Dirt and Bugs: Four-letter Words that Go Together
By Randall Southard, Edwin Lewis, Daniel Hirmas, and Rufus Isaacs The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations has designated 2015 as the International Year of Soils. In addition, […]
New Flea Genus and Species Found in 20-million-year-old Amber
By Harvey Black Dr. George Poinar, Jr., an entomologist from Oregon State University, has found a fossilized flea the like of which he has never seen. Its basic characteristics are […]
Research on Fungus-farming Beetles Reveals a New Wood-decaying Fungus
By Jiri Hulcr Who was the first farmer on Earth, over 60 million years ago? Which insect group includes the most invasive and deadly vectors of tree diseases? And which […]
A Behind-the-scenes Look at a Butterfly Rainforest
By Richard Levine The McGuire Center for Lepidoptera & Biodiversity at the University of Florida in Gainesville is huge, with more than 10 million specimens of moths and butterflies. I […]
Irradiation Can Be an Alternative to Fumigation
By Harvey Black USDA Agricultural Research Service scientist Peter Follett has been working for nearly 20 years to develop and expand the use of ionizing radiation to control insects that […]
The Collophore Helps Put the Spring in Springtails
By Erin Weeks In 2000, a government building in Maryland had a bit of a springtail infestation on its grounds. Whenever it rained during humid months, springtails swarmed the lawn. […]
What Can Insects and Mites Tell Us About Water Quality?
By Hannah Foster If you take a cup of water from a pond, stream, or even a dirty drainage ditch and look at it closely, you’ll find that it is […]
Cereal Systems Conference to Coincide with ESA Annual Meeting
By Sanford Eigenbrode To help Pacific Northwest farmers understand and adapt to the projected impacts of climate change, nearly 200 scientists, students, and educators from the region’s three land-grant universities […]
Mosquito Hawk? Skeeter Eater? Giant Mosquito? No, No, and No
That big long-legged fly isn't a mosquito; it doesn't eat mosquitoes, and it's harmless. A bit of insect myth-busting.
Two New Species of Chewing Lice Discovered on Stealthy Songbird
By Meredith Swett Walker If you’re desperate to discover a new species of louse, looking for one on a bird is a good start. Looking for lice on one of […]
Mosquitoes Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places, Sort it Out Eventually
By Erin Weeks In the 1980s, public health officials and entomologists noticed a curious sea change in Florida. For centuries, the yellowfever mosquito (Aedes aegypti) had been one of the […]
New Article Reveals Life History Details of the Bagrada Bug
By John P. Roche The bagrada bug, Bagrada hilaris, is a species of stink bug that was introduced into North America in 2008. It feeds on plants of the mustard […]
From Red-eyed Flies to Red Flour Beetles, Insects are Model Research Organisms
By Lucy Huang Model organisms have deepened our understanding of diverse biological concepts, including animal behavior, environmental changes, molecular genetics, developmental biology, and speciation. What defines a model organism is […]
For Kudzu Bugs, a Single Pesticide Application Targeting Nymphs is Most Cost-Effective
By Chris Patrick The invasive kudzu bug (Megacopta cribraria) is a gleaming glob of an insect. The adults, about the size of a lady beetle, are square-ish and shiny olive-green, […]
Stink Bugs’ Tree Host Preferences May Provide Management Clues
By Kevin Fitzgerald Since its discovery in Pennsylvania in 1998, the brown marmorated stink bug (Halyomorpha halys), an invasive species native to eastern Asia, has swept into most U.S. states, […]
Wisconsin Butterfly Conservation Program Could Be a Model for Future Efforts
By Ed Ricciuti An endangered butterfly with a one-inch wingspan is the focus of a cutting-edge recovery program in Wisconsin that has become a model for other recovery plans for […]