The aim of this study was to identify the nest materials, some physical characteristics and the essential composition of the nest of Vespa crabro germanaChrist, 1791. Nest surfaces were observed with a stereomicroscope and a scanning electron microscope. In the inner surface of the V. c. germana nest, the medium thicknesses of the fibers in the envelope and comb varied between 5.30 and 11.90 µm with an average of 9.07 µm. In the outer surface of the nest, the medium thicknesses of the fibers in the envelope and comb were between 4.46 and 11.40 µm with an average of 7.68 µm. The nitrogen and protein concentration of the nest was 0.22 and 1.40%, respectively. The percentages of the fibers, saliva, oil and the water absorption capacity were calculated as 70-75, 25-30, 16-20 and 120-150, respectively. The amount of the elements nickel and copper in the nest was found to be 0.6 and 1.2 ppm, respectively. The major components of the nest were plant fibers, saliva and oil. Consequently, we have found that the ratios and the amounts of physical characteristics, the element composition and the fibers in the envelope and comb of the nest changed with environmental conditions.

Kissing bugs, Triatoma recurva (Stål) (Hemiptera: Reduviidae: Triatominae), live in an environment with high seasonal variability in rainfall, humidity, temperature, and food sources, and are an ideal organism for testing adaptive plasticity in rate of maturation to adult and in reproduction. Under simulated natural conditions, the effect of abundant, moderate, and infrequent feeding opportunities upon developmental rate, growth, and fecundity of the bugs was determined. Insects afforded frequent feeding opportunities matured to adult faster than those on lower frequency feeding diets. Insects on limited frequency feeding diets often delayed maturation until the second year of life and gained weight relative to those that matured in the first year. The females fed the least frequently and that delayed maturation until the second year doubled in weight relative to those maturing the year-earlier. In this species living near the climatic extremes of members of its genus, developmental and reproductive plasticity appear to be viable options to minimize the effects of catastrophes and reduce the possibility of local extinction during extreme environmental conditions.

Soybean aphid, Aphis glycines Matsumura (Hemiptera: Aphididae), continues to be an economically important insect pest of soybean in the northcentral region of the United States since its first report in 2000. Control has traditionally relied on foliar applications of pyrethroid and organophosphate insecticides; however, recent confirmed failures of pyrethroids in the region have prompted immediate management concerns. Insecticidal modes of action are limited, and there is a need for assessing residual efficacy of exisiting and new insecticides for soybean aphid. We developed a field-based protocol to evaluate the residual efficacy of treated foliage, and tested our method with two insecticides. Our residual testing protocol can be utilized for residual efficacy evaluations of other pests and in other systems.

Climate change and landscape alterations may influence biodiversity by shifting species distributions or causing local extirpations. Museum records are needed in order to track these changes over long periods of time. Bees are a group of organisms known to be in global decline, but tracking regional shifts is difficult. In Illinois, where there have been significant alterations to the landscape, no bee species checklist is available to compare recent collecting efforts. We used museum specimens from Illinois housed at the Illinois Natural History Survey (INHS) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, augmented by specimen records from other museums, to investigate the use of museum collections to identify species occurrences and possible declines. The result is a preliminary state checklist of 491 species of bee, with an additional 51 records considered either doubtful or possible but needing confirmation. We report 74 confirmed new state records compared to records housed at INHS, with five additional species considered doubtful and four possible but needing confirmation. Three putatively undescribed species include two Andrena species and one Lasioglossum (Dialictus) species, although further verification is needed to resolve their status. Continued support for natural history collections and the institutions that maintain them is essential for further research on the impacts to ecosystems caused by human and natural influences and to identify areas and species in need of conservation.

Small swarms of male Leseha vespaSmith & Nishida, 2019 flew during the morning hours searching for the much less abundant females on the upper surfaces of protruding leaves of various plant species at a site where a large population of the host fern Phlebodium pseudoaureum had been recently decimated (probably by L. vespa larvae). Males showed no sign of aggressive behavior toward other males, and only poor abilities to locate females resting on leaves. Although >100 male-female interactions were observed, they seldom led to copulation, as females were generally unreceptive. The males probably used visual cues to choose leaves, but the short-range cues that they used to encounter females there were not clear. Individually marked males returned to the same site for up to 11 days.

We investigated gene expression related to endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress, apoptosis, and autophagy to understand how Gryllus bimaculatus (two-spotted field cricket) overcomes starvation stress. Male adults were used in starvation experiments. Expression levels of genes related to ER stress, apoptosis, and autophagy were investigated for each tissue after starvation stress (consisting of 1, 3, and 6 days of starvation, and 1 and 2 days of refeeding after 6 days of starvation) by reverse-transcription PCR. Furthermore, Malpighian tubules were stained with LysoTracker Red to observe autophagy. Starvation significantly upregulated gene expression of ER chaperones in the Malpighian tubules of G. bimaculatus. Gene expression levels of BiP, ERap2, and SERCA were upregulated up to 2.5-fold, ATF6 was upregulated up to 2-fold, and PDI and Derl2 were upregulated up to 1.5-fold in the starvation group compared to controls. Although autophagy was induced by starvation, apoptosis was not. Notably, gene expression of ATG9 was upregulated up to 15-fold in the Malpighian tubules of G. bimaculatus, which is the highest among the autophagy-related genes. These results suggest that ER stress-induced autophagy appears to be acutely involved in the mechanism by which insects overcome starvation stress.

Native to the Americas, the fall armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda (J.E. Smith) (Lepidoptera:Noctuidae), is a recent invasive pest of Africa and Asia. This insect causes economic damage to maize (Zea mays L.) primarily through leaf and ear tissue feeding. The pest is resistant to several classes of insecticide and several Bt-maize toxins. Native resistance in maize to fall armyworm could be used with existing control tactics to enhance control of this insect. The objective for this study was to evaluate maize germplasm, developed from Thailand and maintained by the U.S. National Plant Germplasm System, for resistance to leaf feeding fall armyworm. Plants were grown in the field and artificially infested at the seven-leaf stage with fall armyworms. Visual rating scores for leaf feeding damage were recorded at 7 and 14 days post infestation. Scores for maize germplasm Ames 26254 were not different than the resistant check, GT-FAWCC(C5), and germplasm PI 506347 and PI 690324 were not significantly different from Ames 26254. In total, five Thailand maize germplasms received 14-day damage scores of ≤ 6.0 across both years of testing and were considered moderately resistant to fall armyworm leaf feeding. These maize germplasms are tropical and require breeding to adapt progeny for research in temperate areas.