When the Beetle was first introduced, Americans had never seen anything like it. Among art car enthusiasts, it became the ideal canvas for self-expression.
‘Larry, I have to confess. I’m not a wasp. I’m an orchid.’
Alyssa Weinstein
Dung beetles are largely invisible. And yet without their vital activities, the world would have a lot more faeces in it.
Do these look like Gauls to you? Three of the 103 new weevils identified in Indonesia were named after characters Asterix, Obelix and Idefix.
Alexander Riedel
Champagne celebrations with a new species discovery for beetle scientists may not be the best move – you’d be drunk all the time. But it’s still important work.
Climate change threatens to cause mass extinctions – but how, exactly? New research suggests male fertility may be the weakest link.
Sometimes thousands of ladybirds will ‘overwinter’ in the same spot, which experts say is normal behaviour and nothing for homeowners to be alarmed about.
David Lovejoy
Bugs use their own defecation to defend their young, locate their homes and increase mating opportunities. For humans, insect faeces may even have untapped medicinal properties.
How can the same basic genome produce such different forms in the two sexes of a single species? It turns out one gene can encode for various things, depending on the order its instructions are read.
Bat populations have been hammered by deforestation. Efforts like tree-planting schemes are a step forward, but they’re doomed to fail unless we apply a bit more local knowledge.
Dung beetles have been cleaning up the planet for at least 65 million years. The 6000 species across the world have adapted to a life at the back end of the food chain in the most remarkable ways.