In order to clarify the physiological function of AcerCSP3, a chemosensory protein (CSP) in Apis cerana cerana, the recombinant protein AcerCSP3 was successfully expressed in a optimized prokaryotic expression system, and the binding properties of the purified AcerCSP3 with 1-NPN was then investigated. Scatchard plot analysis indicated that the dissociation constant between 1-NPN and AcerCSP3 was 8.29 μmol/L and the binding site number was about one. In the competitive binding assays, all the five candidate ligands at the concentration of 200 μmol/L reduced the relative fluorescence intensity of 1-NPN by more than 50%, with β-ionone causing 90% reduction in the relative fluorescence intensity, suggesting that all the tested ligands have strong binding capability with AcerCSP3. 3, 4-Dimethylbenzaldehyde had the strongest binding capability with a dissociation constant as high as 18.77 μmol/L. All the candidate chemical ligands are plant volatile secondary metabolites, indicating that AcerCSP3 may act as a carrier for odor molecules released from flower and nectar and play a role in searching for honey sources.

Olfactory receptors in insects were found to be extremely diverse, but there is a kind of olfactory receptor, Or83b, which shares a high identity among different insects and plays an important role in the regulation of insect behavior. In order to research the function of Or83b, the gene encoding Or83b receptor from Bactrocera cucurbitae (Coquillett) was cloned and named as BcucOr83b-like (GenBank accession no. HM745934). The sequencing results showed that the open reading frame of BcucOr83b-like was 1 422 bp in length, encoding 473 amino acid residues. Homology analysis showed that the deduced amino acid sequence of BcucOr83b-like had the characteristics of Or83b, with seven putative transmembrane domains and conserved C domains. BcucOr83b-like had very high similarity of amino acid sequence with those from other insects and shared 99.6% identity with the Or83b sequence from Bactrocera dorsalis. Tissue expression pattern revealed that BcucOr83b-like transcript was observed clearly in the antenna of B. cucurbitae, and highly expressed in the head (with antennae removed), female foreleg and wings. The temporal expression pattern further indicated that BcucOr83b-like was also expressed in different developmental stages at different expression levels, with the highest level in female adult newly emerged. This study provides a basis for further researching the function of Or83b from B. cucurbitae.

 In order to investigate the effects of injecting Dnmt3 siRNA on Dnmt3 activity, Dnmt3 mRNA expression level, methylation status of the dynactin p62 gene and the morphological characters in female Apis mellifera ligustica, 50 ng Ringer, uth siRNA and Dnmt3 siRNA were injected into 3 d old female larvae of A. mellifera ligustica reared in an incubator, respectively. Dnmt3 activity, Dnmt3 mRNA expression level, and dynactin p62 methylation level in larval head and the morphological characters including body weight, body length, forewing length, forewing width, proboscis length and 3rd tergum length of newly emerged female adults were examined. The results showed that Dnmt 3 activity, the Dnmt3 expression level and the methylation level of dynactin p62 in larval head were significantly inhibited after the larvae were injected with Dnmt3 siRNA, while the body weight, body length and 3rd tergum length of newly emerged female adults increased, indicating that the changes of Dnmt3 have an effect on female larvae of A. mellifera ligustica during their development.

To elucidate the difference of cold-resisitant substances in overwintering cocooned and non-cocooned larvae of the peach fruit moth, Carposina niponensis Walsingham, cold tolerance of the overwintering larvae was investigated, and their supercooling capacity, water content, total fat content, total protein content and total sugar content were measured respectively. The results showed that the supercooling point (SCP), freezing point (FP), water content, total protein content and total sugar content of cocooned and non-cocooned larvae decreased from October to February of the next year. The water content of non-cocooned larvae increased continuously during the winter, and reached the highest level (61.42%) in February. The water content of non-cocooned larvae was higher than the cocooned larvae in the whole winter. The total sugar content of non-cocooned larvae decreased continuously during the whole overwintering period, and reached the lowest level (0.65 μg/mg) in February. The total sugar content of non-cocooned larvae was significantly lower than the cocooned larvae in the whole winter. There was no significant difference in total protein and total fat contents between the cocooned and non-cocooned larvae, respectively (P>0.05). The higher water content and lower sugar content of non-cocooned larvae might cause them fail to overwinter successfully.

Tenebrio molitor L. is an important resource insect. Based on the cuticular color of 60-day-old larvae, the yellow- and black-color varieties of T. molitor were obtained through natural selection of 12 consecutive generations. In order to provide further scientific data for cultivating new good breeds, the growth, development, survivorship and food utilization of the two color varieties of T. molitor were studied at first. The hatch rate and pupation rate of the two color varieties showed no significant difference and were about 83% and 97% for both, respectively. But the emergence rate of the yellow-color variety (female, 95%; male, 91%) was strikingly higher than that of the black one (female, 82%; male, 83%). The developmental duration of eggs and pupae of both varieties was about 7 d and 10 d, respectively, showing no significant difference, too. But the larvae of the black-color variety developed faster and more orderly than the yellow ones. Larvae of the black-color variety went through 12-15 instars in all, while the yellow-color ones went through 12-17 instars. Most of them went through 14 instars, for both the yellow- and black-color varieties. In the yellow-color variety, there were 27% larvae with 14 instars, while 53% in the black-color variety. If taking the larvae with 14 instars into consideration, the whole developmental duration of the yellow- and black-color varieties from egg to adult was about 171 d and 151 d, respectively. The yellow-color larvae had an average food utilization efficiency significantly higher than that of the black ones. The average approximate digestibility, efficiency of converting digested food and efficiency of converting ingested food of larvae of the yellow-color variety were 66.5%, 50.6% and 33.6%, respectively, while those of larvae of the black-color variety were 62.1%, 46.8% and 29.1%, respectively. There were no significant differences in the growth and survival rates between varieties at the same day age. In conclusion, the black-color variety of T. molitor develops faster and more orderly than the yellow-color variety, while the yellow-color variety has an average food utilization efficiency significantly higher than that of the black-color one. The results provide some useful reference for breeding new good varieties of T. molitor.

In order to explore the effects of cadmium on metallothionein (MT) content of Pirata subpiraticus and its growth and development, offsprings of P. subpiraticus female adults collected from five different habitats were fed on Drosophila melanogaster reared under 5 different Cd²⁺ concentrations in the laboratory. After sexually matured, then the MT content in body, growth rate and survival rate of these female spiders were tested. The results showed that excessive cadmium in food can be transferred by food chain and accumulated in P. subpiraticus and the accumulation level increased with cadmium concentration increasing. The induced expression level of MT was positively related with Cd²⁺ concentration (P<0.05). When Cd²⁺ concentration was less than 20 μg/g, the expression level of MT in P. subpiraticus from polluted sites （S1, S2, S3 and S4） was significantly higher than that from the control site S5 (P<0.05). On the contrary， when Cd²⁺ concentration was higher than 20 μg/g, however, the expression levels of MT in P. subpiraticus from all sites had no significant difference. The survival and growth rates of P. subpiraticus decreased with increasing Cd²⁺ concentration. It is so concluded that MT plays an important role in tolerance mechanism in P. subpiraticus, and MT increases significantly in a concentration-dependent manner with heavy metals.

In order to clarify the toxicity of clothianidin to Myzus persicae (Sulzer) and the metabolic detoxification mechanisms in the aphid, the toxicity of clothianidin to M. persicae was detected using topical application, leaf dipping and petiole wrapping methods, the synergism of piperoayl butoxide (PBO), triphenyl phosphate (TPP) and diethylmaleate (DEM) to clothianidin was determined, and the influence of sublethal doses of clothianidin on detoxifying enzymes was determined with biochemical method at the doses of LC₆, LC₁₅ and LC₃₀. The results showed that the LC₅₀ values through guttate, impregnation and systemic toxicity were 1.891, 2.341 and 1.303 mg/L, respectively. The synergism ratios of PBO and TPP to clothianidin were 2.41 and 1.52, respectively, whereas DEM had no significant synergism to clothianidin. Under the treatment of sublethal doses of clothianidin, the specific activity of AChE was inhibited significantly at 24 h after treatment, and its inhibition rate reached 41.2% at the dose of LC₃₀; the specific activity of CarE, however, increased obviously, and the synergistic ratios at the doses of LC₁₅ and LC₃₀ at 24 h after treatment were 1.29 and 1.36, respectively; and the GST activity was also inhibited significantly with the inhibition rates of 7.9%, 11.9% and 22.7% at the doses of LC₆, LC₁₅ and LC₃₀, respectively. These results suggest that clothianidin has high toxicity to M. persicae, and GST and MFO may be the major detoxifying enzymes in metabolizing clothianidin in the aphid.

To investigate the effects of immigration of individuals on evolution of insecticide resistance, frequencies of resistant individuals of the oriental fruit fly, Bactrocera dorsalis, to trichlorphon and β-cypermethrin were measured with different immigration rates of resistant or sensitive individuals in this study. The results showed that when resistant adults were immigrated into the susceptible population, the frequency of resistant individuals increased as the immigration rates increased. The changes in the frequency of resistant individuals to trichlorphon and β-cypermethrin were 20.04% and 41.75%, respectively, when the immigration rate of resistant individuals was 25%. Similarly, the frequency of resistant individuals decreased when increasing susceptible adults were immigrated into the resistant population. When the immigration rate of susceptible adults was 25%, the changes in the frequency of resistant individuals to trichlorphon and β-cypermethrin were 56.20% and 25.88%, respectively. The relative efficacy of influence on the changes of the frequency of resistant individuals by resistant adult immigration was the highest among all the tested populations when the immigration ratio was 5%. However, when susceptible individuals were immigrated into the resistant population, the relative efficacy of influence on the changes of the frequency of resistant individuals by trichlorphon-resistant adults and β-cypermethrin-resistant adults was the highest when the immigration ratio of sensitive individuals were 5% and 10%, respectively. The relative efficacy of influence on the changes of the frequency of resistant individuals by immigration was the highest among all the tested populations when the immigration ratio was 5%. The tendency fitting for changes of the frequency of resistant individuals and different immigration ratios indicated that resistance to trichlorphon and β-cypermethrin followed the density model and housing model, and the correlation coefficients were 0.9696 and 0.9647, respectively. The results suggest that the reasonably designing immigration rate would effectively postpone resistance development in B. dorsalis populations and meet the requirements for resistance management.

 In order to investigate the relationship between the nutrient contents in needle of Pinus massoniana and its resistance against the pine armoured scale, Hemiberlesia pitysophila, contents of some nutrients were measured, including soluble sugar, total sugar, soluble protein, total N, free amino acids, crude fat and total sugar/total N in the needles of ten pine families both damaged and undamaged by H. pitysophila. Discriminant analysis was applied to analyze the relationship between seven indicators and the resistance of P. massoniana against H. pitysophila. Contents of soluble protein (X₃), total N (X₄) and total free amino acids (X₇) in the pines damaged or undamaged showed significant differences, suggesting they can be used for the indicators to distinguish the resistant group from the susceptible group. The three indicators increased with the decrease of tree resistance. The contents of the three nutrients in damaged pine were all significantly lower than those in undamaged pine. The total N (X₄) was significantly variable in discrimination of the resistance levels. The variation of soluble protein (X₃), total N (X₄) and total free amino acids (X₇) in the damaged pines all decreased while the resistance decreased. It is concluded that soluble protein (X₃), total N (X₄) and total free amino acids (X₇) might be the most important resistance indices. These indices and their variation have significantly negative and positive correlation with the tree’s resistance against H. pitysophila, respectively. The all seven indicators and their variation changed while the pine needles were injured, showing a correlation between the resistance and construction of the variable of effective discriminant functions. Compared with multiple comparisons and analysis of variance, the discriminant analysis seems more comprehensive and scientific for multi-target, multi-object and multi-group analysis.

Acorns, nuts/seeds of Quercus plants, are commonly infested by insect larvae under natural condition, and consequently, seed quality, germination and seedling recruitment are impacted by infestation. From 2007 to 2008, insect infestation of nuts of Chinese cork oak, Quercus variabilis, was investigated in Jiyuan of Mt. Taihangshan area, and infested and perfect nuts were selected and planted in soil of 4 cm depths in Sep., 2007. We aimed to understand the effects of infestation on acorn quality, germination, seedling growth, and to clarify the interaction between infestation and above-mentioned procedure within plant recruitment. The results showed that: 1) infested rates of nuts were 30.04% and 47.68% in 2007 and 2008, respectively; 2) tannic acid (TA) content in infested nuts (11.54%±1.36%) was significantly larger than that in perfect ones (7.36%±1.31%) (P=0.004); 3) the fresh-weight, diameter, and length of infested acorns were less than those in perfect nuts; 4) the rates of rotten nuts (28%) and partially germinated nuts (28%) in infested nuts were larger than those in perfect nuts (0% rotten and 2% partially germinated), while seedling establishment rate in infested nuts (56%) was less than that in perfect nuts (92%); germination duration of infested nuts (35 weeks after burial) was shorter than that of perfect nuts (37 weeks after burial); 5) at the time of early winter of experimental year, there were insignificant differences in height and leaf number of seedlings between infested and perfect nuts; and 6) at the end of experiment, June, 2008, there were no significant differences in leaf number, stem length, leaf weight and stem weight, except for root length, root weight and biomass, between seedlings derived from infested and perfect nuts. The results suggest that infestation would exert negative impact on seed quality and germination behavior; nonetheless, infestation is presumably reasonable for Quercus plant regeneration owning to decreased predation on infested acorns by other seed eaters.

The objective of this work is to study the seasonal variation of percentage infestation, and effect of important weather factors viz. rainfall, relative humidity and temperature on the population of Citrus leaf miner, Phyllocnistis citrella Stainton in J&K State of India. Seasonal abundance of Citrus leaf miner was investigated fortnightly in an orchard of Mosambi (Citrus sinensis) from March 2005 to Feb 2008, located in Jammu. There were three infestation peaks in a year that coincided with the availability of new vegetative flush viz. mid April, mid July and mid September. Correlation analysis indicated that morning, afternoon and average relative humidity were negatively correlated, whereas, average rainfall, and maximum, minimum and average temperature were positively correlated with the population of citrus leaf miner. Rainfall and temperature had significant positive correlation with the population infestation. In general, population of P. citrella can not be predicted simply by observing the relative humidity of a particular area. However, rainfall and temperature all play important roles in affecting the pest infestation.

The fruit fly, Bactrocera (Bactrocera) philippinensis (Drew & Hancock), is an important quarantine pest. It has been reported to damage many fruits seriously, such as mango Mangifera indica L., papaya Carica papaya L. and jackfruit Artocarpus heterophyllus Lam. The bionomics of the fruit fly was systematically observed and studied in the laboratory. The results showed that their emergence percentage was 93.93% during 6-18 h. Their adult activity, longevity, mating and oviposition were related significantly to temperature and light. The adult longevity was prolonged by supplementary nutrition. The suitable temperature of their development and fecundity was 25℃-30℃. The fruit fly laid 627.35 and 652.57 eggs on average at 25℃ and 30℃, respectively. The thermal threshold temperature and the effective accumulated temperature for the development were 14.31℃ and 450.43 day-degree, respectively. The developmental duration was correlated negatively with temperature (r=-0.9005). This study provided the important basic information for the technique of quarantine treatment and field control of the fruit fly.

Partial sequences of COⅠgenes of 25 species and Cyt b genes of 20 species in six genera of Papilionoidea were sequenced and analyzed for exploring their phylogenetic relationships. Adoxophyes honmai was used as outgroup to reconstruct the phylogenetic trees of six genera with neighbor-joining (NJ), maximum parsimony (MP) and Bayesian inference (BI) methods. The results indicated that COⅠ genes are 661 bp in length by alignment, including 417 conserved, 244 variable and 191 parsimoniousinformative sites, and the average percentage of A+T is 70.3%, much higher than that of C+G (29.6%). The Cytb genes are 433 bp in length by alignment, including 239 conserved, 194 variable and 135 parsimoniousinformative sites; and the average percentage of A+T is 74.2%, much higher than that of C+G (25.7%). The molecular phylogenetic trees showed that the genera Papilio, Chilasa, Bhutanitis, Pachliopta and Teinopalpus are all monophyletic clades and separated from each other in the molecular phylogenetic trees. The results correspond with the classification based on traditional morphological characters. However, the monophyletic position of the genus Graphium is not certain and needs further study. The results accumulated data for the molecular systematic study of the family Papilionidae in China.

The systematic searching for food in termite society depends on the multiple communication mechanisms among the foraging individuals, including trail-following, alerting, exchanging of food information, nest-mate recognition, phago-stimulation, etc. Basic communication signals include volatile or semi-volatile chemicals and mechanical vibrations. Alarm pheromones (soldier derived terpenes), cuticular hydrocarbons (C21-C35), trail pheromones (dodecenols and terpenes secreted by sternal gland), phagostimulating pheromone, mechanical vibration signals with certain frequency spectrum and power level, etc., are important information carriers in foraging behavior of termite society. Food information including directions, quality and quantity was somewhat shown to be carried by trail pheromones, and as recently discovered mechanic vibrations made by foragers could also transfer food information. Ways to express food quality and quantity information should be clearly understood. Cooperation in foraging was realized through the integration of nest-mate recognition based on the cuticular hydrocarbons and phago-stimulants secreted by the salivary glands, or even the gnawing vibrations as recently discovered in some wood-dwelling termites. Alarm of the foraging process was conducted by alarm pheromones and some special mechanic vibrations made by the stirred foraging individuals. Interactions between food information were seldom known and still need to be further understood. More attention should be paid to the biophysical factors in the termite foraging behavior. With termite foraging behavior as clue, this article reviewed the research works on foraging behavior related to communication mechanisms of termite society such as food information communication, nest-mate recognition and collaboration. Then, some unsolved problems and trends of these research works were put forward.

Lethal interference competition, which is ubiquitous among many parasitoid species, is a more complicated interspecific relationship and an extreme form of competition. The special multi-specific interaction in the communities of insect natural enemies in such aspects as its definition, pathway, action mechanism and applications to biological control was reviewed. According to the different mechanisms of action, it can be classified as extrinsic and intrinsic competition. Multiparasitism (superparasitism), hyperparasitism, ovicide, host-feeding, physical attack and physiological suppression are known as several mechanisms of lethal interference competition. The main purpose of this review is to reveal this complicated interaction among multiple parasitoids and to help making a sound decision on selection, importation and release of effective biological agents. This is important to the stability of insect biological control system.

In order to find an efficient and pollutionfree method to control the Apocheima cinerarius Erschoff, a polyphagous defoliator pest, the sex pheromone was extracted from sex pheromone glands of virgin female moth of A. cinerarius by n-hexane, the sensitive reaction of male moth antenna to the hexane extracts from sex pheromone glands of virgin female moth was analyzed by GC-EAD, and the components of the pheromone were identified by GC-MS. The GC-EAD results indicated that male moth antenna was detected to have sensitive reaction to one component in the extracts. Based on GC-MS data of authentic standards, an unsaturated acetate with 14 carbons was identified as the active component of sex pheromone, but the position of double bond should be further identified through synthesizing more standard compounds. The results will provide the direction in screening tests of synthetic pheromone candidates and establish the foundation for determining the sex pheromone structure of female A. cinerarius.

【Aim】 Mosquitoes are important vectors of many human diseases. The knowledge of their histological structures is the basis of various researches. The histological and morphological structures of Culex pipiens quinquefasciatus exhibited in this study provide the basis for the research of insecticide resistance and control of mosquitoes. 【Methods】 Improved consecutive paraffin tissue sections, Hematoxylin-Eosin (HE) staining and organ dissection were performed to study the histological structures of C. pipiens quinquefasciatus on the levels of morphology and histology. 【Results】 The digestive, excretory, reproductive, nervous and respiratory systems of C. pipiens quinquefasciatus were obtained and demonstrated clearly. 【Conclusion】 Detailed and improved protocols of parraffin tissue section preparation and Hematoxylin-Eosin staining were discussed. This study provides the information of histological structures of C. pipiens quinquefasciatus, which will shed light on the exploration of gene functions of mosquito using in situ hybridization, immunohistochemistry, etc.