Insect News: Page 13

Scientists Determine That Dung Beetles Dance on Dung Balls to Orientate Themselves (January 22, 2012): Scientists recently conducted experiments to determine why dung beetles dance on top of the dung balls they make before rolling them away.

Beetles Top Latest Inventory of Newly Discovered Species (January 18, 2012): More than half of the 19,232 species newly known to science in 2009 (the most recent calendar year of compilation) were insects.

New Species of Horse Fly Named After Beyonce (January 13, 2012): A previously un-named species of horse fly has been named after singer Beyonce.

Researchers Discover Jatai Soldier Bees (January 10, 2012): Scientists from the University of Sussex have discovered the first soldier bees.

Scientists Grow Supersoldier Ants (January 5, 2012): Researchers at McGill University have grown supersoldier ants in different species of pheidole ants.

Parasitic Fly Turns Honey Bees Into Zombies (January 3, 2012): New research describes a parasitic fly that can turn bees into zombie bees. It could be an additional cause of Colony Collapse Disorder.

Mysterious Border Between Two Millipede Species Runs for Over 140 Miles (December 27, 2011): Two species of millipede, Tasmaniosoma compitale and T.

Scientists Discover Why Flies Are Attracted to Beer (December 6, 2011): Entomologists at the The University of California, Riverside recently conducted an experiment to discover why flies are attracted to beer.

Silverfish Use Chemical Mimicry to Obtain Free Food and Shelter Inside Army Ant Nests (December 1, 2011): New research published in BioMed Central's open access journal BMC Ecology indicates that kleptoparasitic silverfish (Malayatelura ponerophila) cover themselves in the scent of Army ants (Leptogenys distinguenda) so they can live in their nests and eat their food.

Researchers Produce 3D Images of Prehistoric Mite Hitching a Ride on a Spider (November 9, 2011): University of Manchester researchers have scanned a tiny mite hitching the ride on the back of a 50-million-year-old spider.

Scientists Discover New Species of Fungus in a Wasp Nest (November 9, 2011): A team of Tufts researchers found a new species of fungus inside a paper wasp nest.

Blow Flies Help Forensic Entomologists During Murder Investigations (November 1, 2011): Blow flies are usually the first insect to arrive after a person has died.

Swarms of Flying Ants Invade Oahu (October 27, 2011): Swarms of flying ants are annoying some Oahu residents.

Terrified Dragonfly Larvae Die of Stress From Mere Presence of Predator in Study (October 27, 2011): University of Toronto biologists conducted a study that found the mere presence of a predator causes enough stress to kill a dragonfly, even when the predator cannot actually get at its prey to eat it.

Local Beekeepers Come to the Rescue After Truck Carrying 460 Hives Crashes in Utah (October 24, 2011): Interstate 15 in southern Utah was partially closed after a truck carrying 460 beehives crashed Sunday night.

Cave Millipede Study Reveals Isolated Populations and Ancient Divergence (October 18, 2011): The first genetic population study of cave millipedes was recently published in the International Journal of Myriapodology.

Parasitic Wasp Makes Spiders Build Them a Special Web, Then Eats Them (October 15, 2011): Discovery reports that researchers have found that a parasitic wasp, Zatypota percontatoria, turns spiders into zombies and makes them build them a strange web house.

Wasps Can be Tracked Like Stolen Cars Using Microdot Technology (October 13, 2011): Scientists at The Australian National University have found a new way to track wasps.

Ice Crawlers: Insects That Live on Glaciers and Ice Caves (October 8, 2011): Grylloblattids (also called ice crawlers) are a poorly known group of primitive insects that live in only cold and extreme habitats, such as glaciated mountains or ice caves.

Researchers Discover Fossil of Ancient Silky Lacewing Insect in China (October 7, 2011): A team of researchers from the Capital Normal University in Beijing and the Institute of Biology and Soil Sciences in Vladivostok discovered a fossil of a silky lacewing insect from the Mesozoic Era of China.

Honeybees Battle Japanese Giant Hornet With Vibrating Heat Ball Technique (October 4, 2011): The Japanese giant hornet (Vespa mandarinia japonica), is a subspecies of the Asian giant hornet.

Dragonflies Captured Catching Fruit Flies in Mid-Air With High Speed Cameras (October 3, 2011): Stacey Combes, a Harvard University biomechanist, and her team are using high speed cameras to study how dragonflies pull off complicated aerial feats that include hunting and mating in mid-air.

Bioluminescent Millipede, Which Oozes Cyanide, Uses Green Glow to Warn Off Predators (September 26, 2011): A University of Arizona-led research team has discovered that bioluminescent millipedes use their glow as a warning signal to nocturnal predators.

Carnivorous Beetle Larvae Lure Toads With Deadly Siren Call (September 26, 2011): A species of carnivorous ground beetle stalks amphibians, including frogs, as adults.

Video: Siberia's Bloodsucking Vampire Moths (September 25, 2011): A previously undocumented population of bloodsucking moths was discovered in Siberia in 2007.