Annual review of entomology最新文献

Bumble bees (Bombus) are prominent keystone pollinators globally and thus serve as model taxa for numerous facets of biology from social evolution to foraging economics. Many of the ∼265 species are in decline, motivating research that aims to better understand which traits make them susceptible. Despite a long history of taxonomic and natural history research, much of their biology is understood from just a few commercially available species. This review compiles the breadth of biotic trait diversity of bumble bees to provide a comparative perspective on their biology, evolution, and conservation. It features ecological traits most pertinent to their conservation, as well as traits of these primitively eusocial bees that inform our understanding of their social evolution. Many of these traits are interdependent, making a broadly comparative analysis valuable for interpreting evolution and declines. These data are organized in a phylogenetic context to show patterns of trait correlation and knowledge gaps, highlighting the depauperate natural history data in Asian and South American species. Limitations in comparative interpretation due to data standardization are emphasized.

The biology of holometabolan larvae, which are often the main feeding stage, is extremely diverse. Phytophagy plays a significant role in basal hymenopteran groups, in Lepidoptera, and in megadiverse groups of polyphagan beetles. A switch to parasitoidism was a major evolutionary shift in Hymenoptera. Predaceous habits are generally found in Neuropterida, in various groups of Coleoptera, and in some trichopterans. Wood and fungi play an important role in Archostemata and several groups of polyphagan beetles, as well as in some groups of Hymenoptera and Diptera. Two main trends can be observed in larvae of megadiverse holometabolan groups: enormous morphological diversification as in Coleoptera or alternatively morphological simplification and uniformity as in the hymenopteran Apocrita and the dipteran Brachycera. The ability of larvae to use food sources and microhabitats different from those used by adults has likely contributed to the evolutionary success of holometabolan lineages.

Mosquitoes remain the greatest threat to global human health because they transmit pathogens to humans and other animals when females imbibe a blood meal. Disease transmission is restricted temporally and spatially because not all seasons or habitats support mosquito growth, development, host seeking, and reproduction. Temperate mosquitoes respond to photoperiod by entering states of arrested development to survive harsh winter conditions. Additionally, temperature profoundly influences mosquito development, host seeking, and reproductive processes, as well as pathogen replication. Recent research is uncovering how humidity affects mosquito host-seeking and oviposition behavior. Researchers are also gaining an understanding of how light pollution and high temperatures in cities impact mosquito physiology and behavior. Future studies characterizing the interactions among multiple environmental factors will allow researchers to better predict how mosquitoes are responding to increasing urbanization and climate change, to develop novel control measures, and to better direct interventions to limit disease transmission.

Climate adaptation in insects can proceed via responses in life-history traits and their thermal plasticity and through phenological shifts mediated by responses to photoperiodic cues (photoperiodism). While experimental studies demonstrate evolutionary potential for both modes of adaptation, it remains unclear how evolution will unfold in natural populations, limiting our ability to predict how insects will respond to climate change. Here, we review the literature and analyze published studies revealing that photoperiodism for diapause induction evolves predictably along latitude, with high-latitude populations entering diapause earlier. In contrast, although a few species showed clinal variation in life history and thermal plasticity, the direction of these clines was not consistent across taxa. These findings suggest that while insect life history and physiological adaptation to temperature can evolve, phenological shifts via evolution of photoperiodism are likely to be more common and predictable responses to future climate change.

The superfamily Elateroidea (click beetles, fireflies, soldier beetles, net-winged beetles, and relatives) constitute a morphologically diverse group of polyphagan beetles with an ancient evolutionary history and worldwide distribution. Elateroids include numerous lineages that are paedomorphic, bioluminescent, or both. More than 31,500 extant and extinct described species belonging to almost 1,700 genera are currently classified in 18 families. Significant progress in our understanding of Elateroidea phylogeny, evolution, and systematics has been accelerated by advances in phylogenetics, phylogenomics, and imaging technologies for visualization and reconstruction of insect structures, including those of fossils. Additionally, several new families, both extant and extinct, have been discovered and described. Consequently, the classification of elateroid beetles and our views on the evolution of paedomorphosis and bioluminescence underwent dramatic changes over the last two decades. This review summarizes changes, major discoveries, and improvements in our knowledge of the Elateroidea.Updated on October 3, 2025.

A vast diversity of RNA viruses has been uncovered in agricultural pest insects over the past decade through unbiased metatranscriptomics approaches. These viruses, known as insect-specific viruses (ISVs), are restricted to insects and cannot replicate in plant hosts. The discovery of plant virus-associated ISVs, along with endogenous viral elements derived from these viruses, offers valuable insights into the evolutionary relationships between ISVs, plant viruses, and their insect hosts. Moreover, ISVs may be pathogenic or influence host biology, potentially affecting vector competence and the virulence of other pathogens in their host insects. This finding has opened new possibilities for exploring nonbaculoviral ISVs as novel biological control agents for insect pests and plant viral diseases. This review offers a concise overview of ISVs, with a focus on insect RNA viruses in agricultural pest insects, and proposes guidelines for future research in this rapidly advancing field.

Nutritional symbioses with microorganisms have profoundly shaped the evolutionary success of ants, enabling them to overcome dietary limitations and thrive across diverse ecological niches and trophic levels. These interactions are particularly crucial for ants with specialized diets, where microbial symbionts compensate for dietary imbalances by contributing to nitrogen metabolism, vitamin supplementation, and the catabolism of plant fibers and proteins. This review synthesizes recent advances in our understanding of ant-microbe symbioses, focusing on diversity, functional roles in host nutrition, and mechanisms of transmission of symbiotic microorganisms. Despite progress, most research has concentrated on a few ant genera, and further exploration of microbial roles in different ant morphs and life stages and across various ant species is needed. Expanding research to include a broader array of ant lineages and integrating genomic data with additional experimental data will provide deeper insights into the metabolic strategies that facilitate ant success across diverse ecological habitats.

The evolutionary success of insects may be partly attributed to their profound ability to adjust metabolism in response to environmental stress or resource variability at a range of timescales. Metabolic flexibility encompasses the ability of an organism to adapt or respond to conditional changes in metabolic demand and tune fuel oxidation to match fuel availability. Here, we evaluate the mechanisms of metabolic flexibility in insects that are considered short-term, medium-term, and long-term responses. We describe mechanisms that enhance metabolic flexibility by intermediary metabolites, transcription, tissue resculpting, the nervous system and hormone response, and more permanent genetic adaptations. We consider how metabolic flexibility may provide fitness advantages in diverse environmental conditions, and how this might be related to population dynamics, fundamental niches, and shifting geographic ranges. We conclude by discussing how mechanisms of metabolic flexibility might have broad implications for the management of pests and disease vectors and for the conservation of rare species in an era of rapid change.

Wetlands and their aquatic arthropods are threatened by climate change (temperature, precipitation). In this review, we first synthesize the literature on environmental controls on wetland arthropods (hydroperiod, temperature, dissolved oxygen) and then assess how these controls operate across freshwater wetlands from different global biomes (tropical/subtropical, temperate, high latitude/altitude, and dry climates) and how changes in climates alter arthropod fauna with consequent modifications to wetland ecosystem functions (decomposition, food web dynamics). We also describe ways to develop bioassessment of climate change impacts on wetlands. Finally, we synthesize likely effects of future changes on wetland arthropods, concluding that impacts will be greatest at current climatic extremes (hottest, coldest, driest places), where changes will either amplify already existing constraints (leading to taxa habitat extirpations) or relax existing constraints (leading to taxa habitat shifts). We, however, acknowledge that wetland arthropods can naturally cope with significant environmental variation, making them resilient to many climate changes, and mechanisms for any change will be complex.

Parasitoid wasps are a diverse group of insects with a unique parasitic lifestyle that allows them to spend their lives closely interacting with their insect hosts, facilitated by parasitic effectors, including venom, polydnaviruses, and teratocytes. These effectors manipulate various aspects of insect host biology to increase the survival of the parasitoids' offspring. During the last two decades, omics and functional studies have significantly advanced our understanding of how parasitoids manipulate their hosts at the molecular level. Here, we review the underlying molecular mechanisms, with particular focus on these parasitic effectors and their effects on host immune responses, development, metabolism, and behaviors. In addition, we discuss how the evolution of these molecular mechanisms has contributed to the ecological adaptations of parasitoids.