Think of it as a biological antenna. Researchers have discovered a species of butterfly that enlarges its wing veins to pick up sounds it wouldn’t otherwise hear—a strategy that may be critical to its survival. Many butterflies possess tiny ears, often in the form of membrane-covered cavities at the base of their forewings. But scientists didn’t know the insects could boost their hearing with other parts of their bodies.

The long read: Beekeepers are sounding the alarm about the latest developments in genetically modified pollinators

The Pentagon is studying whether insects can be enlisted to combat crop loss during agricultural emergencies.

Pheidole soldier (left) and minor worker (right). Photo © Alex Wild, used by permission (https://www.alexanderwild.com/) Ants regulate the growth of seemingly ‘useless’ organ to make huge soldiers Scientists solve a problem that troubled Charles Darwin – the diversity in the size and scaling of worker ants. They identify mechanism underlying development of soldier ants & maintenance of balance among worker castes Crucial role played by seemingly unimportant rudimentary “organ” which appears transiently during the development of soldier ants Rudimentary “organs” are tissues that appear only...

Scientists demonstrate that a "gene drive" can rapidly spread a genetic mutation through a species, perhaps providing a potent new weapon against malaria. But there are plenty of skeptics.

When an Aedes aegypti mosquito bites you, she – because only the females, which need blood as nutrients for their offspring, bite – will probe your skin with her proboscis as many as 20 times. Two pairs of sharp cutting edges, the fascicle, break the skin and then search for a blood vessel, withdrawing and re-entering until a suitable target is found. When the blood starts to flow, a salivary tube delivers a protein that stops it clotting. The mosquito holds still and then begins to suck; in 90 seconds’ time, she feels full, and stops. And then, if you are in parts of South and Central America and bang out of luck, you will have Zika.

Britain's native bee species face being “wiped out” by a "highly aggressive" Asian hornet, conservationists have warned after the invasive insect was spotted in two locations at opposite ends of the country. The honey bee-killing Asian hornet, which is believed to have first arrived in Europe on crates imported from China to France in 2004, has been confirmed at locations in Liskeard, Cornwall and Hull. The creature, which is smaller than the UK's native hornet, poses no greater risk to humans than the humble wasp, but feasts on honey bees and is capable of killing around 50 a day.

Cassie Vadovsky returned home after picking up her 4-year-old daughter from school Tuesday evening and was greeted by a swarm of blood-thirsty mosquitos. Not just any mosquitos. Aggressive, monstrous pests with stripes on their legs. “It was like a flurry — like it was snowing mosquitos,” the stay-at-home mother of two said. “I think my car agitated them. I waited for them to calm down before I grabbed the kids and the ran into the house.”

Wasps are being wiped out as quickly as bees - and their disappearance will be just as disastrous, according to new research. But the plight of wasps is going under the radar compared to that of their close cousins - because of their unpopularity. Nature's unloved insects are best known for ruining picnics - and leaving a painful sting when we try to swat them away.

For the first time in 50 years, a new tick species has arrived in the United States — one that in its Asian home range carries fearsome diseases. The Asian long-horned tick, Haemaphysalis longicornis, is spreading rapidly along the Eastern Seaboard. It has been found in seven states and in the heavily populated suburbs of New York City.

Nearly 700 million people suffer from mosquito-borne diseases—such as malaria, West Nile, Zika and dengue fever—each year, resulting in more than 1 million deaths. Increasingly, many species of mosquitoes have become resistant to the popular pyrethroid-based insecticides. Today, researchers report a new class of mosquito repellents based on naturally occurring compounds that are effective in repelling mosquitoes with potentially fewer environmental side effects than existing repellents.

“Pretty freaky”

Parasitic gall wasps have some of the freshest cribs nature has to offer.

​While we've seen a number of devices that use ultrasound to ward off mosquitos, many people maintain that such deterrent systems just don't work. The Nopixgo Mosquito Bite Protection Wristband takes a different approach, emitting electromagnetic waves instead.

Using insects as templates, researchers are buildings robots that are very small, very mobile—and very useful.

Many rare and valuable insects have been reported missing from the Philadelphia Insectarium and Butterfly Pavilion. "We found that the majority 80 to 90 percent of the creatures that we had in the museum were taken," says Insectarium CEO John Cambridge. "Any types of exotic tarantula, scorpions, millipedes. We specialize in the arthropods of the world and we use those to tell the story of biodiversity, etc." Both Cambridge and Philadelphia police believe it was an inside job. Cambridge has three former employees of the Northeast Philadelphia facility that he suspects played a role in the robbery.

Parasites have a leisurely lifestyle — set up camp at someone else’s place, live off their food, profit (evolutionarily speaking). But new research shows that sometimes the parasite gets a taste of its own medicine, and from an unexpected source. Scientists studying wasps that target oak leaves found that a second parasite, a vine, can get its tendrils into the homes set up by the wasps, called galls, subverting their diversion of the host’s resources. After that, things don’t go so well for the wasp.

Biologists from the University of Washington have discovered that the act of swatting at mosquitoes may actually deter them from biting you, and the degree

In order to fight Zika and other similar viruses, researchers are going to release thousands of sterilised mosquitoes in south Miami, Florida this week. Researchers infected the male of the species with a bacteria in a lab and when they mate with females, the resulting eggs will die before hatching. The Miami-Dade County Mosquito Reduction Test Program is a collaboration from the University of Kentucky and Kentucky-based company MosquitoMate.

Scientists fitted praying mantises with tiny 3D glasses to understanding how they see the world, and discovered the insects have a “completely new form” of vision unlike that of any other known creature. Researchers used beeswax to glue the miniature eyewear to the faces of mantises and study how their vision compares to human sight.

Termite-hunting ants in sub-Saharan Africa treat each other’s wounds by licking them, according to new research. It might sound icky — but the treatment actually saves lives. The ant, called Megaponera analis, specializes in raiding termite nests. These hunts, however, are dangerous: The ants can lose legs or antennas, and sometimes they die. A study last year showed that the ants rescue their injured friends in the battlefield...

Very quietly, and without any formal announcement, the Common Names Committee of the Entomological Society of America has decided to list termites in the same category as cockroaches. It seem weird to lump the two together, but it’s a move that scientists have been considering for nearly a century.

The exoskeleton of the tortoise beetle changes color and reflective properties due to a chirped multilayer reflector filled with grooves that fill and empty of fluid to cover and reveal, respectively, the bottommost layer.

These uniquely versatile bugs are decimating crops and infiltrating houses all across the country. Will we ever be able to get rid of them?

The impacts of climate change ripple through ecosystems in unexpected ways.

A pesky mosquito sips some of your blood. Hours later, the blood-sucker drops dead, poisoned by the very blood it just slurped down. That may sound too good to be true, but it's a tantalizing possibility, according to research published this week in the journal The Lancet Infectious Diseases. The study points to a potential new tool to fight malaria: the medication ivermectin. Studies conducted in the 2000s, including one in 2010, show that malaria-carrying mosquitoes die after feeding on individuals who have ingested the drug.

Don’t let the cockroach that feeds on your forgotten leftovers stop you from appreciating these native beauties.

Ants have an incredible instinct to help their comrades.

The tick-borne illness is spreading north and south — about 300,000 U.S. cases a year. As scientists work on better diagnostic tests and surveillance tools, you can take steps to cut your risk.

Changing land use in an isolated Nevada meadow has driven the extinction -- and subsequent recolonization -- of a local population of checkerspot butterflies

Global warming is on track to cause a major wipeout of insects, compounding already severe losses, according to a new analysis. Insects are vital to most ecosystems and a widespread collapse would cause extremely far-reaching disruption to life on Earth, the scientists warn. Their research shows that, even with all the carbon cuts already pledged by nations so far, climate change would make almost half of insect habitat unsuitable by the end of the century, with pollinators like bees particularly affected.

Is an insect Armageddon afoot?

Researchers say bees understand the concept of nothing, or zero. But do we understand what that means?

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is helping Oxitec develop a new genetically-engineered mosquito that could be dispatched in Africa, the Americas and Asia to kill off malaria-infected mosquito populations. Malaria kills more than 440,000 people around the globe every year.

US farmers are planting more and more acres with seeds coated with neonicotinoid pesticides. An ecologist explains why this approach is overkill and may be doing more harm than good.