Content Marked with: Department Of Entomology

Buzzkill?

They say love is blind, but if you’re a queen honeybee it could mean true loss of sight. New research finds male honeybees inject toxins during sex that cause temporary blindness. All sexual activity occurs during a brief early period in a honeybee’s life, during which males die and queens...

By Jules Bernstein | September 9, 2019 | Science / Technology

In sexual conflict, ant queens prevail in evolutionary arms race

It’s hidden from sight, but there’s an epic battle of the sexes raging in the leafcutter ant species Atta colombica. Competing males deliver sperm in a fluid that’s toxic to rivals’ sperm, while females quash their efforts in order to ensure their own reproductive success. For the first time, a...

By Sarah Nightingale | July 23, 2019 | Science / Technology

Looming insect invasion threatens California wine and avocados

UC Riverside is testing whether a sesame seed-sized wasp can control a pest that could seriously damage California crops including wine, walnuts, and avocados.

By Jules Bernstein | June 17, 2019 | Science / Technology

For the love of caterpillars

A first-generation student’s journey into entomology.

By Jules Bernstein | May 28, 2019 | Students

As bumblebee diets narrow, ours could too

There has been a lot of buzz about honeybees’ failing health because they pollinate our produce. Less well known is how critical bumblebees are for some of our favorite foods. And their numbers are also rapidly declining. A new study from the University of California, Riverside, reveals the loss of...

By Jules Bernstein | May 15, 2019 | Science / Technology

Student collecting maggot for examination.

Maggots and murder: what insects can teach us about crime

Taking care to stand upwind, UC Riverside students display stoic professionalism as they collect insects off a pig carcass in 90-degree heat. This scene from a class in forensic entomology could have been ripped from any TV police drama and in some ways, it was. Professor Alec Gerry said intense...

By Jules Bernstein | April 29, 2019 | Science / Technology

Superbloom? If you say so

Superbloom is a term concocted by the media, but this year’s wildflowers are still spectacular, especially for the creatures that depend on them

By Holly Ober | March 15, 2019 | Science / Technology

Bee mite arrival in Hawaii causes pathogen changes in honeybee predators

UC Riverside-led research, done on the Big Island, shows effects of mite introduction have cascaded through entire pathogen communities

By Iqbal Pittalwala | January 8, 2019 | Science / Technology

Researchers identify new approach for controlling dengue fever and Zika virus

UC Riverside study uses gene-editing tool to disrupt serotonin receptor linked to egg production in Aedes aegypti mosquitoes

By Iqbal Pittalwala | October 17, 2018 | Science / Technology, Health

Rewriting the textbook on how steroid hormones enter cells

Identification of a transporter that ferries steroids into cells could bring widespread benefits for human health

By Sarah Nightingale | October 4, 2018 | Science / Technology

$2.3 million NIH grant will support efforts to stop mosquito-borne diseases

National Institutes of Health award to UCR’s Naoki Yamanaka recognizes highly innovative research

By Sarah Nightingale | October 2, 2018 | Science / Technology

Researchers to Target Mosquito Egg Production to Curtail Disease

RIVERSIDE, Calif. — Entomologists at the University of California, Riverside have received a five-year grant of $2.44 million from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, or NIAID, to investigate the role hormones play in the female mosquito’s ability to use human blood for egg production. Vector mosquitoes need...

By Iqbal Pittalwala | July 13, 2018 | Health, Science / Technology