The red palm weevil (RPW) Rhynchophorus ferruginous (Olivier) was fully developed and reared on a meridic diet consisting of agar, distilled water, commercial yeast as well as laboratory produced amino and fatty acid rich brewer’s yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae), wheat meal, corn flour, benzoic acid, ascorbic acid, sorbic acid, vitamin mix and tetracycline hydrochloride. A group of weevils rea...

Water salinity is an intense physiological stress for amphibians. However, some species, such as Bufo calamita, breed in both brackish and freshwater environments. Because selection under environmentally stressful conditions can promote local adaptation of populations, we examined the existence of geographic variation in water salinity tolerance among B. calamita populations from either fresh o...

The evolutionary causes of variation in host specialization among phytophagous insects are still not well understood and identifying them is a central task in insect /host plant biology. Here we examine host utilization of the chrysomelid beetle Oreina elongata that shows interpopulation variation in the degree of specialization. We focus on larval behaviour and on what selection pressures may ...

Dispersal influences ecological dynamics, evolution, biogeography, and biodiversity conservation, but models of larval dispersal in marine organisms make simplifying assumptions that are likely to approximate poorly the temporal dynamics of larval survival and capacity for settlement. In particular, larval mortality rates are typically assumed to be constant throughout larval life; and all larv...

This study was conducted to survey larval breeding habitats and to obtain larval abundance during the dry period covering all 5 geographical zones of Thailand. Our results indicated Aedes aegypri is prevalent all over the country, whereas Aedes albopictus is more restricted to the remote area of the south. Water storage containers, especially water jars, served as a main larval breeding habitat...

For most of the family Porcellanidae, which comprises 283 species, larval development remains to be described. Full development has been only described for 52 species, while part of the larval cycle has been described for 45 species. The importance of knowing the complete larval development of a species goes beyond allowing the identification of larval specimens collected in the plankton. Morph...

Genetic loci that influence behavior are often difficult to identify and localize in part due to the quantitative nature of behavioral phenotypes. Previous studies had found an association between pupal lethality and altered larval behavior for mutants of several genes. To facilitate the identification and localization of new mutants that influence larval foraging (movement in the presence of f...

Using the rate of development of blowflies colonising a corpse, accumulated degree hours (ADH), or days (ADD), is an established method used by forensic entomologists to estimate the post-mortem interval (PMI). Derived from laboratory experiments, their application to field situations needs care. This study examines the effect of the post-feeding larval dispersal time on the ADH and therefore t...

Food availability and temperature are known to trigger phenotypic change, but the interactive effects between these factors are only beginning to be considered. The aim of this study was to examine the independent and interactive effects of long-term stochastic food availability and water temperature on larval survivorship, growth and development of the striped marsh frog, Limnodynastes peronii...

Several aspects of the biology of Xylotrechus arvicola (Olivier), an emerging grape pest, were studied under laboratory conditions. Four diets were tested to rear this species in the laboratory. Among them, only one made rearing from larva to adult possible. The highest mortality, in all cases, was recorded during the first days of larval development. Larvae were kept 45 days at 8°C to break di...