Category Archives: Ecology

The perfect April Fool’s day post: What’s going on in this video?

Posted on April 1, 2015 by joeballenger2005

In our email on Monday, we received a message from Mike Menefee with a link to this video: I witnessed (and videoed) an interesting interaction today between a wasp and a fly.  They seemed to be working together in some … Continue reading →

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The Last of the March Mantids: High School Steroptypes!

Posted on March 30, 2015 by Polistes fuscatus

Written by Nancy Miorelli and Joe Ballenger It’s the end of the month, and our March Mantids theme month seems to have been a pretty big success. It was a lot of fun for us, because we got to talk … Continue reading →

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The Daily Catch: Patience and Spring Traps

Posted on March 19, 2015 by SciBugs

Written by Nancy Miorelli The other day I received an email from a former student about the persistence and strength demonstrated by praying mantises. Yes, she did say birds. It is pretty amazing when you think about how mantises can capture … Continue reading →

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Why Do Insects Lay Their Eggs In Patterns?

Posted on March 9, 2015 by joeballenger2005

Written by Joe Ballenger We get a lot of identification requests on our Facebook page, and we do what we can to identify them. Sometimes, these turn into interesting conversations…which in turn lead to good questions like this: The moth … Continue reading →

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Do Mantids Get Parasites?

Posted on March 4, 2015 by joeballenger2005

Written by Joe Ballenger @BugQuestions what kind of parasites do mantids have? Is there a link with lots of photos? — Sarah Herlong (@HerlongSarah) February 6, 2015 Everybody loves mantids. In fact, of all the questions we’ve gotten here on … Continue reading →

Posted in Ecology, Physiology | Tagged , , , | 17 Comments

Gardening and Beneficial Insects

Posted on March 2, 2015 by SciBugs

Written by Nancy Miorelli Spring’s right around the corner! Well, for those of us who aren’t heaped under mountains of snow. To kickstart spring, this month we’re going to post all about mantises! So shoot us your questions! Some of … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Ecology, Pollination | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

The Dress, Color Perception, and What is Real?

Posted on February 28, 2015 by SciBugs

Written by Nancy Miorelli So between llamas and a technicolor dress, the internet kind of exploded on Feb 26. The dress in question is a lovely shade of … white and gold or blue and black. Or there was a … Continue reading →

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Through the Compound Eye

Posted on February 25, 2015 by SciBugs

Written by Nancy Miorelli Eyes are remarkable structures that have evolved independently at least three times. The most obvious advantage of eyes is that they help us understand the world around us by absorbing what is essentially data, which our brains then … Continue reading →

Posted in Ecology, Physiology | Tagged , , , , , | 15 Comments

Why do insect bites transmit disease?

Posted on February 18, 2015 by joeballenger2005

Written by Joe Ballenger @Stylopidae As a layman I know nothing about regular mosquitoes & how they bite etc. Be good to establish that. — Jude Adamson (@smalljude) January 31, 2015 While writing my post about GMO mosquitoes, Jude Adamson … Continue reading →

Posted in Behavior, Ecology, Physiology | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

Bug Valentines!

Posted on February 14, 2015 by SciBugs

Written by Nancy Miorelli I love Valentine’s Day and its something that I like to share with my friends. Last year I started drawing “Insect Valentines” for my friends at work,  where I’d couple insect biology and art. I had … Continue reading →

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