Even for insects, wood is a tough food source as it contains hard substances such as cellulose. To help make wood more palatable, some wood-feeding insects are assisted by symbiotic microorganisms ...

“The beetles do make a difference,” says Hans Cornelissen at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam in the Netherlands. Researchers already knew that, by killing trees, insect infestations in forests can alter ...

WORCESTER, Mass. -- A wood-devouring beetle has gained a foothold in New England, and authorities plan to cut down large numbers of infested trees and grind them up to stop the pest from spreading to ...

Arlington, Va. — It has been more than four years since Mary Gallagher noticed the small piles of ‘‘sawdust'' beneath her imported, carved-wood elephant and watched, stunned, as tiny beetles scampered ...

Which energy type promotes the biodiversity of beetles living in dead wood in the forest? That depends entirely on where the beetles are in the food chain. Energy is the key to life. For decades, ...

I can draw a clear line from my phobia of flesh-eating beetles to The Mummy (1999), in which a CGI scarab beetle burrows into a man’s hand and crawls up his arm. Real scarab beetles, I have since ...

Caroline Chaboo’s eyes light up when she talks about tortoise beetles. Like gems, they exist in myriad bright colors: shiny blue, red, orange, leaf green and transparent flecked with gold. They’re ...

Most homeowners know termites as one of nature’s most destructive pests. These tiny insects are capable of causing enormous ...

A couple of days ago, I was working on the grapevines tying up some wayward canes and removing unwanted growth when all of a sudden a huge brown beetle fell from the vines and clung to my bare arm ...

A possible (and less strange) answer might have been “absolutely nothing,” had it not been for a potential marketing ploy by a pest control consultant service at the University of California at Davis.

Caroline Chaboo’s eyes light up when she talks about tortoise beetles. Like gems, they exist in myriad bright colors: shiny blue, red, orange, leaf green and transparent flecked with gold. They’re ...

This article was originally featured on Knowable Magazine. Caroline Chaboo’s eyes light up when she talks about tortoise beetles. Like gems, they exist in myriad bright colors: shiny blue, red, orange ...