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Tag: Insects

  • Giant snails and tiny insects threaten the South’s rice and crawfish farms

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    KAPLAN, La. — Josh Courville has harvested crawfish his whole life, but these days, he’s finding a less welcome catch in some of the fields he manages in southern Louisiana.

    Snails. Big ones.

    For every crawfish Courville dumps out of a trap, three or four snails clang onto the boat’s metal sorting table. About the size of a baseball when fully grown, apple snails stubbornly survive all kinds of weather in fields, pipes and drainage ditches and can lay thousands of bubblegum-colored eggs every month.

    “It’s very disheartening,” Courville said. “The most discouraging part, actually, is not having much control over it.”

    Apple snails are just one example of how invasive species can quickly become a nightmare for farmers.

    In Louisiana, where rice and crawfish are often grown together in the same fields, there’s now a second threat: tiny insects called delphacids that can deal catastrophic damage to rice plants. Much about these snails and insects is still a mystery, and researchers are trying to learn more about what’s fueling their spread, from farming methods and pesticides to global shipping and extreme weather.

    Experts aren’t sure what role climate change may play, but they say a warming world generally makes it easier for pests to spread to other parts of the country if they gain a foothold in the temperate South.

    “We are going to have more bugs that are happier to live here if it stays warmer here longer,” said Hannah Burrack, professor and chair of the entomology department at Michigan State University.

    It’s an urgent problem because in a tough market for rice, farmers who rotate the rice and crawfish crops together need successful harvests of both to make ends meet. And losses to pests could mean higher rice prices for U.S. consumers, said Steve Linscombe, director of The Rice Foundation, which does research and education outreach for the U.S. rice industry.

    Courville manages fields for Christian Richard, a sixth-generation rice farmer in Louisiana. Both started noticing apple snails after a bad flood in 2016. Then the population ballooned.

    In spring, at rice planting time, the hungry snails found a feast.

    “It was like this science fiction movie,” Richard said, describing how each snail made its own little whirlpool as it popped out of the wet ground. “They would start on those tender rice plants, and they destroyed a 100-acre field.”

    Louisiana State University scientists estimate that about 78 square miles (202 square kilometers) in the state are now regularly seeing snails.

    To keep the rice from becoming a snail buffet, Richard’s team and many other rice and crawfish farmers dealing with the pests start with a dry field to give the rice plants the chance to grow a few inches and get stronger, then flood the field after.

    It’s a planting method they’d already used on some fields, even before the snails arrived. But now, with the snails, that’s essentially their only option, and it’s the most expensive one.

    They also can’t get rid of the snails entirely. Many of the pesticides that might work on snails can also hurt crustaceans. People directly eat both rice and crawfish, unlike crops grown for animal feed, so there are fewer chemicals farmers can use on them. One option some farmers are testing, copper sulfate, can easily add thousands of dollars to an operation’s costs, Courville said.

    It all means “lower production, decreased revenue from that, and increased cost with the extra labor,” Richard said.

    Cecilia Gallegos, who has worked as a crawfish harvester for the past three years, said the snails have made her job more difficult in the past year.

    “You give up more time,” she said of having to separate the crawfish from the snails, or occasionally plucking them out of sacks if they roll in by mistake. Work that already stretched as late as 3 a.m. in the busy springtime season can now take even longer.

    The snails separated from the crawfish get destroyed later.

    To look for pests much smaller than the apple snails, entomologists whip around heavy-duty butterfly nets and deploy Ghostbusters-style specimen-collecting vacuums. Since last year, they’ve been sampling for rice delphacids, tiny insects that pierce the rice plants, suck out their sap and transmit a rice virus that worsens the damage.

    It’s worrying for Louisiana because they’ve seen how bad it can get next door in Texas, where delphacids surged last year. Yields dropped by up to 50% in what’s called the ratoon crop, the second rice crop of the year, said The Rice Foundation’s Linscombe. Texas farmers are projected to grow rice on only half the acres they did last year, and some are worried they won’t be able to get bank loans, said Tyler Musgrove, a rice extension specialist at the Louisiana State University AgCenter.

    Musgrove said entomologists believe almost all rice fields in Louisiana had delphacids by September and October of last year. By then, most of the rice had already been harvested, so they’re waiting to see what happens this year.

    “The rice delphacid this past year was probably one of the most significant entomological events to occur in U.S. rice since the ‘50s when it first appeared,” Musgrove said. Delphacids had eventually disappeared after that outbreak until now. It’s been identified in four of the six rice-producing states — Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas and Mississippi — but it’s not clear yet whether it’s made a permanent winter home in the U.S.

    Scientists are still in the early stages of advising farmers on what to do about the resurgence of the destructive bugs without adding costly or crawfish-harming pesticides. And they’re also starting to study whether rice and crawfish grown together will see different impacts than rice grown by itself.

    “I think everyone agrees, it’s not going to be a silver bullet approach. Like, oh, we can just breed for it or we could just spray our way out of it,” said Adam Famoso, director of Louisiana State University’s Rice Research Station.

    Burrack, of Michigan State, said that climate change is making it harder for modeling that has helped predict how big populations of invasive pests will get and when they may affect certain crops. And that makes it harder for farmers to plan around them.

    “From an agricultural standpoint, that’s generally what happens when you get one of these intractable pests,” Burrack said. “People are no longer able to produce the thing that they want to produce in the place that they’re producing it.”

    ___

    Follow Melina Walling on X @MelinaWalling and Bluesky @melinawalling.bsky.social. Follow Joshua A. Bickel on Instagram, Bluesky and X @joshuabickel.

    ___

    The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

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  • Scientists Found Something Unexpected in Pet Poop—and It’s Not Good

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    Fleas and ticks can be a nightmare for any pet owner to manage. But a convenient treatment for these external parasites could come with more risks for the environment than we knew, scientists have just found.

    Researchers in France studied the feces of cats and dogs administered certain antiparasitic medications known as isoxazolines. They continued to find some of the drugs in the pets’ poop even after their treatment had ended. They also concluded that essential, poop-loving bugs in the wild are likely being exposed to dangerous levels of these compounds via pest-treated pets.

    “These findings emphasize the need for further research on environmental contamination and impact of veterinary parasiticides on nontarget species,” the researchers wrote in their paper, published Wednesday in Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry.

    A convenient but possibly risky option

    Isoxazolines are a relatively new type of antiparasitic medication, with the first drug of its kind approved in 2013.

    These drugs quickly became a popular option among veterinarians and pet owners for several reasons. They can treat both ticks and fleas, are usually available as an easy-to-take pill, and provide a long-lasting effect (at least a month) that can prevent further infestations. One of the newest approved drugs on the market, Bravecto Quantum, can even work for up to a year, though it does have to be taken as an injection.

    Impressive as isoxazolines are, some experts and health agencies have worried about the effect they could be having on unintended insects and other arthropods, since these drugs can seep into the environment through a pet’s feces, urine, and even hair. The European Medicines Agency (EMA) has recently called for a reevaluation of the environmental impact that flea and tick medications might have, for instance. They note that growing pet populations and increased use of these drugs could be raising environmental risks.

    The researchers recruited 20 dogs and cats owned by veterinary students for their study. The pets were given one of four commonly used isoxazoline drugs as recommended for three months (fluralaner, (es)afoxolaner, lotilaner, and sarolaner), and the researchers periodically tested their poop for traces of each.

    All the drugs had median half-lives ranging from 15 to 25 days, they found, though it differed depending on the species and specific drug. And two of the drugs (fluralaner and lotilaner) could still be detected in pets’ poop after the recommended treatment period was over.

    The researchers also ran simulations on the potential risk posed by these drugs left behind in pet poop to dung-feeding insects in the wild, based on their results. They determined that in most scenarios, there was likely a real risk of high exposure to these drugs, particularly fluralaner and lotilaner.

    A need for more study

    These findings don’t yet confirm that isoxazolines are wreaking havoc on insects in the wild everywhere. But they do highlight the urgent need for more research to figure out just how dangerous they could be to innocent bugs in parks and other places where our pets regularly do their business.

    “Our preliminary assessment suggests that pet ectoparasiticides may be detrimental to the environment and supports the conclusions from the EMA scientific opinion,” the researchers wrote.

    Understanding these risks better might also help us mitigate them. In countries and regions where garbage is routinely incinerated, for instance, it might be beneficial to recommend that pet owners always throw out their pet’s poop in the trash during their flea and tick treatment, the researchers suggested as a potential idea.

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    Ed Cara

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  • Ask the Expert: House Plant Journal’s Darryl Cheng on 6 Common Indoor Plant Pests – Gardenista

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    When I spotted a scale insect on a leaf of my Thai lime tree recently, I sighed. It’s only December; sometimes they show up only in March. We must coexist indoors for another five months. I had been led to peer closely at the tree’s leaves by a tell-tale spattering of sticky honeydew beneath one branch. Above it, two branches up, I found the culprit, the pale brown dome of a mature scale insect. Wondering what other indoor plant pests are vexing the houseplant community, and how they deal with them, I consulted Darryl Cheng, Toronto-based creator of The House Plant Journal and the author of two popular books on indoor plant parenting. Darryl’s meticulous approach to growing plants is at once accessible and realistic. His engineer’s perspective to plant care includes the encouraging maxim that having a green thumb “isn’t about luck, but about being observant.”

    Let’s observe. Here’s an alphabetical hit list of six of the most common indoor plant pests you may find feasting on your botanical babies: Aphids, fungus gnats, mealy bugs, scale, spider mites, and thrips—and how to deal with them.

    Photography by Darryl Cheng and Vincent Mounier.

    Above: Darryl Cheng’s second book is The New Plant Collector—The Next Adventure in Your Houseplant Journey (Abrams, 2024).

    Darryl points out that what many of us call indoor or houseplants “are in fact tropical foliage plants” (or subtropical in some cases, like my Thai limes). Understanding how to get them to thrive in our controlled indoor climates means approximating their natural growing conditions in terms of light, moisture, and temperature. Even then, over time, they will be visited by tiny creatures that feed on them and do damage: indoor plant pests. These insects and arachnids (spider mites have eight miniature legs) may travel indoors with an indoor-outdoor plant, or (very commonly) they arrive with a newly-acquired plant. They are part of the plant’s life. And while checking your leafy family members daily may seem like a chore, it is essential for their health and “also kind of therapeutic,” Darryl says. “Think of it as detailing your plant.”

    His philosophy for his own plants is that nature should be allowed to take its course. Indoor plant pests are tolerable at “the lowest level possible, as long as the plant is strong.” Here is how to keep that pest level low.

    Aphids

    Above: Aphids feeding on lime blossoms. Photograph by Vincent Mounier.

    I was a little jealous to learn that Darryl rarely, if ever, encounters aphids. This is likely because they are often an outdoor-indoor issue: In my case, these soft-bodied sap suckers travel indoors invisibly with our trees when we move them indoors for winter. While aphids are not hugely destructive, they can damage new growth if they remain unobserved for a while, as in my case, above. They can be spotted “when they congregate around the growth point of the plant,” Darryl notes.

    Aphid Control:

    • I deal with aphids by squishing them. Gross, but effective.
    • I also spray them with a mixture of water and dishwashing liquid (1/4 teaspoon in 16 fl oz/2 cups)l; the soapy coating smothers them.

    Fungus Gnats

    Above: A fungus gnat immobilized on a yellow sticky trap (dead leaf for scale). Photograph by Vincent Mounier.

    Many online plant forums are abuzz with questions about annoying, small flying insects. Like fruit flies, but different, say the worried houseplant owners. “Fungus gnats are opportunists,” says Darryl, who does not consider them damaging. They feed on fungus that grows in damp organic material, like potting soil or bark chips. Major larval infestations may damage plant roots if no fungus is available. And while I interpret their presence as a timely warning that my potting media for citrus trees is too damp—meaning that I am watering too often—Darryl makes the point that some plants, “like maidenhair ferns,” should remain moist. So the presence of fungus gnats does not necessarily mean that there is problem: “It depends on the plant,” he says, and an understanding of the different conditions that particular plants require to flourish.

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  • Scientists uncover an ant assassination scheme that helps a parasitic queen rise to power

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    Scientists say they have for the first time unlocked how a parasitic ant uses chemical warfare to take over the nest of a different species, by tricking workers into an unlikely assassination.The deadly scheme unfolds like a Shakespearean drama. In an ant colony, the queen is dying, under attack by her own daughters. Meanwhile, the true enemy — an invader queen from another ant species — waits on the sidelines. Her plan is simple: Infiltrate the nest and use chemical weapons brewed inside her body to deceive the worker ants into mistaking their rightful ruler for an imposter.In a few hours, the nest’s queen will fall. Once the former matriarch is dead, the invader will assume the role of the colony’s new leader.Matricide in an ant colony is not unheard of — it typically happens when a colony produces multiple queens or when a solo queen reaches the end of her fertility. But this particular scenario, in which an outsider queen turns workers into her proxy assassins, has never been described in detail before, researchers reported Monday in the journal Current Biology.In fact, this strategy is yet to be documented in any other animal species, said the study’s senior author, Keizo Takasuka, an assistant professor in the department of biology at the University of Kyushu in Japan.”Inducement of daughters to kill their biological mother had not been known in biology before this work,” Takasuka told CNN in an email.The researchers observed this behavior among ants in the Lasius genus, documenting invasions and worker manipulation by queens in the species L. orientalis and L. umbratus.”Prior studies had reported that, after a new L. umbratus queen invaded a host colony of L. niger, host workers killed their own queen,” Takasuka said. “But the mechanism remained entirely unknown until our study.”Scent of a worker antAnts communicate through smell, which is how they distinguish between nestmates and foes. When researchers previously observed parasitic ant queens near a colony’s foraging trails, they saw that the parasite would snatch up a worker ant and rub it on her body, disguising her scent and allowing her to slip into the nest undetected.For the new study, coauthors Taku Shimada and Yuji Tanaka — both citizen scientists in Tokyo — each raised an ant colony and introduced parasitic queens. Shimada observed an L. orientalis queen in an L. flavus colony, and Tanaka recorded an L. umbratus queen invading a colony of L. japonicus.In both experiments, the scientists first co-housed an invading queen with host workers and cocoons “so that she acquired the nestmate odour,” Takasuka said. “This allowed her to gain nestmate recognition and avoid retaliation upon entry.” The scientists then released the queen into the colony.Both parasite queens followed a similar plan of attack. After disguising their smell, the queens entered the colonies’ feeding areas. Most workers ignored the interloper. Some even fed her mouth-to-mouth.But the invading queens weren’t there for dinner — they had an assassination to set in motion. After locating the resident queen, the invader sprayed her with abdominal fluid that smelled of formic acid. The scent agitated workers, with some of them turning on their queen immediately and attacking her. Multiple sprays followed, and the attacks became more brutal.”The host workers eventually mutilated their true mother after four days,” the scientists reported.All in the familyThe death of the true queen was the invader’s cue to start producing hundreds of eggs, attended by her newly adopted “daughters.” Over time, her biological daughters would number in the thousands, usurping the colony until none of the original species remained.”It’s refreshing to see a very careful observational study that discovers something interesting that we — ‘we’ meaning ant researchers — suspected but had never confirmed,” said Jessica Purcell, a professor in the department of entomology at the University of California, Riverside.”I was really struck by this discovery, especially the use of a chemical compound to elicit that behavior by the workers,” said Purcell, who was not involved in the research.Social insects like ants gather and store resources for the colony to share. That makes them an attractive target for social parasites — species seeking well-stocked nests that they can exploit. Some ant species kidnap the colony’s offspring and enslave them. Others, such as L. orientalis and L. umbratus, set up shop in the colony, where they eliminate the existing queen and take her place.”There’s all of this amazing diversity,” Purcell told CNN. “What we didn’t know a lot about before this study is the various ways that socially parasitic queens might go about assassinating the host queen. People had done some observations of direct killing, where the infiltrating queen would go and cut off the head of the existing queen. But this is astonishing that they can actually use chemical manipulation to cause the workers to do it.”Violence within families is often described in fairy tales and myths, with wicked adults — typically desperate parents or jealous stepparents — conspiring to harm or kill children. Rapunzel is imprisoned in a tower; Snow White is hunted and then poisoned by an apple; Hansel and Gretel are abandoned in the forest and captured by a witch, who imprisons them and fattens Hansel for her supper.But while such stories include plenty of violence, the killing of a mother in folklore — let alone children being tricked into matricide — is almost nonexistent, said Maria Tatar, a professor emerita of folklore and mythology at Harvard University who was not involved in the new study.In that respect, Takasuka noted, the grim tale of the invading, manipulative ant queens stands out even more.”Sometimes, phenomena in nature outstrip what we imagine in fiction,” he said.

    Scientists say they have for the first time unlocked how a parasitic ant uses chemical warfare to take over the nest of a different species, by tricking workers into an unlikely assassination.

    The deadly scheme unfolds like a Shakespearean drama. In an ant colony, the queen is dying, under attack by her own daughters. Meanwhile, the true enemy — an invader queen from another ant species — waits on the sidelines. Her plan is simple: Infiltrate the nest and use chemical weapons brewed inside her body to deceive the worker ants into mistaking their rightful ruler for an imposter.

    In a few hours, the nest’s queen will fall. Once the former matriarch is dead, the invader will assume the role of the colony’s new leader.

    Matricide in an ant colony is not unheard of — it typically happens when a colony produces multiple queens or when a solo queen reaches the end of her fertility. But this particular scenario, in which an outsider queen turns workers into her proxy assassins, has never been described in detail before, researchers reported Monday in the journal Current Biology.

    In fact, this strategy is yet to be documented in any other animal species, said the study’s senior author, Keizo Takasuka, an assistant professor in the department of biology at the University of Kyushu in Japan.

    “Inducement of daughters to kill their biological mother had not been known in biology before this work,” Takasuka told CNN in an email.

    The researchers observed this behavior among ants in the Lasius genus, documenting invasions and worker manipulation by queens in the species L. orientalis and L. umbratus.

    “Prior studies had reported that, after a new L. umbratus queen invaded a host colony of L. niger, host workers killed their own queen,” Takasuka said. “But the mechanism remained entirely unknown until our study.”

    Scent of a worker ant

    Ants communicate through smell, which is how they distinguish between nestmates and foes. When researchers previously observed parasitic ant queens near a colony’s foraging trails, they saw that the parasite would snatch up a worker ant and rub it on her body, disguising her scent and allowing her to slip into the nest undetected.

    For the new study, coauthors Taku Shimada and Yuji Tanaka — both citizen scientists in Tokyo — each raised an ant colony and introduced parasitic queens. Shimada observed an L. orientalis queen in an L. flavus colony, and Tanaka recorded an L. umbratus queen invading a colony of L. japonicus.

    In both experiments, the scientists first co-housed an invading queen with host workers and cocoons “so that she acquired the nestmate odour,” Takasuka said. “This allowed her to gain nestmate recognition and avoid retaliation upon entry.” The scientists then released the queen into the colony.

    Both parasite queens followed a similar plan of attack. After disguising their smell, the queens entered the colonies’ feeding areas. Most workers ignored the interloper. Some even fed her mouth-to-mouth.

    But the invading queens weren’t there for dinner — they had an assassination to set in motion. After locating the resident queen, the invader sprayed her with abdominal fluid that smelled of formic acid. The scent agitated workers, with some of them turning on their queen immediately and attacking her. Multiple sprays followed, and the attacks became more brutal.

    “The host workers eventually mutilated their true mother after four days,” the scientists reported.

    All in the family

    The death of the true queen was the invader’s cue to start producing hundreds of eggs, attended by her newly adopted “daughters.” Over time, her biological daughters would number in the thousands, usurping the colony until none of the original species remained.

    “It’s refreshing to see a very careful observational study that discovers something interesting that we — ‘we’ meaning ant researchers — suspected but had never confirmed,” said Jessica Purcell, a professor in the department of entomology at the University of California, Riverside.

    “I was really struck by this discovery, especially the use of a chemical compound to elicit that behavior by the workers,” said Purcell, who was not involved in the research.

    Social insects like ants gather and store resources for the colony to share. That makes them an attractive target for social parasites — species seeking well-stocked nests that they can exploit. Some ant species kidnap the colony’s offspring and enslave them. Others, such as L. orientalis and L. umbratus, set up shop in the colony, where they eliminate the existing queen and take her place.

    “There’s all of this amazing diversity,” Purcell told CNN. “What we didn’t know a lot about before this study is the various ways that socially parasitic queens might go about assassinating the host queen. People had done some observations of direct killing, where the infiltrating queen would go and cut off the head of the existing queen. But this is astonishing that they can actually use chemical manipulation to cause the workers to do it.”

    Violence within families is often described in fairy tales and myths, with wicked adults — typically desperate parents or jealous stepparents — conspiring to harm or kill children. Rapunzel is imprisoned in a tower; Snow White is hunted and then poisoned by an apple; Hansel and Gretel are abandoned in the forest and captured by a witch, who imprisons them and fattens Hansel for her supper.

    But while such stories include plenty of violence, the killing of a mother in folklore — let alone children being tricked into matricide — is almost nonexistent, said Maria Tatar, a professor emerita of folklore and mythology at Harvard University who was not involved in the new study.

    In that respect, Takasuka noted, the grim tale of the invading, manipulative ant queens stands out even more.

    “Sometimes, phenomena in nature outstrip what we imagine in fiction,” he said.

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  • An American Man and His Son Die After Suffering Stings From a Swarm of Wasps While Ziplining in Laos

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    BANGKOK (AP) — An American man and his teenage son died last month after they were swarmed by wasps while ziplining at an adventure camp in Laos and stung many dozens of times, a hospital official said Thursday.

    Dan Owen, the director of an international school in neighboring Vietnam, and his son Cooper were attacked by the insects on Oct. 15 at the Green Jungle Park, as they were descending from a tree at the end of the zip line.

    The camp is located outside the city of Luang Prabang, a popular tourist site in the Southeast Asian nation that was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1995.

    The two were taken to a local clinic and then transported to Luang Prabang Provincial Hospital where they arrived in critical condition, said Jorvue Yianouchongteng, the emergency room physician who received them.

    “The son was unconscious and passed away after half an hour, while the father was conscious and passed away about three hours later,” he told The Associated Press. “We tried our best to save them but we couldn’t.”

    The doctor said both had suffered from severe anaphylactic shock after being stung more than 100 times across their bodies, but that exact cause of death had not been determined.

    The Asian giant hornet, known as the “murder hornet” due to its aggressive behavior toward other insects, is found in Laos but so are several other species of wasps. It was not clear which type had stung the two.

    The local clinic where the two were first treated refused to comment and the Green Jungle Park did not respond to a query from the AP. The Laos Foreign Ministry also did not respond to a request for comment.

    The U.S. State Department said it could confirm the deaths of two U.S. citizens in Luang Prabang but would not comment further “out of respect for the privacy of the family and loved ones.”

    In a Facebook post, Owen’s employer, Quality Schools International, praised him as “touching countless lives” during 18 years with the chain, which operates 35 schools around the world. It said he had worked at five of its schools and was director of the QSI International School of Haiphong in Vietnam at the time of his death.

    “He was deeply loved across our community and will be profoundly missed,” the school said. “Our sincere condolences go our to the Owen family and all who knew and loved them.”

    Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

    Photos You Should See – Oct. 2025

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    Associated Press

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  • Google Has a Bedbug Infestation in Its New York Offices

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    Google employees working at the company’s Chelsea campus in New York City received a notice on Sunday alerting them to a possible bedbug outbreak at the office. Exterminators arrived at the scene with a sniffer dog “and found credible evidence of their presence,” according to an email obtained by WIRED. The email was sent to all Google employees in New York on behalf of the company’s environmental, health, and safety team.

    Employees were told to avoid the office until the treatment was complete. On Monday morning, they were allowed to return. Google is performing additional inspections at other Google campuses in New York, including buildings at the company’s Hudson Square campus, “out of an abundance of caution,” the email says.

    The company advised employees to submit a report “if you experience symptoms you believe are linked to possible bedbug exposure.” Additionally, “if you suspect you’ve seen a bedbug onsite,” employees were told to report the sighting to the facilities team. Employees were also told to contact professional exterminators if they found bedbugs in their home.

    Sources tell WIRED that Google’s offices in New York are home to a number of large stuffed animals that are rumored to be implicated in the outbreak. WIRED was not able to verify this information prior to publication. Google declined to comment.

    This is not the first time a Google office in New York has been infested with bedbugs. In 2010, the company’s 9th Avenue offices in Manhattan experienced an outbreak amid a wider bedbug infestation in New York.

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    Zoë Schiffer

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  • Prehistoric insects trapped in amber give glimpse into ancient life on Earth:

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    Scientists have discovered prehistoric insects preserved in amber for the first time in South America, providing a fresh glimpse into life on Earth at a time when flowering plants were just beginning to diversify and spread around the world.

    Many of the specimens found at a sandstone quarry in Ecuador date to 112 million years ago, said Fabiany Herrera, curator of fossil plants at the Field Museum in Chicago and co-author of the study published Thursday in the journal Communications Earth and
    Environment. At least six types of arthropods were found preserved, according to the study. 

    Almost all known amber deposits from the past 130 million years have been in the Northern Hemisphere, and it’s long been “an enigma” that scientists have found few in southern regions that once comprised the supercontinent Gondwana, said David Grimaldi, an entomologist at the American Museum of Natural History who was not involved in the discovery.

    This photo provided by researchers in September 2025 shows a Diptera Brachycera fly of the family Dolichopodidae (long-legged flies) trapped in a Cretaceous-era amber sample discovered in Ecuador.

    Mónica Solórzano-Kraemer/AP


    This marks the first time researchers have identified ancient beetles, flies, ants and wasps in fossilized tree resin in South America, said Ricardo Pérez-de la Fuente, a paleoentomologist at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History, who also was not involved in the new study. 

    “Amber pieces are little windows into the past,” Pérez-de la Fuente said, adding that the discovery will help researchers understand the evolving interactions between flowering plants and insects that lived during the era of the dinosaurs.

    The researchers uncovered hundreds of fragments of amber, some containing ancient insects, pollen and tree leaves, at a sandstone quarry in Ecuador that’s on the edge of what is today the Amazon
    basin. 

    Two types of amber were discovered, according to the study: There was a more common form of amber found around the roots of resin-producing plants, and a rarer form of the material formed from resin exposed to air. The amber formed around the roots did not hold any specimens, the study said. 

    Prehistoric Amber

    This photo provided by researchers in September 2025 shows a Diptera Nematocera fly of the family Chironomidae (non-biting midges) trapped in a Cretaceous-era amber sample discovered in Ecuador. 

    Mónica Solórzano-Kraemer/AP


    “A different kind of forest”

    The discoveries provide evidence that the area was once a “humid, resinous forest ecosystem,” according to the study. 

    But today’s rainforest is much different from what dinosaurs roamed through, Herrera said. Based on an analysis of fossils in the amber, the ancient rainforest contained species of ferns and conifers, including the unusual Monkey Puzzle Tree, that no longer grow in Amazonia.

    “It was a different kind of forest,” said Herrera.

    The amber deposits were previously known to geologists and miners who worked at the Genoveva quarry. Study co-author Carlos Jaramillo at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute first heard of them about a decade ago and set out to find the exact location, aided by geology field notes.

    Prehistoric Amber

    This photo provided by researchers in September 2025 shows a Diptera Nematocera fly of the family Chironomidae (non-biting midges) trapped in a Cretaceous-era amber sample discovered in Ecuador.

    Mónica Solórzano-Kraemer/AP


    “I went there and realized this place is amazing,” Jaramillo said. “There’s so much amber in the mines,” and it’s more visible in the open quarry than it would be if hidden under dense layers of vegetation.

    Researchers will continue to analyze the amber trove to learn more about Cretaceous-era biodiversity — including the insects that contributed to evolution by feeding on flowering plants. “Amber tends to preserve things that are tiny,” said Grimaldi.

    “It’s the time when the relationship between flowering plants and insects got started,” said Pérez-de la Fuente. “And that turned out to be one of the most successful partnerships in nature.”

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  • The Kissing Bug Disease Has Permanently Moved Into the U.S.

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    A dangerous, sometimes deadly, infection spread by kissing bugs is regularly spreading within America. In a recent paper, researchers are claiming that Chagas disease is endemic to parts of the southern U.S. and is probably here to stay.

    Scientists in Florida, Texas, and California made the case in a paper published last month in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases. Citing evidence from infected humans, animals, and kissing bugs, they argue that Chagas has established a persistent presence in the country, albeit at low levels. Correctly recognizing that Chagas is endemic, they say, will allow us to better combat the infectious disease, which can cause chronic heart problems if left untreated.

    The kissing bug disease

    Chagas is caused by the parasite Trypanosoma cruzi, and the infection is spread by various species of kissing bugs, or triatomines. As their nickname implies, kissing bugs feed by sucking blood from around a host’s mouth (or sometimes eyes). The bugs usually infect people via the poop they leave behind near a bite wound.

    People infected with the parasite can first experience an acute phase of flu-like illness, after which the infection enters a chronic phase if left untreated. Most people avoid any symptoms in either phase, but up to a third of people with chronic Chagas disease will eventually experience serious health problems, such as an enlarged heart and colon. People can also die from heart failure or sudden cardiac arrest as a result of the infection. It can take years and even decades for these chronic symptoms to appear.

    About 8 million people worldwide are thought to have Chagas, including 280,000 in the United States. Most of these U.S. cases were caught elsewhere, particularly in parts of Central and South America where T. cruzi is locally circulating. But the researchers present evidence that the parasite has probably made a cozy home within the southern U.S. as well.

    Why Chagas should be seen as endemic

    For starters, there have likely been locally acquired (autochthonous) human cases of Chagas documented in at least eight states, including Texas, California, and Florida. These cases are typically found in people with no relevant travel history or other risk factor for having caught the parasite outside of the area.

    A map showing where the Chagas parasite has been found in local human, animal, and kissing bug populations. © Beatty, et al/Emerging Infectious Diseases

    The researchers additionally note that southern U.S. states are known to have several kissing bug species that can theoretically carry and transmit the T. cruzi parasite, including species that will regularly invade human dwellings.

    And studies have detected the parasite circulating among local kissing bug populations. Just last July, for example, researchers found that a third of kissing bugs collected in Florida carried the parasite. The parasite has also been commonly found in local wildlife, captive animals, and pets (dogs in particular), providing a reservoir for it to survive in the environment.

    All of these bits of data together point to a single conclusion. “T. cruzi and the ecologic conditions that sustain its transmission cycles are naturally occurring throughout the southern half of the United States,” the researchers wrote.

    A low-level but persistent threat

    The one silver lining is that Chagas is likely hypoendemic to the southern U.S., the researchers say, meaning it’s only present in low levels. But as things stand now, we’re largely fighting blind against it.

    Chagas disease in people is not a nationally notifiable condition, so doctors in most places aren’t obligated to report cases to their health departments, the researchers point out. It is notifiable in some of the states where local cases have been found, but not all (in California, only two counties require notice).

    While Chagas might not be as huge an issue in the U.S. as it is in other parts of the Americas, classifying it as endemic will allow scientists to better track its distribution and range, the researchers say. Improved awareness of the disease will also make it easier for infected people to get the timely care they need before their infection turns into something more serious and potentially life-threatening.

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    Ed Cara

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  • Hungry Worms Could Help Solve Plastic Pollution

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    Plastics that support modern life are inexpensive, strong, and versatile, but are difficult to dispose of and have a serious impact when released into the environment. Polyethylene, in particular, is the most widely produced plastic in the world, with more than 100 million tons distributed annually. Since it can take decades to decompose—and along the way can harm wildlife and degrade into harmful microplastics—its disposal is an urgent issue for mankind.

    In 2017, European researchers discovered a potential solution. The larvae of wax moths, commonly known as wax worms, have the ability to break down polyethylene in their bodies. Wax worms have been considered a pest since ancient times because they parasitize beehives, feeding on beeswax. However, we now know that they also spontaneously feed on polyethylene, which has a chemically similar structure.

    “Around 2,000 wax worms can break down an entire polyethylene bag in as little as 24 hours, although we believe that co-supplementation with feeding stimulants like sugars can reduce the number of worms considerably,” said Dr Bryan Cassone, a professor of biology at Brandon University in Canada, in a news release. Cassone and his team have been researching how these insects could be harnessed to help combat plastic pollution. “Understanding the biological mechanisms and consequences on fitness associated with plastic biodegradation is key to using wax worms for large-scale plastic remediation,” he says.

    In previous experiments, Cassone and his team found out exactly how wax worms break down polyethylene. To understand their digestive mechanism, Cassone’s team fed polyethylene to wax worms for several days and followed the insects’ metabolic processes and changes in their gut environment. They found that as the wax worms ate the polyethylene, their feces liquefied and contained glycol as a byproduct.

    But when the insects’ intestinal bacteria were suppressed by administering antibiotics, the amount of glycol in their feces was greatly reduced. This revealed that the breaking down of polyethylene is dependent on the wax worms’ gut microbes.

    The team also isolated bacteria from the guts of wax worms and then cultured strains that could survive on polyethylene as their sole food source. Among them was a strain of Acinetobacter, which survived for more than a year in the laboratory environment and continued to break down polyethylene. This revealed how robust and persistent the wax worm’s gut flora is in its ability to break down plastics.

    Yet in reality, when it comes to consuming plastic, gut bacteria are not working alone. When the researchers conducted genetic analysis on the insects, they found that plastic-fed wax worms showed increased gene expression relating to fat metabolism, and after being fed plastic, the wax worms duly showed signs of having increased body fat. Armed with their plastic-digesting gut bacteria, the larvae can break down plastics and convert them into lipids, which they then store in their bodies.

    However, a plastic-only diet didn’t result in wax worms’ long-term survival. In their latest experiment, the team found that wax worms that continued to eat only polyethylene died within a few days and lost a great deal of weight. This showed that it is difficult for wax worms to continually process polyethylene waste. But researchers believe that creating a food source to assist their intake of polyethylene would mean wax worms are able to sustain healthy viability on a plastic diet and improve their decomposition efficiency.

    Looking ahead, the team suggests two strategies for using the wax worm’s ability to consume plastics. One is to mass produce wax worms that are fed on a polyethylene diet, while providing them with the nutritional support they need for long-term survival, and then integrating them into the circular economy, using the insects themselves to dispose of waste plastic. The other is to redesign the plastic degradation pathway of wax worms in the lab, using only microorganisms and enzymes, and so create a means of disposing of plastic that doesn’t need the actual insects.

    In the insect-rearing route, a byproduct would be large amounts of insect biomass—countless larvae that have been fed on plastic. These could potentially be turned into a highly nutritious feed for the aquaculture industry, as according to the research team’s data, the insects could be a good source of protein for commercial fish.

    This story originally appeared on WIRED Japan and has been translated from Japanese.

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    Ritsuko Kawai

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  • Scientists Discover New Parasitic Wasps Invading the U.S.

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    There are all sorts of cruel parasites out there, and more are being uncovered all the time. Scientists have recently found several invasive species of parasitic wasps that have now landed in the U.S.

    Researchers at Binghamton University and the University of Iowa made the discovery. For the first time ever, they detected the presence of two closely related parasitic wasp species previously only found in Europe. Don’t be too personally afraid, though: these wasps only infest other wasps.

    A wasp-eat-wasp world

    The researchers were interested in studying oak gall wasps. These wasps invade and lay their eggs inside oak trees. The egg-laying process also generates the titular gall—benign growths that sprout from the plant (in human terms, these growths are like warts). The egg matures inside the gall, using it for nourishment and protection.

    Sometimes, though, nature’s parasites can have their own parasites, oak gall wasps included. These turducken parasites are known as hyperparasites, and many are parasitic wasps. These wasps also tend to be parasitoids, or parasites who ultimately kill their host. Oak gall parasitic wasps, in particular, will pierce through the gall and lay their own eggs, which will subsequently devour the existing larvae inside.

    The research team wanted to better understand the diversity of oak gall wasps and their parasites. So they collected gall samples from oak trees on both coasts of the U.S., from British Columbia, Canada, to Florida. They also raised the parasitoid wasps found inside these galls in their labs.

    All told, they identified more than 100 distinct species of parasitic wasps from the galls. But two of these species had never been spotted inside the U.S. until now; what’s more, they were found on opposite ends of North America.

    The new wasps technically belong to the same species, Bootanomyia dorsalis. But previous genetic data from Europe has suggested there are at least two distinct subsets of these wasps out there, the researchers say—distinct enough that they should be viewed as different species. One of these groups, B. dorsalis sp. 1, was only found in New York, while the other, B. dorsalis sp. 2, was found in several locations along the West Coast.

    The team’s findings were published earlier this July in the Journal of Hymenoptera Research (Hymenoptera being the large order of insects that includes wasps).

    Mysteries to be solved

    In science, one discovery often begets many more questions, and that’s the case here, too.

    For starters, it’s unknown exactly how the wasps got here. It’s possible that they arrived on non-native oak tree species, some of which were first brought to North America as early as the 17th century. But since the adult wasps can live for nearly a month, they may have just hitched a ride on a plane, the researchers speculate.

    The West Coast wasps were also very genetically similar, likely meaning that only a small population arrived in the area initially. Conversely, the East Coast wasps were more diverse, so it’s possible more than one introduction occurred.

    Another important question is whether these wasps could pose a serious threat to the population health of the native oak gall wasps they’re infesting or to the overall ecosystems they now call home.

    “We did find that they can parasitize multiple oak gall wasp species and that they can spread, given that we know that the population in the west likely spread across regions and host species from a localized small introduction,” said study author Kirsten Prior, a biologist in charge of Binghamton’s Natural Global Environmental Change Center, in a statement released by the university. “They could be affecting populations of native oak gall wasp species or other native parasites of oak gall wasps.”

    What is clear is that scientists like Prior and her team have only started to scratch the surface of the parasitic world. Few research groups are able to reliably track the distribution and movement of these types of parasitic wasps, the authors point out, so it’s likely there are plenty more new and invasive species waiting to be discovered. Oh joy.

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    Ed Cara

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  • Plague Case Confirmed Near Lake Tahoe After Likely Flea Bite

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    It’s the first confirmed case of the plague—the same disease that wiped out millions in the 14th century—in the region since 2020.

    A California resident has tested positive for the plague after camping near Lake Tahoe, local health officials confirmed. It’s the latest in a string of positive cases in the western U.S. this year.

    The infected person was likely bitten by a plague-infected flea in the South Lake Tahoe area, according to local health officials. This is the first local case in the area since 2020. The person is currently recovering and is undergoing medical treatment at home.

    “Plague is naturally present in many parts of California, including higher elevation areas of El Dorado County,” Kyle Fliflet, acting director of public health in El Dorado County, in northern California, said in a statement.

    “It’s important that individuals take precautions for themselves and their pets when outdoors, especially while walking, hiking and or camping in areas where wild rodents are present,” he said.

    Plague is rare in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), affecting seven people in the U.S. per year, mostly in western states.

    The disease is endemic in many California counties and other parts of the western U.S., where it circulates among wild rodents and other animals. Earlier this month, a cat in Colorado tested positive for the plague. Last month, an Arizona man died after contracting the disease. That person developed a pneumonic form of the plague, in which the bacterium spreads to the lungs, due to an untreated bubonic infection.

    The disease is caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis and is most commonly spread to humans by bites from infected fleas. It can be treated with antibiotics but can be fatal if not treated promptly. Infamously, the plague decimated Europe’s 14th-century population.

    More than 80% of plague cases in the U.S. have been in the bubonic form, from which patients will develop swollen, painful lymph nodes called buboes, according to the CDC.

    Like many other diseases caused by microbes, the plague is more likely now due to climate change, and cases have been steadily growing since the 1950s. But it’s still rare. The risk to the public of exposure as well as the risk of human-to-human transmission remains low, according to health officials.

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    Natalia Mesa

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  • The Secret Electrostatic World of Insects

    The Secret Electrostatic World of Insects

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    This developing field, known as aerial electroreception, opens up a new dimension of the natural world. “I find it absolutely fascinating,” said Anna Dornhaus, a behavioral ecologist at the University of Arizona who was not involved with the work. “This whole field, studying electrostatic interactions between living animals, has the potential to uncover things that didn’t occur to us about how the world works.”

    “We know from all these brilliant experiments that electric fields do have a functional role in the ecology of these animals,” said Benito Wainwright, an evolutionary ecologist at the University of St. Andrews who has studied the sensory systems of butterflies and katydids. “That’s not to say that they came on the scene originally through adaptive processes.” But now that these forces are present, evolution can act on them. Though we cannot sense these electric trails, they may guide us to animal behaviors we never imagined.

    Electrostatic Discoveries

    In 2012, Víctor Ortega-Jiménez stumbled into electrostatics while playing with his 4-year-old daughter. They were using a toy wand that gathers static charge to levitate lightweight objects, such as a balloon. When they decided to test it outside, he made a startling observation.

    PICTURE
    Caption: Studies by Víctor Ortega-Jiménez of the University of California, Berkeley, revealed that a negatively charged spiderweb attracts positively charged insect prey.
    Credit: Courtesy of Víctor Ortega-Jiménez

    “My daughter put the wand close to a spiderweb, and it reacted very quickly,” recalled Ortega-Jiménez, who studies the biomechanics of animal travel at the University of California, Berkeley. The wand attracted the web. He immediately began to draw connections to his research about the strange ways insects interact with their environments.

    All matter—wands, balloons, webs, air—strives for balance between its positive and negative particles (protons, electrons and ions). At an unfathomably small scale, Ortega-Jiménez’s toy buzzes with an imbalance: A motor draws negative charges inward, forcing positive charges to the wand’s surface. This is static. It’s like when you rub a balloon against your head. Friction sheds electrons from your hair to the rubber, loading it up with static charge, so that when you lift the balloon, strands of hair float with it.

    In a similar way, Ortega-Jiménez considered, friction from beating insect wings could shed negative charges from body to air, leaving the insects with a positive charge while creating regions of negative static. He realized that if a web carries negative charge and insects a positive one, then a spiderweb might not just be a passive trap—it could move toward and attract its quarry electrostatically. His lab experiments revealed precisely that. Webs deformed instantly when jolted with static from flies, aphids, honeybees, and even water droplets. Spiders caught charged insects more easily. He saw how static electricity altered the physics of animal interactions.

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    Max G. Levy

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  • The New York City Biodiversity Task Force on How We Can Help Better Support Our Ecosystem

    The New York City Biodiversity Task Force on How We Can Help Better Support Our Ecosystem

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    This is part of a series with Perfect Earth Project, a nonprofit dedicated to toxic-free, nature-based gardening, on how you can be more sustainable in your landscapes at home.

    “New York City has a secret,” says urban ecologist and founder of NYC Wildflower Week Marielle Anzelone. “The Big Apple boasts more open space than any major city in the United States; more than Los Angeles, Chicago, and Philadelphia combined. Even Manhattan, known for its taxi cabs and towering skyscrapers, has rare beetles and 150-year-old tulip trees. The five boroughs collectively host over 40 percent of the state’s rare and endangered plant species.”

    And yet New York City, along with most of the developed world, is in the midst of a biodiversity emergency. In response, a number of major international metropolises—San Francisco, Paris, Singapore, Freetown, Sydney, São Paulo, to name just a few—have adopted biodiversity plans to devote resources to address the problem, but New York City has not. “It’s the only major global city without a comprehensive biodiversity plan,” says urban forester and founder of Local Nature Lab Georgia Silvera Seamans, PhD., who along with Anzelone, is on a mission to get the city’s government to change that. With the goal of “increasing access to nature and protecting and restoring biodiversity and natural habitats,” they launched the New York City Biodiversity Task Force earlier this year. This coalition includes field biologists, environmental justice organizations, civic institutions, and nonprofits, including Perfect Earth Project, representing all five boroughs. “To be truly resilient, New York City needs a clear ecological mandate,” says Anzelone. 

    Silvera Seamans and Anzelone believe that ecology is an underutilized urban resource. They want to see “biodiversity elevated to match the scale and urgency of climate concerns in the city,” arguing that investments in biodiversity can “beautify and cool neighborhoods, support pollinators, boost mental health, advance environmental justice, and deliver nature-based solutions for climate action.” Healthy, functioning ecosystems are essential to the air we breathe and the food we eat. I spoke with them to learn five simple things we can all do in our communities to help protect biodiversity. 

    1. Take a walk in nature.

    A Rusty Blackbird takes a splash in Central Park. Sadly, this bird
    Above: A Rusty Blackbird takes a splash in Central Park. Sadly, this bird’s population has declined by 75 percent from 1966 to 2019, according to the North American Breeding Bird Survey, due in part to mercury contamination and habitat loss. To address the global extinction crisis, the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity, a multinational treaty, has been ratified by nearly all UN members, except the United States. Later this month, countries around the world will meet for CBD’s COP16 in Colombia. Photograph by Eric Ozawa.

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  • Unbelievable facts

    Unbelievable facts

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    Scientists believe that zebra stripes deter insects. To test this theory, researchers painted black…

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  • Scientists recreate the head of this ancient 9-foot-long bug

    Scientists recreate the head of this ancient 9-foot-long bug

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    WASHINGTON — As if the largest bug to ever live – a monster nearly 9 feet long with several dozen legs – wasn’t terrifying enough, scientists could only just imagine what the extinct beast’s head looked like.

    That’s because many of the fossils of these creatures are headless shells that were left behind when they molted, squirming out of their exoskeletons through the head opening as they grew ever bigger — up to 8 to 9 feet (2.6 meters) and more than 100 pounds (50 kilograms).

    Now, scientists have produced a mug shot after studying fossils of juveniles that were complete and very well preserved, if not quite cute.

    The giant bug’s topper was a round bulb with two short bell-shaped antennae, two protruding eyes like a crab, and a rather small mouth adapted for grinding leaves and bark, according to new research published Wednesday in Science Advances.

    Called Arthropleura, these were arthropods — the group that includes crabs, spiders and insects – with features of modern-day centipedes and millipedes. But some of them were much, much bigger, and this one was a surprising mix.

    “We discovered that it had the body of a millipede, but head of a centipede,” said study co-author and paleobiologist Mickael Lheritier at the University Claude Bernard Lyon in Villeurbanne, France.

    The largest Arthropleura may have been the biggest bugs to ever live, although there is still a debate. They may be a close second to an extinct giant sea scorpion.

    Researchers in Europe and North America have been collecting fragments and footprints of the huge bugs since the late 1800s.

    “We have been wanting to see what the head of this animal looked like for a really long time,” said James Lamsdell, a paleobiologist at West Virginia University, who was not involved in the study.

    To produce a model of the head, researchers first used CT scans to study fossil specimens of fully intact juveniles embedded in rocks found in a French coal field in the 1980s.

    This technique allowed the researchers to scrutinize “hidden details like bits of the head that are still embedded in the rock” without marring the fossil, Lamsdell said.

    “When you chip away at rock, you don’t know what part of a delicate fossil may have been lost or damaged,” he said.

    The juvenile fossil specimens only measured about 2 inches (6 centimeters) and it’s possible they were a type of Arthropleura that didn’t grow to enormous sizes. But even if so, the researchers said they are close enough kin to provide a glimpse of what adults looked like – whether giant or of a less nightmarish size — when they were alive 300 million years ago.

    ___

    The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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  • The Mosquito-Borne Disease ‘Triple E’ Is Spreading in the US as Temperatures Rise

    The Mosquito-Borne Disease ‘Triple E’ Is Spreading in the US as Temperatures Rise

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    The disease is spread by two types of mosquito. The first is a species called Culiseta melanura, or the black-tailed mosquito. This mosquito tends to live in hardwood bogs and feeds on birds like robins, herons, and wrens, spreading the virus among them. But the melanura mosquito doesn’t often bite mammals. A different mosquito species, Coquillettidia perturbans, is primarily responsible for most of the human cases of the disease reported in the US. The perturbans mosquito picks up the EEE virus when it feeds on birds and then infects the humans and horses that it bites. Toward the end of the summer, when mosquitoes have reached their peak numbers and start jostling for any available blood meal, human cases start cropping up.

    A pest control employee checks a swamp for mosquitoes in Stratham, New Hampshire.

    Photograph: Darren McCollester/Getty Images

    Andreadis, who published a historical retrospective on the progression of triple E in the northeastern US in 2021, said climate change has emerged as a major driver of the disease.

    “We’ve got milder winters, we’ve got warmer summers, and we’ve got extremes in both precipitation and drought,” he said. “The impact that this has on mosquito populations is probably quite profound.”

    Warmer global average temperatures generally produce more mosquitoes, no matter the species.

    Studies have shown that warmer air temperatures up to a certain threshold, around 90 degrees Fahrenheit, shorten the amount of time it takes for C. melanura eggs to hatch. Higher temperatures in the spring and fall extend the number of days mosquitoes have to breed and feed. And they’ll feed more times in a summer season if it’s warmer—mosquitoes are ectothermic, meaning their metabolism speeds up in higher temperatures.

    Rainfall, too, plays a role in mosquito breeding and activity, since mosquito eggs need water to hatch. A warmer atmosphere holds more moisture, which means that even small rainfall events dump more water today than they would have last century. The more standing water there is in roadside ditches, abandoned car tires, ponds, bogs, and potholes, the more opportunities mosquitoes have to breed. And warmer water decreases the incubation period for C. melanura eggs, leading one study to conclude that warmer-than-average water temperatures “increase the probability for amplification of EEE.”

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    Zoya Teirstein

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  • A rare orchid survives on a few tracts of prairie. Researchers want to learn its secrets

    A rare orchid survives on a few tracts of prairie. Researchers want to learn its secrets

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    BISMARCK, N.D. — On a remote tallgrass prairie in North Dakota, a secretive orchid pokes up from the ground. You’ll only find it if you know where to look.

    The striking, bright white blooms of the western prairie fringed orchid are elusive to fans who try to catch a glimpse — and as a threatened species protected by the federal Endangered Species Act, it is also a puzzle for researchers trying to learn more about the orchid’s reproduction and role in its ecosystem.

    Loss of its native prairie habitat has threatened the orchid. About 60% of native orchids in the U.S. and Canada are rapidly disappearing due to climate change, habitat loss and pollinator declines, said Julianne McGuinness, program development coordinator for the North American Orchid Conservation Center. Those showy, flowering plants beloved for their beauty can be an early indicator of decline occurring unnoticed in its environment.

    “They’re sort of like the canary in the coal mine for the rest of our ecosystems,” McGuinness said.

    Graduate students from North Dakota State University in Fargo are hoping to learn more about the pollinators and reproduction of the western prairie fringed orchid. Their work includes logging the GPS coordinates of orchids at 20 various sites in Minnesota, North Dakota and Manitoba, Canada, swabbing orchids for tiny amounts of genetic material from insects, and attracting pollinating insects at night with blacklights and sheets.

    Years ago, Steve Travers, an associate professor at the university’s Department of Biological Sciences, was fascinated to learn about the orchid — “these big, beautiful, 2-foot tall, ginormous, gorgeous things that were pollinated at night.”

    “I have a hell of a hard time finding it sometimes,” he said. “And when people see it the first time, there’s like almost this rapid intake of breath. I mean, it’s so big and it’s just spectacular.”

    The orchid is a unique insight into its nearly vanished ecosystem — the tallgrass prairie — as well as for understanding connectedness with pollinators and other plants, and is a good model system for studying rarity, Travers said.

    The orchid’s only known pollinators are hawkmoths, big moths that are just the right fit and size to reach the orchid’s nectar, in a long spur, while also pollinating the plant.

    The western prairie fringed orchid is mostly found in reserves, such as the Sheyenne National Grassland in North Dakota and the Manitoba Tall Grass Prairie Preserve. The peak of the orchid’s bloom was roughly mid-July.

    Populations can be as small as one plant or as large as 500 to 1,000, Travers said. Once located, the researchers log the individual orchids’ GPS coordinates to within 10 centimeters (4 inches) accuracy so they can return later. Finding the orchid when it isn’t flowering is like looking for a brown stick in a big, green field, Travers said.

    Graduate student Josie Pickar’s work is focused on what affects the orchid’s reproductive success, including soil nutrients and pollinator service. She’s been traveling to about 20 sites, looking at subsets of orchids, to gather soil samples and moisture content, count flowers, and record plant heights and conditions, as well as monitoring the orchids via trail cameras for what might be eating them. In September, she’ll go back and count the orchids’ seed capsules, which are extremely hard to find.

    To find the orchids, the researchers used rough coordinates from land-management agencies. They’ve dealt with ticks galore, crossed a beaver dam while wearing waders and seen bear tracks in the process.

    “It’s been pretty wild,” Pickar said.

    She’s put in days of more than 12 hours, visiting about two orchid sites per day that could be up to three hours away — her team donning gear such as long pants, long-sleeve shirts, hats and sometimes mosquito-thwarting head nets. She called the orchid “almost alienlike when you see it out on the prairie.”

    Graduate student Trinity Atkins, who was out from 7 a.m. to 2 a.m., is looking at the orchid’s pollination networks: the pollinators that visit the orchid and what other plants they visit, too.

    She swabs the orchids at all her sites, collects moths to see where they are going and uses a molecular technique called eDNA metabarcoding to see which pollinators visited the orchid, she said. Environmental DNA is genetic material left behind from, for instance, a butterfly visiting a flower. Some studies indicate daytime pollinators might be at work, she said.

    Studying the orchid’s pollinators requires work at all hours of the day.

    In the morning, Atkins would swab orchids for eDNA before it degrades. In the afternoon, she would survey for other nearby plants that could be attracting pollinators. And at night, she would be blacklighting at prairie sites, collecting moths and taking measurements.

    Travers said the research is important in terms of biodiversity, of which rare species are an integral component for their contributions to their ecosystem.

    While orchids are found all over the world, the western prairie fringed orchid is specifically adapted to the tallgrass prairie, he said.

    “I kind of find that really interesting that you get all this variety in the genus and then, boom, it comes here and it turns into this huge, nocturnally pollinated thing, and I’d love to know why. Why did that happen? But that’s a whole other question,” Travers said.

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  • African Blue Basil: Long-Blooming and Beloved by Pollinators

    African Blue Basil: Long-Blooming and Beloved by Pollinators

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    African Blue Basil, Ocimum kilimandscharicum x basilicum

    Whether you garden in-ground or in a single windowbox, there is a plant that will lure every pollinator in the neighborhood to your green space. African blue basil’s myriad flowers, in bloom for months, guarantee a flurry of constant and diverse pollinator activity from morning until twilight, and from early summer until frost. There is never a dull moment. And with the right plant for pollinators, even a tiny urban space can contribute to a pollinator pathway—a pesticide and herbicide-free corridor of plants that provides food and shelter for pollinating insects, which are in decline due to loss of habitat and to widespread pesticide use.

    It doesn’t hurt either that spending ten minutes on a bee safari is a very effective way of disconnecting from digital noise and reconnecting with the small things that matter.

    Photography by Marie Viljoen.

    Above: Windowbox-grown African blue basil in late summer on my Brooklyn terrace.

    In a small space every inch counts, and the ideal plant has to work hard: It should be low-maintenance, bloom for months, have fragrant and edible leaves, and offer an irresistible nectary for a host of beneficial insects. That’s asking a lot. A very small handful of plants checks all those demanding boxes. African blue basil comes out pretty much at the top.

    Above: A native carpenter bee visits African blue basil.

    Native plant advocates might frown at a non-native being promoted for pollinators, but there are some mitigating factors to consider. Not everyone has the space for a collection of native perennials chosen for a bloom-sequence staggered for months-long interest (with a couple of exceptions, most perennials tend to flower for just a few weeks). And some perennials, like milkweeds and bee balms, resent being potted and perform best in-ground. City gardeners are often confined to containers, while most urban dwellers have no more than a windowsill to grow anything. African blue basil fits this demographic perfectly.

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  • Swarm of dragonflies startles beachgoers in Rhode Island

    Swarm of dragonflies startles beachgoers in Rhode Island

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    WESTERLY, R.I. (AP) — A swarm of dragonflies stunned and surprised beachgoers over the weekend in Rhode Island.

    Thousands of the dragonflies, relatively large and often beautifully colored insects, descended on Misquamicut beach Saturday. Video of the dragonflies shows beachgoers running for cover and hiding under blankets. People could be heard screaming.

    It’s unclear what prompted the cloud of insects to visit the beach for several minutes and then largely disappear.

    “One minute everything was calm. The next minute I saw the most dragonflies I’ve ever seen in my life,” Nicole Taylor told WFSB-TV. “It lasted for like 3 minutes, and then they were gone. It was a very strange experience.”

    Christina Vangel, who works at Alfie’s Beach Store, said workers had to shoo the dragonflies out. “As the day went on there were tons of them everywhere. We had to close the doors,” she said.

    Chris Fiore, whose family owns Alfie’s, across the street from the beach, marveled at the unique onslaught of dragonflies. “It was fascinating. There were big clouds of them,” he said.

    Dragonflies feed mostly on insects like mosquitos and midges, relying on a swiveling head and huge eyes to catch their prey. Some species breed in July and August including the common green darner dragonfly found in Rhode Island. They don’t normally sting or bite humans.

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  • Why are there so many grasshoppers right now?

    Why are there so many grasshoppers right now?

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    You may think your lawn is alive, as it jitters and lurches with every step you take in the grass.

    But look closer: It’s a sea of grasshoppers — and this summer’s heat is probably helping them thrive.

    That’s the short answer to reader Christi Kazakov’s question: “Why are there so many grasshoppers this year?”

    We visited our favorite insect expert, Denver Museum of Nature and Science entomology curator Frank Krell, to find out more.

    Grasshoppers’ competition just can’t take the heat

    Nobody’s really counting grasshopper populations, Krell told us.

    But he always knows something’s up when he sees reports of farmers complaining in the press. And they have been complaining.

    “There are more this year, for sure,” he said, confidently.

    Frank Krell, senior curator of entomology with the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, in the institution’s basement archive space. July 30, 2024.
    Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite

    Some bugs do something called “estivating,” the opposite of hibernation. They burrow underground to wait out the summer’s hottest months.

    But scorchers don’t really get to grasshoppers, Krell told us. That means they do really well when temperatures hit a certain threshold and everyone else goes down under for the season.

    “They can cope with drier conditions. Other insect groups cannot. So they take over when other insect groups just go into the soil and try to survive the summer in a more cooler environment,” he told us. “They come out and eat like crazy when it’s hot.”

    It means grasshoppers could be a winner in a warming world, at least for a while.

    A top-down view of grasshoppers pinned to a white board, each with a little typed piece of paper beneath them.
    Grasshoppers collected in Colorado, now pinned and part of the Denver Museum of Nature and Science’s permanent collection. July 30, 2024.
    Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite

    “Well, if it’s too hot, of course then they die again. So if global warming heats up another 20 degrees, then they probably will have problems,” he said. (So will we all.)

    This year’s infestation, Krell added, may be the result of two years of correct climate conditions.

    While the heat this year probably is helping them live, last year’s more temperate weather probably helped them get born. Most grasshoppers lay eggs in soil. The eggs then lie dormant through the winter until they’re ready to hatch.

    It’s one reason why predicting grasshopper populations is nigh impossible, he said. Everything needs to happen in just the right way for a proper bug boom.

    Unfortunately, there are too many kinds of grasshoppers for one perfect solution.

    The big issue, Krell said, is there are just so many grasshopper species in Colorado.

    “We have over a hundred species in Colorado,” he told us.

    Their numbers are so diverse that Krell could only give me the genus of one I captured and photographed in my backyard. It was a Melanoplus, a spur-throated grasshopper; getting to the species usually requires dissection.

    A close-up of four grasshoppers, mostly colored in yellow and orange hues, with electric blue streaks down their legs.
    Spur-throated grasshoppers found and photographed in a Denver backyard on July 30, 2024.
    Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite

    That abundance of species means silver-bullet solutions are hard to come by.

    “You can try a garlic spray, or a hot pepper spray, on your plants. And lots of grasshoppers probably are deterred, or just go away because they hate it — and others don’t. So you can be lucky or not with these,” Krell said. “You might discover something about the species in your backyard.”

    The same goes for pesticides, he said. You’d need something that will kill every grasshopper species, which means the carnage would not stop with these annoying jumpers.

    “When you use insecticide, you kill all the insects,” he said, adding that poisoned insects could also impact birds and other predators in the area. “I would not use poisons, but that’s a personal thing. I have three kids and I would like to live healthy as long as possible.”

    A close-up of a grasshopper pinned to a white board. Its eye is a big red globe attached to its face.
    A grasshopper collected in Colorado, now pinned and part of the Denver Museum of Nature and Science’s permanent collection. July 30, 2024.
    Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite

    But what about my garden?

    To dig in a little more, we visited Colorado Master Gardener Kevin Ritter at his post at the Denver Botanic Gardens.

    He and his colleagues are usually ready and waiting to answer questions about plants, yards and soil.

    The topical solutions — pepper spray and the like — are kind of old wives’ tales, he said. Good for you if that works, but he doesn’t usually offer solutions that aren’t backed by research.

    Turkeys may be your only recourse.
    Kevin Ritter, a Colorado Master Gardener, at his post in the Denver Botanic Gardens’ Helen Fowler Library, where he answers questions about plants for free. Aug. 1, 2024.
    Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite

    “We try to answer everything from the science-based background and try to get the bigger picture to better educate folks,” he said.

    Row covers might be a more likely suggestion, he said, even if all that fabric messes with your garden’s visual aesthetic.

    The Colorado Master Gardeners’ official info sheet on grasshoppers suggests using pesticides near breeding sites. If you don’t want to use chemicals, you might try leaving grass uncut, especially near eggs, to keep them occupied and away from plants you care about.

    Ritter said Master Gardeners like him inform people about the pros and cons of every approach, then let them make their own decisions.

    You might just let them hop in peace — or hire some help.

    “Live with it,” is a piece of advice that Ritter says he gives out all the time, particularly when people ask him about conquering very resilient bindweed.

    Our expectations of what we think we should be able to control aren’t always realistic. He’s kept that in mind as he deals with grasshoppers in his own garden.

    “Luckily, I’ve had just kind of the normal amount, and I just live with them. They do damage. I’m just like, ‘Okay, that’s your thing,’” he told us. “We can share.”

    Or you could try employing some predators, though that’s also not something Ritter usually offers people.

    Rows of grasshoppers are pinned to a white board. Their left wings are extended, revealing a vibrant red hue.
    Grasshoppers collected in the Pacific Northwest, now pinned and part of the Denver Museum of Nature and Science’s permanent collection. July 30, 2024.
    Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite

    “There’s been some talk around Japanese beetles, that ducks tend to favor them and things like that. We haven’t necessarily recommended that as a primary solution, just it’s not as practical,” he said.

    But Krell said there’s historical precedent to guide you, should you try to complete your war on grasshoppers.

    “Hire a flock of turkeys,” he told us during our day at the museum. “I dunno, that’s what they did actually in the 1930s. 1937, we had a plague here of grasshoppers in Colorado. They sent out just flocks of turkeys, lots of turkeys, and they ate them like crazy.”

    Turkeys, back then, were all the rage.

    You can pose questions to Colorado Master Gardeners at the Denver Botanic Gardens’ Helen Fowler Library on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays through October. You don’t need to pay for admission.

    You can ask us questions anytime!

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