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The carnation tortrix moth, Cacoecimorpha pronubana (Hübner, [1799]) (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae), is one of the most economically important insect species affecting the horticultural industry in the UK. The larvae consume foliage, flowers or fruits, and/or rolls leaves together with silken threads, negatively affecting the growth and/or aesthetics of the crop. In order to understand the polyphagous behaviour of this species within an ornamental crop habitat, we hypothesized that different host plant species affect its life history traits differently. This study investigated the effects of the host plant species on larval and pupal durations and sizes, and fecundity (the number of eggs and the number and size of egg clutches). At 20°C, 60% RH and a 16L:8D photoperiod larvae developed 10, 14, 20 and 36 days faster when reared on Christmas berry, Photinia (Rosaceae), than on cherry laurel, Prunus laurocerasus (Rosaceae), New Zealand broadleaf, Griselinia littoralis (Griseliniaceae), Mexican orange, Choisya ternata (Rutaceae), and firethorn, Pyracantha angustifolia (Rosaceae), respectively. Female pupae were 23.8 mg heavier than male pupae, and pupal weight was significantly correlated with the duration of larval development. The lowest and the highest mean numbers of eggs were produced by females reared on Pyracantha (41) and Photinia (202), respectively. Clutch size differed significantly among moths reared on different host plants, although the total number of eggs did not differ. This study showed that different ornamental host plants affect the development of C. pronubana differently. Improved understanding of the influence of host plant on the moth's life history parameters measured here will help in determining the economic impact that this species may have within the ornamental plant production environment, and may be used in developing more accurate crop protection methodologies within integrated pest management of this insect.

The insect ryanodine receptor (RyR) is a novel target of the anthranilic and phthalic insecticides, which have high activity against lepidopteran insects. Several diamide insecticides have been used to control pests in orchards in China. To enhance our understanding of the effects of diamides on RyRs, full-length cDNAs were isolated and characterized from the summer fruit tortrix moth, Adoxophyes orana, which is the most severe pest of stone and pome trees worldwide. In addition, the modulation of AoRyR mRNA expression by diamide insecticides was investigated. The AoRyR mRNA obtained had an open reading frame (ORF) of 15 402 bp nucleotides encoding 5 113 amino acids, and shared high and low identity with its orthologs in other insects and mammals of 77–92 and 45–47% identity, respectively. One alternative splice site with two exclusive exons was revealed in AoRyR (a/b). The usage of exon was more frequent in eggs and larvae than in pupae and adults. Quantitative real-time reverse transcription PCR (qRT-PCR) showed that AoRyR mRNA was expressed at all developmental stages, especially in eggs, male pupae and male adults. The expression levels of AoRyR mRNA in the whole body were up-regulated markedly after 3rd instar larvae were treated with chlorantraniliprole at LC10, LC20 and LC50 dosages. The results could provide the basis for further functional studies of AoRyR and for the development of new chemicals with selective activity against insects.

BACKGROUND Captures of codling moth, Cydia pomonella (L.), in traps are used to establish action thresholds and time insecticide sprays. The need for frequent trap inspections in often remote orchards has created a niche for remote sensing smart traps. A smart trap baited with a five‐component pheromone‐kairomone blend was evaluated for codling moth monitoring among an assemblage of other nontargets in apple and pear orchards. RESULTS Codling moth captures did not differ between the smart trap and a standard trap when both were checked manually. However, the correlation between automatic and manual counts of codling moth in the smart traps was low, R 2 = 0.66 ÷ 0.87. False‐negative identifications by the smart trap were infrequent, Cydia pomonella monitoring with smart traps baited with pheromone‐kairomone lures enabled remote detection of the target species, but also of other pests, including Grapholita molesta, Synanthedon myopaeformis, and Cacoecimorpha pronubana. © 2021 The Authors. Pest Management Science published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Chemical Industry.

Long-term pest insect monitoring in agriculture and forestry has advanced population ecology. However, the discontinuation of research materials such as pheromone lure products jeopardizes data collection continuity, which constrains the utilization of the industrial datasets in ecology. Three pheromone lures against the smaller tea tortrix moth Adoxophyes honmai Yasuda (Lepidoptera; Tortricidae) were available but one was recently discontinued. Hence, a statistical method is required to convert data among records of moths captured with different lures. We developed several generalized additive mixed models (GAMM) separating temporal fluctuation in the background male density during trapping and attenuation of lure attractiveness due to aging or air exposure after settlement. We collected multisite trap data over four moth generations. The lures in each of these were unsealed at different times before trap settlement. We used cross-validation to select the model with the best generalization performance. The preferred GAMM had nonlinear density fluctuation terms and lure attractiveness decreased exponentially after unsealing. The attenuation rates varied among lures. A light trap dataset near the pheromone traps was a candidate for a male density predictor. Nevertheless, there was only a weak correlation between trap yields, suggesting the difficulty of data conversion between the traps differing in attraction mechanisms.

One of the possible consequences of climate change is a change in the demographic dynamics of phyllophagous insects. For a retrospective analysis of this dynamics, tree rings are used, especially in regions with limited documentary data. Due to the complex nature of the factors determining tree growth, in order to more clearly identify pest-induced defoliation in tree-ring chronologies one suppress the climatic signal expressed directly or indirectly (through chronologies of non-host tree species). However, in South Siberia, the choice of non-host species is hampered by the wide distribution of polyphages, like the gypsy moth (Lymantria dispar Linnaeus) and the Siberian silk moth (Dendrolimus sibiricus Tsch.). Therefore, the analysis of pest outbreaks in larch forests of the Republic of Tuva low mountains was started by removing the climatic response based on instrumental data, identifying depressions in the residual time-series of individual tree radial growth at several sites, and comparing them with available actual data on forest damage by phyllofages. Dendroclimatic analysis showed that the model including the precipitation-to-maximum-temperature ratio for June-September of the previous season and June of the current year, i.e. the degree of aridity during the previous and current growing season, describes 43.7% of the regional variation in the growth of Siberian larch (Larix sibirica Ledeb.). After removal of this component, several periods of larch growth depression were revealed during confirmed outbreaks of the Siberian silk moth, gypsy moth, and larch tortrix (Zeiraphera diniana Gn.). The use of documented data over 1998–2016 allowed to clarify the threshold values of the portion of affected trees for intensities of the growth depression ranging 1–1.5 standard deviations, providing the required reliability of the outbreak reconstruction. The dependence of the spatio-temporal patterns of growth depression on the pest species was revealed, reflecting their migration in the affected area. It has been shown that growth depressions may be delayed compared with the actual damage by pests due to the long recovery after recurrent defoliation.

Forest land has a vital role in our planet ecosystem health. Forest areas are under natural and human pressure worldwide. Pests may have irreparable damages to vegetation cover; Tortrix viridana is one of the most important pests in the western forests of Iran and is mainly hosted by oak trees. In this study the performance of Sentinel-2 images to detect infected oaks by T. viridana in the Zagros forest habitat was considered. Vegetation indices (VIs) were extracted from affected and non-affected areas by T. viridana. The indices indices included normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), soil-adjusted vegetation index (SAVI), infrared percentage vegetation index (IPVI) and inverted red-edge chlorophyll index (IRECI) which were extracted from Sentinel-2 satellite images. The results of the present study show that VIs in affected and non-affected areas of the study site have significant differences at 99% of confidence level. In addition, the Spearman’s correlation coefficients between the VIs values in the affected and non-affected were 0.213, 0.213, 0.168 and 0.121 for IPVI, NDVI, IRECI and SAVI, respectively. This shows that Sentinel-2 images can be used to detect pests in forest areas.

Insecticides are extensively used worldwide to kill insect pests, yet organisms are most often exposed to insecticides at sublethal concentrations. Our understanding of sublethal effects on life histories is needed to predict the impact of insecticides on population dynamics and improve insecticide use and pest control. Sublethal concentrations can impact life histories directly and indirectly through changes in the intraspecific competition. Yet, few studies have evaluated the sublethal effects on intraspecific competition and these do not disentangle the insecticide effects on interference competition versus exploitative competition. As such, sublethal effects on the relative contribution of each pathways in shaping life histories are largely unknown, despite the fact that this can impact population dynamics. In this study, we focused on the neurotoxic insecticide spinosad and investigated its sublethal effects on interference among the aggressive larvae of the tortrix moth Adoxophyes honmai and the consequences for life histories. We conducted a set of paired experiments to disentangle the insecticide effects on interference from the ones on exploitation. Spinosad was found to amplify interference with most effects on mortality which lets us suggest that the insecticide likely increases the level of aggressive interactions resulting in more conspecific killings (e.g. cannibalism). Spinosad exposure was found to impair movement ability. Less movements may increase susceptibility to conspecific attacks and or increase aggresivity for better defence, two plausible mechanisms that could explain the increase in interference with insecticide. This study shows that insecticide at sublethal concentration can impact life histories by altering the strength of interference competition. Many organisms (pest and non-target species) compete through interference and theory predicts that a change in interference can substantially change dynamics. Our finding therefore reveals the importance of assessing the effect of insecticides on the mechanisms of competition when predicting their impact on populations.

Wolbachia are inherited intracellular bacteria that cause male-specific death in some arthropods, called male-killing. To date, three Wolbachia strains have been identified in the oriental tea tortrix Homona magnanima (Tortricidae, Lepidoptera); however, none of these caused male-killing in the Japanese population. Here, we describe a male-killing Wolbachia strain in Taiwanese H. magnanima. From field-collected H. magnanima, two female-biased host lines were established, and antibiotic treatments revealed Wolbachia (wHm-t) as the causative agent of male-killing. The wsp and MLST genes in wHm-t are identical to corresponding genes in the nonmale-killing strain wHm-c from the Japanese population, implying a close relationship of the two strains. Crossing the Japanese and Taiwanese H. magnanima revealed that Wolbachia genotype rather than the host genetic background was responsible for the presence of the male-killing phenotype. Quantitative PCR analyses revealed that the density of wHm-t was higher than that of other Wolbachia strains in H. magnanima, including wHm-c. The densities of wHm-t were also heterogeneous between host lines. Notably, wHm-t in the low-density and high-density lines carried identical wsp and MLST genes but had distinct lethal patterns. Furthermore, over 90% of field-collected lines of H. magnanima in Taiwan were infected with wHm-t, although not all host lines harboring wHm-t showed male-killing. The host lines that showed male-killing harbored a high density of Wolbachia compared to the host lines that did not show male-killing. Thus, the differences in the phenotypes appear to be dependent on biological and genetic characteristics of closely related Wolbachia strains.

The smaller tea tortrix, Adoxophyes honmai Yasuda (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae), is one of the main insect pests of tea, Camellia sinensis Kuntz, in Japan. Recently, A. honmai has developed a high resistance to diacylhydrazine analog insect growth regulators, such as tebufenozide, in Shizuoka Prefecture. Previously, we identified a point mutation (A415V) in the ecdysone receptor gene (EcR), a candidate factor responsible for tebufenozide resistance. In this study, we have developed a molecular method of diagnosis to detect the EcR A415V mutation by polymerase chain reaction–restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR–RFLP). This method was confirmed to be successfully applicable to larvae reared in the laboratory and adults collected by pheromone traps in the field. The appearance ratio of the resistant allele in the A. honmai populations from various Japanese districts examined by the method revealed a high correlation with the magnitude of tebufenozide resistance. These results verified that the A415V mutation is the principal factor responsible for tebufenozide resistance and the PCR–RFLP method may be used as a reliable and convenient tool for monitoring tebufenozide resistance in the field.

Simple Summary Hylotelephium spectabile (Saxifragales, Crassulaceae), a widespread ornamental plant was found infested by larvae of Cacoecimorpha pronubana (Lepidoptera, Tortricidae) a highly polyphagous pest of a wide range of crop, as well as ornamental plants. To the best of our knowledge, this finding suggests that H. spectabile should be considered a new host plant for C. pronubana. Moreover, molecular characterization of the Greek pest population place it along with European species clade. Abstract Cacoecimorpha pronubana (Hübner) (Lepidoptera, Tortricidae) is a highly polyphagous pest of a wide range of crop and ornamental plants. It is of Mediterranean origin and widespread in European and Mediterranean Plant Protection Organization (EPPO) region. For the first time, infestations of Hylotelephium spectabile (Boreau) Ohba (syn.: Sedum spectabile Boreau) (Saxifragales, Crassulaceae) ornamental plants by C. pronubana larvae, in private gardens in urban area of Drama, Greece, were found. Species identification was conducted based on morphology of female genitalia. In addition, due to reports on occurrence of cryptic C. pronubana species within Europe, DNA barcoding was carried out to determine the molecular status of the pest. This communication reports a new host of C. pronubana and places the Greek pest population along with European species clade.

The dominant pests in the apple and plum cenoses are representatives of the tortrix family (Tortricidae) on the apple - the codling moth (Cydia pomonella L.), on the plum - the plum moth (Grapholitha funebrana Mats.), which develop in the region of southern Russia in three full generations. The loss of yield from the vital activity of these phytophages can reach 60-80%. It has been established that the inclusion of a 2-fold application of the insecticide Insegar, WDG in the apple and plum protection system allows preserving 98.9% of apple fruits and 94.6-99.2% of plum fruits. The stimulating effect of the use of insecticides of the juvenile group on the agrobiological indicators of the apple-tree variety Golden Reinders and the plum Kabardinskaya early was revealed, namely, the increase in the length of the one-year growth. It has been proven that the double application of Insegar, WDG in apple and plum plantations does not lead to violation of hygienic standards for the content of fenoxycarb in soil and fruits.

Oaks are one of the most important and most common deciduous tree species in the forests of Central Europe, accounting for 10% of the total area. However, due to progressive global warming, the oak is increasingly exposed to biotic and abiotic stressors. In addition to drought and heat, thermophilic herbivorous insects are also a challenge for the oaks. During studies on the green oak leaf roller (Tortrix vidiana L.) in North Rhine-Westphalia (Germany), differences in the infestation intensity of individual oaks by this herbivorous moth were found, which led to a definition of tolerant (T-oaks, little defoliated) and susceptible (S-oaks, heavily defoliated) oaks. To validate results from conducted biochemical and molecular studies, ethological studies were carried out with the specialist Tortrix viridana (2013) and the generalist Lymantria dispar L. (gypsy moth) (2019). The parameters used to determine the performance of these herbivorous insects on the two different oak genotypes were developmental time, amount of fed leaves, and mortality of larvae and pupae during the juvenile phase. While the overall developmental time of green oak leaf roller larvae did not show a significant difference on S- and T-oaks, especially the female larvae of Lymantria dispar needed a longer developmental time on T-oaks. On T-oaks, larvae of Tortrix viridana had to consume significantly more leaf material to achieve approximately the same pupal weight as larvae fed on S-oaks. In contrast, larvae of the gypsy moth tended to ate less T-oak than S-oak leaf material without revealing differences in pupal weights. For the green oak leaf roller the mortality of pupae from T-oaks was significantly higher than from S-oaks. For Lymantria dispar no significant differences in mortality was observed. Basically, T-oaks seem to offer a poorer nutritional and developmental basis for both kinds of leaf-eating insects.

(1) Background: Pammene fasciana (L.), Cydia fagiglandana (Zeller), and C. splendana (H&uuml, bner) (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) are considered key moth pests of chestnut in Europe. (2) Methods: Investigations were performed in 2018&ndash, 2019 in northern Italy. Sticky traps and commercially available pheromones were used for monitoring, moreover, two experimental pheromone blends were tested. All specimens were identified according to male genitalia and molecular analyses. Newly formed chestnut husks and fruits were randomly collected to evaluate the presence of larvae and/or feeding damage, by comparing it to trap catches. (3) Results: P. fasciana was present in all the sites, whereas Cydia species were recorded in three sites of six, with differences in abundance related to pheromone blends studied. Several non-target species, such as Oegoconia novimundi (Busck) and Cydia ilipulana (Walsingham), were present. Data about the seasonal flight activity are provided. (4) Conclusions: This research contributes to ascertaining the presence and abundance of tortrix moths in Italian chestnut groves, and the presence of non-target species highlights the risk of overestimating catches. Fruit damage recorded did not always reflect catches made by pheromone traps, suggesting that monitoring may underestimate the real size of moths&rsquo, populations. All of the data acquired are important for planning specific control measures.

Field trapping experiments were carried out in Norway to measure attraction of the cherry bark tortrix (CBT) Enarmonia formosana to volatile blends of candidate compounds including acetic acid (AA), linalool oxide pyranoid (LOXP), 2-phenylethanol (PET), pear ester (E,Z)2,4-ethyl decadienoate (PE) and (E)-β-farnesene (BF). The binary blend of AA and LOXP caught the highest number of CBT adults. While addition of PET along with PE did not significantly change the attraction, a sex-dependent decrease of female captures was found when LOXP was replaced by PET/PE. Male attraction to AA/LOXP did not differ when PET/PE were added to the blend or when LOXP was substituted by the same two compounds. A similar attraction to blank traps was recorded for the ternary blend of LOXP/PET/PE, for the binary blend of PET/PE and for LOXP alone, supporting AA as a possible fundamental component of CBT kairomone. In addition, a lower number of bycatches of Hedya nubiferana, Anthophila fabriciana, Synanthedon myopaeformis, Pammene spp. and Pandemis spp. were scored in the AA/LOXP than in any blend including AA/PET/PE. BF was not behaviourally active on CBT in our field experiments. The high attraction of both sexes of CBT to the binary blend of AA/LOXP represents a first step towards the identification of a multicomponent kairomone for this pest. A continuous flight activity of both sexes of CBT was recorded from the end of May until the beginning of August, supporting the hypothesis that CBT is univoltine in Norway. Because larval infestation on tree trunks varies substantially with apple varieties, we encourage the collection of additional data to attempt a correlation between adult catch by AA/LOXP traps and the following larval population.

Environmental pollution is currently identified as one of the major drivers of rapid decline of insect populations, and this finding has revitalized interest in insect responses to pollution. We tested the hypothesis that the pollution-induced decline of insect populations can be predicted from phenotypic stress responses expressed as morphological differences between populations inhabiting polluted and unpolluted sites. We explored populations of the brassy tortrix Eulia ministrana in subarctic forests along an environmental disturbance gradient created by long-lasting severe impacts of aerial emissions of the copper-nickel smelter in Monchegorsk, northwestern Russia. We used pheromone traps to measure the population densities of this leafrolling moth and to collect specimens for assessment of three morphological stress indices: size, forewing melanization, and fluctuating asymmetry in wing venation. Wing length of E. ministrana increased by 10%, and neither forewing melanization nor fluctuating asymmetry changed from the unpolluted forest to the heavily polluted industrial barren. However, the population density of E. ministrana decreased 5 to 10 fold in the same pollution gradient. Thus, none of the studied potential morphological stress indicators signaled vulnerability of E. ministrana to environmental pollution and/or to pollution-induced environmental disturbance. We conclude that insect populations can decline without any visible signs of stress. The use of morphological proxies of insect fitness to predict the consequences of human impact on insect populations is therefore risky until causal relationships between these proxies and insect abundance are deciphered.

The strawberry tortrix (Acleris comariana Lienig and Zeller) (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae), is a major pest of strawberry in Denmark and southern Sweden. Chemical and electrophysiological analyses revealed a single compound, (E)-11,13-tetradecadienal (E11,13-14:Ald), in gland extracts of females eliciting a strong antennal response in conspecific males. Also (Z)-11,13-tetradecadienal (Z11,13-14:Ald) was found to be antennally active, but not detected in gland extracts. The corresponding alcohol and acetate of E11,13-14:Ald, which are biologically active in other Acleris species, were not produced by females and did not trigger electrophysiological response in males. Trapping experiments at a commercial strawberry farm in southern Sweden showed that E11,13-14:Ald and Z11,13-14:Ald, alone or in combination, attracted large numbers of males. Trap catches increased with increasing dose of E11,13-14:Ald, with traps baited with 100 µg and 1,000 µg being most attractive. Our results confirm the widespread use of E11,13-14:Ald as a key sex pheromone component in the genus Acleris. The identification of a highly attractive sex pheromone is a first step in developing pheromone-based methods for monitoring and control of A. comariana in European strawberry production. (Less)

184. ��� Tortrix ��� liquefacta Meyrick, 1908 Tortrix liquefacta Meyrick, 1908; J. Bombay nat. Hist. Soc. 18: 619. TL: India, Assam. Distribution: India (Assam)., Published as part of Pathania, Prakash C., Das, Apurva & Chandra, Kailash, 2020, Catalogue of Tortricidae Latreille, 1802 (Lepidoptera: Tortricoidea) of India, pp. 1-95 in Zootaxa 4757 (1) on page 37, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4757.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/3756053, {"references":["Meyrick, E. (1908 a) Descriptions of Indian Microlepidoptera. VI. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society, 18, 437 - 460."]}

Ascogaster reticulata Watanabe (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) is an egg‐larval endoparasitoid of the smaller tea tortrix, Adoxophyes honmai Yasuda. Recent studies have examined tritrophic interactions among Camellia sinensis, A. honmai and A. reticulata, but the effect of non‐host insects on the induction of tea plant that may affect foraging behaviour of A. reticulata remains unclear. In this study, we selected two non‐host insects, Homona magnanima Diakonoff and Ostrinia furnacalis (Guenee), as representative species in our bioassays. Tea leaves were treated with homogenized female reproductive tissues of a non‐host insect in comparison with untreated leaves in a choice test. Residence times of parasitoids on both leaves were recorded. The parasitoids seemed to prefer walking on leaves treated with homogenates of H. magnanima over untreated leaves, but the difference in residence times was not significant. In contrast, its residence time on leaves treated with homogenates of O. furnacalis was significantly shorter than that on untreated leaves. Thus, the induction of tea leaf surface chemicals may differ among moth species, which may produce different types of elicitors. This difference may, in turn, affect the host‐searching behaviour of A. reticulata.

The smaller tea tortrix, Adoxophyes honmai Yasuda (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae), is one of the most common pests that affect the tea plant, Camellia sinensis (L.) O. Kuntze. Diacylhydrazine-analog insect growth regulators, such as tebufenozide, have been used as controls; however, the species began showing resistance to this compound in approximately 2004. Previously, we identified an amino acid mutation (A415V) in the ecdysone receptor gene (EcR) as a principal factor in tebufenozide resistance and developed a molecular diagnostic method to detect the EcR A415V mutation through polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR–RFLP). However, for the continuous management of tebufenozide resistance in A. honmai, a simple and quick genetic diagnostic method that does not require specialized equipment is preferable. In this study, we developed a novel technique to detect the mutation using allele-specific loop-mediated isothermal amplification (AS-LAMP). This method enables the monitoring and detection of tebufenozide-resistance alleles much faster than PCR–RFLP and with moderate accuracy. Therefore, it could be a powerful tool for the early detection of tebufenozide-resistant A. honmai in tea plantations.

(1) Background: Pheromone-based devices are successfully used to control insect pests in agriculture. (2) Methods: Investigations were conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of mating disruption (MD) to control the chestnut tortrix moths, Cydia fagiglandana and Cydia splendana. Surveys were performed in northern Italy in 2019–2020. MD was carried out using the pheromone dispenser Ecodian® CT. The effectiveness of MD was assessed by recording male adult catches in pheromone-baited sticky traps and larvae in chestnut fruits, comparing MD and control plots. (3) Results: The total number of trapped males was significantly lower in MD plots than in control ones, for all sites and years. Trap catch suppression in MD plots averaged 89.5% and 93.8% for C. fagiglandana and 57.4% and 81% for C. splendana in 2019 and 2020, respectively. The larval infestation rate in fruits did not vary between plots except for one site where a reduction of about 71% in the MD plot was recorded in 2019. (4) Conclusions: Low catches in MD plots turned out to be a good measure of the effectiveness of communication disruption, but no satisfactory data have been obtained regarding fruit infestation, highlighting how the reduction of male catches cannot always be considered as a reliable indicator of successful control. Specific investigations about background population density, dispersal and mating/oviposition behavior are thus essential for a viable management strategy.

The chestnut weevil ( Curculio elephas ) is a major pest of chestnut. Female weevils oviposit in the fruit and emergent larvae eat the kernel, making the nut unmarketable. In Turkey, the fruit is gathered into piles called gomu and allowed to ripen over a 1–2 month period. Late instars emerge from infested nuts to pupate in the soil underlying the gomu. Since the pest is concentrated, the opportunity exists for targeted control with biological control agents such as entomopathogenic fungi (EPF) and nematodes (EPN). The efficacy of the EPF Metarhizium brunneum strains ARSEF 4556 and V275 used alone and in combination with the EPN Heterorhabditis bacteriophora on the mortality of last instar chestnut weevil was assessed. Both M. brunneum ARSEF 4556 and V275 were highly virulent causing 86% and 94% mortality, respectively. Although H. bacteriophora killed the larvae (68% mortality) more quickly, the fungal strains were more efficacious 12 days post-inoculation. Application of ARSEF 4556 and V275 as a top dressing (spreading the fungus uniformly over the soil surface) in simulated gomu resulted in 78% and 80% larval mortality in laboratory pot tests and 83% and 70% mortality in outdoor trials, respectively. Premix applications (mixing the fungus in the top few centimeters of soil) of ARSEF 4556 and V275 resulted in 83% and 85% larval mortality indoors, respectively, yet outdoor trials caused >80% larval mortality. These EPF strains were also evaluated against larvae of the chestnut tortrix, Cydia splendana , which also feeds on nut kernels, and emerges at the same time as the chestnut weevil larvae to pupate in the soil. Both ARSEF and V275 caused 96.6% mortality inlast instar C. splendana . In contrast, the most virulent EPN ( Steinernema feltiae ) caused only 80% mortality. Co-application of this nematode with M. brunneum resulted in 100% mortality with the interactions being additive.

From citizen science data we report the first records of blue to violet-colored oniscideans (Oniscidea: Isopoda), indicating potential invertebrate iridescent virus (IIV; Betairidovirinae: Iridoviridae) infection: in Africa, South America, and Oceania; and of the new hosts Armadillidium nasatum and Balloniscus sellowii. DNA sequencing of indigo Porcellio scaber confirms the presence of Invertebrate iridescent virus 31 in Australia. Beyond the Oniscidea, new, putative IIV hosts are identified: hoverfly pupae (Eristalinae), a tortrix moth larva (Phaecasiophora niveiguttana), and a millipede (Harpaphe haydeniana). In addition, the purported positive correlation between virion diameter and wavelength of iridescence is analyzed qualitatively for the first time.

Postharvest losses are a major brake on the economic growth of the fruit sector and on the development of the production of certain fruit species in organic farming. Chestnut (Castanea sativa Miller) is a very sensitive commodity with high losses due to insect infestation and diseases. In 2014, the first trials were carried out to evaluate the efficacy of postharvest heat treatments combined with high CO2 or N2 atmospheres to kill insects. Different treatments of 40 min at 45°C and 100% CO2 or 100% N2 were applied on chestnut fruit tortrix larvae (Cydia splendana) and proved to be completely effective on larvae mortality. A higher temperature (50°C) with a 40% CO2 concentration gave similar results. These preliminary results must be validated in vivo to confirm the potential of this technique for killing chestnut fruit tortrix.

Adoxophyes honmai Yasuda (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) is a serious pest of tea plants in Japan. Damage caused by larvae is widely distributed throughout tea plantations, but the modes of oviposition and offspring feeding are still unclear. Therefore, the objective of the present study was to determine oviposition preference for leaf age in A. honmai as related to performance of offspring. Two-choice experiments between young and old leaves showed that A. honmai female adults preferred to oviposit on the area close to old leaves rather than young leaves. Therefore, volatiles from old tea leaves appear to act as attractants and stimulate oviposition. In contrast, more than 70 % of neonates fed on young leaves 24 h after starting the experiments, and development of larvae that continuously fed on young leaves was higher than larvae that fed on old leaves. After hatching, neonates likely move to the young leaves to start feeding. Finally, we conclude that leaf age affects not only maternal insect ability to find suitable habitats for oviposition, but also affects the development of their offspring.

Current publication is devoted to the problem in identifying the type of population dynamics (on an example of green oak tortrix (Tortrix viridana L.)). For fitting of time series of tortrix fluctuations (Korzukhin and Semevsky, Sin-ecology of forest. Gidrometeoizdat, Saint-Petersburg, 1992), generalized discrete logistic model was used. Results of model parameter estimations obtained with ordinary least squares (OLS) and method of extreme points (MEP) (Nedorezov. Chaos and Order in Population Dynamics: Modeling, Analysis, Forecast. LAP Lambert Academic Publishing, Saarbrucken. 2012. p. 352; Nedorezov. J. Gen. Biol. 73(2), 114–123, 2012; Nedorezov. Biophysics 61(1), 149–154, 2016) were compared. It was assumed that the model demonstrates good correspondence to time series if and only if deviations between time series and model trajectory satisfy with several statistical tests. It was shown that model with OLS estimations of parameters cannot be used for fitting of time series. Analyses of four various variants of MEP estimations were provided, and it was obtained that observed dynamic regime of population dynamics isn’t cyclic (if length of cycle is less than 1500 years). For the selected dynamic regimes, a rapid decrease in values of auto-correlation functions with further small fluctuations near zero level was observed. It means that forecasting the change in population size for short or long time periods is practically impossible.