We discovered a new kind of tarantula. It lives inside bamboo.
Science News has unfortunate news for arachnophobes who like relaxing in bamboo furniture. For the first time in more than a century, a new species […]
entomology
Science Art: La Mouche des cerises (Rhagoletis cerasi), d’après une ancienne encyclopédie suédoise, 1920
This is a European cherry fruit fly, one of those creatures whose names say exactly what they are: a fruit fly that lives on cherries […]
Science Art: Auiomeris io, Dryocampa rubicunda by Edna Libby Beutenmüller, 1918.
Two moths, pictured in The Field Book of Insects by Frank E. Lutz. A. io, with the big roundels on its wings, is better known […]
SONG: Butterflies
SONG: “Butterflies”. ARTIST: grant. SOURCE: Discover, 3 Nov 21, “How Citizen Scientists Uncovered the Strange Behavior of ‘Vampire’ Butterflies,” as used in the post “Indonesian […]
Indonesian citizen scientists discover VAMPIRE CANNIBAL BUTTERFLIES
Discover magazine reveals a grisly bit of previously unknown insect behavior recorded by Yi-Kai Tea and his fellow citizen scientists on the island of Sulawesi, […]
African farmers use bee hives as elephant-proof fences.
Scientific American looks at scientific Kenyans, who have taken advantage of one of the few things elephants are actually afraid of – stinging honeybees – […]
Science Art: The Cricket Thermometer, by Cleve Hallenbeck.
From the June 1949 issue of Natural History, the magazine of the American Museum of Natural History (which is archived here) comes a handy reference […]
Bees on java.
Scientific American marvels at caffeinated bumblebees, and the researchers who give busy bees caffeine and sugar to make them more focused and efficient: [University of […]
SONG: Lawns are the Enemy
SONG: “Lawns are the Enemy”. ARTIST: grant. SOURCE: Scientific American, 9 Apr 21, “Brood X Cicadas Could Cause a Bird Baby Boom,” as used in […]
Wild bees do $1.5 billion-worth of pollinating for six crops alone.
Science News looks beyond the domesticated honeybee for unsung pollination heroes: the bumblebees, mason bees, carpenter bees and other native bees that do an enormous […]
Bees trained to detect COVID can speed up testing.
Reuters has a sweet story on honeybees that have been trained by Wim van der Poel at Wageningen University to expect a treat every time […]
Science Art: Gryllus: Gryllus formosus, Gryllus hirtipes, Gryllus trifasciatus.
Handsome field crickets. That’s not a name for them, just me admiring them. Gryllus is a genus of field crickets. Once, they were all put […]
Baby bees keep their moms up all night, too.
Scientific American‘s 60-Second Science recently covered the neurology of parenthood, revealing how sleep deprivation for caregivers extends to insects as well: Researchers found that worker […]
Male crickets use leaves to make themselves seem bigger… in THAT way, yes.
Science News brings attention to male shortcomings and the gender’s creativity in overcoming them with a story about crickets who use leaves as megaphones, amplifying […]
The one molecule that turns grasshoppers into locusts.
Science News reveals the one chemical that transforms harmless, solitary insects into a crop-destroying, famine-triggering locust swarm: Now, scientists have pinpointed a compound emitted by […]