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Abstract The cotton mealybug, Phenacoccus solenopsis, has established itself as an invasive insect pest worldwide. It causes structural and physiological damage to various crops and can cause substantial financial losses in their production. The successful reproduction of this pest under a wide range of conditions is a key to its success. Despite this, the morphology of its genitalia, genital sensilla, and wax-producing dermal pores has received little attention, with little descriptions of their ultrastructure. By investigating those features with SEM, the present study revealed considerable new insights into the identification of the nymphal and adult stages of P. solenopsis. In addition, the description of the ultrastructural genital morphology of the immature stages of P. solenopsis has revealed characteristics that facilitate their discrimination. Trilocular pores were observed on both sides of the body, while the quinquelocular pores were distributed only on the ventral surface in both the first and second nymphal instars. The adult male is characterized by two pairs of waxy caudal filaments surrounded by clusters of 55 to 60 stellate pores, and each pregenital segment bears a pair of stellate pores composed of 4 or 5 peripheral loculi. Sensilla trichodea and numerous microtrichia are present on the pregenital segments. The penile sheath bears three subtypes of sensilla basiconica and also campaniformia, whereas the style bears three subtypes of sensilla campaniformia. The findings of this study could assist in the identification of the adult and nymphal stages of P. solenopsis, and also provide insights into the structures found on the genitalia of the adult male that possibly have an important role in mating events and copulatory behavior. Furthermore, these findings were able to contribute to better understanding the functional morphology of P. solenopsis.

Abstract Background The cotton mealybug Phenacoccus solenopsis Tinsley (Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae) is one of the most devastating sap-sucking pests of cultivated plants. The success of P. solenopsis is attributable to its ecological resilience and insecticide resistance, making its control extremely difficult and expensive. Thus, alternative safe approaches are needed to prevent the pest population from reaching the economic threshold. One of these novel approaches is based on the fact that chemical communication via the olfactory system drives critical behaviors required for the survival and development of the species. This knowledge can be useful for controlling insect pests using traps based on semiochemicals. The antennae of insects are an invaluable model for studying the fundamentals of odor perception. Several efforts have been made to investigate the histological and ultrastructural organization of the olfactory organs, such as the antennae and maxillary palps, in many insect species. However, studies on the antennal sensory structures of Phenacoccus species are lacking. Furthermore, although enormous progress has been made in understanding the antennal structures of many mealybug species, the olfactory sensilla in the antennae of P. solenopsis have not yet been described. In this study, we describe, for the first time, the morphology and distribution of the antennal sensilla in male and female P. solenopsis using scanning electron microscopy. Results Our results revealed that the entire antennae length and the number of flagellar segments were different between the sexes. Eight morphological types of sensilla were identified on male antennae: trichoid sensilla, chaetic sensilla (three subtypes), basiconic sensilla (two subtypes), and campaniform sensilla (two subtypes). Six morphological types of sensilla were found on female antennae. Sensilla chaetica of subtype 2 and campaniform sensilla of subtype 1 were distributed only on male antennae, suggesting that these sensilla are involved in the recognition of female sex pheromones. The subtype 1 of sensilla chaetica was significantly more abundant on female antennae than on male ones, while subtype 3 was only located on the terminal flagellar segment of the antenna in both sexes. Conclusions This study provides insightful information for future electrophysiological and behavioral studies on chemical communication in insects, particularly the cotton mealybug, P. solenopsis that could help in developing new strategies for controlling this economically important insect species.

Semiochemicals are defined as informative molecules mainly used in plant-insect or insectinsect interactions as alternative or complementary components to insecticide approaches in different integrated pest management strategies. They are used to manipulate insect behaviour by affecting the survival and/or reproduction of insect pests for controlling their infestations on crops. The present review provides a basic summary of the utilization of semiochemicals for controlling insect pests. Two main topics were explored in this study. The first topic focuses on a description of semiochemicals and their types (pheromones and allelochemicals). Pheromones represent an intraspecific communication amidst members of the same species. Allelochemicals, produced by individuals of one species, modify the behavior of individuals of a different species (i.e. an interspecific effect). Allelochemicals include different informative molecules such as: allomones, kairomones, synomones, antimones and apneumones. The second topic focuses on the application of semiochemicals in IPM programs. Different semiochemicals are included in integrated pest management programs in various ways such as monitoring, mass trapping, attract-and-kill, push-pull, and disruption strategies. Pheromones are promising and can be used singly or in integration with other control strategies for monitoring and controlling insect pests in agricultural systems. For example, sex pheromones have been applied in mass trapping, disruption and attract-and-kill tactics in IPM programs.

Schistosomiasis is a parasitic disease transmitted to man and different warm blooded animals by means of snails. Great effort has been made to control the transmission of the disease by many strategies. Consequently, the utilization of particular molluscicides is viewed as a standout amongst the best measures for molluscs control. Recently, microbial pathogen used as non-traditional molluscicides which have attracted significant research attention due to the increasing, worldwide development of resistance to chemical molluscicides in molluscs populations. The present work aimed to study the molluscicidal impacts of eleven isolates of Bacillus thuringiensis which were isolated from soils of six Egyptian governorates toward Biomphalaria alexandrina snails. Results showed that, B. thuringiensis provides an effective biological control agent against B. alexandrina snails. Out of the tested isolates, four isolates; Qalyubia, Asyut 1, Qena and North Sinai 2 isolates show high-level molluscicidal activity. The obtained results indicated that LC50 and LC90 values were ranged between 133.27â457.74Â mg/mL and 270.32â781.05Â mg/mL, respectively. The most noteworthy molluscicidal impact was displayed by Qalyubia isolate which isolated from Qalyubia governorate with mortality rate extended from 20% to100% at five treatment concentrations of 100â500Â mg/mL. The LC50 and LC90 values for Qalyubia isolate were 133.27Â mg/mL and 270.32Â mg/mL, respectively. Keywords: Biomphalaria alexandrina, Bacillus thuringiensis, Molluscicidal activity, Biological control