Long-term storage is an important component of insect mass-rearing systems, prolonging the shelf life of biocontrol agents during a low-demand period or a temporary lack of suitable food. is a predatory heteropteran, mass-reared and widely used for the biological control of arthropod pests in greenhouses. With the aim to determine the optimal conditions and acceptable duration of cold storage, we evaluated the impact of different periods of storage of fed and starved third instar nymphs of at different temperatures on nymphal survival, adult emergence, and female fecundity.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBiological invasions pose a rapidly expanding threat to the persistence, functioning and service provisioning of ecosystems globally, and to socio-economic interests. The stages of successful invasions are driven by the same mechanism that underlies adaptive changes across species in general-via natural selection on intraspecific variation in traits that influence survival and reproductive performance (i.e.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFStandardised terminology in science is important for clarity of interpretation and communication. In invasion science - a dynamic and rapidly evolving discipline - the proliferation of technical terminology has lacked a standardised framework for its development. The result is a convoluted and inconsistent usage of terminology, with various discrepancies in descriptions of damage and interventions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe Siberian moth, Tschetv., 1908 (Lepidoptera: Lasiocampidae) is a conifer pest that causes unprecedented forest mortality in Northern Asia, leading to enormous ecological and economic losses. This is the first study summarizing data on the parasitoid diversity and parasitism of this pest over the last 118 years (1905-2022).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInsects
April 2023
The ability to rapidly adapt to new environmental conditions is a crucial prerequisite for the wide-scale invasion of pests or intentional introduction of beneficial insects. A photoperiodically induced facultative winter diapause is an important adaptation ensuring synchronization of insect development and reproduction with the local seasonal dynamics of environmental factors. We conducted a laboratory study aimed to compare photoperiodic responses of two invasive Caucasian populations of the brown marmorated stink bug (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Pentatomidae), which recently invaded neighboring regions with subtropical (Sukhum, Abkhazia) and temperate (Abinsk, Russia) climates.
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January 2023
Based on the intensive monitoring conducted by our team and volunteers in 2021, the secondary range of an alien horse-chestnut leaf miner, Deschka & Dimić, 1986 (Lepidoptera: Gracillariidae), was specified in European Russia. This invasive pest was confirmed in 24 out of 58 administrative regions of Russia, which it has occupied for approximately 16 years. Analysis of the COI mtDNA gene sequenced in 201 specimens collected in 21 regions of the European part of Russia indicates the occurrence of two haplotypes (A and B), which are also present in the secondary range of in Eastern and Western Europe.
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