Odorant-binding proteins were studied in the noctuid moths Agrotis segetum, Autographa gamma, Helicoverpa armigera, Heliothis virescens and Spodoptera littoralis using antisera raised against the pheromone-binding protein (PBP) and general odorant-binding protein 2 (GOBP2) of Antheraea polyphemus (Saturniidae). Proteins immunoreacting with these antisera were only found on the antennae and PBP ...

Pathogen attack and the plant's response to this attack affect herbivore oviposition preference and larval performance. Introduction of major resistance genes against Phytophthora infestans (Rpi-genes), the cause of the devastating late blight disease, from wild Solanum species into potato changes the plant-pathogen interaction dynamics completely, but little is known about the effects on non-t...

Apoptosis was postulated as the main barrier to replication of the Autographa californica nuclear polyhedrosis virus (AcMNPV) in a Spodoptera littoralis SL2 cell line (N. Chejanovsky and E. Gershburg, Virology 209:519-525, 1995). Thus, we hypothesized that the viral apoptotic suppressor gene p35 is either poorly expressed or nonfunctional in AcMNPV-infected SL2 cells. These questions were addre...

Citation: Chen B, Sun C, Liang X, Lu X, Gao Q, Alonso-Pernas P, Teh B-S, Novoselov AL, Boland W and Shao Y (2016) Draft Genome Sequence of Enterococcus mundtii SL 16, an Indigenous Gut Bacterium of the Polyphagous Pest Spodoptera littoralis. Front. Microbiol. 7:1676. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2016.01676 Draft Genome Sequence of Enterococcus mundtii SL 16, an Indigenous Gut Bacterium of the Polyphagous...

The multicapsid nucleopolyhedroviruses (NPVs) of Spodoptera exigua (SeMNPV), Spodoptera frugiperda (SfMNPV), and Spodoptera littoralis (SpliNPV) are genetically similar (78 % similarity) but differ in their degree of host specificity. Infection by each of the three NPVs in these three Spodoptera host species was determined by oral inoculation of larvae with occlusion bodies (OBs) or intrahaemoc...

Food, mates and host plants are essential resources for plant-feeding insects. Optimal resource localization that fulfils the physiological need and reproductive goals of an insect is of utmost importance. Insects, like most animals, rely largely on the sense of smell to locate and evaluate potential resources that enhance their reproductive fitness. Confronted with a multitude of stimuli rangi...

Studies on the effect of different host-plants on the development and fecundity of the cotton leafworm S. littoralis were carried out under constant laboratory

A critical component for sustaining adequate food production is the protection of local agriculture from invasive pest insects. Essential to this goal is the ability to accurately distinguish foreign from closely related domestic species, a process that has traditionally required identification using diagnostic morphological "keys" that can be both subtle and labor-intensive. This is the case f...

We investigated the feeding habits of the teiid lizard Cnemidophorus littoralis in the markedly seasonal habitat of Restinga da Barra de Maricá (22 degrees 57'S, 43 degrees 50'W), Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil, to evaluate to what extent its diet is ontogenetically, sexually, and/or seasonally conservative. Lizard stomach contents were analyzed, identified, counted, estimated for volume (in mm3)...