insects

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100 Species of Bugs Live in Your Home

Don't fret: Most are harmless, say scientists

(Newser) - You thought Asian camel crickets were bad. A new report in journal Peer J finds hundreds of bugs likely lurk in your home, including spiders, beetles, ants, and book lice. Scientists got down on their hands and knees and combed 50 houses in the suburbs of Raleigh, NC, picking up...

What the Dust in Your House Says About You

Our dust contains, on average, 9K unique species of microbes

(Newser) - Last year, volunteers mailed in dust samples taken from above interior and exterior door frames in 1,200 homes across the US as part of a citizen science project called Wild Life of Our Homes . Now, scientists are reporting in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B that our...

This Herb May Rival DEET in Repelling Mosquitoes

 This Herb May Rival DEET 
 in Repelling Mosquitoes 
in case you missed it
Aug 22, 2015 7:10 PM CDT

This Herb May Rival DEET in Repelling Mosquitoes

Native Americans used to turn to this sweet-smelling herb

(Newser) - Native North Americans have long used the fragrant herb sweetgrass to ward off biting insects like mosquitoes, and new research shows how the traditional repellent works chemically. About to share their findings with the American Chemical Society, researchers at the US Department of Agriculture, the University of Guelph, and the...

'Spooky' Quarter-Mile Spider Web Stuns US Suburb

Visitors come to marvel at silky creation

(Newser) - Most people aren't crazy about spiders—but sightseers are finding time to visit an enormous spider web spanning hundreds of feet of trees in a Dallas suburb, WFTV reports. "I've never seen anything like this," a man there with his grandchildren tells WFAA . "I think...

Wasp's Scary Name Inspired by Harry Potter

JK Rowling approves of 'Soul-Sucking Dementor' name

(Newser) - What name is worthy for a ferocious flying insect that swoops down on supposedly indestructible cockroaches, paralyzes them with its devastating sting, then drags them off into a corner to devour them? "Soul-Sucking Dementor" sounded pretty good to visitors at Berlin's Museum fuer Naturkunde. They were offered the...

Dinosaur-Age Cockroach Was Fearsome Predator

100M-year-old insect also had swiveling head, took flight

(Newser) - A mean-looking cockroach that lived alongside the dinosaurs had a long neck, swiveling head, and elongated legs that enabled it to surprise prey, New Scientist reports via Gizmodo . Found embedded in amber in Myanmar, the 100-million-year-old insect resembles a cross between a roach, a crane fly, and a praying mantis:...

30 New Fly Species Found Buzzing in Hazy LA
30 New Fly Species Found Buzzing in Hazy LA
NEW STUDY
Mar 26, 2015 1:45 PM CDT

30 New Fly Species Found Buzzing in Hazy LA

Entomologists surprised at numbers in 3-year study

(Newser) - It started with a friendly wager. An LA Natural History Museum trustee bet Brian Brown, the museum's entomology curator, that the city's smog-filled nooks were no place for new insect species to be found. The first bug Brown caught proved to be previously undiscovered, inspiring the Biodiversity Science:...

Cockroaches Have Individual Personalities

Some are shy; others love to explore, researchers say

(Newser) - Before you spray that bottle of Raid, take a minute to consider: You could be killing a brave little fellow, or perhaps a shy one. That's according to new research indicating that "cockroaches have personalities," as scientists say in a statement. Specifically, they have two, the Guardian...

World's 2nd-Biggest Insect Is Nearly 2 Feet Long

Phryganistria heusii yentuenis is 21 inches long with its legs outstretched

(Newser) - Stick insects, which live in remote regions predominantly in southeastern Asia and tend to be most (which isn't to say very) active at night, not to mention well-camouflaged, are for obvious reasons difficult to discover. In fact, in just the past few years, the number of known species has...

Insects Once Ruled the World
 Insects Made History 
 400M Years Ago 
study says
Nov 9, 2014 4:30 PM CST

Insects Made History 400M Years Ago

They were first to grow wings, rule the skies

(Newser) - Want human beings to feel a massive ego-boost? Then look elsewhere, because a ground-breaking study published by Science finds that insects ruled the Earth about 400 million years ago and grew wings long before any other animal, reports Heritage Daily . They cropped up as plants began diversifying, in fact, and...

Monarch Origin Shocks Scientists

Study finds Monarch butterflies started out in North America

(Newser) - Monarch butterflies are famous for migrating from the US and Canada to Mexico for the winter. Now a surprising study in Nature suggests the species itself also started out in North America some 2 million years ago. A researcher from the University of Chicago says monarchs were widely thought to...

Invasive Asian Crickets May Well Live in Your House

They could be squeezing out native bugs: researcher

(Newser) - Asian camel crickets are now so common in the US, they may even be beating out their native cousins. Hundreds or thousands of the striped creatures may very well be sharing your house, a study from North Carolina State finds; indeed, 90% of scientists responding to a census found them...

How Hungry Maggots Spurred Rapid Evolution

Male crickets new to Kauai, Oahu have altered their wings in just 20 generations

(Newser) - Two sets of male crickets on neighboring Hawaiian islands have been able to avoid attracting deadly parasitic flies by simply shutting up. The crickets likely arrived from Oceania in the late 1990s, and the flies came from North America around the same time. When the crickets tried to lure nearby...

Wild Discovery: Insects With Female Penises

Tiny creatures have sex for 40 to 70 hours

(Newser) - For the first time, scientists have discovered animals whose genitalia seem to be swapped: The female has a penis-like structure while the male has an organ akin to a vagina, LiveScience reports. The animals in question are four species of flea-sized insects from the genus Neotrogla, found in Brazilian caves....

Fruit Flies Move Like Fighter Jets
 Fruit Flies Move 
 Like Fighter Jets 
STUDY SAYS
Apr 11, 2014 1:00 AM CDT

Fruit Flies Move Like Fighter Jets

Speed of evasive turns amazes researchers

(Newser) - Swatting a fruit fly is as tricky as trying to catch a tiny fighter jet with an expert pilot at the controls, researchers say. High-speed cameras captured the insects avoiding threats by executing supercharged, banked turns much like fighter planes, reports the Los Angeles Times . The flies beat their wings...

India's Famine Solution: We'll Eat Bugs

FAO discusses farming insects for food

(Newser) - Hopefully people in India like munching on crickets and other, um, delicacies. As the country's Food and Agriculture Organization warns a global famine will strike in 50 years, scientists are experimenting with an interesting source of alternative protein: bugs. "We are now doing a lot of work on...

Crazy Ants Have Secret Weapon in Insect War
Crazy Ants Have Secret Weapon in Insect War
STUDY SAYS
Feb 14, 2014 1:42 PM CST

Crazy Ants Have Secret Weapon in Insect War

Can produce antidote to fire ant poison: study

(Newser) - When we first introduced you to crazy ants , we mentioned they might pose a threat to fire ants. As fire ants aren't the friendliest of insects, that probably didn't sound so terrible. Except that now, crazy ants are indeed driving away fire ants via a remarkable built-in antidote...

New York's New Pest: Cold-Weather Roaches

Hardy Asian species found in US for first time

(Newser) - Sharp-eyed New Yorkers may spot a new winter sight this year: cockroaches scurrying around outside. Periplaneta japonica, a hardy Asian roach that can withstand harsh winter cold, has been found in the city for the first time. Scientists believe the roaches—which have never been spotted in the US before—...

Insects Caught in the Act —in 165M-Year-Old Fossil

Offers rare look at froghoppers' mating evolution

(Newser) - Meet the world's longest-lasting couple: Two insects who've been doing the deed for 165 million years. Yep, Chinese scientists have uncovered an ancient fossil of the love birds, er, froghoppers—the oldest instance of insects caught in the act in rock form, Popular Science reports. "This one...

Mutant Bugs' Task: Destroy Own Species

Fruit flies implanted with gene to halt population

(Newser) - How do you get rid of a population of bugs destroying your crops? Scientists are trying out a controversial method: spreading a gene that prevents females from reproducing. Males can live with the lab-inserted gene, but females die in the larval stage—which doesn't leave a lot of options...

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