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Insects, Volume 16, Issue 9

September 2025 - 121 articles

Cover Story: Honey bee populations face a severe threat from chalkbrood, a lethal disease caused by Ascosphaera apis. Our study identified a key molecular mechanism underlying this infection: the pathogen hijacked the larval apoptotic pathway to induce fatal tissue damage. The fungal infection markedly increased the expression of host pro-apoptotic genes and meanwhile reduced the anti-apoptotic gene expression, triggering extensive cell death. Importantly, pharmacological inhibition of apoptosis significantly enhanced larval survival and decreased the fungal Ste11-like expression. Conversely, artificially inducing apoptosis exacerbated disease progression. These results demonstrate that A. apis actively exploits host apoptosis to promote its own virulence, highlighting the apoptotic pathway as a promising target for therapeutic interventions. View this paper
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Articles (121)

  • Article
  • Open Access
730 Views
14 Pages

Overcoming Obstacles: Perspective on How Mediterranean Oaks Defend Their Acorns from Insect Seed Predators

  • David A. Oropesa-Olmedo,
  • Enrique Andivia,
  • Michał Reut,
  • Pablo Cisneros and
  • Raúl Bonal

22 September 2025

Insect pre-dispersal seed predators attack a large proportion of the acorn crops in oak forests worldwide. Oaks (Quercus spp.) have evolved several strategies, including physical barriers, chemical defenses (e.g., tannins), and/or phenological predat...

  • Article
  • Open Access
596 Views
12 Pages

22 September 2025

The effects of Lys and Ile supplementation in a barley-based substrate on growth performance and nutrient deposition in Tenebrio molitor larvae were evaluated. Six trays per treatment containing sixty larvae were assigned to five treatments in two 21...

  • Article
  • Open Access
651 Views
11 Pages

22 September 2025

Tea is a global commodity, and due to its way of preparation pesticide residues cannot be tolerated. This underlines the importance of non-chemical pest control. Kenya is the third largest global tea producer but the potential of natural enemies agai...

  • Article
  • Open Access
669 Views
13 Pages

22 September 2025

Honey robbing, as an extreme adaptive response of honey bee colonies to resource scarcity, poses devastating threats to apiaries, yet the underlying molecular mechanisms remain poorly understood. We compared morphological traits and survival rates be...

  • Article
  • Open Access
460 Views
13 Pages

Improvement and Quantification of Extraction Methods for Annual Bluegrass Weevil Larval Populations

  • Albrecht M. Koppenhöfer,
  • Olga S. Kostromytska and
  • Ana Luiza Sousa

22 September 2025

The annual bluegrass weevil (ABW), Listronotus maculicollis (Kirby), is a significant pest of short-mown turfgrass in eastern North America. Proper monitoring of this pest may reduce insecticide applications. We investigated the extraction rate and l...

  • Article
  • Open Access
822 Views
19 Pages

Mouthparts and Alimentary Tract of Flower-Visiting Monkey Beetles (Coleoptera: Scarabaeoidea: Hopliini): Insights into Feeding Preferences

  • Michael Neulinger,
  • Florian Karolyi,
  • Jonathan F. Colville,
  • Myriam E. Widmann,
  • Jonas Kristl and
  • Harald W. Krenn

21 September 2025

Monkey beetles (Hopliini, Scarabaeoidea) are a species-rich group of flower-visiting insects that are specialized to feed on floral tissue, pollen and/or nectar. We studied ten South African species, examining morphological features associated with t...

  • Article
  • Open Access
727 Views
10 Pages

Duplex PCR Detection and Differentiation of Insect DNA Tenebrio molitor and Zophobas morio in Various Types of Food

  • Dagmar Stehlíková,
  • Veronika Müllerová,
  • Anna Adámková,
  • Pavel Beran,
  • Martin Adámek,
  • Vladislav Čurn,
  • Soňa Škrovánková and
  • Jiří Mlček

21 September 2025

Edible insects, particularly Tenebrio molitor (Linnaeus) (mealworm) and Zophobas morio (Fabricius) (superworm), have drawn increasing attention as alternative protein sources. This study aims to develop an accurate molecular detection method for T. m...

  • Article
  • Open Access
1 Citations
724 Views
22 Pages

The Compensatory Response of Photosystem II Photochemistry to Short-Term Insect Herbivory Is Suppressed Under Water Deficit

  • Julietta Moustaka,
  • Ilektra Sperdouli,
  • Stefanos S. Andreadis,
  • Nikoletta Stoikou,
  • Kleoniki Giannousi,
  • Catherine Dendrinou-Samara and
  • Michael Moustakas

21 September 2025

Photosystem II (PSII) is very sensitive to both biotic and abiotic stress conditions, mirroring global climate changes. Crop production worldwide faces rising hazards from the increased duration, frequency, and intensity of drought stress episodes as...

  • Article
  • Open Access
605 Views
14 Pages

Development of an LNA-Based qPCR Assay for Detecting Toumeyella parvicornis (Cockerell, 1897) (Hemiptera: Coccidae) from Insect and Honeydew DNA

  • Domenico Rizzo,
  • Alice Downes,
  • Claudia Gabriela Zubieta,
  • Michela Moriconi,
  • Chiara Ranaldi,
  • Bruno Palmigiano,
  • Antonio Aronadio,
  • Linda Bartolini,
  • Edson Bolige and
  • Antonio P. Garonna
  • + 1 author

20 September 2025

The invasive sap-feeding pest Toumeyella parvicornis (pine tortoise scale) is rapidly spreading across Europe, threatening pine ecosystems, particularly in forest–urban areas of Italy. In this scenario, early detection and monitoring strategies...

  • Article
  • Open Access
1 Citations
722 Views
13 Pages

19 September 2025

The relative efficacy of amorphous silica dusts, malathion, and pirimiphos methyl was assessed against S. oryzae and T. castaneum in stored wheat under laboratory conditions. Insecticidal performance was influenced by physical properties such as part...

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Insects - ISSN 2075-4450