A previously unknown population of vampire moths has been found in Siberia. And in a twist worthy of a Halloween horror movie, entomologists say the bloodsuckers may have evolved from a purely fruit-eating species.
Only slight variations in wing patterns distinguish the Russian population from a widely distributed moth species, Calyptra thalictri, in central and [...]
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Image: flickr.com/Bludgeoner86
The farther an ant lives from the coast, the more it prefers salt to sweet.
Ants prefer salty snacks to sugary ones, at least in inland areas that tend to be salt-poor, according to a new study published this week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Ecologists from the University [...]
Photographs of a giant spider eating a bird in an Australian garden have stunned wildlife experts.
The pictures show the spider with its long black legs wrapped around the body of a dead bird suspended in its web.
The startling images were reportedly taken in Atheron, close to Queensland’s tropical north.
Despite their unlikely subject matter, the pictures [...]
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Gay sex – in beetles, at least – gives males a chance to indirectly fertilise females they may never encounter directly.
Homosexual copulations are common in insects, where they pose the same conundrum as in mammals: what evolutionary advantage, if any, might such apparently fruitless activity provide?
Over the years, biologists have proposed a range of explanations. [...]
Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists and cooperators are seeking the public’s help in surveying for once-common ladybug species that are now hard to find.
Researchers with ARS, Cornell University at Ithaca, N.Y., and South Dakota State University (SDSU) in Brookings want people to photograph every ladybug possible, and to send the photos to Cornell so researchers [...]
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A GIRL in the Northern Territory woke when a snake slithered into her bed, wrapped around her neck and bit her on the arm.
Ashlee Findlay, 16, who is afraid of snakes, spiders and centipedes, spent two hours at a hospital after the attack, the Northern Territory News reported.
The receptionist said she would be haunted [...]
Several animals across Contra Costa County have tested positive for West Nile virus in recent days, indicating the threat of the virus is showing no sign of slowing, the Contra Costa Mosquito & Vector Control District said in a news release.
The district reported seven birds, two groups of mosquitoes, two squirrels and nine chickens have [...]
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The current scourge of the Rocky Mountain region — the mountain pine beetle — has been decimating lodgepole pine populations, leaving millions of acres of dead trees in its wake throughout western North America.
Now, researchers are predicting that on top of disrupting the timber industry and crafting the depressing vistas of dead trees that [...]
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State and federal wildlife managers trapped a 575-pound grizzly bear Tuesday night near Simms.
The bear, which was raiding beehives, is estimated to be 4 1/2 years old.
Officials believe the bear probably followed the Sun River from the Rocky Mountain Front in search of berries.
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The label on the package claimed that it contained t-shirts and baby toys.
But when customs officials in Sydney x-ray scanned the parcel, they found instead five pythons and two venomous tarantulas.
On Tuesday, authorities raided a house in Sydney where the parcel was addressed. Officials seized evidence but expect to file charges later, the [...]
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