Skip to content

Tag: Journal of Insect Science

black soldier fly (Hermetia illucens)
Hetaerina americana damselfly

As a Watershed is Urbanized, Damselflies Show Declines

A study along a river in Central Mexico finds Hetaerina americana damselflies in reduced numbers after a decline in vegetation the addition of wastewater outlets. Researchers say the decline illustrates the impact of human land use on natural ecosystems.

onion thrips on onion leaf

Virus Helps Onion Thrips Live Longer, Do More Damage

Iris yellow spot virus is bad for onions, but it's good for the thrips species that carry the virus and spread it to onion plants. In a recent study, infected onion thrips lived about 20 percent longer than uninfected thrips, giving them more time to damage onion plants and transmit the virus.

honey bee and stewart platform

How a Honey Bee’s Waggle is Inspiring Aerospace Design

Engineers may recognize the internal muscle structure of a honey bee abdomen for its resemblance to a Stewart platform, a mechanical device that enables six degrees of freedom in movement. Researchers who have found its natural equivalent in bees say the discovery is already informing their work in designing articulating nose cones for rockets.

Toxorhynchites rutilus mosquito larva feeding

Meet the Mosquito With a Big Appetite—for Other Mosquitoes

The mosquito species Toxorhynchites rutilus is harmless to humans but is a voracious predator of other mosquitoes. Researchers in Houston, Texas, are hoping the "mosquito assassin" could be put into action as a tool for controlling mosquitoes that carry human pathogens—if they can find an efficient way to raise the predator mosquitoes in the lab.

Pacific cicada killer - Sphecius convallis

When Cicada-Killer Wasps Become Cicada-Stealer Wasps

Hunting cicadas and lugging them back to a nest is hard work for a cicada-killer wasp. But sometimes all that hard work goes to waste, when a fellow wasp swoops in and lays her egg on the other wasp's prey. And that's if the cicada isn't stolen by a bird first.

Subscribe to Entomology Today via Email
