The Natural World and Insects: The Multiple Modalities for Insects to Perceive the Environment

A special issue of Insects (ISSN 2075-4450).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 May 2026 | Viewed by 1203

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
1. Biotechnology Research Center, Shandong Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Jinan 250100, China
2. School of Bioengineering, Qilu University of Technology, Jinan 250353, China
3. Science and Technology Service Platform, Shandong Academy of Sciences, Foreign Students Pioneer Park, Jinan, China
Interests: moth sex pheromone; insect interaction; animal interaction; pheromone; pheromone behavior; pheromone identification; pheromone production; pheromone regulation; pheromone perception; acetate; fatty acid; desaturase; binding protein; odorant binding protein; chemosensory protein; olfactory receptor; opsin, esterase, olfaction and vision
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The multimodal sensory integration of environmental cues that an insect will utilize to interpret and react properly to any information required for its survival and evolution is the subject of this Special Issue, which focuses on behavioral, molecular, genetic, neurobiological, and evolutionary elements of this process. When RNA editing and ribosome peptide editing are discovered in the family of insect chemosensory proteins, the insect's sense of smell becomes extremely close to the genetic mechanisms found in the visual and auditory systems, as well as the protein recoding mechanisms primarily described in the Central Nervous System. Ranging from insects to mammals, these mechanisms include the cytoskeletal components, the proteins involved in synaptic transmission, sodium channels, neurotransmitters and glutamate receptors, opsins, the "chicken" Slo gene (calcium-activated (BK) potassium channels), and the Down syndrome cell adhesion molecule (DSCAM). Because of their wide range of signaling behaviors—including the bee brain, cricket’s hearing tympanic organs, moth antennae with hundreds of odor receptors, fly and dragonfly compound eyes with thousands of lenses, and other peripheral sensory organs—insects are excellent models for studying and analyzing signal generation and perception in the context of neural processing, ecology, evolution, and genetics applied to the animal kingdom.

Together with MDPI’s Insects, we seek to compile an extensive collection of expert publications on insect sensory communication and information processing, largely covering the most recent advancements in science and highlighting most important topics in insect sensory biological science research.

Prof. Dr. Jean-François Picimbon
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Insects is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • genomics
  • transcriptomics
  • proteomics
  • proteogenomics
  • molecular interactions
  • Diptera
  • Hemiptera
  • Hymenoptera
  • Lepidoptera
  • Odonata
  • Orthoptera
  • audition
  • olfaction
  • gustation
  • vision
  • brain sensory integration
  • modulation of multisensory integration

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

13 pages, 1171 KB  
Article
Antennal Sensilla Basiconica Responses to Pheromones and General Odorants in Red Imported Fire Ants, Solenopsis invicta
by Yuzhe Du and Jian Chen
Insects 2026, 17(2), 129; https://doi.org/10.3390/insects17020129 - 23 Jan 2026
Viewed by 791
Abstract
The red imported fire ant, Solenopsis invicta Buren, is a eusocial insect that relies on a sophisticated chemical communication system for colony organization and function. Its olfactory system is vital for detecting semiochemicals in the environment. This study utilized single sensillum recording (SSR) [...] Read more.
The red imported fire ant, Solenopsis invicta Buren, is a eusocial insect that relies on a sophisticated chemical communication system for colony organization and function. Its olfactory system is vital for detecting semiochemicals in the environment. This study utilized single sensillum recording (SSR) to assess the olfactory neuronal responses of female alates and workers from basiconica sensilla exposed to a panel of 62 individual pheromones and general odorants, including terpenes, terpenoids, pyrazines, pyridines, ketones, aldehydes, alcohols, acids, aliphatic and aromatic acetates, benzoates, benzyl esters, and three essential oils. Basiconica sensilla, which contain multiple olfactory receptor neurons (ORNs), exhibited moderate to strong responses to most of the tested compounds, demonstrating a broad sensitivity to all odorants elevated. Comparative analysis of the two castes revealed that ORNs had similar responses to 47 odorants; however, workers showed stronger responses to nine specific compounds, while female alates responded more strongly to six others. These differences underscore the caste-specific olfactory tuning, likely reflecting their distinct roles within the colony. This study presents the first comprehensive mapping of basiconica sensilla responses to general odorants in S. invicta female alates and workers, enhancing our understanding of the S. invicta chemical ecology and potentially contribute to more effective fire ant management strategies. Full article
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