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Insect Distribution - Science topic

Significant factors limiting the geographic distribution of individual species of insects relative to climate change
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I am working with tuta abusoluta, testing eficcacy of several pesticides. My challange is on finding the artificial diet for the insects. What type of artificial diet which can be used to rear Tuta absoluta?
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I think you do not need to rear this insect on the artificial diet. This insect pest can be reared well on healthy tomato plants (2-3 weeks old) using 50 x 50 x 50 cages with replacing the plants every week or 10 days.
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An alternative wihch can be dissolved easily in order (with citrus oil our other safety product) to study trapped insects in the lab. I'm looking for a product which can be brushed on plastic.Thanks.
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Justine Vansynghel , Hi Justine, i was able to find tangle Food (paste formula) for my expriment and so did not need any alternative. I don't know if there is an equivalent product on the market unfortunately.
Good luck !
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I can find literature discussing the temperature tolerances of individual species but not the family Formicidae as a whole. Is anyone aware of any literature discussing their climatic tolerances or their use as climatic proxies?
Thanks,
Chris
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At the risk of sounding repetitive, here is an author whose publications I think it would be worthwhile to consult: Michael Kaspari (University of Oklahoma, USA).
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From January 2014 to December 2016, I conducted monthly field trips in three different areas of Dhaka city, Bangladesh to investigate how butterflies survive in an inner-city habitat. I have found that the species richness (I did not count the species abundance) is declining with time.
Presently, I have:
* monthly species-specific data of three continuous years (36 continuous months) of the three different areas
* Four environmental variables (temperature, rainfall, humidity and sunshine hours)
* Pollution level
* IUCN Red List status
* Land-use analysis of these three different areas
Now, I am really confused considering the proper way to link these pieces of information! Could anyone of you please share some ideas?
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Look at the Material and Methods section. Perhaps it could help?
Best,
Guy
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Hello researchers!
I'm currently undertaking a project that seeks to asses the distribution of a minute gall midge, Arthrocnodax fraxinellus, and its associated parasitoids (Aphanogmus spp.) in Europe.
I'm asking for material of ash cauliflower galls (Aceria fraxinivora) on ash (Fraxinus spp) as the gall midge feeds on the mite in the larval stage.
Material from the following countries are of interest:
Austria
Belarus
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bulgaria
Estonia
Finland
Greece
Iran
Kosovo
Latvia
Lithuania
Macedonia
Moldova
Montenegro
Russia
Serbia
Slovakia
Slovenia
Spain
Turkey
Ukraine
I have attached a PDF with details about the project - please have a look.
Thanks in advance!
Simon Haarder
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Hello again!
Did anyone have luck with obtaining galls of Aceria fraxinivora?
Best regards,
Simon
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Dear RG Colleagues,
Can someone help me to identify this ladybug (Coccinellidae)?
Thank you
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Dear Joe, thnk you for your picture, awesome. Is that one of your pictures thank you
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Anyone does have this paper ? I don't find it on Internet:
Mutin, Va, 1983: A review of the genus Graptomyza Wiedemann, 1820 (Diptera, Syrphidae) in the USSR. Entomological review 62(3): 170-174
Thanks in advance !
V.N.
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Hi Valentin, Andrew
We are actually working with morphological description of larvae of Graptomyza from SouthAfrica. Will be nice to know more details of your research in the future or collaborate in a common project.
best
Santos
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Who can identify/clasify this species? find in Gansu China, the host is Astragalus membranaceus .the length is about 7 mm. thank you!
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Dear Zhang,
for sure, it's a fifth instar of Deraocoris (ssp. Deraeocoris) sp.
Best wishes,
Ralf
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Recent news is worrying.  Caterpillars of the wax moth Galleria mellonella digest artificial plastics (Bombelli et al 2017) and it has been suggested that they might be produced en masse to help consume the vast amounts of waste plastic that have accumulated worldwide.  One can imagine that releasing large numbers of the caterpillars could pose a serious problem for honeybee colonies. 
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Hello Anthony:
Do you mean  releaising large numbers of the wax moth caterpillars to eat plastics ? I think you did not understand the significant finding of Bombelli et al. 2017. Is the Polyethylene polymer that is chemically degraded by contact with the worm homogenate. The fast rate of biodegradation reported in the paper of Bombelli et al. 2017 have potential for significant biotechnological applications. This means that the chemical components of the wax moth caterpillars can be used to decompose artifical plastics as Andrew pointed out, not the caterpillar on its own, so this biotechnological application does not pose risk to bee hives.
Regards,
Luis Miguel
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I observed one pupa of genus Striglina(Lepidoptera:Thyrididae), found 8 cremasters at the pupa‘s end. But I don’t know if other species of this genus are all the same, who has researched them? Can you give me some lectures, especially in 3 tea plant pests, Striglia suzukii, Striglina glareola and Striglina scitaria, in China.
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Need to confirm identification of the larvae in the soil (eastern china agricultural landscape). Adult trap data suggest a mix of two species (H. parallela and A. corpulenta) but need to confirm on laval populations. Cannot find any good key on the larvae.
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Dear Maarten van Helden
You may contact the researcher on the same project, they will help you and send the working identification key Pls. find the attached files
Hoping this will be helpful
Regards
Prof. Houda Kawas
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Does anyone have specimens of Agra (Coleoptera, Carabidae, Lebiinae) and can provide me with informations (localities, data) of determined specimens, deposition of type material, photographs and with undetermined materials as loan or exchange? If you have material for loan, any ecological / habitat informations are very welcome. (=> longterm study interest of myself)
Any specimen is well appreciated.
Thank you
Ingo 
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I am searching methods to control spider webs in houses especially in the tropics. Your experiences/experiments are welcome. Thanks.
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Hi Albert,
there are some nurture control like predators or parasitic  which need to be at house. Also there is method could be more useful and friendly which use some repellent products see link below for more details.
Best regards,
Ali
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Dear all, I’m looking for dispersal distances of Cucujus cinnaberinus but I didn’t find any references about it.
Does anyone have any suggestions?
Thank you in advance.
Best wishes
Francesca
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Ok, thanks to all
Based on Jakub Horak suggestion (thanks Giuseppe!), the species could cover a distance of around 500-1000m. I downloaded and read all the paper you suggested and I'm waiting for the Thomas Horren one.......but is it in German?
thanks
Francesca
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Our research data detected some important census of seasonal migration of the few families of Butterfly fauna, to proceed of analysis we need adequate references on the subject basis. appreciating your helps! 
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I am interested in collecting adult wood-boring beetles (Buprestidae) in deciduous cropping systems. The purple prism or panel traps have been effective for monitoring emerald ash borer (Agrilus planipennis) as well as other buprestids. However, other traps have been successful: Lindgren (green and purple), intercept trap, stove pipe, and cross vane traps. 
Which trap would be most effective for capturing the most buprestid species (species richness)?  Thanks
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As an option you can use hunting wasps Cerceris fumipennis (Crabronidae) or other Cerceris spp. for capturing a wide range of buprestids:
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I am collaborating with Masahiko Tanahashi on a comparative study of their mycangium xylose-fermenting yeasts. Presently, we need specimens across their range; except for the UK and Switzerland. Specimens from Spain are top priority; this is to solve the riddle of the origin of the famous Pichia stipitis yeast CBS 6054. For more see: The mystery of the lesser stag beetle Dorcus parallelipipedus (L.) (Coleoptera: Lucanidae) mycangium yeasts. Bulletin of the Amateur Entomologists' Society, 72 (510): 146-152. 
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I collected a living female.
Monday I send a packet as you indicated me in previous replies.
Best regards,
Francesco
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We know Nicrophorus spp. experience heat stress, sterility, and/or death from high temperatures, but at what temperature does N. americanus begin to experience morbidity, sterility, and/or mortality?  Even related articles would be helpful.  There seems to be a paucity of literature regarding the upper temperature thresholds.
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Thank you for your link.  I do have this article.  But do appreciate you providing it for me.  :)
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LEDs are energy efficient and robust and therefore suitable for field work. However, do they attract moths and other insects well? Which wavelengths can be recommended, UV or blue and green in addition?
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Hi Gunnar, I have been using mostly a 15-W uv tube, the one sold by Bioquip. With good success for my pyraloids. Attached a picture from my recent Nicaragua adventures. Cheers, B.
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Does Lasius niger distribution include any countries in Africa?
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Thank you Benoit and Rhian for the reply.
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Dear all,
             Im working in a field experiment with 20 traps (pitfall traps to collect ground atrhopods) in a treatment field and 20 traps in a reference field (so potentially spatially autocorrelated).
I performed a nMDS (non param multidimensional scaling) plot to assess multivariate ordination of those samples and I plotted also 95% confidence ellipses to visualize effective discrimination between the treatment and the reference field. Then I would like to have a statistical measure of this discrimination so my idea was to perform a perMANOVA (adonis function in R software) to test dissimilarity between fields. So my question is: 
-Can I use perMANOVA with such experimental design? If not, is there a way to deal with such autocorrelation? Suggestion on alternatives?
Thanks a lot
Alessandro
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Thanks Remi, I will try to make a Mantel test comparing animal abundance distance matrix with the location (of the traps in the field) matrix. I should solve the problem in this way. Thanks a lot
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I've been using Zippin's method of calculating estimate of population size (calculating R based on k trappings and using the graph to find 1-q^k) I just was wondering how you can calculate 1-q^k without using the included graphs in his article. There must be a way of calculating it if he created the graph. I'm asking because I want to create a formula in Excel to calculate it automatically using R; but I don't know how.
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Take a look at this paper:  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1784963
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 I collected this specimes from olive trees and I want to know as species level.
I can send my material.
thanks
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Dear Medine,
I could help you with Mordellidae, Oedemeridae and eventually put you in touch with other good specialists for the families you need
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To develop a program inside the device
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My graduate student developed AntCounter which is an open access software that can be used to count LCA under field or laboratory conditions. It is based on recorded videos of LCA passing through a fixed point, and the LCA can be recorded with any digital camera and at a low resolution. The software works by detecting the movement of the objects in the video, and the software and the installation guide can be found at:
AntCounter is based on "HP computer vision” technology and is written in Python 2.7 with the OpenCV 2.4.10 library. It runs on a Windows environment or any other operating system that supports Python 2.7 (http://www.python.org/) and OpenCV 2.4.10 (http://opencv.willowgarage.com/wiki/).
the manuscript describing details of the software will be published soon at Insect Behavior and sociiobiology journal. Hope you use it and let us know how it worked.
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I intend to study the dispersal pattern of phlebotomine sand flies in a forested area in the cerrado (savanna) biome of Northeastern Brazil. Human dwellings and domestic animals are commonly found in the area. What is the best statistical test that should be applied in the analysis? The insects will be trapped, marked with fluorescent dust and then released at different collecting points. I will try to recapture the phlebotomine sand flies in the next ten days. I want to gather information about dispersal range, spatial memory, host fidelity, site fidelity and longevity. Can you help me?
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'Ecological Methods' by Southwood and Henderson (3rd Edition) is also a really good resource for the maths background on these studies. 
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One of the reviewers of my new paper on forest ant communities in western Carpathians (Central Europe) stated, that there is not a litter ant fauna in the temperate zone forest. That was something I did not expect to hear, regarding a number of species that can be found in European forest leaf-litter layer including Stenamma debile, Temnothorax crassispinus, T. parvulus, Myrmecina graminicola, which I always considerd to be litter species. Then I started to realize, that they really dont have to be strict litter dwellers, and might simply belong to epi- or even hypogeic species. I would really appreciate to see some more opinions on this topic.   
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In some respects the question is unanswerable, and I would assume that the reviewer is asking a rhetorical question. If an ant nests in a tree, and all foragers are strictly limited to the tree where the nest is, then they will not be caught in the litter. This is not typical (and may never happen?). So given that a species passes through the litter, it is possible for it to appear in your samples. Many ants are opportunistic. They my prefer to forage in a tree, but if a snack falls in their path that is ok too. So one could hypothesize several categories:
1) Ant is passing through and does not influence the litter, except as occasional prey item for other organisms inhabiting the litter layer.
2) Ant is passing through but will harvest food if encountered.
3) Ant actively searches litter layer for food, but the nest may or may not be present in the litter.
4) All stages are present in the litter.
5) All stages are present in the litter and the ant cannot be found anywhere else except for brief times during mating.
6) Ant is present as a parasite of another ant species in one of the above categories.
It is important to keep ecological diversity in mind, and I typically like to see that the author has considered the possibilities. Yet, if one has to keep reiterating the differences and possibilities, then the writing gets tedious. I would be happy to have something like "the ecological status of these ant species is mostly unknown, and because we caught them in our litter samples we will refer to them collectively as litter fauna." Possibly embellish this a little in the introduction and discuss the one or two species that are well known enough to be discussed, but that is about as good as it will get. Faunal surveys turn up a large number of species of unknown ecological status. Maybe the reviewer was trying to advocate for more funding for basic research into the biology and ecology of rare ant species?
You also should consider that many reviewers read a manuscript once, comment, and ship it back to the editor. So a comment they had on page 3 remains even if you answered their concern on page 7.
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I am studying biodiversity of Diptera and I am looking for 5 bogs in this region
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thank you so much
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As individuals of drywood termite colony are distributed on different position inside nest-gallery, how do they "attract" nest-mate or inform their presence in certain chambers?
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Hi Lucas,
Thanks for your comment. It means a lot.
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It was collected on the Delta of the Parana river
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Dear Esteban,
It is very similar to Cissites auriculata (Champion, 1892)
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We have been monitoring insect species and dynamics with different sampling traps including malaise traps, nest traps and yellow pan-traps. Are there any approaches/equipments to record insects automatically? We would like to try them, if available for insect diversity or agriculture studies.
Thanks for your kind inputs.
cd in Beijing
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We used photovoltaic powered backlight traps Pennsylvanian type adapted with a collecting box equipped with 4 drawers. The bottom of those were plastic grids with 4 mesh sizes (wider on top, narrower at the basis) which led to self sorting the insects along their sizes. Thus, big ones wouldn't smash smaller ones when dying by pesticide bar effect. We had a wide range of night active insects, as a result.
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The human flea, Pulex irritans, is a cosmopolitan flea species that has, in spite of the common name, a wide host spectrum. It is one of six species in the genus Pulex; the other five are all confined to the Nearctic and Neotropical regions. The species is thought to have originated in South America, where its original host may have been the guinea pig or peccary.
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Thank you very much Paulo! I have recently come across Ctenocephalides felis remains in African MSA contexts, hence my question about P. irritans which, evidently were in all probability not present in Southern Africa before about 2000 years ago when Bantu-speaking agro-pastoralists entered the region. I am still looking for details concerning the precise route of spread into Africa though.
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We are organising insect diversity monitoring networks in China. 
I just drafted the talk to present on the 1st Biodiversity Monitoring Conference, China. All texts are in Chinese at the moment. http://blog.sciencenet.cn/blog-536560-860261.html 
If you have any interests, comments or suggestions, please kindly contact me. Certainly, you are welcome to discuss on potential collaborations.
cd in Beijing
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Dear Peter,
as I have already written in my message to you, I could imagine many types of collaboration This reaches from monitoring of distribution data to concrete projects like the search for Micropterigid moths in the Himalayan region or the compilation of the knowledge of Indian Papilionoidea on our website. Any suggestions are welcome.
All the best
Michael
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I need recent identification keys to identify the seed beetles in my collection from Turkey.
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There also exist a key for Bruchidae from Fauna of Armenian USSR by A. P. Karapezjyan published in 1985
Фауна Армянской ССР, насекомые жеыскокрылые, Зерновки, Ереван, 170 с.
It is from an adjacent territory to Turkey. A ggod key for species from Central Europe sensu lato was published in Fauna Hungariae.  It can be also useful.
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Since the unintentional Nearctic introduction of O. taurus to the Mid-Atlantic in the 1970's, the species has been spreading - colonizing & naturalizing as it goes. While mostly recorded spreading due-West & North-East along the coast from its original landfall to date, Georgia now marks the most southerly progression of the species. Both its adaptability to the environs of the Eastern US, as well as its remarkable population growth once present, should be of note for both researchers and farmers. 
To track the progression of Osmia taurus into the Deep South, I would really appreciate any peer-reviewed literature which identified O. taurus outside its suspected original Mid-Atlantic port-of-call - most importantly South of the Mason-Dixon (anywhere from MD through WV, VA, KY, TN, SC, NC...).
** Also, any papers like those requested above - but pertaining to the presence of Osmia cornifrons & Anthidium manicatum - would likewise be very much appreciated!! **
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Recently I was also searching for papers about Osmia taurus But I  do not found. But I have some papers about  Osmia cornifrons & Anthidium manicatum.
Osmia cornifrons
  1. Y.-L. Park; V. Kondo; J. White; T. West; B. McConnell; T. McCutcheon Nest-to-nest dispersal of Chaetodactylus krombeini (Acari, Chaetodactylidae) associated with Osmia cornifrons (Hym., Megachilidae)
  2. Shogo Matsumoto; Ayumi Abe; Tsutomu Maejima Foraging behavior of Osmia cornifrons in an apple orchard
  3. David J. Biddinger, Neelendra K. Joshi, Edwin G. Rajotte, Noemi O. Halbrendt… An immunomarking method to determine the foraging patterns of Osmia cornifrons and resulting fruit set in a cherry orchard
  4. McKinney, Matthew I.; Park, Yong-Lak Distribution of Chaetodactylus krombeini (Acari: Chaetodactylidae) within Osmia cornifrons (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae) nests: implications for population management
  5. Edward M. Barrows, George B. Chapman, James E. Zenel and Andrea S. Blake Ultrastructure of Dufour's Glands in Active and Inactive Horn-Faced Bees, Osmia cornifrons (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae)
  6. C. A. Abel and R. L. Wilson The Use of Diverse Plant Species for Increasing Osmia cornifrons (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae) in Field Cages
  7. R. L. Wilson and C. A. Abel Storage Conditions for Maintaining Osmia cornifrons (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae) for Use in Germplasm Pollination
  8. Ahn, Jeong Joon; Park, Yong-Lak; Jung, Chuleui Modeling spring emergence of Osmia cornifrons Radoszkowski (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae) females in Korea
Anthidium manicatum
  1. Lucia Liu Severinghaus; Barbara Harris Kurtak; George C. Eickwort The reproductive behavior of Anthidium manicatum (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae) and the significance of size for territorial males
  2. Ulrich G. Mueller; Bettina Wolf-Mueller A method for estimating the age of bees: Age-dependent wing wear and coloration in the Wool-Carder beeAnthidium manicatum (hymenoptera: Megachilidae)
  3. James P. Strange; Jonathan B. Koch; Victor H. Gonzalez; Lindsay Nemelka; Terry Griswold Global invasion by Anthidium manicatum (Linnaeus) (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae): assessing potential distribution in North America and beyond
  4. Ansel Payne; Dustin A. Schildroth; Philip T. Starks Nest site selection in the European wool-carder bee, Anthidium manicatum, with methods for an emerging model species
  5. Peter Wirtz; Michael Szabados; Horst Pethig; John Plant An Extreme Case of Interspecific Territoriality: Male Anthidium manicatum (Hymenoptera, Megachilidae) Wound and Kill Intruders
  6. P. Wirtz; S. Kopka; G. Schmoll Phenology of two territorial solitary bees, Anthidium manicatum and A. florentinum (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae)
  7. A. Müller, W. Topfl, F. Amiet Collection of extrafloral trichome secretions for nest wool impregnation in the solitary beeAnthidium manicatum
  8. Lucia Liu Severinghaus, Barbara Harris Kurtak and George C. Eickwort The Reproductive Behavior of Anthidium manicatum (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae) and the Significance of Size for Territorial Males
  9. Jason Gibbs and Cory S. Sheffield Rapid Range Expansion of the Wool-Carder Bee, Anthidium manicatum (Linnaeus) (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae), in North America
  10. J. Soper; J. Beggs Assessing the impact of an introduced bee,Anthidium manicatum, on pollinator communities in New Zealand
  11. T. J. Zavortink; S. S. Shanks Anthidium manicatum (Linnaeus) (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae) in California
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We have collected male and female Megasoma mars in Paraguay, however, scarce information from the web suggests a different distribution range. I would appreciate any information regarding this species as well as sources of information to contrast. Both specimens were found dead in forest islets and with almost five years apart when found them. I also attached two pictures in case this might be a case of wrong identification.
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I have contacted a researcher specialist about this issue, and has very kindly helped me. He has indeed corrected the identification to Megasoma janus janus, and has provided with a picture for M. mars to notice the differences (mostly in the horns). M. janus is indeed distributed in Southern Brazil and Paraguay. 
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Hi,
I wonder if there is anybody who could help with distribution and identification of turnip aphids. What is the most popular ID key used to identify this species? Where have turnip aphids been reported? Especially across the US. What are the suitable conditions for this species?
Thank you in advance.
Mustafa
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Badister males are well distinguished , but females, especially Baudia subgenus, are mystical. Is it not?
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Dear Borislav,
many thanks for information and suggestions. I will ask.  Seemingly  this species not so frequent as I supposed. Is it rare in Bulgaria too?
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I found adult moths, caterpillars, and pupa of the Lantana Stick Moth (Neogalea sunia) on a Lantana plant in Sacramento County, in California. Range information shows this as a first record of this species in California. Where can I go to find out if this is really the first recorded time this moth has been found in California, or at least in Sacramento County? If this is a first appearance for the state or county, how do I and should I report this pest? I have live caterpillar specimens, live cocoons, and a dead moth specimen.
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Hi Jordan,
First, need to make sure this insect is real Lantana Stick Moth (Neogalea sunia).
At USDA-ARS (United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research and Service), there is a service called "Insect & Mite Identification Service"  ( http://www.ars.usda.gov/News/docs.htm?docid=9353 ). From there, staff might be able to further direct you to a resource for your question. I believe USDA should have these state-by-state insect record/databases, since they have a mission to trace the pests/insects for the benefit of a particular state's agriculture.
The overview of the "Insect & Mite Identification Service" is as following:
"The Systematic Entomology Laboratory (SEL) routinely provides specimen identification assistance as a free service to both governmental and private entities, including federal research and regulatory agencies, state departments of health and agriculture, university researchers, and private citizens. This service is coordinated by SEL's Communications & Taxonomic Services Unit (CTSU) and relies on the expertise of SEL scientists and collaborating specialists. CTSU maintains a relational database allowing for the efficient management of identification assignments. Upon completion, CTSU is responsible for reporting identifications to the submitter and returning specimens when requested."
Good luck on your search.
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I'm trying to model the distribution of a species of fly, so I used the Bioclim data from Worldclim.org. The problem is that relative humidity plays an important role in insects distribution and I can't find the data for it anywhere.
Is there any place where I can download it?
Thanks in advance
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Thank you guys!
I'll try those sites.
Cheers
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Citrus flatid planthopper, a native insect to North America, have had for a long time a scarce economic importance there. However, being polyphagous made small damage on citrus trees and some ornamentals. In 1979 it was introduced to Italy where it established and spread quickly. It is now an invasive alien species (IAS) continually spreading in South and Central Europe causing considerable damage in grapevine, fruit trees and various ornamentals.
In Hungary M. pruinosa causes damage - as in other European countries - in grapevine, fruit and other ornamental trees and shrubs. Unfortunately, it spreads in semi-natural and natural areas like hedges. I have observed nymphs, adults and vaxy filaments of M. pruinosa on the majority (70%) of the trees and shrubs in a hedge.
Infested plants – among them some with American origin – were: Acer negundo, Celtis occidentalis, Clematis vitalba, Crataegus monogyna, Hedera helix, Juglans regia, Lycium barbarus, Malus domestica, Morus alba, Prunus domestica, Prunus padus, Prunus serotina, Prunus spinosa, Robinia pseudo-acacia, Rosa canina, Ulmus campestris but also Euphorbia cyparissias.
The length of similar hedges can be several hundred km long, which means M. pruinosa has plenty of opportunity for spreading along the railway and infesting agricultural and ornamental cultures.
Where and on which vegetation have you observed this IAS? How much important damage have you detected?
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Dear Dr. Bozsik:
I just posted my paper on Metcalfa in South Korea.  The literature cited section includes numerous references on Metcalfa.  Please let me know if you have any questions; my email is swwilson@ucmo.edu.
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I am working in an area and have caught some mosquitoes over a period of time? How can i determine the population of mosquitoes in the location and in the state in general? Is there any formula I can use, please how do I go about it?
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There are no direct way of measuring mosquito populations. Monitoring over time can give you an estimate of the variation of the population density but no absolute numbers. However, an number of methods have been developed using Mark-Release-Recapture experiments and the ratio of marked to unmarked mosquitoes captured. It is a time demanding process but the only one that can give you absolute numbers. You can find more information here: http://www-naweb.iaea.org/Nafa/ipc/public/Sterile_Insect_Technique_book.pdf (chapter 3.1)
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Threatened insects are not so common and nearly none of them are parasitoids.
But some of the parasitoids species could probably also be considered as threatened because their high specialization to one or few hosts, their distribution (a lot of species of Braconidae are known only from few specimens or few places, even if this could be a bias of sampling) or their presence in threatened area (like rain forests).
Is this opportunity could help to their studies or the conservation of several areas/ecosystems? Did you have information, ideas, papers, example of such cases?
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Dear All,
The lectures in York may be interesting but cannot influence either the saving of parasitoids or their recognitions. Most of parasitods belong to the order Hymenoptera which are enormously difficult to identify. Unfortunately, majority of growers has no idea on natural enemies. Many of them use blindly pesticides.
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I am researching the internal anatomy and microbiology of the beetle Sinodendron cylindricum to compare with that of the other two UK lucanids (Lucanus cervus and Dorcus parallelipipedus. Live specimens are required in order to compare living microorganisms contained in various organs.
Colin Hawes
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When would you obtain specimens ?
I find regulary imagos of Sinodendron cylindricum, Ceruchus chrysomelinus and Aesalus scarabaeoides from Vosges mountains (French mainland).
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I am looking for a collaborator and possible co-author in a project aimed to re-describe some Australian Lucanidae and describe new spp. I need to carry out DNA studies, what I can't afford financially on my own, being a private researcher.
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Dear Davood, thank you for your reply. Many of the Australian Lucanidae were described in the 19th and early 20th century. The descriptions are often based on one single specimen. There is a need to re-describe many and this most probably will lead to reviewing whole genera (e.g. Lissotes, Figulus). In order to achieve this, I would like to carry out DNA examinations and compare results to clarify identity of spp. and explore relations (or the lack of it) between  them. My e-mail follows. Best regards, George
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Hi all,
I would like to compare and abundance of weevils on two sites to learn if the increased weevil infestation of acorns is due to differences in abundance of those insects. Thus, I need some index of abundance. I have not yet worked with weevils yet so I am not sure what kind of method should I use.
I read on the Internet about weevil traps and I found for example traps like that:
Maybe installing them on trees in autumn and then couting catched indivuduals in spring will work? Or maybe I could even install them now and get and index of abundance this year?
I am doing my research on red oaks in eastern US.
Anyone who has any experience with the subject - please share!.
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If you do not know the biology of insects, I would recommend the simplest way of sampling: collect acorns time to time if you can. I would say collect 10 acorns per tree from multiple trees over time. I would collect acorns from the same trees over and over again. 
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This specimen is collected on mulerry, boxwood, raspberry, citrus and many other host plant.
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Bonjour,
it is definitely a Ricaniidae, you'll probably have your species in this article http://www.munisentzool.org/yayin/vol4/issue1/271-275.pdf 
Best regards,
Chritsian 
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Recently found in Serbia
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Looks like Adonia variegata (Goeze, 1777).
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If possible, in AL, GA, MS, TN, FL
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Microplitis croceipes (Cresson) 1872, is a potential parasitoid of Helicoverpa zea Boddie, 1850 (Corn worm) and Heliothis virescence Fabricius, 1777 (Tobacco bud worm). If there is Corn field and Tobacco plants in Southern US you can easily see the Host larvae and try to collect the larvae and starts to rear it. This parasitoid is specific for those host larvae.
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Can the caterpillars be found in bio soil crusts? I collect adult Cisthene angelus by the thousands along the riparian corridor of the Colorado River in Grand Canyon National Park, but their caterpillars are nowhere to be found. There's not a ton of lichen throughout the river corridor, it depends on which rock layers are exposed (seems like the lichen is mostly on limestones). What can you tell me about these elusive caterpillars? Where have you found them?
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Cisthene larvae are nocturnal and probably feed on tree/wood lichens more often than rock/lithosol lichens, especially in the desert Southwest where the moths are often common in areas where rock lichens are sparse or absent. I have only ever found them at night on tree trunks in southeastern AZ.
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I'm separating the sexes of syrphidae flies.
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Besides the obvious examination of genitalia, look at the eyes. Many species have holoptic eyes in the males (i.e. the compound eyes nearly touch or do touch in the centre of the frons) while in the females the eyes are separated.
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I
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Dear Joanna, my answer to your question is: I don't think so, unless specified by the journal. I usually use the classical format "degree, minutes, seconds", but you can find also other formats in scientific literature.
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The lower the elevation, the more diverse the insect species are than those living in places at higher altitude.
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Another variable is the sort of insect. For example, tropical montane forests are at least as diverse as lowland forests in the case of acridoid grasshoppers and probably mycetophilid gnats too. Also, have a look at Daniel Jansens famous paper entitled "Why mountain passes are higher in the Tropics".
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Working on the spread of Lygaeus creticus (Heteroptera) I suggested that the median of the highway, which is made ​​up of oleander, has transferred this species from southern to northern Italy. It seems that even windage operated by heavy goods vehicles has a significant impact. I'm checking out the possibility that this hypothesis is applicable to other species of insects and am looking for references in Literature.
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There is literature available where different stochastic spatial models of spread are compared that base on different hypothesised dispersal models (e.g. stratified dispersal model vs. diffusion model). The stratified model has the idea that wind and human transportation influences dispersal and invasion and can predict the field situation quite well.
Papers would be e.g.
Gilbert, M., Fielding, N., Evans, H.F. & Grégoire, J.-C. (2003b) Spatial patterns of invading Dendroctonus micans (Coleoptera: Scolytidae) populations in the United Kingdom. Canadian Journal of Forest Research, 33, 712–725.
Gilbert, M., Grégoire, J.-C., Freise, J. F. and Heitland, W. (2004), Long-distance dispersal and human population density allow the prediction of invasive patterns in the horse chestnut leafminer Cameraria ohridella. Journal of Animal Ecology, 73: 459–468. doi: 10.1111/j.0021-8790.2004.00820.x
As far as I know food plants directly at the highways were not involved here but at least in some distance available (in a distance e.g. Cameraria can manage).
The paper:
Hulme, P. E. (2009), Trade, transport and trouble: managing invasive species pathways in an era of globalization. Journal of Applied Ecology, 46: 10–18. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2664.2008.01600.x
gives a short discussion on human transportation and influences of such corridors and additional references.
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I am interested in migration pathways of fruit flies in general and Medfly in particular. Medfly tend to reappear “out of the blue” in certain places without living a clue to where they came from and how. Many insects are flying quite high when crossing long distances, and I guess so are the tephritids. So I guess this question is mainly addressed to aerobiologists who are practicing different approaches to detect flying insects.
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There are surprisingly many publications about "aerial plankton" such as "Studies in the distribution of insects by aerial currents" by Hardy & Milne (1938), Hardy & Cheng (1986) (with three parts) at least mentioning Drosophilidae in the first one, but I've no access to the others. Anyway they contain family and species lists. "Transoceanic dispersal studies of insects" by Holzapfel & Harell (1968) mentions Trypetidae in their catches,
Also "THE DISTRIBUTION OF INSECTS, SPIDERS, AND MITES IN THE AIR" by Glick (1939) lists Trypetid species. So you have your answer (but medfly?).
If you search for aerial plankton and Trypetidae (the older name for Tephritidae) you surely find more articles, since many of the studies were done before 1990.
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In Fauna Europaea Orthopodomyia pulcripalpis is listed as present in NW Russia in the region where St Petersburg is. I cannot find any reference to this record. Does anybody know where that record is listed?
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Hi Anders
Indeed Or. pulcripalpis is considered a southern species. The northernmost record I know in Western Europe is from south to Paris (pers. obs). However they are a few historical records from southern England (Marshal 1938). Let me know if you find more data.
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Francis
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In Western Kenya, termites are a delicacy.
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Hahaha, the comments are becoming interesting anyway... Entomophagy in all form for providing energy
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One of my students would like to work on Lampyrid fauna of Kerala, India. Unfortunately, there are not many publications on this group in India.
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I would contact Lesley A. Ballantyne (see under ResearchGate). She works on Oriental Lampyridae.
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When I observed various species, alfa and beta diversity of fauna (insects) is much influenced by ecological aspects. How does resource partition occur in Butterflies? Do you have evidence? Please send some literature.
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What sort of resources are you looking at? If you mean nectar or other sources of sugar or salts, there is no partitioning, except on a first-come first-served basis. If you mean larval host plants, different species have different strategies, Some are gregarious and in some species, if a female sees another female of the species ovipositing, she will lay her eggs there too, so that there are very many larvae on the plants. In other cases, a single larva on the plant will discourage other females from even ovipositing on that plant.
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Vespa velutina, according to Hua (Hua, L.-Z. 2006. List of Chinese Insects. Vol. IV. Sun Yat-sen University Press, Guangzhou, China), is found north to the province of Hubei in China. I would be very interested in hearing from anyone in China whether or not this wasp survives even further north, or whether other records of it (such as reported by Villemant et al. from Beijing: Villemant, C., Barbet-Massin, M., Perrard, A., Muller, F., Gargominy, O., Jiguet, F. and Rome, Q. 2011. Predicting the invasion risk by the alien bee-hawking Yellow-legged hornet Vespa velutina nigrithorax across Europe and other continents with niche models. Biological Conservation 144(9):2142-2150) might represent introductions to northern areas without establishment.
I am assessing the risk of this wasp to Canada, which is a rather cold, northern country, colder on average than Hubei province, but not colder than Beijing, at least in parts of the country.
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Dear Martin Damus
Thanks for correction
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Im looking for an ant species, easy to rear, that should be indigenous to the Philippines to avoid the risk of introducing an exotic species. Has anyone heard about commercially available breeding sets / colonies / formicidaria in SE Asia or the Philippines?
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Dear Eraldo and Dirk,
thanks a lot for your helpfull comments. I might contact you personally, if more questions arise.
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I want to know much food does this moth consume during the period of egg until becoming pupa.
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I've seen numbers about the amount but I'm not sure about it yet. actually I am doing feeding experiment on the larvae, I just wanna know others ideas. thanks Nadine
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Identification to species level of the genus Culex
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Hi Rosa! You don´t use DNA Barcode as Dr. Sallum? is a very efective methodology!!!
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I am collecting some potential abiotic factors for determining the most important risk factor(s) associated with the infestation of one of the Lepidopteran insect pests in vineyards. One of the potential factors that I am considering is 'proximity to a forest', assuming that wild vines might contribute to vineyard infestations. I am planning to use google maps/google earth to measure the distance, however, I am not sure what the best way to measure would be. Could I average the perpendicular distances between forest edge and vineyard edge taken at three different points on each side? Is there any standard method that researchers have been following?
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I suggest you don’t get too hung up over the ‘right’ way to measure proximity to a forest as a simple distance. I think you need to take several parameters into account that will better reflect the probability of successful movement. The distance we measure (metres to kilometres) doesn’t necessarily reflect the effort required for a moth to migrate, the triggers for migration or the likelihood of the species being present in the woodland. The effort required should include the terrain, local climate (strength and direction of prevailing wind for instance), the habitat matrix that separates the vineyard from the forest and relative location (e.g. above or below). The triggers should include factors such as visibility (visual and through smell), absolute location (such as direction, in case the sun or magnetic north are involved in movement) and landmarks. The matrix would include possible transient refuges and distance/time spent crossing different habitats each with their challenges and risks (including predators). Finally, the presence of the species in the forest will be determined at least in part by the physical and ecological characteristics of the woodland (species of tree, age, management, spacing, etc. for ecology and size, shape spatial complexity for physical character).
How many vineyards are in your study? You could collect a suite of simple measures (e.g. shortest distance, compass direction, woodland forest size, habitat types/complexity in matrix, woodland type, etc.). Where you feel it would be time consuming to collect measures (e.g. woodland patch size) you could use a classification system (e.g. a few trees, copse, woodlot, small woodland, medium size woodland, large forest, etc.) using categories you clearly and explicitly define. As your analysis progresses you can be selective of the variables and improve the precision with which you collect them, but always try and relate the measures back to the organisms involved.
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For scientific purposes, collecting specimens of butterflies is important to understand different subjects of their biology. Now we are in a time in where a lot species are endangered or with populations declines, should it be justified?
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In general, yes. It seems more a rule than an exception that what we have so far perceived as one species, proves to be something more complicated, for instance, a group of cryptic (or so far, for a reason or another unrecognized) species, or vice versa, i.e. the status of 'species' or 'subspecies' cannot be justified by any credible criteria.. Without focused sampling these case would remain undetected, which would do real harm, by either over- or under-estimating the real status, including levels of threats, for each population or taxon as defined by improved knowledge. Without sampling the knowledge cannot be improved, and nobody wins. Certainly, if a population seems very sparse, any unncessary and destructive collecting should be strictly considered and restricted, or planned so that it will not harm the population's survival in any way. In general, collecting few species for scientific purposes is one of the least concerns regarding survival of species; habitat loss is the matter to be addressed.
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Impact of landscape anthropization ( e.g. Forest degradation ) on insect population dynamics
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Thanks Jincai for your effort to help me. What I really is to have an idea about usually used metrics to measure landscape structure and composition when studying insects response to habitat anthropisation. Maybe you can have a good idea in this regard. aspect.
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I'm new to insect sampling and taxonomy. What is the best way to sample Mirids especially the species of Helopeltis in an island? Can anybody recommend a taxonomist of this genus to consult with?
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You are welcome. I'm sorry for replying late. My email ID: ajduarah@gmail.com
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Is it possible with spectophotometer.
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Dear colleague. It depends on the type of enzyme you are interested in. If you give more details perhaps I could give you some other opinion.