(Phys.org)—A team of researchers from institutions in Germany and the Netherlands has found that bittersweet nightshade plants exude a nectar-like liquid that serves no purpose other than to attract ants, which in turn ...
Dr. George Poinar, Jr., an entomologist from Oregon State University, has found a fossilized flea the like of which he has never seen. Its basic characteristics are so strange, he says, that it deserves its own genus. And ...
Plants & Animals
Sep 15, 2015
2
33
Sand fleas have a remarkable ability to change color in order to match dramatically different backgrounds, according to a new study from the University of Exeter and the Ascension Island Government Conservation Department.
Plants & Animals
Aug 11, 2015
0
541
A common type of pesticide is dramatically harming wild bees, according to a new in-the-field study that outside experts say may help shift the way the U.S. government looks at a controversial class of chemicals.
Ecology
Apr 22, 2015
0
1292
(Phys.org)—A pair of researchers with NIH has discovered the evolutionary path that a bacterium that causes the plague took to allow for transmission via fleas. In their paper published in Proceedings of the National Academy ...
About 6,000 years ago, a bacterium underwent a few genetic changes. These allowed it to expand its habitat from the guts of mice to that of fleas. Such changes happen all the time, but in this particular instance the transformation ...
Cell & Microbiology
May 27, 2014
0
0
Almost all herbivorous insects are specialized to feed on specific host plants and have adapted to their chemical defenses. Flea beetles are important pests of cabbage and other cruciferous plants, such as mustard, horseradish ...
Plants & Animals
May 8, 2014
0
0
The term 'living fossil' has a controversial history. For decades, scientists have argued about its usefulness as it appears to suggest that some organisms have stopped evolving. New research has now investigated the origin ...
Archaeology
Apr 2, 2013
0
0
Living in the guts of worms are seemingly innocuous bacteria that contribute to their survival. With a flip of a switch, however, these same bacteria transform from harmless microbes into deadly insecticides.
Cell & Microbiology
Jul 5, 2012
0
0
Environmental change is the selective force that preserves adaptive traits in organisms and is a primary driver of evolution. However, it is less well known that evolutionary change in organisms also trigger fundamental changes ...
Evolution
May 23, 2012
0
0
