New Study Aims to Protect Parasitoids of Spotted-Wing Drosophila
Use of an insecticide can be counterproductive if it also harms natural enemies of a target pest. A new study puts several insecticides currently in use to manage spotted-wing drosophila to the test to see how they do or don't affect parasitoids of the invasive fruit fly.
Balance, Hearing, and More: Why Some Wasps Have Fat Lower Legs
The fat lower legs that dangle below flying wasps in the family Gasteruptiidae turn out to be filled with insect fat body, and they may play key roles in flight dynamics, detecting vibrations from prey, and even detoxification.
In Search for Better Stink Bug Management, Scientists Look Up
A parasitoid wasp from Asia offers promise for biological control of the brown marmorated stink bug in North America, but new research suggests that monitoring efforts using primarily ground-level traps may be looking in the wrong place.
Small Creatures, Complex Behaviors: How One Scientist Got Hooked on Entomology
Meet Tolulope Morawo, Ph.D., postdoctoral fellow at Auburn University, insect chemical ecologist, and the subject of the next installment of our "Standout Early Career Professionals" Series.
Fighting Nature With Nature: Scientists Mobilize Biological Control Against Devastating Fall Armyworm
Researchers at Virginia Tech's Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Integrated Pest Management are looking to biological control for the fall armyworm, with plans to deploy native, mass-reared parasitoid wasps in Kenya, Tanzania, and Ethiopia in the coming year.
Another Natural Enemy of Invasive Kudzu Bug Arrives in North America
A wasp species native to Asia was discovered in North America for the first time and shows promise as a potential biological control for kudzu bug.
Pennies for Parasitoids: Savings Add Up When Rearing Wasps on Alternate Hosts
The parasitic wasp Telenomus remus can be cheaper to raise on a commercial scale on the eggs of an alternate host, rather than those of the fall armyworm, the pest the wasp naturally parasitizes in the field
Citizen Science Delivers “Unprecedented View” of Monarch Butterfly Parasitoids
Thanks to citizen volunteers, scientists now know more than ever about the flies that attack monarch butterfly caterpillars. Since 1999, volunteers participating in the Monarch Larva Monitoring Project have collected […]
New Book on Everything You Need to Know About Good Bugs in Your Garden
A new book called Good Garden Bugs: Everything You Need to Know about Beneficial Predatory Insects by Dr. Mary Gardiner, an entomologist at Ohio State University, offers gardeners an easy-to-follow […]
Falling Temperatures Do Not Necessarily Mean Fewer Insects
While it's true that insects will die if exposed to very cold temperatures for prolonged periods of time, many are still able to survive
Canadian Teen Publishes Research on Diamondback Moth Parasitoids
Adamo Young, a grade-12 student in Ottawa who loves science, recently published research on a wasp that is an efficient killer of an agricultural pest. His article, “War of the […]