Entomology Commons^™

Cockroaches (Blattodea) Of Southern Louisiana: Morphology, Diversity, And Life Histories, Forest Brady Huval

LSU Master's Theses

The state of Louisiana has both temperate and subtropical climates and includes six ecoregions. Two ecoregions in south-central Louisiana were surveyed for members of the order Blattodea to better describe the diversity, life histories, and taxonomy of adult and nymphal cockroaches. Blattodea, excluding the newly included epifamily Termitoidae, is an understudied order of insects in spite of the importance species that are infamous peridomestic pest. The order Blattodea currently contains 9 families comprising of 460 genera. There are approximately 7570 described species 4641 of which are cockroaches and 2929 are termites. Complete information on life histories lacks for the majority …

Effects Of Truck Based Ultra-Low Volume Mosquito Adulticides On Honey Bees (Apis Mellifera) In A Real World Scenario, Vivek Pokhrel

LSU Master's Theses

Honey bees are crucial pollinators for many economically important fruit crops. The recent honey bee colony decline in the United States and other regions of the world has caused concern among commercial beekeepers, research groups, the government, and the general public. The role of pesticides in recent honey bee declines has not been fully determined. In Louisiana, it is a common practice to spray truck based ultra-low volume mosquito adulticides in Integrated Mosquito Management Programs to control mosquitoes and minimize the risk of vector borne viruses such as West Nile, chikungunya, and Zika. This study measured the effects of truck …

Evolutionary Escalation: The Bat–Moth Arms Race, John M. Ratcliffe

Dartmouth Scholarship

Echolocation in bats and high-frequency hearing in their insect prey make bats and insects an ideal system for studying the sensory ecology and neuroethology of predator–prey interactions. Here, we review the evolutionary history of bats and eared insects, focusing on the insect order Lepidoptera, and consider the evidence for antipredator adaptations and predator counter-adaptations. Ears evolved in a remarkable number of body locations across insects, with the original selection pressure for ears differing between groups. Although cause and effect are difficult to determine, correlations between hearing and life history strategies in moths provide evidence for how these two variables influence …

Analysis Of Insect Pest Reports At Lsu Residential Life, Namoona Acharya

LSU Master's Theses

Urban insect pests are adversely affecting student living on campus at LSU. Insect pest reporting was started systematically in 2000 at LSU Residential Life after introducing Maximo database. To analyze the insect pest reports, complaints from students on ants, bed bugs and cockroaches were selected from the database. From the 16-year data set, the growth trend of reports of ants, bed bugs and cockroaches was found to be increasing. The highest reported month and year for ants was September 2004. In August 2008, cockroaches were most reported on. Bed bug reports peaked in October 2009. Based on the reports, the …

Changes In The Proteome Of Langat-Infected Ixodes Scapularis Ise6 Cells: Metabolic Pathways Associated With Flavivirus Infection, Jeffrey M. Grabowski, Rushika Perera, Ali M. Roumani, Victoria E. Hedrick, Halina Dorota Inerowicz, Catherine A. Hill, Richard Kuhn

Department of Entomology Faculty Publications

Background: Ticks (Family Ixodidae) transmit a variety of disease causing agents to humans and animals. The tick-borne flaviviruses (TBFs; family Flaviviridae) are a complex of viruses, many of which cause encephalitis and hemorrhagic fever, and represent global threats to human health and biosecurity. Pathogenesis has been well studied in human and animal disease models. Equivalent analyses of tick-flavivirus interactions are limited and represent an area of study that could reveal novel approaches for TBF control. Methodology/Principal Findings: High resolution LC-MS/MS was used to analyze the proteome of Ixodes scapularis (Lyme disease tick) embryonic ISE6 cells following infection with Langat virus …

Differential Gene Expression In Varroa Jacobsoni Mites Following A Host Shift To European Honey Bees (Apis Mellifera), Gladys K. Andino, Michael R. Gribskov, Denis L. Anderson, Jay D. Evans, Greg Hunt

Department of Entomology Faculty Publications

Background: Varroa mites are widely considered the biggest honey bee health problem worldwide. Until recently, Varroa jacobsoni has been found to live and reproduce only in Asian honey bee (Apis cerana) colonies, while V. destructor successfully reproduces in both A. cerana and A. mellifera colonies. However, we have identified an island population of V. jacobsoni that is highly destructive to A. mellifera, the primary species used for pollination and honey production. The ability of these populations of mites to cross the host species boundary potentially represents an enormous threat to apiculture, and is presumably due to genetic variation that exists …

Metatranscriptome Analysis Reveals Bacterial Symbiont Contributions To Lower Termite Physiology And Potential Immune Functions., Brittany F. Peterson, Michael E. Scharf

Department of Entomology Faculty Publications

Background: Symbioses throughout the animal kingdom are known to extend physiological and ecological capabilities to hosts. Insect-microbe associations are extremely common and are often related to novel niche exploitation, fitness advantages, and even speciation events. These phenomena include expansions in host diet, detoxification of insecticides and toxins, and increased defense against pathogens. However, dissecting the contributions of individual groups of symbionts at the molecular level is often underexplored due to methodological and analytical limitations. Termites are one of the best studied systems for physiological collaborations between host and symbiota however, most work in lower termites (those with bacterial and protist …

Differential Transmission Of Two Isolates Of Wheat Streak Mosaic Virus By Five Wheat Curl Mite Populations, E. N. Wosula, Anthony J. Mcmechan, C. Oliveira-Hofman, Stephen N. Wegulo, G. L. Hein

Department of Entomology: Faculty Publications

Wheat streak mosaic virus (WSMV), type member of the genus Tritimovirus in the family Potyviridae, is an economically important virus causing annual average yield losses of approximately 2 to 3% in winter wheat across the Great Plains. The wheat curl mite (WCM), Aceria tosichella, transmits WSMV along with two other viruses found throughout the Great Plains of the United States. Two common genotypes of WSMV (Sidney 81 and Type) in the United States share 97.6% nucleotide sequence identity but their transmission relationships with the WCM are unknown. The objective of this study was to determine transmission of these …

Pyrosequencing The Midgut Transcriptome Of The Banana Weevil Cosmopolites Sordidus (Germar) (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) Reveals Multiple Protease-Like Transcripts, Arnubio Valencia, Haichuan Wang, Alberto Soto, Manuel Aristizabal, Jorge W. Arboleda, Seong-Il Eyun, Daniel D. Noriega, Blair Siegfried

Department of Entomology: Faculty Publications

The banana weevil Cosmopolites sordidus is an important and serious insect pest in most banana and plantain-growing areas of the world. In spite of the economic importance of this insect pest very little genomic and transcriptomic information exists for this species. In the present study, we characterized the midgut transcriptome of C. sordidus using massive 454-pyrosequencing. We generated over 590,000 sequencing reads that assembled into 30,840 contigs with more than 400 bp, representing a significant expansion of existing sequences available for this insect pest. Among them, 16,427 contigs contained one or more GO terms. In addition, 15,263 contigs were assigned …

Carbon Dioxide Receptor Genes And Their Expression Profile In Diabrotica Virgifera Virgifera, Thais B. Rodrigues, Etsuko N. Moriyama, Hang Wang, Chitvan Khajuria, Blair D. Siegfried

Department of Entomology: Faculty Publications

Background: Diabrotica virgifera virgifera, western corn rootworm, is one of the most devastating species in North America. D. v. virgifera neonates crawl through the soil to locate the roots on which they feed. Carbon dioxide (CO₂) is one of the important volatile cues that attract D. v. virgifera larvae to roots.

Results: In this study, we identified three putative D. v. virgifera gustatory receptor genes (Dvv_Gr1, Dvv_Gr2, and Dvv_Gr3). Phylogenetic analyses confirmed their orthologous relationships with known insect CO₂ receptor genes from Drosophila, mosquitoes, and Tribolium. The phylogenetic reconstruction of insect CO₂ receptor proteins …

Spiders From Multiple Functional Guilds Are Exposed To Bt-Endotoxins In Transgenic Corn Fields Via Prey And Pollen Consumption, Julie A. Peterson, John J. Obrycki, James D. Harwood

Department of Entomology: Faculty Publications

A comprehensive assessment of risk to natural enemies from Bt-endotoxins from bioengineered crops must evaluate potential harm, as well as exposure pathways in non-target arthropod food webs. Despite being abundant generalist predators in agricultural fields, spiders (Araneae) have often been overlooked in the context of Bt crop risk assessment. Spiders and their prey were collected from transgenic corn fields expressing lepidopteran-specific Cry1Ab, coleopteran-specific Cry3Bb1, both proteins, and a non-transgenic near isoline. Spiders and prey were screened for Cry1Ab and Cry3Bb1 using qualitative enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Spiders from the three most common functional guilds, wandering sheet-tangle weavers, orb-weavers, and ground runners, …

Efficacy Of Transport Mikron Against Nuisance Ants When Applied Around Structures, 2015, Sanjay Basnet, Dina Richman, Ralph B. Narain, Shripat T. Kamble

Department of Entomology: Faculty Publications

Ants are nuisance pests around the homes and other structures. Insecticide baits and sprays are commonly used for controlling ants. The research was conducted to determine efficacy of Transport Mikron and Temprid SC against these nuisance ants. The trial was conducted around two buildings on East Campus, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE. A total of 20 experimental plots were established with 3 ft buffer zone between individual plots. The dimension of each experimental plot consists of 20 ft lengthx10 ft width + 3 ft high on foundation wall (260 ft²). Each treatment was replicated four times yielding 1040 …

Natural History Of Javeta Pallida Baly, 1858 On Phoenix Palms In India (Chrysomelidae, Cassidinae, Coelaenomenoderini), Koormath Mohammed Shameem, Kaniyarikkal Divakaran Prathapan, Mannankadiyan Nasser, Caroline Simmrita Chaboo

Department of Entomology: Faculty Publications

Members of the Old World hispine tribe, Coelaenomenoderini, are documented on host plants of Are­caceae, Cyperaceae, and Zingiberales. A few species are renowned pests of oil palm, especially in Africa. The host plants and natural history of Javeta pallida Baly, 1858, the only Indian species of the tribe, is reported for the first time. These beetles can densely infest indigenous wild date palms, Phoenix sylvestris (L.) Roxb. (Arecaceae), and also use the introduced date palm, Phoenix dactylifera L., which is an expand­ing crop in India. Javeta females lay single eggs and cover each with an ootheca. All larval stages mine …

Carbon Dioxide Receptor Genes And Their Expression Profile In Diabrotica Virgifera Virgifera, Thais B. Rodrigues, Estuko N. Moriyama, Hang Wang, Chitvan Khajuria, Blair D. Siegfried

Department of Entomology: Faculty Publications

Background: Diabrotica virgifera virgifera, western corn rootworm, is one of the most devastating species in North America. D. v. virgifera neonates crawl through the soil to locate the roots on which they feed. Carbon dioxide (CO₂) is one of the important volatile cues that attract D. v. virgifera larvae to roots.

Results: In this study, we identified three putative D. v. virgifera gustatory receptor genes (Dvv_Gr1, Dvv_Gr2, and Dvv_Gr3). Phylogenetic analyses confirmed their orthologous relationships with known insect CO₂ receptor genes from Drosophila, mosquitoes, and Tribolium. The phylogenetic reconstruction of insect CO₂ receptor …

Predominantly Left-Dominant Mandibular Chirality In Coleoptera, Mathew L. Brust, W. Wyatt Hoback

Department of Entomology: Faculty Publications

Patterns of mandible chirality have been virtually unexplored in beetles, apart from a single study in 2010. Here we present the mandible chirality trends found in 58 beetle species representing the families Carabidae (52 species), Cerambycidae (three species), and Silphidae (three species) that display overlapping mandibles. Mandible chirality was not random in the groups examined, all of which exhibited a dominant trend towards left-superiority. The degree to which each taxonomic group displayed the left-superior trend differed, with tiger beetles showing the greatest dominance (99%) and longhorned beetles the weakest (71%).

Two New Species Of South American Glaresidae (Coleoptera: Scarabaeoidea), M. J. Paulsen

Department of Entomology: Faculty Publications

Two new species of South American Glaresidae (Coleoptera: Scarabaeoidea) are described: Glaresis smithi Paulsen, new species from Argentina, and Glaresis mondacai Paulsen, new species from Chile and Peru. The species are compared to their closest congener, Glaresis fritzi Martínez et al., and a key is provided for the known South American species of the genus Glaresis Erichson.

Lawrence W. Saylor, Coleopterist Extraordinaire, Brett C. Ratcliffe

Department of Entomology: Faculty Publications

Lawrence Saylor was a preeminent scarab beetle taxonomist during the 1930s and 1940s who produced a large and significant body of taxonomic work in a relatively short period of time. We know very little about him due, in some measure, to the fact that insect taxonomy was a sideline to his many other professional employments. A review of Saylor’s life is provided here based upon new information recently acquired as well as a brief review of his scientific publications.

Intraplant Communication In Maize Contributes To Defense Against Insects, Suresh Varsani, Saumik Basu, W. Paul Williams, Gary W. Felton, Dawn S. Luthe

Department of Entomology: Faculty Publications

The vasculature of plants act as a channel for transport of signal(s) that facilitate long-distance intraplant communication. In maize, Maize insect resistance1-Cysteine Protease (Mir1-CP), which has homology to papain-like proteases, provides defense to different feeding guilds of insect pests. Furthermore, accumulation of Mir1-CP in the vasculature suggests that Mir1-CP can potentially function as a phloemmobile protein. In a recent study, we provided evidence that Mir1-CP can curtail the growth of phloemsap sucking insect, corn leaf aphid (CLA; Rhopalosiphum maidis). Our current study further examined whether aboveground feeding by CLA can induce resistance to subsequent herbivory by belowground feeding western …

The Scarab Collections At The University Of Oslo, Norway (Zmun) And The Institut Royal Des Sciences Naturelles De Belgique, Belgium (Irsnb), Brett C. Ratcliffe

Department of Entomology: Faculty Publications

In January 2016, I traveled to the University of Oslo in Norway to serve as an external examiner for a dissertation defense (on scarabs!) and took the opportunity to study the scarabs in their research collections (Zoological Museum, University of Oslo; ZMUN; http://www.nhm.uio.no/english/). The curator is Vladimir Gusarov (Fig. 1), who is a specialist in Staphylinidae. These collections are of moderate size, and, as you might expect, their holdings are primarily Palearctic and divided into Norwegian and World collections. The specimens are arranged well and housed in modern cabinetry (Fig. 2). Unit trays are employed in the drawers (Fig. 3) …

Land Use In The Northern Great Plains Region Of The U.S. Influences The Survival And Productivity Of Honey Bee Colonies, Matthew D. Smart, Jeff S. Pettis, Ned Euliss, Marla S. Spivak

Department of Entomology: Faculty Publications

The Northern Great Plains region of the US annually hosts a large portion of commercially managed U.S. honey bee colonies each summer. Changing land use patterns over the last several decades have contributed to declines in the availability of bee forage across the region, and the future sustainability of the region to support honey bee colonies is unclear. We examined the influence of varying land use on the survivorship and productivity of honey bee colonies located in six apiaries within the Northern Great Plains state of North Dakota, an area of intensive agriculture and high density of beekeeping operations. Land …