Speedy tiger beetles use antennae to 'see' while running

Speed is blinding. Just ask the tiger beetle, the fastest insect its size. Though predatory tiger beetles have excellent sight, when they chase prey, they run so fast they can no longer see where they are going.

Cornell researchers have discovered that, unlike insects that wave their “feelers” around to acquire information, tiger beetles rigidly hold their antennae directly in front of them to mechanically sense their environments and avoid obstacles while running, according to a study published online Feb. 5 in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

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A beetle collected by Darwin reappears 182 years after its discovery

In 1832 Charles Darwin's Beagle landed in Bahia Blanca, Argentina, where he traveled by land to Buenos Aires. In this population Darwin collected several fossils of large mammals, in addition to many living organisms, including various insects.

One was a new beetle for science that became part of the collections of the Museum of Natural History in London . However, for more than 180 years we lost track and Stylianos Chatzimanolis , entomologist at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga ( USA ) , has given him .
"I received several insects on loan from the Museum of London, and to my surprise I noticed that one of them had picked Darwin. Finding a new species is always exciting to find one laid out by Darwin is truly amazing ," said Chatzimanolis .

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New Species of Rhinoceros Beetle Found in Bolivia

The new species belongs to the very rare beetle genus Oryctophileurus.

“Like the other species of the genus, the new species might be rare or has a cryptic way of life,” wrote Dr Robert Perger from the Colección Boliviana de Fauna and Dr Paschoal Grossi from the Universidade Federal do Paraná, co-authors of the paper published in the journal ZooKeys.

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Beetles trick plants with microbe-laced vomit

Bacteria living inside Colorado potato beetles can fool plants into thinking they’re being attacked by a microbe, rather than a chewing herbivore.

Beetles don’t have salivary glands and so they regurgitate oral secretions onto leaves to begin digestion. These secretions contain gut bacteria.

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Dung Beetles Clean Air

Dairy farms and cattle ranches are a major source of greenhouse gases, especially methane, which has a significant warming impact in the environment.

It's primarily released from both ends of cows as they chew their cud, but some is also emitted from their manure. Researchers from the University of Helskinki have found that dung beetles living in these so-called cow patties may reduce those emissions.

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