Rise of the Grasshoppers: New Analysis Redraws Evolutionary Tree for Acrididae Family
A new study of genetic relationships in the grasshopper family Acrididae points to an origin in South America, not Africa, as previously thought. The findings about grasshopper evolution are reported in Insect Systematics and Diversity.
Study Shows Rapid Evolution in Lab-Reared Insects
A wide variety of insects (such as mosquitoes, shown here) are raised in the laboratory. A new review of research on lab-reared insects shows that they evolve rapidly as they progress through generations raised in artificial environments.
Urban Moths Have Evolved to Avoid the Big City Lights
We’re gonna start this one off with a moth joke, because — why not? A new study published in Biology Letters by Swiss zoologists shows that urban moths have learned […]
Humans and Mites Evolved Together, and People from Different Regions Host Different Mite Lineages
Scientists have discovered a universal human truth about our bodies: they all, without exception, have mites. A new study explores the face mite species Demodex folliculorum, using genetic testing to […]
Natural Selection Can Advance Evolution, But Can Also Impede It
A study involving walkingstick insects led by the University of Sheffield in England and the University of Colorado Boulder shows how natural selection, the engine of evolution, can also impede […]
Insects Were First Animals to Develop Wings More than 400 Million Years Ago
An international team of more than 100 researchers has published the first modern road map of insect evolution. Understanding how insects are related, which until now has remained largely unknown, […]
Entomologists Support Specimen Collections as Vital Component of Research
In April, 2014 an article called “Avoiding (Re)extinction” was published in Science magazine that said that collecting biological could “magnify the extinction risk” for some species, and that alternatives such […]