Though tick populations tend to decrease in areas where predatory ants are present, a new study reveals that it's not because the ants prey on the ticks. In fact, predatory ants such as fire ants ignore ticks completely.
Meet Phillip Barden, Ph.D., assistant professor of biology at the New Jersey Institute of Technology, an expert in fossil ant species and the evolutionary lessons they teach us, and subject of the next edition of our "Standout Early Career Professionals" series.
Well-known in Lepidoptera and Coleoptera, the distinct black-orange-black color pattern has never been fully documented in Hymenoptera—until now. A study of more than 1 million wasp, bee, and other hymenopteran specimens finds a wide range of variations of the pattern present in 23 families within the order Hymenoptera.
In the Brazilian savanna, the larvae of a fruit-fly species exploits an ant-plant mutualism by trapping and preying on ants atop the plant's nectar deposits.
To manage pest infestations in greenhouses, banker plants draw in different insect species that don’t feed on the main crop but do serve as hosts for predator insects that will also attack the pest on the main crop—a useful (and green) tool for integrated pest management.
By Josh Lancette Researchers from China have discovered that some sweeteners can be lethal to the red imported fire ant (Solenopsis invicta), a devastating pest found South America, the United […]
The red imported fire ant (Solenopsis invicta) is an invasive species from South America that is damaging to agriculture and wildlife and known for its painful, venomous sting. That venom, […]
By Josh Lancette When using Bt crops, a constant concern is preventing insect pests from becoming resistant. According to a paper published in the Journal of Economic Entomology that contains […]
Children are often admonished to not talk with food in their mouths. Ants, on the other hand, may be doing it regularly. Mouth-to-mouth food sharing, known as trophallaxis, is common […]
This post is the first in the “Travel Bug” series by Laura Kraft, a recent graduate from the University of Georgia, who will be chronicling her travels in Asia from […]
Since 2012, as part of a campaign to count overwintering bats, scientists have examined an old nuclear weapons bunker in Poland. In the summer of 2013, they made another discovery: […]
By Meredith Swett Walker Harvester ants live up to their name. Like a farmer bringing in a crop of grain, the ants are busy seed collectors. In some habitats they […]
By Josh Lancette Researchers in Panama have discovered a new species of fly in the family Chloropidae. The name of the new species is Pseudogaurax paratolmos, as reported in a […]
By Josh Lancette Argentine ants have been marching across the United States for the past few decades, despite the best pest control efforts. However, the authors of a new study […]
Leafcutter ants may be the world’s first farmers. They basically collect leaves, bring them into their nests, and then eat the fungus that grows on the leaves. Now scientists have […]
Several months ago, Aaron Pomerantz was walking through the Peruvian rain forest and he found a tree with strange yellow bulbs protruding from the bark. In addition, he found caterpillars […]
Two insect species from Latin America, the dinosaur ant and the red paper wasp, have been used to uncover the molecular mechanisms underpinning queen and worker roles in social insects. […]