Insects, Volume 10, Issue 1

In both managed and unmanaged forests, termites are functionally important members of the dead-wood-associated (saproxylic) insect community. However, little is known about regional-scale environmental drivers of geographic distributions of termite s...

The pink hibiscus mealybug, Maconellicoccus hirsutus (Green) (Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae) is a pest of many plants, and a new problem on dates in California. The effects of seven insecticides and water on different life stages of this mealybug were st...

Termites are important ecosystem engineers. Yet they are often difficult to identify due to the lack of reliable species-specific morphological traits for many species, which hampers ecological research. Recently, termitologists working with West Afr...

Urban systems often support large numbers of non-native species, but due to the heterogeneity of urban landscapes, species are not evenly distributed. Understanding the drivers of ecological resistance in urban landscapes may help to identify habitat...

Termites are social insects that can also be major pests. A well-known problem species is the subterranean termite, Reticulitermes flavipes. It is invasive in France and is thought to have arrived from Louisiana during the 18th century. While the put...

Culex quinquefasciatus is the major vector of the bancroftian filarial parasite which causes human lymphatic filariasis and St. Louis encephalitis. The simple way to stop the transmission is to control the vector by using synthetic chemicals. However...

With the long-term and large-scale use, herbicides have been well known to influence tritrophic interactions, particularly natural enemies of pests in agro-ecosystems. On the other hand, herbivorous insects, especially the generalist pests, have deve...

Aedes aegypti is an important mosquito vector of several arboviruses, including dengue, yellow fever, Zika, and Chikungunya, which cause significant human morbidity and mortality globally. In certain populations of this mosquito, a native meiotic dri...

Parasitoidism is one of the main causes of insect egg mortality. Parasitoids are often able to detect eggs using semiochemicals released from eggs and disturbed plants. In response, female insects adopt a wide variety of oviposition strategies to red...

The European honey bee (Apis mellifera) is the most important managed species for agricultural pollination across the world [...]

Wood is the main dietary item for most termites; however, supplementation with certain nutrients may occur via the ingestion of other available food resources in the ecosystem. The objective of this study was to evaluate the consumption of lichens wi...

Rigorous peer-review is the corner-stone of high-quality academic publishing [...]

Honey bees are major pollinators of agricultural and non-agricultural landscapes. In recent years, honey bee colonies have exhibited high annual losses and commercial beekeepers frequently report poor queen quality and queen failure as the primary ca...

Management by beekeepers is of utmost importance for the health and survival of honey bee colonies. Beekeeping management practices vary from low to high intervention regarding the use of chemicals, hive manipulations, and supplemental feeding of col...

Continued loss of natural habitats with native prairies and wildflower patches is eliminating diverse sources of pollen, nectar and phytochemicals therein for foraging bees. The longstanding plant-pollinator mutualism reiterates the role of phytochem...

In the face of high proportions of yearly colony losses, queen health and fecundity has been a major focus of industry and research. Much of the reproductive quality of the queen, though, is a function of the mating success and quality of the drones...

Pollinators, including honey bees, are responsible for the successful reproduction of more than 87% of flowering plant species: they are thus vital to ecosystem health and agricultural services world-wide. To investigate honey bee exposure to pestici...

Parasitic mites and pathogens compromise honey bee health. Development of sustainable and integrative methods of managing these problems will minimize their detrimental impact on honey bees. Here, we aimed to determine if the combination of using mit...

Failure of the queen is often identified as a leading cause of honey bee colony mortality. However, the factors that can contribute to “queen failure” are poorly defined and often misunderstood. We studied one specific sign attributed to...

The synergistic interactions between the ectoparasitic mite Varroa destructor and Deformed wing virus (DWV) lead to the reduction in lifespan of the European honey bee Apis mellifera and often have been implicated in colony losses worldwide. However,...

(1) Background: Termites are important ecosystem engineers, crucial for the maintenance of tropical biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. But they are also pests which cause billions of dollars in damage annually to humans. Currently, our understan...

Queen loss or failure is an important cause of honey bee colony loss. A functional queen is essential to a colony, and the queen is predicted to be well protected by worker bees and other mechanisms of social immunity. Nevertheless, several honey bee...

Use of neonicotinoid pesticides is now ubiquitous, and consequently non-targeted arthropods are exposed to their residues at sub-lethal doses. Exposure to these neurotoxins may be a major contributor to poor honey bee colony health. Few studies have...

Widespread use of agrochemicals in the U.S. has led to nearly universal contamination of beeswax in honey bee hives. The most commonly found agrochemicals in wax include beekeeper-applied miticides containing tau-fluvalinate, coumaphos, or amitraz, a...

Beekeepers providing pollination services for California almond orchards have reported observing dead or malformed brood during and immediately after almond bloom—effects that they attribute to pesticide exposure. The objective of this study wa...

Neonicotinoid insecticides have come under scrutiny for their potential role in honey bee declines. Additionally, reduced access to forage in agricultural areas creates the potential for risk interactions with these pesticides in regions critical for...

From 1905 to present, cutworm outbreaks have caused substantial yield losses in North Western (NW) Europe. Early authors pointed to dry summers as the trigger; around 1980, the explanation was improved via modelling of historical data. The number of...

Mites should not be overlooked as a forensic tool, as many are commonly associated with decomposing animal matter and are closely associated with specific insect carriers and habitats. It is necessary to increase our understanding of the diversity of...

Upon herbivory, plants release herbivore-induced plant volatiles (HIPVs), which induce chemical defenses in the plant as well as recruit natural enemies. However, whether synthetic HIPVs can be employed to enhance biological control in a cultivated c...

Termites are undoubtedly amongst the most important soil macroinvertebrate decomposers in semi-arid environments in India. However, in this specific type of environment, the influence of termite foraging activity on soil functioning remains unexplore...

The Western flower thrips (WFT, Frankliniella occidentalis) is a global polyphagous pest that is often dependent on chemical control. Imidacloprid has been a commonly used chemical insecticide for effective control of WFT. Low concentrations of insec...

Population studies are essential for understanding different aspects of species’ biology, estimating extinction probability, and determining evolutionary and life history. Using the mark-recapture method, we studied the abundance and population struc...

In ongoing screening research for edible plants, Petroselinum crispum essential oil was considered as a potential bioinsecticide with proven antimosquito activity against both the pyrethroid susceptible and resistant strains of Aedes aegypti. Due to...