entomology

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Researchers See 'Horrific Decline' in Insect Numbers

Scientist warns of 'ecological Armageddon'

(Newser) - If it seems like there are fewer squished bugs on your windshield after long journeys than in years past, you're not imagining things: Researchers say there appears to have been a steep and extremely worrying decline in insect populations in recent decades. In a study published in the journal...

Girl Mocked Over Her Love of Bugs Gets Last Laugh

Sophia Spencer co-authors research paper

(Newser) - Its insights into the use of social media to promote entomology is just one reason a new scientific paper is making headlines. The other is that its co-author is an 8-year-old girl. Sophia Spencer of Canada has long loved creepy-crawlies, especially carrying them around on her shoulder, but her venture...

Couple Donates Massive Bug Collection Worth $10M

Charles and Lois O'Brien spent 60 years amassing their collection

(Newser) - Lois O'Brien tells the Guardian she and husband Charles have had "sort of an Indiana Jones life." But instead of ancient artifacts, the O'Briens spent 60 years collecting insects across 70 countries and seven continents. Those bugs—approximately 1.25 million of them—now fill more...

For 60 Years, This Bedbug Fell Off the Fla. Map. Now It's Back

Tropical bedbug has potential to wreak more havoc than regular variety

(Newser) - The last time a tropical bedbug was confirmed in Florida, the average price of a new home was less than $10,000 , and Perry Como topped the charts. But USA Today reports this jacked-up cousin of the regular bedbug has now apparently made a reappearance in the Sunshine State, after...

After 60 Years, Entomologist Returns Library's Bug Book

He must really love moths

(Newser) - A Purdue University entomology professor has returned a copy of The Moths of the Limberlost that he checked out 60 years ago at age 8, the AP reports. According to Indiana's WTWO-TV , Larry Murdock checked out the book from the Linton Public Library in in 1956. He says he...

What This Man Learned in Letting 83 Insects Sting Him

Justin Schmidt has suffered for science

(Newser) - If you ever get stung by a tarantula hawk , Justin Schmidt has some advice: "Lie down and scream." The entomologist has endured the sting of that wasp, along with the stings of 82 other insects from around the world, as part of what FiveThirtyEight describes as an obsession...

Scientist Who Found Cause of Lyme Disease Dead at 89

Willy Burgdorfer discovered tick-borne bacteria

(Newser) - A researcher who figured out how people were contracting a new ailment called Lyme disease in the early 1980s has died at age 89, reports NBC Montana . Swiss-born Willy Burgdorfer made the discovery while not even looking for it. He was dissecting deer ticks sent from Long Island that were...

Mystery Pest Eating Its Way Through $1B Texas Crop

'Sugarcane aphid' attacking state's sorghum

(Newser) - No one is quite sure what the bug is, but for now, entomologists are calling it the sugarcane aphid—but instead of sugarcane, the tiny pest is chomping its way through the $1 billion Texas sorghum crop, the Houston Chronicle finds. The bug was first spotted just a year ago,...

Monarch Migration in Danger of Dying Out

Gardeners urged to plant milkweed

(Newser) - A stunning phenomenon is in danger of disappearing: The annual migration of millions of monarch butterflies from Canada and the US to Mexico every year has sunk to its lowest level on record and is in grave danger of dying out, researchers warn. This winter, the hibernating butterflies coat 1....

New York's New Pest: Cold-Weather Roaches

Hardy Asian species found in US for first time

(Newser) - Sharp-eyed New Yorkers may spot a new winter sight this year: cockroaches scurrying around outside. Periplaneta japonica, a hardy Asian roach that can withstand harsh winter cold, has been found in the city for the first time. Scientists believe the roaches—which have never been spotted in the US before—...

World's Tiniest Fly Beheads Tiny Ants

Found in Thailand, E. nanaknihali smaller than a grain of salt

(Newser) - It's the tiniest fly species known in the world, smaller than a grain of salt, and apparently it likes to eat ant heads, reports LiveScience . Euryplatea nanaknihali, a newly discovered species from Thailand, is from a fly genus known for decapitating ants and is believed to attack some of...

Bug Expert: 'Coffin Flies' Meant Body Was in Trunk

Insects attracted to human remains

(Newser) - Flies and fly larvae found in the trunk of Casey Anthony's Pontiac suggest that a body had been decaying there for three to five days, according to testimony by an insect expert at Anthony's trial yesterday. The entomologist said Caylee's body had already undergone a brief period...

Experts Swarm Bedbug Summit
 Experts Swarm 
 Bedbug Summit 
Sep 22, 2010 5:49 AM CDT

Experts Swarm Bedbug Summit

Leaders in battle against bloodsuckers meet in Chicago

(Newser) - These are boom times in the bedbug control business and dozens of scientists, exterminators, and inventors have flocked to a summit this week on dealing with the resurgent pest. At the first-ever North American Bedbug Summit, being held in a suburban Chicago hotel, dozens of vendors displayed ways to trap,...

Bedbugs Invade NYC Cinemas
 Bedbugs Invade NYC Cinemas 
Horror Show
Aug 19, 2010 9:02 AM CDT

Bedbugs Invade NYC Cinemas

Times Square theater temporarily shuttered

(Newser) - Popcorn isn't the only thing getting eaten at cinemas in New York City. The AMC Empire 25 in Times Square was temporarily shuttered Tuesday night while a team of exterminators tried to rid the place of blood-sucking bedbugs —two weeks after it had initially been treated for the pests....

Bedbugs' Itch Breeding New Ways to Scratch

Freeze 'em, bake 'em, call in the dogs—pests can't bite if they're dead

(Newser) - No one’s sure why bedbugs are back, but US companies think they know how to kill them, the Wall Street Journal reports. Startups are using everything from dogs to cold blasts to hair-dryer-like devices to sniff out, freeze or bake the pests. “We don’t have an easy...

Did Bug Bites Do in Dinos?
Did Bug Bites Do in Dinos?
Jan 9, 2008 1:07 PM CST

Did Bug Bites Do in Dinos?

Disease-carrying insects may have contributed to dinosaur extinction

(Newser) - Disease-carrying insects may have contributed to the extinction of the dinosaurs around 65 million years ago, entomologists write in a new book. Scientists found malaria and other parasitic pathogens in insects preserved in amber, and the same parasites were found in fossilized dinosaur waste, the Guardian reports. New plants, pollinated...

Virus Causes Buzz in Bee Caper
Virus Causes Buzz in Bee Caper
Sep 6, 2007 8:48 PM CDT

Virus Causes Buzz in Bee Caper

Breakthrough may help explain billions of apian deaths

(Newser) - The mysterious deaths of billions of honeybees now has a new leading suspect, scientists say: a newcomer to the US called Israeli acute paralysis virus. And as most stricken colonies test positive for the disease, the lead seems promising, the AP reports. The deaths have hit between 50% and 90%...

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