Meet Melissa Sánchez Herrera, Ph.D., postdoctoral researcher and lecturer at the Universidad del Rosario in Bogotá, Colombia, damselfly expert, mentor to young scientists, and subject of the next installment of our "Standout Early Career Professionals" series.
Researchers studying hydrocarbons in insect cuticles typically avoid specimens preserved in ethanol, for fear the solvent may interfere with chemical analysis. A new study, however, finds ethanol has little effect—at least in the case of one wasp species tested—and opens the possibility that ethanol-preserved insects can indeed be used for the analysis of cuticular chemical compounds.
A partnership between the National Ecological Observatory Network and the National Phenology Network makes deep troves of ecological and phenological data available for a variety of uses, including predicting populations and dynamics of insects such as mosquitoes.
Biosecurity research at Kansas State University adds to the chorus of studies showing mosquitoes and other insects are not biological vectors of SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19. Here's a look at how that research is conducted.
In Uganda and neighboring African nations, wild grasshoppers are a delicacy and are commonly harvested for their use as food. A team of researchers has designed a new trap that improves on the traditional model by reducing nontarget bycatch, energy consumption, and use of hazardous materials.