Entomology Commons^™

Male-Male Mounting And The Unreliability Of Body Size As A Character For Mate Choice In Male Japanese Beetles (Popillia Japonica Newman), Paul V. Switzer, Patrick S. Forsythe, Kipp C. Kruse

Faculty Research & Creative Activity

Background: Same-sex pairing is common in many animal species. In many insects, same-sex pairing is often thought to be a result of poor sexual discrimination (i.e., a mistake), but few detailed studies of the mechanisms underlying the mistaken pairing have been conducted. Previous studies have found that in the field, a small proportion of Japanese beetle (Popillia japonica) mating pairs consist of two males instead of a male and a female. In the current study, we investigated the relationship between body size, the tendency to mount other males, and the duration of these mounts, in laboratory experiments on male Japanese …

Effectiveness Of Hand Removal For Small-Scale Management Of Japanese Beetles (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae), Paul Switzer, Ryan Cumming

Faculty Research & Creative Activity

Hand removal is often recommended as a method for small-scale control of Japanese beetles (Popillia japonica Newman). In this study, we investigated the effectiveness of daily hand removal for controlling damage by Japanese beetles on grape plants. We also investigated whether the timing of the removal (at 0800, 1400, or 1900 hours, or at all 3 periods) inßuenced the effectiveness of the technique. We found that hand removal signiÞcantly lowered the number of beetles on, and consequently the damage to, grape plants relative to nonremoval controls. Of the single removal treatments, removal of beetles at 1900 hours was most effective, …

Nebline, January 2014

NEBLINE Newsletter Archive from Nebraska Extension in Lancaster County

Feature: 4-H Youth Serve Their Community By Volunteering

Food & Health

Family Living

Farm & Acreage

Home & Family Living

Horticulture

Pests & Wildlife

4-H & Youth

Extension Calendar

Family and Community Education (FCE) Clubs

and other extension news and events

Contributions To An Arthropod Inventory Of Santa Cruz Island, California, Ida Naughton, Michael S. Caterino, Cause Hanna, David Holway

Publications

Arthropods have been understudied on Santa Cruz Island, resulting in an incomplete understanding of these diverse and ecologically important members of island ecosystems. To enhance the current understanding of Santa Cruz Island biodiversity, we sampled arthropods in 2 native plant habitats: island scrub oak (Quercus pacifica) woodland and patches of island morning glory (Calystegia macrostegia ssp. macrostegia). We used 4 standardized sampling techniques to sample arthropods in 16 Q. pacifica woodland plots. We sampled arthropods associated with C. macrostegia by pan trapping within 1 m of blooming morning glory individuals. In total, we sampled over 18,000 …

An Analysis Of Arthropod Interceptions By Aphis-Ppq And Customs And Border Protection In Puerto Rico, David A. Jenkins, Russell F. Mizell, Skip Van Bloem, Stefanie Whitmire, Leyinska Wiscovitch, Crystal Zaleski, Ricardo Goenaga

Publications

USDA Animal Plant Health Inspection Service Plant Protection and Quarantine (APHIS-PPQ) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) inspect traffic entering the United States for arthropods posing a threat to national agriculture or ecosystems. We analyzed interceptions made by these agencies in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands between October 2006 and December 2009 for patterns with regard to the frequency of interceptions, origins of interceptions, and the taxa intercepted. 6,952 arthropods were intercepted in freight or luggage entering Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands from foreign countries and 9,840 arthropods were intercepted from freight or luggage leaving Puerto …

Letter From The Dean, Michael Vayda

Discovery, The Student Journal of Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences

No abstract provided.

Discovery: The Student Journal Of Dale Bumpers College Of Agricultural, Food And Life Sciences - Volume 15 2014, Several Authors

Discovery, The Student Journal of Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences

No abstract provided.

Identifying Priority Conservation Areas For The American Burying Beetle, Nicrophorus Americanus (Coleoptera: Silphidae), A Habitat Generalist, Jessica D. Jurzenski, Christopher F. Jorgensen, Andy Bishop, Roger Grosse, John Riens, W. Wyatt Hoback

United States Fish and Wildlife Service: Publications

Conservation efforts leading to the recovery of the federally endangered American burying beetle (ABB), Nicrophorus americanus Olivier, have been challenging because of the unknown causes of its decline, difficulty in establishing habitat requirements, and unclear population distribution across the species’ range. Extant populations of this widespread generalist species occur in broadly separated regions of North America with varying habitat characteristics. A habitat suitability model for ABB in the Nebraska Sandhills was developed over the course of 3 years resulting in a final cross-validated spatial model. The succession of models from 2009 to 2011 indicated that most of the predictive variables …

Progress Towards A Molecular Phylogeny Of Tachinidae, Year Two, Isaac S. Winkler, John O. Stireman Iii, John K. Moulton, Pierfilippo Cerretti, Jeremy D. Blaschke

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

We reported last year (Stireman et al. 2013) in The Tachinid Times on our collaborative project, funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation, to study the phylogeny of Tachinidae on a worldwide scale. Since that report, we have made some significant progress towards our goal of assembling a robust phylogenetic tree for Tachinidae. Notably, Cerretti et al. (in press) completed a phylogenetic study using 135 morphological characters from 180 tachinid genera. Results from this study largely reflect, with some interesting exceptions, what we are finding from preliminary analyses of our molecular data. Although sampling of taxa and genes for the …

Changes In Gene Expression And Viral Titer In Varroa Jacobsoni Mites After A Host Shift Asian To European Honey Bees, Gladys K. Andino Bautista

Open Access Dissertations

Honey bees (Apis mellifera L.) are the most important insects for the pollination of crops and wildflowers. However, they have experienced increasing colony die-offs during the past two decades. Multiple species of parasitic mites have been described that affect honey bees. The most important species in beekeeping belong to the genus Varroa ( Varroa jacobsoniand Varroa destructor). Varroa mite parasitism of honey bees is thought to be the most significant cause of colony mortality worldwide, and mite resistance to active ingredients of acaricides has become common. V. destructor causes direct impacts on bee production as well as …

A Mega-Diverse Water Beetle Genus (Coleoptera: Hydraenidae: Hydraena Kugelann) Commonly Overlooked In Southeast Asia And Its Potential Use For Environmental Biomonitoring, Hendrik Freitag

Biology Faculty Publications

This study summarizes the current knowledge of the water beetle genus Hydraena Kugelann in Southeast Asia. The surprising species diversity and endemism rates in Hydraenopsis Janssens, the only subgenus present in Southeast Asia, are discussed. Data of five published Hydraena surveys from the Philippines and Singapore are used to evaluate species richness and the occurrence of species assemblages that are subject to the presence and quality of forests. Species richness was found to be generally higher in old grown forests. Some species appeared to be confined to near-natural forests. The denomination of indicator species is impeded by adequate sampling data, …

Population Structure, Genetic Variability, And Gene Flow Of The Bean Leaf Beetle, Cerotoma Trifurcata, In The Midwestern United States, Bamphitlhi Tiroesele, Steven R. Skoda, Thomas E. Hunt, Donald J. Lee, Jaime Molina Ochoa, John E. Foster

Department of Entomology: Faculty Publications

Bean leaf beetle, Cerotoma trifurcata (Forster) (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae), is a common pest of soybean in the Midwest United States. However, there are currently no reports on the genetic variability of C. trifurcata. This study examined 15–30 individuals from 25 sample locations to estimate genetic variability and gene flow within and among C. trifurcata from across the Midwest. Amplified fragment length polymorphism generated 175 markers for analyses. Results from analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) indicated that the majority of genetic variation was from within samples; only a small amount of the total variation was attributed to the variation among the samples. …

A Negative Effect Of A Pathogen On Its Vector? A Plant Pathogen Increases The Vulnerability Of Its Vector To Attack By Natural Enemies, Camila F. De Oliveira, Elizabeth Y. Long, Deborah L. Finke

Department of Entomology: Faculty Publications

Plant pathogens that are dependent on arthropod vectors for transmission from host to host may enhance their own success by promoting vector survival and/or performance. The effect of pathogens on vectors may be direct or indirect, with indirect effects mediated by increases in host quality or reductions in the vulnerability of vectors to natural enemies. We investigated whether the bird cherry-oat aphid Rhopalosiphum padi, a vector of cereal yellow dwarf virus (CYDV) in wheat, experiences a reduction in rates of attack by the parasitoid wasp Aphidius colemani when actively harboring the plant pathogen. We manipulated the vector status of aphids …

Minute Pirate Bug (Orius Insidiosus Say) Populations On Transgenic And Non-Transgenic Maize Using Different Sampling Techniques, Santiago A. Palizada, Bamphitlhi Tiroesele, Difabachew B. Kondidie, Muhammad Irfan Ullah, Fatima Mustafa, Thomas E. Hunt, Pete L. Clark, Jaime Molina-Ochoa, Steven R. Skoda, John E. Foster

Department of Entomology: Faculty Publications

Field experiments were conducted to evaluate the populations of minute pirate bug [Orius insidiosus (Say)] using visual, sticky cards and destructive sampling techniques in transgenic and non-transgenic maize in three locations in Nebraska (Mead, Clay Center. and Concord) United States of America. during 2007 and 2008 . All sampling methods revealed significant counts of O. insidiosus on CP4 EPSPS maize plus an insecticide application for control of first generation O. nubilalis at R2 (blister) sampling period. Similarly, visual observations of O. insidiosus on Cry1Ab x Cry3Bb1 x CP4 EPSPS maize yielded significantly higher mean adult counts at R2 (blister) …

Deltosoma Thomson, 1864 Of French Guiana (Coleoptera, Cerambycidae), Pierre-Henri Dalens, Jean-Louis Giuglaris

Insecta Mundi

Two new species of Deltosoma Thomson, 1864 are described from French Guiana: D. humeralis sp. nov. and D. fernandezi sp. nov. Deltosoma lacordairei Thomson, 1864 is redescribed based on examination of the holotype. A study of the aedeagi of these three species was conducted. Dorsal habitus photographs of both sexes, ventral photographs of males, and aedeagi photographs are provided.

Deux espèces nouvelles de Deltosoma Thomson, 1864 sont décrites de Guyane: D. humeralis sp. nov. et D. fernandezi sp. nov. Deltosoma lacordairei Thomson, 1864 est redécrit d’après l’holotype. Les édéages des trois espèces sont comparés. Des photographies des faces dorsales des …

New Records Of Biting Midges Of The Genus Culicoides Latreille From The Southeastern United States (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae), Stacey L. Vigil, John C. Wlodkowski, Joshua Parris, Suzanne Edwards De Vargas, David Shaw, Christopher Cleveland, William L. Grogan Jr., Joseph L. Corn

Insecta Mundi

We provide new state and county records of biting midges in the genus Culicoides Latreille (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) from the southeastern United States collected with CDC miniature light traps during 2007–2012 in Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Texas. The primary goals of the surveys were to identify the presence of exotic Culicoides, and determine the ranges of known and possible vectors of bluetongue virus (BTV) and epizootic hemorrhagic disease virus (EHDV). Included are the first records of: Culicoides (Amossovia) beckae Wirth and Blanton from Louisiana and Mississippi, C. (A.) oklahomensis Khalaf from Alabama and Arkansas, …

La Tribu Phanaeini (Coleoptera, Scarabaeidae, Scarabaeinae) En El Perú / The Tribe Phanaeini (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae) In Peru, Luis Figueroa, William D. Edmonds, Norberta Martínez Luján

Entomology Papers from Other Sources

La presencia de la tribu Phanaeini (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae) en el Perú fue revisada en base a la colección del Museo de Historia Natural de la Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos (Lima) y literatura especializada. Cada especie es presentada con citas para su diagnosis y datos de distribución y algunos comentarios. En este estudio se registran 30 especies que pertenecen a diez géneros: Coprophanaeus, Dendropaemon, Gromphas, Diabroctis, Oruscatus, Oxysternon, Phanaeus, Sulcophanaeus, Tetramereia y Megatharsis. La especie Oruscatus davus es la única especie distribuida en la parte alta y occidental de …

Characterizing The Maternally Inherited Endosymbionts Of Solitary Bees, Abiya Saeed

Theses and Dissertations--Entomology

Solitary bees are important pollinators of crops, with species in the family Megachilidae (mason bees) being used for orchard pollination. Commercial movement of these bees also moves their microbiota, including bacterial endosymbionts capable of reproductive manipulation. To test for presence of these bacteria, I screened commercially available species of US orchard pollinators and locally captured solitary bees from Kentucky. I also set up mason bee boxes in five apple orchards to examine recruitment of local pollinators. I conducted 454-pyrosequencing to determine bacterial diversity within four species followed by diagnostic PCR of 30 collected species (184 individuals) to determine infection frequency …

Chasing Tachinids ‘Down Under’: Expeditions Of The Phylogeny Of World Tachinidae Project, Part Ii Eastern Australia, James E. O'Hara, Pierfilippo Cerretti, John O. Stireman Iii, Isaac S. Winkler

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Last year we documented in the pages of this newsletter an expedition to the Western Cape of South Africa in search of tachinids for the “Phylogeny of World Tachinidae” project (Cerretti et al. 2013). The project itself was discussed in a separate article (Stireman et al. 2013). In this issue of The Tachinid Times we discuss our expedition to eastern Australia in late 2013. This trip took place so recently that we have yet to fully identify our material and as a result cannot record here all of the taxa we collected. Instead, we will add the taxa to a …

Natural History Notes And New County Records For Ozarkian Millipeds (Arthropoda: Diplododa) From Arkansas, Kansas And Missouri, N. W. Youngsteadt, C. T. Mcallister

Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science

No abstract provided.

Computational Identification And Molecular Verification Of Mirna In Eastern Subterranean Termites (Reticulitermes Flavipes), Tian Yu

Theses and Dissertations--Entomology

Reticulitermes flavipes is one of the most common termite species in the world, and has been an intriguing research model due to its ecological and biological and economic significance. The fundamental biological question addressed by this study is to elucidate the role of miRNAs in termite development and how miRNA can influence labor division. miRNAs are short non-coding RNAs that have an important role in gene regulation at post-transcriptional level, and can potentially be involved in the regulation of caste polyphenism. Using a computational approach, I identified 167 conserved and 33 novel miRNAs in the dataset. miR-iab-4 and 19 other …

The Prevalence And Effect Of Wolbachia Infection On The Brown Widow Spider (Latrodectus Geometricus), Brittany Dane' Arrington

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Wolbachia was recently identified in the Brown Widow Spider (Latrodectus geometricus). This symbiont has not previously been found in this genus, therefore the consequences on the host’s population dynamics are unknown. The frequency of endosymbiont infection can provide insight into the population dynamics of the host as this bacteria is known to alter host life history. In my 1^st chapter I determine the prevalence of Wolbachia pipentis infection in in the Brown Widow Spider (Latrodectus geometricus) from five locations in the Southeastern United States. Infection frequency differed significantly among sampling locations, ranging from 20% to …

The Role Of The Bacterial Endosymbiont, Arsenophonus, In The Soybean Aphid, Aphis Glycines, Jason A. Wulff

Theses and Dissertations--Entomology

Bacterial endosymbionts can have profound impacts on their host’s ecology. Notably, endosymbionts can protect their hosts against natural enemies and influence host plant interactions. The endosymbiont Candidatus Arsenophonus infects a wide taxonomic range of arthropod hosts, and is suspected of an uncharacterized mutualistic role in hemipterous insects. In the soybean aphid, Aphis glycines, an introduced pest of soybeans in the United States, Arsenophonus is the sole facultative endosymbiont. The focus of this dissertation is to characterize the role of Arsenophonus in the aphid, with an overall emphasis on its impact on aphid management strategies.

I first used diagnostic PCR …

Changing Litter Resources Associated With Hemlock Woolly Adelgid Invasion Affect Benthic Communities In Headwater Streams, Christopher J. Strohm

Theses and Dissertations--Entomology

Hemlock woolly adelgid is an invasive herbivore causing extensive mortality of eastern hemlock, an important foundation species that provides stable conditions influencing biological communities. Hemlock is often found in riparian areas and following its decline, broadleaved species, including birch, beech, and rhododendron, will replace it. These plants differ from hemlock in patterns of canopy cover and leaf properties, which influence conditions and resources within streams.

My goal was to evaluate potential impacts of adelgid-induced alterations to riparian canopies and litter on benthic communities and litter breakdown in streams. I characterized benthic invertebrate communities, litter colonization and litter breakdown in streams …

Exploring The Links Between Seasonal Variation And Spider Foraging, Thomas Edward Dantas Whitney

Theses and Dissertations--Entomology

According to optimal foraging theory, generalist predators, such as spiders, are thought to feed indiscriminately on prey according to its availability, especially when food is scarce. In contrast, generalists can display selective feeding decisions under regimes of high prey abundance, but few studies have tracked changes in prey choice on a seasonal basis under open field conditions. Additionally, adaptations to surviving winter have been largely ignored in the research of foraging behavior. To elucidate this, I monitored prey availability and collected common forest-dwelling wolf spiders for molecular gut-content analysis, in parallel for 18 months, to assess the temporal changes occurring …

Assessing And Mitigating Lawn Insecticide Hazards To Bees And Other Beneficial Invertebrates, Jonathan Lane Larson

Theses and Dissertations--Entomology

Turfgrass settings, including lawns, golf courses, and sports fields, support many beneficial invertebrates that provide important ecosystem services. These non-target organisms and their associated predation, decomposition, and pollination services can be disrupted by the use of certain insecticides. I compared the ecotoxicity of representatives from three major turf insecticide groups, the neonicotinoids, premix formulations, and the anthranilic diamides, in lab and field realistic settings in order to inform industry initiatives towards environmental sustainability.

In lab and field bioassays clothianidin, a neonicotinoid, and a premix clothianidin/pyrethroid spray were acutely toxic to beneficial insects. Populations of predators, springtails, and earthworms, as well …

Insecticide Resistance In The Bed Bug, Jennifer R. Gordon

Theses and Dissertations--Entomology

Populations of Cimex lectularius, the bed bug, have resurged around the world posing significant challenges for pest management professionals and causing physical, economic, and emotional strife. Pyrethroid resistance has been found in the vast majority of populations making pest management more difficult. The objectives of my dissertation research were to document the evolution of resistance to pyrethroid and neonicotinoid combination products (called combination products here) and to a neonicotinoid in the laboratory, to record potential fitness costs to resistance to the combination products, and to compare the efficacy of nine insecticides on six populations. In the laboratory, populations of …

Contents, Discovery Editors

Discovery, The Student Journal of Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences

No abstract provided.

Development Of Fad7-1 Single Mutant Arabidopsis Thaliana Plants That Are Resistant To Aphids, Kaleb L. Vaughn, Carlos A. Avila, Carmen S. Padilla-Marcia, Fiona L. Goggin

Discovery, The Student Journal of Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences

Aphids are a group of sap-feeding insects that attack most of the world’s crops. The loss of function of fatty acid desaturase7 (FAD7) in Solanum lycopersicum (tomato plant) induces aphid resistance that is dependent upon the accumulation of plant defense hormones such as salicylic acid (SA). Tomato lacks most of the genetic resources found in the model plant Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana). There is an analogous fad7-1 line of Arabidopsis; however, the line has a background mutation, the glabra-1 (gl1), that causes the absence of trichomes (small hairs), which are essential to plant defense. In order to study aphid resistance, a …

An Insight Into The Microbiome Of The Amblyomma Maculatum(Acari: Ixodidae), Khemraj Budachetri, Rebecca E. Browning, Steven W. Adamson, Scot E. Dowd, Chien-Chung Chao, Wei-Mei Ching, Shahid Karim

Faculty Publications

The aim of this study was to survey the bacterial diversity of Amblyomma maculatum Koch, 1844, and characterize its infection with Rickettsia parkeri. Pyrosequencing of the bacterial 16S rRNA was used to determine the total bacterial population in A. maculatum. Pyrosequencing analysis identified Rickettsia in A. maculatum midguts, salivary glands, and saliva, which indicates successful trafficking in the arthropod vector. The identity of Rickettsia spp. was determined based on sequencing the rickettsial outer membrane protein A (rompA) gene. The sequence homology search revealed the presence of R. parkeri, Rickettsia amblyommii, and Rickettsia endosymbiont of …