To better understand the olfactory mechanisms in a lepidopteran pest model species, the cotton leafworm Spodoptera littoralis, we have recently established a partial transcriptome from adult antennae. Here, we completed this transcriptome using next generation sequencing technologies, namely 454 and Illumina, on both adult antennae and larval tissues, including caterpillar antennae and maxillar...

We used classical culture techniques to explore gut bacteria and changes associated with dietary change in the highly polyphagous, tropical caterpillar Automeris zugana (Saturniidae). Fifty-five third instar wild-caught sibs feeding on Annona purpurea (Annonaceae) in the Area de Conservación Guanacaste (ACG) in northwestern Costa Rica were divided into eight groups. Each of seven groups was rea...

Climate is widely recognized as an important factor that affects temporal and spatial patterns of occurrence and abundance of herbivorous insects, although the ecological mechanisms responsible are poorly understood. We found that precipitation and standing water were positively correlated with locations and years of high abundance of caterpillars of the ranchman's tiger moth, Platyprepia virgi...

BACKGROUND The oak processionary caterpillar is found in several European countries. The larva of Thaumetopoea processionea Lepidoptera from the third to sixth larval instar develops poisonous hair (setae), filled with an urticating toxin that could lead to serious dermatitis, conjunctivitis and pulmonary problems (summarized as lepidopterism) on contact. OBJECTIVES To determine the incidence...

Green leafy volatiles (GLV), six-carbon aldehydes, alcohols, and esters commonly emitted by plants in response to mechanical damage or herbivory, induced intact undamaged corn seedlings to rapidly produce jasmonic acid (JA) and emit sesquiterpenes. More importantly, corn seedlings previously exposed to GLV from neighboring plants produced significantly more JA and volatile sesquiterpenes when m...

Contact w ith the pine processionary caterpillar induces dermatitis, usually located in exposed areas, and, less frequently, ocular lesions through a toxic-irritative mechanism. Recently, the existence of an immediate hypersensitivity mechanism has been demonstrated, mainly in occupationally exposed patients. Objective: To present four patients who experienced allergic reactions (urticaria-angi...

Many thousands of endoparasitic wasp species are known to inject polydnavirus (PDV) particles into their caterpillar host during oviposition, causing immune and developmental dysfunctions that benefit the wasp larva. PDVs associated with braconid and ichneumonid wasps, bracoviruses and ichnoviruses respectively, both deliver multiple circular dsDNA molecules to the caterpillar. These molecules ...

A caterpillar is a tree in which the removal of all pendant vertices makes it a path. Let d ≥ 3 and n ≥ 6 be given. Let Pd−1 be the path of d − 1 vertices and Sp be the star of p + 1 vertices. Let p = [p1, p2, ..., pd−1] such that p1 ≥ 1, p2 ≥ 1, ..., pd−1 ≥ 1. Let C (p) be the caterpillar obtained from the stars Sp1 , Sp2 , ..., Spd−1 and the path Pd−1 by identifying the root of Spi with the i...

– The black and red medium-sized parasitoid wasp Bassus brooksi Sharkey n. sp. (Braconidae) is described from wild-caught specimens from dry forest habitats ranging from northern Mexico to the northwestern Costa Rican coastal plain, and from specimens reared from the Area de Conservacion Guanacaste, Costa Rica. The wasp larvae develop in the caterpillars of a relatively unrelated array of at le...

Spatial dynamic theories such as source-sink models frequently describe habitat-specific demographies, yet there are surprisingly few field studies that have examined how and why interacting species vary in their dynamics across multiple habitat types. We studied the spatial pattern of interaction between a chewing herbivore and its primary larval host plant in two habitat types. We found that ...