September 2025

In the News

Bees

• Organic beekeeping can be even more profitable than conventional methods
• 'The diversity is astonishing': Penn State Extension publishes free guide to Pennsylvania bees
• A Bee Buffet: Surprising Insights into What Bees Choose to Eat (Ep.63)

Endowed Professorship

• Women scientists, love of nature inspire donor’s gift to the Ag Sciences

Microbes

• New microorganism survival commission aims to fill critical conservation gap
• Study uncovers three-way relationships between gut fungi, genetics and disease risk

Northern Fowl Mite

• Northern Fowl Mite Treatment Tested at Penn State Receives FDA Approval

Spotted Lanternfly

• Residents urged to squash pesky spotted lanternflies to curb spread in Pennsylvania

Western Bean Cutworm

• Damage From Western Bean Cutworm in Your Corn Fields?

Awards

2025 Huck Seed Grant

Etya Amsalem with Jean-Michel Mongeua (Mechanical Engineering) were awarded $80k for one year for their proposal titled: "Revealing mechanisms of visuo-olfactory integration by bee-robot interactions". Congrats to Etya and Jean-Michel!

Publications

• Expression of endogenous Anopheles gambiae microRNAs using an Anopheles gambiae densovirus (AgDNV) intronic expression system, Parasites and Vectors, Johnson, Rebecca M., Metz, Hillery C., Suzuki, Yasutsugu, McLean, Kyle J., Rasgon, Jason L., 2025
• The intensity of the transcriptional response varies across infection with distinct viral strains in an insect host, BMC Genomics, Ray, Allyson M., Tehel, Anja, Rasgon, Jason L., Paxton, Robert J., Grozinger, Christina M., 2025
• Intragenomic conflict associated with extreme phenotypic plasticity in queen-worker caste determination in honey bees (Apis mellifera), Genome Biology, Bresnahan, Sean T., Mahony, Shaun, Anton, Kate, Harpur, Brock, Grozinger, Christina M., 2025
• Evaluating the usability and utility of a spatial decision support system for pollinator ecology, Ecological Informatics, Houtman, Lily, Robinson, Anthony C., McLaughlin, Dave, Grozinger, Christina M., 2025
• Unraveling microclimate effects on pollinator foraging and crop yield in lowbush blueberry, Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment, Sisk, Garrett, Ostraski, Anaís, Dillard, Travis, Hall, Bruce, Goslee, Sarah, Grozinger, C, Khanna, Vikas, Grab, Heather, 2025
• Salicylate plant defences reduce aphid nutritional quality and increase predator consumption, Ecological Entomology, Subedi, Bijay, Pocius, Victoria Marie, Bunnell, Mary Arlin, Myers, Abigail, Kersch-Becker, Mônica F., 2025
• The molecular mechanisms of defensive-grade organic acid biosynthesis in ground beetles, Insect Molecular Biology, Rork, Adam M., Xu, Sihang, Attygalle, Athula, Renner, Tanya, 2025
• Can the nutritional geometric framework unveil how macronutrients in pollen shape solitary bee foraging and survival?, Royal Society Open Science, Mokkapati, Jaya Sravanthi, Boyle, Natalie, Ouvrard, Pierre, Sicard, Adrien, Grozinger, Christina M., 2025
• Gyne production is regulated by the brood in a social bee (Bombus impatiens), Royal Society Open Science, Amsalem, Etya, Santos, Priscila K.F., Messner, Ella, Murray, Cameron, 2025
• From molecules to societies: A roadmap to the chemical regulation of reproduction in social insects, Advances in Insect Physiology, Amsalem, Etya, Hefetz, Abraham, 2025
• Male attraction to short-range multimodal gyne signals in the bumblebees Bombus impatiens, Discover Animals, Spence, Sarah, Amsalem, Etya, 2025
• Does a shift to a novel host plant create a defence-free space for a specialist herbivore species?, Functional Ecology, Yip, Eric C., Iverson, Aaron L., Anderson, Tegan E., Carlson, Sofie G., Nash, Lucy W., Tooker, John F., 2025

More Publications can be found on the Entomology website.