Insects

Find out everything there is to know about insects and stay updated on the latest insect research with the comprehensive articles, interactive features and insect pictures at LiveScience.com. Learn more about these fascinating species as scientists continue to make amazing discoveries about insects.

Related Topics: Biodiversity, Butterfly, Predators, Invasive Species

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Two winged clonal raider ants stand out against a white background.

'Supergene' mutation turned ants into parasitic wannabe queens

By Sascha Pare published

Scientists have identified a mutant strain of clonal raider ants that look like miniature queens and evolved quickly because of a single "supergene" mutation.

This tiny sharpshooter insect urinates and forms a droplet of pee on its anal stylus (aka 'butt flicker’), before flicking it off.

Insect that flings pee with a butt catapult is 1st known example of 'superpropulsion' in nature

By Charles Q. Choi published

Glassy-winged sharpshooters rapidly fire their pee out of butt catapults.

A queen bumblebee.

Wild queen bees attempt to invade commercial hives, but get slaughtered by rival workers

By Harry Baker published

Wild queen bumblebees get killed by worker bees inside commercial hives after they are lured in by vibrant colors and the promise of usurping the resident queen.

Close-up photo of an ant's face.

Horrifying close-up photo of an ant is the stuff of nightmares

By Jennifer Nalewicki last updated

A zoomed-in photo of an ant is giving the internet the chills.

With high-speed video, scientists have detailed, for the first time, how predatory mosquito larvae attack and capture prey in aquatic habitats.

Mosquito larvae launch their heads like tiny harpoons to nab prey, video reveals

By Mindy Weisberger last updated

Researchers have captured the first-ever footage of mosquito larvae flinging their heads at prey in deadly hunting strikes.

close-up of a reddish brown ant with long antennae against a white background

These ant queens live 500% longer than workers. Now we know why.

By Nicoletta Lanese published

Indian jumping ants that become queens can slow their aging.

This 3D scan shows the special pockets where the beetle larva stores its protective bacteria.

3D scans reveal that beetles have secret pockets on their backs

By JoAnna Wendel published

From the moment they hatch, Lagria beetles carry symbiotic bacteria by stashing them in special pockets.

Monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) on a milkweed plant flower in Ontario, Canada.

Monarch butterflies teetering ‘on the edge of collapse,’ added to endangered species list

By Stephanie Pappas published

The migratory monarch is threatened by habitat loss, pesticide and herbicide use, and climate change.

A slow-motion movie of a trap-jaw ant (Odontomachus brunneus) releasing its mandibles.

Trap-jaw ants' lightning-fast bite should rip their heads apart. Here's why it doesn't.

By Nicoletta Lanese published

A unique "dual spring" powers the ant's jaws.

The parasitic wasp, Hambletonia dominicana, is known to prey on a variety of insects.

Amber tomb of 'dancing' wasp and delicate flower also hides a gruesome secret

By Mindy Weisberger published

About 30 million years ago, resin hardened around a flower and a parasitic wasp, preserving clues to their relationship in an ancient ecosystem.

A wasp larva curls forward to take a bite out of its nestmate. Body lengths of the cannibal and its victim were about 0.8 inches (20 millimeters).

Cannibal wasp babies eat their siblings, because nature is brutal

By Mindy Weisberger published

When food starts running low in wasp larvae nurseries, the babies resort to cannibalism in order to survive.

Tawny crazy ants (Nylanderia fulva) are so named because of their quick and unpredictable movements.

Invasive crazy ants are being annihilated by murder fungus. Good.

By Mindy Weisberger published

Crazy ant colonies in North America are being driven to extinction by a fungus that targets the invasive pest species.

The larva of a Monomorium triviale queen ant looks like an alien doll

Larva ant queen looks like an alien doll in trippy new microscope images

By Brandon Specktor published

Larval ant queen is covered in 'doorknob-like' lumps in the images. Scientists have no idea what all those "doorknob-like" lumps are for.

The invasive species is harmless to people, but as an invasive species their impact on the local ecology still needs to be studied.

Millions of palm-sized, flying spiders could invade the East Coast, scientists say

By Ben Turner published

Scientists believe that Joro spiders arrived in the U.S. as stowaways in a shipping container.

The rear end of Araneus praesignis, an orb-weaving spider found in Australia, displays prominent markings that look like eyes, earning it the common name "Alien Butt Spider."

Anal bulbs, detachable butt hairs and booty camouflage: Welcome to #InverteButtWeek on Twitter

By Mindy Weisberger published

Invertebrate butts are both diverse and bizarre, and are being celebrated on Twitter in art, photos and video.

Eumilipes persephone

Newfound millipede breaks world record for the most legs

By Cameron Duke published

The millipede has over 1,300 legs and was found deep underneath Western Australia.

Why would male flies mate with dead females? A fungus made them do it.

Mind-controlling fungus makes male flies mate with dead, infected females

By Mindy Weisberger published

The pathogenic fungus Entomophthora muscae doesn't just kill the flies it infects; it also turns males into sex-crazed necrophiliacs.

After giant hornets (Vespa soror) invade the bees' hives, they slaughter the adults and take the bees' young to feed their own larvae.

Bees 'shriek' when attacked by giant cousins of 'murder hornets'

By Mindy Weisberger published

Asian honey bees rally against giant hornet invasions with an acoustic response that resembles the alarm shrieks of birds, primates and other social mammals.

A periodical cicada from Brood XIII, which emerged in 2007, sits on a fence at a forest preserve in Willow Springs, Illinois.

Cicadas: Facts about the loud, seasonal insects

By Mindy Weisberger published

Cicadas are winged insects that are known for their cyclical lifespans and loud choral songs.

Parantica cleona, an Indonesian butterfly, contemplates its next meal.

Milkweed butterflies tear open caterpillars and drink them alive

By Mindy Weisberger published

These ghastly meals provide male butterflies with chemicals that they use to produce mating pheromones, which female butterflies find irresistible.