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Insects
Special Issues
Travelers on the Wind: Migratory Insects as Emerging Research Models
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Travelers on the Wind: Migratory Insects as Emerging Research Models

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 September 2025 | Viewed by 2367

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Guijun Wan

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
State Key Laboratory of Agricultural and Forestry Biosecurity, College of Plant Protection, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, China
Interests: entomology; magnetosensing; migration; navigation
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Qiulin Wu

E-Mail Website1 Website2
Guest Editor
1. Key Laboratory of Agricultural Meteorology of Jiangsu Province, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing 210044, China
2. School of Ecology and Applied Meteorology, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing 210044, China
Interests: biometeorology of crop disease and insect pests; monitoring and early warning of migratory pests

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Migratory insects, with their extensive movements across ecosystems and varied environmental responses, are becoming essential models for studying complex biological processes. Species such as the monarch butterfly, fall armyworm, brown planthopper, beet webworm, and migratory locust play significant roles in global ecology, agriculture, and biodiversity. Their capacity for long-distance migration and adaptability to diverse environmental and biological factors presents a unique opportunity to investigate key biological topics, including migration behavior and physiology, genetic adaptation, reproductive strategies, insecticide resistance, and intricate host–symbiont interactions. Recent advancements in omics, genetics, physiology, behavior, and ecology have accelerated our understanding of these complex mechanisms through research on migratory insects.

This Special Issue invites contributions that use migratory insects as model systems across research fields. We welcome reviews, research articles, and short communications. Researchers are encouraged to share findings and insights that will advance our understanding of migratory insect biology and drive innovative solutions to ecological and agricultural challenges.

Dr. Guijun Wan
Dr. Qiulin Wu
Guest Editors

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 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

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

  • migratory insects
  • insect migration
  • pest monitoring and forecasting
  • genetic adaptation
  • reproductive strategies
  • insecticide resistance
  • host–symbiont interactions
  • circadian clock
  • orientation mechanisms
  • magnetoreception

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Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

17 pages, 1598 KiB  
Article
Comparative Analysis of Diel and Circadian Eclosion Rhythms and Clock Gene Expression Between Sexes in the Migratory Moth Spodoptera frugiperda
by Changning Lv, Yibo Ren, Viacheslav V. Krylov, Yumeng Wang, Yuanyuan Li, Weidong Pan, Gao Hu, Fajun Chen and Guijun Wan
Insects 2025, 16(7), 705; https://doi.org/10.3390/insects16070705 - 9 Jul 2025
Viewed by 578
Abstract
The circadian clock orchestrates behavioral and molecular processes such as eclosion. Understanding eclosion timing may offer insights into circadian mechanisms underlying migratory timing. Here, we characterize the diel and circadian patterns of eclosion and core clock gene expression in the fall armyworm (FAW), [...] Read more.
The circadian clock orchestrates behavioral and molecular processes such as eclosion. Understanding eclosion timing may offer insights into circadian mechanisms underlying migratory timing. Here, we characterize the diel and circadian patterns of eclosion and core clock gene expression in the fall armyworm (FAW), Spodoptera frugiperda, a globally distributed migratory moth. Using a custom-designed eclosion monitoring system under 14 h light: 10 h dark (L14: D10) and constant darkness (DD) conditions, we observed robust diel eclosion rhythms peaking shortly after lights-off under L14: D10, which became delayed and damped over three consecutive days in DD. Males showed a tendency toward more dispersed emergence patterns and exhibited statistically distinguishable eclosion distributions from females under both conditions. Expression of five canonical clock genes (cyc, clk, tim, per, cry2) displayed significant 24 h rhythmicity, with generally higher mesors in males. However, sex-specific differences in amplitude and phase were detected only for clk and cyc under L14: D10, not in DD. These findings suggest that sex-specific differences in circadian regulation are limited. Nonetheless, subtle variations in clock gene output and emergence timing in the FAW population established in China may contribute to sex-specific ecological strategies in the novel migratory arena. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Travelers on the Wind: Migratory Insects as Emerging Research Models)
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8 pages, 1005 KiB  
Article
First Report of a Migratory Pest, the Fall Armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda (JE Smith, 1797) (Lepidoptera, Noctuidae) from Bulgaria
by Szabolcs Szanyi, Marek Barta, Dimitar Velchev, Stoyan Beshkov, Stephen Mumford, Ivaylo Todorov, Antal Nagy, Zoltán Varga, Miklós Tóth and Teodora Toshova
Insects 2025, 16(2), 134; https://doi.org/10.3390/insects16020134 - 30 Jan 2025
Viewed by 1391
Abstract
The first occurrence of an invasive pest species, the fall armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda, Lepidoptera: Noctuidae), in Bulgaria is reported. Different trapping methods (black light trap, traps baited with semiochemical lures, and food attractants) were used to study Noctuidae assemblages in Bulgaria in [...] Read more.
The first occurrence of an invasive pest species, the fall armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda, Lepidoptera: Noctuidae), in Bulgaria is reported. Different trapping methods (black light trap, traps baited with semiochemical lures, and food attractants) were used to study Noctuidae assemblages in Bulgaria in 2023. Two males of S. frugiperda were caught with sex pheromone traps in maize fields in Knezha, northern Bulgaria, in early November 2023. Additionally, three moths were attracted by black light traps (early November 2023) and one moth by a food lure applied on a tree trunk at the end of October 2023 in the municipalities of Parvomay and Chirpan, southern Bulgaria, respectively. The identification of S. frugiperda was confirmed using morphological and molecular methods. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Travelers on the Wind: Migratory Insects as Emerging Research Models)
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