Latest Entomology Stories
Collective decision-making proves more efficient than individual selection Scientists at Arizona State University have discovered that ants utilize a strategy to handle "information overload." Temnothorax rugatulus ants, commonly found living in rock crevices in the Southwest, place the burden of making complicated decisions on the backs of the entire colony, rather than on an individual ant. In a study published in the early, online version of scientific journal Current Biology,...
Alan McStravick for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online Ten years is a long time to not have a name. The ‘Rasberry Crazy Ant’, so called for their propensity to swarm in seemingly random, quick moving circles, was first noticed in the South Texas area over a decade ago by Tom Rasberry, a local exterminator who took an immediate interest in this rarely-before-seen invader. Rasberry knew very early on through his attempts to eradicate entire colonies that the infestation would soon...
Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online Scientists have discovered a new stick insect living in the Philippines that spends its days on the ground, rather than in trees. The new wingless species is colored with blues, greens, tans, and some orange around the joints along its back. This six-legged creature, Conlephasma enigma, was discovered by Marco Gottardo, a scientist from University of Siena, Italy and Phillipp Heller from Switzerland. It was found on the third highest...
April Flowers for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online One thousand rare and protected ants have been fitted with tiny little backpacks to try and understand the social network of how a colony works. A research team from the University of York is fitting tiny radio receivers to a colony of hairy wood ants in the world's first experiment to find out how they communicate and travel between nests. The nests are located on the National Trust's Longshaw Estate in Derbyshire, UK, which is a...
redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports - Your Universe Online According to new research, when a carnivore becomes extinct, other predatory species could soon tag along. Other scientists have previously submitted this theory, but a University of Exeter team has now carried out the first experimentation to authenticate it. According to lead researcher Dr Frank van Veen of the University of Exeter's Centre for Ecology and Conservation, "Our experiment provides the first proof of something that...
Insects learn faster when they are rewarded with nectar Butterflies learn faster when a flower is rewarding than when it is not, and females have the edge over males when it comes to speed of learning with rewards. These are the findings of a new study, by Dr. Ikuo Kandori and Takafumi Yamaki from Kinki University in Japan. Their work, published online in Springer's journal Naturwissenschaften - The Science of Nature, is the first to investigate and compare the speed at which insects learn...
redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports - Your Universe Online The summertime heat may bug humans, but America’s insect population can’t get enough of it. According to the National Pest Management Association (NPMA), this year’s record high temperatures have brought the bugs out from the woodwork as pests such as ants, fleas, ticks and black widow and brown recluse spiders are increasing. The heat is causing a greater number of insects to come out early in the day to eat and breed,...
Scientists have discovered a way to make worker bees produce an enhanced version of royal jelly (RJ) – the super-nutritious substance that dictates whether larvae become workers or queens, and that is also renowned as a health supplement for people. Their study, which found that the super RJ that makes queen bee larvae grow 2-3 times larger than normal, appears in ACS' Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. Chia-Nan Chen and colleagues explain that royal jelly is a thick liquid made...
This week, Australian bee supplement specialist Natural Life™, launches its highly anticipated Propolis One-a-Day capsule. Natural Life™ Propolis 2000 is a high potency formula created to improve consumer convenience with all the natural health benefits of Propolis in a single daily dose. Sydney, NSW (PRWEB) July 18, 2012 Propolis is a bee-hive product used by natural and traditional medicine practitioners to support healthy immune function and overall wellbeing. The new Propolis...
redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports - Your Universe Online While other animals beef up metabolism and stop growing or developing during a defensive period, hornworm caterpillars slow or stop eating but actually keep up their weight and develop a little faster in the short term. Hornworm caterpillars ate 30 percent to 40 percent less when threatened by stink bugs but weighed the same as their non-threatened counterparts as indicated by Ian Kaplan, a Purdue University assistant professor of...
Latest Entomology Reference Libraries
The Argema mittrei, more commonly known as the Comet or Moon Moth, is an endangered species. It is a native of Madagascar and that is the only place where one can observe them in the wild. This large silk moth can be bred in captivity and is one of the world's largest moths. Males have an average wing span of nearly 8 inches and a tail span of almost 6 inches. The lifespan of an adult moth is only 4-5 days and they are capable of reproduction from day 1. Their cocoons are uniquely...
A caterpillar is the larval form of a lepidopteran (a member of the insect order comprising butterflies and moths). Caterpillars are characterized by their long segmented bodies and many sets of "legs". They eat voracious leaf eaters and grow rapidly, During growth the caterpillar will shed its skin four to five times before pupating into its adult form. Caterpillars have six true legs (being hexapods) on the thorax, up to four pairs of prolegs on the middle segments of the abdomen, and...
Caelifera, a herbivorous insect, is a suborder of the order Orthoptera. Commonly called grasshoppers in English, the sub-order includes short-horned grasshoppers, grasshoppers and locusts. Characteristics The Caelifera have antennae that are shorter than the body, and short ovipositors. Those species that make easily heard noises usually do so by rubbing the hind femurs against the forewings or abdomen, or by snapping the wings in flight. Tympana, if present, are on the sides of the...
The superfamily Papilionoidea contains all the butterflies except for the skippers, which are classified in superfamily Hesperioidea. Some authors treat this grouping as a series (Papilioniformes) within a single superfamily that also includes the skippers. However, all are agreed that, although all the butterflies constitute a single monophyletic clade, a distinction needs to be made between the skippers and the rest of the butterflies. Compared with the skippers, in the families that are...
Katydid is the common name of insects belonging to the grasshopper family Tettigoniidae, which contains over 6,800 species. Katydid are also known as "long horned grasshoppers" and "bush crickets." The term "katydid" is used mainly in the U.S., Canada, and Australia. The name "katydid" comes from the sound produced by species of the N. American genus Pterophylla (literally "winged leaf"). The males of katydids have sound-producing (stridulating) organs located on their front wings which in...
