Understanding the dynamics of movement of bacteria within the environment and between species is crucial to unraveling the epidemiology of bacterial diseases and to developing biosecurity measures to prevent dissemination. Many arthropods, some beneficial and some detrimental, inhabit poultry houses. The lesser mealworm, Alphitobius diaperinus (Panzer) (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae), is a pest com...

The yellow mealworm, Tenebrio molitor, harbors a symbiont that has spores with a thick, laminated wall and infects the fat body and ventral nerve chord of adult and larval beetles. In adult males, there is heavy infection of the epithelial cells of the testes and between testes lobes with occasional penetration of the lobes. Spores are enveloped in the spermatophores when they are formed at the...

The red flour beetle, Tribolium castaneum (Herbst), is primarily found associated with human structures such as wheat and rice mills. Such structures are predicted to be spatially isolated resource patches with frequent population bottlenecks that should influence their genetic structure. Genetic diversity and differentiation among nine populations of T. castaneum collected from wheat and rice...

Three species of the genus Xenocerogria Merkl, 2007 have been recorded in China, Xenocerogriafeai (Borchmann, 1911), Xenocerogriaignota (Borchmann, 1941) and Xenocerogriaruficollis (Borchmann, 1912). Xenoceraxanthisma Chen, 2002 is proposed as a junior synonym of Xenocerogriaruficollis. Lectotype of Xenocerogriaignota is designated, and the species is transferred to the genus Lagria Fabricius, ...

Sexual selection drives the evolution of diverse traits that provide an advantage in reproduction. In polyandrous species the traditional premating processes of male-male competition and female choice have as counterparts sperm competition and cryptic female choice (CFC) occurring during and after mating; these processes determine paternity shares of multiple males mated to the same female. I c...

The spectrum of Tenebrio molitor larval digestive proteinases was studied in the context of the spatial organization of protein digestion in the midgut. The pH of midgut contents increased from 5.2-5.6 to 7.8-8.2 from the anterior to the posterior. This pH gradient was reflected in the pH optima of the total proteolytic activity, 5.2 in the anterior and 9.0 in the posterior midgut. When measure...

Species richness is regarded as the core index of biogeography. Estimating correlation between species and modern environmental factors will be great significance for conservation. The arid semiarid areas China present serious desertification, but there are rich biodiversity resources high value. In this study, we evaluated diversity, richness, using Tenebrionidae in China, which provide basic ...