Life Sciences Commons^™

Orientocardiochiles, A New Genus Of Cardiochilinae (Hymenoptera, Braconidae), With Descriptions Of Two New Species From Malaysia And Vietnam, Ilgoo Kang, Khuat Dang Long, Michael J. Sharkey, James B. Whitfield, Nathan P. Lord

Entomology Faculty Publications

For the first time in 21 years, a new genus of cardiochiline braconid wasp, Orientocardiochiles Kang & Long, gen. nov. (type species Orientocardiochiles joeburrowi Kang, sp. nov.), is discovered and described. This genus represents the ninth genus in the Oriental region. Two new species (O. joeburrowi Kang, sp. nov. and O. nigrofasciatus Long, sp. nov.) are described and illustrated, and a key to species of the genus, with detailed images, is added. Diagnostic characters of the new genus are analyzed and compared with several other cardiochiline genera to allow the genus to key out properly using an …

Dietary Antioxidants Impact Ddt Resistance In Drosophila Melanogaster, Gamal A. M. Abdu-Allah, Keon-Mook Seong, Omprakash Mittapalli, James Adebayo Ojo, Weilin Sun, Omar Posos-Parra, David Mota-Sanchez, John M. Clark, Barry R. Pittendrigh

Entomology Faculty Publications

Insects experience a diversity of subtoxic and/or toxic xenobiotics through exposure to pesticides and, in the case of herbivorous insects, through plant defensive compounds in their diets. Many insects are also concurrently exposed to antioxidants in their diets. The impact of dietary antioxidants on the toxicity of xenobiotics in insects is not well understood, in part due to the challenge of developing appropriate systems in which doses and exposure times (of both the antioxidants and the xenobiotics) can be controlled and outcomes can be easily measured. However, in Drosophila melanogaster, a well-established insect model system, both dietary factors and …

Insights From Population Genomics To Enhance And Sustain Biological Control Of Insect Pests, Arun Sethuraman, Fredric J. Janzen, David W. Weisrock, John J. Obrycki

Biology Faculty Publications

Biological control—the use of organisms (e.g., nematodes, arthropods, bacteria, fungi, viruses) for the suppression of insect pest species—is a well-established, ecologically sound and economically profitable tactic for crop protection. This approach has served as a sustainable solution for many insect pest problems for over a century in North America. However, all pest management tactics have associated risks. Specifically, the ecological non-target effects of biological control have been examined in numerous systems. In contrast, the need to understand the short- and long-term evolutionary consequences of human-mediated manipulation of biological control organisms for importation, augmentation and conservation biological control has only recently …

Non-Destructive Technologies For Detecting Insect Infestation In Fruits And Vegetables Under Postharvest Conditions: A Critical Review, Akinbode A. Adedeji, Nader Ekramirad, Ahmed Rady, Ali Hamidisepehr, Kevin D. Donohue, Raul T. Villanueva, Chadwick A. Parrish, Mengxing Li

Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering Faculty Publications

In the last two decades, food scientists have attempted to develop new technologies that can improve the detection of insect infestation in fruits and vegetables under postharvest conditions using a multitude of non-destructive technologies. While consumers' expectations for higher nutritive and sensorial value of fresh produce has increased over time, they have also become more critical on using insecticides or synthetic chemicals to preserve food quality from insects' attacks or enhance the quality attributes of minimally processed fresh produce. In addition, the increasingly stringent quarantine measures by regulatory agencies for commercial import-export of fresh produce needs more reliable technologies for …

Oral Ingestion Of Bacterially Expressed Dsrna Can Silence Genes And Cause Mortality In A Highly Invasive, Tree-Killing Pest, The Emerald Ash Borer, Ramya Shanivarsanthe Leelesh, Lynne K. Rieske

Entomology Faculty Publications

RNA interference (RNAi) is a naturally occurring process inhibiting gene expression, and recent advances in our understanding of the mechanism have allowed its development as a tool against insect pests. A major challenge for deployment in the field is the development of convenient and efficient methods for production of double stranded RNA (dsRNA). We assessed the potential for deploying bacterially produced dsRNA as a bio-pesticide against an invasive forest pest, the emerald ash borer (EAB). EAB feeds on the cambial tissue of ash trees (Fraxinus spp.), causing rapid death. EAB has killed millions of trees in North America since …

Integrating Gwas And Transcriptomics To Identify The Molecular Underpinnings Of Thermal Stress Responses In Drosophila Melanogaster, Melise C. Lecheta, David N. Awde, Thomas S. O’Leary, Laura N. Unfried, Nicholas A. Jacobs, Miles H. Whitlock, Eleanor Mccabe, Beck Powers, Katie Bora, James S. Waters, Heather J. Axen, Seth Frietze, Brent L. Lockwood, Nicholas M. Teets, Sara H. Cahan

Entomology Faculty Publications

Thermal tolerance of an organism depends on both the ability to dynamically adjust to a thermal stress and preparatory developmental processes that enhance thermal resistance. However, the extent to which standing genetic variation in thermal tolerance alleles influence dynamic stress responses vs. preparatory processes is unknown. Here, using the model species Drosophila melanogaster, we used a combination of Genome Wide Association mapping (GWAS) and transcriptomic profiling to characterize whether genes associated with thermal tolerance are primarily involved in dynamic stress responses or preparatory processes that influence physiological condition at the time of thermal stress. To test our hypotheses, we …

Histone Deacetylase 3 Is Required For Development And Metamorphosis In The Red Flour Beetle, Tribolium Castaneum, Smitha George, Subba Reddy Palli

Entomology Faculty Publications

Background

Hormones are chemical communication signaling molecules released into the body fluids to stimulate target cells of multicellular organisms. We recently showed that histone deacetylase 1 (HDAC1) plays an important role in juvenile hormone (JH) suppression of metamorphosis in the red flour beetle, Tribolium castaneum. Here, we investigated the function of another class I HDAC member, HDAC3, and show that it is required for the normal development of T. castaneum.

Results

RNA interference-mediated knockdown of the HDAC3 gene affected development resulting in abnormally folded wings in pupae and adults. JH analog, hydroprene, suppressed the expression of HDAC3 in …

Impacts Of Larval Diet On Pre-Imaginal Development, Survival And Adult Size Of Six Species Of Coccinellidae, Nathan Mercer, John J. Obrycki

Lady Beetle Research Data

Compared larval development, survival, and adult size of six lady beetle species on a diet of aphids or moth eggs

Invasive Paper Wasp Turns Urban Pollinator Gardens Into Ecological Traps For Monarch Butterfly Larvae, Adam M. Baker, Daniel A. Potter

Entomology Faculty Publications

Invasive species can be particularly disruptive when they intersect with organisms of conservation concern. Stabilizing the declining eastern migratory population of monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus) is projected to require extensive habitat restoration across multiple land use sectors including metropolitan areas. Numerous conservation programs encourage urban citizens to plant gardens with milkweeds, the obligate larval host plants of the monarch. Here, we show that predation by Polistes dominula, an invasive paper wasp that is particularly abundant in urban settings, can turn such sites into ecological traps for monarch larvae. Polistes dominula was the predominant paper wasp seen foraging …

Altering Planting Date To Manage Melanaphis Sacchari (Hemiptera: Aphididae) Populations In Sweet Sorghum, Nathan Mercer

Entomology Research Data

This study was conducted to determine if altering sweet sorghum planting date from the recommended (mid) could reduce yield loss from the aphid pest, Melanaphis sacchari.

Impact Of Buckwheat And Methyl Salicylate Lures On Natural Enemy Abundance For Early Season Management Of Melanaphis Sacchari (Hemiptera: Aphididae) In Sweet Sorghum, Nathan Mercer

Entomology Research Data

Tested effect of buckwheat flowers and methyl salicylate lures to attract natural enemies to sweet sorghum fields to manage Melanaphis sacchari, a recent pest of sweet sorghum.

Parasitoid Host Acceptance And Suitability For Sugarcane Aphid, Nathan Mercer

Entomology Research Data

Commercially available parasitoids were tested for their host acceptance and suitability on the sugarcane aphid, recent pest of sorghum.

Optimizing Monarch Butterfly And Bee Conservation Efforts In The Urban Landscape, Adam M. Baker

Theses and Dissertations--Entomology

The eastern migratory population of monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus) is in serious decline. Most of the efforts to conserve this iconic insect focus on habitat restoration in the US Midwest. Often overlooked are small butterfly-centric gardens that can act as stepping stones between urban and rural areas. These studies aim to optimize the conservation value of such gardens.

Eight milkweed (Asclepias) species varying in height, form, and leaf shape were compared over two years in a common-garden experiment. I measured milkweed growth, rhizome spread, and bloom periods, conducted bi-weekly counts of monarch eggs and larvae, evaluated …

Epigenetic Regulation Of Hormone Action In The Red Flour Beetle, Tribolium Castaneum (Herbst), Smitha George

Theses and Dissertations--Entomology

Hormones are the chemical communication signaling molecules released into the body fluid to stimulate target cells of multicellular organisms. Two major hormones, ecdysteroids (20-hydroxyecdysone, 20E) and juvenile hormones (JH), regulate a wide variety of physiological and developmental processes in insects. Therefore, hormones have been extensively studied and are attractive targets for the development of target-specific insect control methods. Recent studies suggest that epigenetics adds another layer of regulation to explain multiple functions of the same circulating hormone in different tissues and at various time points. In my dissertation, I focused on a major post-translational modification, ‘acetylation,’ to elucidate the epigenetic …

The First Mitochondrial Genome Of The Living-Fossil Sawfly Macroxyela Ferruginea (Hymenoptera: Xyelidae, Macroxyelinae), Bo-Ying Zheng, Ze-Kai Li, Xiao-Fei Li, Jia-Chen Zhu, Michael J. Sharkey, Pu Tang, Xue-Xin Chen

Entomology Faculty Publications

The living-fossil sawfly Macroxyela ferruginea (Xyelidae: Macroxyelinae) was one of the oldest species of Hymenoptera. We sequenced the mitochondrial genome, 15,465 bp in size. All 37 typical mitochondrial genes were possessed. There is only one rearrangement of gene order, where trnM and trnQ were shuffled. We also found this order was shared with Xyela sp., which also belongs to family Xyelidae. The 13 protein-coding genes of this sequence and the other 10 species from eight superfamilies in Hymenoptera were all used for phylogenetic analysis by maximum likelihood (ML) analysis and Bayesian inference (BI), with Ascaloptynx appendiculatus from Neuroptera as an …

Aggregation Behavior In The Bed Bug, Cimex Lectularius L., Paul D. Baker

Theses and Dissertations--Entomology

The bed bug, Cimex lectularius L., is a common household pest that feeds on the blood of its human hosts. Unlike many other hematophagic arthropods, bed bugs have not demonstrated the ability to vector disease; yet its presence in a household often leads to fear and anxiety amongst its human host victims. Bed bugs spend the majority of their time aggregating in enclosed and hidden locations, making it difficult to detect and eradicate them. One of the significant mediators of aggregation behavior is an aggregation pheromone. The pheromone has been identified to be six chemical compounds, five volatile compounds that …

Developing Alternative Practices For Management Of Flea Beetles Attacking Eggplant And Leafy Brassicaceous Greens, Robert Brockman

Theses and Dissertations--Entomology

Flea beetles are a challenging pest for many producers of vegetable crops in Kentucky. Chewing numerous small holes in the leaves of their host plants, high flea beetle populations can quickly overwhelm unestablished crops. I tested the efficacy of several alternatives to insecticides within brassicaceous leafy greens and eggplant. Four field trials in 2019 and 2020 compared essential oil sprays, the woven-mesh row cover ProtekNet, the spunbonded row cover Agribon, and reflective silver mulch to an untreated control, a conventional insecticide rotation of dinotefuran and pyrethroids, and an organic insecticide rotation of spinosad and pyrethrins. The silver reflective mulch was …

A Tangled Web: The Dynamics Of Endosymbiotic Infections In A Linyphiid Spider, Laura Cecilia Rosenwald

Theses and Dissertations--Entomology

Many arthropods are infected with bacterial endosymbionts that manipulate host reproduction, but few bacterial taxa have been shown to cause such manipulations. Mermessus fradeorum (Linyphiidae) is a sheet-weaving spider that displays both feminization and cytoplasmic incompatibility (CI). To correlate reproductive manipulations to endosymbionts, I surveyed the bacterial community of M. fradeorum using high throughput sequencing and found that individuals can be infected with up to five different strains of bacteria from the genera Wolbachia, Rickettsia, and Rickettsiella. Rickettsiella was found in all 23 tested spider matrilines. I used antibiotic curing to generate uninfected matrilines that I reciprocally crossed with …

Management Of Stink Bugs (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) On Soybean In Kentucky, Yaziri Gonzalez

Theses and Dissertations--Entomology

Phytophagous stink bugs (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) are pests of significant importance to soybean, Glycine max (L.), because they can cause severe losses in seed quality, ultimately affecting yield. Damage to soybean is caused through a process called extra-oral digestion. This occurs when the adults and nymphs of stink bugs pierce plant tissues with their mandibular and maxillary stylets, insert digestive enzymes, break down tissue, and extract the digested plant fluid. Three endemic stink bug species of North America are present in Kentucky: green stink bug (Chinavia hilaris), brown stink bugs (Euschistus species complex), and red-shouldered stink bug (Thyanta custator) …

Management Of Sugarcane Aphid (Melanaphis Sacchari) Using Biological And Cultural Tactics In Kentucky, Nathan Harriman Mercer

Theses and Dissertations--Entomology

In 2013, a new aphid pest of sorghum, the sugarcane aphid Melanaphis sacchari Zehntner (Hemiptera: Aphididae), was found in the southern US, and caused significant yield loss in sorghum. Since then, M. sacchari has spread to most of the sorghum growing regions. Unmanaged populations can cause complete crop loss in grain, forage and sweet sorghum. M. sacchari cannot survive winters without a live plant tissue and must recolonize much of its pest range annually. Sweet sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) is an important crop for many growers in Kentucky, producing $16-25 million a year from its syrup. Biological control of …

Arthropod Resistant Tomatoes: Screening Tools, Yield And Nutritional Quality Of Interspecific Hybrids, Mohammad Hasan Salman Ali Dawood

Theses and Dissertations--Plant and Soil Sciences

Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) is one of the most economically important vegetable crops grown around globe but is a host for numerous pests and pathogens. In the future, tomato breeders will have to focus on increasing fruit quantity and on enhancing pest resistance. Many accessions of the wild relative of tomato, S. habrochaites display high levels of resistance towards arthropods such as spider mites. The presence of the sesquiterpene hydrocarbon, 7-epi-zingiberene, found in S. habrochaites type IV trichomes has been associated with arthropod resistance. However, the presence of other compounds in its trichome secretions may also be related …

Predicting Patterns Of Gene Family Evolution In Taxa With Similar Ecological Niches, Kim Vertacnik

Theses and Dissertations--Biology

To fully understand the genetic basis of adaptation, we need to know its predictability—the extent to which specific selective pressures and contexts can yield corresponding genetic changes. In particular, the repeated colonization of similar, specialized environments by different taxa is ideal for assessing the frequency of reoccurring changes in the same genes or functions. But compared to a growing body of literature on the convergent evolution of individual genes, far less is known about the repeatability of gene family evolution, where families (defined here as groups of genes that share sequence and functional similarity from common ancestry) can expand (gain …

Identification And Characterization Of Epigenetic Regulators In The Yellow Fever Mosquito, Aedes Aegypti, Shankar C. R. R. Chereddy

Theses and Dissertations--Entomology

Due to the increased interactions between the sylvatic and urban cycles of Aedes aegypti life cycle, there has been an increase in the incidence of vector-borne diseases. The risk involved through the transmission of viruses like Dengue, Zika, Yellow-fever and Chikungunya calls for an effective control method for the deadly vector. The possibility of pesticide resistance and the costs involved in producing new pesticides have pushed Sterile Insect Technique (SIT) into prominence. However, current methods used to sterize insects for SIT are not highly efficient. This study tackles current issues in mosquito control by identifying and characterizing epigenetic regulators that …

Dynamic Balancing Of Foraging And Defensive Effort Contribute To The Optimality Of The Honey Bee Robbing Strategy, Grayson James Grume

Theses and Dissertations--Entomology

The optimality of a foraging strategy shifts in response to dynamic ecological conditions and the need to devote effort to other tasks. Nest defense and foraging effort in the honey bee may trade off as both tasks are performed by a shared workforce of physiologically-specialized individuals in exclusive roles. Honey robbing is a foraging strategy predicted to benefit from simultaneous increases in foraging and defensive effort, but may be constrained by workforce specialization. We developed a methodology to induce robbing behaviors with uninhabited bait hives. We used this methodology to evaluate foraging and defensive effort before and during robbing by …

Physiological Ecology Of Overwintering And Cold-Adapted Arthropods, Leslie Jean Potts

Theses and Dissertations--Entomology

Given their abundance and diversity, arthropods are an excellent system to investigate biological responses to winter. Winter conditions are being majorly impacted by climate change, and therefore understanding the overwintering biology of arthropods is critical for predicting ecological responses to climate change. In Chapters 2 and 3, I investigate the winter biology of a winter-active wolf spider. I show that winter-active spiders can take advantage of periodic prey resources and grown in the winter, which may allow them to get a jumpstart on spring reproduction. I also investigate spiders’ ability to track changes in their environment by quantifying low temperature …

Emerald Ash Borer Development Across A Latitudinal Gradient: Implications For Biocontrol, Sarah Pellecchia

Theses and Dissertations--Entomology

Emerald ash borer, EAB, (Agrilus planipennis Fairmaire) is an invasive beetle that kills ash trees. It was accidentally introduced from China, and has rapidly expanded across North America, now occupying much of the eastern US. Four classical biocontrol parasitoids have been released to help mitigate its spread and impact: Tetrastichus planipennisi Yang, Spathius agrili Yang, S. galinae Belokobylskij and Strazanac, and Oobius agrili Zhang and Huang. These parasitoids have been deployed throughout EAB’s invaded range, but there has been limited recovery of the parasitoids from their release sites in southern states. I evaluated whether this lack of establishment might …

Configuration And Location Of Small Urban Gardens Affect Colonization By Monarch Butterflies, Adam M. Baker, Daniel A. Potter

Entomology Faculty Publications

Ecological theory predicts that specialist insect herbivores are more likely to locate and colonize host plants growing in relatively sparse or pure stands compared to host plants growing amongst diverse non-host vegetation. We tested the hypothesis that increasing the apparency and accessibility of milkweed (Asclepias spp.) host plants in small polyculture gardens would boost their colonization by the monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus), an iconic native species of conservation concern. We established replicated gardens containing the identical mix of milkweeds, flowering nectar sources, and non-host ornamental grasses but arranged in three different spatial configurations that were monitored for …

Altering Social Cue Perception Impacts Honey Bee Aggression With Minimal Impacts On Aggression-Related Brain Gene Expression, James W. Harrison, Joseph H. Palmer, Clare C. Rittschof

Entomology Faculty Publications

Gene expression changes resulting from social interactions may give rise to long term behavioral change, or simply reflect the activity of neural circuitry associated with behavioral expression. In honey bees, social cues broadly modulate aggressive behavior and brain gene expression. Previous studies suggest that expression changes are limited to contexts in which social cues give rise to stable, relatively long-term changes in behavior. Here we use a traditional beekeeping approach that inhibits aggression, smoke exposure, to deprive individuals of aggression-inducing olfactory cues and evaluate whether behavioral changes occur in absence of expression variation in a set of four biomarker genes …

Hippodamia Convergens Overwintering Feeding, Nathan Mercer

Lady Beetle Research Data

Impact of food supplements on overwintering Hippodamia convergens energy reserves, survival and spring reproduction.

Development Of Cs-Tpp-Dsrna Nanoparticles To Enhance Rnai Efficiency In The Yellow Fever Mosquito, Aedes Aegypti, Ramesh Kumar Dhandapani, Dhandapani Gurusamy, Jeffrey L. Howell, Subba Reddy Palli

Entomology Faculty Publications

Mosquito-borne diseases are a major threat to human health and are responsible for millions of deaths globally each year. Vector control is one of the most important approaches used in reducing the incidence of these diseases. However, increasing mosquito resistance to chemical insecticides presents challenges to this approach. Therefore, new strategies are necessary to develop the next generation vector control methods. Because of the target specificity of dsRNA, RNAi-based control measures are an attractive alternative to current insecticides used to control disease vectors. In this study, Chitosan (CS) was cross-linked to sodium tripolyphosphate (TPP) to produce nano-sized polyelectrolyte complexes with …