Welcome Back to the Lab! When Beatlemania swept across the planet in the early and mid-60’s, beetlemania was already alive and well in Japan, and had been for generations. Japanese children […]

Welcome Back to the Lab! This week I want to introduce you to our small herd of Odontotaenius disjunctus, or Bess Beetles! These ground-dwelling, social insects belong to the family Passalidae, which […]

Welcome Back to the Lab! Missoula hasn’t seen a lot of snow this winter, at least, not nearly as much as I would like; in fact, this winter has been […]

Welcome Back to the Lab! And Happy New Year! I think I speak for everyone when I say I’m ready to wash my hands of 2020. But there were a few […]

Welcome back to the lab! And Merry Christmas! We’re diving into more folklore this week with the legend of the Christmas Spider! This tale has its origins in Eastern Europe, […]

During last week’s Online Bug Encounter, we dove into the history and folklore behind woolly bear caterpillars and their ability to “predict” the severity of the upcoming winter. The term “woolly […]

For the past several weeks, we’ve been hard at work wrapping up our citizen science projects for the year. We can’t wait to provide you with updates, but until then, […]

This week, we’re wrapping up our series on insect winter ecology with what could be the most extreme winter survival strategy of all: Freeze tolerance. Freeze tolerance is a strategy […]

In honor of the holiday, we’re taking a break from our series on Insect Winter Ecology to revisit a previous issue on building better bee houses. Native bees are important […]

Last week, we kicked off our series on insect winter ecology with a look into a well-known overwintering strategy: Migration. But not all insects have the luxury of simply fleeing colder […]