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Background Cixiidae are small strictly phytophagous hemipteran insects worldwide distributed. Ecology and systematics of Chinese fauna remains poorly investigated. For instance, does their distribution follows the patterns of biogeogaphical distribution established for their host plants or other related-taxa because they are all obligatory phytophagous taxa? Do they follow the usual distributional Chinese realms and boundaries already recognized? Which zoogeographical Chinese regions and connections between them do they depict. To investigate these issues, we provide here a referenced and comprehensive checklist of the 250 cixiid species currently reported from China (77 new records), with their precise distribution at the regional level. In the 8 Chinese main zoogeographical regions usually recognized and 2 adjacent areas, we analyzed further their diversity at the tribal, generic, and specific levels using a non-metric multidimensional scaling and an unweighted pairwise group analysis using an arithmetic mean cluster analyses. The observed distribution patterns shown that an intercalary Sino-Japanese realm is recognisable between the Palaearctic and Oriental realms. At the regional level, the South China region clusters more closely with the Southwest, Central and North China regions. Taiwan, clearly separated from the South China region and mainland China, is more closely related to the Qinghai-Tibet region and Indochina countries. Although Central and South China regions remain close to each other, the Qinghai-Tibet region appears singularly different. New information An updated checklist of the 250 Cixiidae species, known to occur in China and counting for 10% of the Chinese planthopper fauna, is presented based on literature, recent collections, and museum records. More than 400 records distributed among the 28 provinces and 8 regions in China are extensively provided, including 77 new records. Of these, more than 80% of the species (205 species, 82%) have been only reported from China, and most of them are endemic species, which could reflects the great diversity degree of the Chinese regions and local biotypes highlights the uniqueness of this fauna. These species are found in 8 Chinese zoogeographical regions: The Taiwan region is the most diversified with 161 species and the highest rate of endemic species (69.57%), followed by South China (78 species, 17.95%), Central China (60 species, 33.33%), Southwest China (43 species, 39.53%), North China (29 species, 34.48%), Qinghai-Tibet region (10 species, 20%), Northeast China (8 species, 12.5%), and 5 species found in the Inner Mongolia-Xinjiang region that are not endemic ones. Endemism was analyzed for each region and repeated for species distribution patterns across them, 9 being bi-regionally and tri-regionally distributed. The South China-Taiwan pattern is the most richest one, followed by the Central-South China-Taiwan pattern. Semonini and Pentastirini tribes are widespread among all the zoological regions, representing respectively 21.20% and 17.20% of all the species, while Cixiini being is the most common tribe with 45.20%, remains absent from the North-Eastern China region. Andini with only 5.20% of the species is distributed in the Sino-Japanese - Oriental Region; Eucarpini (6.40%) and Borysthenini (2.00%) are mainly concentrated in the south of the Qingling Mountain-Huai River. The remaining four tribes, Bennini (0.40%), Briixini (0.80%), Oecleini (1.20%) and Stenophlepsiini (0.40%) are relatively rare and restricted to Taiwan. At the generic level, Kuvera (7.2%) is the most widely distributed genus in China while Cixius, Betacixius, Kuvera, Oecleopsis and Andes are the more diversified. One genus (Oliparisca) is distributed only in the Tibet region, while 10 genera are distributed only in the Taiwan region. In addition, nearly half of the genera (16 genera, 48.48%) are distributed south of the Palearctic/Oriental boundary. A non-metric multidimensional scaling and an unweighted pairwise group method analysis using arithmetic mean clustering based on the Jaccard similarity coefficient matrix support a Palaearctic/Sino-Japanese boundary and a South China region closer to the Southwest, Central and North China regions. The Taiwan region appears clearly separated from the South China region and to mainland China, and more closely related to the Qinghai-Tibet region and Indochina countries. The Central and South China regions appear close to each other, but the Qinghai-Tibet region is singularly isolated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Entomopathogenic fungi (EPF) are suggested as a new class of alternates followed by Synthetic chemical control of the insect pests .Virulence of seven EPF isolates, four strains of Metarhizium {(Qin-08, Qin-13, Qin-18 and ME-38 (LT-178)}, two of Isaria {ME-33 (ILT-01), Yulin-5 (IYL-01)} and one of Beauveria bassiana (Qin-21) were assessed against the adults of Sitophilus oryzae under laboratory conditions, firstly at single conidial concentration (1x108 ml-1) by immersion and the food mix methods. Qin-21, ME-33 and Qin-18 caused significantly highest mortality of S.oryzae at immersion methods (100, 100 and 98%), followed by food mix method to 100, 84.16 and 91.66% respectively. Yulin-5 was the least effective, showing significantly the lowest mortality at food mixed (32.49%) and immersion methods (40.20%) respectively. Hence, the immersion method was found to be most effective, resulting the higher mortality rate of S. oryzae in comparison to food mix method, in all tested fungal isolates. Secondly, we screened out the most effective isolates for multiple dose comparison i.e., 1x104 to 1x107 conidia ml-1 by immersion method only. The isolate ME-33 resulted in 100% mortality of the pest at higher conidial dose as compared to Qin-21 and Qin-18 which showing 80 and 64.64% mortality respectively. The LT50 was observed to be 3.63, 4.17 and 8.58 days in ME-33, Qin-21 and Qin-18, respectively at the highest conidial concentration (1x107ml-1). ME-33 isolate with the highest mortality and lowest LT50 at conidial concentration 1x107 ml-1 proved to be most effective for the control of S. oryzae. So these fungal islotes could be a better alternative for the management of S. oryzae. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two new species (Kuvera huoditangensis sp. n. and Kuvera longwangshanensis sp. n.) in the family Cixiidae from China are described and illustrated. The generic characteristics are redefined. A checklist to all species of Kuvera worldwide and an identification key to the Chinese species are provided. A map of the geographic distribution of Kuvera species is also provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Entomopathogenic fungi are eco-friendly microbial pesticides to manage different insect pests of economic importance and as a substitute to conventional synthetic insecticides, present study evaluated pathogenicity of four indigenous (Chinese) fungal isolates, viz., Isaria fumosorosea (SP-535 Isolate), I. fumosorosea (G-800 Isolate), Beauveria bassiana (Y-132 Isolate) and Metarhizium anisopliae (Qin-13 Isolate) against green peach aphid, Myzus persicae and pea aphid, Acyrthosiphon pisum. The findings of pathogenicity revealed that I. fumosorosea (SP-535) isolate caused relatively the highest mortality (96.65%) of M. persicae followed by 90.00% in A. pisum at highest dose rate (1x108) whilst I. fumosorosea (G-800) strain showed less mortality potential with values of 88.85 and 84.45% against M. persicae (88.85%) and A. pisum (84.45%) at highest dose rate (1x108) at 25°C. B. bassiana (Y-132) isolate caused 82.21 and 81.10% mortality against M. persicae and A. pisum, respectively, Least mortality rates of 39.88% and 36.78% in M. persicae and A. pisum respectively were caused by M. anisopliae (Qin-13 Isolate) at 20°C. Further, I. fumosorosea isolates was comparatively more virulent than other isolates and M. persicae was found more susceptible to all four fungal isolates than A. pisuam. Pathogenicity of tested fungal isolates was highest at 25°C than on 20 and 30°C. It is concluded that these fungal isolates have a good potential to be developed as new bio-pesticides. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The adult female of a new species of soft scale Saissetia puerensis Zhang & Feng, sp. n. is described and illustrated from the genus Saissetia Deplanche, 1859. This species was collected on Lithocarpus uvariifolius (Hance) in Yunnan province, China. A key is provided to separate adult females of all Saissetia species known from China. A table is provided showing the distribution of Saissetia in various zoogeographical regions throughout the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Heat shock proteins (Hsps) are prominent proteins that greatly contribute to insect survival under stress conditions. In this study, we cloned two Hsp transcripts (Aohsp70 and Aohsp90) from the grass thrip, Anaphothrips obscurus (Müller) (Thysanoptera: Thripidae), which is a polymorphic winged pest of corn and wheat. The cDNA sequences of Aohsp70 and Aohsp90 are 2382 and 2504 bp long, and encode proteins with calculated molecular weights of 70.02 kDa and 83.40 kDa, respectively. Aohsp90 was highly expressed in adults of both brachypters and macropters. Aohsp70 had different expression patterns in brachypters and macropters and was also highly expressed in the pupae of macropters. After adults were exposed to an ascending series of heat shocks, the expression of both Aohsp70 and Aohsp90 were up-regulated. In macropters and brachypters, the maximum induced levels of Aohsp70 (approximately 90-fold and 280-fold, respectively) were higher than Aohsp90 (approximately 2.4-fold and 1.8-fold, respectively). In addition, the up-regulation of Aohsp70 was significantly higher in brachypters than in macropters. Brachypters had a significantly higher Ltem50 (43.2°C) than macropters (42.5°C), which implied that brachypters are more tolerant to thermal stress than macropters. This study has shown that the expression patterns of Aohsp70 and Aohsp90 are variable among different life stages and thermal stress induced different levels of expressions in macropterous and brachypterous adults. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Beauveria, Metarhizium and Isaria are among the genera of well studied entomopathogenic fungi (EPFs) and has been widely formulated as mycoinsecticides. We quantified the virulence of six different isolates, two of each Beauveria, Metarhizium and Isaria spp. against 4th to 5th instar yellow mealworm, Tenebrio molitor larvae and described the early infection process and aspects of the host enzymatic immune response. We found that, Qin-21 (B. bassiana) and YYC-091 (M. robertsii) were among the most virulent isolates of all in order with LD50 of 9.12x104 and 3.4x105 conidia/g and Mean Survival Time (MST) of 3.44 ± 0.04 and 4.33 ±0.07 days at 2x108 conidia/g for respective treatments, whereas BSH-03 (B. asiatica) was the least virulent of all with LD50 of 4.1x107 conidia/g. Scanning electron microscopy revealed that Qin-21 and YY C-091 have comparatively faster germination rate within 12 h followed by vigorous extension of germ tube for later one within 24h. Furthermore, peroxidase (POD) and carboxylesterase (CarE) enzyme activity were inhibited throughout the infection period (POD, P<0.01) by the most virulent isolate Qin-21. Elevated catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione S-transferase (GST), alkaline phosphatase (AKP) for all the treatments implies the host's response for the oxidative stress because of infection. This research provides new insights into the pathogenicity and correlation of potential host physiological response to different fungal isolates with varying degree of virulence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Glutathione S-transferases (GSTs) in insects are widely known for their role in the detoxification of both endogenous and xenobiotic compounds. Grape phylloxera, Daktulosphaira vitifoliae (Fitch) (Hemiptera: Phylloxeridae) is a serious grape pest, which causes great economic damage in vineyards, and has currently spread throughout the world. In this study, eight putative GST genes were identified by analyzing the transcriptomes of grape phylloxera. Phylogenetic analyses showed that there are seven cytosolic DviGSTs and one microsomal DviGST. These cytosolic DviGSTs are clustered into four different classes including two delta genes, one omega gene, one theta gene, and three sigma genes. Among candidate cytosolic DviGSTs, a conserved N-terminal domain and a less conserved C-terminal domain were identified. For the candidate microsomal DviGST, three transmembrane regions were predicted. Multiple sequence alignment analysis of the candidate microsomal DviGST was conducted with other insect microsomal GSTs and the result showed that there is a conserved sequence pattern. Semiquantitative polymerase chain reaction was used to examine the tissue expression of these transcripts, and the results revealed that DviGSTs were ubiquitously expressed in the head and the body, but DviGSTd1, DviGSTd2, DviGSTs2, and DviGSTs3 were abundantly expressed in the head and body. This is the first study of the molecular characteristics of GST genes in grape phylloxera. Our results will provide a molecular basis for future studies of the detoxification mechanisms in grape phylloxera. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In insects, odorant-binding proteins (OBPs) and chemosensory proteins (CSPs) are primary peripheral olfactory proteins playing critical roles in odorant detection. In this study, we present the first identification of OBPs and CSPs from the transcriptome of grape phylloxera Daktulosphaira vitifoliae Fitch, an important pest that damages both roots and leaves of grapes. The OBPs contained six conserved cysteine residues and the CSPs contained four conserved cysteine residues in this insect. Phylogenetic analysis showed that most of the olfactory proteins were closely related to OBPs and CSPs from other aphids. However, DviOBP7 and DviCSP9 were different because they were classified into different independent branches, respectively. Real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was used to examine the tissue expression of these transcripts. DviOBPI, DviOBPS, and DviOBP7 were uniquely or primarily expressed in antennae and not in the body. DviOBP2 was more abundantly expressed in the body than in the antennae. The expression levels of OBPs and CSPs of phylloxera varied depending upon where they were expressed in different body tissues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stenchaetothrips gaomiaoensis sp. nov. is described from bamboo in southwestern China. Stenchaetothrips bambusicola Mound 2011, collected from Poaceae grasses, is newly recorded from China. An identification key to the twenty-one species of Stenchaetothrips from China is also provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ctenothrips niger Kudô, collected from Ailao Mountain, is a newly recorded species in China. Both males and females were collected. The male of the species is herein described and illustrated in detail for the first time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new species of soft scale, Coccus multisetus Wang & Feng, sp. n. is described and illustrated from Yunnan, China. A key to adult females of all Coccus known from China is provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prior to this study, only Megapulvinaria maxima (Green) was known from China. However, a new species M. beihaiensis Wang & Feng, sp. n. is described below and M. maxima is redescribed. A key is provided for the five species now placed in this genus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new species of armored scale, Pseudaulacaspis zhenyuanensis Wei & Feng, sp. n. is described and illustrated from specimens collected on Spermadictyon suaveolens in China. A key to armored scale species known from China is provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two new species of armored scale, Megacanthaspis hangzhouensis Wei & Feng, sp. n. and M. hainanensis Wei & Feng, sp. n. are described and illustrated from specimens collected from China. A key to adult female of Megacanthaspis species is provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Echinothrips americanus Morgan, an invasive pest on various ornamentals and greenhouse crops, was introduced into mainland China recently, posing a potential threat to ornamentals and greenhouse crops. It exhibits two different reproductive modes: arrhenotokous parthenogenesis and sexual reproduction. Laboratory studies were conducted to compare the developmental and reproductive biology of E. americanus in these two reproductive modes. Results showed that the oviposition period, and longevity of female adults using sexual reproduction were longer than those using parthenogenesis. Furthermore, sexual female adults had higher fecundity and survival rates. However, no significant differences were found among immature stages in the durations of first and second instars, prepupae, and pupae between the two reproductive modes, with the exception of the duration of the egg stadium. The survival rates for eggs and first and second instars were higher in sexual E. americanus whereas there were no survival differences for prepupae and pupae. These results provide valuable insights into the mechanisms of parthenogenesis and sex determination in Thysanoptera. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]