Insects, features and articles | Educational Science

Nov 23, 2015

Beetles Speed-Grow Their Built-In Bifocal Eyes

A diving beetle with highly complex eyes can grow its own bifocals at a surprisingly quick rate, scientists say. In a new study, the first to investigate how the beetles' unusual eyes develop, researchers discovered that all of the beetle's eye parts grew and changed rapidly when the larvae molted....

Jan 21, 2016

Hiding in Plain Sight: 24 New Beetle Species Discovered in Australia

This story was updated at 3:52 p.m. ET on Jan. 28. Lying among hundreds of beetle specimens in museum collections across Australia was a treasure trove of unidentified weevils, including as many as 24 new species, according to a new study. Most of the beetles were collected almost 30 years...

Feb 10, 2017

Beetles Pose as an Ant's Butt to Grab a Ride

How do you hitch a ride on an army ant? Try masquerading as an ant butt. At least, that's the strategy that seems to work for the newly described beetle species Nymphister kronaueri. Seen from above, a colony of Eciton mexicanum army ants marching across the forest floor looked perfectly...

Apr 13, 2017

Amber Tomb Trapped Ancient, Termite-Loving Beetles

Scientists recently discovered tiny beetles resembling horseshoe crabs that were trapped in amber dating back to the Cretaceous period, about 99 million years ago. This type of beetle belongs to a group known as termitophiles, or termite lovers, which are known for burrowing into termite mounds to live alongside the...

Jun 15, 2017

Photos: Zombie Beetles Hang from Flowers

Zombie beetles (Image credit: D. Steinkraus)Just before a deadly fungus kills the goldenrod soldier beetle, it instructs the beetle to climb a plant and clamp its mandibles around a flower. Then, after the beetle dies, the fungus prompts the dead beetle to raise its wings, making it a spooky zombie....

Jul 11, 2017

Meet the Beetles: Stunning Museum Specimens from London

Beetle-mania (Image credit: Lucia Chmurova/Natural History Museum London/Flickr/CC BY-NC-ND 2)In the Natural History Museum in London, approximately 10 million specimens make up their collection of Coleoptera — the taxonomic order that includes all beetle species. About 2,000 to 3,000 new specimens are added each year, and the collection spans over...

Sep 16, 2018

Bee That Was Looking for Love Ends Up Wearing a 'Vest' of Parasitic Beetle Larvae

At first glance, this bee appears to be wearing what looks like a shiny brown vest, wrapped around its fuzzy midriff. But closer inspection reveals that the bee is crawling with dozens of wriggling, worm-like brown bodies: larvae belonging to the blister beetle species Meloe franciscanus. The bee — a...

Oct 21, 2020

You can't squish this 'iron' beetle. Now, scientists know why.

Diabolical ironclad beetles are almost unbreakable — you can smack them, stomp on them or run them over with a car, and they'll scamper away uncrushed. Now, scientists know why these beetles' outer wing cases, known as elytra, are so tough — they're made up of a series of smoothly...

Jan 12, 2021

Weirdo ancient beetle looks like a scrub brush

A tree in an ancient forest sits covered in moss, lichens and craggy bark — when suddenly, a chunk of that bark begins to scuttle around. But it's not the bark that's scurrying; it's a bizarre little creature called Stegastochlidus saraemcheana, a newfound genus and species of cylindrical bark beetle....

Feb 2, 2021

Perfectly-preserved 'bog beetles' nearly as old as Egypt's pyramids

Two thumb-size beetles found preserved in an English bog may look as though they died as recently as yesterday, but in reality they're nearly as ancient as Egypt's pyramids, new research finds. The two oak capricorn beetles (that belonged to the genus Cerambyx) date back 3,785 years, according to radiocarbon...

Jul 5, 2021

This beetle can walk upside down on the underside of a pool of water (VIDEO)

Walking on water is a common enough feat for insects. Water striders, for instance, are famous for exploiting surface tension to achieve it. But a totally surreal video reveals a beetle that has taken an altogether more remarkable step — to the underside of the water's surface. The insect, which...

Aug 14, 2021

49 million-year-old beetle looks like it was squashed yesterday

A beetle that lived about 49 million years ago is so well-preserved that the insect looks like it could spread its strikingly patterned wing coverings and fly away. That is, if it weren't squashed and fossilized. Wing cases, or elytra, are one of the sturdiest parts of a beetle's exoskeleton,...

Sep 1, 2022

3D scans reveal that beetles have secret pockets on their backs

If you were to compliment a female Lagria beetle on her pupa shell, she'd probably respond, Thanks, it has pockets! These special pockets hold an important treasure: symbiotic bacteria that keep the pupa (and the larva that precedes this stage) safe from potentially deadly fungus. When the adult beetle emerges...

Oct 14, 2022

Beetles Decimate Canadian Forests

Hordes of mountain pine beetles are decimating British Columbian forests. Rising temperatures due to global warming have boosted the beetles' numbers by increasing their reproductive rate and reducing their winter die-off. Now, in a perverse twist, a new study shows that in a few years, the pests will have turned...

Mar 22, 2023

Beetles suck water into their butts to stay hydrated, and now scientists know how

Whenever beetles get thirsty, all they need to do is take a sip of water — through their butts. This unconventional method of quenching their thirst is a way for the insects to stay hydrated, since they can go their entire lives without actually drinking water through their mouths, according...