The septate gregarine parasites of flour beetles (Tribolium spp.) include Gregarina minuta Ishii, 1914, a relatively small species in which both primite and satellite possess an obvious protomerite, and a larger species that lacks the satellite protomerite. The latter species has been placed in the genera Didymophyes and Hirmocystis by various authors, but studies reported here demonstrate that...

Not to be confused with.. Tribolium castaneum, the red flour beetle, is often confused with Tenebrio molitor, the common ‘meal worm’ found in pet shops. Although morphologically similar to Tenebrio, Tribolium is much smaller and even easier to breed. That’s why this beetle was used by population geneticists for decades before it was rediscovered as a system in which embryonic development, and o...

BeetleBase (http://www.bioinformatics.ksu.edu/BeetleBase/) is an integrated resource for the Tribolium research community. The red flour beetle (Tribolium castaneum) is an important model organism for genetics, developmental biology, toxicology and comparative genomics, the genome of which has recently been sequenced. BeetleBase is constructed to integrate the genomic sequence data with informa...

The homeotic selector genes of the red flour beetle, Tribolium castaneum, are located in a single cluster. We have sequenced the region containing the homeotic selector genes required for proper development of the head and anterior thorax, which is the counterpart of the ANTC in Drosophila. This 280-kb interval contains eight homeodomain-encoding genes, including single orthologs of the Drosoph...

Abstract Radio frequency plasma (RFP) could provide reliable, compact, cost-effective irradiation applications against insect pests of stored food and feed products. Sensitivity red flour beetle Tribolium castaneum to RFP has been investigated using an applicator system with the two types inert gases, argon (Ar) helium (He), at 100 W for five exposure time levels 0, 20, 40, 60 90 s, respectivel...

Sex in insects is determined by a cascade of regulators ultimately controlling sex-specific splicing of a transcription factor, Doublesex (Dsx). We recently identified homolog of dsx in the red flour beetle, Tribolium castaneum (Tcdsx). Here, we report on the identification and characterization of a regulator of Tcdsx splicing in T. castaneum. Two male-specific and one female-specific isoforms ...