Female insects have one goal in life: to find the best place to lay their eggs. For fig wasps, that is the developing fruit of the luscious fig plant. However, when one particular parasitic fig wasp ...

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... Beneficial insects are a gardener’s best friend. They break down into two basic groups: predators and parasites. Research shows that some plants, when ...

Whenever I asked students to tell me how insects were ecologically important, two of the most common responses were “as plant pollinators” and “some insects were vectors/carriers of diseases.” It ...

You might not know this, but most figs have dead wasps in them at some point. That’s right. Wasps. And if that surprises you, then hold onto your hat: Scientists have found out how another species of ...

It takes a special kind of insect to pollinate an inside-out flower, which is exactly what the wasps that pollinate figs do. Crawling inside the firm swelling lined with microscopic flowers that will ...

Scientists are studying a fruit fly’s sharp organ that helps it lay eggs and eat, hoping to unlock the secrets of herbivorous insects. By Carolyn Wilke They are fruit flies, but they eat leaves. And ...

Until fairly recently, the notion of “beneficial insects” was unheard of. Many of us grew up believing all bugs were bad, a problem to be solved with a quick spray of Raid. While some insects may ...

Just the mere mention of wasps will elicit a negative reaction in most people. When I give talks on the subject and happen to be outdoors, I immediately notice the audience begin nervously glancing to ...

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WATE)– Cicadas will continue to buzz over the next few weeks as the insects mate. Experts said some East Tennesseans could see (and hear) hundreds of cicadas, while others may see ...