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The venom of scorpions represents a source of bioactive compounds with various biological activities, including insecticidal activity. The peptides related to this type of activity are called insectotoxins (ITs). These peptides commonly have molecular weights between 2–10 kDa and are classified in the group of toxins that affect voltage-gated sodium (Nav) channels, to which belong the groups' α-insect toxin, anti-insect selective depressant β-toxin (DBTX), and anti-insect selective excitatory β-toxin (EBTX), which exhibit selectivity towards insects, without affecting mammals. This makes them of great interest for their potential use in pest control in agriculture. This review explores the mode of action of chemical pesticides and their impact on agriculture, the classification of scorpion toxins, and the mechanisms of action of ITs will be discussed. Then, ITs purified from the venoms of various scorpions worldwide reported until 2022 and the bioassays conducted on various target organisms will be addressed. Finally, the landscape of ITs for pest control in agriculture worldwide will be analyzed. The authors aim to guide researchers working with scorpion venom ITs to focus their bioassays on pest species (larvae of the orders Coleoptera, Lepidoptera, and Hemiptera) that impact agricultural crops, such as avocado weevils (Conotrachelus spp.), fall armyworms (Spodoptera frugiperda), and whiteflies (Bemisia spp.), among others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we present and discuss the importance of life history information of four species of stink bugs (Heteroptera: Pentatomidae) of the neotropics, pests of major commodities, as basic information necessary for development of improved programs of conservation biological control. This information is from cultivated areas in two ranges in southern latitudes: 10–23° S of the sub-tropical warm area, for Euschistus heros (F.) and Diceraeus melacanthus (Dallas), and 23–36° S of the sub-temperate area, for Piezodorus guildinii (Westwood) and Nezara viridula (L.). We present the life histories of the stink bugs, showing their relative abundances on crops and wild vegetation and the number of generations completed per year. We describe the main groups of natural enemies and suggest how their roles might be enhanced to reduce the abundance of the pests. We discuss a variety of plants affecting stink bugs and their natural enemies, including primary host plants and associated plants. We proposed a theoretical "ideal" landscape with improved spatial and temporal distributions of host and non-host plants in cultivated and non-cultivated parts of agricultural systems. We suggest some future steps that need to be taken to make this "ideal" landscape a reality, mitigating the harmful effects of stink bugs as pests, enhancing their natural enemies, and promoting conservation biological control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The genus Ulva is one of the most commonly commercially cultivated seaweeds both on land in ponds and in the open sea. As a crop, its cultivation is accompanied by three pest groups: (1) diseases caused by pathogenic bacteria, algae, virii, and fungi, which cause perforations, deterioration, and decreased growth of thalli; (2) various grazers, e.g. small crustaceans, gastropods, and non-defined invertebrates, which decrease growth and damage the thalli; and (3) an epiphytic biofilm of microorganisms, which also causes damage to the end-crop decreasing its yield and value. Mitigation categories against Ulva pests may be divided into three categories: (A) pro-active human intervention by washing the infected thalli with acid, fresh water, proprietary chemicals or CO2-saturated seawater, the use of methanolic Ulva extracts, or exudate from the green seaweed, all of which are reported to restrict pest activity; (B) using the beneficial properties of probiotic bacteria thereby eliciting antifouling activity, with selective abilities against pathogens of Ulva spp.; (C) enhancing the effects of environmental changes on pests, i.e. acidification and increased seawater temperature, which mainly decrease the grazer population and thereby their pressure. A summary of these studies is presented as a guide for rapid responses and applied management techniques for the amelioration of cultivation diseases, grazers, and harmful epiphytes affecting the foliose green alga Ulva spp. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The nitidulid beetle Carpophilus truncatus is rapidly becoming a major pest of nut crops around the world. This insect first infested Australian almonds in 2013 and has since escalated to be the preeminent insect pest for the industry. Data pertaining to C. truncatus distribution are scant, but without awareness of its origin, distribution, and ecological factors that influence distribution, efforts to understand and manage the insect as a pest are stymied. Here, we employ an integrative approach to gain a multifaceted understanding of the distribution of C. truncatus in Australia. Methods employed were (1) reviewing historical records in insect collections to establish the presence of C. truncatus prior to commercial almond horticulture, (2) field trapping of insects to establish presence in regions of interest, (3) laboratory trials to determine the thermal limits of the organism, and (4) correlative species distribution modelling to describe its current distribution. We find that C. truncatus is more widespread across Australia than was previously known, with historical records preceding commercial almond production in Australia by a century. The methods developed in this study can be applied elsewhere in the world where C. truncatus is an emerging pest, or to novel pest species as they arise with increasing frequency in a globalised and warming world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The brown planthopper (BPH), Nilaparvata lugens (Stål.), poses a significant threat to rice cultivation, acting as a key pest. The emergence of resistance to various insecticide classes has emerged as a prominent challenge, significantly hindering the effective management of N. lugens. Triflumezopyrim, a novel mesoionic chemistry insecticide, has recently been introduced in India for controlling N. lugens. Establishing the baseline susceptibility and monitoring its effectiveness throughout the life cycle of the molecule are crucial aspects for a newly commercialized insecticide like triflumezopyrim. In this study, the baseline toxicity of triflumezopyrim against brown planthopper populations from nine hotspot locations in three southern states of India was evaluated using the rice seedling dip method. The LC50 values varied between 0.123 and 0.268 mg/L, showing a 2.18-fold variation. This information holds significance in monitoring potential changes in N. lugens susceptibility to triflumezopyrim in the future, thereby assisting in the formulation of effective management strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lobesia botrana (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) and Cryptoblabes gnidiella (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) represent a threat to wine production in Mediterranean countries. In recent years, the development of new formulations promoted the spread of pheromone-based mating disruption (MD) as an effective tool for the management of several insect pests in different agricultural contexts. In this study, we investigated the efficacy of an experimental dispenser designed for simultaneous MD of these two pests. The biodegradable double-tube dispenser (Isonet® L CG-BIOX235) was tested for two years in two Italian wine-growing sites, the first in Apulia (Southern Italy), and the second in Tuscany (Central Italy). Isonet® L CG-BIOX235 efficacy was evaluated by testing different doses (i.e., 300, 400, and 500 dispensers/ha), on different varieties (i.e., Aglianico, Syrah, and Viognier), and comparing it with an untreated control. The MD performed using this dispenser significantly reduced the infestation of both L. botrana (i.e., percentage of infested bunches and number of nests per bunch) and C. gnidiella compared to the untreated control, although the occurrence of the latter fluctuated throughout the two-year trials. Overall, although our results underline the possibility of combining the pheromones of the two pests in a single dispenser for their simultaneous MD, they also highlight the need for further studies on some aspects of C. gnidiella biology and consequently improve the MD efficacy against this species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Precision agriculture has long struggled with the surveillance and control of pests. Traditional methods for estimating pest density and distribution through manual reconnaissance are often time-consuming and labor-intensive. To address these challenges, this study proposes a novel farmland detection system utilizing UAVs, yellow sticky traps, and deep learning techniques. The system includes a UAV based on UWB communication and positioning technology to collect picture information of sticky traps arranged in farmland. Moreover, a faster and more accurate Qpest-RCNN model is used to count the number of insects in the collected sticky traps. The bivariate kernel density estimation establishes the pest density distribution map. Regarding the dynamic monitoring of pest density in agricultural fields, it primarily involves four components: reaching the designated area, flight learning, image acquisition, and visual counting of insects and calculation of insect density. Experimental results demonstrate that UAVs require less time to adjust flight posture during image acquisition after undergoing flight learning, resulting in more concise flight trajectories. The Qpest-RCNN model introduces a variety of mechanisms based on the characteristics of the collected sticky trap data set to improve the faster-R-CNN model. We used two data sets separately to train the model, which were collected by sticky traps placed in greenhouses and open-air experimental fields. The data set from the greenhouse is an open-source dataset provided by M. Deserno et. al, map, precision, and recall of model are 0.923, 0.989, and 0.919, respectively. When the data set collected in the experimental farmland is used to train the model, map, precision, and recall of model are 0.781, 0.851, and 0.789, respectively. In the meantime, we explored the effects of species interference on visual insect statistics and the optimization effect of species hypothesis on statistics in two environments. At the same time, the inference speed of the improved model is about a quarter faster than the FPS of the original Faster-RCNN during inference. Through Qpest-RCNN, the number of insects captured on sticky traps can be counted quickly and accurately and the bivariate kernel density estimation is used to draw the pest density distribution map to observe the pest distribution of the whole farmland visually. This pest-density farmland detection system is valuable for agriculture by helping farmers control pests, reduce crop damage, and increase yield and quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Green bean, Phaseolus vulgaris L. (Fam.: Leguminosae) is a widely consumed grain legume prized for its edible seeds and pods. It is susceptible to infestations with various pests as insects and mites throughout the growing season. In this study, the efficacy of the predatory species, Chrysoperla carnea (Stephens), Phytoseiulus persimilis Athias-Henriot and the entomopathogenic fungus (EPF) Metarhizium anisopliae (Hypocreales: Clavicipitaceae), as well as conventional pesticides, Mospilan and Vertimec, were evaluated against the most important pests, mainly the whitefly, Bemisia tabaci (Genn.) and the two-spotted spider mite, Tetranychus urticae Koch, infesting the green beans cultivated at two locations Giza and El-Menoufia Governorates in Egypt. Results: The findings demonstrate that treatments using C. carnea and M. anisopliae effectively reduced the whitefly population, while pesticide treatments were comparatively less effective. In the Giza plots, at the end of the experiments, the use of both M. anisopliae and C. carnea showed high reductions in whitefly population (85.57 and 84.87%), respectively, while in El-Menoufia, C. carnea (97.74%) was the most effective treatment followed by M. anisopliae (90.32%). Pesticide treatment in this case yielded a reduction rate of (22.76 and 59.67%) in Giza and El-Menoufia plots, respectively. However, for spider mite control, P. persimilis proved to be the most effective treatment in Giza and El-Menoufia plots, reducing the spider mite population to 98.44 and 96.14%, respectively. Metarhizium anisopliae treatment also displayed moderate effectiveness, with reduction rates of 75.62 and 75.37% in Giza and El-Menoufia plots, respectively. In comparison, pesticide treatment showed low effectiveness, with reduction rates of only 23.92 and 53.16% in the two locations, respectively. Conclusion: Applications of the predator, C. carnea and the EPF, M. anisopliae were highly effective in reducing the population of whitefly, while the predator mite P. persimilis proved to be the most effective for controlling the spider mites. Overall, the study suggests that biocontrol agents, such as the predators and the EPF, can be considered as alternatives to synthetic chemical pesticides for controlling pests infesting green beans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many agricultural landscapes offer few resources for maintaining natural enemy populations and floral plantings have frequently been adopted to enhance biological pest control in crops. However, restored margins may harbour both pests and natural enemies. The aim was to compare the abundance of pests and natural enemies in three types of margins (unmanaged, sown herbaceous floral strips and shrubby hedgerows) as well as in adjacent melon fields. Besides, yield was compared among melon fields as way of testing the effect of the type of margin on biocontrol. The research was carried out during 2 years in twelve melon fields from four different locations in southern Spain. Arthropods were sampled periodically in margins and melon fields by visual inspections and Berlese extraction. Hedgerow and floral strips hosted higher numbers of both pests and predators than unmanaged margins. Besides, hedgerows had a similar or higher number of natural enemies than floral strips but lower number of pests. In just a few occasions, the type of margin had a significant effect on the abundance of pests and natural enemies in melon fields, but rarely there was consistency between the two growing seasons. No differences were found in yield. We hypothesised that the lack of association in the abundances of pests and natural enemies between margins and melon fields could be attributed to the overriding effects of the landscape and/or the internal population dynamics of arthropods in melon fields. Overall, shrubby hedgerows are more recommended than herbaceous floral strips. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The coleopteran pests of banana (Musa species), pseudo stem weevil (Odoiporus longicollis Olivier) and rhizome weevil (Cosmopolites sordidus Germer) are not only the most destructive and resilient but also intriguing pests due to their ability to survive for long periods in the most oxygen-deficient conditions like inside the banana stem/rhizome that has limited nutrition. In the recent past, the vast and varied roles of the gut microbiome in insects that aid in metabolic activities like nutrient assimilation, insecticide detoxification, abiotic stress tolerance and copulation have been studied extensively. Very little is known about the gut microbiome of banana weevils and the present study aims at exploration of gut microbiomes of both the pseudostem and rhizome weevils at larval (SWL and RWL respectively) and adult stages (SWA and RWA and respectively). The results revealed that RWL harbored the highest culture-dependent bacterial population as compared to others. Culture-independent bacteriome analyses confirmed that the abundance of observed species (OTUs) found in all four samples were in the order: RWL (616) > SWL (506) > SWA (463) > RWA (413). Diversity analyses showed that RWL exhibited the highest Chao index (593.44), while SWL exhibited the highest Shannon and Simpson indices of 4.22 and 0.89, respectively. Further, it was observed that Proteobacteria, Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes were the major phyla in banana weevils and they sheltered important bacteria that have numerous metabolic functions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spotted-wing drosophila, Drosophila suzukii (Matsumura) (Diptera: Drosophilidae), is one of the most detrimental pests of small fruit crops worldwide and its control relies heavily on pesticides, so there is a need to develop alternative management practices. Cultural practices that make the microclimate hotter, drier, and brighter than optimal conditions for the pest may be highly effective. In this two-year study, we evaluated how black, white, and metallic plastic mulches influence the raspberry plants' microclimate to reduce D. suzukii larval infestation of fruit in the canopy and increase mortality of fallen larvae and pupae on the ground. All three plastic mulches reduced D. suzukii larval infestation of fruit by 40–72% and killed 80–100% of larvae and pupae placed on the mulch surface. The mechanisms at play are likely the compounded effects of increased ultraviolet (UV) light, hotter and drier conditions in the low canopy, and hot mulch surface temperature. UV light may be especially important since it reduced D. suzukii oviposition in the lab. Overall, plastic mulches can effectively modify the microclimate to make it less favorable for D. suzukii, reducing infestation in fruit and on the ground. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Litchi and longan pests significantly affect crop yield and quality. Chemical prevention and control are very effective for production; therefore, it is crucial to study fate assessment and appropriate field efficacy before pesticide application on crops to appropriately assess the health and ecological risks linked with these agents. This study conducted Good Agricultural Practice (GAP) field trials and laboratory experiments to elucidate the dissipation, terminal residues, and efficacy of methoxyfenozide on litchi and longan in six locations throughout China. To detect methoxyfenozide residues on litchi and longan, a QuEChERS/UPLC-MS/MS-based method was designed. The initial methoxyfenozide levels in litchi and longan ranged from 2.21–2.86 to 0.83–0.95 mg kg−1 and indicated half-lives of 5.1–5.3 and 5.3–5.7 days, respectively. After 7 days of foliage treatment, the concentrations of terminal methoxyfenozide residue were 0.78–2.61 and 0.02–1.01 mg kg−1, which were less than the established maximum residue limit for methoxyfenozide in litchi and longan. The chronic (acceptable daily intake = 0.0055–0.0331%) dietary intake risk analysis for methoxyfenozide in longan and litchi indicated acceptable concentrations of terminal residue for the general population. Methoxyfenozide in litchi and longan was readily degraded in first-order kinetics models, the degradation rate on longan was higher than that on litchi, and their dietary risks were negligible to consumers. Two hundred forty grams per liter of methoxyfenozide suspension concentrate (SC) represents a highly efficacious insecticidal dose to control litchi and longan pests and indicates a significant application potential as it is rapidly degraded and linked with reduced post-treatment residue levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Plant volatilomics such as essential oils (EOs) and volatile phytochemicals (PCs) are known as potential natural sources for the development of biofumigants as an alternative to conventional fumigant pesticides. This present work was aimed to evaluate the fumigant toxic effect of five selected EOs (cinnamon, garlic, lemon, orange, and peppermint) and PCs (citronellol, limonene, linalool, piperitone, and terpineol) against the Callosobruchus maculatus, Sitophilus oryzae, and Tribolium castaneum adults. Furthermore, for the estimation of the relationship between molecular descriptors and fumigant toxicity of plant volatiles, quantitative structural activity relationship (QSAR) models were developed using principal component analysis and multiple linear regression. Amongst the tested EOs, garlic EO was found to be the most toxic fumigant. The PCs toxicity analysis revealed that terpineol, limonene, linalool, and piperitone as potential fumigants to C. maculatus (< 20 µL/L air of LC50), limonene and piperitone as potential fumigants to T. castaneum (14.35 and 154.11 µL/L air of LC50, respectively), and linalool and piperitone as potential fumigants to S. oryzae (192.27 and 69.10 µL/L air of LC50, respectively). QSAR analysis demonstrated the role of various molecular descriptors of EOs and PCs on the fumigant toxicity in insect pest species. In specific, dipole and Randic index influence the toxicity in C. maculatus, molecular weight and maximal projection area influence the toxicity in S. oryzae, and boiling point and Dreiding energy influence the toxicity in T. castaneum. The present findings may provide insight of a new strategy to select effective EOs and/or PCs against stored product insect pests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cactus (Opuntia ficus-indica) is a drought-resistant plant and the source of food and income for many farmers during the rainy season, and the only option to feed livestock during the dry seasons, especially in the southern part of the Tigray region of Ethiopia. The region is currently suffering from a damaging parasitoid of cactus called Dactylopius opuntiae- ficus biotype. An experimental study was conducted from August 2022 to February 2023 to investigate the efficacy of herbal extracts against cochineal insects. The experiment was conducted on the insecticidal property of methanol extracts of Solanum linnaenum, Euphorbia tirucalli, Nerium oleander, Tephrosia vogelii, Calpurnia aurea, Argemone Mexicana, Datura stramonium and Ricinus communis. Herbs were extracted, and their efficacy and LC50 were determined. Phytochemical screening for secondary metabolites was performed. There was a statistically significant difference in the mean mortality of insects across the levels of the herbs (F (8, 71) = 57.812, p = 0.0001, ƞ2 = 0.867) and the experimental extract concentrations (F (1, 71) = 4198.3, p = 0.0001, ƞ2 = 0.983). The individual extracts of S. linnaenum and N. oleander caused average mortality rates of 99.3% and 97.4%, respectively, at 5% extract concentration. Tannins and saponins were the major metabolites found in the extracts. The present study demonstrated the promising insecticidal efficacy of herbal extracts against the damaging cacti pest D. opuntia-ficus biotype, providing insights into sustainable pest control strategies for protecting vital cactus resources in the Tigray region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The climate change observed in the zone of boreal forests of the Holarctic since the end of the 20th century initiates the effect of expanding the boundaries of biological species ranges. Climate-driven invasive processes differ in dynamics. In some situations, there are population outbreaks of unwanted species. In addition to the climatic factor, an important aspect is the response of a biotic environment. Special methods are required to predict rapid invasions that can cause extreme changes. The reproductive potential of pests often turns out to be excessive due to warming climate and favorable conditions. Aggressive invasions often develop as oscillating processes that transform when the species adapts to the environment and fades when the autochthonous biota adapts to a new species. Not only new pests, but also the enemies of the main enemies of ordinary pests have become harmful invaders. Computational scenario models of invasions have been developed based on a logically expandable hybrid structure of equations that take into account delayed adaptation, which is manifested depending on climatic factors as an invasion outbreak develops. The scenarios indicate the series of peaks with fading activity after a primary outbreak and make it possible to evaluate the factors that cause repeated activity of a population after a depression when the invasion of a hyperparasite turns out to be essential. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Entomopathogenic fungi play a significant role in regulating insect populations in nature and have potential applications in pest management strategies in different regions. Citrus spp. are among the important horticultural products in northern Iran, and the orchards are affected by different insect pests, especially mealybugs. This study aimed to isolate and identify entomopathogenic fungi associated with citrus orchard pests in northern Iran, focusing on Akanthomyces and Lecanicillium species on mealybugs. Through the samples collected from different regions within Guilan province, 12 fungal isolates were collected and identified based on the combination of morphological characteristics and molecular data. Akanthomyces lecanii, A. muscarius, Engyodontium rectidentatum, Lecanicillium aphanocladii and Lecanicillium rasoulzarei sp. nov. were identified. Of these, A. muscarius on Lepidosaphes sp., E. rectidentatum on Coccidae, and L. aphanocladii on Tetranychus urticae are reported as new fungal-host records from Iran. Moreover, a new species, Lecanicillium rasoulzarei, is illustrated, described, and compared with closely related species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper highlighted the occurrence of Timarcha turbida (Erichson 1841) as an artichoke pest for the first time in Tunisian crops. In fact, Timarcha was never be reported previously to develop on a Compositae (Asteraceae) host plant. Here, larva and adult stages of the pest are described and host plants affinities in genus Timarcha are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Given the perplexity in the maize pest complex which has been exacerbated by the addition of the invasive fall armyworm to the preexisting stem borers, this study was aimed at assessing the damage effects caused by a complex of lepidopterous maize pests under subsistence maize cultivation techniques in order to facilitate appropriate farm-level implementation of effective sustainable control measures of lepidopterous maize pests and improve productivity. Methods: This study was carried out in eighteen subsistence maize farmer's fields, each measuring 50 × 50 m (2500 m2) in Buea and Tiko in Cameroon's South West Region. All selected fields used a zero-tillage system, with planting done over 3 years (2020, 2021 and 2022) with 2 cropping seasons per year on the 20 March for the first season and the 25 August for the second season. Data were collected on the incidence (%) of damaged plants per plot, severity of leaf damage (1–9 scale) and degree of damage to stems, tassels and ears. Maize grain yield was recorded, and all data were analyzed with Stat soft version 2022. Results: Throughout the study period, fall armyworm had the highest percentage of damage incidence of 34.8, which was significantly different from 27.4 for stem borers (p < 0.001), while stem borers had the highest damage severity (mean 4.5), significantly different from the mean of 3.2 for fall armyworm (p < 0.001). Maize grain yields varied significantly between seasons and years (p < 0.001). The fall armyworm damage incidence varied considerably between seasons (p < 0.001). In contrast to damage incidence, damage severity caused by fall armyworm on maize decreased significantly from 2020 to 2022; the greatest damage severity of 3.2 was observed in 2020, followed by 2.4 in 2021 and 1.8 in 2022. The pattern for stem borers was different, with no significant difference in damage severity (p < 0.001) across the years of research, with the lowest mean damage severity observed in 2021 (4.1), followed by 2020 (4.4) and 2022 (4.5). This study found that damage caused by fall armyworm decreased over time, while damage caused by maize stem borers remained nearly constant. Meanwhile, the overall tunnel length in meters and exit holes were significantly greater in the second seasons of the research period than in the first seasons. Conclusion and recommendation: Maize stem borers are the most damaging lepidopterous pests of maize in the study area, drastically reducing maize grain yield during the study period. The high incidence of fall armyworm damage without a corresponding increase in damage severity and maize grain yield reductions throughout the study period clearly demonstrates the pest's low impact on yields when compared to maize stem borers, which feed on maize stems, making them fragile and significantly impeding nutrient uptake and thus plant growth and yields. Due to the severity of injuries caused by the species complex of fall armyworm and stem borers with significant yield reduction, we recommend the use of integrated pest management (IPM) tactics that takes into consideration the control of fall armyworm and stem borers simultaneously. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Habrobracon hebetor (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) is a larval ectoparasitoid, mainly of pyralid moths of the stored pests of date, Plodia interpunctella Hübner and Ephestia kuehniella Zeller. It has some suitable characteristics for use in biological control of stored moth pests. The aim of this study was to compare the ability of H. hebetor establishment in the population of two important date storage moth pests P. interpunctella and E. kuehniella, and its role in their population fluctuations. Results: The population growth trends of two host species increased in the first 6 weeks and in the 17th to 22nd weeks of the 6-month period of conducting tests. The peaks of larval population of the two species were in the 10th and 21st weeks under temperature of 25 ± 2 °C, RH of 60 ± 5% and a photoperiod of 12:12, D:L. The pattern of fluctuation in the parasitism percentage in the larval population of the two moth species host was inconsistent with each other. The parasitism percentage was higher on the larval population of E. kuehniella than larval population of P. interpunctella. In E. kuehniella, the host population change rates were − 0.1 in the 10th and 15th weeks, while the highest rates were 0.1 and 0.8 in the 12th and 3rd weeks. The lowest level of parasitoid balance in the larval population of E. kuehniella and P. interpunctella was recorded in the 11th and 15th weeks, and the highest levels were recorded in the 20th and 24th weeks, respectively. The maximum probability rate of parasitoid non-establishment in E. kuehniella larval population was zero during the entire period and for P. interpunctella until the 22nd week. Conclusion: In fact, there was a strong correlation between establishment success and the severity of host and parasitoid populations. Only in the larval population of P. interpunctella, the maximum probability of failure of establishment was 11.5%, due to the occurrence of the maximum population of parasitized larvae and the minimum ratio of non-parasitic and parasitic larvae. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Piercing sucking pests are destructive to many strategic crops all over the world. Botanical pesticides can be used to control these pests. A new withanolide derivative 3 named sominone A ((20R,22R)-1α,3β,20,27-tetrahydroxywitha-5,24-dienolide) was isolated from the alkaloid fraction of the whole plant of Withania somnifera. In addition, there are three known compounds named withasomine 1, methyl isoferulate 2, and coagulin Q 4 were also isolated. The structures of isolated compounds were identified using different spectroscopic methods such as 1D, 2D NMR, and HRESIMS spectroscopy. The alkaloid fraction and the four isolated compounds were tested for their pesticidal activity against four piercing sucking pests (Aphis craccivora Koch, Bemisia tabaci Gennadius, Nezara viridula Linnaeus, and Tetranychus urticae Koch) that attack many strategic crops under laboratory conditions, along with azadirachtin (Okios 3.2% EC) as a positive control. The results showed that the alkaloid compound (withasomine 1) was the most toxic to A. craccivora, B. tabaci, N. viridula, and T. urticae, with LC50 values of 15.44, 36.61, 85.11, and 128.28 ppm, respectively, compared with the control. Withanolide compounds had moderate effects on all tested pests. Biochemical parameters of six enzymes; α-esterase, β-esterase, chitinase, acetylcholinesterase, glutathione-S-transferase, and peroxidase of A. craccivora were estimated at the LC50 value of the most potent compound, withasomine 1 and the values were 38.83, 72.86, 31.45, 506.4, 2.62, and 251.0, respectively. The results demonstrated that all enzymes activity levels were increased compared with the control except a remarkable inhibition in AChE enzyme level was observed compared with control. Therefore, the alkaloid fraction of W. somnifera is a promising extract that contains many active compounds that can be used as a natural pesticide against many harmful pests in agriculture crops. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of insecticides on a large scale and applied at the wrong time can increase the cost of potato production. Good agricultural pest management practices can reduce the number of insecticide applications and promote the sustainability of potato production in modern agriculture. Thus, the objective was to compare the costs and revenues of a pest management system that uses monitoring (IPM-integrated pest management) with a conventional system (calendar-based insecticide application) in the potato crop. Two experiments were carried out: experiment 1, carried out in the summer with the cultivars Ágata, Atlantic, and FLs 2027, 1867, 2215, and 2221, and experiment 2, carried out in autumn with the cultivar Ágata. The densities of sucking insects, defoliators, and natural enemies were evaluated and compared. In both experiments, treatments were based on pest monitoring (insecticide applications when reaching economic thresholds [ETs]) and a conventional system (calendar-based insecticide application). In experiment 2, a control group was also carried out without the use of insecticides. In experiment 1, with the use of pest monitoring, the number of sprays was reduced by 66.67%, pest control costs were decreased by 60.86%, and there was an increase of 8.97% in net income from potato production. Whilst in experiment 2, the number of sprays was reduced by 71.42%, pest control costs were decreased by 51.38%, and an increase of 12.75% in net revenue from potato production was observed. Thus, it is concluded that the application of insecticides when the pest population reaches the economic threshold (ET) reduces insecticide applications and costs and increases net income in the potato crop. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Landscape fragmentation caused by agricultural expansion directly influences the spatial distribution of habitats and resources, favoring populations of pest insects such as the polyphagous whitefly Bemisia tabaci. Therefore, pest insects may constantly be dispersing between large- and small-scale crops that vary in quality and size at the landscape level. We aimed to understand how habitat use, dispersal movement and population dynamics of B. tabaci occur between large-scale and small-scale crops. We conducted a field experiment in large-scale soybean farms and small-scale farms cropping tomato plants in Brazil for two years. We collected soybean and tomato plant samples and adult whiteflies on these plants at different times of the phenological cycle of the crops. We determined the carbon and nitrogen stable isotope ratios of the plants and the whiteflies collected on these plants. We also estimated the population densities of whiteflies over time on these crops. We found that whitefly populations behave as metapopulations connected by dispersal. The isotopic ratios of B. tabaci revealed that large-scale soybean crops are source habitats of whitefly populations that, after harvest, disperse and redistribute among small-scale tomato farms causing a cascading effect on population growth on the latter. Therefore, understanding the spatial dynamics and management of pests such as whiteflies requires regional strategies, including large-scale and adjacent small-scale crops. C and N stable isotopes used here were able to track pest populations at the landscape level and, therefore, could be helpful to subsidize area-wide pest management strategies of whiteflies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

More than 25 years ago, Donald Stokes argued that we must move beyond the false dichotomy of basic or applied research and suggested that when considering a program of scientific research it is important to ask whether (i) the work is motivated by use and (ii) if there is a search for fundamental understanding. Giving yes/no answers to these questions allows us to characterize research more fully, replacing the "or" of "basic or applied" by a richer understanding of the process of science. Stokes proposed that research that was motivated by a consideration of use and sought fundamental understanding be called research in Pasteur's Quadrant. One advantage of such work is that the search for fundamental understanding means that the problem-solving tools are more likely to be transferrable. After reviewing Stokes's formulation of research, I illustrate it with examples from the control of tephritid flies and the use of insect parasitoids for biological control. Thinking about one's work within Stokes's framework has many advantages for individual scientists, including guidance for journal selection, how to organize and conclude papers and seminars, and the "elevator speech." Furthermore, since research in Pasteur's Quadrant has the characteristic of simultaneously increasing our understanding of how the world works and improving applications, it will more likely benefit the community of pest scientists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The role of arthropods as livestock pests has been well established. Besides their biting habits causing nuisance in animals; they are important vectors for transmission of economically important livestock diseases worldwide. Various pests and vector control managemental programs that also make use of chemicals have variable success rates. Consequently, insecticide/acaricide resistance has been reported against most of the commonly used chemicals along with increased concern for environment and demand for clean and green, residue-free animal products. This calls for an urgent need to develop novel, alternate, effective strategies/technologies. This lays the foundation for the use of semiochemicals as alternatives along with other biological control agents. Current knowledge on semiochemical use in livestock is refined and limited; however, it has been widely exploited in the agricultural sector to control plant and food crop pests, surveillance, and monitoring. Semiochemicals have an added advantage of being natural and safe; however, knowledge of extraction and quantification by using assays needs to be explicit. Expertise is required in behavioral and electrophysiological studies of arthropods and their interactions with the host and environment targeting specific semiochemicals for promising results. A thorough prior understanding on aspects such as mechanism of action, the stimulus for the release, the effecter/target species, response produced, application methods, dose and concentration is required to develop any successful pest/vector control program. The current review provides essential and frontline information on semiochemicals and their potential applications in the livestock sector along with future challenges and interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aiming at the problems of identifying storage pest tobacco pest beetles from images that have few object pixels and considerable image noise, and therefore suffer from lack of information and identifiable features, this paper proposes an automatic monitoring method of tobacco beetle based on Multi-scale Global residual Feature Pyramid Network and Dual-path Deformable Attention (MGrFPN-DDrGAM). Firstly, a Multi-scale Global residual Feature Pyramid Network (MGrFPN) is constructed to obtain rich high-level semantic features and more complete information on low-level features to reduce missed detection; Then, a Dual-path Deformable receptive field Guided Attention Module (DDrGAM) is designed to establish long-range channel dependence, guide the effective fusion of features and improve the localization accuracy of tobacco beetles by fitting the spatial geometric deformation features of and capturing the spatial information of feature maps with different scales to enrich the feature information in the channel and spatial. Finally, to simulate a real scene, a multi-scene tobacco beetle dataset is created. The dataset includes 28,080 images and manually labeled tobacco beetle objects. The experimental results show that under the framework of the Faster R-CNN algorithm, the detection precision and recall rate of this method can reach 91.4% and 98.4% when the intersection ratio (IoU) is 0.5. Compared with Faster R-CNN and FPN, when the intersection ratio (IoU) is 0.7, the detection precision is improved by 32.9% and 6.9%, respectively. The proposed method is superior to the current mainstream methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Automatic pest detection from agricultural crops is a challenging agricultural application. It has been observed that many farmers lose crop yields mainly due to pests that spread rapidly. An intelligent pest recognition system (IPRS) is an innovative application that assists farmers in increasing agricultural productivity by accurately detecting pests that may cause crop damage. It allows one to identify the type of pest and apply the appropriate pesticides in a timely manner. There is a large deviation in deep neural network (DNN) performance on clean images and naturally degraded images. This article proposes a novel data augmentation techniques and feature fusion techniques to improve the accuracy as well as the desired robustness. The proposed visual regenerative fusion network (VRFNet) fuses the multiscale features from global feature extraction (GFE) network and the visual regeneration (VR) network to capture the semantic details for identifying pests from the distorted images which improves the accuracy. The proposed patch-based augmentation approach can effectively simulate the environment in which the leaves can partially conceal the insects and helps in improving the robustness. The proposed model achieves an accuracy of 99.12 and 68.34 on the publicly available D0 and IP102 datasets, respectively. These results clearly demonstrate that the proposed fusion method achieved a high success rate for distorted and occluded images captured from the agriculture farms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As an important forestry pest, Coronaproctus castanopsis (Monophlebidae) has caused serious damage to the globally valuable Gutianshan ecosystem, China. In this study, we assembled the first chromosome-level genome of the female specimen of C. castanopsis by merging BGI reads, HiFi long reads and Hi-C data. The assembled genome size is 700.81 Mb, with a scaffold N50 size of 273.84 Mb and a contig N50 size of 12.37 Mb. Hi-C scaffolding assigned 98.32% (689.03 Mb) of C. Castanopsis genome to three chromosomes. The BUSCO analysis (n = 1,367) showed a completeness of 91.2%, comprising 89.2% of single-copy BUSCOs and 2.0% of multicopy BUSCOs. The mapping ratio of BGI, second-generation RNA, third-generation RNA and HiFi reads are 97.84%, 96.15%, 97.96%, and 99.33%, respectively. We also identified 64.97% (455.3 Mb) repetitive elements, 1,373 non-coding RNAs and 10,542 protein-coding genes. This study assembled a high-quality genome of C. castanopsis, which accumulated valuable molecular data for scale insects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cryptotermes havilandi (Sjöstedt, 1900) (Blattodea: Isoptera: Kalotermitidae) is an important pest of wood worldwide. Incorporating morphology and molecular analysis, we present here the first record of this species in natural ecosystems inserted in the wettest sectors of the semiarid region of northeastern Brazil. The fact that previous extensive surveys of termites in this region (more than 30 sites) have not detected this species suggests that C. havilandi has only recently expanded its distribution. Considering that our findings were made in natural ecosystems, our results suggest that this important pest may ecologically compete with species present in Brazil, which requires specific impact studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a significant pest in diverse agroecosystems globally, the red palm weevil (RPW), Rhynchophorus ferrugineus (Coleoptera: Dryophthoridae), is frequently identified as the Asian palm weevil. Several different pests affect date palms Phoenix dactylifera L, but R. ferrugineus (Olivier) is a significant problem. It is spreading across date palm plantation countries and among them. Despite that, RPW is a pest of the coconut in the South and Southeast Asian regions, where it has been a significant pest for many years. RPW is being reported from Sochi in Russia and East Africa in Djibouti, where it is gaining a foothold in the Caucasian region. As of now, RPW-IPM programs, based on pheromone and bait trapping techniques, besides others, had limited success in terms of focusing on RPW pest problems. As a result, this study focused on reviewing the existing knowledge of RPW's different aspects with the primary goal of revealing the actual research situation. The present review highlights different management strategies of palm weevil to protect date palms. It was impressive to see the results achieved using chemical pesticides on plantations to mitigate RPW infestations. Nevertheless, they pose a significant threat due to their adverse effects on environment and physiological resistance. It is imperative to collaborate and organized to develop new protocol and surveillance program to mitigate RPW by a joint collaboration in national and international level in the form of funding and research plans implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context: The composition and configuration of habitats in agricultural landscapes may determine crop damage resulting from pests or pathogens either by directly affecting their population dynamics or through indirect effects on their natural enemies. Objectives: The aim of this study was to assess the impact of landscape composition and configuration on the occurrence and damage caused by the codling moth and apple scab in apple orchards. Methods: Using monitoring data at the French national scale, we examined how the proportion of landscape area grown with orchards, the mean patch area of orchards, the share of organic orchards and the proportion of woodlands and grasslands affected the occurrence and damage of these two pests from 2015 to 2019 in approximately sixty apple orchards each year. Results: Landscapes with a higher proportion of orchards supported a higher occurrence of apple scab and earlier colonisation of codling moths. In addition, we found that codling moth damage decreased with increasing orchard patch area in the landscape. The proportion of seminatural habitats or organic farming in the landscape never significantly explained pest occurrence or damage. Conclusions: Our results clearly highlight the importance of considering the amount and spatial arrangement of the pests' and pathogens' host crops to understand their infestation levels. Our study calls for the territorial management of orchard distribution to limit pesticide use in apple orchards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The redlegged earth mite, Halotydeus destructor, is an economically important pest of winter field crops and pastures in Australia, and has evolved field resistance to pyrethroid chemicals through a polymorphism in the voltage-gated parasodium channel leading to knockdown resistance (kdr). In this study, we quantified the rate of reversion to susceptibility of partially resistant H. destructor populations under field conditions in the absence of pesticide exposure. This was conducted over multiple years at two geographically distant locations with mite populations known to possess pyrethroid resistance. Fitness costs associated with pyrethroid resistance were identified through reductions in the frequency of kdr resistance alleles in the absence of pesticides. This was assessed using an amplicon sequencing approach targeting known resistance alleles. We also found that resistance can increase rapidly in frequency after only a single pyrethroid application in the field. Our results highlight that, once established in H. destructor populations, pyrethroid resistance will not easily be lost even after several years, emphasizing the importance of limiting the evolution of resistance in the first place. This helps to explain why pyrethroid resistance in H. destructor continues to persist at very high frequencies in the field and continues to expand within Australia despite the existence of fitness costs. Understanding field fitness costs associated with pesticide resistance is important when devising resistance management strategies for this pest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accurate recognition of pests can effectively reduce the negative impact of pests on the agricultural economy. The unprofessional shooting ways result in low-resolution images, which seriously influences the accuracy of pest recognition. The super-resolution reconstruction method can transform low-resolution images into high-resolution images. The existing super-resolution reconstruction networks have the problems such as feature missing, low feature utilization, and a large amount of computation. The multi-scale adaptive learning network (MALNet) proposed in this paper is based on residual and dense connections and consists of four modules: rear-compensation enlargement module (RCEM), low-frequency feature building module (LFFBM), multi-scale details representation module (MsDRM), and feature channels correction module (FCCM). First, the low-frequency contour feature is built by LFFBM, and MsDRM extracts local detail features of the pest. After that, FCCM enhances important features, being fused with the enlarged feature map generated by RCEM. The experimental results show that, compared with other reconstruction networks, MALNet achieves an average improvement of 0.26 dB and 0.006 in peak signal- to-noise ratio and structural similarity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work is dedicated to discussing the possibilities of describing the dynamics of forest insect outbreaks on different spatial scales. The properties of outbreaks are considered on a microspatial scale, where the distribution patterns of individuals across different food sources within the boundaries of a local territory or a stand are analyzed and, on a macrospatial scale, where the focus of the analysis are the indicators of the removal of the photosynthetic apparatus (leaves or needles) over the entire territory of the locus, including primary, secondary, and migratory loci. When analyzing the microspatial distribution of caterpillars on trees within loci on different stages of gradation, the model of the distribution of individuals on fodder trees is used as a second-order stage transition. The macrospatial processes that occur during the outbreak development include, first, the growth of an existing outbreak and the emergence of new connected damaged areas of the forest, and, second, the emergence of new unconnected secondary foci. To characterize the outbreaks, their fractal dimension D and the characteristics of the "viscous fingers" on the border of the outbreaks are used. Remote sensing data are used to calculate these characteristics. The proposed approaches can be used to predict the development of a forest insect outbreak. When constructing and verifying the models, we used data from the Siberian silk moth census and the tree colonization rate in the outbreak zone, as well as the remote sensing data on the areas and shapes of the foci in the districts of Krasnoyarsk krai during an outbreak of the Siberian silk moth Dendrolimus sibiricus Tschetv. in 2015–2019. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates a size-structured vermin contraception control model with nonlinear fertility and mortality, in which the control variable appears in both the state equation and the boundary condition. First, we show that the model has a unique non-negative solution, which has a separable form. Then, some continuity results are established, which are important for the purpose of optimal control. In order to make the final size of vermin as small as possible or as close as possible to the ideal distribution under the condition of the lowest control cost, we consider the least cost-size problem and the least cost-deviation problem. For each of the control problems, the optimality conditions are obtained via the adjoint system and tangent-normal cones. For the first problem, we show the existence of the optimal strategy by compactness and extremal sequence. However, for the second problem, we derive the existence of an optimal control via Ekeland's variational principle. Some numerical simulations have been performed to demonstrate the feasibility of the obtained theoretical results. Numerical results also suggest that decreasing the reproductive rate instead of increasing the mortality is an effective way of managing the impact of vermin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Eucalyptus species are widely planted for their rapid growth, high timber and commercial cellulose fiber. Several Eucalyptus pests have spread around the world, generally without their natural enemies. The present study was carried out on Madagascar and the Mascarene islands (Mauritius and Reunion), located in the southwestern Indian Ocean, on new eucalypt pests, their natural enemies and the infestation levels of the main pests Glycaspis brimblecombei, Leptocybe invasa and Ophelimus maskelli. By combining morphological and molecular identifications, we newly reported Blastopsylla occidentalis, Closterocerus chamaeleon and the genus Psyllaephagus on the three islands; Aprostocetus spp., Ctenarytaina eucalypti, O. maskelli, Quadrastichodella nova and Quadrastichus mendeli on Reunion; Megastigmus zebrinus on Madagascar; and the genus Aprostocetus on Mauritius. We also confirmed the presence of G. brimblecombei, L. invasa and Thaumastocoris peregrinus on all three islands, O. maskelli on Madagascar and Mauritius and Q. mendeli on Mauritius. Through a thorough review of the literature, we investigated Eucalyptus pests, their associated parasitoids and the damage they can cause. On the Madagascar and Mascarene islands, we highlighted the presence of the C. chamaeleon and Psyllaephagus genera, the natural enemies of O. maskelli and Psyllidae species, respectively. Moreover, the high population level of L. invasa seems to affect the survival of Eucalyptus in Madagascar. Leptocybe invasa appears to be regulated by Q. mendeli in Mascarene but not in Madagascar. Given the damage caused by L. invasa to malagasy Eucalyptus, introducing Q. mendeli could be considered a means of biological control in Madagascar. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Turkey plays a significant role in the world's greenhouse vegetable production. In Antalya Province, the leader of greenhouse production in Turkey, greenhouse cultivation in the highland area beside the coast has shown an outstanding increase. The current study, which was conducted to determine the pest and beneficial species in greenhouse cucumber cultivation in highland conditions, was carried out in three different locations in 2018–2019 two in Elmalı district and one in Korkuteli district. Using sticky traps and plant samplings, the pest species, population densities, and natural enemies were identified during weekly surveys of the greenhouses. According to the study results, 21 pest species belonging to 5 orders and 9 families and 25 beneficial species belonging to 7 orders and 13 families were identified. One pest species, Tetranychus solanacearum Çobanoğlu & Ueckermann, was reported for the first time on cucumber plants in the world in this study. The predators Lestodiplosis urticae Nijveldt, 1951 and Chrysoperla agilis Henry et al., 2003 were recorded for the first time in Turkey. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Numerous biting and nuisance insects are a noted cause of discomfort and stress to horses. Pyrethrins and pyrethroids have been used for many years in numerous formulations for the control of insect pests in animals, humans and environment. There are, however, few studies reporting their field efficacy in horses. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the repellent activity of a spray formulation based on prallethrin and permethrin synergized with piperonyl butoxide (BRONCO® Equine Fly Spray, Farnam Companies, Inc., USA) against annoying and harmful insects for horses in field conditions. Nine horses of mixed breed were divided into 2 groups (treatment and control). Pre-treatment insect counts were compared to daily counts for 4 days post-treatment (pt). One minute after the administration of the product (day 0), all the horses were negative for the presence of insects. All counts up to the 6-h pt check remained negative for Hippobosca equina, tabanid flies and Simulium spp., showing 100% efficacy. This remained above 90% throughout the study. For the H. equina, the repellent efficacy remained > 99.7% for all 4 days pt, for tabanid flies > 93.3% and for Simulium spp. > 97.4%. The efficacy against Musca spp. decreased from 82.2% at day 0 to 62.2% at day 3. Treatment was well-tolerated. In conclusion, despite the low number of tested horses, Bronco® has demonstrated high insecticide and repellent efficacy and a good persistence, maintained for up to 4 days post-treatment, against the most common species of insects harmful for horses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to evaluate the biological features and life table parameters of Amblyseius swirskii Athias-Henriot and Euseius scutalis (Athias-Henriot) collected from the same citrus ecosystem, on Eutetranychus orientalis (Klein) under laboratory conditions (25 °C and 70 ± 5% RH). Results revealed that total mean developmental times of A. swirskii and E. scutalis were 7.24 and 7.45 days for females, and 6.54 and 7.02 days for males, respectively. The preoviposition, oviposition, postoviposition periods and total adult longevity of predatory mite species were 2.41, 20.93, 2.57 and 25.92 days for A. swirskii and 2.34, 20.23, 2.58 and 25.15 days for E. scutalis, respectively. Daily (oviposition) and total mean numbers of eggs laid by A. swirskii were 2.09 and 43.16, by E. scutalis were 1.59 and 31.85, respectively. The intrinsic rate of increase (rm), net reproduction rate (Ro) and mean generation time (To) were 0.219, 28.65 and 15.28 days for A. swirskii, and 0.189, 21.18 and 6.15 days for E. scutalis, respectively. In general, biological parameters of A. swirskii were better than those of E. scutalis when fed on E. orientalis. It was concluded that both predatory mite species A. swirskii and E. scutalis could complement each other in controlling the target pest E. orientalis in citrus ecosystem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents the fact of occurrence of the sea buckthorn fly Rhagoletis batava obscuriosa Kol. on the territory of Ivanovo Region (Russia), which has been recorded since 2018 in wild populations and since 2022 in garden plantings of the sea buckthorn Hippophae rhamnoides (L., 1753). This species poses a threat to the effective cultivation of the sea buckthorn in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aleuroglyphus ovatus (Acari: Acaridae) is a major pest mite of stored grains that is distributed worldwide. Paeonol, a phenolic component of the essential oil extracted from the Chinese herb Paeonia moutan, possesses a range of biological activities, including antiviral, antifungal and acaricidal activity. This study investigated the bioactivity of paeonol against A. ovatus and its effect on the activity of detoxification enzymes. The bioactivity of paeonol against A. ovatus was determined by contact, fumigation and repellency bioassays, and the mechanism was preliminarily explored via morphological observation of the color changes of mite epidermis and determination of the changing trend of some important enzymes associated with acaricidal efficacy in the mites. The results showed that the median lethal concentration (LC50) in the contact and fumigation bioassays was 9.832 μg/cm2 and 14.827 μg/cm3, respectively, and the acaricidal activity of paeonol was higher under direct contact than under fumigation. Dynamic symptomatology studies registered typical neurotoxicity symptoms including excitation, convulsion and paralysis in A. ovatus treated with paeonol. The enzyme activity of catalase (CAT), nitric oxide synthase (NOS) and glutathione-S-transferase (GST) was higher, whereas the activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and acetylcholinesterase (AChE) was lower, compared to the control group. CAT, NOS and GST were activated, whereas SOD and AChE activities were inhibited after paeonol intervention. Our findings suggest paeonol has potent acaricidal activity against A. ovatus and thus may be used as an agent to control the stored-product mite A. ovatus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cabbage and Onion production in sub-Saharan Africa face numerous pest constraints that needs to be overcome to feed the rapidly growing population. This study aimed to establish the occurrence, incidence, and severity of soil-dwelling pests of cabbage and onions, and current management practices in five Counties of Kenya. Our findings revealed that most farmers grew hybrid vegetables on a small scale, which were highly dominated by various pest species (Delia platura, Maladera sp., and Agriotes sp. for cabbage and Atherigona orientalis and Urophorus humeralis for onion. The occurrence, incidence and severity of the various pest species on both crops varied considerably. Over 95% of the farmers relied on synthetic insecticides, which were applied weekly or bimonthly with limited success. Our findings demonstrate that invasive and polyphagous A. orientalis and D. platura were the most devastating pests of onion and cabbage without effective control options. Therefore, effective, sustainable, and affordable management strategies are required to control the spread of these pests to other crops in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Museums preserve historical cultural artifacts and serve as an essential resource for current and future generations seeking first-hand knowledge about the diversity of life on Earth. However, significant changes in climate from temperature and humidity cause serious biotic degradation. Despite ongoing insect control treatments, insect pests are still a major problem for museums due to the lack of suitable and unsafe environments that are provided for the storage and display of the collection. The varied carpet beetle, Anthrenus verbasci (Coleoptera: Dermestidae) is one of the major stored product pests whose larvae cause serious damage to household items and museum specimens. Therefore, this research aims to study the effect of gamma radiation on the larval, pupal and adult stages. The effects of gamma radiation have been studied on 3rd instar larvae (100, 200, 300, 400 and 500 Gy). The results showed that mortality in the larval stage significantly increased with increasing gamma radiation dose, which was reflected in the eclosion of the adult stage. The exposure of one-day-old pupae to 200, 400, 600, 800 and 1000 Gy of gamma radiation showed that the higher the dose, the lower the percentage of adult emergence. Additionally, there was a significant increase in the percentage of mortality in A. verbasci adults with increasing radiation doses when the newly emerged adults were irradiated with 200, 400, 600, 800 and 1000 Gy. The LD50 and LD90 of gamma radiation doses on larvae, pupae and adults were calculated, and the malformations in all stages were photographed. The fecundity and fertility of A. verbasci adults that were exposed to radiation as one-day-old pupae decreased gradually with increasing doses of gamma radiation and reached 100% sterility when exposed to a dose of 150 Gy. Among all the treatments, the sterile dose (150 Gy) or lethal dose (1000 Gy) showed superior performance over other treatments and was adjudged as the best treatments, which prevented the subsequent development and complete mortality of the pest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pests are among the most important dangers threatening the existence and continuity of forests. Harmful insects cause great destruction in forests. The forestry organization performs chemical, mechanical, biotechnical, and biological control activities against pests and diseases in forests. Harmful insects are not as prominent and even ignored as forest fires in public sphere because their activities and damages do not appear suddenly, but the destruction caused by pests is understood after it becomes an epidemic. For this reason, it is vital to be informed about threats such as fires, insect epidemics, etc. that occur in forest areas as soon as possible and to fight with the support of the public. Kackar National Park is one of the areas with the richest ecotourism potential in Turkey. Forest pests are spread around the national park, causing serious damage to the forest and areas of cultural importance. Detection of forest pests that threaten the national park forests, which are the national treasure, is of critical importance for the sustainability of the area. There is a need to increase the knowledge and awareness levels of all segments of society in this respect. It was determined that only half of people who live in rural areas of Kackar Mountain National Park, which is located in the Eastern Black Sea Region, where intense insect damage was experienced for more than 60 years, have knowledge about forest pests. Also, 285.000 Rhizophagus grandis were reproduced and placed in forest trees in the scope of combating forest pests in the area, and 310 pheromone traps were placed in forest areas to determine the insect population and the management of the control. The 2.769.521 m3Picea orientalis that was damaged was removed from the area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The saffron mite, Rhizoglyphus robini Claparède (Acari, Astigmata: Acaridae), is one of the most important pests of saffron-producing regions in Iran. It causes yellowing and decreases saffron growth, and finally it destroys the bulbs. In this research, the cold tolerance and supercooling point (SCP) of the saffron mite were measured in three populations and two temperature regimes. Our results showed that the mean SCP of the saffron mite was approximately −14.6 °C without significant difference among the populations. On the contrary, acclimation of the mites significantly decreased their SCP to a mean of approximately −16.5 °C. Exposure of the mites for 24 h to 0 and −2.5 °C had no significant effect on the survival of the mites but when the mites were exposed to −5.0 °C for 24 h, survival of the three populations reached the lowest level of roughly 60%. By 24-h exposure to −7.5 °C, survival of the mites was almost negligible. As a large proportion of mortality was observed above the SCP, and LT50 > SCP, it can be inferred that the saffron mite is likely a chill-susceptible species. This suggests that the saffron mite lacks the ability to withstand extracellular ice formation. Overall, the results of the current study suggest no significant physiological differences between populations of the saffron mite. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Genetic engineering has emerged as an attractive strategy for incorporating resistance in plants against diverse pathogens and has been largely achieved through transgenic expression of ribosome-inactivating proteins (RIPs), pathogenesis-related (PR) proteins, pathogen-derived genes, or strategies involving RNA interference and clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats/CRISPR-associated protein 9 (CRISPR/Cas9) gene editing tool. RIPs are rRNA N-glycosylases that commonly exert their protective effects through suppression of translation by enzymatically inactivating ribosomes, thereby arresting protein synthesis. Additionally, a few RIPs may possess other enzymatic activities viz. superoxide dismutase, chitinase, DNase and phosphatase, contributing towards pathogen resistance in plants. RIPs are mostly produced by plants and conventionally classified into three types. Type I RIPs are monomeric, with catalytic A chains, exhibiting rRNA N-glycosylase activity. Type II RIPs are dimeric, comprising the enzymatically active A chain associated with the lectin B chain enabling an access inside the cells, hence these are often highly toxic. Less common Type III RIPs include the jasmonic acid inducible protein such as JIP-60, with the catalytic domain becoming functional upon removal of an internal peptide segment and following cleavage of a C-terminal domain which resembles the eukaryotic initiation factor 4e. Unusual RIPs and RIP-related proteins, that cannot be grouped into the classical three types of RIPs, because of their difference in size, structure, or function, also exist. Several RIPs have been recombinantly expressed and demonstrated to possess catalytic activity. Plants carrying RIP transgenes exhibit resistance against viruses, fungi and insects. More often, such studies have been carried out using model systems comprising tobacco, potato or tomato, transformed via Agrobacterium tumefaciens, and employing the most widely used promoter such as CaMV 35S, to enable a high-level expression of the RIP gene. This review focuses on the recent developments in the recombinant DNA approach for the modification of crops with RIP genes to reduce the impact of pathogens and pests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bulb mites are an economically significant pest of subterranean parts of plants and a versatile laboratory animal. However, the genetic structure of their populations remains unknown. To fill this gap in our knowledge of their biology, we set up a field experiment in which we allowed mites to colonize onion bulbs, and then determined the genetic structure of colonisers based on a panel of microsatellite loci. We found moderate but significant population structure among sites separated by ca. 20 m (FST range 0.03–0.21), with 7% of genetic variance distributed among sites. Allelic richness within some bulbs was nearly as high as that in the total population, suggesting that colonisation of bulbs was not associated with strong population bottlenecks. The significant genetic structure we observed over small spatial scales seems to reflect limited dispersal of mites in soil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The European fruit lecanium, Parthenolecanium corni (Bouché) (Hemiptera: Coccomorpha: Coccidae), is an important grapevine pest in all grape production regions. Due to its hidden way of life, knowing which vine parts to sample when monitoring is important for early infestation detection. Within-plant distribution of this pest was studied throughout the whole vegetative season, in a three-year field trial carried out in Neštin, Serbia. Grapevine trunk and cane were each divided in three equal sections. Reference point was the merging spot of trunk and cane. Canopy was divided in nine equal quadrants. The number of P. corni individuals in each part was estimated. It was recorded that P. corni adult females and nymphs prefer certain grapevine parts for their settlement. A significant difference between the number of adult females recorded on different grapevine woody parts was observed, with the highest number recorded on the first third of cane. The nymphs, which infest canopy, were unevenly distributed. Their number was highest on the leaves nearby preferred adult female settlement spots (first third of cane) throughout the whole season. The number of adult females and nymphs showed a decreasing trend with the increase of distance from the reference point. The information gathered during this research can be useful for early detection and monitoring of P. corni infestations in the vineyards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tea is a perennial monoculture crop that serves as a food source for many insect and mite pests as well as a stable and suitable microclimate for inhabiting. Tea plants are associated with 1034 arthropod species and 82 nematode species worldwide, and they are attacked by nearly 250 insect species. Among them, lepidopteran pests are the primary defoliators of tea. Insecticide sprays are currently primarily used to control insect infestations. However, the repeated use of these synthetic pesticides has resulted in pest outbreaks and resistance development, as well as the presence of pesticide residues in produced tea over the last few decades. As a result, pesticide use in the tea industry has become a major concern. To overcome this problem, the use of alternative control methods and the adoption of integrated pest management is becoming essential. Therefore, research into the ecology, biology, distribution and natural enemies of the lepidopteran pest is crucial for the development of a successful pest management strategy. Therefore considering the point of view, a review has been compiled covering the information on the biology, geographic distribution, and control of the lepidopteran pests of tea, and it is also noted that numerous natural enemies can be used to control Lepidopteran pests in the future, particularly in some states of India (e.g. Assam) where some biological agents like Nuclear polyhedrosis virus (NPV) and Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) are prohibited because of the silkworm industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coconut cultivation is a promising agricultural activity. But to keep the coconut plants pest-free, the detection of various pest damage in coconut plants is of utmost importance for the cultivators. The processes that the cultivators use to detect pest damage in coconut plants are conventional methods, experts' views, or some laboratory techniques. But these procedures are not adequate in the detection of coconut damage identification. In this study, 16 different color and texture features are reported for 1265 coconut pest damage images by extracting the color and texture features of the damage images in the color and grey domain after the damage segmentation using the thresholding technique. The Gray Level Co-occurrence Matrix (GLCM) and Gray Level Run Length Matrix (GLRLM) techniques are applied to extract the texture features of the damages and two Artificial Neural Network (ANN) architectures are reported to classify the extracted data features of the damages into 5 different classes such as Eriophyid_Mite, Rhinoceros_Beetle, Red_Palm_Weevil, Rugose_Spiraling_White_fly, and Rugose_in_Mature with an average testing accuracy of almost 100% respectively. To compare the results with the other machine learning techniques, the Support Vector Machine(SVM), Decision Tree (DT), and Naïve Bayes (NB) are also introduced for damage identification where the SVM methods also report almost 100% accuracy on the fuse features of GLCM and GLRLM. The results of the ANN and SVM are compared by finding the confusion matrix, precision, recall, and f-1 score of the ANN model with the DT and NB classifier. The ANN and SVM outperform in all matrices and they can be used as the base model for further study of coconut pest damage identification using deep learning techniques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Helicopter-based shooting is an effective management tool for large vertebrate pest animals. However, animals in low-density populations and/or dense habitat can be difficult to locate visually. Thermal-imaging technology can increase detections in these conditions. We used thermal-imaging equipment with a specific helicopter crew configuration to assist in aerial culling for feral pigs (Sus scrofa) and fallow deer (Dama dama) in South Australia in 2021. Seventy-two percent of pigs and 53% of deer were first detected in dense canopy/tall forest habitat. Median time from the first impact shot to incapacitation was < 12 s. The culling rate (animals hour−1) doubled compared to visual shoots over the same populations and the wounding rate was zero resulting in a incapacitation efficiency of 100%. The crew configuration gave the shooter a wide field of view and the thermal operator behind the shooter provided essential support to find new and escaping animals, and to confirm species identification and successful removal. The crew configuration allowed for successful target acquisition and tracking, with reduced target escape. The approach can increase the efficiency of aerial culling, has the potential to increase the success of programs where eradication is a viable option, and can improve animal welfare outcomes by reducing wounding rates and the escape of target animals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]