POPULAR SCIENCE - It’s true that there are more insects on Earth than any other animal. They make up roughly 80 percent of the planet’s animals and include about 900,000 known species. However, those jaw-dropping numbers can make it easy to undercount our six-legged friends. Take the state of California. Over 60,000 different species of...
MARTHA STEWART - You’re reaching in the back of your garage for a box of holiday decorations or a power tool when you notice it—a shiny black spider tucked in the corner, its telltale red hourglass on full display. But don’t panic; black widows aren’t looking to pick a fight with you. In fact, they’re...
EARTH.COM - In many California citrus groves, the most troublesome ant is barely a tenth of an inch long. The Argentine ant does not feed on the trees, but it protects the insects that do. These invasive ants feed on honeydew, the sugary liquid excreted by sap-sucking pests such as mealybugs, scale insects and psyllids...
COMPLEX - A scientist looked at a group of tiny blonde bugs with red markings and thought of Taylor Swift. And somehow, that ended with an entire genus named after her. Researchers at the University of California, Riverside revealed Wednesday, September 9, that four newly described Australian plant bugs belong to a new genus called...
LOS ANGELES TIMES - Where many people might see a plant-eating bug with light yellow coloration and a splash of red accents, Sarah Schroeder sees, in a way, Taylor Swift. At least, that’s the scientist’s reasoning for why the names she chose for four newly described Australian insect species were inspired by her favorite world-famous...
PEOPLE - Taylor Swift has received an unlikely new honor recognizing her prolific career. She has become the namesake of a recently discovered insect species. On Wednesday, Sept. 9, the Insect Systematics and Evolution journal released a new study, “New genera and species of Australian sheoak-associated plant bugs,” announcing the discovery of 12 new plant-eating...
HUFFPOST - Hopefully, Taylor Swift won’t be bugged by this news, but a doctoral student in entomology at UC Riverside has just named a new genus of plant-feeding insects from Australia after the singer. Sarah Schroeder just co-authored a paper in the journal Insect Systematics and Evolution where she describes 12 new species of insects...
VARIETY - Taylor Swift, the award-winning billionaire singer and songwriter, is getting a new honor: The megastar is the namesake of several recently discovered species of plant-feeding insects from Australia. Researchers at the University of California, Riverside have named the new species of insect after Swift. A paper describing the 12 new species was published...
USA TODAY - Meet the newest members of the Swiftie universe. They're blonde, accented in red and have names like "Lover," "Fearless" and "Poets." They've also been hiding out in Australia for decades. Scientists have named a newly discovered genus of plant-feeding insects "Swiftiephylus" in honor of Taylor Swift. Sarah Schroeder , a doctoral student...
EARTH.COM - Ant bait does not erase an infestation the moment workers find it. The chemical must spread through a social colony, and that process takes time. That delay can make the first few days hard to read. A drop in food searching may look like success, while a burst of roaming ants may look...