Insects
Dragonflies start to take centre stage
Dragonflies are growing in popularity with the general public – at least in the US – with festivals springing up across the country. It’s long overdue as dragonflies and damselflies have to be some of the most stunning and fascinating insects that can be seen. The US Wildlife and Fisheries Service has featured the new [...]
Need to name a new species? Look to Yellow Pages
Discovering, describing and naming a new species used to be a long time-consuming task but thanks to DNA profiling it is much quicker and easier. That’s important with current levels of habitat loss. But what happens when new species come thick and fast? How do you name all those new species? That’s a problem that [...]
Kill Bill hits the insect world
Dressed in orange with black stripes Uma Thurman as Beatrix Kiddo in Kill Bill leaves a trail of blood and gore throughout the movie. The Bride fights the Crazy 88 scene is one of the most bloody in Quentin Tarantino’s film. Now a blood-thirsty parasitic wasp from Thailand has been named after the lead character. Cystomastacoides [...]
10 years of tropical forest bug counting
A project to count all the arthropods in the San Lorenzo forest of Panama could help to give a much more accurate estimate of the number of species on Earth. The project discovered that for every plant species there were 20 species of arthropods, for every species of birds there were 83 species of arthropods [...]
Can gardens still help this years butterflies
It’s clearly coming towards the end of a washout summer and one of the insects that have really bared the brunt of the adverse weather is the butterfly. The cold and wet weather has meant that numbers are well down in many parts of the UK. However if you end up having a bit of an [...]
Britains iconic moorlands could be lost due to herbicide ban
Concerns are being raised that the ban of the herbicide Asulam by the EU could lead to major losses of Britain’s heather moorlands. The chemical is the most effective bracken control herbicide available and it ban at the end of the year could mean maintaining the habitat becomes too difficult. Britain has 75% of the [...]
Flickr leads to discovery of new lacewing species
A brand new species of lacewing has been discovered in Malaysia but were it not for photo sharing website Flickr the species could have remained unknown and undescribed. The insect was photographed in the rain-forest of Selangor in Malaysia and then released. The images were posted online and discovered by research scientists. The new green [...]
Common pesticide gives bees a sweet-tooth
A single small dose of a commonly used pesticide can give honey-bees a sweet-tooth and that could be a problem as bees turn their noses up to nutritious but less sweet nectar. It’s yet another problem that is being laid at the door of the neonicotinoids. Small single dose of pesticide changed honey-bee behaviour. This latest research saw biologists [...]
Do we need a rethink on bugbanks and farming?
Field boundaries and bug banks have been promoted as a way to help farmers reduce their reliance on pesticides and insecticides. By providing beneficial plants around – and within – the crops it is hoped that predatory insects like ladybirds will tackle the insect pests of the crops. A new study from Michigan in the [...]
Anger growing over Swedish bee imports
It may have been a good news story for British conservationists with the proposed re-introduction of the short-haired bumblebee to Kent. But there is growing anger in Sweden that their population of the species may be put under risk by the project. It’s not just locals who are concerned about the British scientists heading out this weekend to start [...]
From Sweden with buzz
A precious cargo will soon be on the way from Sweden to the UK over the next couple of weeks. At the weekend a team of bee specialists are buzzing of to Sweden to collect 100 queen bees of the species Bombus subterraneus as part of plans to re-establish the species in the UK. Bombus [...]
Is imidacloprid the bee killing neonicotinoid?
A recent study to be published in June’s edition of Bulletin of Insectology has put the pesticide imidacloprid firmly centre stage as a leading cause of colony collapse disorder. The study shows that even very low levels of the pesticide can kill up to 94% of hives. 94% of hives succumbed to colony collapse disorder. The [...]
The oil beetle survey results are now available
Those of you who signed up for last Spring’s oil beetle hunt run by Buglife can now head over to their website to find out the results. 750 citizen scientists across the UK took part in the survey and submitted nearly 1500 new records for the national database. The quality of the records submitted to [...]
Common herbicides reduce butterfly populations by up to a third
New research just published by a team from Washington State University indicates that commonly used weed-killers that were previously thought to be safe can have damaging impacts on butterfly populations and threaten the survival of the rarest species. The team from the ecotoxicology department was asked by the US Fish and Wildlife Service to examine the impacts of three [...]
Boosting one of UK’s most endangered butterflies.
For many of us the Pearl-bordered Fritillary butterfly was a regular sight on summers days but for today’s youngsters it’s a rare sight. With about two thirds of the butterflies colonies wiped out over the last 25 years a new project in Devon is hoping to reverse its decline. A partnership between the Forestry Commission at the Haldon Forest and charity Butterfly [...]
Butterflies move faster than birds in response to climate change
A new study published by a team of European researchers have followed the movement of butterflies and birds in relation to a warming European climate. It found that butterflies are responding quicker to the climate than birds – a worrying trend if butterflies and caterpillars move out of the range of the birds during breeding time. The [...]
Sowing the seeds of death for bees
Neonicotinoid insecticides are known to have a devastating impact on bees and a new study just published has shown another way in which these chemicals are damaging the worlds pollinators. Neonicotinoid coatings around the seeds are released into the environment at planting time and find their way to the honeybee hives. A study by Purdue University scientists have shown that when treated corn [...]
Poor Summer Hits Butterfly Numbers
This year has not seen the best of summers and butterflies appear to have been hit by the poor weather conditions. The results of the UK Big Butterfly Count 2011 indicates there were 11% fewer sightings compared to last year. One species, the Common blue, was particularly hard hit with number down by 61%. 34,000 [...]
Ragwort alarmists rapped by Advertising Standards Authority
Ragwort is a precious British wild flower that is essential for the survival of the cinnabar moth. Ragwort is an essential food plant for the caterpillar and without it this bright red day-flying moth could be under threat. Sadly, for the moth, ragwort is also a demon plant for some because it is toxic. This has led to some [...]
Thinking of winter in the height of summer
It’s July and the height of summer. As I look out the window and see the rain pouring down (this is Wales after all) my thoughts turn to the coming autumn and winter. This is a good time to start looking at providing overwintering sites for wildlife in the garden. It may seem a little early but we [...]