Insects, features and articles | Educational Science

Aug 25, 2023

Invasive yellow-legged hornets spotted in US for 1st time, one nest eradicated

Editor's Note: This story was updated on Aug. 25 to note that one yellow-legged hornet nest had been found and eradicated. Yellow-legged hornets have been spotted in the U.S. for the first time after a beekeeper reported an unusual insect in Savannah, Georgia, in early August. The Georgia Department of...

Aug 29, 2023

3,000-year-old mummified bees are so well preserved, scientists can see the flowers the insects ate

Thousands of years ago, a group of adolescent bees became trapped in cocoons inside their nest and left behind a remarkably preserved record of their mummified remains. Researchers in Portugal reported the discovery of the ancient insects and fossilized bee nest — the first to be found with bees preserved...

Apr 20, 2005

Amazing Ants Ambush Prey from Foxholes

A crafty ant species builds a trap dotted with foxholes for surprise attacks Such incredible cooperation among ants has never before been described by scientists. The ants, called Allomerus decemarticulatus, live in trees in the Amazon. Here's how it works: An insect lands on the trap, The ambush is well...

Jun 8, 2005

Ants Rely on Chemicals to ID Enemies

Determining friend or foe in the ant world is a touchy subject.? New research reveals how carpenter ants screen nest-mates from non-mates with special chemical sensors on their antennae. Like many social animals, ants rely on chemical communication to direct cooperation, as well as identify intruders. On their bodies' thin...

Nov 16, 2005

How Ants Navigate

Many insects go back and forth between their nests and a food source multiple times. But if the route to the food is very similar to the route away from it, then the foragers might get confused and not know which way to go. Different insects have different ways of...

Dec 15, 2005

Attack Ants Feed on Worms and Snakes

Army ants have been spotted attacking and eating a huge worm and even a snake, suggesting to researchers that their cooperative hunting strategy initially evolved just for such a surprising purpose. Animal behaviorist Sean O'Donnell was having afternoon coffee when a giant earthworm exploded out of the leaf litter covering...

Jan 6, 2006

Ants Use Antibiotics to Fight Pests

Fungus-gardening ants have the same problems as human farmers—crop-eating pests. A new study shows that these ants enlist the help of antibiotic-producing bacteria to keep their gardens in order. Panamanian attine ants cultivate large houses covered in fungus, which worker ants garden to provide food for the colony. But parasitic...

Jun 29, 2006

When Ants Go Marching, They Count Their Steps

Ants use an internal pedometer to find their way home without getting sidetracked, a new study reports. Desert ants on foraging expeditions use celestial cues to orient themselves in the homeward direction, but with few landmarks in the barren land, scientists have wondered how the insects always take the most...

Feb 27, 2007

Urban Ants Handle Heat Better

The heat of cities is transforming how urban ants respond to extreme temperatures, providing glimpses of the impacts that changes in global climate might trigger, an international team of scientists now reports. Cities can be 10 to 15 degrees Fahrenheit hotter than surrounding rural zones, with their asphalt roads and...

Oct 12, 2007

Ants Corral and Tranquilize Victims

Hungry ants corral aphids into nearby food-producing herds by rounding them up and penning them in with trails of chemical footprints they leave behind, a new study finds. The result is honeydew on tap, researchers say. Scientists have known that ants tend to hang out near colonies of certain types...

Dec 18, 2007

Alien Ants Devour Locals, Then Go Vegetarian

Carnivorous Argentine ants that have invaded coastal California devour other insects. When that food's gone, the ants become vegetarians. The amazingly adaptive behavior, detailed in what is the first study of this ant's diet, has allowed the invaders to spread successfully and rapidly. The tiny dark-brown and black critters, an...

Jan 21, 2008

Wanted: Queen Bee Seeks Harem of Male Dancers

Honeybee queens have sex with harems of males apparently to give birth to much better dancers, research now reveals. The better honeybees dance, the better they are at hustling for chow, scientists added. Taking lots of male consorts is a dicey proposition for bee queens. For one thing, it increases...

Jan 24, 2008

Ants' Infected Red Rumps Look Yummy

Infectious stomach flus may be gut-wrenching for us, but consider the plight of some tropical black ants: When infected by tiny nematode worms, the ants' rumps resemble a bright-red, bird-attracting berry. The parasites' strange transformative ability might help it spread to other ant colonies, scientists report in two new studies....

Aug 19, 2008

Keys to Ant Social Status Found

Whether an ant becomes a dominant queen or a lowly worker is determined by both nature and nurture, it turns out. A new study found that an ant's social status in its colony depends both on its genetic inheritance and the food it eats when it is young. Researchers studied...

Sep 15, 2008

Strange 'Ant from Mars' Discovered

A newly discovered species of a blind, subterranean predator — dubbed the Ant from Mars — is likely a descendant of one of the very first ants to evolve on Earth, a new study finds. Christian Rabeling, an evolutionary biology graduate student at the University of Texas at Austin, found...