Beetle Farmers 2.0: A Super-symbiont Fungus Supports a Complex Beetle Society
By Jiri Hulcr and Matt Kasson Eating wood is really tough. Many insects are pretty good at chewing wood with their mandibles, but they can’t produce the right concoction of […]
Tree-killing Hemlock Woolly Adelgids Hitch Rides on Birds
By Meredith Swett Walker At first glance, you might not think these little bits of fluff could pose much of a threat. But, like Star Trek’s troublesome tribbles, hemlock woolly […]
Letters Home from the 2000 International Congress of Entomology in Brazil
Editor’s note: The author, Tom Sappington, attended four different International Congresses of Entomology, from 1996-2008, and sent hand-written letters home during each of them. The following, the second part of […]
News from the Entomological Collections Management Workshop in Washington, DC
By Richard Levine An Entomological Collections Management Workshop was held July 18-20, 2016 at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History. The purpose of the workshop, which was co-sponsored […]
Got Moths? Celebrate National Moth Week and Global Citizen Science
By David Moskowitz and Liti Haramaty Spot any underwings lately? These popular moths, known for revealing their true, vibrant colors when their wings are fully spread, will be spotlighted this […]
Letters Home from the 1996 International Congress of Entomology in Italy
Editor’s note: The author, Tom Sappington, attended four different International Congresses of Entomology, from 1996-2008, and sent hand-written letters home during each of them. The following, the first part of […]
Here’s How to Prevent Bites and Suppress Ticks that Transmit Lyme Disease
By Hannah Foster The onset of spring and summer means barbecues, camping, hiking, and a plethora of other outdoor activities. However, warmer weather also means ticks. Tick bites spread numerous […]
Infrared Photography Shows Tsetse Fly Development from Pupa to Adult
By Ed Ricciuti Researchers employing near infrared still photographs and time-lapse video have peered into the pupa of the living tsetse fly and for the first time have watched its […]
Who, What, and Where Do Mosquitoes Bite?
By Cameron Webb Mosquitoes bite. They need to bite. Female mozzies require the nutritional hit of a bloodmeal to develop eggs. The blood can come from many different animals. Some […]
“Rare” Butterfly Feeds on Oak Galls and Other Non-Nectar Sources
By Ed Ricciuti In an era when reports proliferate about species careening towards extinction, field research by two University of Connecticut (UCONN) entomologists has turned up refreshing news: a subspecies […]
A Strange Butterfly-Ant Relationship Discovered in Peru
By Aaron Pomerantz Phil Torres and I recently described the never-before-seen life history of Adelotypa annulifera, a metalmark butterfly in the family Riodinidae. While many riodinid butterfly species are known […]
Scientists Document Illegal Logging in Monarch Butterfly Reserve by Using Drones and Satellite Photos
By Richard Levine Today I wrote a guest article for the Oxford University Press Blog. The monarch butterfly is famous for its migratory route, which can be as long as […]
Here’s How Homeowners Can Avoid Problems with Wasps
By Tom McShane Summer is right round the corner. As the weather changes, so does the life cycle of a number of insects, especially wasps. It won’t be long before […]
Can Genetically Modified Trees Save American Forests?
By Richard Levine Yesterday I attended the sixth North American Forest Insect Work Conference, a meeting that has been held every five years since 1991. This one is taking place […]
Biological Control in Brazil is Used on an Area that is Larger than Belgium
By Alexandre Diniz, José Roberto Postali Parra, and Aloisio Coelho Jr. Some biological control programs involve large-scale rearing of millions insect predators that are released near agricultural crops. In Brazil, […]
Tiger Moths Use Acoustic Aposematism to Deter Bat Predators
Acoustic warning signals emitted by tiger moths to deter bats, a behavior called acoustic aposematism, was previously proven to occur in the laboratory. Now researchers from Wake Forest University have […]