Insects (including Butterflies) News

November 20, 2024

Top Headlines

Bee Alert: Pesticides Pose a Real Threat to Over 70% of Wild Bees

Nov. 18, 2024 — A new study reveals alarming risks that pesticides pose to ground-nesting bees, which are crucial for pollination and food production. As agriculture increasingly relies on pesticides to protect crops, the unintended consequences for these essential ...

'Walk This Way': How Ants Create Trails to Multiple Food Sources

Nov. 16, 2024 — Researchers have discovered that in a foraging ant's search for food, it will leave pheromone trails connecting its colony to multiple food sources when they're available, successfully creating the first model that explains the phenomenon of trail ...

From Pets to Pests: Researchers Explore New Tool to Fight Disease-Carrying Insects

Nov. 12, 2024 — Researchers are testing a product commonly used to treat ticks and fleas on pets to target fly and mosquito larvae with the goal of helping reduce the spread of diseases carried by these ...

Insect-Killing Fungi Find Unexpected Harmony in War

Nov. 7, 2024 — A new study reveals that two strains of pathogenic fungi unexpectedly divide insect victims amongst themselves rather than aggressively compete for ...

Latest Headlines

updated 11:17pm EST

'Cool' White Car Headlights More Likely to Dazzle Moths

Nov. 14, 2024 — 'Cool' white lights -- such as those in modern car headlights -- endanger moths by causing them to fly erratically, new research ...

Research Shows Caterpillar Fungus Can Slow Down Growth of Cancer Cells

Nov. 7, 2024 — New research into a chemical produced by a caterpillar fungus that has shown promise as a possible cancer treatment has revealed how it interacts with genes to interrupt cell growth signals. The ...

Not the Usual Suspects: Novel Genetic Basis of Pest Resistance to Biotech Crops

Nov. 4, 2024 — Researchers used genomics to investigate the genetic changes causing resistance to transgenic crops in field populations of the corn earworm, also ...

Deaf Male Mosquitoes Don't Mate

Nov. 5, 2024 — Romance is a complex affair in humans. There's personality, appearance, seduction, all manner of physical and social cues. Mosquitoes are much more blunt. Mating occurs for a few seconds in midair. ...

Bacteria Breakthrough Could Accelerate Mosquito Control Schemes

Nov. 4, 2024 — Mosquito larvae grow faster if they're exposed to particular bacteria, according to a new study that could help global health ...

Bee Gene Specifies Collective Behavior

Nov. 1, 2024 — Researchers investigate how the complex, cooperative behavior of honey bees (Apis mellifera) is genetically programmed so that it can be passed on to subsequent generations. They found an answer in ...

Alcohol Consumption Among Non-Human Animals May Not Be as Rare as Previously Thought, Say Ecologists

Oct. 30, 2024 — Anecdotes abound of wildlife behaving 'drunk' after eating fermented fruits, but despite this, nonhuman consumption of ethanol has been assumed to be ...

Invisible Anatomy in the Fruit Fly Uterus

Oct. 25, 2024 — Drosophila is one of the most thoroughly studied lab animals -- with the exception of the female reproductive tract. Now a team of biologists has taken the first deep look at the Drosophila uterus ...

Evaluating the Link Between Chemicals and Declining Insect Populations

Oct. 24, 2024 — Employing a library of more than 1,000 chemicals, scientists investigated how agrochemicals affect insect populations. The scientists found that exposure to non-fatal amounts of 57 percent of the ...

Human Actions Likely Cause Insect Color Change

Oct. 24, 2024 — New Zealand's native stoneflies have changed colour in response to human-driven environmental changes, new research shows. The study provides arguably the world's most clear-cut case of animal ...

12 New Oriental Weevil Species Discovered Using Advanced Imaging Tools

Oct. 29, 2024 — Two of these new species are present in Japan: Aphanerostethus magnus (Oo-daruma-kuchikakushi-zoumushi) and Aphanerostethus japonicus (Nippon-daruma-kuchikakushi-zoumushi). One of these, ...

Gardens Prevent Pollinators from Starving When Farmland Nectar Is Scarce

Oct. 22, 2024 — Gardens offer a steady and reliable source of nectar all year round, helping to keep pollinators fed when farmland sources are limited, researchers have ...

From Catwoman to Han Solo, Newly Discovered Wasps Named After Famous Thieves

Oct. 22, 2024 — Twenty-two new species of gall wasps have been identified and named, thanks to new research. The study nearly doubles the number of known species in this genus of ...

Butterfly Brains Reveal the Tweaks Required for Cognitive Innovation

Oct. 18, 2024 — A species of tropical butterfly with unusually expanded brain structures display a fascinating mosaic pattern of neural expansion linked to a cognitive ...

The Monarch Butterfly May Not Be Endangered, but Its Migration Is, Researchers Find

Oct. 16, 2024 — With vigorous debate surrounding the health of the monarch butterfly, new research may have answered the biggest question plaguing butterfly researchers. Why are the wintering populations declining ...

Plastic Pollution Harms Bees, Review Finds

Oct. 16, 2024 — A new review systematically shows the harmful effects of nano- and microplastics on bees and other beneficial insects. Their function as pollinators is impaired by the plastic particles. This harbors ...

Honey Bees in Demand: New Contract Strategies to Support Pollination Services

Oct. 15, 2024 — As the world's native bee populations are declining, crop production requiring pollinators increasingly relies on commercial pollination services. In the U.S., the beekeeping industry is in ...

Study Uncovers How Silkworm Moth's Odor Detection May Improve Robotics

Oct. 15, 2024 — Researchers explore how the domesticated flightless silkworm moth (Bombyx mori), a prominent insect model in olfactory research, uses wing flapping to manipulate airflow, enhancing their ability to ...

Changing Watering Practices to Improve Tomato Plant Health

Oct. 14, 2024 — Some people believe that talking to your plants makes them thrive. While there's limited scientific support for sound improving plant health, there's a growing amount of evidence about the ...

Red Milkweed Beetle Genome Offers Insight Into Plant-Insect Interactions

Oct. 10, 2024 — Biologists have curated the red milkweed beetle's genome and its arsenal of genes related to plant-feeding and other biological traits. They sequenced and assembled the entire genome of the ...

Light Pollution Disturbs Moths Even in the Dark

Oct. 9, 2024 — Light pollution is more serious than expected: Moths not only lose their orientation directly under street lamps. Their flight behaviour is also disturbed outside the cone of ...

In a Warming World, Public Needs to Know More About Protections from Mosquito-Borne Illnesses

Oct. 8, 2024 — Driven in part by climate change, epidemics from mosquito-spread viruses are occurring with increasing frequency. Yet few among the American public are worried about getting West Nile or dengue virus ...

Stressed Bees Lack the Buzz in Life

Oct. 8, 2024 — Stressed bees are much more likely to make pessimistic choices and lack a buzz in ...

Adding Fall Blooming Plants May Help Both Managed and Wild Bees in Cities

Oct. 8, 2024 — There are nearly 4,000 native bee species in the United States, contributing to pollination in agricultural, urban and natural landscapes. Honey bees, however, are not native to the U.S., which has ...

Mexican Jumping Beans Jump to Safety in a Dynamic World

Oct. 8, 2024 — What makes Mexican jumping beans jump? Research reveals that Mexican jumping bean larvae respond to different colors of light, jumping more vigorously under different hues, which can help them avoid ...

Dogs Contaminate Ponds With Parasite Medications

Oct. 8, 2024 — Most dog owners didn't know that flea and tick treatments are dangerous to aquatic life, suggesting more awareness could ease the ...

New Species of Clearwing Moth from Guyana Discovered in Wales

Oct. 8, 2024 — A new species of clearwing moth was found in Port Talbot, Wales. A few moths had been accidentally brought into the UK from Guyana in a camera bag after a photography trip. They stood out as unusual ...

Ant Agriculture Began 66 Million Years Ago in the Aftermath of the Asteroid That Doomed the Dinosaurs

Oct. 3, 2024 — According to a new study, colonies of ants began farming fungi when an asteroid struck Earth 66 million years ago. This asteroid impact caused a global mass extinction but also created ideal ...

Neuroscience Breakthrough: Entire Brain of Adult Fruit Fly Mapped

Oct. 2, 2024 — Scientists have made an enormous step toward understanding the human brain by building a neuron-by-neuron and synapse-by-synapse roadmap -- scientifically speaking, a 'connectome' -- ...

How a Butterfly Invasion Minimizes Genetic Diversity

Sep. 24, 2024 — Until a few years ago, the butterfly known as the southern small white could barely be found north of the Alps. That was before a Europe-wide invasion that brought a huge increase in the ...