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Discussion about latest research in Entomology
Questions related to Entomology
I have insects stored for morphomolecular species identification in ethanol (EtOH). These weevils (Larinus spp.) were stored in 100% EtOH at the recommendation of more experienced entomologists. Now that I am trying to pin these weevils, they are quite brittle and difficult to pin without cracking an elytrum. It was suggested to me that I could dilute the EtOH in the storage vial to ~80% to 95% to rehydrate the weevils enough for pinning, but I am concerned this may result in DNA degradation.
Has anyone experienced a problem like this? Other than removing a leg prior to rehydration or pointing the weevils, does anyone have some advice on how to deal with this problem? Thank you in advance!
Good seeking capacity, a vast prey range, the large number of pests devoured in a lifetime, overwintering as an adult stage, and adaptations to different locations are all potential qualities of spiders that make them effective biocontrol agents. Recent agricultural trends have highlighted the importance of spider conservation in agro environments, positioning spiders as a viable natural pest control tool. How far have spiders been incorporated as a pest biocontrol agent and has it been successful and efficient?
Hi everybody,
we are using circular pitfall traps (regular yogurt cups) since many years, and unfortunately, sometimes we encounter mice and lizards as by-catch in our samples.
These animals fall in the pitfall traps, are not able to climb out of it and drown...
Researches (e.g. see link attached) and personal reflections resulted in the following possible easy-to-install preventive measures:
1) covering the pitfall traps with a thin, wide-meshed iron grid, so it is too thin to "grab and climb" for invertebrate, but slippery enough for insects and spiders
2) using funnels with a slippery surface, so small vertebrata can't enter, while insects can fall into it
I personally like more solution 1, but I wanted to ask you to share your experience :-)
We aim mostly on spiders, centipedes, millipedes, beetles and other surface insects.
Thank you and greetings,
Michael
We know there are indices like house index, Breteau index, Stegomyia index for Entomological survey for dengue . However in practical situation we see Multi-storeyed buildings in institutes/ campuses . How to go about standardizing them in calculating the various indices or there is any framework for such situation with different indices?
Because there is no any vaccine for COVID-19 until and in past insects have transmitted number of diseases like; chikungunya virus, yellow fever, dengue fever,Lyme disease, plague,malaria, sleeping sickness, leishmaniasis, filariasis. So, what do you think, could it be possible for COVID-19?
Does it act as a visual deterrent for predators or serves a purpose in the body's physiological processes?
Also, is there any similarity between the Sphingidae caterpillars and the larvae of Trilocha varians (Bombycidae) which also has a horn-like structure in the larval stage ?
It is the agri entomology experiment conducted in two different contrasting locations for two years and two seasons per year. The data collected from the experiment was number of eggs, larvae, pupa, adult insect
I would like to test a biological method of screening vegetables/fruits for the presence of pesticide residue. Since a biological agent is used, the extraction solvent should be non-toxic.
Thyrinteina arnobia (Lepidoptera: Geometridae) is the major defoliator of eucalyptus plants in Brasil in the last 50 years.
Since them, no parasitoid had been recorded for eggs of this pest in the field. In te lab we demonstrated that some kind of substance on the surface of these eggs protect them.
In 2017, we a found a parasitoid in eggs of Thyrinteina arnobia (Lepidoptera: Geometridae) in the field.
I would like to know who can identify this parasitoid. The quality of the photo is very poor but I can take better ones if necessary.
Best regards,
José Cola Zanuncio
Can anyone help me in identifying larvae based on Video clip and photographs?
I am researching the geographical distribution of the most common cosmopolitan springtail species. Can you recommend sources related to collembola phylogeography?. It would be nice if we collected a significant number of references on this issue.
Looking to id below beetles, Photographs attached.. Expert comments would be appriciated
Location: Bhaderwah, J & K, India
1. Image 1949- Which Cicada Species ?
2. Image 1663- Is it june beetle ?
3. Image 1644- Have no Idea for this one
4. Image 1919- is it dung beetle ?
Complete entomology newbie here...
I am analysing a large data set of nocturnal aerial insects from light traps to look at their temporal abundance across seasons/years. I am unable to sample for diurnal aerial insects given the complications of doing so with conventional means (i.e. I don't have access to radar/lidar equipment). I am therefore hoping to find studies that compare diurnal and nocturnal aerial insect abundance (or that of insects more generally), to see if I can relate my findings on nocturnal insects abundance to that of diurnal species.
Thanks in advance!
Thrips is serious pest in chilli. To develop thrips resistant or tolerant genotypes, it is essential to screen germplasm. Thrips lacerates abaxial surface of leaved. Can we a hedonic scale for damage assembly and use the score to discriminate genotypes. Is there any image analysis software available for such screening.
Especially in favor of females in this case.
I want to assess the infection status of Aedine mosquitoes with regard to dengue virus in Zambia. Very little is known about the prevalence of the disease in the country.
I once attended a virtual event from one of the entomology societies in Europe. They say they are doing research by rearing locusts in the laboratory and then releasing them into nature for conservation purposes.
Why do you think they did that? Can you explain to me or share information regarding this?
What if one day the locusts that are released into nature actually migrate and cause harm to local agriculture and or even attack agricultural crops in other countries?
Please give your best opinion.
Thankyou. Best Regards!
Can you suggest some plant species having high mosquito repellent property?
In early 2022 I'll be completing a length field campaign, collecting Lepidoptera, Odonata and Hymenoptera in a very humid flooded forest in central Africa. Due to the nature of this work we will not be able to use conventional drying boxes, and will not have access to any electricity (we are not taking a generator for logistical reasons). What is the best approach to drying and preserving these specimens (which will number in the thousands) in the field?
Our proposed solution currently is a makeshift drying box with an air intake we will position over a fire, before storing in tupperware with silica crystal. However, this method is difficult to maintain and ensure equal and not excessive drying. One proposed solution is direct immersion in silica crystal, but this is not possible with delicate specimens which will later be analysed for pollen loads (contamination an issue). Alternatively, one could dry specimens in direct sunlight, perhaps under black tarpaulin, but our habitat type is not convenient for this. Drying is necessary (as opposed to e.g. alcohol immersion) due to other aspects of the research.
Entomologists have been collecting tropical insects for hundreds of years - what did Russell Wallace do?
I am involved in setting up an entomology lab in Portugal, and we are currently looking for starter colonies of Aphis fabae, Tetranychus urticae and Dermanyssus gallinae to purchase and rear in the lab in order to conduct efficacy and behavioral studies.
Suppliers in Europe are preferred.
Any help or suggestion would be much appreciated.
Regards,
Robert
I have prepared a MS dealing with a review about behavioural pest control using HIPVs. Which journal (not open access) would be better suited? Please suggest. The journal must not take much time for decision making
In designing an experiment to investigate regional influence of these elements (temperature, humidity) on decompositional stages and insects colonization of pig carcasses, how would a control be setup for the elements given its uncharacteristic nature to be carried out in a laboratory?
Hi,
I notice that oppose to many other Heteroptera, Sciocoris move their antenna fidgetly. I assume it related to an antennal sensory organ. Does anyone know why does it do that and if I can expect to fine any unique structure on its antenna compare to antenna of other Heteroptera which doesn't act like that?
See example to antennal movement in attached movie.
I focus my research on Wasps in Greece.
Dear Entomologists, I need to pick the swarm brain.
I'm planning to mark moths with fluorescent dust for better observation and recapturing at night. Can anybody provide experience with DNA extraction from insect marked with this kind of dust? Or point me towards suitable publications? I can't seem to find any. There is lots of mosquito marking, but without subsequent DNA extraction.
Thank you, swarm :-)
I am planning on starting grad school in about a year and a half but you can never start researching project advisors too soon!
I am interested in investigating the use of fungal parasites of insects such as Cordyceps in integrated pest management. Unfortunately, this seems to be an unpopular field of study, as so far in my searches I have only seen professors who study plant-insect relationships in IPM, but not fungal-insect relationships in IPM. Ideally, I am hoping to stay on the west coast of the US. My undergraduate background is in ecology and evolutionary biology, but I am currently broadening my skills in molecular lab techniques.
Faculty pages on university websites cannot always represent the scope of a professor's research interests. That said, can anyone recommend a recommend a colleague of theirs who might be looking for graduate students in a year and a half, and with a background in mycology, entomology, and IPM?
It was collected in Colombia, the larva sticks the leaves and feeds on coffee plants (Coffea arabica). It measures approximately 1 cm. Probably genus Platynota sp.
Kandy (7.270 80.600 E 467m msl), Central Province, Sri Lanka is the type locality of Tetragonula iridipennis (Smith) a stingless bee species reported to occur throughout India. I need samples of these stingless bees from this type locality. If any one can send me samples of these bees from this locality, it would be a great help for my studies. My address is as follows
Shashidhar Viraktamath, Department of Entomology, University of Agricultural Sciences, GKVK, Bengaluru 560065, India.
Many thanks.
Biological experiments are nowadays being added as preprint in different archives such as biorixv.. Can an author add taxonomic descriptions as well before published as a journal article?
i need to identify the wild species existing in local area especially which help me to identify Tetragonula iridipennis species in wild . can i get the details how to identify this species in wild ? . please do the need full .
I’m Shengbin Chen, from Chengdu University of Technology in China. My team is conducting dung beetle research along an altitudinal gradient in Mountain Emei, which is near Chengdu City.
To make comparison on dung beetle communities among different localities at global scale, we make great effort to gather references.
The 5 works listed below were published early and in regional journal. I tried by can’t get them. So, could someone please kindly send me a copy of each of the five papers (if possible)?
1. Avila, J.M. & Pascual, F. 1988. Contributión al conocimiento de los escarabeidos coprófagos (Coleoptera, Scarabaeoidea) de Sierra Nevada: III. Distributión altitudinal y temporal. Bollettino Del Museo Regionale Di Scienze Naturali Torino 6: 217-240.
2. Celi, J., Terneus, E., Torres, J. & Ortega, M. 2004. Diversidad de escarabajos del estiercol (Coleoptera: Scarabaeinae) en una gradiente altitudinal en la Cordillera del Cutucu, Morona Santiago, Amazonia ecuatoriana. Lyonia 7:37-52.
3. Hanski, I. & Niemela, J. 1990. Elevational distributions of dung and carrion beetles in northern Sulawesi. In W. J. Knight, & J. D. Holloway (Eds.), Insects and the rainforest of Southeast Asia (Wallacea). (pp. 145-152). London: The Royal Entomological Society.
4. Hanski, I. 1983. Distributional ecology and abundance of dung and carrion-feeding beetles (Scarabaeidae) in tropical rain forests in Sarawak, Borneo. Acta Zoologica Fennica 167:1-45.
5. Lumaret, J.P. & Stiernet, N. 1989. Inventaire et distribution des coléopteres scarabéides coprophages dans le massif de la Vanoise. Trav. Sci. Pare Natl. Vanoise 17:193-228.
I would like to observe/ record insects behavior under webcam setting at night. So we are looking for some suitable infrared(Red light) lamps or IR LED to do this. Can anybody recommend us some proper products?
Hi, i have been working with Canada balsam as mount medium for Thysanoptera slices, but it´s too old and thick, i´ve tried using xylene to dissolve it, but it´s not working. So my question it´s maybe someone has tried using other mount medium for Thysanoptera species?
These mites were found on strawberry plants (Belgium). Anybody an idea of the Family or Superfamily? Or recommended keys of mesostigmata?
Dear RG friends,
I am providing a complete H. armigera diet for larvae and maintaining the eggs in the growth chamber as well as in-room conditions. But since three months, eggs laid from the moths are not at all hatching. Could anyone tell the reason?
Thanking you.
Earth have diverse group of insects, if a species of insect got extinct, how we can assess and identify them? What are the criteria’s to follow?
Based on the many publications from several decades, we came across many classifications of Insects. Among them which one is more updated and approved classification that can be used for research, academics and teaching purpose?
Thank you.....
I am working on a paper that looks into the dynamics of the spread of Wolbachia and its potential impact on dengue transmission, particularly in the Philippines.
Expect a savage answer and being reported to ResearchGate Admin if your answer clearly shows you did not read the whole question and you are scamming the points system by answering with an irrelevant answer!
I've just spent the last 3 hrs searching for information about dried Santolina species and their ability to repel moths, especially the greater and lessor wax moth and their larvae.
I've also looked for information about the possible toxicity of dried Santolina species on bees.
Good info is hard to find. There is info saying Santolina species repel silverfish and clothes moths but everyone copies everyone and there is little science behind it.
I'm wondering if I can use dried Santolina species inside my weak beehives, to help them resist wax moth.
Has anyone seen what I'm looking for or perhaps done the research themselves? Or has anyone seen another plant I could grow and use for this purpose?
Failing that, is anyone interested to take on this as a research project?
I looking for live specimes Ctenolepisma longicaudata. I need live specimes, can someone breeding?
I am an student of entomological field, I am interested to work on DNA barconding of beetles, I have some fresh collection and some Museum specimens as well. I am not much clear that whether Museum specimens are suitable for DNA extraction or not. I will appreciate your kind and valuable suggestions.
I want to rear locust (Schistocerca gregaria) in great quantity: at least 2000 a month. Does somebody has an idea which sizes a cage should be the best? is it better to use a great cage or some small ones?
I would love to hear what people have come across in relation to language accessibility in publications. Ideally the journal focuses on Entomology and/or biodiversity, but I am also just curious on a broader scale if language friendly journals exist.
I will be working on stream amphibians in Sichuan in 2020, and part of the work will focus on the diet of some aquatic species and prey availability. I thought I'd identify macroinvertebrates with a key to North American or European aquatic macroinvertebrates, but I would like to use the closest key possible to avoid possible mistakes.
I don't know precisely to which taxonomic level I can identify available preys and prey items, certainly to Order, and hopefully to Family with intact invertebrates from the streams. I trained with North American Plecoptera and Odonata from France under a microscope, and it seems reasonnable that I could go as far as Family level with an adequate key.
Another way of putting the question can be : do you think I can identify these prey items and intact insects to order or family level with a key to macroinvertebrates from North America or Europe ?
Thanks in advance !
Benjamin
Ethanol and propylene glycol are both used to preserve mites, and each have their drawbacks (i.e., evaporation and specimen distortion). Some people add a small amount of glycerol to vials of ethanol to prevent samples from drying out over time if containers prove less than perfectly airtight. Does anyone have experience with the long-term performance of ethanol/propylene glycol mixtures as preservatives for mites, and particularly for oribatids?
Dear all,
I would like to ask for help in identifying this species of beetle from Sarawak (Malaysian Borneo). The total length is approximately 3 mm. It is sampled from a peat swamp forest near Kota Samarahan. Resources for identification is also welcomed and very much appreciated.
An overall ranking of the flax genotypes is done for the morphological/ yield contributing characters and incidence of insect pest as per the rescaling index method suggested by Iyengar and Sudarshan 1982
One of my friends from Germany was curious to know if there are similar keys like those published by the Royal Entomological Society and other entomological groups in Australia. The only ones I know are usually targeted to a specific family and published in the form of individual research publications.
Are there any extensive and reliable keys for the different orders of Insects?
I can imagine that given the rich biodiversity in India in comparison to Europe it is very difficult to make keys like those which can pin point to the species level ID. However, if you know any then please list them here.
Thanks.
I am trying to find a topic for my PhD thesis. I've done two MSc; one in Landscape Architecture (about Ecological Landscape Design and Permaculture) and one in Forest Entomology (about Lepidoptera). Now I want to study further both of them in PhD. Can you help me find a topic that icludes both and woth studying.
I need to publish my paper as soon as possible in scoups jouranl related to Agriculture science, Biology, Entomology, Insect science, for Urgent in any Jouranl listed in Scopus. as it required for my Ph.D.
Appreciate any help.
On July 20, 2020 at 2 p.m., 20 days before his eightieth birthday, the heart of Andrey Lvovich Lobanov stopped beating.
ANDREY LVOVICH LOBANOV - Leading Researcher of the Laboratory of Insect Taxonomy, Candidate of Biological Sciences, founder and permanent editor and webmaster of the supersite "Beetles (Coleoptera) and Coleopterologists".
I am doing a survival analysis of insects to various sub-zero temperatures where I want to correct mortality in my treatment groups by mortality in my control groups (not exposed to low temperatures). I have corrected mortality in all of my treatment groups to the control using the Henderson-Tilton formula (as opposed to Abbott's because some of my groups have unequal numbers of individuals) where:
Corrected % Mortality = (1-((n in control before treatment*n in treatment group after treatment)/(n in control after treatment*n in treatment group before treatment)))*100
I next want to analyze the data using probit regression, so I need to convert these corrected %s back into counts of binary 1s or 0s. The problem is that most of my "normalized count data" are not whole numbers (eg. in one treatment group I have 0.27 dead and 9.729 alive). The only way I can think of to correct this issue is by rounding to the nearest whole number, so in my example I would have 0 dead and 10 alive. Is this consistent with the standard of how this analysis is done? Am I missing something here? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!!
Given your specific discipline. Have you ever irretrievably lost data of an ongoing research project? How did you handle it? Thanks in advance.
(Also, this is my story. A couple of years ago, in a study that included collection, preservation, identification and weighing of soil invertebrates, after an unfortunate event in the laboratory, the notebook that contained the weight notes of one of 10 sets of collected organisms, which belonged to the control group, was lost, so were the preserved organisms. I'm tagging this with an entomology lablel, so in case you're familiar with this topic: Would you consider trying some method of reconstructing the weight data or is there just nothing to do? There is no way to recover the notebooks, nor the preserved organisms).
Thank you.
Hi,
I am looking for the e-mail of the current curator of the Museo de Entomologia of the Universidad Nacional de Lambayeque (Peru).
I need images of two holotypes deposited there, but I can't find a way to contact the collection.
Thanks,
Alexandre.
Male squash bees choose to sleep/rest in pumpkin/squash flowers. Perhaps the microclimate within wilting flowers provides temperature cues to male squash bees that make the flowers attractive and cause the male bees to become more sedate.
The insect was sighted in Mbarara - Uganda (Tropical Climate).
Coordinates of region sighted: 0.6072° S, 30.6545° E.
Feeding: The insect seems to be a pest preferring spicy vegetables and plants such as Rosemary (Salvia Rosmarinus), Spinach (Spinacia oleracea), Vegetable-Dodo (amaranth), & mint species.
Observable traits (see photographs attached): 3 pairs of Legs, a pair of short antennae (2 – 5 mm), no pronounced wing growth, and exo-skelton or outer cuticle soft to the touch.
I would need them urgently for some feeding experiments.
I need to know the heat and moisture production of any silkworm larvae period for supplementary heat.
What do you think about this?
Can entomological collections and research collections result in the loss of rare species?
Dear researchers,
what is your opinion about climate changes and forests pests?
there is an increase or reduction of damage caused by insects and mites on trees?
I'm searching for articles dealing with the detection of phytoliths in insect guts. Most of the search return papers working with extinct fauna, mummies and so on. I need data derived from modern insects (extant) and I am facing difficulties to dig it. If you know a good paper or are working on this area please let me know. Thanks!
I am looking for an efficient way to collect a ground-nesting bee at its nest, so that when encountering a ground-nesting bee nest, I could determine what species created that nest. Ideally, I was hoping for a fast method that allows to lure the bee out of its nest (can you suck it out maybe? or otherwise force it to leave its nest?). Alternatively, I was thinking about using a mini emergence trap (something like https://www.nhbs.com/mini-soil-emergence-trap), but would prefer a more direct method, like extracting from its nest. Has anyone experience at collecting ground-nesting bees at their nest?
i injected immunized hemolymph of larvae into FPLC (fast protein liquid chromatography)
to separate peptides from each other.
every peak of protein separated in a falcon tube in 5 ml of Sodium chloride buffer.
next step is lypholization , after samples were lypholized , protein powder plus sodium chloride crystal is precipitated .
should i do desalting for protein to have a pure protein or can i use it as a whole for inhibition assay fro bacteria??
I was wondering if anyone ever studied the group-survival of ants as a function of group composition;
For instance, suppose you have a group of N ants, composed of 3/4 of minor workers and 1/4 of major workers. How long could this group survive? And how longer than a group composed of 1/2?
I would be really glad to know if there is any paper published that dealt with this problem.
Thanks.
Igor
I don't really have access to make a complicated process for this, but I was wondering if there was a way to conduct PCR on an entire group of cells if I already have primers specific to the bacteria I want to conduct PCR on.
Would it be possible to skip isolating the template DNA?
Hello,
I am seeking the exact publication dates of the different fascicles of the Handbuch der Entomologie, from Bürmeister. Can anyone provide me with this information?
Many thanks
Hello,
I am building low-cost terrestrial emergence traps out of tomato cages and polyester no-see-um mesh netting. The traps are about 2 feet tall and have a white collection bottle at the top. I have a choice between black and white mesh netting. Which would be best? I have attached a picture of the prototype with white netting.
Can you suggest me some references, that can be helpful for Morphological Identification of Mouth?
Do you have any studies on the possibility of predator attraction by volatile organic compounds and identification of specific compounds as attractants for Tuta absoluta predators
We are conducting a study on mangrove insect diversity. We want to know the specific kind of bait depending on the diet of the insect. If they are carnivorous, or if they are attracted to sugar solutions, what can we use for bait? Thank you!