Category Archives: Insects

The nature of the sphinx moth: ‘it uses its big-ass tongue to get this guy pollinated’ | Helen Sullivan

Posted on by

Like most insects, sphinx moths are beautiful and revolting

In The Writing Life, Annie Dillard is watching a sphinx moth preparing to take off. She is on a ship. On its railing there is “a heavy-bodied moth panting”. Dillard is summoning the strength to continue writing her book. The moth is raising its temperature so that it can fly.

Sphinx moths (also called hawk moths) have small wings in proportion to their bodies. Some species are so big, and move their small wings so fast, and hover so effortlessly, that they are sometimes mistaken for hummingbirds.

“Beside me on the rail, the sphinx moth raced its engines for takeoff like a jet on a runway,” writes Dillard. “I could see its brown body vibrate and its red-and-black wings tremble.”

Continue reading...

Yellow mealworm safe for humans to eat, says EU food safety agency

Posted on by

Move paves way for high-protein maggot-like insect to be approved for consumption across Europe

Yellow mealworm finger foods, smoothies, biscuits, pasta and burgers could soon be mass produced across Europe after the insect became the first to be found safe for human consumption by the EU food safety agency.

The delicacies may not be advisable for everyone, however. Those with prawn and dustmite allergies are likely to suffer a reaction to the Tenebrio molitor larvae, whether eaten in powder form as part of a recipe or as a crunchy snack, perhaps dipped in chocolate.

Continue reading...

Government breaks promise to maintain ban on bee-harming pesticide

Posted on by

Farmers ‘relieved’ as chemical sanctioned for emergency use, despite EU-wide ban backed by UK

A pesticide believed to kill bees has been authorised for use in England despite an EU-wide ban two years ago and an explicit government pledge to keep the restrictions.

Following lobbying from the National Farmers’ Union (NFU) and British Sugar, a product containing the neonicotinoid thiamethoxam was sanctioned for emergency use on sugar beet seeds this year because of the threat posed by a virus.

Continue reading...

Beekeepers brace for next round with Canada’s ‘murder hornets’

Posted on by

British Columbia resigned to a ‘long fight’ after 2020’s efforts to track and kill the invasive insects ended in frustration

The year 2020 is not one that beekeepers in Washington state and the Canadian province of British Columbia are likely to forget in a hurry. Since the spring, experts in both states have been gripped by fears of Vespa mandarinia, a hulking insect whose voracious appetite for honeybees and stealthy spread could pose a threat to the region’s vulnerable ecosystem.

I squeezed [the queen] on her thorax ... and this huge stinger came out. And the giant mandibles moved, trying to bite me. It was really quite beautiful

Continue reading...

Discovery of ‘cryptic species’ shows Earth is even more biologically diverse

Posted on by

Excitement as DNA barcoding technique leads to unmasking of new species tempered with fear that some are already at risk of extinction

A growing number of “cryptic species” hiding in plain sight have been unmasked in the past year, driven in part by the rise of DNA barcoding, a technique that can identify and differentiate between animal and plant species using their genetic divergence.

The discovery of new species of aloe, African leaf-nosed bats and chameleons that appear similar to the human eye but are in fact many and separate have thrilled and worried conservationists. Scientists say our planet might be more biologically diverse than previously thought, and estimates for the total number of species could be far higher than the current best guess of 8.7 million. But cryptic discoveries often mean that species once considered common and widespread are actually several, some of which may be endangered and require immediate protection.

Continue reading...

Police investigate I’m a Celebrity over fears non-native bugs may be escaping

Posted on by

Rogue creatures from bushtucker trials including ‘ultimate survivor’ cockroaches could threaten Welsh countryside

Police are investigating I’m a Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here! over concerns non-native wildlife could have escaped into the Welsh countryside during bushtucker trials, the Guardian can reveal.

Rural crime officers from north Wales police are looking into complaints that non-native creatures such as cockroaches, maggots, spiders and worms could threaten wildlife in the 100-hectare (250-acre) estate surrounding Gwrych Castle in north Wales, where the show is being held this year.

Continue reading...

First murder hornet nest found to have 200 queens capable of spawning new nests

Posted on by

Washington state scientists found about 500 live specimens in various stages of development inside the basketball-sized nest

When scientists in Washington state destroyed the first nest of so-called murder hornets found in the US, they discovered about 500 live specimens in various stages of development, officials said Tuesday.

Among them were nearly 200 queens that had the potential to start their own nests, said Sven-Erik Spichiger, an entomologist leading the fight to kill the hornets.

Continue reading...

‘They give me the willies’: scientist who vacuumed murder hornets braces for fight

Posted on by

Chris Looney helped dismantle the first nest of Asian giant hornets in the US. Now he’s preparing for the next step

The eradication of the first nest of Asian giant hornets on US soil somewhat resembled a science fiction depiction of an alien landing site. A crew of government specialists in white, astronaut-like protective suits descended upon the hornet nexus to vanquish it with a futuristic-looking vacuum cleaner, to the relief of onlookers.

The nest of the fearsome invasive insects, notoriously known as “murder hornets”, was found in a tree crevice near Blaine, in Washington state, via a tracking device attached to a previously captured worker hornet. The Washington state department of agriculture (WSDA) confirmed the nest had been successfully removed, with dozens of live captives taken back for inspection.

Continue reading...

Large blue butterfly flutters in Cotswolds for first time in 150 years

Posted on by

Painstaking conservation effort to accommodate insect’s complex lifecycle pays off

The biggest reintroduction to date of the large blue has led to the rare butterfly flying on a Cotswold hillside where it has not been seen for 150 years.

About 750 butterflies emerged on to Rodborough Common in Gloucestershire this summer after 1,100 larvae were released last autumn following five years of innovative grassland management to create optimum habitat.

Continue reading...

Fears rise of ‘murder hornet’ spreading in western Canada after sighting

Posted on by

Latest discovery suggests the species has reached far deeper into British Columbia than previously thought

When officials in western Canada received the squashed remains of a hornet in late May, they immediately knew trouble was in their hands. 

With its hulking orange and black body, the insect sent in by a concerned resident was unmistakably an Asian giant hornet – an aggressive predator increasingly known as the “murder” hornet.

Continue reading...

‘Make noise and don’t panic’: India tries to ward off locust invasion

Posted on by

Delhi braces for swarm while farmers in badly-hit north play loud music and honk car horns to try to prevent decimation of fields

Residents of Delhi are bracing themselves for a possible invasion of locusts, which have been ravaging areas in the north of the country.

A change in wind direction could save the city, but Dr K L Gurjar, deputy director of the Locust Warning Organisation, has warned residents to be prepared to “make a lot of loud noise so that instead of settling, they keep flying and fly past the city. And don’t panic”.

Continue reading...

‘Murder hornets’ in Washington state threaten bees and whip up media swarm

Posted on by

Asian giant hornet, which became more active in the state in April, is the world’s largest and can kill humans with multiple stings

Researchers and citizens in Washington state are on a careful hunt for invasive “murder hornets”, after the insect made its first appearance in the US.

The Asian giant hornet is the world’s largest and can kill humans. But it is most dangerous for the European honeybee, which is defenseless in the face of the hornet’s spiky mandibles, long stinger and potent venom.

Continue reading...

Insect numbers down 25% since 1990, global study finds

Posted on by

Scientists say insects are vital and the losses worrying, with accelerating declines in Europe called ‘shocking’

The biggest assessment of global insect abundances to date shows a worrying drop of almost 25% in the last 30 years, with accelerating declines in Europe that shocked scientists.

The analysis combined 166 long-term surveys from almost 1,700 sites and found that some species were bucking the overall downward trend. In particular, freshwater insects have been increasing by 11% each decade following action to clean up polluted rivers and lakes. However, this group represent only about 10% of insect species and do not pollinate crops.

Continue reading...

Fears for wildlife recovery after bushfires as coronavirus crisis stymies scientists’ fieldwork

Posted on by

Monitoring work suspended due to restrictions on travel and physical contact, in a blow for research into threatened species

Scientists are being forced to shut down or scale back fieldwork to assess the impact of last summer’s devastating bushfires on threatened species amid the coronavirus crisis, prompting concerns it could affect wildlife recovery.

Several universities have shut down fieldwork to comply with restrictions on travel and physical contact and government agencies working on the recovery have had to scale back some of their operations.

Continue reading...

Insects likely to be approved for human consumption by EU

Posted on by

Food safety agency’s decision could put mealworms, locusts and baby crickets on menus

It is being billed as the long-awaited breakthrough moment in European gastronomy for mealworm burgers, locust aperitifs and cricket granola.

In the next few weeks the EU’s European Food Safety Authority is expected by the insect industry to endorse mealworms, lesser mealworms, locusts, baby crickets and adult crickets as being safe for human consumption.

Continue reading...

Uganda’s ‘locust commander’ leads the battle against a new enemy

Posted on by

The army has been called in to eliminate the insects swarming across Africa, but their mission is dangerous and unending

  • Photographs by Edward Echwalu for the Guardian

Sitting at a plastic table in the garden of Timisha hotel in Soroti, eastern Uganda, Major General Samuel Kavuma takes a drag of his cigarette and looks down at his phone, which has barely stopped ringing for the past hour.

A military figure for nearly 40 years, Kavuma fought the Lord’s Resistance Army insurgent group. Now, he’s become the “locust commander”, the man leading the fight against the country’s worst locust outbreak in decades.

Continue reading...

California street shut down after 40,000 bees swarm from hotel

Posted on by

Several people hospitalized in Pasadena after Africanized bees emerge from hotel’s eaves: ‘Something set them off’

A swarm of as many as 40,000 Africanized bees sent several people to hospital and closed a street in California, after swarming from the eaves of a Howard Johnson Inn.

Related: Ursus urbinus: 'elderly' 400lb bear spotted roaming Los Angeles suburb

Continue reading...

Why the lights are going out for fireflies

Posted on by

Fireflies face a dim future because of habitat loss and light pollution. How can conservationists help?

At dusk, graduate student Sara Lewis was sitting on her back porch in North Carolina with her dog. “We were supposed to be mowing our grass, but we never did, so we had long grass in our yard,” she recalls. “Suddenly this cloud of sparks rose up out of the grass and started flying around me.”

Each spark was a firefly: a beetle that glows in the dark. Hundreds of fireflies had gathered in Lewis’s back yard and were soaring around her. “It was this incredible spectacle,” says Lewis, “and I just sort of gasped.” Then she became fascinated. “I started wondering what the heck was going on here, what were these bugs doing, what were they talking about?” She has spent much of the past three decades studying fireflies.

Continue reading...

Paris launches emergency bed bugs hotline

Posted on by

New campaign includes advice on how to prevent and treat an infestation, and a number to call for expert help

The French government launched a campaign Thursday, complete with an emergency number, to combat an influx of unwelcome visitors that have left Parisians in despair: bedbugs that have settled in homes and hotels to feed, uninvited, on human blood.

After disappearing from France in the 1950s, the insects have made a resurgence, according to the ministry of housing, which cited international travel and growing resistance to insecticide as the main causes.

Continue reading...

Car ‘splatometer’ tests reveal huge decline in number of insects

Posted on by

Research shows abundance at sites in Europe has plunged by up to 80% in two decades

Two scientific studies of the number of insects splattered by cars have revealed a huge decline in abundance at European sites in two decades.

The research adds to growing evidence of what some scientists have called an “insect apocalypse”, which is threatening a collapse in the natural world that sustains humans and all life on Earth. A third study shows plummeting numbers of aquatic insects in streams.

Continue reading...