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Insects
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Coleoptera as Pest and Biological Agents in Agricultural and Forest...
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Coleoptera as Pest and Biological Agents in Agricultural and Forest Ecosystems

A special issue of Insects (ISSN 2075-4450). This special issue belongs to the section "Insect Pest and Vector Management".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 April 2022) | Viewed by 21237

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Álvaro Rodríguez González

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Agricultural and Forestry Engineering, Universidad de León, Portugal Avenue nº41, 24071 León, Spain
Interests: insect pests; vineyard pests; biological control; integrated pest management; medicinal and aromatic plants; cerambycid pests; insect ecology; volatile compounds; crop protection
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Óscar González-López

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Food and Agriculture, Universidad de La Rioja, 26006 Logroño, Spain
Interests: biocontrol; integrated control; horticulture; medicinal plants; biotechnology; endophytes; crop production
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Eric W. Riddick

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
National Biological Control Laboratory, USDA-ARS, Stoneville, MS 38776, USA
Interests: predators; parasitoids; natural products; chemical ecology; terrestrial; aquatic; conservation; sustainable
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Coleoptera insect pests generate serious economic losses on wood exploitations all over the world. Coleoptera as pests are important in agricultural and forest crops. Damage to crops is caused by larval feeding and, occasionally, by adult feeding or oviposition behavior. Larvae of most coleoptera species are borers, feeding on living, dying, dead, or rotten plant stems, branches, or twigs. The greatest number of wood-boring species feed on subcortical tissues—at least initially. Later, they may burrow further into sapwood—and even hardwood—to continue feeding. The insect’s herbaceous feeders usually bore in host stems. The insect’s root feeders may bore in the roots, hollowing out and killing the roots of the host plants, or they may live in the soil and feed on the roots. In particular, in some species, larvae damage fruit; adults cause economic damage to leaves and flowers by feeding and to stems or branches.

We invite experts and researchers in the field to contribute original research articles, reviews, short communications, and opinion pieces about coleoptera insects’ attacks to crops and problems caused in ecosystems. The sustainable management of these insect pests, development and/or application of biological control strategies, and new techniques and traps used for their control will also be considered in this Special Issue. Works on minor horticultural and tropical–subtropical crops are also welcome. Specific topics of interest include direct and indirect damage in crops. Other topics of interest are semiochemicals; volatile organic compounds; pheromones, biopesticides application, and research methods for their control; plant–insect interaction; auxiliary predators for their control; and taxonomic characteristics.

Dr. Álvaro Rodríguez González
Dr. Óscar González-López
Dr. Eric W. Riddick
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. Insects 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 2600 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

  • invasive insects
  • mass trapping
  • chemical ecology
  • biopesticides
  • crop protection
  • integrated pest management

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Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

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11 pages, 4001 KiB  
Article
Optimization of a Mass Trapping Method against the Striped Cucumber Beetle Acalymma vittatum in Organic Cucurbit Fields
by Jessee Tinslay, Marc Fournier, Isabelle Couture, Pierre J. Lafontaine, Maxime Lefebvre and Eric Lucas
Insects 2022, 13(5), 465; https://doi.org/10.3390/insects13050465 - 17 May 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2375
Abstract
The striped cucumber beetle (SCB) Acalymma vittatum (F.) (Coleptera: Chrysomelidae) is a prime problem in North American cucurbit crops. While certain chemical pesticides efficiently control SCB in conventional cucurbit fields, alternative solutions are required due to the ever-evolving regulations on pesticides. For organic [...] Read more.
The striped cucumber beetle (SCB) Acalymma vittatum (F.) (Coleptera: Chrysomelidae) is a prime problem in North American cucurbit crops. While certain chemical pesticides efficiently control SCB in conventional cucurbit fields, alternative solutions are required due to the ever-evolving regulations on pesticides. For organic producers, very few control methods exist. A novel mass trapping method demonstrates the potential of controlling SCBs using floral-based semiochemical baited traps in cucurbit crops. The goals of this study were to (1) determine whether baited traps capture more SCBs than unbaited ones, and (2) optimize the trapping method by comparing different trap types and different commercially available attractants to maximize SCB captures while minimizing non-target species captures. The results of a first experiment showed that baited traps captured significantly more SCBs than unbaited ones. Baited traps also captured significantly more bees and hoverflies than unbaited ones. In a second experiment these unwanted captures were drastically reduced by using traps with ten 4 mm in diameter holes per side. Finally, a third experiment demonstrated that the attractant 40CT313 was the most efficient at capturing SCB compared to other tested lures. Overall, the optimized mass trapping technique demonstrated a potential to effectively control SCB populations in organic cucurbit crops. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Coleoptera as Pest and Biological Agents in Agricultural and Forest Ecosystems)
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9 pages, 273 KiB  
Article
Field Evaluation of Selected Plant Volatiles and Conspecific Pheromones as Attractants for Agriotes obscurus and A. lineatus (Coleoptera: Elateridae)
by Wim van Herk, Bob Vernon, Gabrielle Bourassa-Tait, Miklós Tóth and Ervin Kovacs
Insects 2022, 13(2), 173; https://doi.org/10.3390/insects13020173 - 6 Feb 2022
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 2266
Abstract
Sex pheromones are commonly used in traps to monitor populations and movements of male click beetles, but to date few attractants have been identified for females. Notable exceptions are plant-derived kairomones for female Agriotes brevis and A. ustulatus, allowing the monitoring of [...] Read more.
Sex pheromones are commonly used in traps to monitor populations and movements of male click beetles, but to date few attractants have been identified for females. Notable exceptions are plant-derived kairomones for female Agriotes brevis and A. ustulatus, allowing the monitoring of both males and females of these species with lures containing both pheromones and plant volatiles. The attractiveness of these plant volatiles for two congeners, A. obscurus and A. lineatus, which are agricultural pests in Europe and North America, was evaluated in the current study. Both the four-component MINIM plant-derived lure for A. brevis, and the blend of (E)-anethol and (E)-cinnamaldehyde for A. ustulatus, were not attractive to A. obscurus and A. lineatus, and instead appeared to reduce captures—both when compared to blank controls, and when blended with and compared to the sex pheromones of these species. This was most pronounced in A. obscurus, where (E)-anethol and (E)-cinnamaldehyde reduced male captures by 43 and 37%, respectively. Combining the pheromones of A. obscurus and A. lineatus reduced captures of these species by 77 and 19%, respectively, compared to these pheromones singly. This suggests that attractants for female click beetles can be highly species-specific, and that the blending of pheromones of congeneric species with each other, or with plant volatiles, can reduce captures. Further research into developing such attractants for economic species is urgently needed. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Coleoptera as Pest and Biological Agents in Agricultural and Forest Ecosystems)
18 pages, 1677 KiB  
Article
First Evidence of Feeding-Induced RNAi in Banana Weevil via Exogenous Application of dsRNA
by Henry Shaykins Mwaka, Olivier Christiaens, Priver Namanya Bwesigye, Jerome Kubiriba, Wilberforce Kateera Tushemereirwe, Godelieve Gheysen and Guy Smagghe
Insects 2022, 13(1), 40; https://doi.org/10.3390/insects13010040 - 29 Dec 2021
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 3488
Abstract
Banana weevil (Cosmopolites sordidus) is the most devastating pest of banana and plantain worldwide, yet current control measures are neither effective, sustainable, nor environmentally sound, and no resistant farmer-preferred cultivars are known to date. In this paper, we examined the ability [...] Read more.
Banana weevil (Cosmopolites sordidus) is the most devastating pest of banana and plantain worldwide, yet current control measures are neither effective, sustainable, nor environmentally sound, and no resistant farmer-preferred cultivars are known to date. In this paper, we examined the ability to induce RNA interference (RNAi) in the banana weevil via feeding. We first developed an agar- and banana corm (rhizome) flour-based artificial diet in a multi-well plate setup that allowed the banana weevils to complete their life cycle from egg through the larval instars to the pupal stage in an average period of 53 days. Adults emerged about 20 days later. The artificial diet allowed the tunneling and burrowing habits of the larvae and successful metamorphosis up to adult eclosion. Adding dsRNA for laccase2 to the artificial diet resulted in albino phenotypes, confirming gene-silencing. Finally, C. sordidus was fed with dsRNA against a selection of essential target genes: snf7, rps13, mad1, vha-a, vha-d, and lgl for a period of 45 days. 100% mortality within 9–16 days was realized with dssnf7, dsrps13, and dsmad1 at 200 ng/mL artificial diet, and this corresponded to a strong reduction in gene expression. Feeding the dsRNA targeting the two vha genes resulted in 100% mortality after about 3–4 weeks, while treatment with dslgl resulted in no mortality above the dsgfp-control and the water-control. Our results have implications for the development of RNAi approaches for managing important crop pests, in that banana weevils can be controlled based on the silencing of essential target genes as snf7, rps13, and mad1. They also highlight the need for research into the development of RNAi for banana protection, eventually the engineering of host-induced gene-silencing (HIGS) cultivars, given the high RNAi efficacy and its species-specific mode of action, adding the RNAi approach to the armory of integrated pest management (IPM). Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Coleoptera as Pest and Biological Agents in Agricultural and Forest Ecosystems)
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Review

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15 pages, 2834 KiB  
Review
Coconut Rhinoceros Beetle in Samoa: Review of a Century-Old Invasion and Prospects for Control in a Changing Future
by Sulav Paudel, Sean D. G. Marshall, Nicola K. Richards, George Hazelman, Pueata Tanielu and Trevor A. Jackson
Insects 2022, 13(5), 487; https://doi.org/10.3390/insects13050487 - 23 May 2022
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 6683
Abstract
It is now more than 100 years since the coconut rhinoceros beetle (CRB: Oryctes rhinoceros L.) was first detected in the Pacific Island state of Samoa. The exotic pest from Asia became the principal pest of coconut palms in Samoa and, from this [...] Read more.
It is now more than 100 years since the coconut rhinoceros beetle (CRB: Oryctes rhinoceros L.) was first detected in the Pacific Island state of Samoa. The exotic pest from Asia became the principal pest of coconut palms in Samoa and, from this first point of invasion, spread to several surrounding countries in the South-West Pacific Ocean. An intensive control operation was initiated, but the beetle could not be eliminated. Various pest management strategies were attempted but had limited success until the introduction of a biological control agent (BCA), Oryctes rhinoceros nudivirus (OrNV), during the late 1960s and early 1970s. The biocontrol release was very successful and became the prime example of “classical biological control” of an insect pest by a virus. Changing economic and social conditions in Samoa and other islands of the Pacific require a re-evaluation of the threat of CRB to coconut production to suggest how the IPM system may be modified to meet future needs. Therefore, it is timely to review the history of CRB in Samoa and summarize experiences in development of an integrated pest management (IPM) system limiting the impact of the pest. We also present results from a recent study conducted in 2020 on the island of Upolu to define the current status of the CRB population and its BCA, OrNV. The lessons from Samoa, with its long history of containment and management of CRB, are applicable to more recent invasion sites. Recommendations are provided to modify the IPM programme to enhance the sustainable control of CRB and support the ongoing coconut replantation program promoted by the Samoan government. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Coleoptera as Pest and Biological Agents in Agricultural and Forest Ecosystems)
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Other

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11 pages, 832 KiB  
Case Report
Effect of Cry Toxins on Xylotrechus arvicola (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) Larvae
by Álvaro Rodríguez-González, Alejandra J. Porteous-Álvarez, Marcos Guerra, Óscar González-López, Pedro A. Casquero and Baltasar Escriche
Insects 2022, 13(1), 27; https://doi.org/10.3390/insects13010027 - 26 Dec 2021
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2586
Abstract
The beetle Xylotrechus arvicola is a destructive pest in vineyards (Vitis vinifera) in the main wine-producing areas of the Iberian Peninsula. X. arvicola larvae bore into the grapevine wood-making galleries, thus damaging the plant both directly and indirectly; the latter through [...] Read more.
The beetle Xylotrechus arvicola is a destructive pest in vineyards (Vitis vinifera) in the main wine-producing areas of the Iberian Peninsula. X. arvicola larvae bore into the grapevine wood-making galleries, thus damaging the plant both directly and indirectly; the latter through the proliferation of wood fungi, which can invade the inside of the plant, decreasing the quality and quantity of its production. The susceptibility of X. arvicola larvae to five coleopteran toxic Cry proteins (Cry1B, Cry1I, Cry3A, Cry7A, and Cry23/37) was evaluated under laboratory conditions in order to deepen the knowledge of the effect of these proteins on this insect throughout its biological development. Cry7Ab and Cry1Ba were the most effective in controlling X. arvicola larvae due to the significant reduction in larvae survival (32.9 and 25.9 days, respectively), and by causing serious alterations in the larvae during the remaining months of their development. The developmental stage of the prepupal and pupal stages was not affected by the previous ingestion of Cry proteins. The Cry proteins tested could be applied to control X. arvicola larvae since they were able to kill them and cause serious alterations in the larvae during the remaining months of development that followed. The data presented suggest that these Cry proteins can be used as bioinsecticides against the larvae of this insect, applying them only at the moment when the larvae hatch from the egg outside the grapevine wood (this would only be useful and justified if the economic threshold is exceeded) in order to avoid the rapid evolution of resistance against these toxins since not all of the larvae were killed and thus increase vine wood protection. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Coleoptera as Pest and Biological Agents in Agricultural and Forest Ecosystems)
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