For insects, choosing a favorable oviposition site is a type of parental care, as far as it increases the fitness of its offspring. Niche theory predicts that crickets should show a bell-shaped oviposition response to substrate moisture. However, lab experiments with mole crickets showed a linear oviposition response to substrate moisture. Studies with the house cricket Acheta domesticus also s...

The selection of an appropriate oviposition site is crucial to the maternal fitness of eggraft producing mosquitoes. Females in this group of mosquitoes produce a single egg-raft during their lifetimes. All egg-raft producing mosquitoes are members of the subfamily Culicinae and include the medically important genera Culex and Culiseta. Egg-raft producing mosquitoes use several physical and che...

Insect parasitoids are known to deposit chemical signals on utilized hosts following oviposition. It is believed that these chemical signals alert future conspecifics of an exploited and thus sub-optimal host alleviating potential suffering among brood that would otherwise compete over a limited resource. Diachasma alloeum (Muesebeck) is a braconid wasp that specifically attacks two species of ...

abstract in order to find out a better and cheaper artificial diet for mass rearing of common green lacewing, chrysoperla carnea, an experiment was conducted using completely randomized design (crd) with 4 replications and 5 observations. in this study were used three diets [a mixture of honey, yeast and distilled water (1:1:1), a mixture of honey, yeast plus extract of angomois grain moth eggs...

Chemical screening using Drosophila melanogaster (the fruit fly) is vital in drug discovery, agricultural, and toxicological applications. Oviposition (egg laying) on chemically-doped agar plates is an important read-out metric used to quantitatively assess the biological fitness and behavioral responses of Drosophila. Current oviposition-based chemical screening studies are inaccurate, labor-i...

The cuticle is a unique invisible oviduct secretion that protects avian eggs from bacterial penetration through gas exchange pores. Despite its importance, experimental evidence is lacking for where, when, and what is responsible for its deposition. By using knowledge about the ovulatory cycle and oviposition, we have manipulated cuticle deposition to obtain evidence on these key points. Cuticl...

Beet armyworm, Spodoptera exigua (Hübner), oviposition preferences were determined on Þve host plants: cabbage (Brassica oleracea capitata L.), cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.), bell pepper (Capsicum annuum L.), pigweed (Amaranthus retroflexus L.), and sunßower (Helianthus annuus L.) in no-choice, two-choice, and Þve-choice tests. Tests were conducted in the laboratory, greenhouse, and Þeld cages...

BACKGROUND Mosquitoes are well known as vectors of several disease causing pathogens. The extensive use of synthetic insecticides in the mosquito control strategies resulted to the development of pesticide resistance and fostered environmental deterioration. Hence in recent years plants become alternative source of mosquito control agents. The present study assessed the larvicidal and ovipositi...

Effects of photoperiod on development, survival, feeding, and oviposition of boll weevils, Anthonomus grandis grandis Boheman, were assessed under five different photophases (24, 14, 12, 10, and 0 h) at a constant 27 degrees C temperature and 65% RH in the laboratory. Analyses of our results detected positive relationships between photoperiod and puncturing (mean numbers of oviposition and feed...

For the majority of insects, a female's choice of oviposition site(s) greatly influences both the success of individual offspring and her own total fitness. Theory predicts that females most strongly limited by egg number will employ greater oviposition site discrimination than those predominately subject to time limitation. The reproductive success of the butterfly Pieris virginiensis at our C...