Search

The study was carried out successfully from October 2020 to December 2023 throughout 9 Governorates (Sharquia, Giza, Qalyubia, Monufia, Beheira, Alexandria, Fayoum, Beni Suef, and Kafr El-Shaikh). The Governorates of Kafr El-Shaikh and Beni Suef were among the Governorates in which samples of large specimens were collected, especially Megaselia scalaris (Loew, 1866), of which large numbers were collected in both Governorates, followed by Fayoum and then Alexandria. Giza, Qalyubia and Monufia, in ascending number. It is noted that the samples of this family are present in general throughout the year, but they increase in the months of July, August and September, and the numbers decrease significantly during the months of December, January, and February. The species Megaselia koffleri Schmitz, 1935 Name updated by Megaselia curtineura (Brues, 1909); Megaselia luttela Schmitz, 1929; Megaselia xanthozona (Strobl, 1892); Spiniphora bergenstammii (Mik, 1864). The study gave a newly recorded genus and species Conicera tibialis Schmitz,1925 (Diptera: Phoridae) in Egypt was collected from Wadi El-Natron, Beheira, and Giza Governorates. In this paper, the economic importance, survey, morphology, and taxonomy were studied. Also, keys for two subfamilies Phorinae and Metopininae, and genera are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Among insect pests of field crops, sap-sucking insects are a major threat to all agricultural commodities. The sucking insect pests damage the crops by sucking the sap thereby weakening the plants, and transmitting several bacterial, fungal and viral pathogens. The electrical penetration graph (EPG) has emerged as a highly valuable tool for analyzing the feeding behavior of sap-sucking insects on a broad range of host plants, examining pathogen transmission, evaluating the efficacy of feeding-restricting insecticides, plant responses to insect attack, and insect morphology and physiology. The EPG generates waveforms that facilitate the observation of probing behavior of the insects, enabling them to gain insights into the mechanisms and extent of underlying feeding. The integration of multiple complementary techniques, including histological analysis, video tracking, electron microscopy, elicitor proteins, and gene editing, has yielded significant advancements in the management of sap-sucking insects. These techniques have provided a deeper understanding of the underlying mechanisms and interactions involved in insect feeding behaviors, offering new opportunities for targeted interventions and improved pest control strategies. The EPG has been employed since the last five decades, yet needs to be investigated at higher levels with modernization. In spite of having a wide application, it still faces certain limitations, challenges, and research gaps that require addressing for enabling the scientists in novel findings. This review paper provides a historical prospect, the applications and technical intricacies of EPG. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: The Andean Altiplano, known for its extreme weather and high biodiversity, is an ideal place to study how insects adapt to their environment. This research focuses on the butterfly species Phulia nymphula, which is common in the high-altitudinal Andes Mountains, to identify how their wing shapes vary across six locations in the Northern Chilean Altiplano. By analyzing the wings of 77 butterflies, the study found significant differences in wing shape, likely due to local environmental conditions. These differences suggest that the butterflies have adapted to their specific habitats. The findings showed how the wing shape differentiate between localities across the Northern Altiplano and provide insights into how high-altitude species evolve and adapt through changes in their morphology, highlighting the role of ecological and evolutionary processes in shaping biodiversity in extreme environments. The Andean Altiplano, characterized by its extreme climatic conditions and high levels of biodiversity, provides a unique environment for studying ecological and evolutionary adaptations in insect morphology. Butterflies, due their large wing surface compared to body surface, and wide distribution among a geographical area given the flight capabilities provided by their wings, constitute a good biological model to study morphological adaptations following extreme weathers. This study focuses on Phulia nymphula, a butterfly species widely distributed in the Andes, to evaluate wing shape variation across six localities in the Northern Chilean Altiplano. The geometric morphometrics analysis of 77 specimens from six locations from the Chilean Altiplano (Caquena, Sorapata Lake, Chungará, Casiri Macho Lake, Surire Salt Flat, and Visviri) revealed significant differences in wing shape among populations. According to the presented results, variations are likely influenced by local environmental conditions and selective pressures, suggesting specific adaptations to the microhabitats of the Altiplano. The first three principal components represented 60.92% of the total wing shape variation. The detected morphological differences indicate adaptive divergence among populations, reflecting evolutionary responses to the extreme and fragmented conditions of the Altiplano. This study gives insights into the understanding of how high-altitude species can diversify and adapt through morphological variation, providing evidence of ecological and evolutionary processes shaping biodiversity in extreme environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study of insect morphology has recently benefited greatly from the emergence of new digital imaging and analysis technologies such as X-ray Microcomputed tomography (μ-CT), digital 3D reconstruction, and animation. Through interactive gaming and virtual reality, the external morphology of insects can be studied by a broad audience of both entomologists and non-specialists. EntomonVR is a serious game designed to investigate the external morphology of insects with adequate quality for the virtual reality platform. In this research, we discuss the advantages of virtual reality, introduce the EntomonVR new educational game, and conclude about future perspectives, validations, and cost-effectiveness. We tested this game on 25 participants with an entomological background for assessment and improved it based on their feedback. This study demonstrates the efficacy of virtual reality technology for an experimental learning environment in teaching the morphology of insects and the crucial need for advancing an efficient and interactive educational program. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Phegea is the property of Vlaamse Vereniging voor Entomologie and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Insect diversity monitoring is crucial for biological pest control in agriculture and forestry. Modern monitoring of insect species relies heavily on fine-grained image classification models. Fine-grained image classification faces challenges such as small inter-class differences and large intra-class variances, which are even more pronounced in insect scenes where insect species often exhibit significant morphological differences across multiple life stages. To address these challenges, we introduce segmentation and clustering operations into the image classification task and design a novel network model training framework for fine-grained classification of insect images using multi-modality clustering and approximate mask methods, named PCAM-Frame. In the first stage of the framework, we adopt the Polymorphic Clustering Module, and segmentation and clustering operations are employed to distinguish various morphologies of insects at different life stages, allowing the model to differentiate between samples at different life stages during training. The second stage consists of a feature extraction network, called Basenet, which can be any mainstream network that performs well in fine-grained image classification tasks, aiming to provide pre-classification confidence for the next stage. In the third stage, we apply the Approximate Masking Module to mask the common attention regions of the most likely classes and continuously adjust the convergence direction of the model during training using a Deviation Loss function. We apply PCAM-Frame with multiple classification networks as the Basenet in the second stage and conduct extensive experiments on the Insecta dataset of iNaturalist 2017 and IP102 dataset, achieving improvements of 2.2% and 1.4%, respectively. Generalization experiments on other fine-grained image classification datasets such as CUB200-2011 and Stanford Dogs also demonstrate positive effects. These experiments validate the pertinence and effectiveness of our framework PCAM-Frame in fine-grained image classification tasks under complex conditions, particularly in insect scenes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article introduces WingSegment, a MATLAB app‐designed tool employing a hybrid approach of computer vision and graph theory for precise insect wing image segmentation. WingSegment detects cells, junctions, Pterostigma, and venation patterns, measuring geometric features and generating Voronoi patterns. The tool utilizes region‐growing, thinning, and Dijkstra's algorithms for boundary detection, junction identification, and vein path extraction. It provides histograms and box plots of geometric features, facilitating comprehensive wing analysis. WingSegment's efficiency is validated through comparisons with established tools and manual measurements, demonstrating accurate results. The tool further enables exporting detected boundaries as FreeCAD macro files for 3D modeling and printing, supporting finite element analysis. Beyond advancing insect wing morphology understanding, WingSegment holds broader implications for diverse planar structures, including leaves and geocells. This tool not only enhances automated geometric analysis and 3D model generation in insect wing studies but also contributes to the broader advancement of analysis, 3D printing, and modeling technologies across various planar structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Lysiteles Simon, 1895 contains 64 nominal species distributed in East, South and South Asia. It possesses very high species diversity in China (with 46 and 32 endemics), Bhutan (with 9 and 1 endemic) and Nepal (with 8 and 4 endemics). In June 2023, a spider survey of Cibagou National Nature Reserve, Xizang, China was carried out. After examination and morphological comparison, two Lysiteles species were recognised as new to science. New information: Two new species of Lysiteles Simon, 1895 collected from Cibagou National Nature Reserve, Xizang, China are described: L. cibagou sp. nov. (♂♀) and L. tangi sp. nov. (♂♀). Diagnostic photos of habitus and copulatory organs and a distributional map are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The genus Clavicornaltica Scherer 1974 consists of very small, soil-dwelling flea beetles in South, Southeast and East Asia. Due to their diminutive size and morphological similarities, very little is known about their ecology and taxonomical diversity. It is likely that further studies will reveal this genus to be much more speciose than the 30 species currently recognised. New information: A new species of Clavicornaltica from Brunei Darussalam is described, C. mataikanensis Otani et al., sp. nov. This is the second species of this genus recorded from Ulu Temburong National Park. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Males of Leptogenys (Lobopelta) borneensis Wheeler, 1919 are described, including their genital morphology, which is important for diagnostics and morphological phylogeny of the genus Leptogenys Roger, 1861. The mtDNA COI barcoding sequence of 607 bp obtained and uploaded to GenBank and BOLD. The species was previously known from Borneo (Malaysia: Sarawak — type locality), Thailand and Vietnam and is recorded for the first time from Sumatra (Indonesia). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Insect Biodiversity & Systematics is the property of Tarbiat Modares University Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Scorpions and spiders belong to the class Arachnida in phylum Arthropoda. Scorpions are easily distinguished by median eyes on obvious the center of the carapace and have one pair, and lateral eyes have 2-8 in some species. Scorpions do not have good eyesight so the median eyes have always been simple and they are more sensitive than the lateral pairs. They have anterior median eyes (AME) with narrow field of view and pairs of lateral eyes (LE) with more sensitivity and response to light. Family Buthidae have 2-6 lateral eyes in Compsobuthus Mesobuthus, Hottentotta, while Vaejovidae, Chactidae and Chaerilidae have 2 pairs of lateral eyes. In addition, 3 pairs are found in Orthochirus and Androctonus. Spiders have six eyes in family Pholicidae, Sicariidae, Araneidae, Salticidae, while eight eyes in Theridiidae, Lycosidae and some with two eyes or four in the carapace of the prosoma. Spider have anterior median eyes, anterior lateral eyes, posterior median eyes, or posterior lateral eyes. Scorpions and Spider eyes are not compound but simple. There is one lens for each eye. Spiders have poor vision, not able to see light and darkness. Scorpion and spider taxonomy is based on the forms and number of eyes. So, the reasons to study these organisms are important in studies of medical, ecology, morphology and taxonomy. and it is a little known about their biology and fauna. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Selymbria amazonensis sp. nov. is described and illustrated from Brazil. An illustrated taxonomic key for males and females is provided. We include distribution maps and comments on their morphology, geographical distribution, and life history. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]