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Insects

All articles tagged with #insects

Heat, Thunder and Bug Swarms Loom Over White House UFC Showdown
sports29 days ago

Heat, Thunder and Bug Swarms Loom Over White House UFC Showdown

The White House South Lawn hosts an outdoor UFC event that could be disrupted by mid-90s heat, humidity, thunderstorms, and a swarm of insects. Dana White cites rain, lightning, and bugs as major risks, with an entomologist predicting abundant insects from midges to mosquitoes. A canopy will shelter fighters, but forecasters say weather could be the bigger challenge as fighters, including Michael Chandler, stay unfazed for the historic spectacle.

via Axios|
#insects#outdoorevent#sports
Texas battles two new screwworm cases in bid to curb flesh-eating cattle parasite
us-news1 month ago

Texas battles two new screwworm cases in bid to curb flesh-eating cattle parasite

Texas has confirmed two new screwworm cases, a flesh-eating parasite that targets livestock, prompting renewed containment efforts across the state. The USDA is expanding sterile-insect programs and planning a large Texas facility to curb the outbreak, while Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller advocates using poison bait as a faster, local solution—despite concerns from experts about risks to other insects and even humans. The situation is tied to cross-border exposure from Mexico, and officials briefed at Kerrville’s U.S. Livestock Insects Research Laboratory.

via AP News|
#agriculture#insects#public-health
Oxygen-Fueled Sky Giants: Ancient Griffinflies Dwarfed by Predators Eventually
science-paleontology1 month ago

Oxygen-Fueled Sky Giants: Ancient Griffinflies Dwarfed by Predators Eventually

Meganeuropsis permiana and other griffinflies reached wingspans over 70 cm in an oxygen-rich Late Carboniferous–Early Permian atmosphere, but recent research suggests insect size was shaped by multiple factors—oxygen delivery, flight mechanics, and ultimately predation by birds and other aerial predators— meaning the giant-insect era ended as skies filled with competitors and oxygen levels shifted.

via Space Daily|
#griffinflies#insects#meganeuropsis
Tiny Brains, Big Breakthrough: Bees Solve Problems Spontaneously
science1 month ago

Tiny Brains, Big Breakthrough: Bees Solve Problems Spontaneously

Finnish researchers report that bumblebees can spontaneously solve a box-and-banana–style task to reach a flower, showing goal-directed problem-solving without prior training. Across several designs, 16 of 22 bees succeeded when the task included visible training cues and barriers, while 23 of 30 succeeded in a test that limited visual feedback, with some solving without first moving the ball to an incorrect spot. The results suggest bees can generate novel solutions and demonstrate insight beyond reinforcement learning, laying groundwork for studying insect cognition further.

via Ars Technica|
#biology#cognition#insects
Crab-Clawed Amber Insect from 100 Million Years Ago Redefines Insect Evolution
science1 month ago

Crab-Clawed Amber Insect from 100 Million Years Ago Redefines Insect Evolution

A 100-million-year-old true bug preserved in Myanmar amber reveals front legs ending in crab-like claws, a rare feature found in only a few insect groups. Using micro-CT, researchers assign a new genus and species, Carcinonepa libererrantes, and infer a predatory lifestyle in a Cretaceous forest; the claws illustrate convergent evolution across distant lineages, highlighting the diversity of ancient ecosystems.

via The Daily Galaxy|
#amber#claws#evolution
Garlic halts insect reproduction by taste, study finds
plants1 month ago

Garlic halts insect reproduction by taste, study finds

A Yale-led study shows garlic does more than repel pests: when fruit flies and two mosquito species taste the garlic compound diallyl disulfide, it activates the TrpA1 receptor and triggers bitter/ fullness signals that stop feeding and, crucially, reproduction. The effect is taste-based (not smell) and wasps lacking TrpA1 are unaffected. This points to garlic-derived compounds as targeted, safer pest-control tools, and the researchers also introduce phytoscreen as a simple method to screen plant substances for behavioral effects on insects.

via Earth.com|
#diallyl-disulfide#garlic#insects
Crickets may feel pain, prompting welfare questions for billions farmed annually
science-tech1 month ago

Crickets may feel pain, prompting welfare questions for billions farmed annually

A Royal Society B study tested 40 male and 40 female house crickets (Acheta domesticus) by applying a heat stimulus to an antenna and found they groomed the heated area significantly longer than controls, indicating pain-like responses beyond a reflex. With crickets being the world’s most farmed insect (about 370 billion annually), this suggests insects may have subjective experiences and underscores the need for welfare protections as giant-scale farming continues and concerns about animal suffering grow.

via The Conversation|
#animal-welfare#crickets#entomology
Giant Insects Challenge Oxygen-Size Link, New Study Finds
science2 months ago

Giant Insects Challenge Oxygen-Size Link, New Study Finds

A Nature study argues that atmospheric oxygen did not limit the size of giant prehistoric insects. By examining tracheole density in flight muscles across species, researchers found oxygen delivery was not the constraining factor, suggesting other causes—such as vertebrate predation or exoskeleton constraints—helped shape why giants once dominated ancient skies.

via The Daily Galaxy|
#evolution#flight#insects
Oak Trees Delay Spring Buds to Fend Off Caterpillar Outbreaks, Study Finds
good-earth2 months ago

Oak Trees Delay Spring Buds to Fend Off Caterpillar Outbreaks, Study Finds

German researchers found oak trees delay leaf-out by about three days after heavy caterpillar outbreaks, tracked with Sentinel-1 radar data over five years across 60 forests (137,500 observations). The delay reduces caterpillar survival and tree damage by about 55%, is more energy-efficient than producing extra tannins, and is reversible—showing trees actively adapt to biotic threats in a warming world.

via Good News Network|
#evolution#forests#good-earth
Oxygen wasn’t the bottleneck for giant Paleozoic insects, new study finds
science3 months ago

Oxygen wasn’t the bottleneck for giant Paleozoic insects, new study finds

A new study across 44 insect species shows that the tracheal system in insects wouldn’t need dramatic expansion as size increases, meaning the ancient giants like Meganeuropsis permiana could still deliver oxygen efficiently. The finding undermines the long-held oxygen-constrain hypothesis and suggests giant bugs weren’t blocked by atmospheric oxygen after all; other factors—predation by aerial vertebrates, heat buildup during flight, molting/structural constraints, and open circulation—likely helped limit insect size, with future research exploring the role of air sacs in ventilation.

via Ars Technica|
#dragonflies#insects#oxygen
Giant Griffinflies May Not Have Needed Oxygen After All, New Study Says
science3 months ago

Giant Griffinflies May Not Have Needed Oxygen After All, New Study Says

A new study challenges the long-held view that high atmospheric oxygen powered giant prehistoric insects like griffinflies, showing that flying insects’ internal tracheal systems can supply oxygen to flight muscles, which could allow large sizes even today; if confirmed, this suggests oxygen levels were not the limiting factor, though researchers note other causes may explain why such giants disappeared.

via Gizmodo|
#entomology#griffinflies#insects
Insect giants escape oxygen-diffusion limits in flight muscles
science3 months ago

Insect giants escape oxygen-diffusion limits in flight muscles

A cross-species analysis of 44 insect species across 10 orders (plus the 100 g Meganeuropsis permiana) shows the tracheolar space in flight muscles rises only about 1.8-fold over a 10,000‑fold range in body mass and is typically 1% or less. This argues that diffusion of oxygen through the tracheolar–muscle system does not constrain maximum insect size, including gigantism. The study highlights that even a threefold increase in tracheolar space would markedly affect oxygen delivery but have only modest effects on flight, challenging the long-held view that atmospheric oxygen limits insect gigantism and pointing to other factors shaping their evolution.

via Nature|
#diffusion#evolution#gigantism