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Old March 24th, 2017 #1
Alex Linder
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https://www.theguardian.com/environm...ersity-obriens

Couple donates bug collection worth $10m, a goldmine for researchers

Collection will help scientists piece together a large branch of insects’ family tree and be a resource for scientists who study natural controls on the environment
 
Old September 5th, 2017 #2
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Insects see in much better resolution than we thought


Insects see the world much differently from us, that much is clear. For the longest time, researchers thought they are unable to see fine images due to the way their eyes are built. Most insects have compound eyes which consist of many (up to thousands) tiny lens-capped ‘eye-units’. Together, these work to create a low resolution, pixelated image.

Contrasting to that, our own eyes have a single lens, a “megapixel camera” that can actively change the lens shape according to different needs and can keep both nearby and far away objects in sharp focus, based on our different needs. The end result of our eyes is a densely-packed, high-resolution image.

http://www.zmescience.com/science/bi...tter-05092017/
 
Old October 8th, 2017 #3
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DNA confirms amazing Australian isle insect not extinct after all


When black rats invaded Lord Howe Island after the 1918 wreck of the steamship Makambo, they wiped out numerous native species on the small Australian isle in the Tasman Sea including a big, flightless insect that resembled a stick.

But the Lord Howe Island stick insect, once declared extinct, still lives. Scientists said on Thursday DNA analysis of museum specimens of the bug and a similar-looking one from an inhospitable volcanic outcrop called Ball's Pyramid 14 miles (23 km) away confirmed they are the same species. The finding could help pave the way for its reintroduction in the coming years.

https://www.investing.com/news/gener...ter-all-537617
 
Old November 6th, 2017 #4
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7 New Giant Bug Species Are Extremely Aggressive

The newfound katydids are also among the biggest, bulkiest insects on Earth, a new study says.


Seven new species of katydids are among the largest and bulkiest insects in the world, a new study says.

Found only on the island of Madagascar, the bugs have the "biceps" of a bodybuilder and can be very aggressive—both surprising traits for katydids.

http://www.nationalgeographic.com.au...ggressive.aspx
 
Old November 13th, 2017 #5
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The Lord Howe stick insect is officially back from the dead

DNA evidence shows the insects survived what scientists thought was an extinction


It’s a rare triumph when a species comes back from the dead. A new genetic analysis has officially established what many entomologists and conservation biologists hoped was true: The Lord Howe stick insect (Dryococelus australis) lives.

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/...ect-extinction
 
Old November 24th, 2017 #6
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Flies more germ-laden than suspected


Scientists have discovered that flies carry more diseases than suspected.

The house fly and the blowfly together harbour more than 600 different bacteria, according to a DNA analysis.

Many are linked with human infections, including stomach bugs, blood poisoning and pneumonia.

http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-42113217
 
Old June 21st, 2018 #7
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Bogong moths use the Earth's magnetic field to get their bearings on long distance migrations


Each Spring, bogong moths emerge from beneath the soil of south-eastern Australia's plains and take to the air on the first leg of their annual migration, after spending the winter gorging themselves on plant roots to fuel up.

For a long time, scientists wondered how these moths — just a few centimetres long — made the incredible migration of over 1,000 kilometres to alpine caves in New South Wales and Victoria, and then back to their birthplace, to mate and reproduce in winter.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2...igrate/9886194
 
Old September 20th, 2018 #8
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Microplastics can spread via flying insects, research shows


Microplastic can escape from polluted waters via flying insects, new research has revealed, contaminating new environments and threatening birds and other creatures that eat the insects.

Scientists fed microplastics to mosquito larvae, which live in water, but found that the particles remained inside the animals as they transformed into flying adults.

https://www.theguardian.com/environm...research-shows
 
Old August 10th, 2021 #9
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Neonicotinoids Harm Bees at Far Below the Label Recommended Dose, Study Finds


Aug 10, 2021

Ornamental plant nurseries — with their high concentration of different flowers — are an important food source for pollinators. In fact, University of California (UC), Riverside entomologists Jacob Cecala and Erin E. Wilson Rankin counted more than 150 species of wild bees at nurseries in California alone.

Despite this, very little research has been done on how the pesticides often used at plant nurseries impact these crucial insects.

https://www.ecowatch.com/neonicotino...654615209.html
 
Old August 17th, 2021 #10
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Angry Bees Produce Richer, More Protein-Dense Venom, Study Finds


August 16, 2021

Chemists have analyzed protein diversity in venom produced by Apis mellifera ligustica in the marri (Corymbia calophylla) ecosystem in southern-western Australia.

Bee venom is the most valuable product produced by honeybees, with prices varying from $30.00 USD up to $300.00 per gram, depending on the purity, composition, and / or preparation of the product.

Though widely studied and used in alternative medicine, recent efforts in bee venom research have focused on its therapeutic and cosmetic applications, for the treatment of degenerative and infectious diseases.

http://www.sci-news.com/biology/bee-venom-09965.html
 
Old November 24th, 2021 #11
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Deadly Pesticide Still Legal in U.S. Can Harm Bee Populations for Generations, Study Finds

Nov 23, 2021

A new study shows just how dangerous pesticides can be for bees.

The research, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America this month, found that bee populations can take a hit for generations if a bee is exposed just once to a common pesticide during its first year of life.

"Especially in agricultural areas, pesticides are often used multiple times a year and multiple years in a row," study lead author and University of California in Davis ecology Ph.D. candidate Clara Stuligross told The Guardian. "So this really shows us what that can actually mean for bee populations."

Stuligross and her team studied a type of bee called the blue orchard bee. These bees are about the size of a honeybee, but they live alone and have a blue, metallic color, National Geographic explained. They are also important pollinators for native U.S. wildflowers and crops like apples, cherries, almonds and peaches.

https://www.ecowatch.com/bee-populat...655783277.html
 
Old March 13th, 2022 #12
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Study Examines Insects’ Role in Plastic Pollution

March 11, 2022

Microplastics permeate the world. They can float through the air and have been found in Antarctic ice, the deep ocean, drinking water, and inside an array of animals. Microplastic pollution, mostly in the oceans, has been getting a lot of attention in the last few years but microplastics’ ubiquity means that scientists researching them have to find ways to limit contamination—and assess its extent when it inevitably happens. Max Helmberger, a Ph.D. student in entomology at Michigan State University, has researched several soil-dwelling organisms’ ability to create microplastics from larger plastic debris. He says labs have had to come up with “all sorts of creative solutions” to the contamination problem, with at least one dying all their lab coats bright pink so it would be obvious when bits invade a sample. Helmberger says, “

https://entomologytoday.org/2022/03/...tic-pollution/
 
Old June 6th, 2022 #13
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Bees are legally fish in California, court rules. Here’s why and what led to it

JUNE 03, 2022

Bees are now legally considered fish in California under the state’s endangered species law, an appeals court in Sacramento ruled Tuesday.

The 1970 act explicitly protected “fish,” which were initially defined as invertebrates. And because the act has protected snails and other invertebrates that live on land since, Tuesday’s ruling said it interpreted the legislation to also include bees.

“Accordingly, a terrestrial invertebrate, like each of the four bumble bee species, may be listed as an endangered or threatened species under the Act,” the 3rd district California Court of Appeals Associate Justice Ronald Robie wrote.

In short, the ruling restored protections to bumblebees, which were initially classified as endangered by California Fish and Game Commission in 2019.

https://www.sacbee.com/news/californ...#storylink=cpy
 
Old November 1st, 2022 #14
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This Incredible Photo of an Ant's Face Is Like Something Out of a Nightmare


27 October 2022

You've most likely never seen an ant like this before: in an ultra-closeup, Lithuanian photographer Eugenijus Kavaliauskas snapped a shot of an ant's face that looks like a still from some fantasy epic like The Lord of the Rings.

The picture is a close-up of the mandibles and antennae of Camponotus – a common carpenter ant. They make their nests inside wood, mostly in forest environments, and snack on parts of dead insects, nectar, and honeydew released by aphids.

https://www.sciencealert.com/this-in...of-a-nightmare
 
Old November 2nd, 2022 #15
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Look At This Newly Discovered Bee Species With A Big Fat Nose


An unusual looking species of bee has been discovered in bushland in Perth, Western Australia, with a wide dog-like snout. Given its canine protrusion, the species has been named Leioproctus zephyr, after study author Dr Kit Prendergast of Curtin University’s own pet dog Zephyr.

https://www.iflscience.com/look-at-t...fat-nose-66020
 
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