The reddish-brown varroa mite, a parasite of honeybees and accidentally introduced in the Big Island of Hawaii in 2007-08, is about the size of a pinhead. Yet, its effects there are concerning to entomologists because the mite is found nearly everywhere honeybees are present.
A team led by entomologists at the University of California, Riverside, performed...
Finding an elusive mutation that turns altruism into selfish behavior among honeybees
Among the social insects, bees have developed a strong and rich social network, where busy worker bees tend to the queen, who in turn, controls reproduction for the benefit of the hive.
But the South African Cape honey bee (Apis mellifera capensis) can flaunt these rules. In a process of genetic trickery called thelytoky syndrome, worker...
Giant singers from neighboring oceans share song parts over time
Singing humpback whales from different ocean basins seem to be picking up musical ideas from afar, and incorporating these new phrases and themes into the latest song, according to a newly published study in Royal Society Open Science that's helping scientists better understand how whales learn and change their musical compositions.
The new research shows that...
Roaming cats prey on their owners' minds
Many cat owners worry about their pets wandering the streets, but perceive cats hunting mice and birds to be unavoidable instinct, researchers at the University of Exeter have found.
Owners often dislike their feline companions' compulsion to catch wildlife but feel unable, or unwilling, to control it.
The researchers interviewed cat owners about their pets' roaming and...
Variable venom: Why are some snakes deadlier than others?
An international collaboration led by scientists from the National University of Ireland, Galway, The University of St Andrews, Trinity College Dublin and the Zoological Society of London has uncovered why the venom of some snakes makes them so much deadlier than others.
Snakes are infamous for possessing potent venoms, a fact that makes them deadly predators...
New CRISPR-based technology developed to control pests with precision-guided genetics
Using the CRISPR gene editing tool, Nikolay Kandul, Omar Akbari and their colleagues at UC San Diego and UC Berkeley devised a method of altering key genes that control insect sex determination and fertility.
A description of the new "precision-guided sterile insect technique," or pgSIT, is published Jan. 8 in the journal Nature Communications.
When pgSIT-derived eggs...