O trabalho teve como objetivo coletar, identificar e estudar a flutuação populacional de espécies da ordem Coleoptera em plantio de Eucalyptus spp. no município de Pinheiro Machado, estado do Rio Grande do Sul. Os insetos foram coletados com armadilhas luminosas e etanólicas a cada quinze dias, no período de fevereiro de 2006 a outubro de 2007. Os exemplares, após triagem, foram identificados por comparação com coleções entomológicas e literatura especializada. Foram coletados 6.172 indivíduos, distribuídos em 39 famílias e 249 espécies, dessas 130 foram identificadas em nível de espécie e 119 em família, representando 4.498 e 1.674 do total de indivíduos coletados respectivamente. As espécies mais abundantes foram Cyclocephala sp. 1, Cyclocephala sp. 2, Dyscinetus sp. 1, Euetheola humilis (Scarabaeidae) e Neoclytus curvatus (Cerambycidae) representando 49,28% dos indivíduos identificados por gênero e/ou espécie. Scarabaeidae apresentou o maior número de indivíduos (2.588), distribuídos em 37 espécies. As famílias Cerambycidae (47) e Scolytidae (40) apresentaram maior quantidade de espécies. Em todos os meses coletaram-se indivíduos da ordem Coleoptera, com maior número de exemplares em dezembro de 2006 e março de 2007.

Drosophila suzukii (Matsumura) has been recently detected causing damage to strawberries in Brazil. Infestation in strawberry culture has often been observed jointly with the presence of Zaprionus indianus Gupta. This study investigated the susceptibility of strawberries at three ripening stages to infestation of D. suzukii and Z. indianus and their interaction. In the laboratory, strawberries cv. Albion at different ripening stages (green, semi-ripe and ripe) were exposed to D. suzukii and Z. indianus for 24 h in choice and no-choice bioassays. Additionally, we evaluated the effects of mechanical damage incurred artificially or by D. suzukii oviposition on Z. indianus infestation. In no-choice bioassay, there were no significant differences in fruit susceptibility to D. suzukii infestation at different ripening stages. However, in choice bioassay, D. suzukii adults preferred to oviposit on R fruit. The presence of mechanical damage did not increase susceptibility of fruit to D. suzukii oviposition. For Z. indianus, there was greater susceptibility of R fruit in relation to SR and G fruit in both the choice and no-choice bioassays. There was a significant and positive interaction of mechanical damage and damage caused by D. suzukii to R fruit and infestation by Z. indianus, which was not observed in SR and G fruit. Although infestation of Z. indianus is related to attack damaged or decaying fruit, this work shows that this species has the ability to oviposit and develop in healthy strawberry fruit with and increased infestation level when the fruit has damage to its epidermis.

BACKGROUND: Drosophila suzukii is a primary insect pest that causes direct damage to fruits with a thin epidermis such as strawberries, cherries and blueberries. In strawberry fields, the co‐occurrence of D. suzukii and Zaprionus indianus has increased production losses. This study evaluated the toxicities and effects of insecticidal baits to control adults and larvae of both D. suzukii and Z. indianus.RESULTS: Organophosphate (dimethoate and malathion), spinosyn (spinosad and spinetoram), pyrethroid (lambda‐cyhalothrin) and diamide (cyantraniliprole) insecticides exhibited high toxicity to both adults and larvae of D. suzukii and Z. indianus (mortality >80%) in topical and dip bioassays. However, when the insecticides were mixed with a feeding attractant, a positive effect was observed only for adults of D. suzukii. Insecticides containing neonicotinoids (acetamiprid and thiamethoxam) and pyrolle (chlorfenapyr) caused intermediate mortality to adults of D. suzukii (40–60%) and low mortality for Z. indianus (mortality <23%); however, these compounds reduced the larval infestation of the two species by 55–86%. Botanical (azadirachtin) and sulphur insecticides exhibited low toxicity (mortality <40%) on adults and larvae of both species.CONCLUSION: Dimethoate, malathion, spinosad, spinetoram, lambda‐cyhalothrin and cyantraniliprole are highly toxic to both larvae and adults of D. suzukii and Z. indianus. The use of toxic baits for adults of D. suzukii could be an alternative in management of this species. © 2016 Society of Chemical Industry

Our main purpose was to evaluate the expression of plastic and evolved genes involved in ecological speciation in the noctuid moth Spodoptera frugiperda, the fall armyworm (FAW); and to demonstrate how host plants might influence lineage differentiation in this polyphagous insect. FAW is an important pest of several crops worldwide, and it is differentiated into host plant-related strains, corn (CS) and rice strains (RS). RNA-Seq and transcriptome characterization were applied to evaluate unbiased genetic expression differences in larvae from the two strains, fed on primary (corn) and alternative (rice) host plants. We consider that genes that are differently regulated by the same FAW strain, as a response to different hosts, are “plastic”. Otherwise, differences in gene expression between the two strains fed on the same host are considered constitutive differences. Individual performance parameters (larval and pupal weight) varied among conditions (strains vs. hosts). A total of 3657 contigs was related to plastic response, and 2395 contigs were differentially regulated in the two strains feeding on preferential and alternative hosts (constitutive contigs). Three molecular functions were present in all comparisons, both down- and up-regulated: oxidoreductase activity, metal-ion binding, and hydrolase activity. Metabolization of foreign chemicals is among the key functions involved in the phenotypic variation of FAW strains. From an agricultural perspective, high plasticity in families of detoxifying genes indicates the capacity for a rapid response to control compounds such as insecticides.

The diverse flora of the Atlantic Forest is fertile ground for discovering new chemical structures with insecticidal activity. The presence of species belonging to the genusBaccharisis of particular interest, as these species have shown promise in pest management applications. The objective of this study is to chemically identify the constituents expressed in the leaves of seven species ofBaccharis(B. anomalaDC.,B. calvescensDC.,B. mesoneuraDC.,B. millefloraDC.,B. oblongifoliaPers.,B. trimera(Less) DC. andB. uncinellaDC.) and to evaluate the toxicological and morphological effects caused by essential oils (EOs) on the larvae and adults ofDrosophila suzukii(Diptera: Drosophilidae). Chemical analysis using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC–MS) indicated that limonene was the main common constituent in allBaccharisspecies. This constituent in isolation, as well as the EOs ofB. calvescens,B. mesoneura, andB. oblongifolia, caused mortality in over 80% of adults ofD. suzukiiat a discriminatory concentration of 80 mg L⁻¹in bioassays of ingestion and topical application. These results are similar to the effect of spinosyn-based synthetic insecticides (spinetoram 75 mg L⁻¹) 120 h after exposure. Limonene and EOs from all species had the lowest LC₅₀and LC₉₀values relative to spinosyn and azadirachtin (12 g L⁻¹) in both bioassays. However, they showed the same time toxicity over time as spinetoram when applied to adults ofD. suzukii(LT₅₀ranging from 4.6 to 8.7 h) in a topical application bioassay. In olfactometry tests, 92% ofD. suzukiifemales showed repellent behavior when exposed to the EOs and limonene. Likewise, the EOs ofB. calvescens,B. mesoneura, andB. oblongifoliasignificantly reduced the number of eggs in artificial fruits (≅ 7.6 eggs fruit⁻¹), differing from the control treatment with water (17.2 eggs fruit⁻¹) and acetone (17.6 eggs fruit⁻¹). According to histological analyses, the L3 larvae ofD. suzukiihad morphological and physiological alterations and deformations after exposure to treatments containing EOs and limonene, which resulted in high larval, pupal, and adult mortality. In view of the results,BaccharisEOs and their isolated constituent, limonene, proved to be promising alternatives for developing bioinsecticides to manage ofD. suzukii.