Many hoverflies have stripes and resemble bees and wasps GETTY IMAGES Bee diseases have been detected in hoverflies for the first time. The brightly-coloured flies may be picking up bee viruses as they forage at the same flowers. And scientists think hoverflies could then be spreading the deadly infections long […]
Flowers may take advantage of visual illusions to attract bees. from www.shutterstock.com When a human looks at a distant skyscraper, it appears small to the eye. It’s a visual illusion, and we use other contextual information to know the building is actually tall. Our new study shows, for the first time, that […]
Coming to a forest near you? Dendroctonus frontalis, one of a host of pests whose distributions are changing in the Anthropocene. Credit: Erich Vallery, Southern Research Station, USDA Forest Service. A set of fundamental tactics ranging from the theoretical to the practical can be used to combat the challenges brought on […]
The buzz is that even gardening for bees takes constant vigilance. Deposit photos Entomologist Vera Krischik has a bee and butterfly garden bursting with Mexican sunflowers, goldenrod, salvia and black-eyed susans. But when she has problems with aphids or Japanese beetles, she’s careful to get rid of them responsibly. “We think that […]
Losses of rare insects are well documented, but there is little research on insects as a whole GETTY IMAGES It’s known as the windscreen phenomenon. When you stop your car after a drive, there seem to be far fewer squashed insects than there used to be. Scientists have long suspected […]
The Painted Lady is often mistaken for the monarch butterfly USFWS A colourful, shimmering spectacle detected by satellites over the US state of Colorado has been identified as swarms of migrating butterflies. Scientists at the National Weather Service (NWS) first mistook the orange radar blob for birds and had asked […]
Three quarters of the honey samples in this study showed traces of neonicotinoids SIMON ROWELL A new study has found traces of neonicotinoid chemicals in 75% of honey samples from across the world. The scientists say that the levels of the widely used pesticide are far below the maximum permitted […]
SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY Try to swat a fly and it will soon become clear that they’re faster than you. Much faster. But how on Earth do these tiny creatures – with their minuscule brains – outwit us so easily? You’ve probably pondered it after chasing a fly around your house […]
Much more than your morning buzz is at stake. Bees are essential to coffee growing. Pixabay The best coffee grows in the mountains, where it is cool. The plants need low temperatures to thrive, which is why growers often put shade trees in their fields. But the mountains are getting hotter. And the higher […]
GETTY IMAGES A new citizen science survey aims to shed light on that fixture of summertime in the outdoors: the wasp. Though much maligned, these fascinating creatures perform a vital ecological role, say scientists. The only thing more certain to spoil an August Bank Holiday weekend BBQ than a sudden […]