Taxonomic Guide to American Insects

Information on insects as food in Nigeria was collected by reviewing the literature of what scientists have done locally in the country. A list of 22 edible insect species from six orders were compiled. Of these, 77.3% were Lepidoptera (27.3%), Coleoptera (27.3%), Orthoptera (22.7%) and 22.7% Isoptera, Hemiptera and Hymenoptera. These insects are rich in protein, vitamins and minerals. Some anti-nutritional factors are detected from some insects but the contents are below toxic level to man. Edible insects have a wide range of host plants from forest trees to agricultural crops and their consumption stages are available at different periods of the year. They are collected by hand picking, digging of soil and luring into water traps at night. Processing of collected insects could be carried out by boiling, sun drying, frying and roasting methods. To manage insects in the interest of food security, more attention should be given to environmentally sustainable collecting methods. These insects could be made better available throughout the year by developing improved conservation methods or by raising them as a minilivestock. Considering the economic, nutritional and ecological advantages of this traditional food source, its promotion deserves more attention both from national governments and assistance programmes. Key words: Diversity, Nigeria, edible insects, collection, insects as food, conservation.

The rapid growth of knowledge of natural products with biological activities toward pests now provides an option for treatment, a clearer understanding of biochemical mechanisms, and a basis for biorational approaches to the design of pest control agents. Compounds that modify insect behavior are also valuable for pest control because they are normally not toxic to the target insect or to the environment.

Though it is well established that insects are attracted to decomposing vertebrates, little is known about the mechanism of attraction. Olfaction is thought to be the primary sense involved in resource location by necrophilous insects, and several studies have attempted to identify cadaveric-produced volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that contribute to insect attraction. This previous research has been completed almost exclusively in lab settings, with no field studies to verify these findings. The goal of my thesis was to test necrophilous insect attraction to nine cadaveric VOCs (1-butanol, 1-pentanol, <i>p­</i>-xylene, <i>o</i>-xylene, ethanol, cyclohexanone, acetamide, dimethyl disulfide, and dimethyl trisulfide) in a field setting. Pitfall traps at six research locations were baited with the chemicals for one week. Specimens collected from the traps were identified and species assemblages were compared to those of a pig carcass. Replicates were conducted in fall 2018 and spring 2019. Two chemicals were identified as important attractants for a variety of necrophilous insects: dimethyl disulfide and dimethyl trisulfide. These chemicals were especially attractive to <i>Phormia regina</i>, a blow fly (Diptera: Calliphoridae) found worldwide. VOC insect communities did not include all of the insects found on carcasses, possibly indicating the necessity of chemical blends for effective attraction. This study is only the second study to test necrophilous insect attraction in a field setting.

To provide opinions and suggestions for management of Carya cathayensis forests, this research analyzed differences in insect communities using four different management modes:Type Ⅰ-a wild C. cathayensis forest, Type Ⅱ-vegetation planted under a C. cathayensis forest, Type Ⅲ-a traditional C. cathayensis forest, and Type Ⅳ-an organically managed C. cathayensis forest. Methods of collecting insect specimens included Malaise trap, light lure, and quadrat survey. Characteristic indexes of diversity, stability of insect community, principal components, and similarity were calculated and analyzed using Excel 2013 and SPSS 19.0 software. Results showed a total of 22 283 insect specimens being collected belonging to 163 species, 84 families, and 9 orders. Coleoptera and Hymenoptera were dominant groups for species numbers; whereas, Homoptera and Orthoptera were dominant groups for individual numbers. For the entire insect community the best performance was with management Type Ⅰ, the wild C. cathayensis forest, with a diversity index of 3.64 and an evenness index of 0.74. For Type Ⅱ, the diversity index was 3.12, and the evenness index was 0.61; this forest management type had good performance. For the insect communities in Malaise traps, the individual number and species number with Type Ⅱ management were significantly higher than the other management types (P < 0.05). The diversity index and the evenness index for Type Ⅰ and Type Ⅱ management were not significantly different but were significantly higher than other management types (P < 0.05). The dominance index with Type Ⅲ management was significantly higher than other management types (P < 0.05). For community structure, the Sn/Sp ratio for Type Ⅳ management was best with 0.39 meaning that the complexity and mutual restriction ability of the food network in the community was high. The St/Si ratio of the wild C. cathayensis forest was best with 0.04 meaning the mutual restriction of species number was stronger. The principal component analysis showed differences for different management modes. Also the dominant factors for changes in the insect communities were different. A similarity analysis found that when the measure was five, insect community structures were similar for Type Ⅱ and Type Ⅳ management. Overall, the ecological structure of the wild C. cathayensis forest (Type Ⅰ management) was most stable followed by Type Ⅱ, and because inefficient use of a C. cathayensis forest was forbidden in the actual production process, the management mode of vegetation planted under a C. cathayensis forest (Type Ⅱ) was recommended for farmers.

Leaf-compression fossils with insect feeding traces are unique in providing rich, direct evidence of two levels in a fossil food web. Plant-insect associations dominate terrestrial trophic interactions, emphasizing the need to understand their ecological and evolutionary history. This paper first discusses methods of recognizing insect herbivore damage on fossil leaves and quantifying fossil insect herbivory. By conducting an unbiased insect damage census, damage frequency (percent of leaves with insect feeding damage), percent of leaf surface area removed by insects, and damage diversity (the number of discrete damage morphotypes, or DTs, found on a fossil flora or individual host plant) can all be measured. Three examples of responses of past plant-insect trophic interactions to environmental stresses are examined. In the first case study, late Oligocene fossil floras from Ethiopia document forest response to local perturbation and key characteristics to recognize disturbance in the plant fossil record. The second case study considers the terrestrial ecosystem response to the catastrophic global perturbation at the Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary. In the third case study, the impact of past global warming events—including the Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum—on insect herbivory is discussed. Productive avenues for further research include: insect damage studies conducted outside the North American Cretaceous and Paleogene, actualistic and taphonomic studies of insect herbivory, and tighter collaboration across paleobotany, paleoentomology, botany, and entomology.

Measuring pollen deposition onto stigmas by insects is one technique used to assess pollinator effectiveness but it can be unpredictable and timeconsuming as insects must visit test flowers This study examined whether a measurement of pollen grains from flowervisiting insects could be used to predict pollen deposited on stigmas Individuals were collected from four bee and six fly species as they visited pak choi flowers in commercial and trial seed fields to assess their body pollen Pollen was removed from insects by pressing their bodies (excluding activelycollected pollen on bees hind legs) with a cube of gelatinefuchsin In this study there appears to be a strong correlation between mean estimated pollen counts for each insect species and previously published data recording mean number of pollen grains deposited on stigmas for the same species Therefore the measurement of pollen grains directly from flowervisiting insects shows potential as a quicker and easier technique to assess pollinator effectiveness as insects can be directly collected from flowers

The use of insecticides at sub-lethal dosage may induce insect resurgence. Factors contributing the insect resurgence include mortality of natural enemies, mass migration, improvement in plant nutrition, or increase in insect reproductive capacity which works individually or in combinations. This article provides a comprehensive review from recent publications, particularly those dealing with the impact of insecticide applications on plant nutrition and insect reproduction, and function to upgrade our knowledge since most publications in Indonesia were made in the 1980s. The insecticides together with its metabolites and conjugates could function as plant growth regulators, increase absorption, improve the nutritional content, influence the biochemical and ultrastructural aspects of the plant, or protect the plant from stresses. An increase in the nutritional value of the plant would increase feeding rate, fecundity, and longevity of the insects. Furthermore, insecticides could also directly stimulate the reproductive capacity of the insect. All of these impacts might end up in increasing the population of insect after application of certain insecticides. Research findings related to the elucidation on the mechanism underlying the phenomenon of resurgence could be used in considering the registration of new insecticides or extension of the existing insecticides.

The objective of this research was to determine the effectiveness of color and height variation of sticky trap with methyl eugenol on Insect visitting of flowers and other insect on apple water tree in Demak. Sampling of insects was conducting in one of apple water field in Demak using sticky trap with methyl eugenol attractant . There were three different colors of sticky trap and two height variation of trap placement were used. The data was analysed using descriptive analysis. Parameters observed included the number of fruit flies in each color, height of sticky trap, and the family of insects. The results showed that the insects found consist of 5 orders and 21 families. (Diptera, Hymenoptera, and Coleoptera, Lepidoptera, and Homoptera). . Most families are found in the order Diptera (8 families), Hymenoptera (6 families), Coleoptera (3 families), and Homoptera (4 families). The Diptera family consists of Tephritidae, Culicidae, Agromyzidae, Muscidae, Asillidae, Mycetophyllide, Drosophyllidae, Bombyllidae. The conclusion of this research is that the control of inseks visitting by using bright color sticky trap (yellow and white) with methyl eugenol attractant can be used as a trap of insect vistting of Diptera and other insects in the largest number of families

SUMMARY Beneficial insects such as honeybees and silkworms are threatened by numerous pests, parasites and pathogens. However, pest insects as m uch as beneficial species also often acquire infectious diseases, which can potentially be used for pest control. To take advantage of pathogens infecting pest species, detailed knowl edge of the immune system of pest insects is necessary. Here, the immune gene Down syndrome cell adhesion molecule (Dscam) is studied in Australian bulldog and jumper ants, whos e venom can cause a fatal anaphylactic shock in humans. In insects, Dscam shows extraordinary genetic diversity through alternative splicing. More than 12000 alternative splice varian ts are estimated being transcribed in the Western honeybee. To understand better the function and evolution of Dscam, one of the four variable exon cassettes was sequenced from six Myrmecia ant species. Using a comparative codon-based model, the results do not indicate any evidence of adaptive evolution in the analysed data set. Corroborating previous studies, the comparison of Dscam in ants and other insects including the Western honeybee and silkworms demonstrates high similarity of this gene across insect orders and suggests a conserved function of this gene.

This proposal aims to estimate the incidence of fish meal basis diet into the total farm cost structure and how the weight can change considering different hypotheses related to introduction of insect meal into the diet. Hypotheses were proposed on the basis of increasing levels of insect meal into the diet and different prices for purchasing this meal. Economic effects were simulated according to some empirical trials carried out into the scientific literature and were applied to the European sea bass farming. A case study approach on a specialized off-shore sea bass farm in Italy was proposed. It is a small-scale farm that solely produce for local and domestic market. Findings suggest that feeding cost amounts to about 63% of the total farm cost. Possible introduction of insect meal – specifically composed by Tenebrio molitor basis – would force farmers to increase feeding cost. As it stands today, higher environmental sustainability expected by inclusion of insect meal would not be gone with more economic convenience. However technological development, higher competition into the insect meal industry, increase of production scale, and adoption of strategies aimed to weaken bargaining power between fish farmers and meal suppliers could generate a price decrease.

Pecan is an important nut in US, however, the inner insect influences pecan's quality a lot. To realize the nondestructive detection of insect damage in American pecans rapidly and efficiently, preliminary research on insect damage detection in pecans was conducted based on terahertz spectroscopy. Firstly, a set of native pecan nuts were collected and were manually sliced with a thickness of about 1, 2 and 3 mm and with a size of about 2 cm(length) X 1 cm(width) for every pecan nutmeat; Pecan shell and inner separator were also cut into the same size. Secondly, the absorption spectra of the nutmeat slices, shell, and inner separator were collected using THz time-domain spectroscopy (THz-TDS) developed by a group of researchers at Oklahoma State University, and the spectral characteristic of the slices was analyzed. Thirdly, the absorption spectra of the alive manduca sexta and dry pecan weevil were collected, and due to the high contents in the insects, very obvious spectral characteristics were found. Finally, the transmission experiment was conducted with the whole pecans. The results from the preliminary study show a potential application of THz technology for insect damage detection. This research provides a reference for further understanding terahertz and exploring sample preparation methods, test methods, data acquisition and optical parameters calculation methods, and developing nondestructive detection system for insect damage in American pecans based on terahertz technology.

RNA Interference is a technique, known as “gene silencing”, which is used to suppress the expression of the specific genes. Important studies in plant protection have been conducted through RNAi method. In addition to the high cost, insecticides have a negative impact on the environment and upon humans, as well as killing non-target insects, whilst resistance has developed to various types of insecticides. Thus alternative pest management strategies are needed to diminish reliance on insecticides. RNAi mediated gene silencing in insects targets specific genes in order to reduce insect populations and to avoid insect damage. In this review, we give a brief introduction to the discovery of RNAi, describe its molecular mechanisms and the current methods for RNAi delivery as well as the factors affecting successful RNAi applications are discussed. Furthermore the current studies of RNAi-based experiments in insects and the applications of RNAi for species-specific insecticides were reviewed.

Cycad Aulacaspis Scale (CAS), Aulacaspis yasumatsui Takagi (Hemiptera: Diaspididae) is a scale insect pest known worldwide to be devastating to cycads. Three families of cycads are known to be vulnerable to this insect pest however those within the family Cycadaceae are most susceptible. CAS has the ability to kill its host within a period of less than a year without any control measure. Morphological characteristics of this insect reveal sexual dimorphism in that the female is neotenic while the male undergoes four distinct stages namely egg, larva, pupa and adult. Sexual reproduction is typical of this insect with the sex ratio being favored towards the male in the ratio of 2:1. The results for distance of crawlers settling spots test from a point of release indicated that in average they settled within 5.4cm. The longest distance was 13cm and the shortest being 0.2cm. This indicated that crawlers do not normally wander off far from their birth place. The life table was initially studied at five constant temperatures viz; 15, 20, 25, 28 and 30oC however, the lowest temperature of 15oC proved to be unsuitable for this insect due to high mortality. The results showed that 66% of the total number of eggs incubated failed to hatch while only 17% of those hatched could survive. The development times of the different stages of A. yasumatsui in the four temperatures tested exhibited the same trend of decreasing with increasing temperature. In contrast, the development times for crawlers increased as temperature increased. The reason could be related to the fact that they are less active in low temperature conditions. The reproduction parameters indicated that at 28oC, the pre-oviposition period was the shortest with the mean of 21.5±14.2 days, oviposition duration was the longest with the mean of 43.1±16.5 days and the number of eggs produced per female was the highest with the mean of 104.0±76.0. In addition, the population parameters reveal that at the same temperature, the mean generation time (T) is comparatively low with 54.0, the net reproductive rate (Ro) is the highest with 176.0, the intrinsic rate of increase (r) is 0.114 and the finite rate of increase () is 1.12. Therefore, based on these results it was confirmed that among the four different temperatures tested 28oC is most suitable for the development and reproduction of this insect.

Many of the insects spend most or part of their life cycles in environments conducive to nematode growth and reproduction. In fact, the insect itself represents a potential food and shelter resource for nematodes. Also, nematodes have limited powers of dispersion relative to their insect hosts. Those that develop associations with insects stand to benefit from more predictable resource availability and accompanying dispersal mechanism. In this study, the relationship types between nematodes and insects are reviewed.

Tomatoes are a very popular fruit grown throughout the world. Unfortunately, a large and diverse group of insects are also fond of tomatoes. These insects have a remarkable array of feeding behaviors that result in a loss of fruit production. In every stage of growth and on every part of the plant, insects and related arthropods can cause damage. In this entry, the life histories of key groups of insects are presented along with the damage they cause. Control strategies such as cultural techniques, biological control, and chemical control are discussed. BACKGROUND Tomatoes (Lycopersicon esculentum) are among the most popular of all fruits. Although originating in South America, the tomato is now grown worldwide. In 2008, nearly 130 million metric tons of tomatoes were sold commercially by the top five producing countries (China, the United States, Turkey, India, and Italy). Production of this common fruit in personal gardens has not been estimated, but is likely to add substantially to the total. Unfortunately, the tomato is also attractive to a remarkably wide range of arthropod pests. Early reports suggested that between 100 and 200 insect species can be found attacking tomatoes. [1] These pests can be categorized in many ways, but I have chosen to separate them into guilds, which are