Search Results (1,723)

Globally, Trichogramma Westwood (Hymenoptera: Trichogrammatidae) is known as the most effective biological control agent due to its ability to parasitize insect pest eggs. However, identifying an appropriate host is vital for Trichogramma to prosper. Therefore, this study delves into the complex role of semiochemicals in shaping the host-seeking behavior of Trichogramma parasitoids, with a particular focus on their responses to both plant-derived and host-derived cues. The mechanism of semiochemical reception in Trichogramma wasps relies on a highly specialized, sensitive olfactory and gustatory system to locate host eggs and mates. Semiochemicals, which mediate ecological interactions, have been identified as pivotal in influencing the parasitic efficiency of Trichogramma species. Trichogramma’s host-seeking behavior is influenced not solely by ovipositional cues but also by the intrinsic physical attributes of Lepidopteran hosts, such as the scales on the wings and abdomen, which emit semiochemicals capable of eliciting positive chemotactic responses, thereby guiding parasitoids toward optimal sites for oviposition. Furthermore, the interplay between insect-derived and plant-derived chemical cues exhibits a synergistic effect, collectively enhancing the chemotactic attraction of Trichogramma, thereby fine-tuning its host-seeking behavior with greater precision and specificity. This study further underscores Trichogramma’s innate behavioral ability to discriminate between host eggs of varying developmental stages, facilitating the precise identification and selection of the most suitable host for parasitization. Age and experience both make Trichogramma more selective of hosts, but younger parasitoids may take a broader approach to host selection due to their greater life expectancy. Furthermore, the removal of these cues affects their host localization and learning abilities. Associative learning enables Trichogramma to exhibit flexible behaviors, providing them with a selective advantage; allows them to explore various hosts; and reduces environmental uncertainty. Plant structure, host density, and host age are the key factors that significantly influence the foraging and parasitism of Trichogramma. The searching speed of this parasitoid is significantly influenced by temperature. Heat stress increases VOC emissions in plants such as potato via stomatal opening, reducing herbivore attraction and enhancing parasitoid recruitment. Furthermore, air pollution, including CO₂, O₃, and NOx, impairs parasitoid efficiency by disrupting volatile-mediated host location and reducing biological control performance. Trichogramma wasps are generally effective biological control agents, but their success depends on the species used, target pest, crop, release density, and field conditions. Overall, species such as T. ostriniae, T. japonicum, and T. leucaniae show the strongest performance in several crops by increasing parasitism, reducing pest damage, and improving yield. This study highlights the successful integration of semiochemical cues in pest management programs and the effective utilization of Trichogramma in conjunction with entomopathogenic bacteria to control Lepidopteran pests. This approach contributes to the development of more effective pest management strategies, thereby promoting agricultural sustainability. Full article

Saudi Arabia is expanding its domestic coffee sector under Vision 2030, yet coffee farming remains vulnerable to leaf diseases and pest damage. Image-based artificial intelligence studies conducted under Saudi field conditions remain limited, particularly in relation to assessing image-based visible disease severity. This study designs a hierarchical deep learning framework for screening coffee leaf diseases using field-collected images of Saudi coffee leaves. Three tasks were addressed: binary health status classification, four-class disease or pest damage identification, and binary visible severity classification. A dataset of 550 RGB images was collected from Al-Dayer Governorate, Jazan, under natural field conditions. ResNet50, DenseNet121, and EfficientNet-B0 were evaluated via transfer learning in two phases: a Saudi-only phase and an integrated phase that combined Saudi data with selected JMuBEN and JMuBEN2 samples. In the Saudi-only phase, ResNet50 achieved 96.47% accuracy for binary classification, while DenseNet121 achieved 68.66% and 78.12% for disease and visible severity classification, respectively. In the integrated phase, performance improved to 99.74%, 97.76%, and 97.37%. These integrated-phase results are interpreted as evidence that dataset expansion and increased visual diversity can improve model performance, rather than as definitive estimates of field deployment performance. The results show that binary classification is feasible under limited local data, whereas fine-grained disease classification is more constrained by dataset size and class imbalance. Grad-CAM visualizations were used to support qualitative interpretability and should not be interpreted as biological validation of disease localization. The framework is positioned as a decision-support screening approach that requires further expert-validated, multi-farm, and multi-season evaluation before deployment. Full article

Lepidopteran pests cause severe global economic damage; they are currently mitigated by synthetic pesticides that trigger widespread resistance and environmental toxicity. This systematic review evaluates the potential of Piper essential oils (EOs) as high-performance, sustainable bio-based insecticides, aligning with the 12 Principles of Green Chemistry. Analyzing studies covering Piper species, we identified phenylpropanoids (e.g., dillapiole and safrole) and terpenoids as key biodegradable scaffolds for pest management. The results highlight P. aduncum and P. divaricatum for their exceptional efficacy against Spodoptera frugiperda and Plutella xylostella, often exhibiting toxicity levels comparable to botanical standards like azadirachtin. Crucially, this review reveals that Piper EOs can outperform the synthetic industrial synergist piperonyl butoxide (BPO), with natural binary mixtures enhancing insecticidal potency by up to 11-fold. Furthermore, specific EOs contribute to a preventative green strategy by causing the structural disintegration of the egg chorion. By focusing on renewable biomass and design for degradation (Principles 7 and 10), this work anchors the Piper genus as a cornerstone for the circular bioeconomy and sustainable agricultural innovation, reducing the chemical footprint of modern crop protection. Full article

The cotton seed bug (CSB) (Oxycarenus hyalinipennis), an emerging pest of cotton worldwide, causes significant economic damage through seed feeding and fiber contamination. Effective monitoring tools for this species are currently lacking, limiting the implementation of integrated pest management (IPM) strategies. In this study, we characterized the volatile profile of whole, unprocessed cotton seeds and evaluated the behavioral responses of adult CSBs to individual compounds and synthetic blends. Using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis, we identified 17 volatile compounds, including aldehydes, hydrocarbons, aromatic compounds, terpenes, ketone, and fatty acid ester. Y-tube olfactometer assays revealed that only four individual compounds, 1-heptanal, 1-decene, 1-nonanal, and isopropyl palmitate, elicited significant attraction from both males and females. Chemical blends of these four compounds formulated in a natural ratio (1:16:4:2) and an equal ratio (1:1:1:1) demonstrated strong, dose-dependent attraction, with optimal responses occurring at low doses (0.01 µg). Robust behavioral attraction was observed in response to the complete four-component blend. Removal of any individual compound significantly reduced attraction in a sex-specific and dose-dependent manner. Notably, removal of the fatty acid ester isopropyl palmitate from the blend almost resulted in a complete loss of attraction. This study provides the first comprehensive characterization of volatile emissions from whole cotton seed and presents the first evidence in CSB that 1-decene and isopropyl palmitate function as key volatile components of the foraging cue for attraction. These findings advance our understanding of CSB chemical ecology and highlight the potential of dose-dependent, multi-component kairomonal blends as tools for monitoring and management of CSB. Full article

Bemisia tabaci (whitefly; Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae), a complex of morphologically similar but genetically distinct species, causes enormous agricultural damage worldwide. Farmers incur billions of dollars in losses each year from whiteflies, both through direct feeding damage and from the transmission of numerous plant viruses. Important crops that are heavily damaged by whiteflies include tomato, eggplant, cucumber, cotton, cucurbits, beans, and cassava. The global invasiveness and persistence of B. tabaci are largely attributed to its exceptional biological traits. Understanding these traits is essential for developing effective, long-term pest management strategies. This review describes in detail how the basic biology studies of B. tabaci provide a foundation for developing pest management strategies. Specifically, we discuss: (1) insights into the development of insecticide resistance can guide resistance management strategies; (2) knowledge of natural enemies supports the advancement of biological control approaches; and (3) understanding plant–insect interactions reveals molecular targets for innovative pest management solutions. We also examine emerging research trends and offer future perspectives on how ongoing studies may drive the development of next-generation control strategies (RNA interference, clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats—CRISPR-associated protein 9 (CRISPR-Cas9), and horizontally transferred genes as targets). Full article

Accurate pest recognition is an important foundation for intelligent plant protection, precision pesticide application, and sustainable agricultural management. However, in real field environments, pest targets are often small in scale, severely occluded, and embedded in complex backgrounds, which limits the performance of existing supervised learning methods under low-annotation and cross-scenario conditions. To address these issues, a multimodal self-supervised pretraining framework is proposed for pest recognition, in which field pest images and environmental sensor data are integrated to construct pest representations with environmental awareness. In this framework, image features, including pest morphology, leaf texture, and damaged regions, are first extracted through a visual encoding branch, while temporal variation features of ecological factors, including temperature, humidity, illumination, soil moisture, rainfall, and wind speed, are modeled through an environmental encoding branch. On this basis, a cross-modal contrastive consistency module is designed to align visual and environmental representations, a temporal consistency self-supervised module is introduced to characterize the continuous evolutionary relationship between pest occurrence and environmental changes, and a multimodal collaborative representation fusion module is constructed to adaptively integrate information from different modalities. The experimental results show that the proposed method achieves favorable performance in the pest recognition task, with Accuracy, Precision, Recall, and F1-score reaching $94.37\%$, $93.96\%$, $93.42\%$, and $93.69\%$, respectively, outperforming ConvNeXtV2-T, ViT-B/16, Swin-T, SimCLR, MAE, and the conventional Image + Sensor fusion method. The ablation experiments further show that, after removing the cross-modal contrastive consistency module, the temporal consistency self-supervised module, and the multimodal collaborative fusion module, the F1-score decreases to $91.00\%$, $91.36\%$, and $90.49\%$, respectively, thereby demonstrating the contribution of each module. This study provides a viable multimodal self-supervised learning approach for AI-driven intelligent pest recognition, early warning, and precision control in agriculture. Full article

Xiaitermes Gao & He, 1994 is a small genus within Nasutitermitinae, the largest subfamily of Termitidae. It comprises only two species, both of which are wood-feeding pests endemic to China that damage building timbers and economic crops. However, the morphological similarity between these two species, combined with a lack of molecular data, has made species identification challenging. This study determined the first mitochondrial genomes of Xiaitermes tiantaiensis Gao & He, 1994 and Xiaitermes yinxianensis Gao & He, 1994 (15,867 bp and 15,866 bp in length, respectively), which share 99.9% sequence identity. Comparative mitogenomic analysis revealed an A+T-biased nucleotide composition and codon usage pattern, as well as conserved tRNA secondary structures. Morphological analysis of the soldier caste demonstrated that the apical processes of the mandibles exhibit considerable intraspecific variation and are not diagnostic for species delimitation. Furthermore, the ranges of the seven morphological measurements strongly overlapped. Integrated molecular and morphological evidence confirmed that X. tiantaiensis is a junior synonym of X. yinxianensis. Although phylogenetic analyses based on mitogenomic data only partially resolved relationships among subfamilies within Termitidae, they provided better resolution within Nasutitermitinae and consistently placed Xiaitermes as closely related to Ahmaditermes. Full article

Fusarium verticillioides is a maize pathogenic fungus that produces the mycotoxin fumonisin B₁ (FB₁) and causes significant losses in grain quality and yield. In addition, the insect Sitophilus zeamais damages the grains and contributes to the dispersal of the fungus. Although synthetic pesticides provide effective pest control, their excessive use has raised concerns regarding environmental contamination and human health. Therefore, safer alternatives with biopesticide potential are being explored. The aim of this study was to identify an oxygenated volatile compound capable of protecting maize grains against fungal infection and fungal dispersal by the insect vector. The antifungal activity of 1,4-cineole, 1,8-cineole, α-terpineol, terpinen-4-ol, and 1-decen-3-ol against F. verticillioides was evaluated through the fumigant method. Among the tested compounds, 1-decen-3-ol and terpinen-4-ol showed the highest antifungal activity with minimum inhibitory concentration values of 0.5 and 0.9 mM, respectively, significantly affecting fungal growth rate and lag phase. The compound 1-decen-3-ol was selected for further evaluation in stored grains. The application of 1-decen-3-ol effectively prevented maize weight loss and reduced the accumulation of ergosterol and FB₁. These findings suggest that 1-decen-3-ol could represent a potential candidate for the development of biocontrol strategies in grain storage systems. Full article

Fall armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda (J.E. Smith), has emerged as one of the most damaging invasive pests affecting maize production and household food security across sub-Saharan Africa since its first detection in 2016. This systematic review synthesizes empirical evidence published between 2016 and 2025 to assess the agronomic, livelihood, and food security impacts of FAW on smallholder farming systems across Eastern, Southern, Western, and Central Africa. Following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines and the Population, Intervention, Comparison, Outcome, Time, and Setting (PICOTS) framework, 20 studies (17 empirical and 3 contextual) were identified through comprehensive searches of academic databases and institutional repositories and were included in the final synthesis after methodological screening. The evidence indicates that FAW invasion causes substantial maize yield losses ranging from approximately 20% to 50%, with the greatest reductions reported in rain-fed systems with limited access to pest management technologies. Infestation rates frequently exceeded 50%, particularly during early invasion phases. Beyond agronomic losses, several studies reported reduced household income, constrained food availability, and livelihood disruptions, including increased labor requirements, higher production costs, and reliance on short-term coping strategies. Only a small proportion of studies (n = 4) directly assessed nutrition-related indicators, but the available evidence indicates declines in dietary diversity in severely affected communities. Overall, the agronomic impacts of FAW are consistently documented across regions, whereas the socioeconomic and nutrition outcomes remain comparatively underreported, indicating a significant evidence gap. These findings highlight FAW as both an agronomic and livelihood challenge, underscoring the need for integrated pest management strategies, strengthened extension services, and coordinated policy responses to safeguard food and income security among smallholder farmers in Africa. Full article

Bean weevil, Acanthoscelides obtectus, is a major post-harvest pest causing substantial losses in Phaseolus species worldwide. Identifying genetic resources with reduced susceptibility offers a sustainable alternative to chemical control. In this study, four Phaseolus coccineus and nine Phaseolus vulgaris landraces, along with one commercial cultivar, were evaluated under laboratory conditions using a free-choice test. Resistance-related traits, including oviposition (eggs per seed), adult emergence (holes per seed), damage incidence, and seed weight loss, were assessed across three replications. Significant genotypic variation was observed for all traits. Several P. vulgaris landraces (APN 42, APN 51, Yar) and one P. coccineus landrace (APN 85) showed no detectable seed damage or seed weight loss under free-choice conditions, whereas the susceptible check exhibited high infestation levels and up to 39.3% seed weight loss. Principal component analysis further distinguished low-damage genotypes from susceptible landraces, with resistance-associated traits contributing strongly to variation. These findings indicate that certain landraces exhibit reduced susceptibility to, or non-preference for, the bean weevil and may serve as valuable genetic resources for sustainable pest management. Full article

This study presents the findings of on-farm trials conducted in Hungary between 2023 and 2025, evaluating the efficacy of inundative Trichogramma releases against the European corn borer (ECB) and the cotton bollworm (CBW). The research assessed three Trichogramma preparations, including solo T. brassicae (TB) and two species mixtures: (1) T. dendrolimi, T. cacoeciae, and T. brassicae (TSM1) and (2) T. brassicae and T. pintoi (TSM2). The timing of the releases was synchronized with pest swarming and maize phenology. The efficacy of Trichogramma-based biological control was assessed by comparing the number of damaged plants and the number of pest larvae detected in treated and untreated plots. Statistical analyses revealed a significant association between the release of parasitoids and a reduction in pest damage. The efficacy of the Trichogramma releases was determined using Abbott’s formula. In our research, the following pattern emerged: (1) medium efficacy (ranging from 40% to 68.2%) occurred under low pest pressure and optimal weather conditions; (2) low efficacy (35.5% and 33.3%) occurred under medium pest pressure and suboptimal climatic conditions; and (3) no efficacy occurred under high pest abundance combined with unfavorable weather. Our findings suggest that Trichogramma-based products can serve as complementary components of Integrated Pest Management (IPM); however, they also emphasize that parasitism by Trichogramma wasps is influenced by several factors, such as climatic conditions and pest abundance, indicating that additional plant protection treatments may be necessary, for example, under high pest pressure and/or suboptimal climatic conditions. Full article

Alphitobius diaperinus (Panzer) (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae) is a common pest in poultry farms, causing significant economic damage, spreading easily and quickly. The species is resilient, adaptable, and capable of thriving in a variety of environments, and both larvae and adults can hide in hard-to-reach places; thus, control becomes highly challenging. Moreover, the species has developed resistance to commonly used insecticides, increasing the need to adopt integrated pest management strategies. Hence, this study examined the mortality dynamics of A. diaperinus larvae exposed to the entomopathogenic nematodes (EPNs) Heterorhabditis downesi Stock, Griffin & Burnell 2002 (Rhabditida: Heterorhabditidae) and Steinernema kraussei (Steiner, 1923) (Rhabditida: Steinernematidae) across a range of temperatures, dose rates, and exposure intervals. The patterns of larval mortality closely followed the classical EPN infection timeline: limited mortality during the first hours, a pronounced increase between day 2 and 4, and high cumulative mortality after day 8. Steinernema kraussei produced moderate early mortality, increasing by day 8, across all tested temperatures, reflecting its relatively slower but effective infection progression. In contrast, H. downesi induced higher early mortality at moderate temperatures and stronger dose-dependent responses. Temperature significantly modulated infection in both species, with reduced performance at 35 °C, particularly for H. downesi, although high-dose treatments achieved substantial mortality. The significant temperature × dose × time interactions align with established EPN biology and previous research on both species and, overall, the results confirm that they both possess strong pathogenic potential against A. diaperinus, while their performance characteristics support their suitability as biological control agents for poultry facilities. Full article

The Monk Parakeet (Myiopsitta monachus) is a psittacid species native to central and eastern South America that was introduced into many countries by traders, for its popularity as caged pets. After escapes or releases, it has been successful in establishing in new territories, capable of reproducing, dispersing, and exhibiting population growth in introduction sites during recent decades. It is considered a pest due to negative impacts, especially for its damage to agriculture and urban infrastructure. Although its global distribution has been previously described, given its high adaptability and effectiveness in colonizing new environments, many of these distribution maps may be outdated. We used eBird, a free online birding database, to locate sightings of this species globally and compared it with the reported range for the species. Additionally, we overlaid compiled data on species distribution with economic data to explore if there is a correlation between the reported parakeet presence in new cities and wealth. We compiled data from 1900 to 2024 and compared reported differences in the Monk Parakeet presence. Our results indicate that Monk Parakeets have invaded at least 31 countries, being present in capital cities, cities, towns, and rural territories. The number of cities where the species was reported as invasive increased significantly since 1985, by an average of 150% by decade. We found a positive pooled association between country-level Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita and the number of cities with Monk Parakeet records, although this pattern should be interpreted cautiously, given potential biases from observation effort, country size, and temporal co-variation. We present new evidence on Monk Parakeet’s rapid global expansion and deliver an updated map of the Monk Parakeet global distribution, relevant for planning and implementing control measures. Full article

Acantholyda posticalis (Hymenoptera: Pamphiliidae) is a forestry pest in China. They primarily infest pine trees, causing serious ecological damage. The research aims to identify the key environmental factors influencing the suitable distribution area of Acantholyda posticalis and their optimal conditions, and investigate the impacts of climate change and possible impacts of its main host plants on the distribution of Acantholyda posticalis. By utilizing the MaxEnt model, we predict the potential distribution of Acantholyda posticalis and its main host plant, Pinus tabuliformis, under current and future climatic conditions. The results indicate that under current climatic conditions, the suitable areas for Acantholyda posticalis in China are extensive in the Loess Plateau and North China Plain regions and have extensive overlapping area with the distribution of Pinus tabuliformis. The dominant environmental factors influencing the distribution of suitable areas for Acantholyda posticalis are the Minimum Temperature of the Coldest Month, Precipitation of the Wettest Quarter, Altitude and Temperature Seasonality. Under the SSP126 and SSP585 climate scenarios for the period 2081–2100, the overall suitable area for Acantholyda posticalis is projected to follow a decreasing trend, exhibiting a tendency to extend toward the southern and eastern regions. Meanwhile, the moderately and highly suitable areas are more concentrated and extensive. The research provides a theoretical foundation for the control of Acantholyda posticalis and the protection of the ecological environment. Full article

Ectomyelois ceratoniae (Zeller), the date moth, is a major pest of date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.), responsible for severe post-harvest losses in arid and Mediterranean regions. The Sterile Insect Technique (SIT) is an environmentally friendly control method whose effectiveness depends on selecting irradiation doses that ensure sterility while preserving insect quality. This study evaluated the histopathological effects of ⁶⁰Co gamma irradiation on the digestive system of fifth-instar larvae of E. ceratoniae. Larvae were exposed to doses of 0 (control), 250, 300, 350, and 450 Gy, and the mesenteron, proctodeum, and Malpighian tubules were analyzed using Mallory’s trichrome staining. Quantitative measurements included epithelial thickness, intestinal stem cell density, Malpighian tubule diameter, and a histological integrity index. Gamma irradiation induced pronounced dose-dependent alterations. These included thinning and disorganization of the intestinal epithelium, a marked reduction in stem cell density, swelling of Malpighian tubules, and a progressive loss of tissue integrity. Severe degeneration and functional collapse of digestive tissues were observed at doses ≥ 350 Gy. The results indicate that 300–350 Gy represents a critical irradiation range inducing irreversible digestive damage compatible with effective sterilization. These findings provide histopathological reference criteria for optimizing dose selection and quality control in SIT programs targeting E. ceratoniae. Full article