entomology

Mar 23, 2012

Know Your Enemy: Japanese Beetles

Last year I wrote a series of posts about critters we love to hate: mosquitoes, ticks, horseflies, black widows and carpenter bees. With the arrival of spring, I decided to pick up where I left off. First up: Japanese beetles or, as rose-growers call them, #@!*ing Japanese beetles. As the name suggests, Japanese beetles –… 

Jan 23, 2012

Entomologist Honored as Top Mentor

Entomology professor John Meyer has won a mentor of the year award for his work in preparing teams for the Envirothon, an academic competition for high school students. 

Dec 9, 2011

Insects And Evolution

Editor’s Note: This is a guest post by post-doctoral researcher Michelle Trautwein, whose work at NC State focuses on entomology, genetics and evolution. Here she explains what we know about insect evolution – and why it matters. Our planet is swarming with insects. Literally. Six-legged creatures account for the majority of life on earth, by far… 

Dec 6, 2011

If Your Family Tree is a Straight Line …

Incest is best – or is at least very acceptable – for bedbugs looking to colonize new areas, according to new research from NC State entomologists Coby Schal, Ed Vargo and Warren Booth. The research, presented today at the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene annual meeting in Philadelphia and currently undergoing peer review, shows… 

Oct 5, 2011

Mackay Wins State’s Top Honor

Geneticist Dr.Trudy Mackay will receive the North Carolina Award, the state’s highest civilian honor, for her contributions to science. 

Aug 26, 2011

Send In The Ants

Editor’s Note: This guest post was written by David Hunt, of NC State’s News Services. I don’t want to alarm you, but you may have Camponotus americanus crawling around in your backyard. Or Tetramorium caespitum creeping between the cracks in your front walkway.  In fact, there are more than 200 species of these critters sharing our… 

Aug 18, 2011

The Bed Bug Guy

Whether it's bed bugs or cockroaches, Dr. Coby Schal is the go-to guy in the battle to control pests. 

Jul 27, 2011

What Do Bees See? And How Do We Know?

I was reading a children’s book about insects to my daughter recently, and it said that bees see colors differently than humans do. My daughter immediately asked, in short succession: “What colors do they see? Why? How do we know?” I did some homework to find out, and discovered that bees see flowers much differently… 

Jun 1, 2011

Bad Bugs of Summer: Horse Flies

Mosquitoes and ticks are nasty, but no family of blood feeders can compete with horse flies. They’re the most diverse group of blood-feeding animals on Earth (and, as far as we know, in the entire universe). Whether you call them horse flies, greenheads, deer flies or bloodthirsty so-and-sos, these insects are all part of the… 

May 31, 2011

The Bad Bugs of Summer

To protect yourself from mosquitoes, ticks, black widows and other creepy crawlies this summer, arm yourself with information about why they act the way they do. 

May 23, 2011

Bad Bugs of Summer: Black Widows

It’s hard to think of an arthropod with a worse reputation than the black widow. Heck, the term is even used to describe serial killers – and it doesn’t get much worse than that. We’ve already covered mosquitoes, ticks and carpenter bees in our “bad bugs” series, but any conversation about bugs people hate has… 

May 20, 2011

Bad Bugs of Summer: Carpenter Bees

Our first two posts on the bad bugs of summer were about bloodsuckers: mosquitoes and ticks. We’ll now look at a pest that is a plague on our homes, if not our flesh – carpenter bees. However, in keeping with tradition, this “bad bug of summer” is not a true bug. Why are carpenter bees… 

May 17, 2011

Bad Bugs of Summer: Ticks

In our second post on the bad bugs of summer, we’ll be talking about ticks. Or, as I like to think of them, those bloodsucking disease spreaders. First of all, I really shouldn’t call ticks “bad bugs.” Technically, they’re not bugs at all. Of course, mosquitoes aren’t either. But ticks aren’t even insects. They’re arachnids.… 

May 11, 2011

Bad Bugs of Summer: Mosquitoes

Summer is more than lemonade and swimming pools. It means bug bites – mosquitoes, ticks, horse flies, you name it. This is the first in a series of posts profiling these bad bugs of summer: what they do, why they do it, tips on how to protect yourself, and the occasional trivial factoid. We’re starting… 

May 4, 2011

Bronze Doors Open for Gould

Entomology professor Fred Gould becomes NC State's ninth current faculty member elected to the National Academy of Sciences.