Entomology articles within Nature

Featured

  • Article |

    Genetic exchange of Leishmania parasites in the sand fly host is mediated by natural IgM antibodies, providing insights that will help generate reproducible and increased recovery of backcrosses for research purposes.

    • Tiago D. Serafim
    • , Eva Iniguez
    •  & Jesus G. Valenzuela

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Asynchronous flight in all major groups of insects likely arose from a single common ancestor with reversions to a synchronous flight mode enabled by shifts back and forth between different regimes in the same set of dynamic parameters.

    • Jeff Gau
    • , James Lynch
    •  & Simon Sponberg

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Ant pupae secrete a fluid, derived from the moulting fluid, that elicits parental care behaviour, provides nutrients for larvae and must be removed for pupal survival.

    • Orli Snir
    • , Hanan Alwaseem
    •  & Daniel J. C. Kronauer

  • Article |

    Select chemical compounds enriched in human odour activate an olfactory glomerulus in the brain of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, which strengthens host-seeking behaviour and helps explain their strong preference for biting humans.

    • Zhilei Zhao
    • , Jessica L. Zung
    •  & Carolyn S. McBride

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Three-dimensional reconstructions of morphology and flight mechanics of the beetle Paratuposa placentis reveal adaptations that enable extremely small insects to fly at speeds similar to those of much larger insects.

    • Sergey E. Farisenkov
    • , Dmitry Kolomenskiy
    •  & Alexey A. Polilov

  • Article |

    A jigsaw-style configuration of interlocking structures identified in the elytra of the remarkably tough diabolical ironclad beetle, Phloeodes diabolicus, is used to inspire crush-resistant multilayer composites for engineering joints.

    • Jesus Rivera
    • , Maryam Sadat Hosseini
    •  & David Kisailus

  • Article |

    The leg-enriched sensory appendage protein, SAP2, confers pyrethroid resistance to Anopheles gambiae, through high-affinity binding of pyrethroid insecticides; an observed selective sweep in field mosquitoes mirrors the increasing resistance reported in Africa.

    • Victoria A. Ingham
    • , Amalia Anthousi
    •  & Hilary Ranson

  • Letter |

    Analysis of three wild-caught bumblebee species shows that family lineage survival and persistence is significantly increased between successive colony cycle stages with the proportion of high-value foraging habitat near the natal colony.

    • Claire Carvell
    • , Andrew F. G. Bourke
    •  & Matthew S. Heard

  • Outlook |

    • Michelle Grayson

  • Outlook |

    Bees do far more than just make honey. Globally, the 25,000 or so bee species play a crucial part in crop production and in promoting biodiversity.

    • Julie Gould

  • Outlook |

    Of all insects, bees — especially honeybees (Apis mellifera) — are the most lauded by humans. They have been praised by poets and writers, including Virgil and Shakespeare, and their colonies are seen as a metaphor for human societies. This affinity is no surprise: humans and bees have a long and interwoven history.

    • Sarah DeWeerdt

  • Outlook |

    Solitary bees receive scant attention, but research shows that they are vital pollinators of crops and wild habitats.

    • Lucas Laursen

  • Outlook |

    Charles Michener has been studying bees for more than 80 years, and, although he has seen many changes in the field, his interest in these insects has not diminished. Now aged 96, he contributes to bee research as a Watkins distinguished professor emeritus at Kansas University in Lawrence.

    • Julie Gould

  • Outlook |

    By analysing bacteria that live in the digestive tracts of bees, researchers hope to learn about the role of microbes in insect health.

    • Alla Katsnelson

  • Outlook |

    The many levels of bee behaviour offer insights on everything from population dynamics to molecular changes.

    • Lauren Gravitz

  • Outlook |

    Some see the European Union's ban on neonicotinoid pesticides as a victory for pollinators, but the data suggest that limiting these compounds may do little to stave off honeybee losses.

    • Michael Eisenstein

  • Letter |

    It has been suggested that the negative effects on bees of neonicotinoid pesticides could be averted in field conditions if they chose not to forage on treated nectar; here field-level neonicotinoid doses are used in laboratory experiments to show that honeybees and bumblebees do not avoid neonicotinoid-treated food and instead actually prefer it.

    • Sébastien C. Kessler
    • , Erin Jo Tiedeken
    •  & Geraldine A. Wright

  • Letter |

    Malaria-carrying mosquitoes nearly disappear in the dry season, yet they reappear suddenly following the first rains; using surveys of mosquito densities, the authors characterize the population dynamics of the three main vector species and use these to infer persistence by long-distance migration in two species and aestivation in the third.

    • A. Dao
    • , A. S. Yaro
    •  & T. Lehmann

  • Brief Communications Arising |

    • Romain Garrouste
    • , Gaël Clément
    •  & André Nel

  • Letter |

    New strashilid fossils from the Middle Jurassic epoch of Daohugou, China, show that they are highly specialized flies, and suggest that larval abdominal respiratory gills were retained in adult males, indicating that adult strashilids were probably aquatic or amphibious, with mating occurring in water.

    • Diying Huang
    • , André Nel
    •  & Michael S. Engel

  • News & Views |

    In a remarkable example of convergent evolution, insect species spanning 300 million years of divergence have evolved identical single-amino-acid substitutions that confer resistance to plant cardenolide toxins.

    • Noah K. Whiteman
    •  & Kailen A. Mooney

  • News & Views |

    Male fruitflies quickly learn that courting already-mated females is useless. It turns out that a small subset of neurons in the male brain signals this negative experience and controls pheromone sensitivity. See Letter p.145

    • Aki Ejima

  • News & Views |

    A complete insect fossil from the Devonian period has long been sought. The finding of a candidate may improve our patchy understanding of when winged insects evolved. See Letter p.82

    • William A. Shear

  • Letter |

    The fossil of a complete insect from the Late Devonian period (approximately 365 million years ago) is presented; it was terrestrial, but its features suggest that modern winged insects had already started to diversify at that early date.

    • Romain Garrouste
    • , Gaël Clément
    •  & André Nel

  • News & Views |

    Some species evolve to resemble another species so as to protect themselves from predation, but this mimicry is often imprecise. An analysis of hoverflies suggests why imperfect imitation persists in the face of natural selection. See Letter p.461

    • David W. Pfennig
    •  & David W. Kikuchi

  • Letter |

    In hoverflies with a small body size, even imperfect Batesian mimicry suffices to limit predation because they are not subject to particularly intense selection.

    • Heather D. Penney
    • , Christopher Hassall
    •  & Thomas N. Sherratt

  • News |

    Ancient predators had vision sharper than modern insects.

    • Matt Kaplan

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