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Collective behaviors efficiently impart benefits to a diversity of species ranging from bacteria to humans. Fly larvae tend to cluster and form coordinated digging groups under crowded conditions, yet understanding the rules governing this behavior is in its infancy. We primarily took advantage of the Drosophila model to investigate cooperative foraging behavior. Here, we report that Drosophila‐related species and the black soldier fly have evolved a conserved strategy of cluster digging in food foraging. Subsequently, we investigated relative factors, including larval stage, population density, and food stiffness and quality, that affect the cluster digging behavior. Remarkably, oxygen supply through the posterior breathing spiracles is necessary for the organization of digging clusters. More importantly, we theoretically devise a mathematical model to accurately calculate how the cluster digging behavior expands food resources by diving depth, cross‐section area, and food volume. We found that cluster digging behavior approximately increases 2.2 fold depth, 1.7‐fold cross‐section area, and 1.9 fold volume than control groups, respectively. Amplification of food sources significantly facilitates survival, larval development, and reproductive success of Drosophila challenged with competition for limited food resources, thereby conferring trophic benefits to fitness in insects. Overall, our findings highlight that the cluster digging behavior is a pivotal behavior for their adaptation to food scarcity, advancing a better understanding of how this cooperative behavior confers fitness benefits in the animal kingdom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drosophila suzukii is notoriously a pest that causes serious damage to soft-skinned fruits. However, the management of this key pest currently relies on chemical insecticides that seriously cause pest resistance and environmental hazards. In the present study, we reported the potential of Artemisia argyi (mugwort) essential oil to act as deterrent for D. suzukii oviposition. First, we identified that eucalyptol of mugwort essential oil efficiently induced the oviposition avoidance of D. suzukii. Second, the ovipositional aversion to eucalyptol was mediated by the activation of olfactory neurons in adult. Moreover, we found that eucalyptol potentially arrested the development of the fly progeny and impaired the survival and lifespan of flies through intestinal dysplasia. Finally, the result of field trials showed that mugwort essential oil had a deterrent effect on vineyard flies. Overall, our findings show that eucalyptol potentially acted as a biological control agent against D. suzukii by deterring oviposition, highlighting fundamental concepts of integrated pest management programs against D. suzukii. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the modern world, the processes of modernization and regionalization in China are the subject of scientific interests. These processes are based on the models of economic, political, and social transformations of the Western world that are perceived and implemented in the practice of Chinese reality. These models were transferred to China, taking into account the specifics of the development of all spheres of life in this country. All this actualizes the need to analyze theoretical positions regarding the process of forming a new development strategy for Chinese society based on the modernization of all spheres of life, taking into account regionalization processes aimed at China’s economic breakthrough. The methodological basis of the study consists of interpretative, comparative, integrative approaches, constructionist analysis. An interpretative approach was used to analyze authentic sources on the issue of modernization and regionalization in China. The comparative approach allowed us to analyze the general and excellent in the interpretation of modernization and regionalization in the theories and concepts of Chinese researchers. The integrative approach made it possible to identify the features of various scientific positions of Chinese researchers in terms of assessing a new development strategy for Chinese society. The constructionist analysis of social reality (social constructionism) made it possible to analyze modernization and regionalization as globalization phenomena. This article presents a philosophical analysis of scientific works that are devoted to the study of the features of modernization and regionalization in China. The studies of Chinese scientists are dominated by the rationale for regionalization and modernization as factors in globalization processes. It was revealed that the studies of Chinese scientists on the substantiation of theories and concepts of modernization and regionalization are based on the analysis of foreign theoretical and practical experience in these areas. The authors conclude that the processes of modernization and regionalization studied by Chinese scientists are reflected as follows: analysis of foreign experience – formation of a national theory – verification of the theory in practice – preparation of a concept – analysis of practical results. The authors argue the thesis that Chinese scientists through the scientific sphere form an idea that confirms the national policy of the state. The research materials can be applied in the study and identification of the features of modernization processes and regionalization processes in modern China.

The origin of motility in bilaterian animals represents an evolutionary innovation that transformed the Earth system. This innovation probably occurred in the late Ediacaran period--as evidenced by an abundance of trace fossils (ichnofossils) dating to this time, which include trails, trackways and burrows.sup.1-3. However, with few exceptions.sup.4-8, the producers of most of the late Ediacaran ichnofossils are unknown, which has resulted in a disconnection between the body- and trace-fossil records. Here we describe the fossil of a bilaterian of the terminal Ediacaran period (dating to 551-539 million years ago), which we name Yilingia spiciformis (gen. et sp. nov). This body fossil is preserved along with the trail that the animal produced during a death march. Yilingia is an elongate and segmented bilaterian with repetitive and trilobate body units, each of which consists of a central lobe and two posteriorly pointing lateral lobes, indicating body and segment polarity. Yilingia is possibly related to panarthropods or annelids, and sheds light on the origin of segmentation in bilaterians. As one of the few Ediacaran animals demonstrated to have produced long and continuous trails, Yilingia provides insights into the identity of the animals that were responsible for Ediacaran trace fossils. Yilingia spiciformis, a bilaterian dating to the Ediacaran period, is described from body fossils associated with trails produced by the animal, shedding light on the origins of segmentation and motility in bilaterian animals., Author(s): Zhe Chen [sup.1] [sup.2] , Chuanming Zhou [sup.2] [sup.3] , Xunlai Yuan [sup.1] [sup.2] [sup.4] , Shuhai Xiao [sup.5] Author Affiliations: (1) State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, [...]