Rain or Shine: How Insects Manage to Fly in Bad Weather

Insects fly in rain through water-repellent wing surfaces, altered flight timing, and behavioral strategies that reduce exposure to raindrop impacts. Rain poses genuine aerodynamic challenges because water droplets add mass to wings, disrupt airflow, and can force insects to the ground. Yet many species have evolved to fly during or immediately after precipitation, and some depend on rainy periods for critical life events such as mating flights and dispersal. This article examines the physical problems rain creates for insect flight, the structural and behavioral adaptations that overcome those problems, and what these adaptations mean for researchers studying insect movement in changing climates.

The scope covers the aerodynamic principles of insect flight, the material properties of insect wings that resist water, and the behavioral patterns insects use to time their flights around weather. The content draws on peer-reviewed studies of termites, butterflies, moths, aphids, blackflies, ants, honeybees, and mosquitoes. For farmers and pest managers, understanding how rain affects insect flight helps explain when pest species will disperse and when control measures are most likely to succeed.

The Aerodynamic Challenge of Rain for Flying Insects

Insect flight operates at small scales where air behaves differently than it does for birds or aircraft. The wings of insects generate lift through unsteady aerodynamic mechanisms, including leading-edge vortices and wake capture, instead of through steady airflow over a fixed wing. These mechanisms are sensitive to changes in wing shape, surface condition, and mass distribution. Research on the novel aerodynamics of insect flight has documented these unsteady mechanisms, and studies of hovering insect flight describe the lift generation that allows insects to remain airborne despite wing shapes that would not produce sufficient lift under steady-state conditions. More recent work on the aerodynamics of miniature insect flight continues to refine understanding of how very small insects generate and control lift.

Rain introduces three distinct problems for a flying insect. First, raindrops can be many times heavier than the insect itself. A single large droplet striking a small fly or gnat can deliver an impulse that overwhelms the insect's ability to maintain attitude control. Second, water on the wing surface changes the wing's mass and flexibility, altering the precise aerodynamic forces that flapping wings depend on. Third, wet wings can cause water to bridge between wing structures, changing the effective shape of the airfoil.

The sensitivity of these aerodynamic mechanisms to wing condition means that even small amounts of water on a wing surface can degrade flight performance. Water adds mass to the wing, which changes the inertial forces during flapping. Water also changes the wing's surface texture, which can disrupt the boundary layer and reduce the effectiveness of the unsteady mechanisms that generate lift. For insects that fly in rain, the wing surface must either repel water effectively or the insect must compensate for the added mass and changed surface properties.

Water-Repellent Wing Surfaces in Rain-Flying Insects

The most direct adaptation to flying in rain is a wing surface that sheds water. Termites provide the clearest documented example of this adaptation. Many termite species initiate colonization flights during or shortly after periods of rain, and they employ two distinct flight strategies: flying during the day in the rain and flying at night in a dry environment. The ability to fly in wet conditions depends on the microstructure of the wing cuticle.

Microstructural analysis of termite wings examined the wing cuticles of 54 termite species from 16 families and subfamilies using differential interference contrast and scanning electron microscopy. The study found that 24 species of higher termites possessed wings with anti-wetting structures consisting of setae and a micraster array. The majority of lower termite wings had smoother cuticle surfaces. Based on the hierarchical design of termite wings, the researchers concluded that various species are adapted to flying in the rain.

The finding that higher termites have more elaborate anti-wetting structures than lower termites suggests that the ability to fly in rain is an evolved trait instead of a universal insect capability. The setae and micraster arrays create a textured surface that traps air and prevents water from spreading across the wing. This is the same principle used in engineered superhydrophobic surfaces, where microscopic texture creates a Cassie-Baxter state that keeps water droplets suspended on air pockets instead of in contact with the solid surface.

The study also noted that it appears easier for a species to become adapted to a wet environment by changing the contour or shape of the cuticle surface instead of changing its composition. This observation has practical implications for understanding how insects might respond to changing precipitation patterns. Surface structure can evolve more readily than cuticle chemistry, which may explain why rain-adapted flight has evolved multiple times across insect lineages.

Flight Strategies for Rainy Conditions

Beyond wing surface adaptations, insects use behavioral strategies to manage the challenges of flying in wet weather. These strategies include timing flights to avoid the heaviest rain, flying at times of day when rain is less likely, and using microhabitats that provide shelter from direct rainfall.

The timing of reproductive flights in tropical ants illustrates how insects coordinate flight activity with rainfall patterns. A study of male ant phenology in a seasonally wet lowland rainforest in the Panama Canal used Malaise traps to sample flying males over 58 consecutive weeks. The study documented male flights of 161 ant species and found that species flew mainly toward the end of the dry season and at the start of the rainy season. Male abundance increased in wet weeks during the dry season but decreased in periods when rain fell daily right after the beginning of the wet season.

This pattern suggests that ants time their reproductive flights to take advantage of moisture cues without exposing themselves to the heaviest rainfall. The dry-to-wet transition provides the soil moisture needed for newly mated queens to establish colonies, but daily heavy rain would interfere with flight and mating. The ant community appears adapted to the dry-wet transition as the optimal timing for reproductive investment.

Moths show similar sensitivity to weather conditions in their flight timing. A study of three moth groups in a Brazilian Pampa grassland recorded hourly flight activity and investigated the influence of four climatic variables on activity patterns. The study found that different species have different activity periods, with Arctiinae more abundant in the early evening while Saturniidae and Sphingidae concentrated their activity in the middle of the night. Climatic variables related to abundance and richness differed between taxa and species, providing evidence of niche partitioning and differential physiological adaptations.

The practical implication of these findings is that insect flight activity cannot be predicted from temperature alone. Precipitation patterns interact with temperature in complex ways, and different species respond differently to the same weather conditions. For researchers monitoring insect populations, this means that sampling protocols must account for weather conditions and that full-night sampling may be necessary to capture the complete picture of moth activity.

Rain as a Trigger for Flight

While rain creates aerodynamic challenges, it also serves as an environmental cue that triggers flight in many insect species. The relationship between precipitation and flight activity is particularly important for pest species, where understanding flight triggers helps predict dispersal and infestation risk.

Aphids provide a well-documented example of how precipitation affects insect flight phenology. A study using more than 592,000 aphid suction-trap captures over 15 years in the heavily farmed central United States examined how the activity of soybean aphid, corn aphid, and bird cherry-oat aphid changed with variation in both temperature and precipitation. The study found that increasing precipitation caused late-season flight activity of soybean aphid and early-season activity of bird cherry-oat aphid to shift earlier. In some cases, precipitation and temperature exhibited directionally similar but independent effects on flight timing.

The study also documented complex interactions between precipitation and temperature. At relatively low temperatures, greater precipitation generally caused late-season flights of corn aphid to occur earlier. However, this pattern reversed at higher temperatures, with precipitation delaying late-season activity. For bird cherry-oat aphid, greater precipitation delayed peak flights at lower temperatures but caused them to occur earlier at higher temperatures. The interactive effects of precipitation on temperature were mirror images of one another in these two cases.

The study concluded that models projecting future aphid flight phenology that excluded precipitation covariates consistently underpredicted the degree of change. This finding has direct practical relevance for pest management. If precipitation patterns change in a region, aphid flight timing will shift in ways that temperature-only models will miss. Pest managers who rely on phenology models should ensure those models include precipitation variables.

Blackflies in Cameroon provide another example of rain-associated flight behavior. A marking and recapture study of Simulium damnosum in the rain forest of Cameroon released marked flies on the bank of a large river and recaptured them at stations from 200 meters to 79 kilometers along the river. The proportional biting density declined logarithmically with increasing distance from the marking site, falling to 0.1 at distances of 34.1 kilometers on a large river, 5.5 kilometers on a small river, and 1.5 kilometers on a road leading away from the river.

The study also documented that the peak number of flies recaptured at the farthest sites occurred one day later than at the station nearest the marking point. This delayed arrival at distant sites is consistent with flies traveling in stages instead of making continuous long-distance flights. The study also found that marked flies which had fed on volunteers carrying Onchocerca volvulus microfilariae dispersed along the river, with one of three flies recaptured 24 kilometers upstream containing 10 infective larvae. This finding has implications for understanding disease transmission in rainy environments where blackflies are active.

Humidity as a Flight and Development Cue

Rain affects insect flight through the humidity changes that accompany precipitation. Humidity serves as a reliable environmental cue for many insects, particularly in regions where temperature poorly predicts seasonal changes.

Butterflies in the genus Melanitis leda show how humidity can regulate wing pattern plasticity. Many butterflies have wet and dry season morphs with large and small wing eyespots respectively. Eyespot size plasticity is adaptive because butterflies develop large, conspicuous eyespots in the wet season and small, inconspicuous eyespots in the dry season, reducing predation risk in each season. While eyespot size has been shown to be regulated by rearing temperature in many species, temperature is an unreliable cue in some regions because it poorly predicts seasons.

A study of Melanitis leda from three Indian populations reared butterflies under combinations of temperature and humidity designed to capture the differing seasonal reliability of these cues across the three regions. Butterflies from a population where temperature has the highest intra-annual variation responded only to temperature. Butterflies from populations where temperature and humidity are both unreliable, or where humidity differentiates seasons but temperature does not, responded only to humidity. This study demonstrated for the first time that humidity can regulate eyespot size and that responses to temperature and humidity vary across populations.

The study also found that life-history traits differed among populations, with the two populations from more arid regions developing faster and attaining larger body sizes than the one from the humid region. Fast development may be adaptive in dry regions where suitable host plants are available only briefly, while large body size may confer desiccation resistance.

For researchers studying insect flight and development, humidity is an essential variable to measure alongside temperature. Insects that use humidity as a developmental cue will respond to precipitation patterns even when temperatures remain constant. Climate change projections that focus only on temperature will miss these humidity-driven responses.

Gliding and Ground Effect Flight in Forest Environments

Some insects have evolved flight strategies that reduce the energetic cost of movement and may provide advantages in rainy environments. Gliding flight in ground effect is one such strategy, particularly relevant for butterflies in forest understories where rain and humidity are common.

A study of butterflies in the tribe Haeterini examined wing shape evolution and gliding in ground effect. These butterflies are conspicuous members of understorey faunas in lowland Neotropical forests. Field observations indicate that the five genera in this clade differ in flight height and behavior: four use gliding flight at the forest floor level, and one utilizes flapping flight above the forest floor.

The study used landmark-based geometric morphometrics to test whether wing shapes in Haeterini and their close relatives reflected observed flight behaviors. Four genera of Haeterini and some distantly related Satyrinae showed significant correspondence between wing shape and theoretical expectations in performance trade-offs attributed to selection for gliding in ground effect. Forewing shape differed between sexes for all taxa, and male wing shapes were aerodynamically more efficient for gliding flight than corresponding females.

Ground effect flight involves flying close to a surface, where the surface interferes with the downwash from the wings and reduces induced drag. This effect allows butterflies to glide with less energy expenditure than would be required at higher altitudes. In forest understories, the ground and vegetation provide surfaces that generate ground effect, and gliding flight may allow butterflies to move efficiently while minimizing exposure to rain falling through the canopy.

The study also noted that sex-specific flight behaviors contribute to the evolution of sexual dimorphism in wing shape. Males have wing shapes that are more efficient for gliding, which may reflect their need to patrol territories and search for mates. Females may prioritize different flight characteristics related to oviposition and host plant location.

The Energetic Cost of Flying Wet

The energetic cost of flight increases when wings and body surfaces become wet. While this cost has been most directly measured in bats, the principles apply to insects as well. Understanding these costs helps explain why insects may avoid rain even when they have water-repellent wing surfaces.

A study of bat flight metabolism in Carollia sowelli, a bat exposed to heavy and frequent rainfall in neotropical rainforests, quantified flight metabolism in three treatments: dry bats, wet bats with no rain, and wet bats with rain. Dry bats showed metabolic rates predicted by allometry. However, flight metabolism increased twofold when bats were wet or when they were additionally exposed to rain. The researchers concluded that bats may not avoid rain because of sensory constraints imposed by raindrops on echolocation but also because of energetic constraints.

While this study examined bats instead of insects, the finding that wet flight surfaces double the metabolic cost of flight has direct relevance to insect flight. Insects with water-repellent wings may reduce the amount of water that adheres to their wings, thereby reducing the energetic penalty of flying in rain. Insects without such adaptations would face higher flight costs in wet conditions, which may explain why they restrict their flight activity to dry periods.

The energetic cost of flight also has implications for insect aging and learning. A study of honeybees examined the relationship between flight activity and aging by simulating rain that confined foragers to their colonies most of the day. After 15 days on average, flight-restricted foragers were compared with bees with normal free flight. Free flight over 15 days on average resulted in impaired associative learning ability, while flight-restricted foragers did as well in learning as bees that foraged for 5 days on average.

Interestingly, flight-restricted bees accrued the most oxidative brain damage as indicated by malondialdehyde protein adduct levels in crude cytosolic fractions. The researchers proposed that intense flight is causal to brain deficits in aged bees and that oxidative protein damage is unlikely to be the underlying mechanism. This finding suggests that rain-induced flight restriction may have complex effects on insect physiology, protecting some functions while allowing others to decline.

Seasonal and Climate-Driven Changes in Flight Behavior

Insect flight behavior changes across seasons in response to both temperature and precipitation patterns. Understanding these changes is essential for predicting how insect populations will respond to climate change, particularly in regions where precipitation patterns are shifting.

Mosquitoes in West Africa provide an example of seasonal phenotypic changes related to flight and survival. A study of Anopheles gambiae complex mosquitoes in Burkina Faso examined changes in Anopheles coluzzii, Anopheles gambiae, and Anopheles arabiensis at the onset of the dry season. Late-instar immature specimens were collected from two ecologically distinct sites, one with permanent and the other with only temporary breeding habitats, during the rainy season and the transitional period into the dry season.

The study found that gonotrophic dissociation was significantly more frequent in Anopheles coluzzii at the onset of the dry season, indicating a shift toward reproductive arrest. All three species exhibited increased body size and cuticular fat deposits during the transitional period, though with species-specific differences. Only Anopheles coluzzii showed significant increases in energy reserves including proteins, lipids, and carbohydrates during the transition period.

These adaptive responses differed between the study sites, suggesting the influence of breeding habitats. The findings highlight that species within the Anopheles gambiae complex engage in distinct phenotypic trajectories at the onset of the dry season. For mosquito control programs, understanding these seasonal changes helps predict when mosquito populations will be active and when they will enter reproductive arrest.

Dung beetle communities also respond to microclimatic conditions related to vegetation structure and moisture. A study of dung beetle assemblages in French Guiana compared communities in undisturbed high forest and low forest forming a transitional zone with the open habitat of an inselberg. The driest and warmest conditions characterized the low forest sites. Across two years, the study obtained 2,927 individuals from 61 species with pitfall traps and 1,431 individuals from 85 species with flight interception traps.

For both years, mean per-trap species richness, abundance, and biomass among high forest sites were similar and higher than in low forest sites, especially where the lowest humidity and the highest temperature were recorded. Small variations in microclimatic conditions correlated to canopy height and openness likely affected dung beetle assemblages. This finding demonstrates that habitat structure influences the microclimate that insects experience, which in turn affects their flight activity and community composition.

At a Glance

Practical Assessment Steps for Observing Insect Flight in Rain

Researchers and pest managers who need to understand how rain affects insect flight in their region can follow a systematic assessment approach. These steps help distinguish between species that fly in rain and species that restrict flight to dry periods.

Step 1: Document baseline flight activity. Establish sampling stations that capture flying insects during dry conditions. Use suction traps, Malaise traps, or flight interception traps depending on the target species. Record temperature, humidity, and time of day for each sample.

Step 2: Sample during and after rain events. Deploy the same sampling methods during light rain, heavy rain, and in the hours immediately following rain. Compare capture rates with baseline dry conditions. Note that some species may fly during rain while others fly only after rain stops.

Step 3: Measure wing surface properties. For captured specimens, examine wing surfaces under magnification. Look for setae, micraster arrays, or other surface textures that could provide water repellency. Compare wing surface structure between species that fly in rain and those that do not.

Step 4: Record microclimate conditions. Measure temperature and humidity at the sampling sites, beyond at regional weather stations. Forest understories and agricultural fields can have substantially different microclimates than open weather stations.

Step 5: Track flight timing relative to precipitation. Record the timing of peak flight activity relative to rain events. Note whether flights occur before rain, during rain, immediately after rain, or only during extended dry periods.

Step 6: Analyze phenology models for precipitation effects. If using phenology models to predict pest activity, check whether those models include precipitation variables. Models that exclude precipitation may under predict changes in flight timing under changing climate conditions.

Records and Measurements for Flight Activity Studies

Maintaining consistent records is essential for understanding how rain affects insect flight. The following measurements provide the data needed to identify patterns and make management decisions.

Weather records. Record precipitation amount, precipitation intensity, and duration of rain events. Also record temperature and humidity at hourly intervals during sampling periods. Note that precipitation can increase in some regions while decreasing in others, so local records are essential.

Flight activity records. For each sampling period, record the number of individuals captured, the species composition, and the time of capture. For studies of specific species, record sex and reproductive status when possible.

Wing condition records. For captured specimens, note whether wings are wet or dry at the time of capture. Examine wings for water droplets or surface contamination. Photograph wing surfaces for later analysis of surface structure.

Phenology records. Track the timing of first flight, peak flight, and last flight for each species across multiple seasons. Relate these dates to precipitation patterns and temperature patterns.

Limitations of field records. Field sampling captures only the insects that are flying at the sampling location. Insects may be flying at other locations or at other times that the sampling protocol misses. Full-night sampling may be necessary for species that fly in the middle of the night. Sampling during rain events may be logistically difficult, and some sampling methods may be less effective in wet conditions.

Common Failure Patterns in Observing Rain-Related Flight

Several common problems can undermine efforts to understand how insects fly in rain. Recognizing these failure patterns helps researchers design better studies and interpret results correctly.

Sampling only during dry conditions. If sampling stops when rain begins, the study will miss the species that fly during rain. This creates a biased picture of flight activity that overrepresents dry-weather fliers.

Using temperature-only phenology models. Models that predict insect flight timing from temperature alone will miss precipitation effects. The aphid study demonstrated that precipitation can shift flight timing independently of temperature and can interact with temperature in complex ways.

Ignoring microclimate variation. Regional weather data may not reflect the conditions insects actually experience. Forest understories, agricultural fields, and open habitats can have substantially different humidity and temperature profiles.

Confusing correlation with causation. Rain events are often accompanied by changes in temperature, humidity, and barometric pressure. Studies that observe flight activity changes during rain cannot always determine which environmental variable caused the change.

Assuming all species respond the same way. Different insect species have different flight strategies and different responses to precipitation. The moth study demonstrated that even closely related groups can have different activity periods and different responses to climatic variables.

Limitations of Current Knowledge

The scientific literature on insect flight in rain has several important limitations that affect how findings should be interpreted.

Taxonomic bias. Most detailed studies of rain adaptations focus on a limited number of insect groups, particularly termites, butterflies, and pest species such as aphids and mosquitoes. Many insect groups remain unstudied, and the prevalence of rain-adapted flight across the insect phylogeny is unknown.

Geographic bias. Studies of rain-related flight behavior concentrate in tropical regions where rain is frequent and in agricultural regions where pest species are economically important. Temperate regions and non-agricultural habitats are underrepresented.

Measurement challenges. Direct measurement of the aerodynamic effects of raindrops on insect wings is technically difficult. Most evidence for rain adaptations comes from indirect observations of flight behavior and wing surface structure instead of from direct aerodynamic measurements.

Climate change uncertainty. Precipitation patterns are changing in complex ways, with rain increasing in some regions and decreasing in others. The interactive effects of temperature and precipitation changes on insect flight are difficult to predict, and current models may not capture the full range of possible responses.

Limited integration of findings. Studies of wing surface structure, flight behavior, and climate responses are often conducted by different research groups using different methods. Integrated studies that examine multiple aspects of rain adaptation in the same species are rare.

Welfare and Safety Context for Insect Flight Research

Researchers studying insect flight in rain should consider the welfare of the insects they study and the safety of field personnel working in wet conditions.

Insect welfare. Marking and recapture studies can provide valuable information about insect movement but may affect insect behavior and survival. Fluorescent dust marking, as used in the blackfly study, allows individual identification but may alter wing loading or visibility to predators. Researchers should minimize handling time and use the least invasive marking methods available.

Field safety. Working in rainy conditions presents hazards including slippery surfaces, lightning, and reduced visibility. Researchers should follow institutional safety protocols for field work in adverse weather. Sampling during heavy rain may not be worth the safety risk, and alternative methods such as automated traps can collect data without requiring personnel to be present during storms.

Regulatory considerations. Some insect species are regulated as pests or disease vectors, and research on these species may require permits or institutional approvals. The interception of giant honey bees with parasitic mites on a cargo vessel demonstrates that insects can carry pathogens and parasites that are subject to quarantine regulations. Researchers working with such species should be aware of relevant regulations.

Escalation criteria. Researchers who observe unusual insect flight behavior during rain events should consider whether the observation warrants further investigation. Observations that suggest new pest dispersal patterns, disease transmission risks, or climate change responses may merit escalation to relevant authorities or publication in the scientific literature.

Frequently Asked Questions

How can insects fly when raindrops are much heavier than they are?

Insects survive raindrop impacts because their small size and low mass mean that a raindrop's momentum is distributed across a small surface area, and many insects can shed water through water-repellent wing surfaces. Termites provide the clearest documented example, with 24 species of higher termites possessing wings with anti-wetting structures of setae and a micraster array that prevent water from spreading across the wing surface.

Do all insects avoid flying in the rain?

No, many insects fly during or immediately after rain. Termites initiate colonization flights during or shortly after periods of rain, and some species fly during the day in the rain while others fly at night in dry conditions. Aphids show shifts in flight timing in response to precipitation, and ant reproductive flights are timed to the dry-wet transition at the start of the rainy season.

What happens to insect wings when they get wet?

Water adds mass to the wing and changes its surface texture, which can disrupt the unsteady aerodynamic mechanisms that generate lift in flapping flight. Water can also bridge between wing structures, changing the effective shape of the airfoil. Insects with anti-wetting wing structures prevent water from spreading across the wing surface, while insects without such adaptations may be forced to stop flying when wet.

How does rain affect the timing of insect flights?

Rain can shift flight timing earlier or later depending on the species and the temperature. In aphids, increasing precipitation caused late-season flight activity of soybean aphid and early-season activity of bird cherry-oat aphid to shift earlier. However, the effects of precipitation on corn aphid flight timing reversed at higher temperatures, with precipitation delaying late-season activity.

Why do some insects use humidity as a cue for development?

Humidity is a more reliable seasonal cue than temperature in some regions because temperature poorly predicts seasons in those areas. Butterflies in the genus Melanitis leda from populations where temperature and humidity are both unreliable responded only to humidity in regulating wing eyespot size. This suggests local adaptation in cue use across populations.

What is ground effect and how does it help insects fly?

Ground effect is the reduction in induced drag that occurs when a wing flies close to a surface, because the surface interferes with the downwash from the wings. Butterflies in the tribe Haeterini use gliding flight at the forest floor level, and their wing shapes show correspondence with theoretical expectations for gliding in ground effect.

How does rain affect the energy cost of flight?

Wet flight surfaces increase the metabolic cost of flight. A study of bats found that flight metabolism increased twofold when bats were wet or exposed to rain. While this study examined bats, the principle applies to insects, and water-repellent wing surfaces may reduce the energetic penalty of flying in wet conditions.

How will changing precipitation patterns affect insect flight?

Changing precipitation patterns could accentuate or reverse the effects of rising temperatures on pest outbreaks. Models that excluded precipitation covariates consistently underpredicted the degree of change in aphid flight phenology. Pest managers should ensure that phenology models include precipitation variables to accurately predict future insect activity.

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References and Further Reading

• NCBI Literature Resources. National Center for Biotechnology Information.
• PubMed. National Library of Medicine.
• Precipitation change accentuates or reverses temperature effects on aphid dispersal.. Ecological applications : a publication of the Ecological Society of America, 2022.
• Studies on the flight range and dispersal of Simulium damnosum (Diptera: Simuliidae) in the rain-forest of Cameroon.. Annals of tropical medicine and parasitology, 1976.
• Cruising the rain forest floor: butterfly wing shape evolution and gliding in ground effect.. The Journal of animal ecology, 2015.
• Rain increases the energy cost of bat flight.. Biology letters, 2011.
• Male ant reproductive investment in a seasonal wet tropical forest: Consequences of future climate change.. PloS one, 2022.
• Variations in dung beetles assemblages (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) within two rain forest habitats in French Guiana.. Revista de biologia tropical, 2013.
• Flight restriction prevents associative learning deficits but not changes in brain protein-adduct formation during honeybee ageing.. The Journal of experimental biology, 2011.
• Microstructural Analysis of Termite Wings: Implications for Hydrophobic Adaptations in Rainy Flight.. Insects, 2026.
• Interception of an &lt,i&gt,Apis dorsata&lt,/i&gt, swarm with &lt,i&gt,Tropilaelaps mercedesae&lt,/i&gt, and &lt,i&gt,Kuzinia morsei&lt,/i&gt, mites on a cargo vessel inbound to the United States.. 2026.
• Are Full-Night Samplings Necessary? Unraveling the Hourly Structure and Climatic Responses of Three Moth Groups in a Brazilian Pampa Grassland.. 2026.
• Phenotypic changes in natural populations of Anopheles gambiae s.l. at the onset of the long dry season in tropical savannahs of Burkina Faso, West Africa.. 2026.
• Butterflies use humidity as a cue for wing-pattern and life history trait plasticity when temperature is unreliable.. 2026.
• The novel aerodynamics of insect flight: applications to micro-air vehicles.. Journal of Experimental Biology, 1999.
• The aerodynamics of miniature insect flight. Progress in Aerospace Sciences, 2025.
• Computational aerodynamics of insect flight using volume penalization. Comptes rendus. Mecanique, 2022.
• Investigation of the Unsteady Aerodynamics of Insect Flight: The Use of Immersed Boundary Method. 2020.
• Distinct Aerodynamics of Insect-Scale Flight. 2021.
• THE AERODYNAMICS OF HOVERING INSECT FLIGHT.. 2016.
• Diversity and ecology of carrion- and fruit-feeding butterflies in Bornean rain forest. Journal of Tropical Ecology, 2006.

This article is educational and does not replace institutional policy, professional advice, or applicable safety and regulatory requirements.