Study Shows American Dog Ticks in Western U.S. Are a Separate Species
Researchers have split the medically important American dog tick into two species: the existing Dermacentor variabilis in eastern states and the newly described Dermacentor similis west of the Rocky Mountains.
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.
Bark Beetle Identification: There’s an App for That, Too
Researchers at the University of Florida and the USDA-ARS have created a mobile app for bark beetle identification, allowing users to either play a beetle ID game or browse through the bewildering diversity of morphologies in the world of bark beetles.
Advanced Morphology Techniques Reveal Tobacco Hornworm’s Secrets
Though studied for decades as a model organism, the tobacco hornworm's lack of silk production has never been thoroughly researched, until now. A team of researchers combining high-tech microscopic imaging with genomic techniques have captured in new detail the caterpillar's first instar silk-producing anatomy and subsequent loss of that capability as it molts to later instars.