Largest in Central Europe ancient and almost intact Belarusian peat bogs are habitats with very specific environmental conditions and biodiversity. They themselves are island-like ecosystems, but in addition they are containing small raised islands of mineral soil within peat, covered by forest. In this study, the ground beetle diversity, species composition and abundance according to their habitat affinity, mean body size and wing form between isolated birch forests on the mineral and peat soils within the peat bog and adjacent continuous birch forests were compared. The diversity respond to isolation most clearly in birch forests with sphagnum cover, while in forests on the mineral soils the diversity parameters were similar to continuous adjacent forests. Distinct separation of carabid assemblages of continuous and isolated habitats was detected only in terms of species composition. There is a clear increase of the abundances of forest species from continuous to isolated forests on mineral soil, whereas in the forests on peat soil specialized peat bog species were dominated. In isolated forests, a gradually decrease of the abundances of large-sized and brachypterous species and increase of medium-sized beetles were recorded. However, the abundance of macropterous species was the most abundant only in isolated forest on mineral soil. Thus, the ground beetle assemblages of the two birch forest types within peat bog respond in a different way to the isolation and recorded differences can be probably explained also a variety of environmental factors.

Gall wasp Aulacidea hieracii (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae) produces galls on a hawkweed Hieracium x robustum and feeds on gall tissues during summer. We employed in vivo resonance Raman spectroscopy to assess changes in carotenoids in living juvenile forms of this insect during its development. We revealed that the carotenoid composition in the feeding summer gall wasp larvae differs from that in the gall tissues. Non-feeding winter larvae contain more carotenoids than summer forms, despite the absence of feeding. Moreover, the carotenoid composition of winter larvae differs from that of summer larvae. We address the question, whether A. hieracii can synthesize carotenoids.

An abundance of potential inherent variation in SSR or microsatellite repeats has resulted in a valuable genetic marker in eukaryotes. We describe how SSRs in Reticulitermes chinensis castes are organized and abundant. Collectively we sequence 184,436 unigenes through the Trinity system, ranging from 201-43, 214 bp length from transcriptome data. Using MISA to find out SSRs in unigenes and a total of 10740 SSRs loci were identified as di-, tri-, tetra-, penta-, and hexanucleotide. Among them, trinucleotide SSRs were the most abundant in R. chinensis genome 2702, followed by chromosome six (tri-) 1110. Pentanucleotide repeats were found at frequency 1 from each chromosome 8, 9 and 13, respectively. The frequency of AC/GT motif was (21.91%) reported, followed by others motif (16.6%), AAG/CTT (8.49%) and AGC/CTG (8.2%). The minimum motif types were AATG/ATTC (1.27%), followed by ACG/CGT (1.32%) and AAT/ATT (1.77%). Thes abundance and inherent variations in SSRs provide valuable information for taxonomics, phylogenetic, genome mapping, and population genetic research studies. SSR-based markers have high degrees of allelic variability and codominant legacy (inheritance), and analytical ease.

Cytological studies of Chironomus spp. belonging to the salivary gland polytene chromosomes have been carried out for the first time in Bangladesh. Among the members of Diptera, the genus Chironomus is a very much valuable insect because of the large polytene chromosomes in their salivary glands and this insect is distributed in a broad range of ecological conditions. The objectives of this study are to investigate cytogenetic variation of the different Chironomus species in Bangladesh. Larvae were collected randomly from the Bongshi River, Savar, Dhaka and examined cytologically at the Cytology and Biocontrol Research (CBR) Lab of the Institute of Food and Radiation Biology (IFRB), AERE, Savar, Dhaka. Salivary glands of final (forth) instar larvae were used for polytene chromosome preparation following the aceto-orcein squash method. Salivary gland cells contained four pairs (2n=8) of polytene chromosomes with long precious banded structures, puffs, Balbiani rings (BR) and nucleolar organizers (NOR). Four polytene chromosomes are numbered with AB (1st), CD (2nd), EF (3rd) and G (4th). Initially, seven types of polytene chromosome banding structures (Type 1-7) were identified that most likely refers to seven different Chironomus species. Polytene complements of Type 1 has a sequence of banding in arms A-F and arm G contained one BR in the middle and one NOR of its both ends. Banding inversion is also observed in this arm. Clear banding sequences were found in the chromosomes of Type 2. Short arm G has a remarkable flattened funnel shaped banding structure at one terminal end. In the polytene chromosomes of Type 3, arm G is very short adorn with BR, NOR and banding inversion. A banding sequence with three dark bands and a puff near the tip of arm D are the landmarks of polytene chromosome in Type 4. Type 5 comprise of long polytene arm (A-F) and G has BR, NOR and banding inversion in the middle. Arm G of Type 6 has a specific triangle shape with three dotted bands at one end and other end possess a deeply stained thick band that likely to be the centromere of this arm. Polytene chromosome of arm G of Type 7 composed of one linear arm, no branching observed here. These cryptic polytene chromosome banding pattern and their arrangements provide significant cytotaxonomic information for identifying the Chironomus species. Further cytogenetic study of natural populations based on long-term sampling strategy from different ecological conditions could be very useful for testing the hypothesis of the role of chromosome inversion on local adaptation.

In the present work we present the initial stages and first results of the development of a site-specific intelligent plant protection system for bean cultivation. The aim of the system is to be used as a decision tool for rational management of the major key pests of bean crop and with the view to reduce plant protection costs and to mitigate side effects and negative impact on the environment. Currently, we have established a telemetric meteorological network which consists of seven meteorological stations which are distributed in the major bean cultivation area of Greece and over the border area of the Prespes National Park. Through climate sensors the network delivers real time weather data to a cloud server to be further used to establish real time risk thresholds of pest occurrence during the bean growth season. Additionally, the system is passing a stage of pest models development and risk thresholds using in field phenology data along with weather data and Growing Degree-days. Particularly, for the development and validation of the pest risk thresholds we have established experimental fields. The risk thresholds include the pests: Helicoverpa armigera, Thrips sp. and Tetranychus urticae. Pest phenology is observed in four experimental fields which consist of two conventional as well as two organic fields serving as control. The current results will contribute to a better exploitation of the established meteorological station network and their real time microclimate data to provide important information on the rational use of pesticides.

Chrysanthemum is ravaged by numerous agromyzid leafminers. Of which, Chromatomyia syngenesiae Hardy (Diptera: Agromyzidae) is an invasive polyphagous leafminer which causes heavy infestation by mining the green leaf tissue and weakens the plant by reducing the photosynthetic activity that results in unmarketable flowers. Hitherto, no further information is available from India on C. syngenesiae apart from just new record. The present study was undertaken to assess the damage potential and to identify the leafminer species attacking chrysanthemum. In this view, Survey was conducted in chrysanthemum growing polyhouse of Nilgiris, Tamil Nadu, India during 2016 to 2018. The results indicated that the damage potential caused by C. syngenesiae was 75.40 % and 69.00 % in 2016 to 2017 and 2017 to 2018, respectively. The highest parasitization of Diglyphus isaea (Eulophidae: Hymenoptera) Walker on C. syngenesiae was recorded as 18.27 % and 20.80 % in the respective years. In addition, C. syngenesiae and its parasitoid were characterized at molecular level and species specific DNA barcodes using mitochondrial Cytochrome Oxidase I (mtCOI) were developed. BLAST searching of GenBank showed 100 per cent sequence similarity with C. syngenesiae and clearly indicated the presence of C. syngenesiae at Nilgiris, Tamil Nadu, India. The sequences obtained from the present study was submitted to NCBI database as the first entry for species level representation from India and the accession numbers (C. syngenesiae -MN969922 and D. isaea - MN525179) were obtained.

Juvenile hormone compounds belong to a family of acyclic sesquiterpenoids, biosynthesized within small paired endocrine glands of corpora allata-corpora cardiaca having a neural connection with the brain. Stringent regulation of JH-levels in insect haemolymph is one of the most critical factors ensuring normal growth and development in insects. JHAMT is characterized as a key regulatory enzyme playing a pivotal role during insect metamorphosis and reproduction physiology by catalyzing the final step of SAM-dependent methylation of JH-acids into their cognate methyl esters. Recent reports on biochemical and molecular characterization of JHAMT gene from different insect species have proposed the JHAMT enzymatic activity as a potential target for the development of novel small molecule insect growth regulator(s). Therefore, in the present study, the protein sequence identity dependent homology model for JHAMT protein from a polyphagous pest, Helicoverpa armigera (order: Lepidoptera) has been generated and subsequently explored for virtual screening against small molecules natural product library. One such promising compouns namely, Scolimoside (HMDB05799) showing interactions with amino acid residues of enzyme's substrate-binding pocket (SBP) was further validated using molecular docking and Molecular Dynamics simulation (MD simulation). The study may pave the way forward for the design and development of novel eco-friendly small regulatory molecules as a component of integrated pest management.

Competition defined as an interaction between individuals due to a shared requirement for a common resource. In this study, the experimental unit consisted one five instar larva of Ephestia kuehniella bearing 12 Habrobracon hebetor eggs, which was replicated 25 times. From 25 replicates, in three units only female wasps and from two units only males were emerged. The remained units included male and female wasps together. Male longevity at only male included units was 12.75 ±1.5 days, while in two sexed units it was reduced to 9.4±0.8 days might be assigned to the competitive pressure of females due to their larger body size and more nutritional needs.

The sycamore lace bug (SLB) (Corythucha ciliata) is one of the most abundant and widespread pests on plane (Platanus spp.) trees. 38 geographic location of C. ciliata from Europe, Asia and North America were analysed by sequencing. Seventeen haplotypes were detected on 1356 bp long fragment of the COI gene from 327 individuals. C. ciliata populations from North America showed a higher haplotype diversity (12 HTs), than populations from Europe (6 HTs) or populations from Japan (2HTs). The haplotypes formed two haplogroups, one including only North American HTs and another one including HTs from all continents.

African Saturniidae (Lepidoptera) been poorly described despite their nutritional and economic significance in Southern Africa. DNA barcodes for 15 species across 12 genera were generated as a starting point to create a reference sequence library for African Saturniidae. Phylogenetic clustering and genetic divergence estimates were used to assess patterns of genetic diversity in each genus, including all sequences available on BOLD Systems. Cases of polyphyletic and paraphyletic species affected 81% of the dataset. Taxonomic misidentifications, clerical and laboratorial errors, introgression, hybridization and incomplete lineage sorting may contribute to explain these results. We propose that the dataset available for African Saturniidae does not correctly represent the genetic diversity of a high proportion of the taxa in the family.