Hiromi Yagui, Michael Kearney & Ary Hoffmann Most grasshoppers can fly and some, notably locusts, can travel thousands of kilometres. However, there is a whole family of grasshoppers in Australia that can’t fly at all, and they are not very good at hopping either. These are the morabine (or ‘matchstick’) grasshoppers, comprising around 240 species […]
Dr Perran Stott-Ross and Professor Ary Hoffmann Artwork by Tank Monsternova https://www.monsternova.art/ This article was first published on Pursuit. Read the original article. The more we learn about the biological world, the more complex it becomes. Nowhere is this more apparent than in recent discoveries about the ways in which microorganisms influence their hosts. The […]
By Véronique Paris, Nick Bell and Professor Ary Hoffmann This article was first published on Pursuit. Read the original article. It’s evening and you’re just starting to relax after a hectic day. Just as you do, you hear the unmistakable high whine of a circling mosquito. It’s something most of us are used to in […]
With all the wet weather in the South and East of Australia there is a surge in interest in the various insects enjoying the conditions. Here Eddie is interviewed on ABC Riverland, you can skip to 2:16:10 to hear the discussion.
Molecular biosecurity: Genomic databanks for managing invasive pests – Tom Schmidt Insect pests frequently establish invasions in Australia or are detected as incursions at borders, but little is often known about where they’ve come from or how best to manage them now they are here. One way to investigate these questions is to sequence and […]
Predicting the future threat of mosquitoes under climate change – Perran Stott-Ross Mosquitoes are major global pests, transmitting harmful pathogens to humans and livestock and causing significant nuisance biting. Climate change will lead to unprecedented temperature increases in Australia, shifting the habitats that are suitable for mosquitoes. Insects are capable of rapid evolution, but we […]
Ann J. Stocker Scaptodrosophila are a diverse group of flies whose appearance is very similar to the widespread and widely studied Drosophila. The genus is estimated to have diverged within the drosophilid lineage during the Cretaceous period about 70 million years ago. It was originally considered a subgenus of Drosophila and called Pholadoris in earlier […]
This article was first published on Pursuit. Read the original article. Dr Perran Stott-Ross Story Producer: Nerissa Hannink Dengue fever and other mosquito-borne diseases remain a massive threat to human health and wellbeing. Urbanisation and climate change are likely to increase this threat as established mosquitoes spread to new environments and gain a foothold. Eradicating […]
This article was first published on Pursuit. Read the original article. Dr Michael Magrath, Dr Steve Sinclair, Hiromi Yagui, Professor Ary Hoffmann and Professor Michael Kearney Insects in our environment are unsung heroes. These ‘mini-beasts’ are often inconspicuous, but they may have a huge impact on the health of ecosystems that sustain humanity. They pollinate […]