Cornell Department of Entomology

🐝🦋🪰Last week's Insect Pathology Short Course brought together 22 students and 7 instructors to learn about diverse parasites and pathogens of insects. The course includes classroom content and laboratory exercises, with emphases on insect pathogens in natural settings, their use in biocontrol as well as protection of beneficial insects against pathogens. This course has been offered at Cornell University by the Department of Entomology every 2-3 years since 1995, with 5 offerings coordinated by Ann Hajek over the past decade. Student participants are graduate students and research staff from academic institutions, USDA, other government agencies, and private companies from around the country and world. A big thank you to all participants and instructors for making this year’s course such a success!

🎓Entomology Class of 2026—you did it 🪲 proving that studying the smallest creatures can lead to the biggest impact 🐞🦋 BIG Congratulations!

🐝🌼 Protect our pollinators and learn why bug zappers do more harm than good during Cornell IPM's June What's Bugging You? First Friday Webinar.

📅 Date: June 5, 2026 from noon to 12:30 p.m.

🌿 Pollinators are essential for healthy gardens, food systems and biodiversity. This session will explore how bees and other pollinators survive in urban spaces and what we can do to help them thrive. We'll also look at why outdoor bug zappers can negatively impact the beneficial insects that our ecosystems depend on.

Learn more and register here: https://cals.cornell.edu/events/protecting-pollinators-urban-areas-say-no-bug-zappers

Join us for this special two-day workshop to learn all about queen rearing with experts from the Cornell Dyce Lab for Honey Bee Studies and They Keep Bees . Students take home queen rearing guide, grafting tools, and frames!

📆July 11th – 12th Saturday and Sunday
📍The Dyce Lab For Honey Bee Studies | 201 Freese Rd, Ithaca, NY
Workshop fee: $250

Register here 🐝.... https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSflsEij7PaNBtb8Sil4AyXHRwzib5YG8tt6HVBRjLSxw8irYA/viewform

Happy World Bee Day! 🐝💛🖤💛

👏 Congratulations to Alejandro Calixto and Scott McArt—well deserved!

McArt, Calixto recognized for achievements in science and public policy Given during the annual CALS Faculty and Staff Awards ceremony, the award recognized McArt and Calixto for conducting, synthesizing and communicating science on neonicotinoid insecticides, which led to the passage of the New York State Birds and Bees Protection Act, designed to preserve pollinator a...

Last Friday, at our 🦋 Undergraduate Research Honors Symposium 2026, we celebrated six outstanding students and their incredible research projects. From genetic analyses clarifying species boundaries in nomad bees, soundscapes of Neotropical Orthoptera from the Pantanal, Brazil and hormone-driven immune responses in malaria mosquitoes, to surveys of biting midges across New York, bumble bee feeding preferences under insecticide exposure, and parasitoid-driven changes in Japanese beetle behavior, their presentations were truly impressive! Well done, everyone! 👏🐝🦗🦟🪰🪲BIG congratulations to Saty Paynter-Tavares on receiving an Excellence Award! 🏆🎉

🐜Check out this latest interview from Research Matters, featuring Corrie Moreau, a leading evolutionary biologist and entomologist, as she delves into the hidden world of insects—revealing how ants and their microbial partners offer powerful insights into evolution, biodiversity, and ecosystem health.
The discussion also explores cutting-edge genomic research, the discovery of vast new viral diversity, and the global significance of the Cornell University Insect Collection as a living archive of life on Earth.

Cornell University What can insects teach us about life on Earth?

🐝 Did you know an Ithaca cemetery is home to 5.5 million ground‑nesting bees? Researchers in the Department of Entomology – Danforth’s lab, led by Professor Bryan Danforth, found that East Lawn Cemetery is home to an estimated 5.5 million native ground‑nesting bees, playing a vital role in pollination and ecosystem health.
“The research elevates the value of solitary ground-nesting bees and shows just how abundant these bees are, how important they are as crop pollinators, and that we need to be aware of these nest sites and preserve them,” Danforth said.
This is just the beginning. Link to the full article below:
🔗 https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2026/04/55m-ground-nesting-bees-make-home-ithaca-cemetery