Characterizing the Link Between Climate and Thermal Limits in Beetles

Kimberly Sheldon, an assistant professor at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (pictured above with a dung beetle near Lake Naivasha, Kenya), studies how temperature change affects insects. (Photo courtesy of Kimberly Sheldon.) January 31, 2017 by Entomology Today By Amanda Biederman Amid concerns over a rapidly changing climate, the abilities of different insects to survive […]

An almost perfect similarity: A wasp (left) and a moth are barely distinguishable from each other. Credit: Photo Michael Boppré The masquerade is almost perfect. Certain moths of the subfamily Arctiinae are marked with a yellow and black pattern. But these day-active insects have wasp waists and their antennae resemble those of wasps. Their transparent […]

Soaking up a liquid lunchGábor Lőrinczi By Kata Karáth Ants may be smarter than we give them credit for. Tool use is seen as something brainy primates and birds do, but even the humble ant can choose the right tool for the job. István Maák at the University of Szeged in Hungary and his team […]

How do you hitch a ride on an army ant? Try masquerading as an ant butt. At least, that’s the strategy that seems to work for the newly described beetle species Nymphister kronaueri. Seen from above, a colony of Eciton mexicanum army ants marching across the forest floor looked perfectly normal to researchers surveying the […]