Fall armyworm (FAW, Spodoptera frugiperda) is a polyphagous and migratory lepidopteran pest insect in field crops and is notoriously invasive worldwide. In large portions of the Americas, its populations are managed using transgenic maize or cotton varieties producing insecticidal proteins from Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt), primarily Vip3Aa pyramided with Cry Bt proteins. We determined the susceptibility of FAW field populations from locations pressured with such maize hybrids for over five years. We used time–mortality bioassays with F₁ third-instar larvae of six geographically distinct populations collected in maize fields of a tropical agricultural region encompassing four Brazilian states. We maintained the neonate progeny from the field populations on an artificial diet until the third instar, and then determined their survival curves on the foliage of three Vip3Aa/Cry-producing Bt maize hybrids. Death of the mid-size, third-instar FAWs occurred relatively rapidly, with larval mortality rates reaching 98–100% in less than five days regardless of Bt maize hybrid. However, median survival time (ST₅₀) for the larvae differed among the populations, with the lowest and highest ST₅₀ values occurring for PI-Cr (42 h, 1.75 d) and PI-Ur populations (66–90 h, 2.75–3.75 h), respectively. Therefore, the F₁ third-instar larvae of FAW populations were largely susceptible to Vip3Aa/Cry-producing maize foliage, and the most contrasting susceptibility occurred in the insects from Piauí state, Brazil. These results indicate that progeny of FAWs from areas highly pressured with Vip3Aa/Cry Bt maize hybrids are killed on maize foliage producing Vip3Aa and Cry Bt proteins despite field reports of increased leaf damage by the larvae in some locations. This research informs decision making for Bt-crop resistance management by producers, technicians, and researchers in local, regional, and world agriculture.

The genus Zaprionus, Coquillett 1902 (Diptera: Drosophilidade) originates from the Afrotropical and Oriental regions. The genus comprises about 48 described species (Yassin and David, 2010 YASSIN, A. and DAVID, J.R., 2010. Revision of the Afrotropical species of Zaprionus (Diptera, Drosophilidae), with descriptions of two new species and notes on internal reproductive structures and immature stages. ZooKeys, vol. 51, pp. 33-72. http://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.51.380. PMid:21594121. http://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.51.380... ); among them, two species with wide distribution worldwide are notable: Z. indianus (Gupta, 1970) and Z. tuberculatus (Chassagnard and Tsacas, 1993). In Brazilian territory, Z. indianus was first recorded in 1999 (Vilela, 1999 VILELA, C.R., 1999. Is Zaprionus indianus Gupta, 1970 (Diptera, Drosophilidae) colonizing the Neotropical region? Drosophila Information Service, vol. 82, pp. 37-39. ), and Z. tuberculatus in 2020 (Cavalcanti et al., 2022 CAVALCANTI, F.A.G.S., RIBEIRO, L.B., MARINS, G., TONELLI, G.S.S.S., BÁO, S.N., YASSIN, A. and TIDON, R., 2022. Geographic expansion of an invasive fly: first record of Zaprionus tuberculatus (Diptera: Drosophilidae) in the Americas. Annals of the Entomological Society of America, vol. 115, no. 3, pp. 267-274. http://doi.org/10.1093/aesa/saab052. http://doi.org/10.1093/aesa/saab052... ).

Conservation agriculture plays an important role in the sustainability of production systems, notably for globally significant crops such as cotton. This study explores the integration of the no-tillage system (NTS) with integrated pest management (IPM) by incorporating cover crops. The aim is to assess the impact of these living or dead covers on the management of insect populations, the indices diversity of phytophagous insects and natural enemies, and to investigate the population fluctuation of these arthropods, considering a variety of crops in the NTS before and after cotton planting. The trial, conducted over two consecutive cropping seasons in Mato Grosso do Sul State, Brazil, employed a randomised block design with four repetitions. The treatments included cover crops with the highest potential for use in the region, such as millet (Pennisetum glaucum glaucum L.), corn (Zea mays L.), brachiaria (Urochloa ruziziensis), black velvet bean (Stizolobium aterrimum), forage sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L.), and white oats (Avena sativa L.) and a mix of white oats with brachiaria. The results indicated that the black velvet bean stands out as the most effective cover crop, providing the best performance in terms of non-preference to the attack of the evaluated pest insects. Conversely, brachiaria proves to be more susceptible to infestations of Dalbulus maidis (DeLong and Wolcott) (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae), and Diabrotica speciosa (Germar, 1824) (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae). The study underscores the relevance of the judicious choice of cover crops in IPM and in promoting agricultural biodiversity, creating a strategic tool to enhance the sustainability and efficiency of the cotton production system in the context of the NTS.

The Tephritidae family has many fruit fly species responsible for causing direct and indirect damage to economically important fruit trees worldwide. Biological control has been sought as a method for the management of these insects, mainly because it does not cause adverse damage to the environment. Thus, this review sought information on what is currently being published in the scientific field about the main biological agents that are used to control fruit flies. The information was obtained through surveys between the months of June and August 2020, in bases such as the Web of Science, Scopus, ScienceDirect, Taylor & Francis, Springer, and Scielo. The inclusion of the articles followed criteria such as publication language English, Portuguese and Spanish, available in full, from categories A1 to B1, related to the biological agents used in the control of fruit flies and published in the last five years. A total of 2,362 studies were found, of which 105 articles were selected for this review. Regarding the years of publication, only 27% of the studies correspond to references from the years 2019 and 2020, with a greater number of research on parasitoids and developed in the laboratory. The largest concentration of research was in countries like Brazil, Mexico, and Spain.

Objetivou-se com esse estudo inventariar os trabalhos científicos publicados nos últimos 10 anos sobre o uso de dermápteros no cenário agronômico. Para isto, realizou-se uma revisão de literatura buscando por pesquisas científicas publicadas sobre a utilização de dermápteros no cenário agronômico. A busca por essas informações ocorreu entre os meses de dezembro de 2020 e fevereiro de 2021 nas bases de dados: Web of science, ScienceDirect, Taylor & Francis, Springer e Scielo, utilizando como palavras-chave “Dermaptera”e “Predadores”. Os critérios de inclusão dos estudos na revisão foram o idioma (artigos em inglês, português e espanhol), artigos de pesquisa, data de publicação (publicados nos últimos 10 anos) e relação com a temática estudada. Após a seleção baseada nos critérios supracitados, os estudos selecionados foram lidos na íntegra e os dados coletados foram organizados em uma planilha utilizando o Microsoft Excel®. Com base nos critérios de elegibilidade, encontrou-se um total de 1.626 estudos, destes 466 foram selecionados para leitura completa e após a leitura, apenas 65 artigos corresponderam ao tema. Destes, foi possível obter informações como: espécies de dermápteros estudadas, áreas de estudos, distribuição geográfica, anos de publicação, áreas de aplicação e espécies de pragas predadas. O levantamento enaltece a escassez de pesquisas sobre a temática,no entanto, destaca-se uma alta quantidade de estudos acerca da espécie Forficula auricularia L., 1758. A pesquisa em questão aponta o Brasil como o país que mais publicou sobre o tema e revela que o foco dos estudos fez referência a utilização desses insetos no controle biológico de pragas agrícolas.

Marava arachidis (Yersin, 1860) destaca-se como um importante agente de controle biológico de pragas como Spodoptera frugiperda (Smith, 1797). Os dermápteros podem desempenhar importante função na redução populacional de pragas. Esses predadores, entretanto, sofrem interferência negativa pelo emprego indiscriminado de produtos químicos e naturais não seletivos. Diante disso, avaliou-se a seletividade fisiológica de extratos aquosos de diferentes plantas, aplicados por via tópica, sobre ninfas e adultos de M. arachidis. A pesquisa foi realizada em laboratório, com temperatura 25 ± 1º C, umidade 70 ± 10% e fotofase 12 horas. Para verificar o efeito dos extratos aquosos aplicados por via tópica sobre ninfas e adultos desse predador, assim como seu efeito no ciclo reprodutivo, foram utilizadas as seguintes plantas: Agave sisalana, Ziziphus joazeiro, Croton blanchetianus, Cymbopogon citratus, Chenopodium ambrosioides, Mentha sp., Ruta graveolens, Melia azedarach L., Azadirachta indica e Calotropis procera. Os extratos aquosos utilizados de A. sisalana, Z. joazeiro, C. blanchetianus, C. citratus, C. ambrosioides, Mentha sp. e C. procera são seletivos a ninfas e adultos de M. arachidis, enquanto R. graveolens, M. azedarach e A. indica são levemente nocivos a esse predador pela via de entrada tópica. A aplicação, por via tópica, dos extratos aquosos na concentração de 10% não afeta o ciclo reprodutivo de M. arachidis.