Plant responses to herbivore damage vary enormously, but the causes of this variation are not well understood. We examined how both insect feeding style and soil fertility influence the severity of ...

Stick insects that reproduce asexually cannot adapt as quickly in the course of evolution as sexually reproducing species, leading to a decrease in biological diversity, according to new research. An ...

The predatory mirid bug, Nesidiocoris tenuis, which preys on agricultural pests, is used as a biological control agent. This discovery has significant implications for biological control which ...

SMBE Journals (Molecular Biology and Evolution and Genome Biology and Evolution) Further analysis of PifA and PifB revealed that they exhibit many of the characteristics of eukaryotic host-associated ...

A new UC Davis study reveals previously unknown cell types in the female reproductive tract of Drosophila fruit flies. The knowledge could help in studies of fertility in general, and in managing ...

Scientists have uncovered a set of neurons in fruit flies that shut down in cold temperatures and slow reproduction, a system conserved in many insects, including mosquitoes, which could provide a ...

“It’s really exciting,” said microbiologist Steven Sinkins of the University of Glasgow, U.K., who was not involved in the work. “For Wolbachia researchers this has been the big unanswered ...

With temperatures creeping up as the climate warms, those very hungry caterpillars could get even hungrier, and more abundant. Crop losses to pests may grow. Insects will be “eating more of our lunch, ...