Lepidoptera - Science topic

Antonio Vives Moreno

Please see the link

Hope this helps.

Dear Klaus,

Indeed, the fact that Simplicula is an unpublished manuscript name takes it out of consideration as a potential senior homonym. In this age of automated databases, it did not help that the name proliferated on the Internet yet nobody took the time to verify its validity.

This has been fun.

Julian

Thank you, Soumik. I am looking for the above-mentioned specific paper.

Best regards

Abas

what about the Lepidoptere Phyllonorycter platani?

Hi Ash; What are the environmental conditions for rearing? Sounds like you are really serious about these moths in you have multiple generations at hand.

Manduca lays its eggs on my tomatoes. Murder is the only recourse in So. Calif.

In the 1970s I and a couple of students did a project on the thermal biology of Hyles lineata. George Bartholomew and Bernd Heinrich (then a grad student) provides some data and advice to the effort. Many warm nights in the desert poking moths and attracting police. Never published it, but it was good stuff.

Cheers, Jim Des Lauriers

Hola Jose, puedo recomendarte a alguien.

No puedo abrir el archivo para verlo, seguimos por e-mail

Mis saludos.

Dear Siam,

I'm afraid I haven't come across allometry for such cases. In general allometry is used to scale between mammalian species (or individual of different sizes for pediatric applications).

The general idea is that flows (clearance) scales with a factor of about 0.75, so this applies also to dose (which is expected to be a function of clearance). So it follows a relationship of a*BW^0.75.

In absolute terms you could apply the formula with the weight of any species / individual. However, I suspect that the empirical principles mainly established between mammals may not apply to invertebrates.

To note that even between more similar species like mammals allometry does not always work well.

Out of curiosity, how do you apply drugs in insects? Can you actually apply orally or how it it done?

Dear Jorge, the following publications may be helpful:

1) Lepidoptera_Puerto Rico

Moths see https://mothphotographersgroup.msstate.edu/AC-PR/ACchecklist.shtml;

Butterflies s. Ramos (1996)

2) Arthropda Hispaniola

see Perez-Gelabert (2020): Checklist, Bibliography and Quantitative Data of the Arthropods of Hispaniola

3) Insect taxonomical bibliography Puerto Rico - see file!

Wirh kind regards / Saludos

Juergen

The horn is absolutely not for defense. I’ve tried super hard to get hurt on the horn but the horn does nothing at all. It’s too floppy to do anything defense-related. I’m guessing it has something to do with sensory functions or tricking predators. This would be a cool capstone research project for anyone interested!

Dear Julius, this is really detective work and thank you very much for the help! Guess these two institutions may hold the key to solve this: either one of them or both!

Please take a look at

I use indicator silica gel inside small plastic containers that can be sealed (for katydids, abdomen content replaced by cotton and enwrapped in toilet paper). The silica gel (blue when dry, pinkish with accumulated moisture) can easily be dried in a small saucepan on a stove or open fire. I keep using the same silica gel for many years.

Larvae of Lepidoptera they have well developed head capsule, 3 pairs of thoracic leg and 3-5 abdominal leg; Duster headless and legless; Coleopyeta well develped.head capsule and only three pairs of thoracic leg; Hymenopteta well developed head capsule. Three pairs of thoracic legs and greater than five pairs of abdominal leg.

I suggest that you find a wild population that was never sprayed with insecticides. This will be your reference population. You will be able to compare the relative resistance of other populations suspected to be resistant to the reference (=wild) population throughout time (= different months or years) and space (=different localities). See attached file.

Hi Dr Wanzhen Liu . I hope the following link could help:

As far as the traps concern I recommend using completely randomized block design in setting your traps.

As for surveying the Lymantria dispar, my suggestion is to go for line transects.

As for burlap issue, I would suggest to go for some baits in parallel.

Generally, occurrence of arthropods infesting various commodities may be associated with allergens (see review by Hubert et al., 2018). For Lepidoptera allergens consult Hoflehner et al ( 2012) who stated : “Historically, that moths cause inhalant allergies had been reported as early as 1928 by Vaughan [6]. In the following decades, there have been occasional case reports on bronchial asthma caused by moths, such as by the clothes moth Tineola bisselliella in an infested home [7] or the wax moth Galleria mellonella in a company producing fish bait [8]. More recently, IgE immunoblots of clothes moth [9] or silkworm moth [10] demonstrated specific IgE against moth antigens” Hoflehner et al. 2012 “Thioredoxin from moths (Plodia interpunctella) like Plo i 1 acts like a classical Type I allergen as do the thioredoxins from wheat or corn. This clearly supports the pan-allergen nature of thioredoxin. The designation Plo i 2 is suggested for the new P. interpunctella allergen.”

Hubert J et al., 2018. Health Hazards Associated with Arthropod Infestation of Stored Products. Annual Review of Entomology 2018 63:1, 553-573

Hoflehner E, et al. (2012) Thioredoxin from the Indianmeal Moth Plodia interpunctella: Cloning and Test of the Allergenic Potential in Mice. PLoS ONE 7(7): e42026. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0042026

Agree with Houda Kawas

Hello José:

I use Led black light to monitor Coleoptera (Melolonthidae) and Lepidoptera with great success. The advantage of led light is that it consumes much less energy and the 12 volt battery lasts longer (8 hours) one night. The largest catch in one night were 10,000 individuals of Phyllophaga, Cyclocephala, Anomla and Plectris among other orders and families.

Dear Munira Nasiruddin,

Dear colleagues,

We kindly suggest, prior to providing your answers in this discussion, to read about results of the most recent study (attached above and in the current message). Do you know anything smaller among Lepidoptera than is mentioned in the paper? Let us know please if you possess such info. We can expect that there might be many more extremely small species in the tropics and subtropics.

So far, the minimal recorded forewing length was found to be around 1.2–1.3 mm and the wingspan around 2.6–2.8 mm in two families, the Gracillaridae and Nepticulidae. Among Lepidoptera, the following species have the smallest moths globally: the European Johanssoniella acetosae (Stainton), the Peruvian Simplimorpha kailai Stonis & Diškus, the Mexican Stigmella maya Remeikis & Stonis, the Mediterranean S. diniensis (Klimesh), the Mediterranean Parafomoria liguricella (Klimesh) (Nepticulidae), the South East Asian Porphyrosela alternata Kumata, and the Central African P. desmodivora De Prins (Gracillariidae) (see Stonis et al. 2021).

Kind regards,

Andrius

Cerretti, Tschorsnig, Lopresti, Di Giovanni. (2012). MOSCHweb — a matrix-based interactive key to the genera of the Palaearctic Tachinidae (Insecta, Diptera). ZooKeys 205: 5–18. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.205.3409. Interactive key to the genera of the Palaearctic Tachinidae (Insecta: Diptera).

Tschorsnig, H. -P. , Herting, B., Raper, C. M., Rayner, R. 2002. The Tachinids (Diptera: Tachinidae) of Central Europe: Identification Keys for the Species and Data on Distribution. English Translation by Chris Rapper. If you write Chris Rapper he can send you the key. There you can find the known hosts of most of the species.

Thank you very much Babu

DearHanamant Gadad

I've used for other insects ethanol

Regards, Sergey Viktorovich Pushkin

es

Dear Felipe, Thank you very much.

Elaheh Daghighi Dear professor, thank you very much for your answer. I wasn't aware of their work. I am going to read their researches and try to communicate with the professors.

Hello Ádám Gór . As far as I know, you are right. Gonepteryx rhamni usually mate in spring after hibernation. Although, especially in colder regions mating can take place a little bit later in the year. Furthermore, if I remember correctly, it is possible that this species has more than one generation per year, even though this is quite rare.

Best regards

Paul

I would highly recommend to anyone interested in tectonic calibration to read 'Molecular Panbiogeography of the Tropics" (2012) and 'Biogeography of Australasia' (2014) as starting points. These books include hundreds of examples of tectonic correlation with extensive integration of phylogeny for an immense range of animal and plant groups, and also presents a critical account of the issues in molecular calibration. This is just the tip of the iceberg. As for molecular rates of divergence, there seem to be all sorts of models so you take your pick - assuming there is a molecular clock in any meaningful sense. Some have objected to tectonic calibration where it provides ages for a subclade that would then push the larger clade back into e.g. the pre-Cambrian. Of course they never consider that perhaps their clock model is erroneous. Primates provide an excellent example for tectonic correlation with group after group of distributions corresponding to major tectonic events of Mesozoic and Cenozoic time. Some molecular researchers fall back on the mystical 'I can't believe it' when tectonic ages considerably predate the oldest fossil, but other molecular researchers are quite happy when their fossil calibrated estimates considerably predate the oldest fossils. There is a lot of waffle thinking out there, but the fact is that the vast array of modern life shows tectonic correspondence with Mesozoic tectonics. That is the great reality. Fossil-calibrated molecular clocks were widely proclaimed to falsify that, but it was all smoke and mirrors.

You can use Ynject that is an innovative application device for the treatment of trees, composed of a connector and a pressurised bottle. It contains a water solution to which the required dose of plant health product can be added for injection into the trunk. for more details check this website: https://www.fertinyect.com/

Hi, https://www.researchgate.net/deref/http%3A%2F%2Fdepts.washington.edu%2Ftaneli%2Ftaneli%2Fprocedure%2FDNA_extract.PDF or

You can try a nested PCR to confirm and validate.

I agree with Andrew Paul McKenzie Pegman

black is the best netting trap

Papilio s.l. is monophyletic, and Heraclides & Pterourus s.l. are monophyletic sister groups each containing several subclades which are themselves sister to most of the Old World Papilio taxa. There are also some Old World groups, Chilasa and Agehana, within Pterourus s.l. as discussed by Wu et al. (2015), although they regard Chilasa as sister to Pterourus rather than within it.

However, in my opinion, treating them all as separate genera, both from each other and Papilio, only hides the innate close relationship between the taxa when compared to other genera within Papilionidae. I feel that taxonomists need to be aware that splitting at genus level hides useful information for the non-expert end-users of the genus + species name we provide them with as a result of our analyses. Most ecologists etc etc who want to use the names in their own studies won't immediately know which species are closely related if they are overly split at genus level. I would prefer to regard them all as belonging to genus Papilio and use the relevant 'subgenus' name in parenthesis after the genus name to provide more useful information. This is basically the approach adopted by Wu et al. (2015), who also treat all the species as belonging to genus Papilio, but there is a choice to be made between synomymising Agehana within Pterourus or keeping it as a separate subgenus and splitting the troilus and glaucus clades as separate subgenera.

Season's Greetings everyone,

Adam.

Here is a list of a few papers by an entomologist in my state, sorry I did not have time to locate the url's of each but they should not be hard to find:

Kornev, K. G. & P. H. Adler. 2016. The butterfly proboscis as a fiber-based, self-cleaning, micro-fluidic system. International Society for Optics and Photonics SPIE Newsroom. 10.1117/2.1201603.006419/ (2 pp.) [Invited].

Kornev, K. G., D. Monaenkova, P. H. Adler, C. E. Beard & W.-K. Lee. 2016. The butterfly proboscis as a fiber-based, self-cleaning, micro-fluidic system. In R. J. Martín-Palma (ed.) Bioinspiration, Biomimetics, and Bioreplication. Proceedings of the International Society for Optics and Photonics 9797 (979705). 10 pp. Doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1117/12.2218941 [Invited].

Kornev, K. G., A. A. Salamatin, P. H. Adler & C. E. Beard. 2017. Structural and physical determinants of the proboscis–sucking pump complex in the evolution of fluid-feeding insects. Scientific Reports 7: Doi: 10.1038/s41598-017-06391-w

Kwauk, K., D. K. Hasegawa, M. S. Lehnert, C. E. Beard, P. D. Gerard, K. G. Kornev & P. H. Adler. 2014. Drinking with an unsealed tube: fluid uptake along the butterfly proboscis. Annals of the Entomological Society of America 107: 886-892.

Lehnert, M.S., D. Monaenkova, T. Andrukh, C. E. Beard, P. H. Adler & K. G. Kornev. 2013. Hydrophobic-hydrophilic dichotomy of the butterfly proboscis. Journal of the Royal Society Interface. [Featured in Science News].

Lehnert, M. S., C. E. Beard, P. D. Gerard, K. G. Kornev & P. H. Adler. 2016. Structure of the lepidopteran proboscis in relation to feeding guild. Journal of Morphology 277: 167-182.

You can see

Denis Thiery Agreed sir with your above statement and I have sent you the mentioned file,,

This is not exactly what you are looking for, but it is worth pointing out that when pinning fresh male specimens of some groups of larger Lepidoptera, it is possible to gently pull on the valves one at a time using fine forceps, so that the genitalia are almost fully exposed, showing most of the diagnostic features, and they can then be dried in that position - using pins to hold the valves apart if you wish. It is a delicate task, so practice on less valuable specimens first. I have used this extensively with Hesperiidae, but also with Noctuoidea, and it subsequently facilitates the rapid checking of genitalia for diagnostic features or individual variation without dissection. You can also do this with specimens when fresh before being dried for storage in envelopes; although the valves tend not to stay open much remains visible, making subsequent examination without spreading the specimen much easier.

Dear Jia, thank you for reply, I will look for that book. Best regards!

Thank you.

Indeed, from a freshly pupated specimen one can not investigate the genital organs because they haven't formed yet. But shortly before the imago hatches these organs are completely developed and can be studied without any problems.

Yes. This is one of the species of feeding leaves Spodoptera frugiperdaas

Yes I understand that, thank you for an advice. Best wishes.

While installing a light trap, environmental

conditions, trap design, height of the light source and attraction

radii of the light source must be taken into the consideration.

LIGHT TRAP AND INSECT SAMPLING: AN OVERVIEW. Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/328576875_LIGHT_TRAP_AND_INSECT_SAMPLING_AN_OVERVIEW [accessed Mar 17 2019].

I am afraid it is not legal to copy this content from Google due to the copyrights.

Try different browser (e.g. Chrome or Edge) - to me it works.

Thanks Keith! However, I might disagree about presence of this organ's being a rule rather than an exception in Lepidoptera. Perhaps this is only semantics, but it only occurs more frequently in Papilionoidea + Macroheterocera (yet not in,e.g. Bombycoidea, Lasiocampoidea, Mimallonoidea, Calliduloidea etc- thus even there it hardly is a rule, even if found in about half of the superfamilies (or only some representatives of them). Outside Macheterocera+Papilionoidea it is only known in some families in Yponomeutoidea which form only a tiny fraction of non-Macroheteroceran family-level diversity. I dare to believe that in Yponomeutoidea its development has little to do with the organ of other groups - were its function the same or not. The location for such a gland is good: in a soft membrane between head and 1st thoracic segment which can also be kept hidden or be protruded when in need.

I can think of two options:

1. Cages that are large enough to prevent monkeys reaching in and with a large enough mesh to allow butterflies in

2. Placing the traps in locations inaccessible to monkeys (out on small islands or on posts driven into pond beds.

I wonder if there are predator scents that might repel monkeys? We used coyote urine to reduce squirrel numbers. But even that did not eliminate them.

The caterpillar of the last photo is of Euthrix potatoria (Lasiocampidae).

Dear Fatemeh,

besides Lepidoptera the other group with well studied sperm dimorphism are the prosobranch gastropods. My studies of Serpulorbis strongly suggest, that the "atypical" spermatozoa supply (or are) nutrition to the typical spermatozoa (which are the regular, fertile spermatozoa). There might be some similarity in your objects of research.

Pericyma cruegeri

Wing venation is mostly used in distinguishing genera, tribes, etc, not species. In describing species, if one places it in a genus, it automatically means that the wing venation is described under the generic description, so there is no need to repeat it in the species description, although some authors routinely show wing venation, leg structure as well as male and female genitalia while describing new species. The important thing is to clearly show the feature that distinguishes the new taxon from known taxa, whether this is genitalia, wing venation, leg structure, palpi or anything else.

Well friends, finally we've received the specimens. After genitalia dissection we can confirm the identity of this species as Opogona sacchari (Bojer) (Tineidae:Hieroxestinae).

Fortunately, the genitalia of both sexes have good diagnostic characters.

I would like to thank you for your opinions and discussions on this topic.

See you soon.

Dear Vaclav Stejskal

Hi Pier,

I did it this way, and works.

I suppose the article is referring to Micropterigidae (Dettner & Peters, 2003). Those are somewhat archaic (mandibules in the adults, no proboscis) and have functional mandibules in the pupa stage (decticous). These families include excarate or decticous pupae (Westheide & Rieger, 2006): Micropterigidae, Eriocraniidae, Acanthopteroctetidae, and others.

Further literature:

ISBN: 9780521113892

Dear Toshio:

I would like to get a PDF copy of your DNA sequences paper. Could you please send me a copy through my personal messenger mail of Research Gate ?

Thak you.

Look at the Material and Methods section. Perhaps it could help?

Best,

Guy

Dear Rudolf,

I'm working on project with there fibers and I have contact with animals only while taking fiber from nests. I will try with protective colthing with membrane.

Thanks to Muhammad F Chaudhury for providing me the full version of his article titled " Spermatogenesis and Testicular Development of the European Corn Borer, Ostrinia nubilalis (Lepidoptera: Pyraustidae)". In it he describes that in this insect the testis of late-instar larvae are yellow-orange colored, reniform and aprox. 1mm in size.

This information allowed me to identify them in Helicoverpa larvae.

Hello Massimo:

Most likely a sawfly Allantus nr. luctifer  (Hymenoptera;Tenthredinidae)

Regards,

Luis Miguel

Okey Sir. it means we can give the larval body length (which would be measured by the scale) as a scale bar for the thorax and abdominal segments. 

Dear Jatishwor:

Yes, It is Loepa katinka. The type locality of Loepa katinka is Assam, a state in northeastern India. Located south of the eastern Himalayas.  Your specimen is  from the Naga Hills  a district  of the Assam Province in northeastern India too.

According to Nässig & Treadaway (1988: 175)  the accepted type species of Loepa, Saturnia katinka Westwood, appeared to be based on a misidentification, and later (Nässig & Treadaway 1998: 389) noted that the accepted authorship of the genus, as Moore, 1860 in Horsfield & Moore, “1858–1859“, was incorrect. Nässig & Treadaway (1998) corrected the latter to Moore, 1859 but reserved resolving the apparent type species misidentification until a thorough literature study had been conducted and, if necessary, the case had been prepared for submission to the ICZN. 

Tuxen, S L (1970) Taxonomists Glossary of Genitalia in Insects, Lubrecht & Cramer Ltd. is a standard text. 

If you are still looking for specimens:

I have loads of fixed Trichoptera larvae. I may also have some adults in glutaraldehyde or formaldehyde, but I definitely have some in Ethanol, if that is fine, too.

Best regards

Beautiful, but I do not know, as I am specialized in the Asiatic Noctuidae, only. 

Dear Tharindu:

Your specimen belongs to the genus Tisis Walker, 1864 (Family Lecithoceridae). There is a similar species from Malaysia in this link http://flickrhivemind.net/Tags/lecithoceridae,moth/Interesting

Contact Kyu‐Tek PARK, Center for Insect Systematics, Kangwon National University, Chuncheon, Korea,  for identification at species level. He is doing the revision of Tisis.

Regards,

Luis Miguel

Dear Paola,

Is the moth from Colombia? I guess it is not going to be easy to get a reliable identification on the photo alone, but indeed the insect looks much alike the Ecuadorian one in the image linked by Chris!

Marisol:

Also have a look at this link for insights:

Best

Syed

Dear Ricardo,

you posted your question some months ago. Did you get what you needed, or do you still need the insects?

Regards

Epicallia villica (Arctia villica), fam. Erebidae (Arctiidae), regards,

Rinaldo Nicoli