Entomology Commons^™

Insects Associated With Sweetpotato, Ipomoea Batatas (L.), In Mississippi, J. T. Reed, D. E. Fleming, T. L. Schiefer, D. Bao, C. S. Jackson

Midsouth Entomologist

Seventy-two species or genera of insects collected from or observed in commercial sweetpotato (Ipomoea batatas [L.]) fields or research plots during a five-year period are listed. Twenty-two species are known to damage sweetpotato storage roots, 13 species are recognized as serious pests of sweetpotato, and 43 species have the potential for feeding on sweetpotato foliage. The primary root-damaging pests are beetles (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae, Brentidae, Curculionidae, Elateridae and Scarabeidae), and noctuid moth larvae (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae). Other insects from the orders Hemiptera (8 species), Lepidoptera (9 species), Orthoptera (1 species), and Thysanoptera (3 species) are listed. Thrips, aphids, and several beetle species …

Examination Of The Internal Morphology Of The Ixodid Tick, Amblyomma Maculatum Koch, (Acari: Ixodidae); A “How-To” Pictorial Dissection Guide, K. T. Edward, J. Goddard, A. S. Varela-Stokes

Midsouth Entomologist

There is inadequate documentation of how to dissect ticks, a process required for many tick and disease studies. While the literature may contain numerous line drawings and instructions describing the process, none is adequate for the novice tick dissector. We present a “how-to” description and pictorial essay outlining our approach to tick dissection. The ticks used in this study were adult male and female Gulf Coast ticks, Amblyomma maculatum Koch, though the methods described herein could be applied to any species. None of the A. maculatum specimens we dissected adequately demonstrated ovaries, so we used one female A. americanum L.tick …

Eastern Subterranean Termite (Reticulitermes Flavipes) Found Damaging Sweetpotato (Ipomoea Batatas) In Mississippi, D. E. Fleming

Midsouth Entomologist

No abstract provided.

Remembrances Of Boll Weevil Research: Identification Of The Boll Weevil Feeding Stimulant, G. Mckibben

Midsouth Entomologist

No abstract provided.

Experimental And Natural Variation In Hovering Flight Capacity In Bees, Hymenoptera: Apidae, Jason Thomas Vance

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

In honey bees, the capacity for flight underlies many behaviors which impact fitness and longevity, such as the ability to forage or evade predators. However, flight capacity is not fixed across bees' lifespan, which is punctuated by a suite of physiological changes that accompany age and the transition from in-hive to foraging behaviors; thus, flight capacity may vary during periods of development, senescence, or in response to morphological damage such as wing wear. This dissertation describes the biomechanics and aerodynamics which contribute to the scope of honey bee flight performance, and investigates how age, behavioral development, and wing-wear affects flight …

Survivorship, Tunneling And Feeding Behaviors Of Formosan Subterranean Termite (Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae) In Response To Trans-Caryophyllene, Qiaoling Qi

LSU Master's Theses

The Formosan subterranean termite, Coptotermes formosanus Shiraki, an invasive species from southern China, is one of the most destructive wood pests in the United States. Presently, termites are managed through chemical control. However, some synthetic chemicals cause serious environmental problems due to their persistence and toxicity. There is growing interest in using natural compounds with low toxicity to mammals to control termites. Trans-caryophyllene is a component of essential oil found in many flowering plants. It is especially abundant in clove oil. It has also been found to be released from the roots of maize damaged by insects. I investigated caryophyllene …

Categorization And Indentification Of Mechanisms Of Sugarcane Resistance To The Sugarcane Aphid (Hemiptera: Aphididae), Waseem Akbar

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Sugarcane in Louisiana is colonized and sometimes heavily infested by two aphid species, the sugarcane aphid, Melanaphis sacchari (Zehntner), and the yellow sugarcane aphid,Sipha flava(Forbes). Melanaphis sacchari, the main vector of sugarcane yellow leaf virus, is distributed throughout Louisiana’s sugarcane-growing regions. Five cultivars representing 90% of the commercial acreage in Louisiana (LCP 85-384, HoCP 91-555, Ho 95-988, HoCP 96-540,L 97-128) were evaluated for resistance to aphids in the greenhouse. Antibiosis was the primary category of resistance to both aphid species. Based on the intrinsic rate of natural increase, L 97-128 and HoCP 91-555 were comparatively susceptible and resistant cultivars, respectively. …

Biology And Management Of The Bed Bug, Cimex Lectularius L. (Heteroptera: Cimicidae), Alvaro Romero

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

The near absence of bed bugs from human dwellings for fifty or more years has left us with limited knowledge of its biology and few answers to eliminate populations. I explored a diverse set of objectives to answer key questions concerning bed bug biology and control. Major objectives were studies of circadian rhythmicity, pyrethroid resistance, sublethal effects of insecticides, synergism of pyrethroids, and evaluation of a pyrrole insecticides, chlorfenapyr. Additional studies included persistence of Borrelia in bed bugs after ingestion, and aggregation factors from feces.

In the absence of host stimuli, insects were much more active in the dark than …

Effects Of Acephate On The Distribution Of Tarnished Plant Bugs Within The Cotton Plant Profile, Kyle Andrew Fontenot

LSU Master's Theses

The tarnished plant bug, Lygus lineolaris (Palisot de Beauvois), is a primary pest of cotton in the mid-southern United States. Chemical control strategies are the primary integrated pest management tool used to manage this pest in cotton. A better understanding of tarnished plant bug behavior and distribution on cotton plants is needed to improve the scouting and monitoring protocols used to estimate population and crop injury levels needed to initiate treatments. This pest frequently re-infests fields after insecticide treatments. Sampling protocols should consider the sub-lethal effects of insecticides on migrating populations or on survivors that remain on insecticide-treated plants. Studies …

New Distributional Records Of Ants In Arkansas For 2008, David M. General, Lynne C. Thompson

Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science

No abstract provided.

The Discovery And Pursuit Of American Boutonneuse Fever: A New Spotted Fever Group Rickettsiosis', J. Goddard, A. Varela-Stokes

Midsouth Entomologist

There is a new tick-borne disease similar to Rocky Mountain spotted fever (RMSF) that was recently described from the southern United States. Cases of the disease are a subset of reported RMSF cases and therefore constitute a “disease within a disease.” The causative agent of this RMSF-like disease, however, is Rickettsia parkeri as opposed to R. rickettsii, the pathogen causing RMSF. Both organisms are in the spotted fever group (SFG) of rickettsiae, cross-react in laboratory tests used to diagnose RMSF, and therefore are difficult to differentiate serologically. The new malady has been tentatively named “American Boutonneuse Fever” (ABF) based on …

Comparison Of Cotton Damage From Tarnished Plant Bug (Hemiptera: Miridae) And Southern Green Stink Bug (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) Adults And Nymphs, F. R. Musser, K. S. Knighten, J. T. Reed

Midsouth Entomologist

Tarnished plant bugs (Hemiptera: Miridae) and southern green stink bugs (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) infest cotton and cause similar symptoms. To increase our understanding of the feeding preferences of these insects so that thresholds and management strategies for these species can be improved, southern green stink bug and tarnished plant bug adults and nymphs were caged on cotton plants containing both squares and bolls. At harvest, bolls were analyzed for lint yield and quality in relation to their position on the plant when infested. The five nodes immediately below the infested flower node (small bolls when infested) had fewer undamaged bolls on …

Evaluation Of Pre-Plant And Lay-By Soil-Incorporated Insecticides For Control Of Sweetpotato Pests, J. T. Reed, D. Bao, C. S. Jackson, D. Cook

Midsouth Entomologist

Pre-plant-incorporated and lay-by incorporated insecticides were evaluated for efficacy against foliage- and root-feeding insect pests of sweetpotato in a field in Calhoun Co., MS.

Diversity And Abundance Of Insects From The Reduviidae And Pentatomidae Families In Three Ecological Niches Of Six Communities In The Coroico And Coripata Municipalities, Department Of La Paz, Fernando Miguel Manrique Mamani

Theses and Dissertations

The Hemiptera order has 23,000 species that are distributed among many families. Two of these are the Pentatomidae and Reduviidae families. The aim of this study was to identify the different species of insects from the Reduviidae and Pentatomidae families as well as each species’ abundance in three ecological niches (forest, forest edge, and farm land). The study was conducted in six communities of Los Yungas, La Paz (Carmen Pampa, San Pablo, San Juan de la Miel, Altuspata, Choro Alto, and Choro). In each community, three Malaise traps were installed in the three ecological niches (forest, forest edge, and farm …

Registration Of ‘Mace’ Hard Red Winter Wheat, Robert A. Graybosch, C. J. Peterson, P. Stephen Baenziger, David D. Baltensperger, Lenis Alton Nelson, Y. Jin, J. Kolmer, B. Seabourn, Roy C. French, Gary L. Hein, T. J. Martin, B. Beecher, T. Schwarzacher, P. Heslop-Harrison

Department of Entomology: Faculty Publications

‘Mace’ (Reg. No. CV-1027, PI 651043) hard red winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) was developed by the USDA-ARS and the Nebraska Agricultural Experiment Station and released in December 2007. Mace was selected from the cross Yuma//PI 372129/3/CO850034/4/4*Yuma/5/(KS91H184/Arlin S//KS91HW29/3/NE89526). Mace primarily was released for its resistance to Wheat streak mosaic virus (WSMV) and adaptation to rainfed and irrigated wheat production systems in Nebraska and adjacent areas in the northern Great Plains. Mace was derived from a head selection made from a heterogeneous, in terms of field resistance to WSMV, F5 line. Resistance to WSMV is conditioned by the Wsm-1 gene, …

Genes, Gene Flow And Adaptation Of Diabrotica Virgifera Virgifera, Nicholas J. Miller, Thomas Guillemaud, Rosanna Giordano, Blair D. Siegfried, Michael Gray, Lance J. Meinke, Thomas Sappington

Department of Entomology: Faculty Publications

1 Diabrotica virgifera virgifera has emerged as a major pest of cultivated maize, due to a combination of its high capacity to inflict economic damage, adaptability to pest management techniques and invasiveness.

2 This review presents a survey of the current state of knowledge about the genetics Of D. v. virgifera . In addition, the tools and resources currently available to Diabrotica geneticists are identified, as are areas where knowledge is lacking and research should be prioritized.

3 A substantial amount of information has been published concerning the molecular phylogenetic relationships of D. v. virgifera to other chrysomelids.

4 There …

Gene Expression Profiling Of Tolerant Barley In Response To Diuraphis Noxia (Hemiptera: Aphididae) Feeding, A. Gutsche, Tiffany Heng-Moss, Gautam Sarath, P. Twigg, Y. Xia, G. Lu, D. Mornhinweg

Department of Entomology: Faculty Publications

Aphids are, arguably, the single most damaging group of agricultural insect pests throughout the world. Plant tolerance, which is a plant response to an insect pest, is viewed as an excellent management strategy. Developing testable hypotheses based on genome-wide and more focused methods will help in understanding the molecular underpinnings of plant tolerance to aphid herbivory. As a first step in this process, we undertook transcript profiling with Affymetrix GeneChip Barley Genome arrays using RNA extracted from tissues of tolerant and susceptible genotypes collected at three hours, three days and six days after Diuraphis noxia introduction. Acquired data were compared …

Adaptation And Invasiveness Of Western Corn Rootworm: Intensifying Research On A Worsening Pest, Michael E. Gray, Thomas W. Sappington, Nicholas Miller, Joachim Moeser, Martin O. Bohn

Department of Entomology: Faculty Publications

The western corn rootworm, Diabrotica virgifera virgifera LeConte, is an established insect pest of maize (Zea mays L.) in North America. The rotation of maize with another crop, principally soybeans, Glycine max (L.), was the primary management strategy utilized by North American producers and remained highly effective until the mid-1990s. In 1995, widespread and severe root injury occurred in east-central Illinois and northern Indiana maize fields that had been annually rotated with soybeans on a regular basis for several decades. The failure of this cultural tactic from a pest management perspective was attributed to a behavioral adaptation by a …

Expressed Sequence Tags From Larval Gut Of The European Corn Borer (Ostrinia Nubilalis): Exploring Candidate Genes Potentially Involved In Bacillus Thuringiensis Toxicity And Resistance, Chitvan Khajuria, Yu Cheng Zhu, Ming-Shun Chen, Lawrent L. Buschman, Randall A. Higgins, Jianxiu Yao, Andre Lb Crespo, Blair D. Siegfried, Subbaratnam Muthukrishnan, Kun Yan Zhu

Department of Entomology: Faculty Publications

Background: Lepidoptera represents more than 160,000 insect species which include some of the most devastating pests of crops, forests, and stored products. However, the genomic information on lepidopteran insects is very limited. Only a few studies have focused on developing expressed sequence tag (EST) libraries from the guts of lepidopteran larvae. Knowledge of the genes that are expressed in the insect gut are crucial for understanding basic physiology of food digestion, their interactions with Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) toxins, and for discovering new targets for novel toxins for use in pest management. This study analyzed the ESTs generated from the larval …

Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism Used For Inter- And Intraspecific Differentiation Of Screwworms (Diptera: Calliphoridae), L. Alamalakala, Steven R. Skoda, John E. Foster

Department of Entomology: Faculty Publications

Morphologically, early immature stages of the economically important pest called screwworms, Cochliomyia hominivorax (Coquerel) (Diptera: Calliphoridae), and non-pest secondary screwworms, Cochliomyia macellaria (Fabricius) (Diptera: Calliphoridae), are nearly indistinguishable. Correct identification is crucial to the ongoing eradication and exclusion program protecting the United States, Mexico and Central America from reinvasion of screwworms persistent in South America and the Caribbean. Amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) polymerase chain reaction was used to differentiate populations of C. hominivorax and to discriminate them from C. macellaria. Ten primer pairs screened for interspecific discrimination of C. hominivorax from C. macellaria showed 52 discrete bands, allowing …

Efficacy And Safety Of Catnip (Nepeta Cataria) As A Novel Filth Fly Repellent, J. J. Zhu, X.-P. Zeng, D. Berkebile, H.-J. Du, Y. Tong, K. Qian

United States Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service / University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Faculty Publications

Catnip (Nepeta cataria) is known for its pseudo-narcotic effects on cats. Recently, it has been reported as an effective mosquito repellent against several Aedes and Culex species, both topically and spatially. Our laboratory bioassays showed that catnip essential oil (at a dosage of 20 mg) resulted in average repellency rates of 96% against stable flies, Stomoxys calcitrans (L.) and 79% against houseflies, Musca domestica (L.), respectively. This finding suggested that the application of repellent could be used as part of filth fly management. Further evaluations of catnip oil toxicity were conducted to provide a broad-spectrum safety profile of …

A Comparison Of Development Times For Protophormia Terraenovae (R-D) Reared On Different Food Substrates, J.-A. Warren, G. S. Anderson

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Experiments were conducted to determine whether a specific larval substrate impacted immature development rates. Protophormia terraenovae was raised on beef organs and compared with whole carcasses (rat), to determine if discrepancies in development times were observed. The minimum development time on beef liver was the most consistent with the rat carcass but a significant difference between all substrates was found after the third instar. These differences can be explained by the differences found between heart and muscle and the other substrates. Often length of the larvae is used to estimate insect age and so Day 2 measuring of weight, length, …

Evaluation Of Three Selected Insecticides Applied By Airplane To Large Fields Of Soybeans, G. L. Andrews

Midsouth Entomologist

Several insecticides were evaluated for control, duration of control, and rebound of pest species at Money, Mississippi on soybeans.

Collection Of Moodna Bisinuella (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) From Field Corn In Mississippi, M. Willrich Siebert, R. L. Brown

Midsouth Entomologist

Observation of Moodna bisinuella Hampson in Mississippi was based on specimens collected near Greenville (Washington Co.), Mississippi during August 2008. Larvae were collected from ears of field corn, Zea mays L., reared to adults, and identified by using characters observed from the dissection of the male genitalia. Little information is available to describe larval ecology, injury to field corn, available control measures, or distribution across Mississippi.

Lyophilization Of Spodoptera Frugiperda (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) Larvae Yields High-Quality Dna For Use In Aflp Genetic Studies, Pete L. Clark, David J. Isenhour, Steven R. Skoda, Jaime Molina-Ochoa, Claudia Gianni, John E. Foster

Department of Entomology: Faculty Publications

Agricultural research in the 21st century has become a collaborative effort. Research on crop pests like Spodoptera frugiperda (J.E. Smith), commonly known as the fall armyworm (FAW), can involve international collaboration because it is a pest not only in the southern United States, but also in Latin and South America. Our interest to study the genetic variation of 24 subpopulations of FAW from the southern United States, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Brazil and Argentina required insect collection procedures that preserve the integrity of DNA for molecular genetic analysis. The samples were collected primarily from maize (Zea mays L.), but also …

Video-Tracking And On-Plant Tests Show Cry1ab Resistance Influences Behavior And Survival Of Neonate Ostrinia Nubilalis Following Exposure To Bt Maize, Jarrad R. Prasifka, Richard L. Hellmich, Andre L. B. Crespo, Blair Siegfried, David W. Onstad

Department of Entomology: Faculty Publications

To examine how resistance to Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) toxins influences movement and survival of European corn borer (Ostrinia nubilalis [Hübner]) neonates, the responses of Cry1Ab-resistant , -susceptible, and hybrid (F1) larvae were examined using two different techniques. First, using an automated videotracking system, aspects of O. nubilalis movement were quantified in the presence of artificial diet incorporating 50% non-Bt or insect-resistant Cry1Ab maize tissue. Second, O. nubilalis dispersal and survival were measured 48–72 h after hatching on a Cry1Ab maize plant surrounded by two non-Bt maize plants. Video tracking indicated the presence of Cry1Ab tissue increased the total distance …

Oxalic Acid: A Prospective Tool For Reducing Varroa Mite Populations In Package Bees, Nicholas P. Aliano, Marion D. Ellis

Department of Entomology: Faculty Publications

Abstract   Numerous studies have investigated using oxalic acid (OA) to control Varroa mites in honey bee colonies. In contrast, techniques for treating package bees with OA have not been investigated. The goal of this study was to develop a protocol for using OA to reduce mite infestation in package bees. We made 97 mini packages of Varroa-infested adult bees. Each package contained 1,613 ± 18 bees and 92 ± 3 mites, and represented an experimental unit. We prepared a 2.8% solution of OA by mixing 35 g OA with 1 l of sugar water (sugar:water = 1:1; w:w). Eight treatments …

Degree-Day Requirements For Eight Economically Important Grasshoppers (Orthoptera: Acrididae) In Nebraska Using Field Data, Mathew L. Brust, William Wyatt Hoback, Robert J. Wright

Department of Entomology: Faculty Publications

The timing of application for the management of rangeland grasshoppers (Orthoptera: Acrididae) is critical, especially as insecticides become more specialized and the use of Insect Growth Regulators becomes more widespread. The general seasonal occurrence of adults of many grasshopper species has been well documented; however, their appearance varies widely between years. We analyzed sweep samples collected over the western two thirds of Nebraska from a 3-yr period and noted the occurrence of adults by region for eight species of rangeland grasshoppers. We analyzed occurrence based on degree-day accumulations for the region and developed estimates of degree-day requirements for these species. …

Western Corn Rootworm ( Diabrotica Virgifera Virgifera Leconte) Population Dynamics, Lance Meinke, Thomas W. Sappington, David W. Onstad, Thomas Guillemaud, Nicholas Miller, Judit Komáromi, Nora Levay, Lorenzo Furlan, József Kiss, Ferenc Toth

Department of Entomology: Faculty Publications

1 The western corn rootworm Diabrotica virgifera virgifera LeConte is a major insect pest of field maize, Zea mays L. Larvae can cause substantial injury by feeding on maize roots. Larval feeding may destroy individual roots or root nodes, and reduce plant growth, stability, and yield. Costs associated with managing corn rootworms in continuous maize are annually one of the largest expenditures for insect management in the United States Corn Belt.

2 Even though D. virgifera virgifera has been studied intensively for over 50 years, there is renewed interest in the biology, ecology, and genetics of this species because of …

Mitochondrial Dna Variation And Range Expansion In Western Bean Cutworm (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae): No Evidence For A Recent Population Bottleneck, Nicholas Miller, David L. Dorhout, Marlin E. Rice, Thomas W. Sappington

Department of Entomology: Faculty Publications

The western bean cutworm, Striacosta albicosta (Smith) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae), is a pest of both corn and dry bean crops. At the beginning of the 21st century, the species began to extend its range out of the Great Plains, eastward through the Corn Belt. This rapid range expansion is remarkable because the species distribution had been stable for at least the previous half century, despite the apparent abundance of suitable habitat (i.e., cornfields) immediately to the east. We hypothesized that if the western bean cutworm had to overcome a stable barrier to movement before starting the current range expansion, it probably …