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Monthly Archives: January 2015
What do Butterflies and Poop Have in Common? They’re Green!
Written by Nancy Miorelli First, if you’ve never had green poop, congratulations, you’re one of the few people who haven’t had the issue … apparently. Anyway, I’m getting ahead of myself. We got this question from Facebook, and it specifically … Continue reading
Posted in Physiology
Tagged bile, bile pigment, bile salt, Butterflies, Chlorophyll, Colors, Green, Lepidoptera, Lutein, Malachite Butterfly, nano-structure
2 Comments
How do insects breathe? Part 2: Parasites
Written by Joe Ballenger In the first part of our post, Wait, Insects Breathe? But How?, we talked about how insects breathe. Although they use oxygen, like humans, they don’t use lungs. Instead, they use a system of hollow tubes … Continue reading
Wait, Insects Breathe!? But How? Part I
Post by Nancy Miorelli and Joe Ballenger One day, while puttering around on Twitter we noticed that there was a #BugQuestions already…and there are some really neat questions here. The question of how insects breathe is one which is commonly … Continue reading
What Happens Inside a Cocoon or Chrysalis?
Written by Nancy Miorelli This is a great series of questions because I was going to tackle a butterfly coloration question this week, but would have had to talk about development. Now I can talk about development and we can … Continue reading
Posted in Physiology
Tagged brain, Butterfly, Caterpillar, Chrysalis, Cocoon, Development, imaginal discs, larva, learning, Pupa
9 Comments
What happens to insects when they die of old age?
Written by Joe Ballenger I think this is a really neat question for many reasons. Getting older is something we all deal with, and the person you were 5 years ago is not the person you are today. For everything … Continue reading
The Budding Relationship of a Midge and the Chocolate Flower
Written by Nancy Miorelli Short answer – Yes, but it’s impressive the system works at all. Where Does Chocolate Grow? Chocolate, or the Cacao plant (Theobroma cacao) grows all over the world but mainly in the tropical regions. Chocolate is grown … Continue reading
Posted in Ecology, Pollination
Tagged Cacao, Ceratopogonidae, Chocolate, Cocoa, Midges, Pollination
4 Comments
Why do entomologists kill insects? A non-taxonomist’s perspective.
Co-Written by Joe Ballenger and Nancy Miorelli Admittedly, this isn’t really a direct user submission per se, but it’s a question which comes up in the entomological world enough to warrant a discussion. Collecting of insects is not controversial amongst … Continue reading
Posted in Education, Research, Taxonomy
Tagged Agriculture, Collections, Education, Entomology, Habitat Loss, Inects, Insect Killing, Medical Entomology, Research, Science, Science Communicaiton
18 Comments
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