Insects, Volume 13, Issue 3

Honey bees (Apis mellifera) are agriculturally important pollinators. Over the past decades, significant losses of wild and domestic bees have been reported in many parts of the world. Several biotic and abiotic factors, such as change in land use ov...

The yellow fever mosquito Aedes aegypti is one of the deadliest animals on the planet because it transmits several medically important arboviruses, including Zika, chikungunya, dengue, and yellow fever. Carbon-based nanoparticles (CNPs) derived from...

In cotton-growing regions of northwestern China, Hippodamia variegata (Goeze) and Propylaea quatuordecimpunctata (Linnaeus) (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) are key natural enemies of hemipteran pests. As only H. variegata can be encountered in hot, arid...

Aedes albopictus, also known as the tiger mosquito, is widespread worldwide across tropical, subtropical, and temperate regions. This insect is associated with the transmission of several vector-borne diseases, and, as such, monitoring its distributi...

Integrated pest management (IPM) has been practiced by the fruit industry for at least 30 years. Naturally occurring beneficial insects have been encouraged to thrive alongside introduced predatory insects. However, Conservation Biological Control (C...

Ixodids (hard ticks), ectoparasitic arthropods that vector the causal agents of many serious diseases of humans, domestic animals, and wildlife, have become increasingly difficult to control because of the development of resistance against commonly a...

The brown planthopper, Nilaparvata lugens, is a difficult-to-control insect pest affecting rice yields in Asia. As a structural component of the inter-alpha-trypsin inhibitor (ITI), the inter-alpha-trypsin inhibitor heavy chain (ITIH) has been report...

Arion vulgaris are mostly controlled using chemical molluscicide products, and the detrimental environmental effects of these molluscicides can be reduced by decreasing the number of pellets applied per unit area. The objective of this study was to c...

Onion thrips, Thrips tabaci Lindeman, 1889 (Thysanoptera: Thripidae) is a pest of economic importance traditionally treated as a polyphagous, cosmopolitan single species. Recent genetic evidence, however, suggests that it is rather a cryptic species...

Cytochrome P450 (CYP) monooxygenases comprise a superfamily of proteins that detoxify xenobiotics and plant secondary metabolites in insects. The CYP6 family is unique to the class Insecta, and its members participate in the metabolism of exogenous s...

The brown planthopper (Nilaparvata lugens) is a monophagous pest of rice (Oryza sativa), which threatens food security around the world. Insect Heat shock proteins 70 kDa (Hsp70s) play a key role in insect growth and development, however, if they als...

To prevent their ingestion by phytophagous insects, plants produce secondary metabolites as defensive weapons. Conversely, insects need to counter these metabolites to survive. Different species, though they are closely related, can evolve distinct s...

Antheraea pernyi is an important lepidopteran used as a model insect species to investigate immune responses, development, and metabolism modulation. DNA methylation has recently been found to control various physiological processes throughout the li...

Citrus huanglongbing (HLB) is a severe problem for citrus cultivation. The disease management programs benefit from improved field tools suitable for surveying the ACP vector (Asian citrus psyllid, Diaphorina citri Kuwayama (Hemiptera: Psyllidae)) an...

Samia ricini nucleopolyhedrovirus (SariNPV) is one of the main pathogens of S. ricini sericulture and its infection causes severe impacts on economic sericulture development. To explore and reveal the molecular mechanisms of S. ricini in response to...

Hoverflies (Diptera: Syrphidae) and bees (Hymenoptera: Anthophila) are two key taxa for plant pollination. In the present research, the altitudinal distribution of these taxa was studied along two gradients (elevation range: 780–2130 m) in the...

The active forms of contact insecticides used for combatting mosquito-borne infectious diseases are typically crystalline solids. Numerous molecular crystals are polymorphic, crystallizing in several solid forms characterized by different physicochem...

Silkworms, a model lepidopteran insect, have a very simple diet. Artificial diets as an alternative nutrient source for silkworms are gradually being developed. To understand the effects of various nutrients on the growth and development of silkworms...

The Asian tiger mosquito, Aedes albopictus, has become one of the most important invasive vectors for disease pathogens such as the viruses that cause chikungunya and dengue. Given the medical importance of this disease vector, a number of control pr...

The molting process of the lepidopteran insects is observed for many species. However, the detailed description of the morphological transformation and behavioral sequence during molting are rarely provided and visualized. Here, we described the molt...

In Morocco, there are two well-recognised honey bee (Apis mellifera L.) subspecies: A. m. intermissa in the north and A. m. sahariensis in the south-east. The latter subspecies is found in the arid and semiarid climates of the Sahara Desert. In this...

All members of the ant genus Odontomachus Latreille, 1804 are venomous ants. Four species in this genus have been identified from Thailand: Odontomachus latidens Mayr, 1867; O. monticola Emery, 1892; O. rixosus Smith, 1757; and O. simillimus Smith, 1...

Silk fibroin (SF) is a natural protein (biopolymer) extracted from the cocoons of Bombyx mori L. (silkworm). It has many properties of interest in the field of biotechnology, the most important being biodegradability, biocompatibility and robust mech...

The main objective of the study was to analyse, for the first time in Romania, the relationships between five experimental grasslands and Mesostigmata fauna, considering: (1) the structural differences between mite communities; (2) the variations in...

The present study was dedicated to investigating the anatomical organization of distinct neuropils within the two brain hemispheres of a gynandromorphic moth of the species Helicoverpa armigera. High quality confocal imaging of a synapsin immuno-stai...

Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are important regulatory factors in multiple biological processes, and several lncRNAs are known to respond to insecticides. However, the lncRNA functions that are associated with terpinen-4-ol resistance in the red flou...

Insect short neuropeptide F (sNPF), an ortholog of prolactin-releasing peptide of invertebrates, regulates diverse biological processes, including feeding, olfaction, locomotion, and sleep homeostasis in insects. However, its function is still unclea...

The expected global population growth to 9.7 billion people in 2050 and the significant change in global dietary patterns require an increase in global food production by about 60%. The protein supply for feed and food is most critical and requires a...

Drosophila suzukii (Matsumara) is an herbivorous pest whose control in the field with conventional chemical is particularly difficult and has important drawbacks. Here, we investigated the insecticidal properties of hydrolate from Monarda didyma, sca...

Haplothrips niger is recognized as a parthenogenetic form of H. leucanthemi and is also considered to be a pest in clover-seed plantations. On the contrary, some researchers highlight the distinctiveness of H. niger and H. leucanthemi. Taking into ac...

Insecticide sprays are a common practice to control corn earworm, Helicoverpa zea (Boddie), and fall armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda (J. E. Smith) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae), in corn (Zea mays L.) at reproductive stages. Our objectives were to determin...

Slugs, primarily the gray garden slug, Deroceras reticulatum (Müller), are the most damaging non-arthropod pest of corn grown in conservation tillage systems in the US. These mollusks favor decaying plant residue on the soil surface, which provi...

In Austria, only fragmented information on the occurrence of alien and potentially invasive mosquito species exists. The aim of this study is a nationwide overview on the situation of those mosquitoes in Austria. Using a nationwide uniform protocol f...

The destructive citrus disease, Huanglongbing (HLB) or citrus greening, continues to devastate Florida’s citrus industry. A hemipteran insect, the Asian citrus psyllid (ACP), disperses Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus, one of the putative bact...

RNA interference (RNAi) is a sequence-specific gene silencing mechanism that holds great promise for effective management of agricultural pests. Previous studies have shown that the efficacy of RNAi varies among different insect species, which limits...

Fluvalinate is a widely used insecticide for varroa mite control in apiculture. While most beekeepers have ignored the effects of low levels of fluvalinate on bees, this study aims to demonstrate its effects at very low concentrations. We first used...

A new stag beetle fossil is described from the Yixian Formation in northeastern China. A new genus is established based on this well-preserved specimen. Prolucanus beipiaoensis gen. et sp. nov. is firmly placed in the extant lucanid subfamily Lu...

Blue-green spaces (BGSs), urban areas characterized by the presence of vegetation and or water, and infrastructure form a potential solution for public health threats from increasing urbanization. We conducted a meta-analysis to test the hypothesis t...

Insects detect volatile chemosignals with olfactory sensory neurons (OSNs) that express olfactory receptors. Among them, the most sensitive receptors are the odorant receptors (ORs), which form cation channels passing Ca²⁺. OSNs expressing different...

Global markets do not tolerate the presence of fruit fly (Tephritidae) in horticultural produce. A key method of control for tephritidae pests, is the sterile insect technique (SIT). Several countries release a bisex strain, i.e., males and females,...

Resistant genotypes of crops have emerged as an alternative and sustainable solution to pesticide use against pest insects. The resistance depends on the genetic diversity of the host plant and the pest species and can cause an alteration of the inse...

Tithonia rotundifolia (Mill.) S.F. Blake (Asteraceae) is among the three Tithonia species from Mexico that are invasive in South Africa. To curb its invasiveness and negative impact in South Africa, two chrysomelid beetles, Zygogramma signatipennis (...

Fall armyworm (FAW), Spodoptera frugiperda J.E Smith, (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) is a serious invasive pest of maize that has been established in Kenya since 2016. Little is known about its co-occurrence with resident stemborers, relative infestation a...

The two most common kissing bugs, Triatoma rubida and T. protracta, in the Sonoran Desert around Tucson, Arizona are hematophagous vectors of Chagas disease and can induce potentially life-threatening allergic reactions. They were surveyed during the...

The light brown apple moth, Epiphyas postvittana is an invasive, polyphagous pest of horticultural systems around the world. With origins in Australia, the pest has subsequently spread to New Zealand, Hawaii, California and Europe, where it has been...

Rocky Mountain spotted fever (RMSF) is a significant health problem in Sonora, Mexico. The tick vector, Rhipicephalus sanguineus, feeds almost exclusively on domestic dogs that, in this region, also serve as the reservoir for the tick-borne pathogen,...

Although the behaviour of the Large Blue butterflies of the genus Phengaris (= Maculinea) is relatively well studied, most empirical data come from investigations of their dispersal and oviposition. Here, we assessed overall intersexual differences i...

The subfamily Entiminae is the largest group in the family Curculionidae, and it has long represented a challenge in traditional and molecular classification. Here, we analyzed intra- and interspecific genetic distances of 621 public COI barcode sequ...

There is a need for the development of sustainable, nonchemical tick management strategies. Mycoacaricide and mycoinsecticide product development worldwide has focused primarily on fungi in the genera Beauveria (Hypocreales: Cordycipitaceae) and Meta...

Odorant-degrading enzymes (ODEs) play an important role in rapidly degrading and inactivating odorant molecules that have completed information transmission, as well as in maintaining the stability and sensitivity of insect olfactory sensing systems....