Journal of Applied Entomology最新文献

The management of stingless bees is an expanding activity that requires technical knowledge in order to face a number of challenges, from malnutrition to disease. In the present study, we evaluate the effect of supplementary diets based on sucrose (100% sucrose syrup or 50% sucrose syrup + 50% dried spirulina) on fat body mass and on the gut-associated microbiota of Melipona quadrifasciata, one of the most important species in Brazilian stingless bee farming. The study was performed over 5 months, from the end of spring until the end of summer, when outbreaks of an annual disease occur. Both the fungal and bacterial microbiota were metabarcoded using ITS2 and 16S gene markers, respectively. Our experimental design aimed at incorporating both seasonal and treatment effects of diet on forager gut microbial composition. Our analyses show that supplementing bees' diet with sucrose-based feed does not affect the amount of fat body of forager bees. In contrast, it alters the composition of the gut microbiota characterised by an increase in the relative abundance of acetic acid bacteria and unclassified lactobacilli. The significance of such changes promoted by a sucrose-rich gut environment concerning bee health needs to be further investigated and carefully considered for stingless bee management.

Although Syrphidae is an essential family of flies because they provide key ecosystem services like pollination and pest control, their richness and abundance respond negatively to urbanisation, even when high-quality green spaces are present. These are the conclusions of many studies from the northern hemisphere; however, there are shortfalls in our knowledge of flower fly ecology in Neotropical megacities. We used a 10-year dataset obtained from a long-term citizen science program devoted to flies to test whether the richness, total number of records (as a proxy of abundance) and diversity of flower flies could be influenced by green space predictors such as total surface and percentage of green areas, the quality of public squares and parks indices and greenness index (NDVI) across 34 municipalities in Greater Santiago. Furthermore, we described for the first time an interaction network exclusively for flower flies within the city. We analysed 1084 records and 607 interactions of 29 flower fly species. We found that the north-east municipalities have more flower fly species. Based on the richness and abundance, the two-way Jaccard analysis grouped the municipalities into three major clades: (a) those municipalities with more than 10 flower fly species, (b) those between five and 10 species and (c) those with fewer than five species. Generalised linear mixed models associated positively and significantly the flower fly richness, abundance and diversity, mainly with the quality of public squares and the mean NDVI value. The structure of our interaction network between flower flies and plant species showed low values for connectance and specialisation, but a significant value for interaction diversity. The quality of green spaces and NDVI information could help local decision-makers improve the management of the municipality's green spaces, enhance the flower fly biodiversity inside the cities and provide potential ecosystem services such as pollination or pest control.

Understanding the pollination mechanisms of “settling moths” (moths from families other than Sphingidae typically perched on corollas while feeding on flowers) in the Neotropics is crucial for assessing their contributions to plant reproduction and ecosystem resilience. Through extensive literature searches on Google Scholar and SCOPUS, this study identified 44 relevant studies from an initial pool of 410. These studies covered 37 ecoregions across over 30 million km², primarily focusing on natural habitats, with Brazil, Argentina, and Mexico as major contributors. The research on Neotropical moth pollination has surged since 2000, with Noctuoidea, Geometridae, and Pyraloidea as the most cited moth groups. Despite the significant progress in documenting moth pollination, our assessment of taxonomic resolution revealed a heavy reliance on field observations, underscoring the need for collaboration with taxonomists to improve species-level identifications and enrich ecological interpretations. Our network analysis of interactions between 37 plant families and 14 nocturnal moth families or higher taxon groups indicated a matrix fill of approximately 18.7%, with significant nestedness pointing to generalist-specialist dynamics among plant and moth families. Modularity analysis identified distinct clusters of interactions, suggesting that specific plant and moth families engage in compartmentalised relationships shaped by ecological and evolutionary factors. Dominant groups, such as Asteraceae and Fabaceae among plants, and Erebidae and Noctuidae among moths, played central roles within these modules, underscoring their importance in maintaining nocturnal pollination networks. These findings emphasise the importance of both diverse and dominant pollinator groups in supporting Neotropical pollination dynamics. Our work highlights the need for pollinator-centred studies, the adoption of standardised methodologies, and deeper exploration of exclusive moth pollination to advance understanding of plant reproduction across the Neotropics. Future research should aim to bridge gaps in species-level identification and further investigate the ecological and evolutionary significance of nocturnal pollination across diverse environments.

Hawkmoths and flowers exhibit striking examples of morphological specialisation, yet how these interactions are structured by different processes within communities still need to be better understood. In this study, we investigated the interactions between hawkmoths and flowers in the megadiverse, open-vegetation landscape of the Brazilian Campos Rupestres. Using a zoocentric approach based on pollen loads found on hawkmoth bodies, we assessed their interactions at the community-level. Our results revealed a modular network, with both hawkmoths and flowering plants organised into modules containing species with dissimilar phenologies. This temporal segregation suggests a staggering pattern of resource use across the year. Hawkmoth proboscis length, however, did not show any pattern regarding module composition. Furthermore, phenology better predicted interaction frequencies than abundances in the network. Therefore, phenology seems to be a primary driver of interaction in this open vegetation seasonal ecosystem. This study represents the first attempt to unravel the organisation of hawkmoth-flower interactions at a community level in this ancient and megadiverse Brazilian ecosystem, and underscore the importance of phenology/seasonality as an important process determining interactions between flowers and long distance flying pollinators capable of connecting isolated plant populations across the landscape.

Understanding the complex interactions between aphids, their natural enemies and surrounding plants is crucial to effectively manage pest aphids in Capsicum crops. While it is known that aphidophagous communities can be found both within and around Capsicum crops, which specific plant species support these beneficial insects remains largely unknown. This study aimed to identify key plant species that could be conserved to promote natural pest control. We sampled and identified pest and non-pest aphids, as well as aphidophagous insects, for over 3 years in 30 Capsicum crops and surrounding non-crop vegetation in Colombian chilli pepper agroecosystems. By combining field observations with molecular techniques, we determined plant-insect associations and the trophic structure of the community. We found that the presence of crop flowers and fruits led to nestedness in plant-insect interaction networks, while flowering crops alone resulted in modularity in the plant-aphid network. A core group of plant and insect species, including Capsicum, the invasive weed Sorghum halepense, the native plants Parthenium hysterophorus and maize (Zea mays), and various aphid and generalist aphidophagous species, formed the most significant interactions within the network. These findings suggest that a diverse plant community, including both native and invasive species, can enhance aphidophagous insect populations and provide a foundation for sustainable pest management strategies in chilli pepper agroecosystems.

The invasion of fall armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda, originating from the Americas, into numerous provinces of China has emerged as a significant threat to the nation's grain crop production. Other than crops, will S. frugiperda be a threat to vegetable crops in China? Here, we firstly surveyed the occurrence of S. frugiperda in cabbage field in Jiangsu province, China, and then, we detected the strain composition of the natural population on cabbage; after that, we compared the performance of all the field strains on cabbage in the lab. In 2021, S. frugiperda was found in field cabbage in three sites in Jiangsu province, and there were three strains, namely COIcorn-Tpicorn strain (COICS-TpiCS), COIrice-Tpicorn strain (COIRS-TpiCS) and COIrice-Tpirice strain (COIRS-TpiRS); the dominant strain in Haian and Luhe was COICS-TpiCS and COIRS-TpiCS, respectively. Further investigation on the performance of the three strains on cabbage leaves showed that both the survival rate of larvae and the fecundity of the strain COIRS-TpiCS were significantly higher than that of the other two strains, whether fed on seedlings or ball leaves, which showed divergent performance among the three strains on cabbage. These findings underscore the potential threat posed by S. frugiperda to vegetable production in China.

Alluaud's little yellow ant, Plagiolepis alluaudi Emery 1894, (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), is an emerging nuisance species in floriculture and residential areas around the globe. Originally described from Madagascar, it ranks among the smallest widespread formicine pests. To date, no evaluations of management protocols for this species have been reported. In ants, feeding preference is related to ant body size and viscosity and nutritional content of the food source. Optimizing these factors could lead to improved bait performance. To assess population management implications of various bait parameters on a small pest ant species, four commercial ant baits of varying viscosities, active ingredient (AI) group and concentration, and nutritional content were evaluated in laboratory and field assays against P. alluaudi. All four products negatively affected P. alluaudi survival compared to the untreated control, and all products were associated with greater visitation compared to the control, suggesting all AIs tested are viable candidates for P. alluaudi management. However, their direct use for population management in the field may be limited, as feeding cessation was eventually observed on all four baits. When baits were diluted with water, viscosity was reduced and survival was initially higher compared to with undiluted baits. However, similarly low levels of survival were maintained over time. Most importantly, we found in a 2-year observational field study involving sustained baiting within an infested structure that only the bait formulation with the lowest overall viscosity was able to alleviate P. alluaudi nuisance indoors. Our results suggest that diluting baits may be a viable strategy for targeting very small pest ant species, and the greater time to lethality of diluted baits, resulting from reduced toxicant concentration, may be a reasonable trade-off allowing smaller ant species to continue feeding for a sufficient duration on a bait formulation.

The sweet potato whitefly, Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius) (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae) is a polyphagous, phloem sap-feeding pest of highly economically important crops. This pest infests more than 600 horticultural and agricultural crops. It is thought to be a complex of physically similar cryptic species with variations in their genetic, physiological and biological characteristics. In the present study, the incidence of the cryptic species B. tabaci and the viruliferous nature of whiteflies with begomovirus in cucurbitaceous crops from seven agroclimatic zones of Tamil Nadu were assessed. Based on the available sequence data, we report the occurrence of four major cryptic species of whiteflies recorded in Tamil Nadu. The identified cryptic species of B. tabaci, viz., Asia I, Asia II (5), Asia II (7) and Asia II (8) were observed in all 22 locations in Tamil Nadu. The predominant occurrence of B. tabaci Asia I was recorded in three agroclimatic zones, viz., the western, north western and high-rainfall zones of Tamil Nadu. Asia II (5) was detected in all six agroclimatic zones, while Asia II (8) was detected in the western, north western and southern zones of Tamil Nadu. Asia II (7) was the only cryptic species recorded in the western zone of Tamil Nadu. Studies on endosymbiont associations with these whiteflies revealed the presence of Portiera (PP593660), Fritchea (PP600138), Cardinium (PP600148), Hamiltonella (PP593664), Wolbachia (PP593662) and Rickettsia (PP590220) in the reported cryptic species of B. tabaci. Hap_2, hap_14, hap_35, hap_42, hap_79 and hap_80 were the haplotypes of B. tabaci on cucurbitaceous crops in Tamil Nadu. Asia II (5) exhibited the highest haplotype diversity, and Asia I showed a high level of nucleotide diversity. These results will be useful for understanding outbreaks of B. tabaci and developing efficient management strategies for viruses that are transmitted by B. tabaci.