Amber fossils containing bugs are nothing new, but the discovery of a beautifully preserved Cretaceous Period beetle with bits of pollen still around it is changing what we know about the planet’s earliest pollinating insects.
Featherwing beetles are some of the smallest insects out there—and one researcher managed to spot an ancient specimen in a 99-million-year-old chunk of amber. Just half a millimeter long, this Cretaceous period beetle had its signature fringed wings unfurled when it met its sticky demise.
It’s a cruel world out there, and animals will do just about anything to avoid being eaten. In the case of bombardier beetles, these crafty insects are able to escape after being swallowed by toads, which they do by ejecting hot, noxious chemicals that forces the predator to barf. It ain’t pretty, but it works.
Burying beetles (Nicrophorus) are hard to miss. The insects aren’t big, but most species are painted with vibrant, orange blotches on a glossy black background. According to new research, walking around dressed in their Halloween best may have a much more important function for the beetles than just looking like …
There’s an evolutionary arms race going on in the insect world. Except rather than fighting over weapons and weapons defenses, these beetles are evolving the craziest dicks and dick-defenses.
Insects aren’t the first thing that come to mind when we think of Antarctica, but as the discovery of a rare Antarctic beetle shows, this frozen continent was quite different millions of years ago.
Some male insects—especially beetles—boast a penis that’s several times the length of their bodies, which... wow. New research explains why these insectoid wieners need be so long, and how these bugs are still able to get it on.
An insect army awaits you. A team of engineers has developed a way to remotely control the movement of this beetle in incredible detail, finely tuning its gait, step length and walking speed.
You do not want to piss off the bombardier beetle. When disturbed, it sprays noxious, near-boiling liquid out of its abdomen—an effective though confounding ability. After all, how does the beetle pull off such a violent chemical reaction without, well, damaging its insides?
An animal skeleton is made up of hundreds of tiny bones, many of which are too fragile to be handled by human hands. That's why many osteology departments at museums have a special team exclusively devoted to the careful cleaning of these specimens: A colony of millions of flesh-eating beetles.
Really, would you spend your weekend any other way? Via the super talented and always awesome Alex Wild come these incredible photos of beetles in flagrante delicto.
As they say, sex has consequences, even for male beetles. In their quest to eradicate an invasive beetle, scientists have created "femme fatale" decoys that lure the males in and zap 'em dead—just as the unsuspecting males think they might be getting it on.
A completely new species of bug—a ground beetle named Duvalius abyssimus—was recently discovered by scientists exploring the subterranean fauna living up to 1.5 miles below the earth's surface in the Krubera-Voronja caves, Russia.
The parents of the beetle species Eocorythoderus incredibilis must be so disappointed. All they ever wanted was for it to make something of itself... but instead it actually evolved a handle for unsuspecting termites to carry it around all day.
One of the evolutionary consequences of sexual reproduction is that males have to compete with each other for females. But as a recent study published in Current Biology reveals, this competition doesn't necessarily stop after the mating is done. In the case of seed beetles, the presence of promiscuous females has…
The Ig Nobel Prizes were awarded last night! It's that fun time of year when we get to enjoy scientists' geektastic senses of humor.
Men have always had evolution to blame for their wily Cassanova ways—that whole spreading their seed far and wide thing. Finally, evolution is coming through for women, too!
Remember this day, friends. Remember when the cyborg beetles early first took flight in our labs and flew right into their world domination destiny. Look! Even now one of the brood is stealing a quarter, no doubt for financing purposes.
When the Australian patent office granted a 2001 patent to Mr. John Keogh for inventing the wheel (an action for which they shared an Ig Nobel Prize), little acknowledgment was given to those animals who regularly reinvent themselves a wheels.
Swedish startup Nocturnal Vision thinks their new dung beetle inspired algorithm can be integrated into cellphone cameras to allow people to capture high-quality video in low-light environments. They've already got Toyota investing in the algorithm for automobile night vision systems.
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