Demotispa neivai (Bondar) (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) causes significant palm oil loss due to the damage it causes to the epidermis when feeding on fruit of oil palm, Elaeis guineensis Jacq. This research was conducted to characterize the biology and natural enemies of D. neivai. The life cycle was studied under laboratory conditions (28.8°C ± 1.2°C and 76.8% ± 6.3% relative humidity); population fluctuation was established in field conditions using a 5-yr-old oil palm plot. Natural mortality factors of D. neivai were recorded over a 22-week period, with sampling of bunches occurring once every 2 weeks over five phenological stages of fruit development. At each sampling, three bunches were selected per stage. The D. neivai life cycle was as follows: the egg stage was 7.1 ± 1.2 d, the larval stage with five instars was 21.9 ± 2.0 d, the pupal stage was 19.6 ± 3.0 d, and the adult stage lasted 268.9 ± 53.1 d. The entire life cycle was, thus, completed in 309.1 ± 54.3 d. The largest D. neivai populations were recorded in oil palm during the bunch-filling phenological stage. Their most important natural mortality factor was the fungus Metarhizium anisopliae (Sorokin) Metchnikoff, which caused, on average, 25.3% larval mortality.

To determine the species of whiteflies infesting Chinese bayberry, Myrica rubra Sieb. et Zucc. (Fagales: Myricaceae), in China, we collected samples from eight provinces (Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Shanghai, Anhui, Hubei, Fujian, Guizhou, and Yunnan) from 2014 through 2017. Six species representing six genera of the subfamily Aleyrodinae were identified, namely Aleurocanthus spiniferus (Quaintance), Aleurolobus szechwanensis Young, Aleuroplatus pectiniferus Quaintance & Baker, Cohicaleyrodes caerulescens (Singh), Dialeuropora brideliae (Takahashi), and Parabemisia myricae (Kuwana). Information on the pest status, illustrations, distribution worldwide, and hosts of each of these six species is provided.

Increased atmospheric temperatures may negatively affect the ecology, biology, and physiology of insect pollinators by increasing asynchrony between pollinator foraging and flowering of angiosperms. Apis florea F. (Hymentoptera: Apidae) is an important pollinator of vegetables and spice plants in India and, compared to other honeybee species native to Asia, tolerates higher temperatures. We tested the effects of three temperatures (25°C ± 0.5°C, 35°C ± 0.5°C, and 42°C ± 0.5°C) on changes in proboscis extension reflex (PER) in A. florea in response to increasing sucrose concentrations (3%, 10%, 30%, 40%, 50%, and 70% w/v). Across the six sucrose concentrations, the mean %PER scores of A. florea exposed to 25°C ± 0.5°C were significantly higher than those at 35°C ± 0.5°C and 42°C ± 0.5°C, although the mean %PER scores at 35°C ± 0.5°C and 42°C ± 0.5°C did not vary significantly. This result suggests a possible reduction in A. florea feeding motivation at temperatures above 25°C, which may negatively affect their winter foraging patterns. This could be especially problematic with rising minimum air temperatures in the semiarid lateritic belts of West Bengal, India.

An improved artificial diet for Ectropis obliqua Prout (Lepidoptera: Geometridae) is described. Mean growth parameters of insects fed the diet demonstrated a higher level of pupation, a greater pupal weight, and a higher level of emergence from pupation as compared to those fed a commonly used general purpose diet. The feeding effect is similar to a diet containing tea powder. This improved artificial diet is suitable for E. obliqua used in research and allows for the addition of any monomeric compounds to assess impacts on E. obliqua growth or other parameters.

The mosquito Aedes aegypti L. (Diptera: Culicidae) is a disease vector for several pathogens that affect human health worldwide. Therefore, there is a need to produce synthetic chemicals that can effectively control mosquitoes; however, these chemicals can also cause a range of environmental and health problems. In the present review, we compiled all available information from the literature between 2005 and 2018 on plant products that have been used to control A. aegypti and tabulated their modes of action. This review classifies these plant-based products according to their bioactivities (toxicity, repellency, feeding deterrence, and oviposition deterrence) and provides new insights, findings, and patterns of their application. Plants contain a wide spectrum of chemical compounds that can effectively control mosquito populations; therefore, they should be developed to control diseases transmitted by mosquitoes. Plant products are mostly safe for human, animal, and environmental health. Moreover, because of the diversity and low use of plant-derived compounds as insect control agents, mosquitoes have not acquired resistance to them. The present review indicated that the bioactivities of many plant compounds can effectively control A. aegypti in laboratory conditions, and the comprehensive cataloging and classification of natural plant product bioactivities in this review will facilitate the search for new applications of these substances in insect pest control strategies.

The functional response of Phytoseiulus persimilis Athias-Henriot (Acari: Phytoseiidae) preying on Tetranychus urticae Koch (Acari: Tetranychidae) eggs on leaf discs of three varieties of rosebush was determined at eight time intervals (0–2, 2–4, 4–6, 6–8, 8–10, 10–12, 12–24, and 0–24 h). Some differences in handling time (Th) and attack rate (a′) among the three plant varieties (Royalty, Pareo, and Starlite) were observed, but the functional response on the three varieties shifted from Type II to Type III at three time intervals within the 24-h observation. The observed shift in functional response was likely due to different rates of attack and handling times linked to the prey and the plant variety.

The pattern of threats against a simulated large-animal intruder is analyzed in colonies of Polistes lanio (F.), P. major Beauvois, and P. versicolor (Olivier) in Trinidad, West Indies. Four distinct threats were identified, corresponding to four of the five threats previously found in north-temperate species: wing raise, leg wave, abdomen bend, and wing flutter. The first three are common to all three species, while wing flutter typically preceded attack only in P. versicolor. Under gradually escalating provocation, threats normally arise in a species-characteristic sequence. The occasional appearance of threats out of sequence is consistent with the hypothesis that the sequence is a product of differing response thresholds.

We analyzed a transcriptome generated from four developmental stages of Heortia vitessoides Moore (Lepidoptera: Crambidae), a defoliator of the agarwood tree, Aquilaria sinensis (Lour.) Gilg (Thymelaeaceae). A total of 110.53 Mb clean reads were produced, and de novo assembled into 42,946 unigenes of an average length of 1,059 base pairs (bp). Among these unigenes, 22,106 (51.47%) showed significant similarity (E-value <10^–5) to known proteins in the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) nonredundant database. Gene ontology (GO), eukaryotic ortholog groups (KOG), and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) analyses were used to classify the functionality of unigenes. Moreover, 46 putative cytochrome P450 (CYP) monooxygenase genes were identified from this dataset. These CYP genes were classified into four clans consisting of 22 families and 34 subfamilies. The expression profiles of genes belonging to CYP4 and CYP6 families and exposed to half the lethal concentrations (LC₅₀) of chlorantraniliprole and beta-cypermethrin were determined by real-time reverse transcription-quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR). The results showed that the transcription levels of eight (CYP4M39, CYP6AB49, CYP6AB53, CYP6AB61, CYP6AE17, CYP6AW1, CYP6BD6, CYP6CV1) and five (CYP6AB10, CYP6AB53, CYP6AE12, CYP6AE17, CYP6BD6) genes significantly increased in the fourth-instar larvae following exposure to the insecticides chlorantraniliprole and beta-cypermethrin, respectively. Therefore, these genes are potential candidates involved in the detoxification of these two insecticides. Further studies utilizing the RNA interference approach are required to enhance our understanding of the functionality of these genes in this forest pest.