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Cyclodextrins have many advantages when used in the agricultural field as complexes with agrochemicals. However, they interact with molecules and biological systems at different levels and an enhancement of agrochemical effectiveness even as a physical mixture cannot be ruled out. This was verified for the first time by a simple experimental system with mealworm larvae (Tenebrio molitor L.) as the pest, the inhibitor of chitin synthesis diflubenzuron as the insecticide, and beta-cyclodextrin as the adjuvant. Under laboratory conditions, mealworm mortality was recorded under the following three treatments: (i) neat diflubenzuron, (ii) diflubenzuron/beta-cyclodextrin physical mixture, and (iii) commercial formulation Dimilin WP25. The physical mixture with beta-cyclodextrin significantly increased the mortality by enhancing the effectiveness of diflubenzuron. A significant dose effect was also found. Considering the application protocol, this result may be more likely due to the bioavailability enhancement of diflubenzuron by beta-cyclodextrin. On the basis of the current knowledge and available literature, we assume that these results could be explained by the interactions between CDs and biological membranes and the associated increase in their permeability. The use of beta-cyclodextrin in physical mixtures with insecticides could be of interest in the development of more effective agrochemicals through simpler and less costly research processes.

We present a new technique developed to uniquely mark individual adult green lacewings (Neuroptera Chrysopidae) with a durable, quickdrying ink applied by a very fine tipped pen. This marking method is particularly suitable for use in laboratory experiments. It is reliable, cheap, and easy to apply and to decode.

This work studies the possible functionalisation provided by natural dyes to wool fabrics against moths attacks. Wool flannel samples were dyed with extracts from Daphne gnidium L., Helichrysum italicum (Roth) G. Don, Rubia peregrina L., Castanea sativa Mill.. Tests on the textile resistance to mature larvae of T. bisselliella were performed together with the quantitative characterization of second metabolites of the plants extracts. The test allowed to preliminary elicit the contribute of natural dyes and mordants to protect wool textiles.

In order to anaesthetize insects in a laboratory, chilling and application of diethyl ether and carbon dioxide are commonly used. However none of the above methods is problem free. In particular, the use of diethyl ether, despite its simplicity, is now limited due to its poor safety. In our research, we evaluated ethyl acetate as an alternative anaesthetic substance. The effects of ethyl acetate anaesthesia were compared with those produced by carbon dioxide on adult green lacewings (Neuroptera: Chrysopidae). The biological parameters measured were longevity and fecundity. No significant differences appeared between the two treatments and the control. Although further research is necessary, the use of ethyl acetate proves to be very promising and presents a valid alternative to the use of diethyl ether and, in many cases, also to carbon dioxide and chilling.

Tyrosinase plays an important role in cuticle tanning and sclerotization in insects. Use of selective inhibitors active toward this enzyme could offer the opportunity to elaborate new sustainable biological control techniques. These substances might also act as a synergistic increasing target species susceptibility to pathogen agents or insecticides.

In this paper we describe an innovative, low-cost, small-scale green lacewing (Neuroptera Chrysopidae) rearing method developed in our laboratories over a decade. Our method proves to be adaptable from a small laboratory to a local farmer's insectary and its innovative aspects could be adopted in (and/or adapted to) mass rearing systems.

The safest protection from UV radiation (UVR) exposure is provided by clothing and depends on fabric composition (natural, artificial or synthetic fibers) and parameters (porosity, weight and thickness), as welI as dyeing methods and properties (natural or synthetic dyes, dye concentration, UV absorbing properties, etc.). UV protection properties of dyes extracts from Rubia peregrina L, Daphne gnidium L., Helichrysum italicum L. , Lavandula stoecas L. applied with two different mordants (potassiurn alum and chestnut tannins) were investigated on flax and cotton fabrics. D. gnidium L. and H italicum L. extracts were also applied on wool fabric to test textile resistance to mature larvae of T bisselliella and the oviposition deterrence activity.

To reveal genotypic variability of life history traits, we measured development time of eggs, larvae and pupae and adult body mass at four temperatures in progeny of four families, i.e. individual pairs of one female and one male that were kept together their entire adult life. Two-way analysis of variance revealed that developmental rate and adult body mass of the progeny of different families at the four temperatures differed from each other with interaction. E.g. body mass was lowest in family 1 and highest in family 4 at 17 and 20°C, but lowest in family 4 at 30°C.

Geologically Sardinia is a raft which, for just under thirty million years, has been crossing the western Mediterranean, swaying like a pendulum from the Iberian to the Italian Peninsula. An island so large and distant from the other lands, except for its "sister" Corsica, has inevitably developed an autochthonous flora and fauna over such a long period of time. Organisms from other Mediterranean regions have added to this original contingent. These new arrivals were not randomly distributed over time but grouped into at least three great waves. The oldest two correspond with the Messinian salinity crisis about 7 million years ago and with the ice age, when, in both periods, Sardinia was linked to or near other lands due to a fall in sea level. The third, still in progress, is linked to human activity. Man has travelled since ancient times and for many centuries introduced allochthonous species to Sardinia which radically modified the native flora and fauna, but always at a very slow and almost unnoticeable rate. The use of sailing or rowing boats, with their low speeds, hindered the transport of living organisms from one place to another. The use of the steam boat, introduced around 1840 but widely diffuse around 1870-1880, opened the doors to more frequent arrivals and also to organisms from the American Continent. This technical innovation had an influence over the whole world economy, with its well-known grain crisis, and coincided in Sardinia with the arrival of Roman dairymen, producers of pecorino cheese and the beginning of the expansion of sheep farming which would continue uninterrupted until the present day. In this period of sudden social and environmental change, an insect was introduced which would turn out to be probably the most economically devastating agricultural pest in Europe: the Grape Phylloxera. The vineyard and wine business collapsed first in France then in Italy. The Phylloxera arrived in Sardinia in 1883 and wine production crashed a very short time later and only resumed after the distribution of American vine rootstock at the beginning of the 20th Century. From then, vine cultivation in Europe was modified with the essential use of this rootstock. Since then methods of transport have increased enormously in number and speed. The number of allochthonous and invasive species has increased proportionally: some of them along with exotic plants which are cultivated on the island, others following man in his activities. Often these new pests attack and destroy ornamental plants which have become part of the Sardinian landscape, causing it to change; just as often their presence requires methods of pest management which are different from the traditional methods on specific crops; finally in at least one case (the Asian tiger mosquito) they pose a threat to our health.