There are about 1200 species of bats in the world 20 percent of all known mammal species. The largest bat is the flying fox with a wingspan of six feet the smallest is the bumblebee bat that weighs less than a penny.
Two-thirds of bat species feed on insects and other small prey. Many bats are on nighttime pest patrol.
One Mexican free-tailed bat can eat about 1000 mosquitoes per hour. The large colony of 30 million bats in Bracken Cave in Texas consumes about 250 tons of insects every night.
Just 150 big brown bats can eat 33 million root worm pests. Without bats there would be more pests
and fruits acting act as pollinators and seed dispersers especially in deserts and rain forests. Bats pollinate wild bananas the famous saguaro cactus and durian the world's most expensive fruit.
Hugh Fitzsimons is a third-generation rancher in Dimmitt County Texas where he raises bison and honeybees.
Meanwhile he says the devastating drought is killing the flora that sustains his honeybees and making it difficult for even the toughest bison to survive.
#Honey Not a Contender in The Fight Against Superbugs (Op-Ed) This article was published originally atâ The Conversation.
There are no new drugs in the pipeline to fix the superbug problem. And when times are tough
and methods to diagnose superbug infections. This article was published originally at The Conversation. Read the original article.
#Honeybee Collapse May have Complex Cause (Op-Ed) Jeff Nesbit was the director of public affairs for two prominent federal science agencies.
Scientists have been trying to discover why millions of beehives have collapsed and died during the past six years.
CCD has killed off more than 10 million beehives in North america since 2007 alone. Scientists have tried repeatedly to identify the root cause for the beehive collapses with possibilities ranging from certain classes of pesticides to parasites
or nutrition though the search is complicated by the dozens of different chemical types that may be combining to contaminate the pollen bees collect for their hives.
So academic researchers from the University of Maryland and federal scientists from the Department of agriculture decided to collect pollen from seven major types of crops along the East Coast where CCD has been especially destructive where bees had been in serious decline
if the continuing die off of honeybees were to reach critical levels. While the researchers were careful not to directly link the complex web of pesticides found in the pollen samples directly to colony collapse disorder the inference is hard to ignore.
and around crops pollinated by honeybee colonies. Right now pesticide labels tell farmers not to spray
#Honeycombs'Surprising Secret Revealed The perfect hexagonal shape of honeycomb cells once thought to be an incredible feat of math-savvy insects has now been explained by simple mechanics.
They then observed honeybees heating the wax after the initial cell formation a phenomenon identified in previous studies
because it not only gives us a deep insight into the mechanisms that honeybees manage to build very precise cells
This story has been updated to correct where the hives were grown. The hives were grown at the Agricultural Research Academy Beijing
and were grown not specifically for this study. Follow Laura Poppick on Twitter. Follow Livescience on Twitter Facebook and Google+.
The trees were infested unfortunately with roundworms and insects. President William Howard Taft acting on advice from agriculture officials ordered the trees burned and destroyed.
but then suddenly grow elongated flagella whiplike appendages to propel them to a new region to inhabit. 6 Superbugs to Watch out For Tufenkji's group found that cranberry powder in a petri dish limited the growth of flagella
and the Great Barrier reef in Australia. 7 Amazing Places to Visit with Google street view Researchers focused on the pine processionary moth (Thaumetopoea pityocampa)
whose caterpillar is one of the most destructive animals targeting pines and cedars in southern Europe Central asia and North africa devouring the foliage of these trees.
These social caterpillars spin large communal white silk nests which are highly visible making them potential targets of surveys via Google street view.
The scientists concentrated on a region about 18000 square miles (47000 square kilometers) large in France that was colonized recently by the caterpillars.
The researchers analyzed data regarding the presence or absence of caterpillar nests collected in these blocks through either direct observation in the field or Google street view.
and thus less chance to properly spot these caterpillar nests. This effect may be less of a problem in the future as Google street view's coverage expands.
whose symptoms are identifiable from the road including the horse chestnut leaf miner or ash dieback fungus.
and avoid spreading invasive insects such as the Asian longhorn beetle. Still some select projects have sprouted up across the city in the past year that make use of the storm's wreckage.
and then pressurizing the wood in a closed container to force preservatives into all crevices protecting against degradation by burrowing insects and fungus.
These forest islands were thought typically of as natural in origin for instance as landforms cut away by shifting rivers or long-term termite mounds or bird rookeries.
The bacteria are spread from tree to tree by a tiny insect called the Asian citrus psyllid The New york times reports.
Between 1985 and 2003 officials intercepted 170 cases of Asian citrus psyllids entering U s. ports on plant material according to a report from the University of California Davis Division of Agriculture and Natural resources.
while Washington state University has begun a $9-million five-year project to develop genetically modified psyllids that cannot transmit citrus greening.
#Insect Invasion: Fruit-fly Army Infiltrating California They're here! For the past several decades a stealthy foe has been secretly infiltrating California spreading far and wide.
No they're not Russian spies they're fruit flies. Several species of fly including the Mediterranean fruit fly have been secretly spreading in the state for decades new research finds.
The study published today (Aug 6) in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B also predicts that crop damage resulting from the insect invasion as well as lost trade due to other countries'refusal to import California produce could amount to $1
. 2 billion in lost revenue. Despite the several hundred eradication programs that California Food and Agriculture and the USDA U s. Department of agriculture have launched these tropical fruit flies have become established in the state said study co-author James Carey an entomologist at the University of California Davis. Invasive pest Unlike the harmless gnatlike
Drosophila flies that hover around rotting fruit the conquering fruit flies invading California devour growing fruit and cause major economic damage.
The Mediterranean fruit fly or medfly for instance devastated California crops in 1989. Image Gallery: Striking Images of Locust Swarms To detect the pests agriculture officials in California have placed about 100000 traps across the state.
California also meticulously searches for any hint of the flies in plants and produce that crosses the state border.
In the past agriculture officials believed that each time these flies were found they were coming from outside the state.
Invaders or locals? But Carey and his colleagues wondered whether the flies were locals. His team looked at every single fruit-fly sighting (about 5000) in the last several decades
and used a statistical model to describe the underlying populations. If the insects were being reintroduced every time then fly sightings should be random.
But instead certain types of flies kept cropping up consistently in specific hot spots. For instance the oriental fruit fly has been captured 12 separate times in Anaheim Calif. To Carey's team that indicated that several fruit-fly species were established
and breeding in California albeit at low levels. New biology The findings suggest that the flies are able to lurk for decades without causing a massive infestation.
This is like a really insidious cancer Carey told Livescience. It's a chronic process not a rapid growth.
In addition the flies'gradual inexorable push into every corner of the state isn't correlated with human migration patterns
which implies the insects can invade new areas with no human help. If Carey's conclusions are true then current state eradication efforts won't work.
Quarantining fly-infested fruit at the state borders won't stop established populations from breeding and if the populations are already here then completely eliminating the flies isn't possible Carey said.
They're just so entrenched and widespread Carey said. They're here and we have to plan accordingly.
Where Do Fruit flies Come From? Because trade partners often close their borders to countries with fly infestations the flies'established presence could cost billions in lost revenue
unless California renegotiates trade agreements that include different levels of fly eradication the study suggests.
The finding reveals the importance of doing long-term research on the flies said David Haymer a geneticist at the University of Hawaii who has studied medfly genetics
but was involved not in the study. For instance doing genetic analysis on the flies can reveal whether new sightings are reintroductions
or the result of an established population breeding Haymer told Livescience. Follow Tia Ghose on Twitterand Google+.
which could result in other indirect ecological consequences including a spike in insect populations that the birds would otherwise feed on.
and Arizona where climate change has made trees more susceptible to bark beetle outbreaks that in turn result in increased wildfires.
But some of the insects'ilk may be back later this week. Officials sprayed the flying insects with pesticide early this morning (March 6) greatly reducing the number of living flying insects according to a statement from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural development.
However there's a moderate risk that another small swarm could reach this region in Israel's Negev desert later this week
See Images of the Desert Locust Swarms Gregarious grasshoppers All locusts are grasshoppers or in the grasshopper family but not all grasshoppers are said locusts Amir Ayali a researcher at Tel aviv University.
About 15 species of grasshoppers can be classified as locusts essentially meaning they can fly and create swarms.
The creatures are usually solitary and avoid each other but in the right conditions they congregate in large groups exhibiting
and northeastern Sudan despite efforts by these countries to control the insects'populations Cressman said.
Now however the insects have been sprayed and the wind has shifted now blowing out of the northeast greatly reducing the threat the insects pose.
The creatures are also less active and voracious than normal because they have traveled already quite some distance Cressman said.
The locust is the only kosher insect meaning it is acceptable to eat under Jewish law Bruins said.
you'd have better luck putting butterfly wings on a rhino. Most images of the Jersey Devil look like a monster that a high school Dungeons & dragons player might dream up as a composite of different unrelated animals
#Killer bee Attack: Science Explains Man's Death A Texas man died after being attacked by a swarm of Africanized honeybees sometimes called killer bees.
Larry Goodwin 62 was driving a tractor near his home south of Waco when he disturbed a pile of wood that contained a hive of the notoriously aggressive bees;
eight people have been killed by the bees since 1990 the Waco Tribune reports. You can't believe how bad they are.
me want to get out of this business Allen Miller owner of Bees Be gone who later destroyed the hive told the Tribune.
Honeybee Scouts Find Food They can get up under your clothes where no other insect can go Miller said.
In a hive of ordinary European bees about 10 percent will attack if the hive is threatened
but with African bees all of them attack you. Eight to 10 stings per pound of body weight are considered lethal according to the Texas Agricultural extension Service.
When science goofs The introduction of Africanized honeybees into the Western hemisphere was the result of a scientific experiment gone awry according to a Texas A&m University report.
In 1956 Warwick Kerr a honeybee geneticist with the University of SãO Paulo Brazil imported African bees (Apis mellifera scutellata) to study.
His intention was to selectively introduce traits such as disease resistance and faster reproductive rate into native honeybees.
and therefore lost) leading to the term Africanized honey bees. Sting Bite & Destroy: Nature's 10 Biggest Pests The bees spread rapidly from Brazil
Hives have been reported in the United states in Florida and across the South and Southwest into Southern California.
when defending their hive and minor disturbances like a lawn mower or a moving car even as far away as 100 feet (30 meters) can trigger an attack.
And Africanized honeybees aren't picky about where they build a hive. Old tires junk piles building eaves cement blocks upturned flower pots and even empty soda cans have been occupied by the bees according to the U s. Department of agriculture.
Stings from Africanized honeybees aren't more venomous than stings from native honeybees but victims tend to be stung dozens or hundreds of times.
One redeeming quality Researchers have noticed that Africanized honeybees seem to be isolated in their current range by temperature and rainfall according to the USDA.
Rainfall over 55 inches distributed evenly throughout the year is almost a complete barrier to Africanized honey bee spread entomologist Josã D. Villa of the Honey Bee Breeding Genetics
While attacks by the bees remain very rare Miller told KCENTV. com that he's seen at least five cases of Africanized hives in the past month more than he usually sees all year.
As loathed as they are the Africanized bees might have one redeeming quality: They could hold the key to solving the problem of bee colony collapse disorder a deadly syndrome that's wiping out native bee populations throughout North america and Europe.
Though the Africanized bees can carry the Varroa mites that have been implicated in colony collapse disorder they have considerable resistance to the mites unlike native honeybees.
If researchers could isolate the trait that gives the Africanized bees their resistance they may be able to save native honeybee populations.
Worse new research shows that the kudzu bugs'taste for soybeans threatens crops outside of the South.
Kudzu bugs (Megacopta cribraria) meanwhile which are also native to Asia were detected only for the first time in the United states in Georgia in 2009.
Because of their diet and life cycle the pungent-smelling insects were thought to be limited largely to areas where they could find the invading vine their favorite meal.
The Peskiest Alien Mammals But in a greenhouse laboratory researchers at North carolina State university found that baby Generation A kudzu bugs did not have restricted a kudzu diet.
These immature insects were able to live off soybeans alone and they reached maturity and reproduced the researchers said.
And the bugs didn't thrive on just any legume; greenhouse experiments using snap beans instead of soybeans failed to produce the same results.
and the field observations indicate that kudzu bugs are potentially capable of spreading into any part of the United states where soybeans are grown.
It also means that both annual generations of kudzu bugs could attack soybean crops in areas where the bug is established already
but arose from a common ancestor a small insect-eating scampering animal shortly after the dinosaurs'demise said researcher Maureen O'Leary at Stony Brook University in New york. The study was so thorough that the team made up of 23
We have all these placentals alive today from elephants to shrews from things that fly to things that swim Spaulding said.
In addition to a furry tail the researchers suggest the four-legged creature likely ate insects weighed from 6 grams (about the weight of some shrews) up to 245 grams less than half a pound
Amazonian Butterflies Drink Turtle Tears The sight of butterflies flocking onto the heads of yellow-spotted river turtles in the western Amazon rain forest is not uncommon at least
But the reason why butterflies congregate onto the turtles may be stranger than you think: to drink their tears.
The butterflies are attracted likely to the turtles'tears because the liquid drops contain salt specifically sodium an important mineral that is scant in the western Amazon said Phil Torres a scientist who does much of his research at the Tambopata Research center in Peru
Unlike butterflies turtles get plenty of sodium through their largely carnivorous diet. Meat contains significant levels of the salt Torres told Livescience.
Butterflies Drink Turtle Tears Drinking tears Turtle tears are not the only source of such salts for butterflies;
the insects also readily get the salt from animal urine muddy river banks puddles sweaty clothes
and sweating people said Geoff Gallice a graduate student of entomology at the Florida Museum of Natural history who has witnessed butterflies flocking to turtle tears in the western Amazon rain forest.
Does the butterfly feeding help hurt or have no impact on the turtles? Torres said it's not completely clear
since the butterflies can obstruct their vision. In fact the turtles blinded and drowning in butterfly kisses are sometimes easier to photograph than unadorned animals which may be able to spot an approaching photographer more easily.
The photos were taken by Jeff Cremer marketing director for Rainforest Expeditions an ecotourism company that hosts guests in the Peruvian Amazon
The turtles have enough tears to feed the butterflies simply because the butterflies are taking so little he said.
They simply uptake salts through a process similar to absorption by placing the proboscis on the salt-laden tears and passively'feed.'
Bees appear to annoy the turtles more than the butterflies perhaps due to their buzzing wings he said.
The Top 10 Weirdest Animal Discoveries Swabbing turtle eyeballs The butterflies also may be seeking other minerals in the turtles'tears
and Amazonas for over 50 years and have seen never butterflies drinking tears of turtles said Richard C. Vogt a researcher at the National Institute of Amazonian Research in Manaus Brazil.
#Mysterious'Fairy circles'in African Desert Get New Explanation The bizarre circular patches of bare land called fairy circles in the grasslands of Africa's Namib desert have defied explanation with hypotheses ranging from ants to termites
Earlier this year University of Hamburg biologist Norbert Juergens claimed to have found evidence for a termite theory of fairy circles.
Essentially he discovered colonies of the sand termite Psammotermes allocerus were nearly always found in the centers of fairy circles where he also found increased soil moisture.
He reasoned that the termites feed on the grasses'roots killing the plants which usually use up the soil's water
Michael Cramer a biologist at the University of Cape town in South africa and lead researcher of the current study which was published recently in the journal PLOS ONE also thinks the termite theory falls short.
There's no real reason why termites would produce such large circles that are spaced so evenly.
Experimental tests Cramer notes that termites may still be involved in fairy circles. What sets up the circles is the competition between plants he said Termites are a secondary phenomenon
and their role is to serve as a maintenance for the circles by killing off the grasses that spring up in the center of the circles.
#Nature Aids Science to Take on Bed bugs This Research in Action article was provided to Livescience in partnership with the National Science Foundation.
Taking up the fight against bed bugs research scientists have looked to old European folk practice kidney bean leaves.
First they identified precisely how the leaves trap the bugs and then they created synthetic leaf traps or biomimetic plastic surfaces.
Traditionally in Bulgaria Serbia and other southeast European countries households with infestations of bed bugs have thwarted the evasive little bloodsuckers by strewing kidney bean leaves on the floor at night.
In the morning the bed-bug-studded leaves are swept up and burned in piles. This method was documented scientifically in the 1940s.
and with the advent of the pesticide DDT bed bugs became less of a problem in many places.
But as many people are aware the 1990s saw the beginnings of a bed bug resurgence in cities all around the world
What's worse the bugs demonstrate increasing pesticide resistance. Entomologist Catherine Loudon and her colleagues at University of California Irvine with fellow researchers at the University of Kentucky used videography and scanning electron microscopy to investigate the possibility of creating synthetic leaf traps as a sustainable and nontoxic
After tipping the bugs out of vials onto the underside of kidney bean leaves the scientists found that tiny sharp-edged hairs known as trichomes actually impaled the bugs'feet.
When you put a bed bug on a bean leaf and it takes a few steps and this actually happens fairly rapidly I was astonished rather...
Unfortunately these biomimetic surfaces don't do the trick quite yet--they snag the bugs but don't trap them.
or twisting in the precise way needed to pierce the bugs'feet and hold them...
T he tip of a more flexible hollow natural trichome could more readily skitter along the cuticle of a bug's surface until the sharp point ended up in a crevice
Hopefully Loudon said this technology could help relieve some of the problems that the burgeoning pesticide-resistant bed bug populations are causing internationally.
Peahens Ignore Most of Peacocks'Flashy Displays A male hoping to attract a female's attention typically needs something to help him stand out from the crowd
and the inhabitants of the animal kingdom are no exception with peacocks representing particularly showy lovers.
even though peacocks put on some of the most striking and theatrical courtship displays peahens almost always gazed at the lower part of the peacock's train of feathers particularly below the neck.
The females were primarily looking at the lower portion of the males'display said study author Jessica Yorzinski an evolutionary biologist at Purdue University in Lafayette Ind.
Others thought peahens were drawn likely to the distinctive eyespots on a peacock's display of feathers.
Peahen gaze Yorzinski is unsure why peahens focus primarily on the lower part of a peacock's train.
She suggests the peacock's upper train may help females spot males across long distances since in India where peacocks are typically found thick vegetation could obscure everything except the top part of the males'display of feathers.
It's possible that when they're far away females use the upper train to find the males
Yorzinski intends to follow up this study by manipulating some of the male peacock's traits
and evaluate other peacocks'courting displays. The detailed findings of the new study were published online today (July 24) in the Journal of Experimental Biology.
and creases is perfect for creating a hive of pumpkin wasps. PHOTOS: Autumn Colors The Haunted Pumpkin Garden will also display four other ginormous pumpkins which Villafane
Laysan albatross have a wingspan of 6 feet (2 meters) and fly about 50000 miles a year as adults.
and insects such as beetles from the grapes a capability that some wineries already possess in other optical approaches.
This Cambrian explosion included the evolution of arthropods (ancestors of today's insects and crustaceans) and chordates (animals with rudimentary spinal cords.
and dragonflies ruled the skies. Tetrapods were becoming more specialized and two new groups of animals evolved.
Most creepily this era is referred sometimes to as the Age of the Cockroaches because roaches'ancient ancestor (Archimylacris eggintoni) was found all across the globe during the Carboniferous.
The last period of the Paleozoic was the Permian period which began 299 million years ago and wrapped up 251 million years ago.
One of the richest sources of information about life in the Pleistocene epoch can be found in the La Brea Tar pits in Los Angeles where remains of everything from insects to plant life to animals were preserved including a partial skeleton of a female human and a nearly complete woolly mammoth.
and other nearby countries the Cornell Lab said in a statement Documenting a disappearing species Common foraging behaviors here on the breeding grounds are surprisingly different from the way they feed on the wintering grounds according to the Cornell lab. On the breeding grounds the birds feed on insects
especially midges mosquitoes flies beetles and spiders as well as grass seeds and berries. On the wintering grounds
Since the pony had been dead for several days before its body was found there was plenty of time for birds maggots blowflies
#Real-life Smoking Caterpillar Uses Nicotine as Defense Ripped from the pages of Lewis carroll's Alice in wonderland scientists have discovered a smoking caterpillar of sorts.
While this find may not push Alice's hookah-smoking insect from its psychedelic pedestal this caterpillar is pretty snazzy as it can use nicotine to ward off hungry wolf spiders.
The researchers found a gene in hornworm caterpillars that allows them to puff nicotine out through their spiracles (tiny holes in their sides) from the tobacco they consume as a warning to their would-be predators.
Video See the Smoking Caterpillars in Action It's really a story about how an insect that eats a plant co-opts the plant for its own defense said study researcher Ian Baldwin a professor at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical
when trying to find out how hornworm caterpillars could consume tobacco plants despite the toxic nicotine within the plant's tissues.
In fact these caterpillars are hundreds of times more resistant than humans who smoke are to the toxic effects of nicotine.
By feeding hornworm caterpillars tobacco plants with and without nicotine researchers identified the gene that was activated
when the caterpillars consumed nicotine-containing tobacco plants. The scientists then placed so-called interference RNA matching that gene in tobacco plants grown in the lab. The interference RNA targeted that gene preventing the caterpillars from using their defense.
When caterpillars consumed the gene-altered tobacco they lost their ability to produce the tobacco halitosis
and thus their ability to ward off the spiders. As a result they were consumed at a higher rate by wolf spiders a rate similar to that found for caterpillars consuming nicotine-depleted tobacco plants.
 This RNA-interference technique might someday be used in genetically modified crops produced with specific nutritional goals in mind as interference RNA targets a specific gene.
whether hornworm caterpillars have other defenses against predators. For instance the caterpillars also consume plants such as tomatoes which contain alkaloids that are not volatile like nicotine is.
If a compound is not volatile it isn't easily vaporized and so couldn't be emitted from tiny pores.
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