Insects

A spider prepares to "balloon" by shooting a threat of silk out of its butt. By catching the wind with their silk, baby spiders can explore or colonize new habitats. When millions of spiders do this at the same time, it resembles rain or snow.

No, It's Not Really Raining Spiders in Australia

The arachnids are simply catching a ride on the wind

Meet the Prize-Winning Spiders From the British Tarantula Society's Annual Competition

Now in its 30th year, the arachnid-equivalent of the Westminster Dog Show showcases the strange beauty of an eight-legged obsession

A trap-jaw ant opens its massive mandibles.

Watch These Ants Hurl Themselves Out of Death Traps With Their Mouths

At least one trap-jaw ant species has coopted its exceptionally strong mandibles to escape its nemesis, the ferocious antlion

A blood-sucker creeping around on a potential victim's pristine white sheets.

How Our Modern Lives Became Infested With Bed Bugs

After being bitten by the tiny pests, author Brooke Borel set out to learn all she could about her blood-sucking foes

An Aedes aegypti mosquito stops for a quick bite.

Genes Make Some People More Attractive to Mosquitoes

Certain body odors appear to entice the pesky bloodsuckers—and those smells may be hereditary

Urchin Spheres, (Echinoidea sp.), Thailand, Philippines, United States, Mexico.

10 Gorgeous Mosaics Made From Real Animal Specimens

Artist Christopher Marley's meticulous arrangements capture the incredible variety within families, genera and species

A moth visits a male cone on Ephedra foeminea and feeds on a pollination droplet.

"Wereplant" Releases Its Pollen By the Light of the Full Moon

An unassuming shrub from the Mediterranean is the first documented case of a plant timing its reproduction to the lunar cycle

A vineyard in Pomerol, Aquitaine, France

American Bugs Almost Wiped Out France’s Wine Industry

When the Great French Wine Blight hit in the mid 1800s, the culprit turned out to be a pest from the New World that would forever alter wine production

Researchers strapped electronics onto giant flower beetles to better understand how they direct themselves during flight.

Remote Controlled Bug-Bots Could be First Responders of the Future

Scientists studying how beetles steer themselves in flight gather research that may have implications far beyond understanding bug biology

An African cotton leafworm moth.

These Moths Remember Where They Mated for the First Time

The locale of the African cotton leafworm moth’s first experience pairing up forms its future preferences, a new study shows

Dragonfly wings have a complex, rigid surface that is maintained by a network of veins. The subtle colors of this immature Black Meadowhawk are caused by sunlight reflecting off the not-quite transparent wings.

These Dragonflies Helped an Astronomer Find Ghostly New Galaxies

A Yale scientist set out to capture the insect's full lifecycle and ended up discovering hidden wonders of the cosmos

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How Praying Mantises Can Jump Faster Than the Blink of an Eye

Stunning slow-mo videos capture juvenile mantises as they corkscrew through the air and precisely land their target

A black garden ant.

Ants Have Designated Toilet Areas in Their Nests

A new study shows that black garden ants have a relatively meticulous protocol for when nature calls

Luna moths - arguably the most spectacular moths in North America - deflect bat attacks with their ornate wing tails.

Luna Moths’ Gorgeous Wings Throw Off Bat Attacks

Spinning twin tails at the end of moth wings garble bats’ sonar cries, causing the winged predators to miss the tasty mark

A honeybee visits a flower in Bath, England

City Bees Are Actually More Diverse Than Country Bees

Other pollinators don’t like urban areas as much as rural, but bees live in similar numbers across different landscapes

Cockroaches Have Personalities, Too

Feel guilty the next time you crush a cockroach

Resin, similar to the kind shown here, is used by the newly discovered caterpillar to build its cocoon.

A Newly Discovered Caterpillar Makes a Deadly Fortress of Its Cocoon

Scientists have found a caterpillar in a Borneo forest that uses toxic tree resin to build an extra-safe home for its metamorphosis

The Academy's live Lexias pardais with gynandromorphism

A Museum’s Butterfly Emerged Half Male, Half Female

The rarity is like a natural experiment that tells scientists how genes and hormones interact to produce different sexes

An Asian tiger mosquito in action.

Could GM Mosquitoes Pave the Way for a Tropical Virus to Spread?

Modified insects designed to stop dengue fever could make it easier for another disease-carrying species to take root

Ants Usually Turn Left While Exploring

It's a sinister version of human's tendency towards right-handedness

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