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Articles on Insects

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The queen, on the right with a larger, darker body, is bigger than the worker bees in the colony and lives several times longer. Jens Kalaene/picture alliance via Getty Images

Why do bees have queens? 2 biologists explain this insect’s social structure – and why some bees don’t have a queen at all

A queen’s main job in the hive is to lay eggs and pass genes on to offspring. But many bee species do just fine without queens or big colonies.
Ermine moths are deaf, but have an intricate wing structure that protects them from bats by producing warning clicks when they fly. HWall/Shutterstock

We’ve found out how earless moths use sound to defend themselves against bats – and it could give engineers new ideas

The ermine moth’s wing structures are fascinating because they rely on a mechanism we teach our engineering students to avoid
Temperature sensitivity makes western fence lizards vulnerable to climate change. Greg Shine/BLM

Climate change is already forcing lizards, insects and other species to evolve – and most can’t keep up

From dark dragonflies becoming paler to plants flowering earlier, some species are slowly evolving with the climate. Evolutionary biologists explain why few will evolve fast enough.

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