What Explains the Genetic Diversity of an Iberian Grasshopper? Ice, Ice, Baby
High-throughput sequencing data reveals that the genetic makeup of the grasshopper Omocestus panteli is best explained by fragmentation during the last ice age.
New Research Deepens Mystery About Evolution of Bees’ Social Behavior
A new study has mounted perhaps the most intricate, detailed look ever at the diversity in structure and form of bees, offering new insights in a long-standing debate over how complex social behaviors arose in certain branches of bees' evolutionary tree. The report offers strong evidence that complex social behavior developed just once in pollen-carrying bees, rather than twice or more, separately, in different evolutionary branches—but researchers say the case is far from closed.
Shades of Jurassic Park: Museum Specimens Shown to be “Treasure Troves” of Genomic Data
Advances in genetic analysis methods have opened new research opportunities using old source material: museum specimens. A study on three families of moths illustrates the potential of the new technique, dubbed "museomics."
Cuckoo Combo: Re-Classification Makes Bombus flavidus World’s Most Widespread Bumble Bee
Researchers have synonymized the bumble bee species Bombus fernaldae with Bombus flavidus, establishing the latter, a cuckoo that parasitizes other bumble bee colonies, as the most broadly distributed bumble bee species of any kind in the world.