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Tag: "moth" at biology news

Ancient olfaction protein is shared by many bugs, offering new pest control target

... fly, the medfly (a citrus pest), the corn earworm moth (which damages corn and tobacco), and Anopheles gambiae, the malaria mosquito. When the medfly, moth, and mosquito versions (or "orthologues") of Or83b were expressed in fruit flies that were missing their own version of the gene, the flies' sense of...

Why do insects stop 'breathing'? To avoid damage from too much oxygen, say researchers

...rchers inserted fine tubes into the spiracles of a moth to measure not only how much carbon dioxide the moth released but also the concentration of oxygen in its trachea, the series of tubes that carry air dir...

Bugs, even 'bad' ones, can be educationally beneficial, new book says

...d. Waldbauer spent 15 years studying the cecropia moth (Hyalophora cecropia), which he collected by drivi...rful 5- to 6-inch wingspan, the nocturnal cecropia moth is the largest North American moth. In "Insights From Insects," Waldbauer describes 20 different ty...

Insects develop resistance to engineered crops

...oxins in the lab, and recently, cabbage loopers (a moth whose larvae feed on plants in the cabbage family)...s, the researchers employed strains of diamondback moth that were resistant to each of the Bt proteins. The combination of Bt plants and Bt-resistant insect...

Hanging baskets of sex and death help fruit growers

...ments and also includes a strong source of codling moth pheromone. The pheromone draws in the moth hoping for a sexual encounter and the insect leaves frustrated but covered in the virus which it the...

New technique could alter field of mouse genetics

...ve harnessed a mobile gene from the cabbage looper moth and modified it for routine use in mice and other vertebrates. If the new tool works as they expect, it will speed understanding of genes involved in human biology and disease and accelerate the search for effective new therapies. The researchers re...

CU, USDA team to curb two invasive, poisonous vines

...l enemies. Natural enemies to plants often include moth caterpillars, beetles, flies and diseases. "They've been here more than 100 years but have exploded in the last 10 to 15 years, and it will still be a minimum of 10 years before we can even release a natural enemy to control their growth," said Anto...

Chemical in many air fresheners may reduce lung function

...et bowl blocks, and as an insecticide fumigant for moth control. "Because people spend so much time indoors where these products are used, it's important that we understand the effects that even low levels might have on the respiratory system," said Leslie Elliott, Ph.D. a researcher on the NIEHS-fund...

Insect predation sheds light on food web recovery after the dinosaur extinction

...omic breadth," said Wilf. "There are fly, wasp and moth mines on the sycamores. We have not seen this kind of saturation of a flora with insect feeding anywhere else in North America, even in the Cretaceous before the extinction." What made this happen at Mexican Hat? The researchers do not know becau...

Ecosystem services and invasive species

...ith the population explosion of the Hemlock looper moth (Lambdina fiscellaria) approximately 4800 years ago. Using the similarities from the previous decline and the current invasion, Matthew Heard (University of Georgia ?Athens) and Matthew Valente (University of Tennessee - Knoxville) used historical p...

Jumping gene could provide non-viral alternative for gene therapy

... jumping gene first identified in a cabbage-eating moth may one day provide a safer, target-specific alternative to viruses for gene therapy, researchers say. They compared the ability of the four best-characterized jumping genes, or transposons, to insert themselves into a cell's DNA and produce a des...

New genetic analysis forces re-draw of insect family tree

... melanogaster), mosquito (Anopheles gambiae), silk moth (Bombyx mori), flour beetle (Tribolium castaneum), honey bee (Apis mellifera) and sibling parasitic wasp species (Nasonia vitripennis and Nasonia giraulti). These insects represent the four major orders of holometabolous insects, beetles (Coleopt...

Most widely used organic pesticide requires help to kill

...the native bacteria that colonize the gut of gypsy moth caterpillars. Exposed to Bt, the caterpillars whose intestinal tracts had been cleared of their native microbial communities showed none of the agent's toxic effects. When the insect's microbial gut flora were reestablished, Bt's insecticidal activ...

To elude bats, a moth keeps its hearing in tune

...ew work shows that the ear of the yellow underwing moth changes its frequency (pitch) sensitivity in respo...th’s ear to the bat’s calls also increases, as the moth ear dynamically becomes more sensitive to the frequencies that many bats use when attacking moths. F...

New moth variety disarms plants guarded by selenium

...wly discovered variety of the invasive diamondback moth (Plutella xylostella) has disarmed the plant's elemental defense. The new moth variety in fact thrives on plants containing highly toxic selenium levels and, in contrast to relate...

Edge density key to controlling gypsy moth spread

...rolling population peaks on the edges of the gypsy moth range may help to slow their invasion into virgin ... of researchers. "Slowing the spread of the gypsy moth is a priority in forest management in the U.S.," says Ottar Bjornstad, associate professor of entomo...

Moths mimic sounds to survive

...tructures called “tymbals.” Many species of tiger moth use the tymbals to make specific sounds that warn the bat of their bad taste. Other species make sounds that closely mimic those high-frequency sounds. “We found that the bats do not eat the good-tasting moths that make the similar sounds,” said ...

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