Xiaohua Dai

Gannan Normal University · School of Life Sciences

For the first time, genera of leaf mining Tischeriidae of the global fauna are reviewed and four new genera are described: Coptotrichoides Diškus & Stonis, gen. nov., trophically associated with Sapindaceae from Central and South America; Rytietia Diškus, Xu & Dai, gen. nov., trophically associated with Annonaceae from East and South East Asia; Paf...

Few systematic studies have been conducted on the faunal composition and food web structure of Cassidinae of China. During 2013-2019, we systematically investigated Cassidinae beetles and their host plants in the southern Guangxi. A total of 2,255 Cassidinae individuals from 66 species, 23 genera and ten tribes were collected in southern Guangxi. M...

Human–elephant conflicts (HECs) threaten both elephants and humans globally. Many modern techniques have been adopted to mitigate HECs, including remote sensing with unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Based on the UAV monitoring data of wild Asian elephants in China, we mapped the potential HEC hotspots and identified the possible related environment...

Background The genus Cantonius Théry, 1929 is a small group with two subgenera and 12 species. However, the biology of this genus is still unknown. New information In this paper, three species of the genus Cantonius Théry, 1929 were found on bamboo leaves, revealing for the first time that Cantonius species are also leaf-miners. Two new species we...

Simple Summary: The patterns and causes of biodiversity variations along environmental gradients are hot topics for ecologists and biogeographers. Leaf miners are the specific insect guild that feed and live inside plant leaves. Although altitudinal diversity trends have been studied for many insect groups, few scientists have focused on the elevat...

The leafminers on gymnosperms receive much less attention than those on either angiosperms or ferns. Given the distinctly different leaf shape and leaf venation found in gymnosperms, they would be expected to host significantly different leafminer groups. Very few comprehensive reports on gymnosperm-feeding leafminers have been presented. Based on...

The Cry48Aa/Cry49Aa toxin of Lysinibacillus sphaericus shows specific toxicity towards larvae of Culex spp. Individual Cry48Aa and Cry49Aa subunits interact with distinct target sites in the larval midgut and overcome the resistance of Culex to the Bin toxin. However, the toxin-binding proteins have not yet been identified. The present study aimed...

Taking Phaseolus vulgaris Linn.as test material,adopting the method of soil-free cultivation with different nutrient solution treatments,the effects of different heavy metal stresses on leaf functional traits and hyperspectral index were investigated,in order to provide reference for the rapid monitoring of heavy metal stresses in plants.The result...

Taking Phaseolus vulgaris Linn.as test material, the bacterial OTUs, diversity index and species identification on leaf surfaces of Phaseolus vulgaris Linn.were investigated in greenhouse under different nitrogen and potassium application using high-throughput sequencing method based on 16 S rRNA hypervariable region V3-V4,in order to provide a ref...

The article describes three new species of Coptotriche Walsingham, 1890 from China and adjacent northern Vietnam: C. camptotheca Xu & Dai, sp. nov. feeding on Camptotheca acuminata Decne. (Nyssaceae); C. turpinia Xu & Dai, sp. nov. feeding on Turpinia arguta (Lindl.) Seem. (Staphyleaceae); and C. asiana Diškus & Stonis, sp. nov. The latter appeared...

The taxonomic classification of Dactylispa, a large genus of leaf-mining beetles, is problematic because it is currently based on morphology alone. Here, the first eight mitochondrial genomes of Dactylispa species, which were used to construct the first molecular phylogenies of this genus, are reported. The lengths of the eight mitogenomes range fr...

This is the first record of Urticaceae-feeding trumpet moths (Tischeriidae) from Asia. We describe Paratischeria boehmerica Diškus & Stonis, sp. nov. and P. grossa Diškus & Stonis, sp. nov., two distinctive new species of Tischeriidae recently discovered from Laos, South East Asia, feeding on plants of the nettle family. Urticaceae is a rare host-p...

The two-component Cry48Aa/Cry49Aa toxin produced by Lysinibacillus sphaericus shows specifically toxic to Culex quinquefasciatus mosquito larvae. Cry49Aa C-terminal domain is responsible for specific binding to the larval gut cell membrane, while its N-terminal domain is required for interaction with Cry48Aa. To investigate functional role of cyste...

Microorganisms play an essential role in the growth and development of numerous insect species. In this study, the total DNA from the midgut of adults of Dactylispa xanthospila were isolated and bacterial 16S rRNA sequenced using the high-throughput Illumina MiSeq platform. Then, the composition and diversity of the midgut bacterial community were...

The two-component Cry48Aa/Cry49Aa toxin produced by Lysinibacillus sphaericus shows specifically toxic to Culex quinquefasciatus mosquito larvae. Cry49Aa C-terminal domain is responsible for specific binding to the larval gut cell membrane, while its N-terminal domain is required for interaction with Cry48Aa. To investigate functional role of cyste...

Compared to the leaf-miners and stem-miners on flowering plants, the miners on ferns (including both Lycopodiophyta and Polypodiophyta in the broad sense) are less known. Knowledge of miners and their host plants is essential to fully understand plant-insect interactions. Although there are many scattered records on fern miners, a worldwide checkli...

Downesia species are leaf-mining beetles mainly feed on Poaceae plants in the tropical and subtropical areas in Asia. In this study, we firstly sequenced and reported the complete mitochondrial genome for the genus. The complete mitogenome of Downesia tarsata is 18,557 bp in length, including 13 protein-coding genes (PCG), 22 transfer RNA (tRNA), t...

The Cry48Aa/Cry49Aa binary toxin from Lysinibacillus sphaericus is composed of a three-domain Cry-like toxin (Cry48Aa) and a binary-like protein (Cry49Aa) that work together to kill Culex quinquefasciatus mosquito larvae through a novel interaction between its two components. The aim of this study was to identify the functional regions of Cry48Aa t...

Human disturbances are greatly threatening to the biodiversity of vascular plants. Compared to seed plants, the diversity patterns of ferns have been poorly studied along disturbance gradients, including aspects of their taxonomic, phylogenetic, and functional diversity. Longnan County, a biodiversity hotspot in the subtropical zone in South China,...

A complete mitogenome of Trachys auricollis is reported, and a mitogenome-based phylogenetic tree of Elateriformia with all protein-coding genes (PCGs), rRNAs, and tRNAs is presented for the first time. The complete mitochondrial genome of T. auricollis is 16,429 bp in size and contains 13 PCGs, two rRNA genes, 22 tRNA genes, and an A + T-rich regi...

There are few reports on the community composition and diversity pattern of the Cassidinae species of China. Compared to the neighbouring provinces of Guangdong, Fujian and Zhejiang, the Cassidinae richness in Jiangxi Province is under-reported. Longnan City, a biodiversity hotspot in Jiangxi Province, was chosen to obtain the first overview of the...

Argopistes tsekooni is a leaf-mining pest on Oleaceae plants in China. The complete mitochondrial genome of A. tsekooni was sequenced and annotated. It had a total length of 16,552 bp, including 13 PCGs, 2 ribosomal RNAs, 22 tRNAs, and a 2020 bp long non-coding AT-rich region. With a total length of 11,140 bp, all 13 PCGs started with ATN, 9 PCGs t...

Platypus contaminatus attacked healthy hawthorn trees in China. The complete mitogenome of P. contaminatus was 15,712 bp in length. It contained 2 ribosomal RNA genes, 22 transfer RNA genes, 13 protein-coding genes and a 1038-bp long non-coding AT-rich region. This species showed rearrangements in mitochondrial genome. These changes included: (1) t...

The first instar and mature larva and pupa of Cassidisparelicta Medvedev, 1957, a newly recorded species from China, are described and figured. The chaetotaxy of the head, mouthparts, legs, and dorsal and ventral surfaces of the body is described. This is the first detailed description of immatures in the genus Cassidispa . Diagnostic characters of...

Dominant species significantly affect interspecific relationships, community structure, and ecosystem function. In the field, dominant species are often identified by their high importance values. Selective foraging on dominant species is a common phenomenon in ecology. Our hypothesis is that dominant plant groups with high importance values are mo...

Podagricomela nigricollis is a citrus pest that distributes in South China. Currently, there was no complete mitochondrial genome of Podagricomela species available in GenBank. Here, we reported the complete circular mitogenome of P. nigricollis. It had a total length of 16,756 bp, including 13 protein-coding genes (PCGs), 22 tRNA genes, two rRNA g...

When confined to a single leaf, the larvae of most leafminers should suffer intense intraspecific competition. The survival and performance of individuals are expected to decline with increasing larval density within a leaf, showing a negative density-dependent effect. The maximum density of an Elachista Treitschke (Lepidoptera: Elachistidae) miner...

We provide the first report of Tischeriidae on Ulmaceae, a novel host-plant family, and describe Tischeria ulmella Xu & Dai, sp. nov., a new species discovered in the Yellow River Scenic Area of Zhengzhou (Henan Province, China), feeding on Ulmus pumila L. We also provide a redescription of the Quercus-feeding Tischeria naraensis Sato discovered in...

The last-instar larva and pupa of Prionispa champaka Maulik, 1919 are described and figured in detail. The chaetotaxy of the head, mouthparts, legs, and dorsal and ventral surfaces of the body are given. The larva of P. champaka mine in the leaves of Pollia japonica Thunb. (Commelinaceae) and pupate in the base of the mid-ribs. The adults were also...

Prionispa champaka is a leaf-mining species which feeds on Pollia spp. and widely distributes in southern China. The complete mitogenomic sequence of P. champaka (Chrysomelidae: Cassidinae) was obtained and annotated, with a length of 20,494 bp. It was longer than those of other Chrysomelid species (not including Bruchinae) because of its much long...

The complete circular mitochondrial genome of Callispa bowringi was 17,060 bp in length, including two ribosomal RNA genes, 22 transfer RNAs, 13 protein-coding genes (PCGs) and one 2246-bp non-coding AT-rich region. All 22 tRNA genes displayed a typical clover-leaf structure except for tRNASer (AGN). All 13 PCGs initiated with ATN codons. Only thre...

The last-instar larva and pupa of Prionispa champaka Maulik, 1919 are described and figured in detail. The chaetotaxy of the head, mouthparts, legs, and dorsal and ventral surfaces of the body are given. The larva of P. champaka mine in the leaves of Pollia japonica Thunb. (Commelinaceae) and pupate in the base of the mid-ribs. The adults were also...

We provide the first report on the leaf-mining Tischeriidae genus Paratischeria Diškus & Stonis from Asia. We describe Paratischeria jingdongensis Xu & Dai, sp. nov., a new species discovered in Yunnan, China, feeding on Dalbergia assamica Benth., Fabaceae and redescribe P. hestias (Meyrick, 1915), comb. nov., a hitherto very little known species f...

The present study is the first to consider human and nonhuman consumers together to reveal several general patterns of plant utilization. We provide evidence that at a global scale, plant apparency and phylogenetic isolation can be important predictors of plant utilization and consumer diversity. Using the number of species or genera or the distrib...

The complete circular mitochondrial genome (mitogenome) of Rhadinosa nigrocyanea was 17,965 bp in length, which contained 2 ribosomal RNA genes, 22 transfer RNAs, 13 protein-coding genes (PCGs) and 1 non-coding AT-rich region with the length of 3002 bp. All of the 22 tRNA genes displayed a typical clover-leaf structure, with the exception of tRNASe...

The complete circular mitochondrial genome of Agonita chinensis was 16,395 bp in length, which contained two ribosomal RNA genes, 22 transfer RNAs, 13 protein-coding genes (PCGs) and one non-coding AT-rich region with the length of 2001 bp. All of the 22 tRNA genes displayed a typical clover-leaf structure, with the exception of tRNASer (TCT). Twel...

WinFolia leaf analysis system was adopted to measure leaf image parameters including total leaf area and damaged leaf area on damaged leaves by pests and diseases. WinFolia-based image analysis of damaged plant leaves had the following advantages: (1) Fast calculation speed, precise data, high efficiency, easy operation and high accuracy; (2) Suita...

Navel orange is one important industry in South Jiangxi. According to the investigations at homeland and abroad, the pests could cause serious problems to navel oranges. Pests might do harms to the production of pollution-free navel orange in three aspects: (1) lower the quality of navel oranges; (2) increase the investment of farmers; (3) increase...

Taking insects of navel orange orchard as investigation objects, sticky cards of ten different trap colors including purple, gray, pink, blue, cyan, green, yellow, red, white and black were used in navel orange orchard to capture insects between December 2014 and November 2015. The composition of insect communities in navel orange orchard and the p...

A new leaf-mining insect pest，which causes damage to oak leaves，was found in Liaoning tussah silkworm rearing area． The pest species was identified and classified based on its morphological characteristics combined with mitochondrial cytochrome C oxidase subunitⅠ ( mtDNA COⅠ) gene sequence as DNA barcode． Using genomic DNA of the individual pest la...

The effects of citrus leaf miner（Phyllocnistis citrella） on the content of MAD, soluble sugar, soluble protein and the values of SPAD were studied in the paper. The results showed that: (1) the content of MDA and soluble protein in the navel orange leaves damaged by the CLM were significantly higher than those of the healthy leaves, moreover, MDA a...

The paper presents four Chinese species belonging to the genera Metriochroa Busck, EumetriochroaKumata, and Gibbovalva Kumata & Kuroko (Lepidoptera, Gracillariidae), including two new species:Metriochroa alboannulata Bai, sp. n. and Gibbovalva clavata Bai, sp. n. Eumetriochroa hiranoi Kumata, 1998, is newly recorded from China. Photographs of adult...

Los insectos minadores de hojas son un grupo de herbívoros cuyas larvas viven y se alimentan del interior de las hojas. Lo que denominamos minas son las diferentes marcas que quedan en las hojas y que pueden proporcionar valiosa información acerca de las relaciones planta-insecto. La mayoría de minadores son monófagos u oligófagos. Los ecólogos y p...

The Chinese representatives of the genera Chrysaster Kumata and Cameraria Chapman (Gracillariidae: Lithocolletinae) were studied. Chrysaster is recorded for the first time in China. Three species belonging to Cameraria, C. diplodura Bai, sp. nov., C. rhynchophysa Bai, sp. nov. and C. jiulianshanica Bai, sp. nov., are described as new. Chrysaster ha...

Different light microhabitat may cause the division of plant leaves into sun and shade leaves, which differ significantly in morphological, physiological and ecological parameters. Taking Phyllostachys nigra as an example, leaf image analysis system and plant spectral devices were used to study the adaptation of sun and shade leaves to different li...

Circular statistical methods were used to analyse the occurrence levels of major pests and diseases on Citrus crops between 2006 and 2008 in Jiangxi province, in order to clarify the temporal distribution patterns of citrus diseases and pests. The results show that the occurrence of different citrus diseases and pests had different monthly rhythms,...

The spatial distribution of Ceroplastes floridensis Comstock on Bischofia polycarpa leaves were investigated. The results indicated that the scale insect had low numbers of individuals on most leaves, and the relationship between insect number per leaf and leaf number obiviously decreased as a power law; they mostly distributed on leaf veins of lea...

The effects of a forest road on Castanopsis carlesii (Hemsley) Hayata (Fagales: Fagaceae) seedlings and their leaf herbivory were investigated in a subtropical forest at Jiulianshan National Nature Reserve, Jiangxi, China. A total of 1124 seedlings, 33949 leaves, 468 leaf mines, and 205 leaf galls were found. Generally, individual numbers, tree hei...

Biological characteristics of Platypria melli Uhmann (Coleopotera: Hispidae) were systematically studied and their host plant, leaf mine, larva morphology, pupa morphology and life history were described in detail. The results showed that it had one generation per year in Jingangshan of Jiangxi, P. melli larva mined in the leaves of Hovenia acerba...

Two new host plants (Magnolia officinalis subsp. biloba and Michelia maudiae) of Gibbovalva kobusi Kumata & Kuroko were firstly reported. The damage symptoms, leaf mine characteristics, morphology and life history of G. kobusi were described. Photos of leaf mines, adults, and male/female genitalia were provided. The study could be used as a basis f...

The circular distributions of plant modulars (branches, leaves) and endophagous herbivory (mines, galls) were investigated within the crowns of four dominant Fagaceae trees in a subtropical evergreen broadleaf forest at Jiulianshan National Nature Reserve, Jiangxi, China. The hypothesis is that more plant modulars and more endophagous herbivory sho...

Citrus red mite (Panonychus citri) is a world-wide pest mite, and one of the most serious and commonest pest mites on citrus. According to field investigatiosn in a navel-orange orchard in South Jiangxi, the distribution types of citrus red mite were clumped at three spatial scales of leaves, tree crowns and tree individuals. There existed “center...

Citrus is one of the most important fruits in China. With a great variety of species and wide distributions, the citrus pests in China have serious threats on citrus industry. Through field investigations and literature analyses, the diversity and functional group of citrus pests in China were analyzed. The results showed that, Noctuidea had highes...

A leaf-mining gracillariid—Acrocercops transecta (Lepidoptera: Gracillariidae) on Lyonia ovalifolia was systematically studied. Acrocercops transecta had three generations every year in south Jiangxi. Their generations overlapped and generation periods varied with different latitudes. Mine characteristics, morphology and life history of Acrocercops...

Lophatherum gracile Brongn is a common medicinal and ornamental plants in Jiangxi. Leaf-mining insects are often found on their leaves, which affect photosynthesis and growth of L. gracile, and the plants would wither and die in severe cases. Bionomics of Dactylispa approximata – a new recorded leaf miner on L. gracile in Jiangxi was systematicall...

In order to analyze the taxonomy, behavior and ecology of leaf mining insects by means of leaf mines which are the marks caused by larva miners' mining in leaves, the methods of GetData Graph Digitizer and R language were used to get the data of digitalized images of linear leaf mines and their shape parameters, including mean turn angle, concentra...

In this paper we analyse the daytime movements of African elephants (Loxodonta africana) in different habitats in the Pongola Game Reserve, South Africa. On average adult males moved faster than females in all habitat types except when grouped together (then females moved at the faster male pace). Elephants demonstrated distinct movement patterns i...

Leaf-mining insects, belonging to Lepidoptera, Diptera, Coleoptera,or Hymenoptera, have larvae that live and forage inside leaves. The mines remain visible for a long time and the life time of most leafmining larvae is spent inside the mine. Ecologists and even paleontologists can without much difficulty reconstruct the living conditions of these i...

Contents of mineral elements in physiological diseased leaves of Newhall navel orange were comparatively analyzed, then the effect of element deficiency on the concentrations of soluble sugar, protein and amino acids in the diseased leaves were studied. The results indicated: concentrations of K in the leaves of Disease No.1, concentrations of Mg a...

Gannan navel orange is one famous brand in Jiangxi fruit industry, and it becomes very important to ensure ecological health and sustainable development of the navel orange industry. A questionnaire survey on the food safety and ecological health of navel orange was conducted as to know: (1) the awareness and concern of the common consumers on safe...

Internet-based interactive education techniques, such as course website, QQ group, mail-list, and blog, may be helpful to solve the problems of limited resources and limited class hours in current ecological teaching. Interactive teaching can promote students’ Interests and passions for studying, widen their knowledge and bring up their cooperation...

Spatial distribution maps of citrus diseases and pests in China were made with GIS packages in R language. The results indicated that: different diseases and pests showed different spatial distribution patterns, not only due to their biological characteristics but also to the spatial laws of climate factors; R-based GIS maps are visually distinct,...

The coprophilous fungi on cattle dung (Bos taurus) were investigated at Dahuadian and Zhongdian grasslands, in Yunnan Province, China. Fifty dung samples from Dahuadian and 50 from Zhongdian were collected and examined for fungi. A total of 61 species were recorded in this study (47 species from Dahuadian and 27 from Zhongdian) including 15 new rec...

Understanding animal movement ecology can help the conservation and management of both elephants and their habitats, especially in a small reserve. The harmonic mean centers-of-activity were used to investigate monthly range shifts of reintroduced African elephants (Loxodonta africana) in Pongola Game Reserve (PGR), during 2000-2004. Our results sh...

We examined the distribution pattern of epiphytic bryophyte communities in different forest types and their relationship with environmental factors based on the study of bryophytes and environmental factors of five 2500 m2 plots at Heishiding Nature Reserve, Guangdong Province, China. Distribution of epiphytic bryophytes showed a vertical gradient...

A quantitative survey was conducted to investigate the biodiversity characteristics of bryophytes in Heishiding Nature Reserve，Guangdong, China. 50 species of bryophytes in the five 2 500 m2 transects were found in which 30 were liverworts and 20 were mosses. Forty species of bryophytes occurred on trunks, which was much more than those on floor (o...