Newly emerged male moths of silkworm Bombyx mori were treated with in 24 h of eclosion irradiated with two independent doses of 50 Gy and 100 Gy X-rays. The effects of X-rays in the parental generation have indicated significant increase of unfertilized and unhatched eggs followed by significant reduction in the hatchability in the treated batches compared to control. The inheritance of induced sterility was examined in the succeeding generations by rearing the F₁, F₂ and F₃ silkworm progenies and by crossing the progenies of treated males with untreated female moths. It is evident from the results that the number of hatched eggs gradually increased from F₁–F₃ generations. Thus, the results showed that the egg hatchability do not remain constant at every generation and hatching tendency of eggs increase in the progenies of treated batches. The mechanism of inherited sterility was discussed.

MicroRNAs are important at post transcriptional regulation in eukaryotes. Nasonia genus is becoming increasingly popular model in present days due to genetic advantages it possesses over Drosophila. Nasonia species are found distributed throughout the world, expect for N. longicornis, and N. giraulti. In this study, we use the sequential method of blasting all known invertebrate miRNA genes against the Nasonia vitripennis, Nasonia longicornis, and Nasonia giraulti genomes. We identify 40, 31 and 29 putative pre-miRNAs and mature sequences in N. vitripennis, N. giraulti and N. longicornis respectively. A cross species comparison of putative miRNA sequences and their statistical characteristics reveals that there are no huge differences between the species, except for few miRNAs which are reported. We also find that the minimal folding energy index for three Nasonia species pre-miRNA's average is around -0.85 ± 0.11. Further, we report that U is predominant at the 5‘ end of mature sequence, which being a typical characteristic of plant miRNAs. Using MiRanda, we predict nearly 471 potential sites in the N. vitripennis genome. Thus concluding our study to be the beginning of understanding the Nasonia's non coding RNAs and may play an important role in effective pest management in near future.

In this study, we investigated the population growth of the Liposcelis yunnaniensis (Psocoptera: Liposcelididae) feeding on ten different diets. Out of the ten diets, eight were made of plain cereals namely wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), corn (Zea mays L.), barley (Hordeum vulgar L.), oats (Avena sativa L.), rice (Oryza sative L.), and sorghum (Sorghum bicolour L.) while two were the artificial diets named Nayak wheat diet and Universal diet. The population growth was recorded as corn > wheat > universal diet > hulled barley > rice (hulls intact) > barley (hulls intact) > sorghum > Nayak wheat diet > oats > hulled rice. After 32 d culture, the initial 5 psocids developed to the populations as 41.8 ± 4.26, 41.5 ± 4.09 and 39.1 ± 7.64 on corn, wheat and universal diet, respectively. Meanwhile, psocids feeding on Nayak wheat diet, oats and hulled rice had significantly lower populations with 25.6 ± 2.42, 22.5 ± 3.09 and 13.6 ± 2.36 respectively. Rice and barley were included in the diets with and without hulls to see their effect on population growth. In case of barley, hulls had no significant effect on population growth while rice with hulls had significantly higher populations than rice alone. This study has confirmed the relative level of suitability of different cereals for this species when damaged. We have described a method to get the uniform age adults that can be helpful in research experiments.

Three communities along Badagry axis of the Lagos lagoon were sampled for indoor resting Anopheles mosquitoes in order to determine their species composition, relative abundance, density and contribution to malaria transmission in the coastal ecosystem. A total of 1938 adult female Anopheles mosquitoes collected from 2005 to 2007 constituted three species viz Anopheles gambiae, An melas and An. nili. The Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR)–-based tests indicated that more than three-fourth of the An. gambiae s.l (75.8%) population belongs to An. gambiae s.s the remaining were An. melas. Further analysis showed that all the An. gambiae s.s was the M form. ELISA-based analyses indicated that An. gambiae s.s and An. melas were the main vectors of malaria in this area with an overall P. falciparum sporozoite infection rate of 4.8% and 6.5% respectively. Both species also maintained relatively high EIR indicating their prominent roles in malaria transmission in the study area. All the An. nili tested were negative for P. falciparum sporozoite infection. This study provides baseline information for planning vector control programme relevant to reduction of malaria transmission in the coastal areas of Nigeria.

Experimental hand pollinations of the endangered, Hawaiian, endemic, Gossypium tomentosum Nutt. Ex. (Malvaceae) showed that it was self-compatible, but self-pollination resulted in reduced reproductive output. Field observations and pollen tube analyses using fluorescence microscopy showed that mechanical self-pollination in this species included a mechanism known as bending stigmas. A receptive stigma bent backwards and contacted dehiscent anthers in 7% of flowers found on 17 G. tomentosum plants. The yellow flowers were nectarless and were not visited by most anthophilous insects in situ except for the introduced, nitidulid beetle, Aethina concolor Macleay. Collections and insect GI-tract dissections showed that A. concolor carried and ate the pollen of the host flower. Field observations recorded regular contact between beetles and stigma lobes as these insects exited the flowers effecting self-pollination. Behavioral experiments showed that the beetles responded positively to a yellow visual cue. Under some circumstances, an introduced pollen vector may help maintain a low level of reproductive success in an insular endemic.

Iron overload in the fortified flour can influence the life stages and physiology of the insects. The present study was carried out to evaluate the effect of commercially available premix iron fortified flour as well as effect of different concentrations of post-mix iron fortified flour (30–5 ppm) on biology of red flour beetle, Tribolium castaneum (Hebrst.). Larval and pupal duration, total developmental time, fecundity and larval weights in two consecutive generations of beetle were compared with control treatment. Amylase and protease activities of gut of the beetle were also measured in premix and postmix flours.

Results showed that larval mortality increased in two sources of premix iron flour when compared with control. Larval weight was reduced in first generation only. The larval mortality was significantly higher in 30 ppm postmix iron fortified flour than in other postmix concentrations and control treatment. The larvae of T. castaneum fed on two sources of premix and in various concentrations of postmix iron fortified flour revealed an increase in amylases and decrease in protease activities.