Animals are inhabited by a diverse community of microorganisms. The relevance of such microbiota is increasingly being recognized across a broad spectrum of species, ranging from sponges to primates, revealing various beneficial roles that microbes can play. The red flour beetle Tribolium castaneum represents a well-established experimental model organism for studying questions in ecology and e...

Variation in environmental and physical factors within food processing facilities can influence both the distribution of stored-product pests and trapping efficiency. Data from a long-term Tribolium castaneum (Herbst) (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae) monitoring program was used to evaluate spatial variation in captures among trap locations and to determine relationships with environmental and physic...

The juvenile hormone analog methoprene, and the chitin synthesis inhibitor novaluron, were evaluated by exposing late-stage larvae of Tribolium castaneum (Herbst) or Tribolium confusum (Jacqueline DuVal) (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae) to it. The larvae were exposed to it in food material, on concrete, on plywood, and on floor tile. Larvae of T. castaneum were more susceptible than T. confusum larv...

Laboratory experiments were carried out to investigate the efficacy of sugarcane bagasse-based lignin against four stored grain insect pests viz., Tribolium castaneum, Tribolium confusum, Sitophilus oryzae and Callosobruchus maculatus. Mortality was assessed after 24, 48 and 72 h of treatment and LD50 values were calculated at the respective time intervals. It was observed that T. castaneum is ...

A strain of Tribolium castaneum (Herbst) was developed for resistance against deltamethrin, after six generation of selection from a laboratory susceptible strain, through topical application method. The selection was initiated at the dose 0.0004, which was increased during successive generations’ upto 0.026 in sixth generation. The resistance ratio of selected strain was determined, and it was...

Fecundity and egg viability of Tribolium castaneum (Herbst) females were significantly (P<0.01) reduced by synthetic pyrethroids and an alkaloid containing insecticide nimbicidine. In control, the average number of eggs laid by each female/day was 12.18. The lowest number of eggs laid by each female/day was noted as 4.38 when combining nimbicidine with two pyrethroids i.e., cypermethrin and del...

In the short-germ beetle Tribolium castaneum, the head gap gene orthodenticle (Tc-otd) has been proposed to functionally substitute for bicoid, the anterior morphogen unique to higher dipterans. In this study we reanalyzed the function of Tc-otd. We obtained a similar range of cuticle phenotypes as in previously described RNAi experiments; however, we noticed unexpected effects on blastodermal ...

BACKGROUND The vast diversity in morphology of insect wings provides an excellent model to study morphological evolution. The best-described wing modification is the specification of halteres in Drosophila by a Hox-dependent mechanism, in which a Hox gene affects the expression of genes important for wing development to modify the resulting structure. We have previously shown that highly modifi...