2020-09-25 - When I arrive at the Loda Cemetery Prairie Nature Preserve, Katie Dana is already out there. She’s wearing knee-high boots to ward off chiggers and ticks, and she’s carrying an insect net. Dana is on the prowl for cicadas: the loudest insects on the planet. On this hot summer day, they do not disappoint. The males are in full chorus.

2020-09-14 - In the midst of the grief, confusion and anger of the past few months, many Americans have developed a new obsession with the creepy little things in life, by which I mean bugs. I’ve never heard so many people talking about bugs as I have through this spring and summer, never seen so many social media posts dedicated to tiny critters that buzz and crawl and sting.

2020-08-07 - Join us in celebrating Entomology's Alexandra Harmon-Threatt, elected as a 2020 Early Career Fellow by the Ecological Society of America (ESA) for her critically important research in the ecology and conservation of native bee species: training the...

2020-07-07 - Researchers often study the genomes of individual organisms to try to tease out the relationship between genes and behavior. A new study of Africanized honey bees reveals, however, that the genetic inheritance of individual bees has little influence on their propensity for aggression. Instead, the genomic traits of the hive as a whole are strongly associated with how fiercely its soldiers attack...

2020-06-22 - What do Covid-19, Ebola, Lyme and AIDS have in common? They jumped to humans from animals after we started destroying habitats and ruining ecosystems.

2020-06-16 - Renowned scholar, teacher, and administrator begins role July 1 Gene Robinson, a professor of entomology and director of the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology, has been named interim dean of the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences.

2020-06-04 - As Brood IX takes flight for the first time in 17 years, cicada lovers have their ears open. Around this time of year, Marianne Alleyne hosts dozens of houseguests in her basement. Far from using camping equipment or cots, they sleep upside-down, clinging to a curtain. The entomologist at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign has collected cicadas, those...

2020-06-03 - Silver bullet or jumping the gun? This summer, for the first time, genetically modified mosquitoes could be released in the U.S. within the states of Florida and Texas. On May 1, 2020, the company Oxitec received an experimental use permit from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to release...

2020-06-01 - Dear SIB Community, At the end of May, 2020, Chancellor Jones sent out an email with a powerful message of unity for this campus - we must come together and care for one another. He reminds us that the University of Illinois is a "community committed to the scholarship, engagement, equity, inclusion and leadership that dismantles...

2020-05-12 - For the second year, University of Illinois Extension is calling all lovers of bees, butterflies, and other pollinators that keep our crops and gardens growing to join scientists in tracking their distribution and habitat use across the state.

2020-04-28 - Entomology professor Adam Dolezal and his colleagues found that infection with the Israeli acute paralysis virus increases the likelihood that infected bees are accepted by foreign colonies.

2020-03-12 - Brendan Morris discovered a new genus and species of treehopper. He named it in honor of the musical artist Lady Gaga.

2020-02-26 - Dr. Esther Ngumbi (Entomology) reports on outbreaks of insect pests and insect invasions are on the rise on the African continent.

2020-01-17 - Dr. Esther Ngumbi details how pest insects can be effectively managed in Africa. Kenyan food production and grazing land is under threat from a huge desert locust invasion. The insects are currently in two counties in northern Kenya and are now spreading to other Kenyan regions including Meru, Laikipia, and Rift Valley. The government has yet to...

2019-12-20 - Thank you for helping to make our 37th Annual Insect Fear Film Festival (IFFF) such a great success! Hosted by the Department of Entomology and the Entomology Graduate Student Association (EGSA), it was held on Saturday, February 22, 2020 in Foellinger Auditorium at UIUC.