Evidence from Drosophila suggests that Hox genes not only specify regional identity, but have the additional function of repressing antennal development within their normal domains. This is dramatically demonstrated by a series of Hox mutants in the red flour beetle, Tribolium castaneum, and is likely an ancient function of Hox genes in insects.


 Red flour beetle, Tribolium castaneum Herbst (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae) is one of the major insect pests stored grains. Due to export legislation and zero-tolerance for live insects in trade commodities, extensive use synthetic insecticides practice eliminate pest infestations from lots. Currently, only acceptable chemical be used grain phosphine but due its excessive usage, are becomin...

In Drosophila, a hierarchy of maternal, gap, pair-rule, and segment polarity gene interactions regulates virtually simultaneous blastoderm segmentation. For the last decade, studies have focused on revealing the extent to which Drosophila segmentation mechanisms are conserved in other arthropods where segments are added sequentially from anterior to posterior in a cellular environment. Despite ...

the red flour beetle, tribolium castaneum (herbst), is one of the most destructive pests attacking stored grain products all over the world. serious problems assossiated with using synthetic chemical insecticides have strongly demonstrated the need for applying alternative safe compounds such as plant essential oils. the present experiment was conducted to evaluate fumigant toxicity of essentia...

The screening of several Chinese medicinal herbs for insecticidal principles showed that Euphorbia fischeriana roots possessed significant feeding deterrent activity against two stored-product insects (Tribolium castaneum and Sitophilus zeamais). From ethanol extract, four feeding deterrents were isolated by bioassay-guided fractionation. The compounds were identified as jolkinolide B, 12-deoxy...

To investigate gene expression in Tribolium castaneum exposed to Beauveria bassiana, reference genes for qPCR were evaluated. Of these, beta-actin, alpha-tubulin, and RPS6 were not stable. The most stable were ribosomal protein genes, RPS3, RPS18, and RPL13a. Syntaxin1, syntaxin6, and E-cadherin may be appropriate for some experimental systems.

Gamma radiation effects on the gonads of Tribolium castaneum were assessed by cytological techniques. Pupal treatments of 15 Gy resulted in the significant reduction of testes and ovaries leading to sterility in males and infecundity in females, respectively. The present findings thus provide an important information for designing a sterile male technique for this storage pest species.

A recent study reveals specific functions of Hox3/zerknüllt (zen) in the extraembryonic and embryonic primordia of the red flour beetle, Tribolium castaneum. The results shed light on the functional evolution of bicoid, a zen paralogue of higher flies, which determines anterior body parts.

Tribolium castaneum and Tribolium confusum can be monitored in food processing facilities using traps baited with pheromones and kairomones, but beetle response to traps might be enhanced by adding visual cues. Against a white background, T. castaneum adults were more likely to visit black pillars than white pillars when presented with a choice (e.g., 73% of beetles visited black and 17% visiti...