insect

Researchers say they've figured out how some reproductive ants live up to 30 years—far longer than workers.

A high-quality genome sequence for this versatile insect will likely aid eco-evolutionary research.

Tortoise leaf beetles enjoy the protection the fungus provides from insect predators such as ants, then carry the microbe to a mutual plant host, which their fungal symbiont infects.

Neurons in mosquito antennae can express more than one olfactory receptor at a time, a redundancy that likely ensures they don’t lose a potential host’s scent.

Experimental evolution study sheds new light on the origin of animal-microbe symbioses and what it takes for bacteria to support their insect hosts.

Understanding the biomechanics of the trap-jaw ant could help humans build better, faster robots.

The Scientist speaks with Trier University’s Henrik Krehenwinkel, whose group recently detected traces of hundreds of arthropod species from a sample of dried plants—in this case, the contents of a tea bag.

And how do scientists go about answering that question?

A new method has allowed researchers to conduct the first gene knock-out and knock-in edits on cockroaches and may extend to many other insects.

The land’s first known singer may have sounded like a raspier version of today’s familiar insect fiddlers.

The behavior is the first example of a mammal mimicking a more-dangerous species.

Pregnant mosquito females deploy the microbe Elizabethkingia to speed larval growth; the larvae, in turn, help the bacteria outcompete other strains.

A handful of new studies moves the needle toward a consensus on the long-disputed question of whether insect wings evolved from legs or from the body wall, but the devil is in the details.

A study finds that a baculovirus that infects cotton bollworm larvae changes the expression of genes involved in light perception, driving them to seek heights that could favor viral transmission.

Scientists find human DNA preserved in lice cement from the heads of South American mummies.

NIH researcher Andaleeb Sajid discusses her study’s finding that ticks were unable to feed on vaccinated guinea pigs, preventing transmission of the pathogen that causes Lyme disease.

Across the tree of life, animals use sound and other vibrations to glean valuable sensory information about their environments even before they are born.

Recent findings buck the traditional idea that embryos are passive agents and instead suggest that by tuning into vibrations, organisms can better prepare to enter the outside world.

Watch and listen to reptiles, amphibians, insects, and birds respond to sound from inside their eggs.