Questions tagged [entomology]

The scientific study of Insects. If the question is about some other group of arthropod use 'arthropod' tag.

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Can HIV be transmitted via mosquitos?

It is known that HIV is usually transmitted by direct blood or body fluid contact between an infected individual and a healthy person (like blood transfusion or needle sharing): Suppose a mosquito ...
rishab bairagi's user avatar
84 votes
2 answers
8k views

What's up with this leaf?

This cool design was "tattooed" on this leaf. I found it on the windshield of my car. What's up with it?
Jossie Calderon's user avatar
66 votes
2 answers
9k views

Do ants or other insects sleep, and if so why?

I was thinking yesterday about insects (as there was a spider in the house, and I couldn't help but think of anything else, even though they aren't insects), and I started to wonder if ants sleep? ...
J_mie6's user avatar
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49 votes
1 answer
5k views

What is this wasp killing insect?

I spotted these two in my garden. What is this insect? He had firm control over the wasp and was just hanging on by one leg. He appeared to hold on until the wasp stopped moving and then flew away ...
bburk707's user avatar
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46 votes
1 answer
41k views

Why do cockroaches flip over when they die?

This question has always mystified me since young. For beetles, I can reason that they flip over because they have a higher centre of gravity causing them to be in unstable equilibrium when they tuck ...
Question Overflow's user avatar
45 votes
2 answers
5k views

How do cockroaches resist the effects of ionizing radiation?

Cockroaches are very hardy insects. It is known that, among other things, they are able to withstand bursts of ionizing radiation that would kill a human being. The explanations of this observed ...
user avatar
42 votes
1 answer
17k views

Why do ants live so long?

I was surprised to learn that worker ants in some species live many years. I would have expected a lifespan of a few weeks or months (which is apparently the case for many species). What factors ...
yep's user avatar
  • 523
39 votes
1 answer
10k views

Insect identification - Is this a bedbug?

This bug was found on a couch in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. The couch, and the two beds in the room show no signs of other bugs. Is this a bed bug that I should worry about or something harmless? It ...
Nick Criswell's user avatar
39 votes
2 answers
20k views

What do ants do with human finger nails?

There is place in my house where I cut my nails. Here, there is an ant hole where an ant colony is seen. Whenever I cut my nails from here, they take my nails inside their hole. I was wondering what ...
Aishwarya Shiva's user avatar
36 votes
2 answers
13k views

How many mosquitoes would it take to "drain" enough blood to put a person into shock?

I'm just curious, how many mosquito "bites" (mosquitoes which have removed blood from a person) would it take to remove enough blood to put a person into shock? (Putting aside all reasons why it ...
Nolohice's user avatar
  • 516
33 votes
2 answers
7k views

What do butterflies eat?

I found a beautiful scarce-swallowtail butterfly in my storeroom, but it was kind of frozen and couldn't fly away. So, I put it on my terrace in the sun. After a little bit, it flew a few meters away ...
Yves LaFayette's user avatar
33 votes
2 answers
3k views

Why doesn't blood remain on a mosquito's proboscis in quantities that could spread blood-borne diseases?

We know that HIV can't be transmitted by mosquitos, and nor can other highly virulent viruses that are transmitted through blood and bodily fluid exchanges, such as Ebola (thankfully!). Marcus Junius ...
user56reinstatemonica8's user avatar
32 votes
1 answer
5k views

What is this bizarre looking animal we found in the forest? Bug identification

Please can someone identify this? I can't find anything on the Internet like it. 2 cm long. North Bohemian mountains (Czech Republic).
Sentinel's user avatar
  • 435
30 votes
2 answers
1k views

What are the trajectories of flying insects?

Many flying insects tend to have very jagged trajectories. For moves of a fruit fly looks like a random walk. Is there any research on the properties of trajectories (e.g. their fractal dimension or ...
Piotr Migdal's user avatar
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29 votes
1 answer
4k views

Why do wasps have "wasp waists"? What's been optimized?

I photographed these (unidentified) wasps on a sunny but cool winter day in northern Taiwan because they were conspicuously hanging out on a hand railing and had much lighter coloring than I'd ever ...
uhoh's user avatar
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27 votes
1 answer
7k views

What is this droplet of liquid that comes out of a mosquito?

I have been looking at pictures of different species of mosquito and several times I came across pictures where the mosquito seems to be secreting some kind of fluid. In the pictures one can clearly ...
user avatar
26 votes
1 answer
4k views

Bird brain-eating Mantis - how does it crack the skull?

The New York Times' Science article Birds Beware: The Praying Mantis Wants Your Brain is a good read and is well researched. Apparently the larger Mantises have been documented to occasionally kill ...
uhoh's user avatar
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25 votes
1 answer
4k views

What kind of creature is this?

I saw this on Facebook today and have tried researching it myself, but I have had no luck.
Gareth Stanford's user avatar
25 votes
4 answers
6k views

How to get rid of mosquitoes in a small lake

I own a small lake. Give or take it is about 50 meters wide and 100 meters long (or 160 feet wide, 320 feet long), with a max depth of around 2 meters / 6.5 feet. One third of the lake is surrounded ...
Thorst's user avatar
  • 352
25 votes
1 answer
6k views

Do insects' muscles become stronger with exercise?

I am curious to know if insect muscles become stronger with exercise, because I have seen many insects get tired out, but I have never seen one get stronger. They always seem to become permanently ...
J. Musser's user avatar
  • 3,717
24 votes
2 answers
6k views

Identification: Creepy 'nope' [duplicate]

While walking back from our routine evening stroll through the hills, we stumbled upon some insect(?). It was the size of an index finger, and it appeared to have some sort of wings. While I tried to ...
Poul Kruijt's user avatar
24 votes
2 answers
2k views

How do burrowing animals get enough oxygen?

Tree borers make a small hole in a tree. At the end of it, they chew on wood to elongate the tunnel. They digest food and grow. All this takes oxygen. The entrance to the tunnel is generally small. ...
mmesser314's user avatar
23 votes
2 answers
35k views

Are mosquitoes repelled by high frequency sound?

I am totally confused whether ask this question to physics or biology stackexchange. I downloaded a mobile application which claims to repel mosquitoes. This application basically produces sound from ...
Santosh Kumar's user avatar
22 votes
3 answers
14k views

Why is a mosquito feeding on human blood not a parasite?

I recently read in my Ecology course notes that a mosquito feeding on human blood is not considered as a parasite. However, since it sucks blood from the human body, shouldn't it be regarded as a ...
user31223's user avatar
  • 339
22 votes
2 answers
3k views

Are some people more 'attractive' to mosquitos? If so, is that a hereditary trait?

Mosquitos clearly love me-- but I have been told I am just more reactive to mosquito bites. Are some people more 'attractive' to mosquitos (get bit more)? Or is it just that they are more reactive? If ...
Shannon's user avatar
  • 399
21 votes
2 answers
4k views

What is this yellowish insect?

I found this insect inside of my shoe. It is approximately 1cm in length and less than half a centimetre wide. It was found in the Netherlands, in the province Gelderland. Close shot Distant shot ...
Ebbinghaus's user avatar
  • 2,603
21 votes
2 answers
4k views

Identifying a creature that appears to be a worm wrapped in a cocoon

This creature was found on a bed. At first, I thought it was a piece of lint, but then it suddenly moved. I picked it up in a paper towel and put it in an eye cream containers, which it is currently ...
Harold's user avatar
  • 211
20 votes
3 answers
142k views

If I squash an insect and it produces red "juice", does it always mean it is a blood-sucking type?

If I squash an insect and it produces red "juice", does it always mean it is a blood-sucking type of insect? Or do some insects have red "juice" themselves, so the color is red on its own and not ...
Honza Zidek's user avatar
20 votes
1 answer
490 views

Selection for less efficient egg transfer in Human Botfly life cycle

I have heard that the Human Botfly transfers its eggs through other invertebrates, and it strikes my curiosity that if an insect could simply land on its host directly to deposit its eggs, then why ...
Galen's user avatar
  • 1,045
19 votes
3 answers
279 views

Where can I find historical data on world-wide ecology parameters?

I hope this is the right StackExchange forum for such a question. I'm looking for large data sets on world-wide ecology parameters, such as annual temperatures by latitude, annual rainfall, CO₂ and O₂...
Tobia's user avatar
  • 293
19 votes
1 answer
4k views

Is this a hornet?

I live on the 2nd floor of an old apartment building in Vancouver BC (Canada). A couple of years ago we had an issue with a hornets nest that was difficult to remove because of its location. They ...
Simon's user avatar
  • 293
18 votes
1 answer
15k views

What is this black and white worm in a white case?

The case is very small and it's an off white color. The thing living inside can come out of either end. It's a black and white looking worm. It will poke its head out and move everywhere! They are ...
Lynn Porter Ruck's user avatar
18 votes
2 answers
6k views

Black insect with antennas and large abdomen

I found this insect crawling outside near my house, and I have never seen anything quite like it! It was found in the summer in Denmark. Length is approx 4 cm (1.5 inc) with the antennae. What ...
Bertus's user avatar
  • 183
18 votes
2 answers
16k views

Why does black and yellow indicate danger?

It is a well-known fact that combination of black and yellow indicates danger or poisonousness. In western society it seems obvious this comes from bees and wasps, but it seems like many tropical ...
Probably's user avatar
  • 2,450
18 votes
1 answer
4k views

How do ants follow each other?

I was observing ants in my house.They all were going in a straight line and also some of the ants were coming back through the the same line. I took some water and rubbed the line with my finger, ...
Mesentery's user avatar
  • 3,275
17 votes
3 answers
3k views

Trying to identify a beetle seen in Ontario, Canada...and its babies, or parasites?

I'm trying to identify a beetle I took video of in July (around 2010) in the Muskoka region of Ontario, Canada. Attached below is a still frame. I've done some googling and was thinking this was a ...
OrbitRob's user avatar
  • 647
17 votes
2 answers
4k views

Horned Mohawk looking insect. What is it?

Any ideas? I didn't know any other way to explain it. I live in Indiana, USA if that helps. Someone said it might be a "stink bug" but I'm not sure and not willing to find out!
ansarob's user avatar
  • 515
17 votes
2 answers
2k views

Identify this insect, found in Central Vietnam, with long antennae, black wings, and red body [duplicate]

Last year this insect landed on my hand when visiting the My Son city ruins in Central Vietnam. I've been trying to identify the insect, but until now without result. Can you help me? Or do you know ...
SiTan's user avatar
  • 736
17 votes
1 answer
3k views

Identify this giant green moth(?) with great taste?

One evening in late February I sat down to eat dinner after a day of hiking in hills around New Taipei City and discovered that someone else shared my taste in clothes. A very large green moth-like ...
uhoh's user avatar
  • 5,418
17 votes
1 answer
1k views

Help me identify this insect from Bangladesh

I have seen this insect flying literally everywhere in Dhaka city (Bangladesh) over the last two months. It's small -- around 1-1.5 inches long. It's not an agile flyer and can be easily grabbed by ...
Ahmed Abdullah's user avatar
17 votes
1 answer
488 views

Worm inside a millepede

I found a dead millipede lying on the ground in Wayand, Kerala (India). I put it in a bottle and brought it home. After around 5 hours a worm came out of it. It is about about 1.5 cm long and ...
AdDate's user avatar
  • 439
16 votes
2 answers
4k views

What is the name of this biting bug?

I just was bitten by a bug!!! It is 3mm long and has large pincers. Here is a photo: I live in Colorado. Any help identifying it would be great.
Murenrb's user avatar
  • 345
16 votes
3 answers
4k views

Do insects with compound eyes have depth perception?

Do insects with compound eyes have depth perception? They fly as if they do, but their eyes are so close together it seems like the image would be 2 dimensional.
J. Musser's user avatar
  • 3,717
16 votes
1 answer
3k views

What is this grasshopper doing?

I spotted a grasshopper standing on a pavement with a long sting placed in asphalt. I also recorded a video of it moving: https://youtu.be/JoDdg2yUuYo What is it doing?
kamilazdybal's user avatar
16 votes
2 answers
3k views

Why do mosquitoes hover over our heads?

So I play soccer in evening at a nearby park. I noticed many times that after the game and even during it many mosquitoes hover over some of us. They sort of form a structure like a tornado. The more ...
AScientist's user avatar
16 votes
2 answers
2k views

How do small animals make loud sounds?

Walking past the park today, I heard a cicada so loud I thought at first it must be some sort of large power tool. How is it that that very small animals like cicadas (crickets, etc.) can make such ...
Oreotrephes's user avatar
  • 5,799
16 votes
1 answer
311 views

What made this black cluster on a leaf?

I found this black slug-shaped thing on a leaf by my pond in western Sweden. It's about 15 mm long, positioned on a vertical leaf (I bent it to take the picture). And I don't even know where to ...
picapica's user avatar
  • 2,039
16 votes
1 answer
2k views

What is this insect in North Carolina?

This insect is in my house in North Carolina, USA. I think it shares similar body features of that of a wasp, but it is far too narrow and has what appears to be a long stinger. What is it?
Evander C's user avatar
  • 163
15 votes
2 answers
2k views

Species ID: Cape Town mystery insect

This insect bumbled into my bedroom last night - can someone ID it for me? I'm mainly curious because I'd like to know if it poses any danger to my cats (who were very eager to add it to the menu). ...
Viergacht's user avatar
  • 393
15 votes
1 answer
4k views

What is this creature I found on my house? [closed]

What is this creature and what species is this? I found this on my balcony.
Batsal's user avatar
  • 151

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