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The microorganisms that cause malaria, leishmaniasis and a variety of other illnesses today can be traced back at least to the time of dinosaurs, a study of amber-preserved blood-sucking insects and ticks show.
In addition to demonstrating the antiquity of vectors and their long-term association with parasitic microorganisms, the findings are remarkable for several reasons.
First, bloodsuckers...
Water fleas of the genus Daphnia detect via chemical substances if their predators, namely Chaoborus larvae, are hunting in their vicinity. If so, they generate defences that make them more difficult to consume. The signalling molecules that enable detection have been identified by biologists and chemists from Ruhr-Universität Bochum, the University of Duisburg-Essen and the...
Published today in the open-access journal GigaScience is an article that presents the genome of the tegu lizard, which has mastered a trick that is highly unusual in the reptile world: it can turn on its own heating system.
Most reptiles are not able to control their body temperature like mammals do and instead must rely...
It sounds like the plot of the world's tiniest horror movie: deep in the Ecuadorian Amazon, a newly discovered species of wasp transforms a "social" spider into a zombie-like drone that abandons its colony to do the wasp's bidding.
That's the gruesome, real-life discovery by University of British Columbia researchers, who detail the first example of...
Efforts to protect the UK's native honey bees could be helped by research that maps their entire genetic make-up.
Experts also analysed the genetic profile of bacteria and other organisms that live inside bees, to shed new light on emerging diseases that threaten bee colonies.
Researchers say their findings could help to safeguard native bee populations from...
The insects known as Hemiptera are not a particularly glamorous bunch. This group includes stink bugs, bed bugs, litter bugs, scale insects and aphids. Their closest relatives are thrips, bark lice and parasitic lice. But with a massive number of species, two-thirds of which are still unknown to science, these insects together make up one...