Balcha indica Mani and Kaul (Hymenoptera: Eupelmidae) is a solitary ectoparasitoid attacking larvae, prepupae, and pupae of the emerald ash borer, Agrilus planipennis Fairmaire (Hymenoptera: Eupelmidae). Its fecundity, oviposition rate, longevity, and development time were determined in the laboratory under standard rearing conditions (25 ± 2° C, 65 ± 10% relative humidity, and 14:10 L:D). Adul...

The diamondback moth, Plutella xylostella (Lepidoptera: Yponomeutidae), is a major pest of Brassicaceae and has a worldwide distribution. Biological and genetic differences were studied between populations native to South Africa, Benin, Brazil, France, Japan, United States, Martinique, Réunion Island, Uzbekistan and five localities in Australia. To observe the variability of oviposition behavio...

Mosquito eggs laid within two hours are necessary for transgenic (injection) studies, because mosquito eggs become hard after that period. Thus, in order to have eggs available within this two-hour window, it is important to understand the ovipositional behavior of Anopheles gambiae s.s.. In the present study, the ovipositional behavior of An. gambiae s.s. (Kisumu) was investigated in several d...

The larvae of the southern beet webworm Herpetogramma bipunctalis (Fabricius, 1794) damage the leaves of species in the plant genus Rubus. The present study investigated the biology of H. bipunctalis and developed a protocol for raising H. bipunctalis under laboratory conditions. On the basis of the biological data, we devised a life table. In order to develop the rearing procedures, we determi...

Oviposition is a major event in the life history of mosquitoes, shaping both individual fitness and vectorial capacity. Several exogenous factors have been shown as important for the dynamic forcing of oviposition at finely (hourly) and coarsely (monthly or season to season) grained temporal scales. However, field studies addressing the interplay of weather factors on oviposition dynamics at th...

IntraspeciÞc geographic variation in morphology and behavior can be indicative of populations that are adapted to local environmental conditions. Heterogeneity in the abiotic environment, such as soil conditions, can be an important driver of local adaptation. In southFlorida,mean body sizes in populations of the lubber grasshopper Romalea microptera (Beauvois) (Orthoptera: Acrididae), increase...

Selection of oviposition sites by gravid females is a critical behavioral step in the reproductive cycle of Anopheles coluzzii, which is one of the principal Afrotropical malaria vector mosquitoes. Several studies suggest this decision is mediated by semiochemicals associated with potential oviposition sites. To better understand the chemosensory basis of this behavior and identify compounds th...

Infections can have detrimental effects on the fitness of an animal. Reproducing females may therefore be sensitive to cues of infection and be able to adaptively change their oviposition strategy in the face of infection. As one possibility, females could make a terminal investment and shift reproductive effort from future to current reproduction as life expectancy decreases. We hypothesized t...

1. Transection of the ventral nerve cord of female grasshoppers activates the rhythmical motor programme for oviposition digging. 2. Electrical stimulation of the cut nerve cord had the following effects on elicited oviposition motor activity: (i) shortand long-lasting inhibition of activity, (ii) phase resetting and (iii) modulation of burst frequency. 3. Cold saline applied to the nerve cord ...