The latest news about entomology, brought to you by the Entomological Society of America
By Edward Ricciuti Cornell University scientists are tuning up the entomological version of psych war tactics that, instead of killing insect pests outright, manipulate their behavior so they avoid crops they might otherwise damage. Repellents that modify the behavior of insects might not stand alone as deterrents, but they could be deployed more extensively in […]
By Meredith Swett Walker Parents often worry about what they feed their kids and how it might affect their future. But, barring genuine malnutrition, no diet or food is likely to radically change your kid’s life—unless you are an alfalfa leafcutting bee. For such bees, diet early in life can be truly life-altering. Alfalfa leafcutting […]
By John P. Roche Spotted wing drosophila (Drosophila suzukii), is an invasive fruit fly species from eastern Asia, first seen in the United States in 2008. The species is devastating to fruit crops, causing economic losses in the U.S. of hundreds of millions of dollars. Spotted wing drosophila feeds on a wide range of host […]
To slightly modify an old adage, you can catch more flies with increased levels of acetoin, acetic acid, and ethanol than with methionol. Specifically, the fly in question is spotted wing drosophila (Drosophila suzukii), an invasive pest in North American and Europe that attacks several fruit crops. A lure for catching and monitoring in D. […]
As the managed honey bee industry continues to grapple with significant annual colony losses, the Varroa destructor mite is emerging as the leading culprit. And, it turns out, the very nature of modern beekeeping may be giving the parasite the exact conditions it needs to spread nearly beyond control. In an article published yesterday in […]
