A graceful labeling of a graph G of size n is an injective assignment of integers from {0, 1,..., n} to the vertices of G, such that when each edge of G has assigned a weight, given by the absolute dierence of the labels of its end vertices, the set of weights is {1, 2,..., n}. If a graceful labeling f of a bipartite graph G assigns the smaller labels to one of the two stable sets of G, then f ...

Although many organisms show daily rhythms in their activity patterns, the mechanistic causes of these patterns are poorly understood. Here we show that host plant volatiles affect the nocturnal behavior of the caterpillar Mythimna separata. Irrespective of light status, the caterpillars behaved as if they were in the dark when exposed to volatiles emitted from host plants (either uninfested or...

The identity of Phalaena Attacus cassandra Cramer, [1779] is established, based on a female reared from caterpillar that matched the description and illustration by STOLL (1790), raising following questions: Are armida really same species, or two different as supposed CRAMER (1771 [1779]), when described adults, Stoll, he caterpillars? If they are same, caterpillars polymorphic? Illustrations l...

Cotton plants contain suites of phytochemicals thought to be important in defense against herbivores, some of which are localized in pigment glands which contain gossypol and other terpenoid aldehydes. The simple genetic basis for the expression of these glands has led to the development of near-isogenic glanded and glandless genotypes. Glands may also be phenotypically induced by herbivory. We...

Parasitic wasps and flies (parasitoids) exert high mortality on caterpillars, and previous studies have demonstrated that most primary and secondary defenses do not protect caterpillars against parasitoids. We investigated the efficacy of tertiary defenses (i.e., immune responses) against parasitoids. Using a bead injection technique to measure the immune response and a 15-year database to meas...

1. Monarch caterpillars, Danaus plexippus (Linnaeus), feed on milkweed plants in the genus Asclepias and sequester cardenolides as an anti-predator defence. However, some predators are able to consume this otherwise unpalatable prey. 2. Chinese mantids, Tenodera sinensis (Saussure), were observed consuming monarch caterpillars by ‘gutting’ them (i.e. removing the gut and associated internal org...

Plants attacked by herbivorous insects emit volatile compounds that attract predators or parasitoids of the herbivores. Plant fitness increases when these herbivorous insects are parasitized by solitary parasitoids, but whether gregarious koinobiont parasitoids also confer a benefit to plant fitness has been disputed. We investigated the relationship between parasitoid load of the gregarious Co...

The caterpillars of Stenoma cathosiota Meyrick feed on Roupala montana Aubl. (Proteaceae) in the cerrado of the Distrito Federal, Brazil. They construct shelters by joining leaves of the plant where they feed and pupate. The caterpillars are parasitized by a wasp (Hymenoptera: Brachonidae), which emerges from the pupae. Caterpillar abundance and parasitism frequency were associated in an area o...

Nine lactiferous plants of five families were examined for caterpillars in a 4 ha cerrado sensu stricto (savanna-like vegetation) area of the University of Brasília Experimental Farm (DF, Brazil), from August 1995 to May 1997. In 5,540 censuses, less than 5% of the plants hosted caterpillars. All the caterpillars found, a total of 55 species in 15 families were reared under laboratory condition...

Nonmammalian model systems of infection such as Galleria mellonella (caterpillars of the greater wax moth) have significant logistical and ethical advantages over mammalian models. In this study, we utilize G. mellonella caterpillars to study host-pathogen interactions with the gram-negative organism Acinetobacter baumannii and determine the utility of this infection model to study antibacteria...