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Buglife. « The world's greatest museum of art and design gets a new roof for wildlife » « The new roof will be monitored by wildlife experts this summer as part of wider research to identify which invertebrates are using the roof. Previous studies on Living Roofs in central London have recorded many species of beetles, flies and bees including the nationally rare Brown-banded carder bee (Bombus humilis). » 
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Two new studies have highlighted a negative impact on bees' ability to learn following exposure to a combination of pesticides commonly used in agriculture.
Bernadette Cassel's insight:
Deux nouvelles études ont mis en évidence un impact négatif sur la capacité des abeilles à apprendre après l'exposition à une combinaison de pesticides couramment utilisés en agriculture.
Les chercheurs ont constaté que les pesticides, qu'ils ont utilisés à des niveaux équivalents à ceux rencontrés dans la nature, pourraient interférer avec les circuits d'apprentissage dans le cerveau de l'abeille.
Ils ont également constaté que les abeilles exposées à des pesticides combinés ont été plus lentes à apprendre ou ont complètement oublié d'importantes associations entre parfum floral et récompenses alimentaires.
(d'après le résumé de l'article)
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With a technique called TALENS, scientists used a pair of engineered proteins to disrupt a targeted gene in the mosquito genome, changing the eye color of ensuing generations of the insect.
Bernadette Cassel's insight:
Des chercheurs ont utilisé avec succès une technique de disruption génique* pour changer la couleur des yeux d'un moustique - une étape cruciale vers de nouvelles stratégies génétiques visant à perturber la transmission de maladies telles que la dengue.
(d'après le résumé de l'article)
* interruption de la séquence codante d'un gène par introduction d'une autre séquence d'ADN
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A Golden Orb Weaver (Nephila edulis) is sedated with carbon dioxide gas, and pinned around her limbs and abdomen, keeping her in place without causing any ha...
Bernadette Cassel's insight:
La récolte de la soie d'araignée
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From
io9
Head transplants sound the most crazy futuristic scenario imaginable. Right? But not to entomologists. They’ve been transplanting the head of one insect onto another for 90 years -- while keeping both insects alive.
Bernadette Cassel's insight:
Il y a 90 ans, des entomologistes ont greffé une tête d'insecte sur un autre tout en les gardant vivants...
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From
phys
Parasitoid wasps of the family Braconidae are known for their deadly reproductive habits.
Bernadette Cassel's insight:
Il y a désormais un point commun entre une nouvelle espèce de guêpe et Kill Bill
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Fungus gnats that emerge in swarms from soil in plant pots have become the bane of many gardeners' lives. If you grow plants in commercial potting composts on your house window ledge or in a greenhouse or conservatory, it's inevitable that you'll encounter these irritating pests because it seems that all currently available bags of potting compost are infested with them.
These little insects are scientifically known as Bradysia paupera and belong to a group known as sciarid flies. Each female can lay around 200 eggs which hatch into a worm-like, transparent larva that feeds on organic matter in the soil and also on young plant roots. A heavy infestation is capable of killing seedlings. They breed all-year-round, with overlapping generations that take less than a month to progress from egg to adult, so combating them is a constant challenge, but fortunately they have a fatal weakness - the colour yellow. They are attracted to these sticky yellow sheets of plastic that you can buy in garden centres and are glued to them as soon as their feet touch the surface.
[...]
Bernadette Cassel's insight:
« Lutte contre les sciarides : Pinguicula moranensis, grassette »
via Twitter https://twitter.com/ROGERLATOUR/status/313274455218597888
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A great many animals mimic the form, color, and movements of ants.
→ Synemosyna (top) is a jumping spider mimic of Pseudomyrmex.
Bernadette Cassel's insight:
« Alex Wild a mis dix ans pour cette galerie de photos de mimique de fourmis »
via Twitter https://twitter.com/ROGERLATOUR/status/312190125616553984
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An unidentified Habronattus jumping spider has been photographed by Macro photography expert Thomas Shahan during a research expedition in Arizona, US.
Bernadette Cassel's insight:
Une espèce non encore identifiée d'araignée sauteuse d'Arizona.
via Twiitter https://twitter.com/Ed_P_Wildlife/status/311423238485966848
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The wings themselves are common research models for this and other species' appendages. But until now, scientists did not know how the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, first sprouted tiny buds that became flat wings.
A cluster of only 20 or so cells present in the fruit fly's first day of larval life was analyzed to connect a gene known to be active in the embryo and the gene that triggers the growth of wings.
Researchers determined that the known embryonic gene, called Dpp, sends the first signal to launch the activation of a gene called vn. That signal alone is dramatic, because it crosses cell layers.
The activation of vn lasts just long enough to turn on a target gene that combines with more signals to activate genes responsible for cell growth and completion of wing development.
"Our work shows how when you add a gene into the equation, you get a wing. The clue is that one growth factor, Dpp, turns on another growth factor, vn, but just for a short period of time. You absolutely need a pulse of this activity to turn on yet another gene cascade that gives you a wing, but if vn is active for too long, a wing wouldn't form," said Amanda Simcox, professor of molecular genetics at The Ohio State University and lead author of the study.
[...]
Bernadette Cassel's insight:
Comment se déclenche la formation des ailes des insectes dans l'embryon.
→ Dpp-induced Egfr signaling triggers postembryonic wing development in Drosophila http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2013/03/06/1217538110.abstract
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Everyday we encounter new butterflies that we have not seen before.. like this striking one, the Octauius Swordtail (Chorinea octauius) from South America.
Bernadette Cassel's insight:
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From
phys
In evolutionary biology, there is a deeply rooted supposition that you can't go home again: Once an organism has evolved specialized traits, it can't return to the lifestyle of its ancestors.
There's even a name for this pervasive idea. Dollo's law states that evolution is unidirectional and irreversible. But this "law" is not universally accepted and is the topic of heated debate among biologists.
Now a research team led by two University of Michigan biologists has used a large-scale genetic study of the lowly house dust mite to uncover an example of reversible evolution that appears to violate Dollo's law.
.../...
Bernadette Cassel's insight:
Une étude génétique démontre une "évolution réversible" chez des acariens.
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Previous studies have shown that carnivores can have indirect positive effects on each other, which means that when one species is lost, others could soon follow.
A team from the University of Exeter and the University of Bern has now found that reducing the numbers of one species of carnivore can lead to the extinction of others.
Published online on the 28 February 2013 in the journal Ecology Letters, the study shows that simply reducing the population size of one carnivore can indirectly cause another similar species to become extinct. The research shows that changes in population size, as well as extinction, can create ripple effects across sensitive food webs with far-reaching consequences for many other animals.
Bernadette Cassel's insight:
→ The loss of indirect interactions leads to cascading extinctions of carnivores http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ele.12096/abstract
→ Lead researcher Dr Frank van Veen from Biosciences at the University of Exeter’s Centre for Ecology and Conservation http://biosciences.exeter.ac.uk/staff/index.php?web_id=frank_van_veen
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It can take years of direct observation for a researcher to fully understand the diets of a community of herbivorous insects in a tropical rain forest.
Bernadette Cassel's insight:
L'étude de la relation entre les plantes et les insectes qui s'en nourrissent est une tâche ardue, car elle ne peut être menée que par l'observation directe. Cela peut prendre des années pour un chercheur de bien comprendre le régime alimentaire d'une communauté d'insectes herbivores dans une forêt tropicale.
Cinq scientifiques ont trouvé un moyen plus rapide en utilisant l'ADN trouvé à l'intérieur estomac de l'insecte, ce qui pourrait ramener à quelques mois les années de recherche. Cette méthode aidera les scientifiques à comprendre l'écologie et l'évolution des interactions plantes-herbivores de manière plus efficace.
(d'après le résumé de l'article)
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BBC Four gets up close and personal with the insect kingdom in a series of documentaries.
Bernadette Cassel's insight:
BBC Four diffuse une nouvelle série documentaire en six parties sur le monde étrange des insectes : "Alien Nation"
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New research at Penn State has revealed how infection by a parasitic fungus dramatically changes the behavior of tropical carpenter ants, causing them to bec... Via David Hughes, The aphid team@INRA Rennes
Bernadette Cassel's insight:
En infectant des fourmis charpentières tropicales, un champignon parasite change leur comportement. Il en fait des sortes de zombis qui vont aller mourir là où les conditions de reproduction sont optimales pour le champignon.
(d'après le commentaire de la vidéo)
SUR ENTOMONEWS :
→ Des fourmis-zombies découvertes au Brésil
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While some of the present decline can certainly be attributed to the seasonal conditions last summer, it is the decline of monarch habitats in the United States and Mexico that is the major concern.
The good news is that we can do something about the habitats in the United States and Canada – we can plant milkweed.
That said, in order to compensate for the continued loss of habitat we need to plant LOTS AND LOTS of milkweed. To assure a future for monarchs, conservation and restoration of milkweeds needs to become a national priority.
Bernadette Cassel's insight:
via Flora Urbana http://floraurbana.blogspot.ca/2013/03/place-roy-place-du-monarque.html
« Pour contrer la baisse des populations du papillon, Monarch's Watch recommande de planter de l'asclépiade. ... »
SUR LE MÊME SUJET :
→ We really don’t know why monarch butterflies are disappearing
→ An aerial view of the problem http://myrmecos.net/2013/03/21/an-aerial-view-of-the-problem/#comment-65713
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1) Purple Spotted Swallowtail The Purple Spotted Swallowtail is without a doubt one very beautiful example, whose habitat is under ever more threat. Found only in the highlands of New Guinea, this lovely butterfly, of the Papilionidae family, is becoming scarcer as mankind encroaches more on the forests where it is found.
Bernadette Cassel's insight:
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Under flera vintrar har Stanislav och jag begett oss ut bland vass och kaveldun i jakt på en vacker skalbagge som går under namnet vasslöpare, Odacantha melanura. I år lyckades vi slutligen hitta den, på en liten sjö i närheten av Tullinge söder om Stockholm! Via Matti Virtala
Bernadette Cassel's insight:
Sortir dans la nature et photographier de vrais insectes vivants, l'hiver, en Suède.
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![Les 50 photos les plus parfaites de l'instant précis ! [en anglais] | Insect Archive | Scoop.it](https://img.scoop.it/pyTNQVPDoPSFtLogdLWTaTl72eJkfbmt4t8yenImKBVvK0kTmF0xjctABnaLJIm9)
By Internet standards, a perfectly timed photo occurs when two of the following three conditions are met:
1. Perfect Place 2. Perfect Time 3. Perfect Angle
Sometimes the holy trinity of perfectness is achieved and you get an Internet classic like so many of the photographs below. .../...
Bernadette Cassel's insight:
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An insect's ability to fly is perhaps one of the greatest feats of evolution. Michael Dickinson looks at how a common housefly takes flight with such delicat...
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Butterflies are among the most vibrant insects, with colorations sometimes designed to deflect predators. New research shows some of these defenses may be driven by enemies one-tenth their size.
Bernadette Cassel's insight:
Certains papillons auraient évolué sous la pression des araignées et non pas des oiseaux.
→ Two heads are better than one: false head allowsCalycopis cecrops(Lycaenidae) to escape predation by a Jumping Spider,Phidippus pulcherrimus(Salticidae) http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00222933.2012.759288
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Scientists at the University of Sussex have discovered how ants respond to heavy traffic to and from the nest.
Bernadette Cassel's insight:
→ Negative feedback in ants: crowding results in less trail pheromone deposition http://rsif.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/10/81/20121009.abstract
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From
phys
The species from the genus Copa are very common spiders found in the leaf litter of various habitats. Being predominantly ground-living, they occur widely in savanna woodlands but also occasionally in forests, where they are well camouflaged.
[...]
The new species, C. kei, can be easily recognised by a distinct dorsal black spot on the anterior of the abdomen. The specific name of the species refers to the type locality, the town Kei Mouth, located at the estuary of the Great Kei River in the Eastern Cape Province.
Bernadette Cassel's insight:
Une nouvelle espèce d'araignée d'Afrique vient d'être décrite.
→ A revision of the continental species of Copa Simon, 1885 (Araneae, Corinnidae) in the Afrotropical Region
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