joe, Leslie Brunetta & Sam Evans.

• Flying Trilobite provides wonderful content, and as a science illustrator, someone I admire.

• For photography, I also enjoy posts and images from Sean McCann and Adrian Thysse – brilliant work, and they are always happy to have their work posted on Expiscor.

• For insights into the grad student mind, Barbara Frei, Carly Ziter, and Nash Turley are must-follow. They find and promote terrific comment, and themselves are thoughtful, articulate and, well, just a great source of inspiration.

• Finally, you all need to follow Ed Yong. That is all.

….OK, I have missed some amazing people, and for that I apologize… when I’m on vacation again, I’ll do a “part 2”.

From the docks of a cottage, enjoy your week!