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		<title>Conservation news</title>
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		<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/moths/</link>
		<description>Environmental science and conservation news</description>
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	<title>News on Moths</title>
	<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/moths/</link>
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				<item>
					<title>Bogong moths support Australia’s alpine ecosystems, but face uncertain future</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/bogong-moths-support-australias-alpine-ecosystems-but-face-uncertain-future/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/bogong-moths-support-australias-alpine-ecosystems-but-face-uncertain-future/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 Aug 2026 08:45:18 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hannah Thomasy]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Yenni Kwok]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/25073757/bogong-moth-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=327204</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Australia and Oceania]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Biology, Conservation, Ecosystem Engineers, Ecosystems, Endangered Species, Environment, Insects, Moths, Research, Science, Species, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[At first glance, Australia’s bogong moth is a decidedly unspectacular-looking creature. The moths are typically a dark, mottled brown and each weighs less than a Tic Tac mint or half a gram. But looks can be deceiving. Every spring in the Southern Hemisphere, from September to November, billions of bogong moths (Agrotis infusa) undertake an [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[At first glance, Australia’s bogong moth is a decidedly unspectacular-looking creature. The moths are typically a dark, mottled brown and each weighs less than a Tic Tac mint or half a gram. But looks can be deceiving. Every spring in the Southern Hemisphere, from September to November, billions of bogong moths (Agrotis infusa) undertake an epic journey. Using the stars and the Earth’s magnetic field, these tiny insects navigate hundreds of kilometers across Australia. Their destination is the Australian Alps, located in the far southeast corner of the country, where they will shelter in cool caves for the duration of the summer. The moths are a critical resource for the many rare and wonderful species that live in these mountains. “The whole [alpine] zone relies on the bogong moths,” said Marissa Parrott, a senior conservation biologist at Zoos Victoria. “They’re the second largest influx of nutrients into the Alps every year, beaten only by the sun.” But the moth’s future is far from certain. Their numbers have been slowly declining since the 1980s, and in 2017, populations crashed, likely due to extreme drought across much of southeastern Australia. A bogong moth in Sydney. Image by John Tann via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0). At several locations, cave walls that had once been densely blanketed with moths — several thousand occupying each square meter (equivalent to 11 square feet) — were all but empty. “They went from four billion to nearly undetectable,” Parrott said. Population collapse The population collapse threatens the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/bogong-moths-support-australias-alpine-ecosystems-but-face-uncertain-future/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/bogong-moths-support-australias-alpine-ecosystems-but-face-uncertain-future/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-327204</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Citizen science rediscovers rare South African moth</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/citizen-science-rediscovers-rare-south-african-moth/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/citizen-science-rediscovers-rare-south-african-moth/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>11 Feb 2026 13:00:22 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ryan Truscott]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/02/11114336/Drepanogynis-insciata-Cameron-Scott-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=314094</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, South Africa, and Southern Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Citizen Science, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Endangered Species, Environment, Grasslands, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Insects, Moths, Rediscovered Species, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A strikingly handsome emerald-green moth, lost to science for nearly one-and-a-half centuries, has been rediscovered in South Africa by citizen scientists who posted photographs of it online. The moth, Drepanogynis insciata, whose body and wing margins look as though they’ve been stained with red wine, was thought to be extinct. The species hadn’t been recorded [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A strikingly handsome emerald-green moth, lost to science for nearly one-and-a-half centuries, has been rediscovered in South Africa by citizen scientists who posted photographs of it online. The moth, Drepanogynis insciata, whose body and wing margins look as though they’ve been stained with red wine, was thought to be extinct. The species hadn’t been recorded since two male specimens were collected near the Western Cape town of Swellendam around 1875. Scientists only knew of the moth from those two faded specimens, which are kept in London’s Natural History Museum. However, according to a recent article in ZooKeys, a dozen separate sightings were recorded in four different locations between 2020 and 2023 and uploaded onto iNaturalist, the citizen science website. They were the first photographs ever taken of live specimens. Male specimens of Drepanogynis insciata have now been observed in the Gondwana Private Nature Reserve on four occasions. Image courtesy of Mikael Englund. Screenshot of iNaturalist page showing pictures of D. insciata. When the first of those photographs, taken by Cameron Scott in the Gondwana Private Game Reserve, around 160 kilometers (100 miles) west of Swellendam, was uploaded to the site in September 2020, South African lepidopterist Hermann Staude got a tip-off about his intriguing picture. “I looked, and there it was — insciata — [a] living animal,” Staude told Mongabay. “That was quite an incredible feeling, to all of a sudden see something that you thought might have been extinct.” Staude asked Scott to catch a moth if he saw&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/citizen-science-rediscovers-rare-south-african-moth/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/citizen-science-rediscovers-rare-south-african-moth/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-314094</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Southern African caterpillar that feeds millions may be next climate casualty</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/06/southern-african-caterpillar-that-feeds-millions-may-be-next-climate-casualty/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/06/southern-african-caterpillar-that-feeds-millions-may-be-next-climate-casualty/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Jun 2023 12:13:28 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ryan Truscott]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Food systems]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/06/15114407/mopane-worms-2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=269856</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa and Southern Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Adaptation To Climate Change, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Conservation, Endangered Species, Environment, Food, food security, Global Environmental Crisis, Habitat Loss, Impact Of Climate Change, Indigenous Peoples, and Moths]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Climate change will severely reduce the distribution of a caterpillar that’s harvested, sold and eaten by millions of people across Southern Africa, with some regions projected to lose nearly 100% of suitable habitat for the insects even under a moderate climate change scenario, a new study suggests. The mopane worm (Gonimbrasia belina) feeds mostly on [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Climate change will severely reduce the distribution of a caterpillar that’s harvested, sold and eaten by millions of people across Southern Africa, with some regions projected to lose nearly 100% of suitable habitat for the insects even under a moderate climate change scenario, a new study suggests. The mopane worm (Gonimbrasia belina) feeds mostly on the butterfly-shaped leaves of the tree of the same name, Colophospermum mopane, a deciduous species that grows in mixed woodland or forms vast pure stands. But rising temperatures will severely restrict the places where mopane trees can grow, and, consequently, where the mopane worms can flourish, according to the study published in Frontiers of Biogeography. The scientists behind the work devised species distribution models to predict the future range of the caterpillars in Botswana, Zimbabwe and South Africa, where mopane worms are most abundant, under two different climate change scenarios. Even under the less-extreme scenario, known as RCP4.5, in which carbon emissions peak in 2040 and then decline, suitable habitat of the caterpillars will shrink overall by 56% within the next 60 years, the study says. This represents a decline from the current 649,000 square kilometers to 285,000 km2 (251,000-110,000 square miles). Maps showing changes in suitable habitat for mopane caterpillars under a moderate climate change scenario, RCP 4.5 (in which global carbon emissions peak in 2040): dark blue areas indicate range where the caterpillars can be expected to thrive. Images courtesy of Shen, D. Y., et al. The biggest impact will be felt in&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/06/southern-african-caterpillar-that-feeds-millions-may-be-next-climate-casualty/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/06/southern-african-caterpillar-that-feeds-millions-may-be-next-climate-casualty/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-269856</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Air pollution makes it tough for pollinators to stop and smell the flowers</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/02/air-pollution-makes-it-tough-for-pollinators-to-stop-and-smell-the-flowers/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/02/air-pollution-makes-it-tough-for-pollinators-to-stop-and-smell-the-flowers/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Feb 2022 19:16:12 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/02/10190028/Bee_in_almond_flower-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=252592</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global and United Kingdom]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Air Pollution, Animals, Bees, Biodiversity, Butterflies, Climate Change, Conservation, Deforestation, Endangered Species, Environment, Green, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Habitat Degradation, Habitat Loss, Herbicides, Insects, Moths, Pesticides, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Amid the smog, butterflies, bees and other insects are having a hard time smelling the flowers they so dutifully pollinate. Researchers found that common, ground-level air pollutants such as nitrogen oxides (found in diesel exhaust fumes) and ozone react with floral scents, leading to reduced pollination, according to a newly published study in the journal [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Amid the smog, butterflies, bees and other insects are having a hard time smelling the flowers they so dutifully pollinate. Researchers found that common, ground-level air pollutants such as nitrogen oxides (found in diesel exhaust fumes) and ozone react with floral scents, leading to reduced pollination, according to a newly published study in the journal Environmental Pollution. “We knew from our previous lab studies that diesel exhaust can have negative effects on insect pollinators, but the impacts we found in the field were much more dramatic than we had expected,” said Robbie Girling, project leader and associate professor in agroecology at the University of Reading, U.K. A western honeybee (Apis mellifera) carrying pollen. Photo by Andreas Trepte (CC BY SA 2.5). Over the course of two summers, researchers used a fumigation facility to control levels of nitrogen oxides and ozone over an open field of black mustard plants and observed the effects of these pollutants on pollination by local, free-flying insects. The presence of these gases resulted in up to 90% fewer flower visits and one-third less pollination than in a smog-free field. The largest decrease in pollination came from bees, flies, moths and butterflies. The concentrations of pollutants used in the study were less than half the average levels of air pollutants defined as safe under U.S. law. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), in 2019, 99% of the Earth’s population lived in places where air quality guidelines were not met. “The findings are worrying because these pollutants&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/02/air-pollution-makes-it-tough-for-pollinators-to-stop-and-smell-the-flowers/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/02/air-pollution-makes-it-tough-for-pollinators-to-stop-and-smell-the-flowers/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-252592</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Death by 1,000 cuts: Are major insect losses imperiling life on Earth?</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/01/death-by-1000-cuts-are-major-insect-losses-imperiling-life-on-earth/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/01/death-by-1000-cuts-are-major-insect-losses-imperiling-life-on-earth/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 Jan 2021 18:52:08 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/01/25182909/vassen-cover-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=238940</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Covering the Commons and Planetary Boundaries]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Animals, Bees, Beetles, Biodiversity, Butterflies, Climate Change, Conservation, Deforestation, Endangered Species, Environment, Extinction, Forest Destruction, Forests, Green, Habitat Degradation, Habitat Loss, Herbicides, Insects, Moths, Pesticides, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Chances are, the works of the world’s insects touch your lips every day. The coffee or tea you savor, both are insect pollinated. Apples, oranges, cabbages, cashews, cherries, carrots, broccoli, watermelon, garlic, cinnamon, basil, sunflower seeds, almonds, canola oil — all are insect pollinated. Honey, dyes, even some vaccines require insects to come to fruition. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Chances are, the works of the world’s insects touch your lips every day. The coffee or tea you savor, both are insect pollinated. Apples, oranges, cabbages, cashews, cherries, carrots, broccoli, watermelon, garlic, cinnamon, basil, sunflower seeds, almonds, canola oil — all are insect pollinated. Honey, dyes, even some vaccines require insects to come to fruition. Vital to the world’s food web, nested in nutrient cycling, and embedded in industries — the closer we look, the more we see insects as vital to maintaining life’s frameworks. Referring to this fact, famed biologist E.O. Wilson wrote in 1987, “[I]f invertebrates were to disappear, I doubt the human species could last more than a few months.” Which is why the precipitous decline of insects is raising alarms. Insect populations are being reduced at varying rates across space and time, but on average, the decline in their abundance is thought to be around 1-2% per year, or 10-20% per decade. The rusty patched bumble bee (Bombus affinis) is endangered throughout its range in North America. Photo by Jill Utrup/USFWS (CC BY 2.0) “Think of a landowner with a million-dollar house on a river that&#8217;s a little bit wild. And they&#8217;re losing 10% to 20% of their land every decade, and it&#8217;s horrifying. It means that after even a century, you really don&#8217;t have anything left,” David Wagner, an entomologist with the University of Connecticut told Mongabay in an interview. That, he says of this comparison, is the danger we now face. Wagner has just edited&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/01/death-by-1000-cuts-are-major-insect-losses-imperiling-life-on-earth/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/01/death-by-1000-cuts-are-major-insect-losses-imperiling-life-on-earth/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-238940</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>One year on: Insects still in peril as world struggles with global pandemic</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/11/one-year-on-insects-still-in-peril-as-world-struggles-with-global-pandemic/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/11/one-year-on-insects-still-in-peril-as-world-struggles-with-global-pandemic/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>11 Nov 2020 16:05:58 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/11/10132417/7-BANNER-IMAGE-7-768x446.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=236705</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Almost Famous Animals and Saving Life on Earth: Words on the Wild]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Asia, Australia, Central America, Costa Rica, Europe, European Union, Germany, Global, Latin America, North America, South America, Tropics, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Agrochemicals, Animals, Bees, Beetles, Biodiversity, Biodiversity Hotspots, Butterflies, Climate Change, Conservation, Controversial, Deforestation, Ecology, Ecosystems, Endangered Species, Environment, Extinction, Extreme Weather, Farming, Food, Food Industry, food security, Forests, Global Environmental Crisis, Green, Habitat, Habitat Degradation, Habitat Loss, Herbicides, Industrial Agriculture, Insects, Land Use Change, Logging, Mass Extinction, Moths, Natural Capital, Pesticides, Pollinators, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Research, Temperate Forests, Tropical Deforestation, Weather, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[This article is a one year follow up to the award-winning series, The Great Insect Dying published in June, 2019 on Mongabay. The original series documents insect losses in Europe, the U.S. and the tropics — here’s what we know today.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A green hoverfly in Malinidi, Kenya. Image by Dino J. Martins. In the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, in the heart of a what was increasingly a global lockdown, the rains finally came to East Africa. They came after several years of drought and less-than-stellar rainy seasons. And with these rains, came the insects, says Dino Joseph Martins, the executive director of the Mpala Research Center. “There&#8217;s been this beautiful flash of butterflies and everybody&#8217;s with their families or at home, or trying to entertain their kids that are not in school, and looking at things in the garden or going on walks,” Martins said in August. Martins, an entomologist and butterfly aficionado, has become so “inundated” by questions from curious insect onlookers in lockdown that he’s considering “quitting social media” just to have some time to breathe again. “I think there has been a much broader appreciation of nature [during the pandemic] and it&#8217;s because of the loneliness of lockdown, the isolation,” says Martins. “This has been such a blow for so many people.” But, according to the scientist, the pandemic has also unexpectedly awakened many people to the marvels of the natural world and our interconnectedness with it. It’s a happy anecdote in a year that has seen not only wrenching global change due to the pandemic, but also reams of new research on the potential decline of insects around the world, often dubbed more dramatically as the “insect apocalypse” by the media. Parataxonomists building a DNA barcode&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/11/one-year-on-insects-still-in-peril-as-world-struggles-with-global-pandemic/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-236705</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Mongabay investigative series helps confirm global insect decline</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/06/mongabay-investigative-series-helps-confirm-global-insect-decline/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/06/mongabay-investigative-series-helps-confirm-global-insect-decline/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Jun 2019 11:48:56 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2019/06/24100750/2-480946-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=219729</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[The Great Insect Crisis]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Amazon, Asia, Europe, European Union, Germany, Global, Latin America, Mexico, North America, Puerto Rico, South America, Southeast Asia, and Tropics]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Agrochemicals, Animals, Beetles, Biodiversity, Biodiversity Hotspots, Butterflies, Climate Change, Conservation, Controversial, Deforestation, Ecology, Ecosystems, Endangered Species, Environment, Extinction, Extreme Weather, Forests, Global Environmental Crisis, Green, Habitat, Habitat Degradation, Habitat Loss, Herbicides, Industrial Agriculture, Insects, Land Use Change, Logging, Mass Extinction, Moths, Natural Capital, Pesticides, Pollinators, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Research, Spiders, Temperate Forests, Tropical Deforestation, Weather, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Near consensus found among 24 entomologists and scientists working on 6 continents: Insects are likely in serious global decline, but much more data needed.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Read the entire series by Mongabay senior contributor Jeremy Hance here As night falls, numerous insects still fly to the artificial lights of homes in the Kenyan bush. But entomologist Dino Joseph Martins vividly recalls a time when the numbers swarming nightly above his outdoor table were staggering. “You would struggle … to eat your supper because you would have endless beetles and [flying] things falling in your … soup,” he recalls. Today, “that happens far less,” making outdoor dining more pleasant, but far more disquieting. Now Mongabay, in an exclusive four-part series, “The Great Insect Dying,” takes a deep dive into the so-called “Insect Apocalypse.” Interviews with 24 researchers on six continents, and working in 12 nations, are at the heart of the report — likely the most in-depth published on the looming insect abundance crisis by any news media outlet to date. Answers, so far, rest on the hard evidence found in a mere handful of studies, and on the anecdotal, though expert, observations by scientists. Despite limited peer-reviewed research, the scientists interviewed are in near consensus, agreeing that insects are very likely in significant decline globally. Part One of the series, an introduction to the issue, looks at the hard evidence. First news of a possible “Insect Apocalypse” broke in 2017 with groundbreaking research in temperate Europe, where researchers were stunned to learn that flying insect abundance fell by 75 percent in just 27 years in Germany’s nature reserves. Then, in 2018, tropical researchers reported that total&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/06/mongabay-investigative-series-helps-confirm-global-insect-decline/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/06/mongabay-investigative-series-helps-confirm-global-insect-decline/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-219729</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>How to save insects and ourselves</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/06/the-great-insect-dying-how-to-save-insects-and-ourselves/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/06/the-great-insect-dying-how-to-save-insects-and-ourselves/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 Jun 2019 09:50:16 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2019/06/06175222/1280px-Compound_eye_of_a_Bumblebee-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=219219</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[The Great Insect Crisis]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Amazon, Asia, Borneo, Central America, Costa Rica, European Union, Germany, Global, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Latin America, Netherlands, North America, Oceania, Puerto Rico, South Africa, South America, Southeast Asia, and Tropics]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Agrochemicals, Animals, Beetles, Biodiversity, Biodiversity Hotspots, Butterflies, Cattle, Climate Change, Conservation, Controversial, Deforestation, Ecology, Ecosystems, Endangered Species, Environment, Extinction, Extreme Weather, Forests, Global Environmental Crisis, Green, Habitat, Habitat Degradation, Habitat Loss, Herbicides, Industrial Agriculture, Insects, Land Use Change, Logging, Mass Extinction, Moths, Natural Capital, Pesticides, Pollinators, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Ranching, Research, Spiders, Temperate Forests, Tropical Deforestation, Weather, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In the fourth and final story of this exclusive Mongabay series, entomologists around the world offer far ranging solutions to curb and reverse the great insect die-off.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In recent months a debate over whether a global insect apocalypse is underway has raged in the mainstream media and among researchers. To assess the range of scientific opinion, Mongabay interviewed 24 entomologists and other scientists working on six continents, in more than a dozen countries, to better determine what we know, what we don’t, and most importantly — what we should do about it. This is part 4 of a four part exclusive series written by Mongabay senior contributor Jeremy Hance. Click on the following links to read part 1, part 2, and part 3. They formed the unlikeliest of survey teams: in 2017, University of Reno entomologist Lee Dyer, graduate student Danielle Salcido, and executives from some of the world’s biggest banks spent a week roughing it at a gathering facilitated by the Earthwatch Institute. The team chatted, laughed, hiked and scrounged the coniferous forests of Arizona’s Chiricahua National Forest hunting for bugs. At night, the researchers gave presentations about the impacts of global warming on insect populations. On the last day, a researcher offered a talk on the value of native plantings around homes — a message that really connected. “They loved that talk; discussion ensued, and they left with excitement to plant native trees in their yards,” says Salcido. But she worries whether this small-scale solution undercut a week’s worth of messaging to get these powerful people to comprehend the links between a rapidly warming world, plummeting insect populations, and the impacts both may have on ecosystems and civilization.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/06/the-great-insect-dying-how-to-save-insects-and-ourselves/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/06/the-great-insect-dying-how-to-save-insects-and-ourselves/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-219219</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>The tropics in trouble and some hope</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/06/the-great-insect-dying-the-tropics-in-trouble-and-some-hope/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/06/the-great-insect-dying-the-tropics-in-trouble-and-some-hope/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Jun 2019 11:12:58 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2019/06/06134017/Coleoptera_SMNK_web-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=219216</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[The Great Insect Crisis]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Amazon, Australia, Borneo, Brazil, Congo Basin, East Africa, Global, Indonesia, Kenya, Latin America, Mexico, Oceania, Papua New Guinea, Puerto Rico, South Africa, South America, Southeast Asia, and Tropics]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Agrochemicals, Animals, Beetles, Biodiversity, Biodiversity Hotspots, Butterflies, Cattle, Climate Change, Conservation, Controversial, Deforestation, Ecology, Ecosystems, Endangered Species, Environment, Extinction, Extreme Weather, Forests, Funding, Global Environmental Crisis, Green, Habitat, Habitat Degradation, Habitat Loss, Herbicides, Industrial Agriculture, Insects, Land Use Change, Logging, Mass Extinction, Moths, Pesticides, Pollinators, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Ranching, Research, Spiders, Tropical Deforestation, Weather, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Tropical insects are wildly diverse, but most species are unstudied or unknown, even as they’re heavily impacted by deforestation, climate change and pesticides. ]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In recent months a debate over whether a global insect apocalypse is underway has raged in the mainstream media and among researchers. To assess the range of scientific opinion, Mongabay interviewed 24 entomologists and other scientists working on six continents, in more than a dozen countries, to better determine what we know, what we don’t, and most importantly — what we should do about it. This is part 3 of a four part exclusive series written by Mongabay senior contributor Jeremy Hance. Click on the following links to read part 1 and part 2. Early in the 1980s, a beetle-mad scientist named Terry Erwin decided to count the number of Coleoptera species — the insect order containing beetles and weevils — chilling in the rainforest canopy. He was trying to answer a really big question: how many total species live on Earth? And he figured beetles, one of the planet’s super-families, was the place to start. So he packed off to Panama and picked 19 trees of a single species, Luehea seemannii. Then, he bombed them with pesticide — a method dubbed “fogging,” well known to entomologists and exterminators. Counting the dead, Erwin identified 988 distinct beetle species. Then he did some back-of-napkin-calculations, estimating how many of those beetles might be endemic to Luehea seemannii, and how many rainforest tree species there might be in the world, etc., etc., until he concluded there could be 30 million tropical arthropod species on the planet. Most scientists today have considerably curbed that&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/06/the-great-insect-dying-the-tropics-in-trouble-and-some-hope/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/06/the-great-insect-dying-the-tropics-in-trouble-and-some-hope/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-219216</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Vanishing act in Europe and North America</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/06/the-great-insect-dying-vanishing-act-in-europe-and-north-america/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/06/the-great-insect-dying-vanishing-act-in-europe-and-north-america/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>06 Jun 2019 12:09:40 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2019/05/29164546/12-20100815_449_SY_Hehy_web-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=218968</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[The Great Insect Crisis]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Europe, European Union, Germany, Global, Mexico, North America, Puerto Rico, Tropics, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Agrochemicals, Animals, Beetles, Biodiversity, Butterflies, Climate Change, Conservation, Controversial, Deforestation, Ecology, Ecosystems, Endangered Species, Environment, Extinction, Extreme Weather, Forests, Global Environmental Crisis, Green, Habitat, Habitat Degradation, Habitat Loss, Herbicides, Industrial Agriculture, Insects, Land Use Change, Mass Extinction, Moths, Pesticides, Pollinators, Research, Spiders, Temperate Forests, Weather, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The insects of the EU and US are the best studied in the world, and it is here that a strengthening case can be made for an alarming insect abundance decline.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In recent months a debate over whether a global insect apocalypse is underway has raged in the mainstream media and among researchers. To assess the range of scientific opinion, Mongabay interviewed 24 entomologists and other scientists working on six continents, in more than a dozen countries, to better determine what we know, what we don’t, and, most importantly, what we should do about it. This is part two of a four-part exclusive series by Mongabay senior contributor Jeremy Hance. Read Part I, &#8220;A global look at a deepening crisis&#8221; here. Tyson Wepprich, a postdoctoral research associate at Oregon State University, was only supposed to be looking at the presence or absence of butterfly species in Ohio. But news of insect decline, in blockbuster studies from Germany and Puerto Rico, changed his plans. His team is now also looking hard at overall abundance — and the early results aren’t good. “The trends are similar to those in long-term European butterfly monitoring where abundance, summed across all species, is declining at around 2 percent per year,” he says of the team’s unpublished work (Wepprich&#8217;s work is now published here), and “about twice as many species are declining rather than increasing.” Wepprich’s ongoing research is just another sign that something may be seriously amiss with the world’s insects — something some entomologists have privately suspected, but which they are only now beginning to prove and publish about. “I used to think of conservation as policies to save rare species from extinction,” Wepprich says,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/06/the-great-insect-dying-vanishing-act-in-europe-and-north-america/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/06/the-great-insect-dying-vanishing-act-in-europe-and-north-america/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-218968</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>A global look at a deepening crisis</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/06/the-great-insect-dying-a-global-look-at-a-deepening-crisis/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/06/the-great-insect-dying-a-global-look-at-a-deepening-crisis/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>03 Jun 2019 11:24:36 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2019/05/28183400/brasil_157-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=218951</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[The Great Insect Crisis]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Europe, European Union, Germany, Global, Kenya, North America, Puerto Rico, Tropics, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Agrochemicals, Animals, Bees, Beetles, Biodiversity, Biodiversity Hotspots, Butterflies, Climate Change, Conservation, Controversial, Deforestation, Ecology, Ecosystems, Endangered Species, Environment, Extinction, Extreme Weather, Farming, Food, Food Industry, food security, Forests, Global Environmental Crisis, Green, Habitat, Habitat Degradation, Habitat Loss, Herbicides, Industrial Agriculture, Insects, Land Use Change, Logging, Mass Extinction, Moths, Natural Capital, Pesticides, Pollinators, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Research, Spiders, Temperate Forests, Tropical Deforestation, Weather, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Recent surveys hint at an insect apocalypse. But are insects at risk globally? Mongabay talks with 24 scientists on 6 continents to find out in an exclusive new series.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In recent months a debate over whether a global insect apocalypse is underway has raged in the mainstream media and among researchers. To assess the range of scientific opinion, Mongabay interviewed 24 entomologists and other scientists working on six continents, in more than a dozen countries, to better determine what we know, what we don’t, and, most importantly, what we should do about it. This is part one of a four-part exclusive series by Mongabay senior contributor Jeremy Hance. Read Part II, &#8220;Vanishing act in Europe and North America&#8221; here. Dust stirred up by the wind turns a Kenyan sunset deep scarlet. Then, as day fades to night, millions, maybe billions, of insects, fly to the artificial lights of homes found at the edge of the bush. One of those residents is Dino Joseph Martins, and while his evidence is anecdotal, the entomologist is a highly qualified observer. Martins has vivid recollections of a time when the abundance of insects swirling around the lights illuminating his outdoor dinner table were staggering. “You would struggle to sit down to eat your supper because you would have endless beetles and [flying] things falling in your bowl of soup,” he said. Today, “that happens far less.” Now, dinner in the African bush may be a pleasanter affair, but it’s much more disquieting. Martins, the executive director of the Mpala Research Center, was born and raised in Kenya. As a child, he recalls visiting forests during the wet season that were filled with “tens&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/06/the-great-insect-dying-a-global-look-at-a-deepening-crisis/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-218951</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Moth rediscovered in Malaysia mimics appearance and behavior of bees to escape predators</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/01/moth-rediscovered-in-malaysia-mimics-appearance-and-behavior-of-bees-to-escape-predators/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/01/moth-rediscovered-in-malaysia-mimics-appearance-and-behavior-of-bees-to-escape-predators/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>12 Jan 2018 13:56:13 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mike Gaworecki]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mike Gaworecki]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2018/01/12134907/Clearwing-Moth-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=202900</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Malaysia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Behavior, Animals, Biodiversity, Environment, Insects, Moths, Rainforests, Rediscovered Species, Research, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Polish researchers have rediscovered a moth in Malaysia that was previously known only from a 130-year-old museum specimen collected in Indonesia. The Oriental blue clearwing (Heterosphecia tawonoides) was rediscovered in Malaysia’s Taman Negara National Park by Marta Skowron Volponi, a Ph.D. student at Poland’s University of Gdansk and lead author of a paper about the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Polish researchers have rediscovered a moth in Malaysia that was previously known only from a 130-year-old museum specimen collected in Indonesia. The Oriental blue clearwing (Heterosphecia tawonoides) was rediscovered in Malaysia’s Taman Negara National Park by Marta Skowron Volponi, a Ph.D. student at Poland’s University of Gdansk and lead author of a paper about the moth recently published in the journal Tropical Conservation Science. When Skowron Volponi first encountered the Oriental blue clearwing and noticed the blue sheen of the moth’s wings as well as its reflective, metallic blue scales, she knew right away that the discovery was unique. She and co-author Paolo Volponi (Skowron Volponi’s husband) have now observed 12 Oriental blue clearwing individuals in the wild. Clearwing moths are known for their bee-mimicking appearances, and the Oriental blue clearwing is no exception. They have legs like bees, bright blue bands on their abdomens (bees in Southeast Asia can be a variety of colors, including blue), and furry bodies that resemble those of bees — though the moths’ “fur” is actually elongated scales. By assuming the appearance of and fraternizing with bees, Skowron Volponi theorized, clearwing moths are probably better able to evade predators who fear getting a stinger in the mouth when what they’re looking for is a good meal. &#8220;You think about moths and you envision a grey, hairy insect that is attracted to light,&#8221; Skowron Volponi said in a statement. &#8220;But this species is dramatically different — it is beautiful, shiny blue in sunlight and it&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2018/01/moth-rediscovered-in-malaysia-mimics-appearance-and-behavior-of-bees-to-escape-predators/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-202900</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Rare moth vanishing from its last site in England</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2016/06/rare-moth-vanishing-from-its-last-site-in-england/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2016/06/rare-moth-vanishing-from-its-last-site-in-england/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Jun 2016 08:16:17 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2016/06/01200908/Moth-520x312.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=187287</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[England, Europe, and United Kingdom]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Endangered Species, Environment, Extinction, Habitat, Habitat Degradation, Habitat Loss, Insects, and Moths]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The dark bordered beauty moth is heading towards extinction at its last known site in England, a new study has found. The rare moth (Epione vespertaria) is found in just a handful of locations. Scotland, for example, hosts a few small populations of the moth. In England, the rare moth was previously found at Newham Bog [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The dark bordered beauty moth is heading towards extinction at its last known site in England, a new study has found. The rare moth (Epione vespertaria) is found in just a handful of locations. Scotland, for example, hosts a few small populations of the moth. In England, the rare moth was previously found at Newham Bog in Northumberland, but is now considered extinct there. Now, the tiny insect is limited to just one English site — Strensall Common, a protected area of lowland heath close to the city of York. And this last English population is declining rapidly, according to the study published Wednesday in PLoS ONE. “The Dark Bordered Beauty is a very special and charismatic moth, which has been observed and admired at Strensall Common for well over a century,” co-author Terry Crawford of the University of York, said in a statement. “It has long been part of the natural history heritage of England and of Yorkshire. Because of the loss of populations elsewhere in England, the loss of the population at Strensall Common would mean extinction of the moth in England as a whole.” Fewer than 100 dark bordered beauty moths may be left in England. Photo courtesy of University of York. Prior to 2007, about 500 to 1,000 dark bordered beauty adults were thought to occur in Strensall Common. But when scientists monitored the northern part of the Common between 2007 and 2014, they found that adult moth numbers were declining by an average of 30-35 percent per year, indicating&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2016/06/rare-moth-vanishing-from-its-last-site-in-england/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-187287</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Researchers find many, many moths in Bolivian national park (Photos)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2015/09/researchers-find-many-many-moths-in-bolivian-national-park/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2015/09/researchers-find-many-many-moths-in-bolivian-national-park/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>04 Sep 2015 17:42:43 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2015/09/03164014/0904Moth-1-Automeris-Amanda.-Saturnidae-CREDIT-Mileniusz-Spanowicz-WCS-520x301.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Bolivia and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Environment, Forests, Invertebrates, Moths, Photos, Protected Areas, and Species Discovery]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A major expedition happening right now in Bolivia's Madidi National Park is aimed at figuring out just how many vertebrates live in this little-explored region. But along the way, it's also shedding light on the park's invertebrate diversity. ]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A major expedition happening right now in Bolivia&#8217;s Madidi National Park is aimed at figuring out just how many vertebrates live in this little-explored region. But along the way, it&#8217;s also shedding light on the park&#8217;s invertebrate diversity. The expedition&#8217;s scientists estimate 10,000 moths may inhabit Madidi&#8217;s wide array of ecosystems. Identidad Madidi consists of dozens of biologists and guides from mostly Bolivian institutions who are spending the next year and a half surveying 14 sites across Connecticut-size Madidi National Park &#8212; one of the most biodiverse places in the world. Their quest will take them from lowland Amazon rainforest at 590 feet above sea leave to snowcapped Andean mountains at 19,800 feet. With a couple sites already under their belt, they&#8217;ve made 60 new vertebrate records for the park, including a new species of frog with orange legs and three probable new species of catfish. They&#8217;ve also come across two recently described bats, one with the world&#8217;s longest tongue relative to its body size. While their focus is vertebrates, the researchers are also keeping an eye on the invertebrates they&#8217;re coming across. This week, Wildlife Conservation Society &#8212; an institution participating in the expedition &#8212; released a gallery of some of the beautiful and bizarre moths the Identidad Madidi team has found so far. “Moths are often very beautiful and present a diversity of shapes and patterns,&#8221; said Fernando Guerra Serrudo, the expedition&#8217;s entomologist and Associate Researcher of the Bolivian Faunal Collection and the Institute of Ecology. &#8220;In Bolivia, several&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2015/09/researchers-find-many-many-moths-in-bolivian-national-park/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-137733</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Pollinators puzzle to find flowers amidst natural and human fumes</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2014/12/pollinators-puzzle-to-find-flowers-amidst-natural-and-human-fumes/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2014/12/pollinators-puzzle-to-find-flowers-amidst-natural-and-human-fumes/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 Dec 2014 16:53:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Lisa Marie Potter]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mongabay Editor]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">http://news.mongabaydev.co.uk/2014/12/pollinators-puzzle-to-find-flowers-amidst-natural-and-human-fumes/</guid>

					
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Behavior, Animals, Ecosystem Services, Environment, Green, Insects, Invertebrates, Moths, Pollinators, Pollution, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[While unpleasant car exhaust makes us wrinkle our noses, such human-made fumes may pose serious problems to insects searching for nectar. Researchers recently revealed that background odors make finding flowers difficult for pollinators. The study, published in Science, measured how hawk moths (Manduca sexta) pick out the sacred datura flower scent (Datura wrightii) amidst all [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[While unpleasant car exhaust makes us wrinkle our noses, such human-made fumes may pose serious problems to insects searching for nectar. Researchers recently revealed that background odors make finding flowers difficult for pollinators. The study, published in Science, measured how hawk moths (Manduca sexta) pick out the sacred datura flower scent (Datura wrightii) amidst all the other smells that waft through the environment. Datura’s brilliant 15-centimeter trumpets leap from dark, heart-shaped leaves, sending smelly signals into the arid sky of the southwestern deserts where they grow. “When you look at these flowers, they’re wonderful—almost like sensory billboards or advertisements,” said neurobiologist and lead author Jeffrey Riffell from the University of Washington in an interview with mongabay.com. Human pollution may cause problems for pollinators, according to a recent study in Science. Photo by Floris van Breugal. The moths navigate over a sea of brush, following the datura aromas among flower patches separated by kilometers. The task is difficult. The blossoming bugles grow in dense stands of creosote (Larrea tridentata), flowers with the Mexican nickname hediondilla, or “the little stinker.” The stinker’s smell can overwhelm the moth, masking the datura scent. The researchers spent the sweltering summer in Arizona’s desert in a mobile laboratory within a shipping container, sampling the environment’s volatile recipe. The team is the first to use a mass spectrometer to measure plant aromatics; the instrument usually measures atmospheric chemistry. “These chemicals are messages. They are signals moving back and forth,” environmental chemist and co-author Leif Abrell from the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2014/12/pollinators-puzzle-to-find-flowers-amidst-natural-and-human-fumes/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-24381</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Sloths, moths and algae: a surprising partnership sheds light on a mystery</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2014/03/sloths-moths-and-algae-a-surprising-partnership-sheds-light-on-a-mystery/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2014/03/sloths-moths-and-algae-a-surprising-partnership-sheds-light-on-a-mystery/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>22 Mar 2014 17:43:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ariel Mark]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">http://news.mongabaydev.co.uk/2014/03/sloths-moths-and-algae-a-surprising-partnership-sheds-light-on-a-mystery/</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Central America, Costa Rica, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Environment, Evolution, Forests, Green, Insects, Mammals, Moths, Mutualism, Rainforests, Sloths, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Sloths are famous for their exceptionally slow motor skills and petite faces that seem to beam with an almost natural smile. However, less commonly known is the unusual bathroom habit of certain sloth species. While spending the majority of their time in the safety of tree canopies, three-toed sloths regularly place themselves in mortal danger [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Sloths are famous for their exceptionally slow motor skills and petite faces that seem to beam with an almost natural smile. However, less commonly known is the unusual bathroom habit of certain sloth species. While spending the majority of their time in the safety of tree canopies, three-toed sloths regularly place themselves in mortal danger by descending to the forest floor to defecate. For years, scientists have been trying to figure out what is driving this peculiar and risky behavior. Now, as outlined in a recent paper published in Proceedings of the Royal Society, lead author Jonathan Pauli from the University of Wisconsin-Madison believes his team of researchers has found an important clue to this mystery involving an unusual and beneficial relationship among sloths, moths and algae. Native to the tropics of Central and South America, arboreal sloths spend their lives eating and resting in the forest canopy. Millions of years ago, sloths diverged into two distinct groups: two-toed sloths (Choloepus species) and three-toed sloths (Bradypus species). Sloths, like all arboreal herbivorous mammals, have evolved highly specialized anatomical, physiological and behavioral adaptations to overcome the nutritional and energy limitations of their constrained lifestyles. Their small to mid-sized bodies must be light in order for the tree canopy to support their weight. In addition, both two-toed and three-toed sloths evolved foregut fermenting stomachs; this means that they must chew their highly fibrous plant-based food twice in order to digest it, first when eating the plant and again after the food has&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2014/03/sloths-moths-and-algae-a-surprising-partnership-sheds-light-on-a-mystery/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-25497</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Stunning moth species discovered in the mountains of China</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2013/07/stunning-moth-species-discovered-in-the-mountains-of-china/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2013/07/stunning-moth-species-discovered-in-the-mountains-of-china/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Jul 2013 14:59:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Brandon Allen]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Tiffany Roufs]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">http://news.mongabaydev.co.uk/2013/07/stunning-moth-species-discovered-in-the-mountains-of-china/</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[China]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Environment, Green, Insects, Invertebrates, Moths, Species Discovery, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A new species of moth (Stenoloba solaris) was discovered in the Yunnan province of China, a new addition to the nascent genus of moth, Stenoloba. The discovery was published in the open access journal ZooKeys. The moth is colloquially known as the “sun moth” because of the intricate pattern that covers its upper wings and [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A new species of moth (Stenoloba solaris) was discovered in the Yunnan province of China, a new addition to the nascent genus of moth, Stenoloba. The discovery was published in the open access journal ZooKeys. The moth is colloquially known as the “sun moth” because of the intricate pattern that covers its upper wings and resembles the rising sun. Color, wing pattern, and genital characteristics distinguish Stenoloba solaris from other species of Stenoloba. Discoveries of species within this genus have blossomed in recent decades with only 35,000 species of an estimated 100,000 have been documented. In contrast, the number of mammals worldwide is currently less than 6,000. Researchers collected a single male specimen of the sun moth in an area of the Baima Xue mountain range that researcher Oleg Pekarsky describes as a “wide river valley…dominated by various conifer trees, bushes and rhododendron.” The Baima Xue mountain range is a Yunnan protected area within a UNESCO World Heritage sight that is known for its biodiversity and healthy ecology. Because of this, the sun moth suffers little from human impact on the environment. Other than its habitat, little is known about the sun moth in regards to population, diet, range, and predation. Photo credit: Oleg Pekarsky, collected sun moth specimen. Photo credit: Oleg Pekarsky, habitat of the sun moth in the Baima Xue mountain range CITATION: Pekarsky O, Saldaitis A (2013) A new species of Stenoloba Staudinger, 1892 from China (Lepidoptera, Noctuidae, Bryophilinae). ZooKeys 310: 1, doi: 10.3897/zookeys.310.5125 Related articles Common&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2013/07/stunning-moth-species-discovered-in-the-mountains-of-china/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-26662</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Common moth can hear higher frequencies than any other animal on Earth</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2013/05/common-moth-can-hear-higher-frequencies-than-any-other-animal-on-earth/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2013/05/common-moth-can-hear-higher-frequencies-than-any-other-animal-on-earth/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 May 2013 15:38:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">http://news.mongabaydev.co.uk/2013/05/common-moth-can-hear-higher-frequencies-than-any-other-animal-on-earth/</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Australia, Europe, and North America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Behavior, Animals, Environment, Evolution, Green, Insects, Invertebrates, Moths, Records, Strange, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A common little moth turns out to have the best ears in the animal kingdom. According to a new study in Biology Letters, the greater wax moth (Galleria mellonella) is capable of hearing frequencies up to 300,000 hertz (300kHz), which is 15 times the frequency humans can hear at their prime, around 20 kHz. &#8220;We [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
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							<![CDATA[A common little moth turns out to have the best ears in the animal kingdom. According to a new study in Biology Letters, the greater wax moth (Galleria mellonella) is capable of hearing frequencies up to 300,000 hertz (300kHz), which is 15 times the frequency humans can hear at their prime, around 20 kHz. &#8220;We are extremely surprised to find that the moth is capable of hearing sound frequencies at this level and we hope to use the findings to better understand air-coupled ultrasound,&#8221; James Windmill co-author of the paper said. &#8220;The use of ultrasound in air is extremely difficult as such high frequency signals are quickly weakened in air. Other animals such as bats are known to use ultrasound to communicate and now it is clear that moths are capable of even more advanced use of sound.&#8221; The researchers believe the greater wax moth, which is the only species in its genus Galleria, may have evolved such extreme hearing in order to avoid their major predator: bats. Bats use high-frequency echolocation in order to find prey, but if moths can these calls they have a better chance of escaping. Some bats are capable of making calls around 100 kHz and hearing frequencies slightly over 200kHz, which is higher than dolphins (160kHz), but still far below the greater wax moth. Some bats are capable of hearing frequencies over 200kHz, giving an edge to any moth that can hear a bat&#8217;s echolocation in time to hide. Windmill told the Independent that&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2013/05/common-moth-can-hear-higher-frequencies-than-any-other-animal-on-earth/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-29046</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Unidentified poodle moth takes Internet by storm</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2012/08/unidentified-poodle-moth-takes-internet-by-storm/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2012/08/unidentified-poodle-moth-takes-internet-by-storm/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>29 Aug 2012 16:36:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="" type="image/jpeg" />
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											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Latin America, South America, and Venezuela]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Cryptozoology, Environment, Green, Insects, Invertebrates, Moths, Photos, Species Discovery, and Strange]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The now famous poodle moth, species unknown. Photo by: Arthur Anker. A white moth from Venezuela that bears a striking resemblance to a poodle has become an Internet sensation, after cryptozoologist Karl Shuker posted about the bizarre-looking species on his blog. Photographed in 2009 in Venezulea&#8217;s Canaima National Park in the Gran Sabana region by [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The now famous poodle moth, species unknown. Photo by: Arthur Anker. A white moth from Venezuela that bears a striking resemblance to a poodle has become an Internet sensation, after cryptozoologist Karl Shuker posted about the bizarre-looking species on his blog. Photographed in 2009 in Venezulea&#8217;s Canaima National Park in the Gran Sabana region by zoologist Arthur Anker from Kyrgyzstan, the white, cuddly-looking moth with massive black eyes has yet to be identified and could be a species still unknown to science. &#8220;When I emailed [Arthur] to ask if he knew this moth&#8217;s species, he informed me that he did not, and he also revealed that no other zoologist he&#8217;d spoken to knew either,&#8221; writes Shuker. &#8220;Indeed, no-one had even been able to name its genus!&#8221; While Shuker and entomologists around the world are debating the species, they stress that mystery will not be solved until a specimen of the animal can be recovered. Hopefully the photo will help spur some ambitious entomologists to trace Anker&#8217;s footsteps and attempt to rediscover the &#8216;poodle moth.&#8217; For more photos from Arthur Anker&#8217;s trip in Venezuela. Related articles &#8216;Monster larva&#8217; turns into a shrimp (08/28/2012) With blue devil-shaped horns and red armor, the monster larva, or Cerataspis monstrosa, kept scientists guessing for nearly 200 years; infrequently found in the bellies of marine predators, researchers could not imagine what this larva became as an adult. Now they do: the monster larva becomes a deep sea shrimp, known as Plesiopenaeus armatus, which bares little monstrous&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2012/08/unidentified-poodle-moth-takes-internet-by-storm/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-30366</doi>				</item>
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