Insects, Volume 9, Issue 1

Volatile fatty acids (VFAs) are a group of common metabolites and semiochemicals mediating information transfer between higher organisms and bacteria, either from microbiome or external environment. VFAs commonly occur among various insect orders. Th...

To improve students’ understanding and appreciation of insects, entomology education efforts have supported insect incorporation in formal education settings. While several studies have explored student ideas about insects and the incorporation of in...

The promotion of native vegetation as a habitat for natural enemies, which could increase their abundance and fitness, is especially useful in highly simplified settings such as Mediterranean greenhouse landscapes. Spiders as generalist predators may...

Arthropods at the surface of plants live in particular microclimatic conditions that can differ from atmospheric conditions. The temperature of plant leaves can deviate from air temperature, and leaf temperature influences the eco-physiology of small...

Honeybees (Apis mellifera) pollinate flowers and collect nectar from many important crops. White clover (Trifolium repens) is widely grown as a temperate forage crop, and requires honeybee pollination for seed set. In this study, using a quantitative...

Like other members of the tribe Xyleborini, Xyleborus bispinatus Eichhoff can cause economic damage in the Neotropics. X. bispinatus has been found to acquire the laurel wilt pathogen Raffaelea lauricola (T. C. Harr., Fraedrich & Aghayeva) when b...

Studies addressing many ecological problems require accurate evaluation of the total population size. In this paper, we revisit a sampling procedure used for the evaluation of the abundance of an invertebrate population from assessment data collected...

Increased integration and synergy between formal and informal learning environments is proposed to provide multiple benefits to science learners. In an effort to better bridge these two learning contexts, we developed an educational model that employ...

Host-parasite coevolution can influence interactions of the host and parasite with the wider ecological community. One way that this may manifest is in cross-resistance towards other parasites, which has been observed to occur in some host-parasite e...

University-based outreach programs have a long history of offering environmental education programs to local schools, but often these lessons are not evaluated for their impact on teachers and students. The impact of these outreach efforts can be inf...

Resistance to pyrethroids in mosquitoes is mainly caused by target site insensitivity known as knockdown resistance (kdr). In this work, we examined the point mutations present in portions of domains I, II, III, and IV of the sodium channel gene in A...

Small hive beetles (SHBs), Aethina tumida, are parasites of social bee colonies native to sub-Saharan Africa and have become an invasive species at a global scale. Reliable Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) diagnosis of this mandatory pest is required...

The larvicidal activity of essential oils cinnamon (Cinnamomum verum J. Presl), Mexican lime (Citrus aurantifolia Swingle) cumin (Cuminum cyminum Linnaeus), clove (Syzygium aromaticum (L.) Merr. & L.M.Perry), laurel (Laurus nobilis Linnaeus), Mex...

Light is arguably the most important abiotic factor for living organisms. Organisms evolved under specific lighting conditions and their behavior, physiology, and ecology are inexorably linked to light. Understanding light effects on biology could no...

Hawaii is home to over 60 ant species, including five of the six most damaging invasive ants. Although there have been many surveys of ants in Hawaii, the last island-wide hand-collection survey of ants on Oahu was conducted in 1988–1994. In 2012, a...

Ongoing intensification of rice production systems in Southeast Asia is causing devastating yield losses each year due to rice hoppers. Their continuing development of immunity to resistant rice varieties and pesticide applications further complicate...

Although locusts can be sustainably produced and are nutrient rich, the thought of eating them can be hard to swallow for many consumers. This paper aims to investigate the nutritional composition of Locusta migratoria, including the properties of ex...

Drosophila melanogaster is an excellent model to dissect the molecular components and pathways of the innate anti-pathogen immune response. The nematode parasite Steinernema carpocapsae and its mutualistic bacterium Xenorhabdus nematophila form a com...

Although several ant species are important targets for the development of molecular control strategies, only a few studies focus on identifying and validating reference genes for quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR)...

A mixed methods study was used to transcend the traditional pre-, post-test approach of citizen science evaluative research by integrating adults’ test scores with their perceptions. We assessed how contributory entomology citizen science affects par...

Parasite effects on host fitness and immunology are often intensity-dependent. Unfortunately, only few experimental studies on insect-parasite interactions attempt to control the level of infection, which may contribute substantial variation to the f...

Heat coma temperatures (HCTs) and super cooling points (SCPs) were examined for nearly 1000 oceanic sea skaters collected from in the Pacific and Indian Oceans representing four Halobates species; H. germanus, H. micans, H. sericeus, and H. sp. Analy...

Stable fly, Stomoxys calcitrans, is a biting fly that can cause severe irritation to livestock resulting in reduced productivity. The most common method of monitoring S. calcitrans is through the use of sticky traps and many designs have been develop...

The invasive Argentine ant causes ecological and economic damage worldwide. In 2011, this species was reported in vineyards of Cafayate, a wine-producing town in the Andes, Argentina. While the local xeric climate is unsuitable for Argentine ants, po...

Spiders perform many essential ecological services, yet humans often experience negative emotions toward spiders. These emotions can lead to the avoidance of beneficial events. These emotions may affect beliefs about what should or should not be incl...

Apis mellifera L. includes several recognized subspecies that differ in their biological properties and agricultural characteristics. Distinguishing between honey bee subspecies is complicated. We analyzed the Folmer region of the COX1 gene in honey...

Environmental and leaf trait effects on herbivory are supposed to vary among different feeding guilds. Herbivores also show variability in their preferences for plant ontogenetic stages. Along the vertical forest gradient, environmental conditions ch...

Grapevine cultivar can affect susceptibility to Lobesia botrana and Eupoecilia ambiguella with important implications on control strategies. A four-year study was carried out in north-eastern Italy on 10 cultivars (Cabernet Sauvignon, Carménère, Char...

Oenopia conglobata is one of the most common ladybird species in urban green areas of the Mediterranean region. We have obtained data about its prey acceptability and prey preferences. In a laboratory experiment, we investigated the acceptability of...

Peer review is an essential part in the publication process, ensuring that Insects maintains high quality standards for its published papers [...]

Transforming modern agriculture towards both higher yields and greater sustainability is critical for preserving biodiversity in an increasingly populous and variable world. However, the intensity of agricultural practices varies strongly between cro...

Invasive, polyphagous crop pests subsist on a number of crop and non-crop resources. While knowing the full range of host species is important, a seasonal investigation into the use of non-crop plants adjacent to cropping systems provide key insights...

Sparganothis fruitworm (Sparganothis sulfureana Clemens) (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) is a serious pest of cranberry (Vaccinium macrocarpon Aiton), a native North American fruit cultivated in northern regions of the United States and southeastern Canad...

The introduction of living invertebrates into the classroom was investigated. First, possible anchor points for a lesson with living invertebrates are explored by referring to the curriculum of primary/secondary schools and to out-of-school learning....

The almond bark beetle, Scolytus amygdali Geurin-Meneville, is responsible for significant loss of fruit production in almond orchards throughout the world. Here, we studied the damage and the incidences of S. amygdali attack on two different scales:...