The latest news about entomology, brought to you by the Entomological Society of America
Thanks to citizen volunteers, scientists now know more than ever about the flies that attack monarch butterfly caterpillars. Since 1999, volunteers participating in the Monarch Larva Monitoring Project have collected and raised more than 20,000 monarch eggs and caterpillars, and they’ve recorded incidents of those specimens being parasitized by fly larvae. They have also collected […]
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 summer as National Moth Week marks its fifth consecutive year across the U.S and around the world. This year National Moth Week is being held […]
By Eric Rayfield In July 2015 entitled, researchers are launching an intense bumble bee project called “The Blue Ridge Bumble Bee Megatransect.” I’ll be joining Dr. Jennifer Geib of Appalachian State University, Paul Super of the Appalachian Highlands Science Learning Center of the National Park Service, and Sam Droege of the U.S. Geological Survey. We […]
By Erin Weeks Finding a mate can be hard enough in the animal kingdom, but nocturnal creatures face an added difficulty — locating potential partners in the dark. It’s a problem many insects have solved by evolving an array of mating signals that engage all of the senses: crickets chirp, moths follow pheromone trails, fireflies […]
By Kevin Fitzgerald The emerald ash borer (Agrilus planipennis) is a pest species that has killed tens of millions of ash trees and has the potential to kill most of the 8.7 billion ash trees in North America. The beetle, native to Asia, was accidentally introduced to the U.S. in 2002 in Michigan. Since then, […]
