If you’re a “bug” enthusiast, you probably have a handful of entomologists that you already follow. On social media outlets like twitter, there are some amazing entomologists, doing some incredible work. But for those of you who want to start a list, here are a few we think you should start following and socializing with. They may not all lead their own lab or be a best selling author quite yet, but they’re doing some really cool stuff online, through education and contributing to the field of entomology. If you’re an enthusiast, these are scientists you can learn a thing or two from. Make sure you click on their profiles to read up on them in more detail! If anything, it’s just fun to read about their lives.

Michelle Trautwein

Imagine a scientist who studies bugs, who still retains a bit of that natural trepidation for them. That’s Michelle. But while she may not dive headlong into a pit of cockroaches, she brings with her the brains behinds a few new studies, namely the new Bugs on the 7 Continent study, and an in-depth examination of the mites on our faces. Read more here

Matt Bertone

If you come across a random insect on the east coast, chances are Matt has collected one himself, identified it and taken a sweet picture of it! Matt has an amazing knowledge of arthropods and is now based in Raleigh NC. He recently wrote this awesome piece about bugs in your home. Plus, he’s an amazing macro-photographer! Read more about Matt here.

Misha Leong

Did you know that your house is full of bugs! Misha is an entomologist at the California Academy of Sciences and somewhat of an expert on the bugs in your homes. She’s been doing global study sampling bugs in people’s homes on all seven continents. If you’re keen to see Misha in action, we have footage of it! Read more here

Morgan Jackson

If you haven’t already been a guest on Morgan’s podcast, breakingbio, you may be one day. He has over 100 episodes and it’s a great way to see what other scientists are doing. He is doing a Ph.D in Stilt-legged Fly taxonomy and working at the University of Guelph Insect Collection. He’s also a great photographer and twitter-phile. Read more here.

Lauren Esposito

This is the scorpion queen. If you want to know about these venom-tailed critters, this is the person to talk to. She works as a biologist at the California Academy of Sciences and specializes on arachnids in the Caribbean and New World. She has also worked hard to set up a non-profit research station in Mexico! Read more here

Keith Bayless

Grand prizer winner of the Bug Trivia at last year’s entomology conference, Keith is the sponge for any arthropod knowledge. He’s also a world traveler, who’s set upon figuring out the evolutionary links between different insect taxa. This mission has taken him all around the globe – including the Amazon, where we first met him!

Margarita López-Uribe

Declines in bee populations around the world have made people concerned that we may not be able to pollinate both our crops and our wild flowers. Her ultimate goal is to identify causes for these declines. She wants to help come up with strategies for conservation and restoration of bee populations. We like to call her Dr. Honey Bee. … read more

Jessica Ware

Jessica runs a lab at Rutgers University where she studies insect evolution. She might ask questions like When Did Insects Evolve? I’ve never met Jessica, but she came highly recommended by other entomologists. I’m really glad I got the opportunity to ask her these 7 questions as I find what she does really interesting… read more

Aaron Pomerantz

One thing I love is finding scientists who are great photographers. They know their study organisms better than anyone and if they’re able to utilize the power of a camera, it tells an amazing story. This is what I saw when I came across Aaron on Twitter and instagram. He loves taking photos. The other great aspect to his photos is that a lot of them come straight from the Peruvian amazon, where he spends a lot of his time trekking, exploring and doing science. Read more here.

David Moskowitz

David is the creator of the FB page: Confessions of a Bug Addict. If you haven’t checked it out, you should now. It has lots of fun inspiration for fellow “bug addicts.” He is also the co-founder of National Moth week. Read more here.

A TwitterVerse of “Bug” Gurus

Clearly there are lots of entomologists doing great work. We just pulled a handful that we found really interesting. A big thanks to Morgan Jackson for helping fine tune our list!

Catherine Scott – @Cataranea – Catherine is a PhD student from Canada who does a great job spreading her love and knowledge of spiders.
Chris Buddle – @CMBuddle – As a professor of ecology at McGill University in Montreal, Chris is highly skilled at teaching students about arthropods of all kinds, as well as discussing his own interests in natural history research and Arctic biology.
Sally-Ann Spence – @minibeastmayhem – Sally-Ann has her own entomology education & outreach business in the UK, and helps bring the science of entomology to kids and adults alike.
Aaron Pomerantz – @aaronpomerantz – From the jungles of Peru to the streets of Los Angeles, Aaron shares all the different bugs (and other critters) he finds in his job as a science communicator and ecotourism guide.
Lu Musetti – @osuc_curator – What’s it like to work in an entomology museum and care for 3.5 million insect specimens? Follow Lu to see all the behind the scenes work at the Ohio State University Triplehorn Insect Collection
Derek Hennen – @derekhennen – Millipedes may have a few (hundred) more legs than insects, but that just means there’s more for Derek, a PhD student who specializes on millipede biology, to get excited about.
The Bug Chicks – @thebugchicks – Kristie and Jessica combine to form the super awesome Bug Chicks, a pair of professional entomologists who bring insects into classrooms and videos onto the internet to help everyone discover their inner bugdork.
Daniel Llavaneras – @dllavaneras – Living in Venezuela isn’t particularly easy right now, but that doesn’t stop Daniel from being curious about insects and exploring the wild places around his home and across his country to share some of the more spectacular tropical insects he finds and photographs.
Erica McAlister – @flygirlNHM – One of the few people on Twitter that professes their love for flies as often as I do, Erica is the Curator of Diptera (Flies) at the Natural History Museum in London, England, and regularly takes her followers into the cabinets of the museum on the hunt for unusual biologies and unknown species. Also, she’s a big fan of bot flies.
Paul Manning – @paulypod – It may be a crappy job at times, but that doesn’t stop Paul from studying the ways in which insects help our society survive, especially how dung beetles keep us from getting buried neck-deep in manure.

Find out more about Entomology

If you’re interested in becoming an entomologist, we want to help you get there. Here at Untamed Science, we’re dedicated to profiling the work of amazing researchers and letting everyone who is interested, know how to get their foot in the door. To start, we recommend trying to learn about what it means to be an entomologist. Watch our (soon to be) 7-part series about entomology here. Just for fun, here is the one on the amazon, featuring a few of the above-mentioned entomologists.

Got a “Scientists to Follow” list we should make?

Send us an email and nominate a few scientists you think should make the list. Better yet, get ahold of us to help us make it happen. UntamedScience(at)gmail.com