A fossilized bee in amber.
Fossilmuseum.net
How do we know that bees were around when dinosaurs still roamed the Earth? The main evidence comes from fossils – the mineralized remains of long-dead organisms.
Vera Larina/Shutterstock.com
Certain wasps and flies which lay their eggs in specific species such as aphids could be a sustainable form of pest control.
Shutterstock.
It’s unlikely that all species of bees will go extinct anytime soon – but current losses could still have a terrible impact on food supplies and ecosystems.
Male (left) and female Heterodoxus spiniger from Borneo.
Natural History Museum, London
Reconsidering an old ecological conundrum comes up with a new perspective on migration, contact and trade in the Australia and Asia-Pacific region.
Eyes surprise: fossil eyes from a 54 million year old cranefly.
Lindgren et al./Nature
Fossil flies from what is now Denmark reveal some striking similarities between insect eyes 54 million years ago, and our own vision today.
A firefly’s light is part of its mating strategy.
Japan's Fireworks/Shutterstock.com
For many people, the gentle blinks of fireflies flashing are a favorite part of summer evenings. An entomologist explains some lightning bug basics.
The eight-mile ‘river of flowers’ that grows alongside a motorway near Rotherham, UK.
Pictorial Meadows
Britain’s councils are cutting roadside verges less often to allow vibrant wildflower meadows to bloom.
Sean Xu/Shutterstock
Wildflowers, bees and butterflies – your lawn is a vibrant ecosystem waiting to be unleashed.
gbohne/Flickr
Tiny fairy wasps are so small they can lay their eggs inside other insects eggs, but they punch above their weight when it comes to keeping pests down.
It is vital to find alternative and sustainable sources of protein to meet the considerable challenge of ensuring food security for the future.
Shutterstock
Insects are high in protein and rich in other nutrients and, unlike beef and other livestock, have little impact on climate.
Maxim Nikiforov/Shutterstock
Don’t let that fly land in your hospital room. It could be carrying dangerous strains of bacteria.
‘Larry, I have to confess. I’m not a wasp. I’m an orchid.’
Alyssa Weinstein
You can barely communicate with your kids, but these creatures are sending complex interspecies instructions.
Katja Schulz
They might be a hated household pest, but ants actually live fascinating and complex lives.
Ladybirds are insects with a hard outer shell, just like beetles.
Shutterstock
Ladybirds do not have tails because they have no backbones.
Is this dragonfly thriving, or just hanging on?
Chris Luczkow/Flickr
Alarm bells went off when several recent studies reported mass insect die-offs in different parts of the world. But reports of an ‘insect apocalypse’ have been greatly exaggerated.
How many species still to name? That’s a good question.
Shutterstock/ju see
New species are being discovered all the time, which only adds to the problem of knowing how many there are on the planet today. It also helps to know what we mean by species.
Three species of immature mosquito: the common house mosquito, and the malaria vectors An. arabiensis and An. funestus.
Supplied
Researchers are only beginning to understand the impact of pollution and increased temperatures on the biology of mosquitoes.
Known sweat-collecting stingless bees, Tetragonula sp., from the bee family Apidae.
Tobias Smith
Bees might not be able to survive inside a person’s eye, but they can be drawn to disgusting food sources.
An ashy mining bee (Andrena cineraria ) – one of the species believed to be on the increase.
Ed Phillips/Shutterstock
Amid the insect extinction crisis, some species are actually increasing. Here’s why that’s not necessarily a good thing.
A female blacklegged deer tick crawls along a piece of straw.
(Shutterstock)
Ticks are generally inactive in the winter and start to look for their next meal as temperatures warm up. But as winters warm, every season may become tick season.