Why flying insects gather at artificial light.

Explanations of why nocturnal insects fly erratically around fires and lamps have included theories of "lunar navigation" and "escape to the light". However, without three-dimensional flight data to test them rigorously, the cause for this odd behaviour has remained unsolved. We employed high-resolution motion capture in the laboratory and stereo-videography in the field to reconstruct the 3D kinematics of insect flights around artificial lights.

Fatal Attraction: Spiders Lure Male Moth Prey with the Promise of Sex.

Predator-prey coevolution, particularly chemo-ecological arms races, is challenging to study as it requires the integration of behavioral, chemical ecology, and phylogenetic studies in an amenable system. Moths of the genus (Saturniidae) are colorful, diurnal, and fast and often fly well above the vegetation canopy layer. However, several species have been reported as being captured in spider webs, specifically species (Araneidae).

The sunny butterflies: new species of high montane pierids of the Catasticta poujadei group from the Peruvian Andes (Pieridae, Pierinae, Aporiina).

The Catasticta poujadei group, within the subgenus Hesperochoia Reissinger, is revised. Two new species, C. copernicus Pyrcz & Fhraeus sp.

Description of Uniphylus gen. nov., a new genus of Carcharodini (Lepidoptera, Hesperiidae, Pyrginae) for Staphylus evemerus Godman & Salvin, 1896.

Staphylus evemerus Godman & Salvin, 1896 is a species with a unique set of morphological characters within Carcharodini. Also, mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit 1 (COI) sequences analysis demonstrated a large genetic distance with other related genera of the tribe. Therefore, this paper aims to describe a new genus for this species, which is named as Uniphylus gen.

CRISPR-based diagnostics detects invasive insect pests.

Rapid identification of organisms is essential for many biological and medical disciplines, from understanding basic ecosystem processes, disease diagnosis, to the detection of invasive pests. CRISPR-based diagnostics offers a novel and rapid alternative to other identification methods and can revolutionize our ability to detect organisms with high accuracy. Here we describe a CRISPR-based diagnostic developed with the universal cytochrome-oxidase 1 gene (CO1).

Modelling TDP-43 proteinopathy in Drosophila uncovers shared and neuron-specific targets across ALS and FTD relevant circuits.

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD) comprise a spectrum of neurodegenerative diseases linked to TDP-43 proteinopathy, which at the cellular level, is characterized by loss of nuclear TDP-43 and accumulation of cytoplasmic TDP-43 inclusions that ultimately cause RNA processing defects including dysregulation of splicing, mRNA transport and translation. Complementing our previous work in motor neurons, here we report a novel model of TDP-43 proteinopathy based on overexpression of TDP-43 in a subset of Drosophila Kenyon cells of the mushroom body (MB), a circuit with structural characteristics reminiscent of vertebrate cortical networks. This model recapitulates several aspects of dementia-relevant pathological features including age-dependent neuronal loss, nuclear depletion and cytoplasmic accumulation of TDP-43, and behavioral deficits in working memory and sleep that occur prior to axonal degeneration.

Large-scale genomic data reveal the phylogeny and evolution of owlet moths (Noctuoidea).

The owlet moths (Noctuoidea; ~43-45K described species) are one of the most ecologically diverse and speciose superfamilies of animals. Moreover, they comprise some of the world's most notorious pests of agriculture and forestry. Despite their contributions to terrestrial biodiversity and impacts on ecosystems and economies, the evolutionary history of Noctuoidea remains unclear because the superfamily lacks a statistically robust phylogenetic and temporal framework.

The genome sequence of the peacock moth, (Linnaeus, 1758).

We present a genome assembly from an individual male (the peacock moth; Arthropoda; Insecta; Lepidoptera; Geometridae). The genome sequence is 394 megabases in span. The majority of the assembly (99.

Three new Chinese species of Palpifer Hampson from the collection of Franz Daniel (Lepidoptera: Hepialidae).

New Chinese Palpifer species are described from Yunnan and Fujian provinces. The male of Palpifer nielseni sp. n.

Prominent moths (Lepidoptera: Notodontidae) of Colombia.

Based on literature review, curatorial work in national and international collections, information available on online databases, and field work conducted from 2017 to 2022, we provide the first checklist for the family Notodontidae in Colombia. A total of 515 species (51 endemics), 122 genera, 7 subfamilies as well as 108 new records for Colombia are presented. These data position Colombia as the country with the third highest diversity of prominent moths in the world, based on current knowledge.

Anurocampa (Lepidoptera: Notodontidae): two new species, systematics and immature stages.

Notodontidae (Lepidoptera, Noctuoidea) comprise over 4,000 described species distributed worldwide, among which nearly half are restricted to the Neotropics. Morphology of adults and immatures of Notodontidae have been broadly investigated and many larval, pupal, and adult characters were found to be synapomorphies of subfamilies and tribes. Despite this, the current classification of Notodontidae remains unsettled as most recent classification systems are contradictory due to reliance on incomplete global sampling and, many taxa, especially in the Neotropics, are still informally classified as incertae sedis.

New species of colorful tineids from Cambodia, Thailand, and Vietnam in the new genus Vangatinea (Lepidoptera: Tineidae: Erechthiinae).

The new genus, Vangatinea gen. nov. (type-species: V.

A framework for understanding post-detection deception in predator-prey interactions.

Predators and prey exist in persistent conflict that often hinges on deception-the transmission of misleading or manipulative signals-as a means for survival. Deceptive traits are widespread across taxa and sensory systems, representing an evolutionarily successful and common strategy. Moreover, the highly conserved nature of the major sensory systems often extends these traits past single species predator-prey interactions toward a broader set of perceivers.

CRISPR-based diagnostics detects invasive insect pests.

Rapid identification of organisms is essential across many biological and medical disciplines, from understanding basic ecosystem processes and how organisms respond to environmental change, to disease diagnosis and detection of invasive pests. CRISPR-based diagnostics offers a novel and rapid alternative to other identification methods and can revolutionize our ability to detect organisms with high accuracy. Here we describe a CRISPR-based diagnostic developed with the universal cytochrome-oxidase 1 gene (CO1).

Biogeographic-tectonic calibration of 14 nodes in a butterfly timetree.

The butterfly subtribe Coenonymphina (Nymphalidae: Satyrinae) comprises four main clades found, respectively, in (1) the Solomon Islands, (2) Australasia, (3) NW South America and (4) Laurasia, with a phylogeny: 1 (2 (3 + 4)). In assessing biogeographic evolution in the group we rejected the conversion of fossil-calibrated clade ages to likely maximum clade ages by the imposition of arbitrary priors. Instead, we used biogeographic-tectonic calibration, with fossil-calibrated ages accepted as minima.

A global phylogeny of butterflies reveals their evolutionary history, ancestral hosts and biogeographic origins.

Butterflies are a diverse and charismatic insect group that are thought to have evolved with plants and dispersed throughout the world in response to key geological events. However, these hypotheses have not been extensively tested because a comprehensive phylogenetic framework and datasets for butterfly larval hosts and global distributions are lacking. We sequenced 391 genes from nearly 2,300 butterfly species, sampled from 90 countries and 28 specimen collections, to reconstruct a new phylogenomic tree of butterflies representing 92% of all genera.

A high-quality, long-read genome assembly of the whitelined sphinx moth (Lepidoptera: Sphingidae: Hyles lineata) shows highly conserved melanin synthesis pathway genes.

The sphinx moth genus Hyles comprises 29 described species inhabiting all continents except Antarctica. The genus diverged relatively recently (40-25 MYA), arising in the Americas and rapidly establishing a cosmopolitan distribution. The whitelined sphinx moth, Hyles lineata, represents the oldest extant lineage of this group and is one of the most widespread and abundant sphinx moths in North America.

Population Genetic Structure of a Rare Butterfly in a Fragmented South Florida Ecosystem.

We investigated the genetic structure and diversity between populations of a rare butterfly, the Florida duskywing ( E. Bell and W. Comstock, 1948) (Lepidoptera: Hesperiidae) across a network of South Florida pine rockland habitat fragments.

Allelic resolution of insect and spider silk genes reveals hidden genetic diversity.

Arthropod silk is vital to the evolutionary success of hundreds of thousands of species. The primary proteins in silks are often encoded by long, repetitive gene sequences. Until recently, sequencing and assembling these complex gene sequences has proven intractable given their repetitive structure.

Resolving two centuries of mistaken identity: Reinterpretation of Papilio marcus Fabricius, 1787 (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae, Hesperiidae).

Here, we untangle an oversight surrounding the application of the name Papilio marcus Fabricius, 1787 (Hesperiidae: Hesperiinae), currently in Troyus Warren & Turland, 2012, which has eluded taxonomists for nearly two centuries. First, we note that P. marcus is a junior primary homonym of Papilio marcus Schaller, 1785, a species currently in Morpho Fabricius, 1807 (Nymphalidae: Satyrinae).

Immature stages, new host plant records and shelter structures of Troyus phyllides (Röber, 1925) and Thoon ponka Evans, 1955 in the Peruvian Amazon (Lepidoptera: Hesperiidae: Hesperiinae: Hesperiini).

We describe here for the first time the complete immature life cycles and shelter structures of two Neotropical skipper butterflies in the subtribe Moncina, Troyus phyllides (Röber, 1925) and Thoon ponka Evans 1955, along with new natural host plant records for these species at Finca Las Piedras, Madre de Dios, Peru. Four eggs and a preantepenultimate larva of T. phyllides, as well as three eggs of Thoon ponka were collected in nature and each passed through five larval instars to adulthood.

Evidence for a single, ancient origin of a genus-wide alternative life history strategy.

Understanding the evolutionary origins and factors maintaining alternative life history strategies (ALHS) within species is a major goal of evolutionary research. While alternative alleles causing discrete ALHS are expected to purge or fix over time, one-third of the ~90 species of butterflies are polymorphic for a female-limited ALHS called Alba. Whether Alba arose once, evolved in parallel, or has been exchanged among taxa is currently unknown.