Mouthparts are among the most important sensory and feeding structures in insects and comparative morphological study may help explain differences in feeding behavior and diet breadth among species. The spotted lanternfly Lycorma delicatula (White) (Hemiptera: Fulgoromorpha: Fulgoridae) is a polyphagous agricultural pest originating in China, recently established and becoming widespread in Kore...

The soybean aphid, Aphis glycines Matsumura (Hemiptera: Aphididae), is a significant insect pest of soybean in the north-central region of the United States and southern Canada, and if left untreated can reduce yield value by $2.4 billion annually. The soybean aphid is native to eastern Asia, where soybean was first domesticated, and was first detected in the United States in 2000. It quickly s...

The vine mealybug (VM), Planococcus ficus (Signoret), is an Afrotropical species, whose worldwide populations probably originated from the Mediterranean basin. It was introduced to the Americas during the second half of the 20th century (Ben-Dov 1994; Gill 1994). Until the early 1980s, this pest was frequently misidentified as the citrus mealybug, Planococcus citri (Risso), as both Planoccocus ...

We summarize the economic importance, biology, and management of soft scales, focusing on pests of agricultural, horticultural, and silvicultural crops in outdoor production systems and urban landscapes. We also provide summaries on voltinism, crawler emergence timing, and predictive models for crawler emergence to assist in developing soft scale management programs. Phloem-feeding soft scale p...

The pine aphid Cinara pinitabulaeformis Zhang et Zhang is the main pine pest in China, it causes pine needles to produce dense dew (honeydew) which can lead to sooty mold (black filamentous saprophytic ascomycetes). Although common chemical and physical strategies are used to prevent the disease caused by C. pinitabulaeformis Zhang et Zhang, new strategies based on biological and/or genetic app...

Mealybugs (Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae) are pests constraining the international trade of Brazilian table grapes. They damage grapes by transmitting viruses and toxins, causing defoliation, chlorosis, and vigor losses and favoring the development of sooty mold. Difficulties in mealybug identification remain an obstacle to the adequate management of these pests. In this study, our primary aim was ...

The genus Cyphellophora includes human- and plant-related species from mammal skin and nails, plant materials, and food. On the basis of analysis of ITS, LSU, TUB2 and RPB1 data and morphological characters, three new species, Cyphellophora phyllostachysdis, C. artocarpi and C. musae, associated with sooty blotch and flyspeck disease, were added to this genus. The 2D structure of ITS1 and ITS2 ...

Fungal spores are continuously deposited on the leaf surfaces by wind impaction, sedimentation and rain wash-out from the atmosphere and splash-dispersal. They reside and act as asymptomatic mutualists, benign commensals or latent pathogens. A slight imbalance in this relation can lead to pathogenic phase of the fungi, resulting in a variety of symptoms on leaves viz. discoloration, blight, soo...

We report for the first time levels of persistent organic pollutants in marine bird eggs from an oceanic island in the Indian Ocean, the world's third largest ocean. Ten eggs each of the Common Noddy, also known as the Brown Noddy (Anous stolidus), and Sooty Tern (Sterna fuscata) were collected from Ile Cocos off the coast of the island of Rodrigues, located 560 km east of the island of Mauriti...