Once mated, the optimal strategy for females of the monandrous butterfly, Pararge aegeria, is to avoid male contact and devote as much time as possible to ovipositing, as there is little advantage for females to engage in multiple matings. In other butterfly species the presence of males during egg laying has been shown to affect aspects of oviposition behavior and it has been suggested that re...

Holotrichia oblita Faldermann (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) is a major pest both in field crops and forests because the larvae could eat the roots of most crops in the field, and the adults damage the leaves of trees and field crops. In this study, we focused on the effects of temperature on H. oblita reproductive parameters. The results indicated H. oblita female adults at 25 °C could lay more eg...

The basic reproductive biology of two ectoparasitoids developing on the late larval instars of the scolytid Ips typographus Linnaeus, a pest of spruce forests in Eurasia, was studied with the purpose of explaining which biological features allow the two species to share the same host. The anautogenous braconid Coeloides bostrichorum Giraud had a longer pre-oviposition period (5.1 vs. 3.3 days),...

Plants can retain information about environmental stress and thus, prepare themselves for impending stress. In nature, it happens that environmental stimuli like 'cold' and 'insect egg deposition' precede insect herbivory. Both these stimuli are known to elicit transcriptomic changes in Arabidposis thaliana. It is unknown, however, whether they affect the plant's anti-herbivore defence and feed...

The brown planthopper (BPH), Nilaparvata lugens, sugar transporter gene 6 (Nlst6) is a facilitative glucose/fructose transporter (often called a passive carrier) expressed in midgut that mediates sugar transport from the midgut lumen to hemolymph. The influence of down regulating expression of sugar transporter genes on insect growth, development, and fecundity is unknown. Nonetheless, it is re...

Sasajiscymnus tsugae Sasaji and McClure (Coleeptera: Coccinellidae), is a biological control agent imported for management of hemlock woolly adelgid, Adelges tsugae Annand. In mass rearing S. tsugae, accurate estimation of egg numbers is important because larvae are cannibalistic, especially at higher densities. To determine the most accurate means of estimating egg production, three brands of ...

Species-specific differences in the responses of egg-laying mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae) to the presence of fish exudates in oviposition sites in laboratory bioassays have been related to the likelihood of encountering mosquito-eating fish in natural oviposition sites. We examined the responses of egg-laying mosquitoes to the presence of larvivorous fish in oviposition sites to test this hyp...

The limited availability of alternative foods to replace natural prey hinders cost-effective mass production of ladybird beetles for augmentative biological control. We compared the effects of powdered vs. whole Artemia franciscana (A. franciscana) (brine shrimp) eggs with or without a dietary supplement on development and reproduction of Coleomegilla maculata (C. maculata) (Coleoptera: Coccine...

Two microbial mosquito larvicides, Bacillus thuringiensis ssp. israelensis (Bti) and Bacillus sphaericus (Bsph), have been shown to be highly effective in controlling mosquito larvae and have been used in larvicidal programs for many years. In exploring other modes of action of these agents, we studied the ovipositional response of Bsph susceptible and resistant Culex quinquefasciatus to aqueou...

The burden of gene transfer from one mosquito generation to the next falls on the female and her eggs. The selection of an oviposition site that guarantees egg and larval survival is a critical step in the reproductive process. The dangers associated with ephemeral aquatic habitats, lengthy droughts, freezing winters, and the absence of larval nutrition makes careful oviposition site selection ...