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Category: Amazing Insects

Amazing insect stories, insects in pop culture, and answers to common bug questions

Study Sheds Light on Origins of Unique Silkworm Strain

Dubbed a "living fossil" by researchers, the Yao silkworm has been domesticated in virtual isolation for a millennium by the Baiku Yao ethnic group in China. New genetic research on the strain finds that the Yao silkworm is a primitive form of the domestic silkworm species Bombyx mori and more distantly related to other wild silkworm species.

Cryptic species of Ormyrus labotus

Hidden Diversity: When One Wasp Species is Actually 16

A tiny parasitoid wasp species, long considered a generalist with more than 65 different host species, is revealed in a new study to actually comprise at least 16 different species, identical in appearance but genetically distinct.