Search results for "INSECTS"
showing 10 items of 123 documents
Orthoptera (Insecta: Tettigonioidea, Pyrgomorphoidea, Acridoidea) of Kafa Biosphere Reserve, Bale Mountains National Park and other areas of conserva…
2016
An annotated checklist of 51 Orthoptera taxa (Tettigonioidea, Pyrgomorphoidea and Acridoidea) of Kafa Biosphere Reserve, Bale Mountains National Park and some additional sites in Ethiopia is presented. Ten species are newly recorded for the country. Four species are new to science: Peropyrrhicia attilioi n. sp., P. keffensis n. sp., P. semiensis n. sp. and Coryphosima danieli n. sp. The status of Peropyrrhicia cooperi Uvarov, 1934 and P. scotti Uvarov, 1934 is revised: both are considered valid species.
Honeybees produce millimolar concentrations of non-neuronal acetylcholine for breeding: possible adverse effects of neonicotinoids
2016
The worldwide use of neonicotinoid pesticides has caused concern on account of their involvement in the decline of bee populations, which are key pollinators in most ecosystems. Here we describe a role of non-neuronal acetylcholine (ACh) for breeding of Apis mellifera carnica and a so far unknown effect of neonicotinoids on non-target insects. Royal jelly or larval food are produced by the hypopharyngeal gland of nursing bees and contain unusually high ACh concentrations (4–8 mM). ACh is extremely well conserved in royal jelly or brood food because of the acidic pH of 4.0. This condition protects ACh from degradation thus ensuring delivery of intact ACh to larvae. Raising the pH to ≥5.5 and…
Ultrastructure and formation of the physogastric termite queen cuticle
1982
0040-8166 (Print) Journal Article; The physogastric termite queen is the most striking example in insects of growth in size without cuticular moulting. This phenomenon has been studied with electron microscopy and histochemical tests in two species of higher termites, Cubitermes fungifaber and Macrotermes bellicosus. The abdominal hypertrophy (physogastry) is allowed by growth of the arthrodial membranes of the swarming imago. The growth is slow (over several years) but important: the cuticular dry weight is multiplied by 20 in C. fungifaber, by 100-150 in M. bellicosus. The termite queen cuticle arises from the transformation of the cuticle of the swarming imago or imaginal cuticle (unfold…
Forward genetics inWolbachia: Regulation ofWolbachiaproliferation by the amplification and deletion of an addictive genomic island
2021
Copyright: © 2021 Duarte et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Quantitative parameters and ecological implications of a specialized tritrophic interaction involving a seed-feeding tortricid, Pseudargyrotoza conwa…
2014
Producción Científica
Peripheral, central and behavioral responses to the cuticular pheromone bouquet in Drosophila melanogaster males.
2011
International audience; Pheromonal communication is crucial with regard to mate choice in many animals including insects. Drosophila melanogaster flies produce a pheromonal bouquet with many cuticular hydrocarbons some of which diverge between the sexes and differently affect male courtship behavior. Cuticular pheromones have a relatively high weight and are thought to be -- mostly but not only -- detected by gustatory contact. However, the response of the peripheral and central gustatory systems to these substances remains poorly explored. We measured the effect induced by pheromonal cuticular mixtures on (i) the electrophysiological response of peripheral gustatory receptor neurons, (ii) …
Transient and Permanent Experience with Fatty Acids Changes Drosophila melanogaster Preference and Fitness
2013
Food and host-preference relies on genetic adaptation and sensory experience. In vertebrates, experience with food-related cues during early development can change adult preference. This is also true in holometabolous insects, which undergo a drastic nervous system remodelling during their complete metamorphosis, but remains uncertain in Drosophila melanogaster. We have conditioned D. melanogaster with oleic (C18:1) and stearic (C18:0) acids, two common dietary fatty acids, respectively preferred by larvae and adult. Wild-type individuals exposed either during a transient period of development-from embryo to adult-or more permanently-during one to ten generation cycles-were affected by such…
In vivo versus augmented reality exposure in the treatment of small animal phobia: A randomized controlled trial
2016
Although in vivo exposure is the treatment of choice for specific phobias, some acceptability problems have been associated with it. Virtual Reality exposure has been shown to be as effective as in vivo exposure, and it is widely accepted for the treatment of specific phobias, but only preliminary data are available in the literature about the efficacy of Augmented Reality. The purpose of the present study was to examine the efficacy and acceptance of two treatment conditions for specific phobias in which the exposure component was applied in different ways: In vivo exposure (N = 31) versus an Augmented Reality system (N = 32) in a randomized controlled trial. “One-session treatment” guidel…
Quantity Estimation Based on Numerical Cues in the Mealworm Beetle (Tenebrio molitor)
2012
In this study, we used a biologically relevant experimental procedure to ask whether mealworm beetles (Tenebrio molitor) are spontaneously capable of assessing quantities based on numerical cues. Like other insect species, mealworm beetles adjust their reproductive behavior (i.e., investment in mate guarding) according to the perceived risk of sperm competition (i.e., probability that a female will mate with another male). To test whether males have the ability to estimate numerosity based on numerical cues, we staged matings between virgin females and virgin males in which we varied the number of rival males the experimental male had access to immediately preceding mating as a cue to sperm…
Unraveling assemblage, functions and stability of the gut microbiota of Blattella germanica by antibiotic treatment
2020
Symbiosis between prokaryotes and eukaryotes is a widespread phenomenon that has contributed to the evolution of eukaryotes. In cockroaches, two types of symbionts coexist: an endosymbiont in the fat body (Blattabacterium), and a rich gut microbiota. The transmission mode of Blattabacterium is vertical, while the gut microbiota of a new generation is mainly formed by bacterial species present in feces. We have carried out a metagenomic analysis of Blattella germanica populations, treated and non-treated with two antibiotics (vancomycin and ampicillin) over two generations to (1) determine the core of bacterial communities and potential functions of the gut microbiota and (2) to gain insight…