why is this news.

Probaly the reserach changed the folk wisom "somewhat more" to "31.4% more" (±.1?). It's useful to compare it in the future like 2124, or measure it in differet environments.

(And it may have some indirect aplications, like when is it better to apply insecticide in a corn filed?)

Insects are important for human survival.

The article is probably related with the studies that show an allegedly decline of insects in the current sixth extinction context.

Well, most insect-catching birds apart from bats don't fly during the night, that helps. Pheromones-driven living doesn't mind absence of light that much, and flying insects are pretty sturdy when they hit something full speed, unlike bigger animals.

It would be interesting if it was an evolutionary response to the absence of cars at night. Less cars, less windshield, less splats.

I wonder if the headlights attracting bugs might somewhat compensate for the lower traffic. Or they are evolving and bugs. that come out only at night have a survival advantage

Or, maybe this aversion to daylight is really an aversion to light in general (from headlights)!