Tag Archives: Agriculture

Entolegality: Do entomologists have special bug privileges?

Posted on February 7, 2017 by Polistes fuscatus

Written by Joe Ballenger Is it true that you can order insects when it is illegal for me to order them? Example I would wanna buy a beetle from Japan and it’s illegal for me to own one can you … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, History, Law, Pest Management, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Bees carrying leaves? What’s up with that?

Posted on September 14, 2016 by joeballenger2005

Written by Joe Ballenger Your Name: Clark Your Bug Question: I noticed a small flying insect about the size of a honey bee, fuzzy, all black flying around with a small leaf in its legs. It flew down between some … Continue reading →

Posted in Behavior, Ecology, Pollination | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

How similar is Entomology to Pokemon? Do scientists ever make bugs fight?

Posted on July 12, 2016 by joeballenger2005

Written by Joe Ballenger The release of Pokemon Go has been great for us entomologists, because we have been able to get people to realize why we love our jobs so much. The creator of Pokemon, Satoshi Tajiri, actually got … Continue reading →

Posted in Behavior, Culture, Developmental Biology, Ecology, Insect Rearing, Physiology | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Why are woolly apple aphids flying around everywhere?

Posted on October 2, 2015 by joeballenger2005

Although we don’t think of ourselves as an insect ID blog, some of these requests give us some great opportunities to talk about stuff that’s happening seasonally. Fall is an important time for bugs, because they’re finishing up their lifecycles … Continue reading →

Posted in Behavior | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Please stop sharing the ‘wasps are jerks’ memes.

Posted on September 27, 2015 by joeballenger2005

I really try not to use this blog to jump on the soap-box too often but for some reason the internet has decided that wasps are the Martin Shkrelis of the insect world, and I think this needs to stop. … Continue reading →

Posted in Education | Tagged , , , , | 26 Comments

Stink bugs: Telling the good ones from the bad ones.

Posted on August 30, 2015 by joeballenger2005

At about this time of year I expect to start getting a lot of questions about the Brown Marmorated Stink Bug, or the BMSB as I like to call it. It’s an introduced stink bug from Asia, which has quickly … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Ecology, Education, News, Pest Management | Tagged , , , | 9 Comments

Honeybee genetics: how do they work?

Posted on August 5, 2015 by joeballenger2005

Your Name: Farhad Your Bug Question: Hello. I read in a book that worker bees are clones. But how this can happen? Can you explain? Tonight’s question comes from Farhad, who emailed us and asked how bees can be clones. … Continue reading →

Posted in Chemistry, Developmental Biology, Evolution, Physiology, Pollination | Tagged , , , | 7 Comments

Is there any truth to the rumor that ants eat cows, people and crops?

Posted on July 1, 2015 by joeballenger2005

@BugQuestions I once read a short story called "Leningen Versus the Ants." Any truth to ants eating cows, devouring crops, etc? Thanks! — Permanent Side Eye. (@sarahkerr81) February 19, 2015 If you’ve never read the short story Leiningen Versus the … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Ecology, Physiology | Tagged , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

How do wasps find other bugs to parasitize?

Posted on June 1, 2015 by joeballenger2005

For our final #KidQuestions post, I thought it would be fun to tackle a question submitted to us by Bridget Mendel’s first grade class: How do wasps find their hosts? I got my start in entomology by going through a … Continue reading →

Posted in Behavior, Ecology, Education | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Everything You Wanted to Know About Colony Collapse Disorder.

Posted on April 6, 2015 by joeballenger2005

Written by Joe Ballenger Today’s post is a little bit different than our other posts, mostly because we’re doing it on a podcast instead of text. A few months ago, we got a question from Peter Bryant of the Mythwits … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Education, News, Physiology, Pollination, Research | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment