The ability to associate bright colors with the threat of harm is a basic survival skill. Consider the crimson hourglass on a black widow spider or the brilliant scarlet of the fire ant, warning us…

What Actually Happens at a Scientific Conference?  Growing up, the year was split into two seasons. During the cooler months of the year my dad, who works in horticulture, was usually home. However…

Tiny Bodyguards in the Mango Trees Weaver ant nests on Mango tree- Shanmuga Priya Imagine walking through a mango orchard and spotting leaves tangled together into strange green bundles. Look close…

If you’ve ever paused to think about insect names, you’ll quickly notice a pattern: many of them are, quite simply, inaccurate. Some arise from folklore, others from mistaken identity, and a few se…

Insects and other invertebrates might be the key to long term space travel. With increasing research into insects for human consumption, more and more scientists believe that insect farming might b…

The word genomics has been flying around the scientific community for some decades, a synonym for a powerful genetic tool. Genomic tools are used to unveil the mysteries that are hidden within an o…

When was the last time you visited your local park? What flowers did you see? Were there bees on those flowers? Urban green spaces are important for many reasons. They bring joy to people nearby, p…

‘ear me out… The Truth About Earwigs If you’ve ever stopped to think about the common names that we give insects, you may notice something a bit odd. Many of them are simply wrong. Some come from m…

Have you ever seen a butterfly egg? Most people haven’t. When we think of young butterflies we most often imagine a munching caterpillar, decimating the leaves of its host plant. Its soft, wrigglin…

Insects have often been a major source of inspiration, fear, and human curiosity. Their anatomy, behaviour, lifestyles are highly specialised and distinct from ours and many other animals. This sen…

So! It’s been a while since you heard from us (at least, it’s been a couple months since we wrote that last blog post). What have we been up to? Beginning of the UKBOL Project The Project we have b…

Ants are everywhere. They crawl across forest floors, march along sidewalks, and quietly build vast underground networks beneath our feet. These tiny insects live in highly organized societies wher…

Figure: A tray of pinned blow flies from the Australian National Insect Collection at CSIRO Entomology (2006), by David McClenaghan, CSIRO ScienceImage, licensed under CC BY 3.0 ( Imagine that you …

Tyler Maire  |  Indian River Mosquito Control District Photo credit: Tyler Maire, UF/IFAS Mosquitoes are more than just a nuisance Diseases carried by mosquitoes are a significant public health con…

Many people worry that mosquitoes might spread Lyme disease. After all, mosquito bites are common, and Lyme disease is one of the most widespread vector-borne diseases in the Northern Hemisphere. H…

Imagine you’re a tiny grain of pollen riding on the back of a bumblebee. Your mission is to reach another flower so you can help complete the process of pollination. You’re not alone, about 500 oth…

Figure 1: Tardigrade illustration (with thanks to!) © David Krenz If you walk down a busy city street, surrounded by cars, buses, and the urban smog of traffic, it might be hard to imagine that ano…

Figure 1. The Eastern View of the museum on our first day, after walking in from the South Kensington Tube Station Hi! We are Baxter and Lucas, Undergraduate Students at Swansea University on place…

Aphids and Whiteflies are serious crop pests The Green Peach aphid Myzus persicae along with the sweet potato whitefly Bemisia tabaci are hemipteran sap feeding crop pests. Infestations of both ins…

When plants reproduce, the pollen is produced by the male organs, anthers, to fertilize the egg. This pollen is dust that can be moved to the female organ by wind, water or by animals. Since the up…

The Douglas Boyes Fund has been established in honour of Douglas Boyes (1996-2021), an esteemed entomologist specialising in Lepidoptera. The Fund aims to provide young people aged 14-18 with access…

This page is our free-of-charge central listing platform for organisations and individuals to upload and share their insect-related venues and events. Upload your events for free and expand their…

Mosquitoes represent a serious health risk. Many methods to control them have failed. Could there be another option that controls them while also protecting the environment?

In celebration of the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, this article tells the stories of a few of the many amazing women entomologists from history.  Despite often facing poor …

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