Eriopis connexa (Germar) (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) occurs in several countries of South America and its mass rearing is important for biological control programmes. This work evaluated biological aspects of E. connexa larva fed on eggs of Anagasta kuehniella (Zeller) (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) and Spodoptera frugiperda (J. E. Smith) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) frozen for one day, fresh eggs of Dia...

Carlos G. Burmeister and Carlos Berg were among the most important and influential naturalists and zoologists in Argentina and South America and described 241 species and 34 genera of Lepidoptera. The Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales Bernardino Rivadavia (MACN) housed some of the Lepidoptera type specimens of these authors. In this study we present a catalogue with complete information and...

Due to the intriguing morphology, lifecycle, and diversity of butterflies and moths, Lepidoptera are emerging as model organisms for the study of genetics, evolution and speciation. The progress of these studies relies on decoding Lepidoptera genomes, both nuclear and mitochondrial. Here we describe a protocol to obtain mitogenomes from Next Generation Sequencing reads performed for whole-genom...

iii List of the papers on which the thesis is based v

Moth species were studied from some selected districts of Assam (i.e., Cachar and Barpeta district) to determine their diversity index, species richness and evenness of Arctiidae and Geometriidae family of the moth fauna.The moths were collected by applying specialized trapping methods using UV light operating during night. Collected moth species were identified up to family-genusspecies level....

We review key ecological and behavioral mechanisms under­ lying the origin and maintenance of larval sociality in the Lepidoptera. Using communication contexts of group defense, cohesion and recruitment as a framework we relate social complexity among gregarious caterpilla~ to three panerns of foraging: patch-restricted, nomadic, and central-place. A review ofthe incidence oflarval gregarious­ ...

The list of subfamily Catocalinae (Lepidoptera; Noctuidae)of Iran is updated.  Until now, 111 species belonging to 22 genera of this subfamily are recorded. Also, the Iranian records in different provinces are presented.

Most of the unknown biological diversity of macro-organisms remaining to be discovered and described lies in the tropical regions of the world and consists primarily of insects. Those insects with parasitoid lifestyles constitute a significant portion of insect diversity, yet parasitoids are among the most poorly known of major insect guilds in the humid tropics. Here we describe and analyze th...