Physogastric queens of Melipona marginata were removed from their colonies in order to verify the acceptance of a new queen by workers. Colony strength was evaluated according to queen oviposition rate and comb diameters. Replacement was observed seven times. Its occurrence and speed related positively to colony strength, independently of queen's age. In weak colonies, queen replacement was obs...

ba ckground: mosquitoes are well known as vectors of several disease causing pathogens. the extensive use of synthetic insecticides in the mosquito control strategies resulted to the development of pesticide resistance and fos- tered environmental deterioration. hence in recent years plants become alternative source of mosquito control agents. the present study assessed the larvicidal and ovipo...

Premise of research. Brood-site deceptive flowers use dishonest signals—especially floral odors that mimic oviposition substrates—to attract and deceive saprophilous insects to pollinate them. In this work, we recorded the pollinators of the sapromyiophilous species Jaborosa rotacea (Solanaceae) endemic to southern South America. Then, we characterized the floral volatiles of this species, and ...

Insect eggs represent a threat for the plant as hatching larvae rapidly start with their feeding activity. Using a whole-genome microarray, we studied the expression profile of Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) leaves after oviposition by two pierid butterflies. For Pieris brassicae, the deposition of egg batches changed the expression of hundreds of genes over a period of 3 d after ovipositio...