Hungry, Hungry Hawaiian Caterpillar: Program Aims to Restore the Endemic Kamehameha Butterfly
The Kamehameha butterfly, once widespread across its native Hawai'i, has been displaced by human incursion to its habitat. The Hawai'i Invertebrate Program is on a mission to bring the butterfly and its host plants back to their former glory.
Meet the Mosquito With a Big Appetite—for Other Mosquitoes
The mosquito species Toxorhynchites rutilus is harmless to humans but is a voracious predator of other mosquitoes. Researchers in Houston, Texas, are hoping the "mosquito assassin" could be put into action as a tool for controlling mosquitoes that carry human pathogens—if they can find an efficient way to raise the predator mosquitoes in the lab.
Maximizing Mealworms: Research Aims to Improve Rearing Methods
Yellow mealworms (Tenebrio molitor) have long been produced as fish bait and pet food, but their use as animal feed and even food for people is growing. Researchers are working to fine-tune methods to improve the quantity and quality of mass-reared mealworms.
Hungry, Hungry Larvae: How Entomologists Design the Diet for Mass-Reared Screwworm Flies
Ever wondered how one might feed 20 million fly larvae every week? Get a glimpse into the work of entomologists who fine-tune the diet for mass-reared screwworm flies at the Panama – United States Commission for the Eradication and Prevention of Screwworm.
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.
Sustainable Entomology: How Insect Scientists Can Protect Our Planet
By Ryan C. Gott, Ph.D. “Living in the now” is passé. We have shifted focus onto benefiting our collective future. This mindset is often manifested in the term “sustainability,” broadly […]
Researchers Raise Maggots on Chicken Blood to Save Darwin’s Finches
By Meredith Swett Walker In 1676, the great scientist Isaac Newton (of gravity fame) wrote a letter to another scientific titan, Robert Hooke (who had coined the biological term “cell”), […]
This Artificial Diet May Make Insect Rearing Easier
By Richard Levine If you want to do lab research on insects, you need to be able to keep them alive, sometimes for many generations. That means you need to […]
Stink Bug Rearing Technique Could Lead to Control Strategies
Researchers at North Carolina A&T State University have found a successful rearing method for brown marmorated stink bugs (Halyomorpha halys), which could be used to develop a reliable supply of […]