Diversity, Taxonomy and Evolution of Insects

A special issue of Diversity (ISSN 1424-2818).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 January 2023) | Viewed by 4682

Special Issue Editors


E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
National Center for Scientific Research Demokritos, Institute of Biosciences and Applications (IB-A), Athens, Greece
Interests: moths Lepidoptera insect ecology; developmental biology; evolution; pest management; Lepidoptera; functional genomics
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Agricultural Biotechnology, Agricultural University of Athens, Athens, Greece
Interests: RNA interference; pest management; moths; lepidoptera; insect ecology; functional genomics
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Entomological science is a rapidly emerging field with significant relevance from biological, evolutionary and economical points of view. Insects represent one of the most abundant eukaryote groups and are dynamically distributed in all over the world. Research in insect biodiversity is still of high importance, answering questions and connecting missing links between insect species. Molecular biology data, NGS, genomic and phylogenetic analyses are now hotspots for breakthrough discoveries in insect science, revealing information that traditional morphological and taxonomical techniques could not. Moreover, physiological and biochemical data from comparative high-throughput proteomic and metabolomic analyses shed more light on many aspects of insect science, such as pesticide resistance, endocrine regulation and evolution, social communication, and molecular evolution. In this Special Issue, we welcome original research articles and reviews concerning the molecular taxonomy and phylogeny of insects, high-throughput technologies used in insect genome sequencing, comparative evolutionary analyses, functional genomics, proteomics and metabolomics of insect physiology and endocrinology. We look forward to your contributions to this Special Issue, which aims to highlight the importance of molecular biology in insect biodiversity and taxonomy research.

Dr. Dimitrios Kontogiannatos
Dr. Anna Kourti
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Diversity is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2100 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • insect molecular taxonomy
  • insect diversity and evolution
  • NGS
  • proteomics
  • metabolomics

Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue

  • Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
  • Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
  • Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
  • External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
  • e-Book format: Special Issues with more than 10 articles can be published as dedicated e-books, ensuring wide and rapid dissemination.

Further information on MDPI's Special Issue polices can be found here.

Published Papers (2 papers)

Order results
Result details
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

41 pages, 16876 KiB  
Article
The Terebrantia (Insecta: Thysanoptera) of the Maltese Islands
by Godwin Degabriele, Adriano Cavalleri, Arturo Goldarazena and David Mifsud
Diversity 2023, 15(4), 514; https://doi.org/10.3390/d15040514 - 3 Apr 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2162
Abstract
Thirty-nine species of terebrantian Thysanoptera belonging to four families and 22 genera are here recorded from the Maltese Islands. Of these, 33 represent new records to this archipelago. Thrips were collected from 65 different locations over a seven-year period, covering the main habitat [...] Read more.
Thirty-nine species of terebrantian Thysanoptera belonging to four families and 22 genera are here recorded from the Maltese Islands. Of these, 33 represent new records to this archipelago. Thrips were collected from 65 different locations over a seven-year period, covering the main habitat types found across the Maltese Islands, namely steppe, garigue, maquis and woodland, but also sand dunes and saltmarshes as well as roadsides, private and public gardens, greenhouses and cultivated fields. An illustrated dichotomous key to identify the Terebrantia of the Maltese Islands is presented. Chorological data for the species researched in the current study shows that the majority of these insects are of a European Mediterranean origin, though the geographical distribution of some of them extends to Africa and the Middle East. Seven species associated with agricultural commodities were found to be of alien origin; however they were locally found in small numbers and do not pose a threat to horticulture. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Diversity, Taxonomy and Evolution of Insects)
Show Figures

Figure 1

14 pages, 1516 KiB  
Article
Diversity of Hymenopteran Parasitoids in Coffee Plantations under Agroecological Transition and Its Impact on Coffee Leaf Miner (Leucoptera coffeella) Infestations
by Kulian Basil Santa Cecília Marques, Lêda Gonçalves Fernandes, Ludmila Caproni Morais, Khalid Haddi and Luís Cláudio Paterno Silveira
Diversity 2023, 15(1), 2; https://doi.org/10.3390/d15010002 - 20 Dec 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1872
Abstract
The biodiversity of natural competitors is vital to key ecosystem services and agroecosystems’ benefits to society. The abundance and richness of hymenopteran parasitoid communities, and subsequently their services, are dependent on the variety of habitats in the different agroecological landscapes. Here, we monitored [...] Read more.
The biodiversity of natural competitors is vital to key ecosystem services and agroecosystems’ benefits to society. The abundance and richness of hymenopteran parasitoid communities, and subsequently their services, are dependent on the variety of habitats in the different agroecological landscapes. Here, we monitored the fluctuation of predatory wasps and hymenopteran parasitoid populations and their impacts on coffee leaf miner infestations under different coffee plantation landscapes. Thus, 24 sampling plots were arranged in four cultivation systems: conventional (CONV), in transition to organic shaded (T.OSH), in transition to organic full-sun (T.OFS), and without pesticide (T.WOP). In each plot, leaves with intact mines were collected randomly once a month over a period of 23 months. Parasitoid species, coffee leaf miner infestation, predation, and parasitism were assessed based on the emerged parasitoids and wasps’ activity signs in the mines. The data on parasitoids revealed the presence of 621 hymenopteran parasitoids, of which, 420 were Braconids and 201 were Eulophids. Overall, the abundance of braconid specimens (67.6%) was greater, but the species richness was higher in Eulophids. The highest species richness of L. coffeella parasitoids was in T.OSH and T.OFS. Furthermore, in the coffee plants evaluated, the coffee leaf miner population is well established and does not cause economic damage, as the spontaneous action of predatory wasps and parasitoids, in addition to climatic factors, contributes to regulating these pest infestations. Of these parasitoids, the braconid Orgilus niger and Stiropius reticulatus were found to be promising and well-adapted control provider species. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Diversity, Taxonomy and Evolution of Insects)
Show Figures

Graphical abstract

Back to TopTop