Aphids are serious pests of many crops in agroecosystems and their biological control is focused on enhancing the performance specialized natural enemies aphids such as parasitoid wasps predators like ladybirds. However, ladybirds often attacked by own parasitoids fourth trophic level that can negatively affect ladybird and, hence, effectiveness agents. The biology ecology these has been less w...

Neonate Lepidoptera are confronted with the daunting task of establishing themselves on a food plant. The factors relevant to this process need to be considered at spatial and temporal scales relevant to the larva and not the investigator. Neonates have to cope with an array of plant surface characters as well as internal characters once the integument is ruptured. These characters, as well as ...

In this study the effects of AFB1, a mold metabolite, on third instar larval salivary gland polytene chromosomes of Drosophila melanogaster were investigated. The various chromosomal abnormalities (= aberrations) as fragment loss from teminal, semibreak, asynapsis, regional shrinking, ectopic pairing on arms of polytene chromosome, were observed in polytene chromosome slides from third instar l...

The larval morphology of Chrysomya megacephala (Fabricius) is presented using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Extreme similarity of this species to Chrysomya rufifacies (Macquart), a species usually found concurrently inhabiting decomposing human corpses in Thailand, is seen only in the first-instar larvae. The relative thickness of the branches of the posterior spiracular hairs in these sp...

Diapause in insects is herein defined as a state of arrested growth and development which, unlike quiescence, persists until the animal undergoes a certain, well-defined sequence of physiological events that enables development to be resumed. In the green blowfly, Lucilia caesar L., a facultative diapause occurs in the 3rd-instar larva after cessation of feeding but before puparium formation. T...

In this study, effect of increasing temperature on life cycle, mortality, and behavior the mosquito species, Aedes aegypti was evaluated. Heat shock applied at 32°C, 37°C 42°C for 20 minutes, 1 hour 2 hours each to egg, 2nd instar, 3rd instar pupal stage separately changes in cycle pattern recorded a routine basis. The control 27°C which reared. When heat-shock eggs, developmental period found ...

Signaling by the second messenger inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate is thought to affect several developmental and physiological processes. Mutants in the inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate receptor (itpr) gene of Drosophila exhibit delays in molting while stronger alleles are also larval lethal. In a freshly generated set of EMS alleles for the itpr locus we have sequenced and identified single point mut...

Nucleopolyhedrovirus (NPV) was tested for vertical transmission in the silkworm, Bombyx mori. Fifth instar larvae were exposed to four different dosages of BmNPV (830, 1300, 1800, and 2000OBs/larva) and a dosage of about 2000OBs/larva was found suitable for obtaining infected adults. Histopathological studies revealed the infection in susceptible tissues and organs initially, and at later stage...