True bugs are insects of the order Hemiptera, characterized by piercing-sucking mouthparts (a segmented rostrum or beak) adapted for feeding on plant sap, animal fluids, or predigested materials. Hemipterans exhibit hemimetabolous development (egg, nymph, adult) and typically possess forewings modified into hemelytra, with a basal thickened region and a membranous distal portion, although some groups are fully membranous or secondarily wingless. The order includes diverse subgroups such as aphids, cicadas, shield bugs, and assassin bugs, occupying terrestrial and aquatic habitats and playing key ecological roles as herbivores, predators, and disease vectors in both natural and managed ecosystems.
An unusually mild winter followed by a wet spring made last year one of the worst in a decade for Pennsylvania soybean growers. It wasn't the soybeans that were the problem; it was the slugs. The pests survived the warm winter ...
Agriculture
Apr 13, 2026
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13
Cassava is a starchy, tuberous root, introduced to sub-Saharan Africa by Portuguese traders centuries ago. It is a nutrition lifeboat for over 800 million people worldwide.
Ecology
Mar 18, 2026
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13
Mussels baked by the billions. Insect larvae cooked inside scorched cherries. Baby birds plummeted to their deaths from their overheating nests. But some species did just fine during the 2021 North American heat wave, according ...
Plants & Animals
Mar 11, 2026
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20
Humans tend to fear bed bugs, and rightly so. The bloodsuckers are tough to get rid of once they've entered a home. But new research has, for the first time, identified one thing the bugs seem to fear—water and wet surfaces.
Ecology
Feb 21, 2026
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1775
Many insects rely on heritable bacterial endosymbionts for essential nutrients that they cannot get through their diet. A new study, published in Nature Communications, indicates that the genomes of these symbiotic bacteria ...
The soil microbiome is critical for the ecosystem, and agricultural practices that promote microbial diversity can support plant health and help protect against pests. But it is unclear which practices are most beneficial, ...
Agriculture
Feb 11, 2026
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23
Using insects such as wasps to control agricultural pests remains a resilient method, despite increasing resistance, a new University of Stirling study has shown.
Plants & Animals
Dec 19, 2025
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21
For keen veggie growers and rose enthusiasts, aphids can be a real bane to your gardening dreams. These little insects are not only sap suckers—literally sucking the life out of plants—but they can also transmit toxins and ...
Molecular & Computational biology
Dec 9, 2025
0
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