My picks from ScienceDaily

Guam Rhino Beetles Got Rhythm:

In May 2008 the island of Guam became a living laboratory for scientists as they attached acoustic equipment to coconut trees in order to listen for rhinoceros beetles. A grant from USDA IPM allowed Richard Mankin, a recognized world-class expert on acoustic detection of insects, to travel to Guam to collaborate with island scientists on the Guam Coconut Rhinoceros Beetle Eradication Project.

Secret To Night Vision Found In DNA's Unconventional 'Architecture':

Researchers have discovered an important element for making night vision possible in nocturnal mammals: the DNA within the photoreceptor rod cells responsible for low light vision is packaged in a very unconventional way, according to a report in the April 17th issue of Cell. That special DNA architecture turns the rod cell nuclei themselves into tiny light-collecting lenses, with millions of them in every nocturnal eye.

Ecologists Put Price Tag On Invasive Species:

Invasive species can disrupt natural and human-made ecosystems, throwing food webs out of balance and damaging the services they provide to people. Now scientists have begun to put a price tag on this damage. In a study published the week of April 20 in Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment e-view, ecologists have listed the invasive species that cause the most harm to environment and cost the most money to control.

Seabirds' Suitability As A Mate Tied To Crest Size:

A new study by researchers at the University of Alaska Fairbanks offers evidence that in one breed of northern seabird, the size of males' feather crests may be more than simple ornamentation.

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Nocturnal animals face an obvious challenge: collecting enough light to see clearly in the dark. We know about many of their tricks. They have bigger eyes and wider pupils. They have a reflective layer behind their retina called the tapetum, which reflects any light that passes through back onto it…
Its strange enough that beetles grow horns. But its especially strange that beetles grow so many kinds of horns. This picture, which was published in the latest issue of the journal Evolution, shows a tiny sampling of this diversity. The species shown here all belong to the genus Onthophagus, a…
Polarized Light Leads Animals Astray: 'Ecological Traps' Cause Animal Behaviors That Can Lead To Death: Human-made light sources can alter natural light cycles, causing animals that rely on light cues to make mistakes when moving through their environment. In the journal Frontiers in Ecology and…
tags: beetle, insects, physiology, respiration An X-ray of a yellow mealworm beetle showing the system of white tubes, or tracheae, running through its body. When I worked with and dissected insects as a graduate student, I always found their breathing apparatus to be fascinating and beautiful,…