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Developmental ability of Oryzaephilus surinamensis (L.) (Coleoptera: Silvanidae) was examined on six different sorghum milling fractions: Bran, Shorts, Cgrits, Fgrits, Red dogs, Flour, and also on a standard diet of Oat Flakes. For this purpose, a 1-day-old egg was placed in a vial containing 1 g of one of the sorghum fractions and exposed to three temperatures: 25, 30, or 32°C. All vials were checked daily for pupal and adult emergence and mortality of immatures.The developmental time was significantly affected by the type of sorghum fraction. After two weeks, for most of the temperatures examined, the longest developmental times in most cases for both pupation and adult emergence were observed in Flour and Oat flakes. Increasing the temperature from 25 to 30 accelerated the development, while adult emergence time did not differ between 30 and 32°C for all fractions except Flour. Egg mortality ranged from 11 to 78%, while larval and pupal mortality ranged from 0 to 22 and 0 to 45%, respectively for all sorghum fractions and different temperatures tested. Moreover, the mean overall immature mortality occurred at 30°C was 49.2, 39.7, and 65.1% at 25, 30, and 32°C for all the diets examined. The findings of the present work show that O. surinamensis can develop and survive in sorghum milling fractions and that the optimal temperatures for growth enhancement are 30 and 32°C.The temperatures within sorghum milling facilities could support O. surinamensis development on milling fractions if they are not addressed through phytosanitary measures.

The recent emergence of heritable high level resistance to phosphine in stored grain pests is a serious concern among major grain growing countries around the world. Here we describe the genetics of phosphine resistance in the rust red flour beetle Tribolium castaneum (Herbst), a pest of stored grain as well as a genetic model organism. We investigated three field collected strains of T. castaneum viz., susceptible (QTC4), weakly resistant (QTC1012) and strongly resistant (QTC931) to phosphine. The dose-mortality responses of their test- and inter-cross progeny revealed that most resistance was conferred by a single major resistance gene in the weakly (3.2x) resistant strain. This gene was also found in the strongly resistant (431x) strain, together with a second major resistance gene and additional minor factors. The second major gene by itself confers only 12-206x resistance, suggesting that a strong synergistic epistatic interaction between the genes is responsible for the high level of resistance (431x) observed in the strongly resistant strain. Phosphine resistance is not sex linked and is inherited as an incompletely recessive, autosomal trait. The analysis of the phenotypic fitness response of a population derived from a single pair inter-strain cross between the susceptible and strongly resistant strains indicated the changes in the level of response in the strong resistance phenotype; however this effect was not consistent and apparently masked by the genetic background of the weakly resistant strain. The results from this work will inform phosphine resistance management strategies and provide a basis for the identification of the resistance genes.

Primary pests such as Rhyzoperta dominica may increase the contents of dockage, dust, and frass in grain mass. Although it has been suggested that frass can affect the population growth of stored product pests and ecological interactions among primary and secondary pests in stored grain, this has not been validated experimentally. Therefore, this work experimentally tested the hypothesis that R. dominica wheat frass may support population increases in secondary pests such as Tribolium confusum, T. castaneum, and Oryzaephilus surinamensis for the first time. The effect of frass on secondary pest performance was compared with the effects of various physical qualities of wheat grain (i.e., intact grain kernels, grain fragments, flour, grain + frass) and an artificially enriched control diet (milled wheat kernels, oat flakes, and yeast). The results showed that the clean intact grain kernels did not support the population growth of any tested species, and the nutrient-rich control diet provided the best support. Frass was a significantly better food medium for O. surinamensis and T. castaneum than flour or cracked grain, while T. confusum performed equally well on flour and frass. Our results showed that in terms of food quality and suitability for the tested species, frass occupied an intermediate position between the optimized breeding diet and simple uniform cereal diets such as cracked grain or flour. The results suggest that (i) the wheat frass of primary pest R. dominica is a riskier food source for the development of the tested secondary pests than intact or cracked wheat grain or flour; (ii) frass has the potential to positively influence interspecific interactions between R. dominica and the tested secondary pests; and (iii) wheat grain should be cleaned if increases in R. dominica populations and/or accumulated frass are detected.

The diel flight activity in Cathartus quadricollis (Guerin-Meneville) (Coleoptera: Silvanidae), a predator of two important pests in Hawaii, coffee berry borer, Hypothenemus hampei (Ferrari) and tropical nut borer, Hypothenemus obscurus (F.) (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae) was studied in a macadamia nut orchard using yellow sticky traps baited with pheromone and fungal volatile attractants. The study was conducted at different months throughout the year and at different times during the lunar cycle (new moon and full moon). Flight activity peaked in the late hours of the photophase into the early hours of the scotophase, between 1830 and 2000 h; flight activity also occurred but to a lesser extent in the early morning hours between 0700 and 1030 h. Numbers of captured C. quadricollis during periods of flight activity were negatively correlated with wind speed. The implications of these findings for the development of optimal pest management strategies including biological control are discussed.

The flightless endemic New Zealand beetle, Protodendrophagus antipodes Thomas 2003 (Coleoptera: Silvanidae: Brontinae: Brontini; Fig. 1a, b), is unique among its tribe of 12 globally distributed genera in exchanging the forest for an alpine existence. Until recently, P. antipodes was thought to be rare, known only from a handful of specimens from above the tree line in mountains in the northern part of New Zealand's South Island. Following the discovery of the beetle's favored habitat of alpine rock outcrop crevices (Fig. 1c), they have been found by J. Marris at 19 of 24 localities examined, along much of the 700 km length of the South Island mountains and from 1,500 m to over 2,000 m elevation.

The saw-toothed grain beetle, Oryzaephilus surinamensis (Silvanidae), is a cosmopolitan stored-product pest. Early studies on O. surinamensis in the 1930s described the presence of peculiar bacteriomes harboring endosymbiotic bacteria in the abdomen. Since then, however, the microbiological nature of the symbiont has been elusive. Here we investigated the endosymbiotic system of O. surinamensis in detail. In the abdomen of adults, pupae, and larvae, four oval bacteriomes were consistently identified, whose cytoplasm was full of extremely elongated tubular bacterial cells several micrometers wide and several hundred micrometers long. Molecular phylogenetic analysis identified the symbiont as a member of the Bacteroidetes , in which the symbiont was the most closely related to the endosymbiont of a grain pest beetle, Rhyzopertha dominica (Bostrichidae). The symbiont was detected in developing embryos, corroborating vertical symbiont transmission through host generations. The symbiont gene showed AT-biased nucleotide composition and accelerated molecular evolution, plausibly reflecting degenerative evolution of the symbiont genome. When the symbiont infection was experimentally removed, the aposymbiotic insects grew and reproduced normally, but exhibited a slightly but significantly more reddish cuticle and lighter body mass. These results indicate that the symbiont of O. surinamensis is not essential for the host’s growth and reproduction but contributes to the host’s cuticle formation. Symbiont genome sequencing and detailed comparison of fitness parameters between symbiotic and aposymbiotic insects under various environmental conditions will provide further insights into the symbiont’s biological roles for the stored-product pest. IMPORTANCE Some beetles notorious as stored-product pests possess well-developed symbiotic organs called bacteriomes for harboring specific symbiotic bacteria, although their biological roles have been poorly understood. Here we report a peculiar endosymbiotic system of a grain pest beetle, Oryzaephilus surinamensis , in which four oval bacteriomes in the abdomen are full of extremely elongated tubular bacterial cells. Experimental symbiont elimination did not hinder the host’s growth and reproduction, but resulted in emergence of reddish beetles, uncovering the symbiont’s involvement in host’s cuticle formation. We speculate that the extremely elongated symbiont cell morphology might be due to the degenerative symbiont genome deficient in bacterial cell division and/or cell wall formation, which highlights an evolutionary consequence of intimate host-symbiont coevolution. Some beetles notorious as stored-product pests possess well-developed symbiotic organs called bacteriomes for harboring specific symbiotic bacteria, although their biological roles have been poorly understood. Here we report a peculiar endosymbiotic system of a grain pest beetle, Oryzaephilus surinamensis , in which four oval bacteriomes in the abdomen are full of extremely elongated tubular bacterial cells. Experimental symbiont elimination did not hinder the host’s growth and reproduction, but resulted in emergence of reddish beetles, uncovering the symbiont’s involvement in host’s cuticle formation. We speculate that the extremely elongated symbiont cell morphology might be due to the degenerative symbiont genome deficient in bacterial cell division and/or cell wall formation, which highlights an evolutionary consequence of intimate host-symbiont coevolution.

Ozone is a highly oxidizing gas with insecticidal activity and it is a potential alternative to conventional fumigants, such as phosphine and methyl bromide, for managing stored product insects. Susceptibility of the merchant grain beetle, Oryzaephilus mercator (Fauvel; Coleoptera: Silvanidae), an important pest of stored products, to ozone treatments is unknown. In this study, we investigated the efficacy of ozone for controlling O. mercator. We determined concentration-mortality relationships for all stages of O. mercator exposed to 100–400 ppm for 1 h (1 g/ m3 = 467 ppm). We also determined time-mortality relationships for adults exposed to 100 ppm for 1–6 h. Mortality was recorded as percentages of eggs that failed to hatch 10 days after treatment (DAT), larvae or pupae that failed to develop into adults 20 or 15 DAT, respectively, and adults that died 2 DAT. Generally, mortality increased with an increase in ozone concentration. Mortality was higher when insects were treated without food. When food was not provided, a minimum of 11030 ppm for 1 h is required to kill 99% of eggs, the most tolerant stage, whereas 500 ppm for 1 h is required to kill 99% of larvae, the least tolerant. When provided with food, adults were the most tolerant and larvae the least tolerant. Adults require exposure time of 7.7 h of 100 ppm ozone to kill 99% of insects in the absence of food. The work reported suggests that ozone could be an alternative fumigant for the management of all O. mercator life stages.

Data on 17 species from seven families of the Coleoptera from the south of Primorskii Territory are provided. Six species, Pterostichus lutschniki (Carabidae), Silvanolomus brevis (Silvanidae), Tritoma gangwonensis (Erotylidae), Serangium contortum (Coccinellidae), Chilopeltis laevipennis (Salpingidae), Xanthalia serrifera (Tenebrionidae), and genus Caenocryptorrhynchus Morimoto (Curculionidae), with a new species Caenocryptorrhynchus zherichini Korotyaev, sp. n., are recorded for the Russian fauna for the first time. New data are provided for eight rare or little-known species of the Russian fauna: Anchomenus leucopus , Euplynes batesi , Chlaenius suvorovi (all Carabidae), Sumnius nigrofuscus (Coccinellidae), Salpingoides thoracicus , Salpingus depressifrons , Lissodema plagiatum (all Salpingidae), and Shirahoshizo rufescens (Curculionidae). Differential diagnoses or keys are provided for the species new to the Russian fauna.

In the last decades, climate change and globalisation have been exacerbating the introduction of non-native beetles worldwide. Due toits peculiar territory, climate and geographical position in the middle of the Mediterranean Basin, Italy is one of the European countries with the highest number of intercepted, adventive and established non-native beetles, some of which are invasive. In this perspective, producing new faunistic records and continuously updating reliable and easily accessible distributional data is a fundamental step in investigating and potentially preventing further species introduction. The aim of this contribution is to report and discuss new faunistic records of non-native Coleoptera in Italy. For some species, new records enlarge the previously-known distribution (e.g. the ambrosia beetles Anisandrus maiche (Kurentzov, 1941) and Cnestus mutilatus (Blandford, 1894) or the click beetle Monocrepidius posticus (Eschscholtz, 1829)), while for others (e.g. the scarab beetle Archophileurus spinosus Dechambre, 2006), data confirm their establishment and highlight a possible expansion phase. The false powderpost beetles Ptilineurus marmoratus (Reitter, 1877) and the longhorn beetle Xylotrechus chinensis (Chevrolat, 1852) are two new additions to the Italian fauna, while the establishment of the monotomid beetle Monotoma americana Aubé 1837 is confirmed.

Laboratory tests on acclimated and nonacclimated life stages of Tribolium confusum Jacquelin du Val (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae) (adults, pupae, larvae, and eggs) and Oryzaephilus surinamensis (L.) (Coleoptera: Silvanidae) (adults, larvae, and eggs) were conducted at 0, –5, –10, and –15°C to evaluate effects of acclimation on susceptibility to cold treatment. Acclimation of all tested life stages for 7 d at 15°C affected susceptibility of both species to the cold temperatures. After 1 d exposures for ≥2 h, acclimated adults had a noticeable increase in cold tolerance compared with nonacclimated adults for both tested species. Nonacclimated pupae of T. confusum were equally susceptible to cold compared with acclimated pupae at short exposures to low temperatures. Exposure of nonacclimated life stages of T. confusum, at –10°C for 1 d gave 0% survival. Similarly, almost all (99.6%) nonacclimated individuals of O. surinamensis died at –10°C. At 0°C, nonacclimated larvae were more cold tolerant than acclimated larvae, but this trend was reversed when larvae were exposed to –5°C. Mixed results were obtained for larvae of O. surinamensis because in some of the combinations tested, nonacclimated larvae were more tolerant, even at temperatures that were lower than 0°C. In contrast to O. surinamensis, eggs of T. confusum that had not been exposed to cold were not affected by acclimation, while exposure to cold showed increased cold hardiness in acclimated eggs. Results show that individual stored-product insect species may have mixed susceptibility to cold temperatures, which must be taken into account when using cold treatment as a management strategy.