For years, scientists have warned that monarch butterflies are dying off in droves because of diminishing winter colonies. But new research from the University of Georgia shows that the summer population of monarchs has remained relatively stable over the past 25 years. Published in Global Change Biology, the study suggests that population growth during the summer compensates for butterfly losses due to migration, winter weather and changing environmental factors.

A tick that causes people to become allergic to meat is spreading across the United States, according to a report, with cases in places such as New York and New Jersey. Known as the Lone Star tick for the single white dot on the back of females, the arachnid is known to transmit a molecule (called alpha-gal) normally found in mammals they have fed on to people they bite.

After rebounding from the brink of extinction, monarch butterflies are once again in crisis. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) says that from 2021-2022, California's western monarch population plummeted to less than 2,000 and flew back up to 200,000 as of this year – but researchers have discovered a new threat to the iconic migratory butterfly species.

After many years of plummeting populations of migrating monarch butterflies, a WWF-Mexico survey brings good news: during the 2021-2022 overwintering period, the monarch butterfly presence observed in the forests of Mexico was 35% higher than the previous year. While the butterflies are still vulnerable and require more conservation efforts, the survey gives some hope for recovery.

The global bee population could be endangered by a newly discovered deadly virus, a leading scientist has warned.

Losing pollinators in the UK alone could add more than € 2.3 billion a year to food bills, warns charity Buglife.

The UK's insect population has fallen sharply as the invertebrates are affected by rising temperatures and fragmented habitats.

They help us put food on our tables through pollination and nutrient recycling. They break down and dispose of organic waste, and are food for many animals. 

Insects that ‘taste like bacon’ could help ease the starvation crisis engulfing Madagascar, a British charity believes. It is hoped that the unlikely snack – apparently enjoyable with a beer – could offer a nutritious food source for thousands if produced en masse. The African nation has faced years of devastating droughts which have left hundreds of thousands of Malagasy people facing starvation and turning to largely inedible plants for food.

When European colonists first brought cattle and horses to Australia in the late 1700s, they learned a foul-smelling lesson about how useful certain species of beetles could be. As the hoofed animals ate and defecated, manure began piling up across the continent. Without any European dung beetles to break it down, the cow dung in Australia had nowhere to go.

Air pollution significantly reduces pollination by confusing butterflies and bees, lessening their ability to sniff out crops and wildflowers. Insects provide pollination of important food crops and native wildflowers, but researchers sought to understand how air pollution affects different pollinating insect species, of which, some rely on scent above all other senses.

A whiff of catnip can send cats into a frenzy but it can also make mosquitoes buzz off. The plant’s active ingredient, nepetalactone, is a super effective natural insect repellent and scientists have only recently found out how catnip keeps insect pests at bay while at the same time driving felines of all shapes and sizes completely nuts.

Microbes in oceans and soils across the globe are evolving to eat plastic, according to a study. The research scanned more than 200m genes found in DNA samples taken from the environment and found 30,000 different enzymes that could degrade 10 different types of plastic.

Mention foraging bees, and most people will picture insects flitting from flower to flower in search of nectar. But in the jungles of Central and South America, so-called vulture bees have developed a taste for flesh. Scientists have puzzled over why the stingless buzzers seem to prefer rotting carcasses to nectar. Now one group of researchers thinks it has cracked the riddle. The key came from looking into the bees’ guts.

Initial results are in and the western monarch butterfly is making a comeback. We're seeing 50 times more monarchs at overwintering sites this year compared to last. Now through Christmas is the best time to see them in Pismo Beach.

Bridge spiders "outsource" their hearing by building webs that double as acoustic arrays, allowing them to perceive sounds from great distances.

In news-medical.net published an article which states that Honeybees increase social distancing when their hive is under threat from a parasite, finds a new study led by an international team involving researchers at UCL and the University of Sassari, Italy.

Scientists who once documented new species of insects are now charting their perilous decline—and warning about what it will mean for the rest of us.

Her corpse, preserved alongside her offspring in amber for 99 million years, is the oldest physical evidence for maternal care in spiders, says Paul Selden, an invertebrate paleontologist at the University of Kansas in Lawrence. This fossil is one of four showing that some ancient spiders guarded their egg sacs and may even have raised their young, Seldon and his colleagues report September 15 in Proceedings of the Royal Society B.