Persea americana (avocado) is a healthy fruit, rich in unsaturated fatty acids, various minerals, and vitamins. As avocado cultivation continues to expand globally, its development is increasingly constrained by concomitant diseases, among which fruit rot and anthracnose have emerged as significant threats to fruit quality. Menglian in Yunnan Province is the largest avocado production area in China. In November 2024, fruit rot was observed on avocado fruits in Yunnan, China, characterized by reddish-brown discoloration, premature ripening, softening, and pericarp decay, with a field infection rate of 22%. Concurrently, anthracnose was detected in avocado fruits, presenting as small dark brown spots that developed into irregular rust-colored lesions, followed by dry rot depressions, ultimately leading to soft rot, peeling, or hardened dry rot, with a field infection rate of 15%. Infected fruit samples were collected, and fungal strains were isolated, purified, and inoculated via spore suspension, followed by re-isolation. The strains were conclusively identified as Diaporthe phaseolorum (SWFU20, SWFU21) and Colletotrichum fructicola (SWFU12, SWFU13) through an integrated approach combining DNA extraction, polymerase chain reaction (PCR), sequencing, phylogenetic reconstruction, and morphological characterization. This is the first report of D. phaseolorum causing fruit rot and C. fructicola causing anthracnose on avocado in China. In future research, we will test methods for the control of D. phaseolorum and C. fructicola. The identification of these pathogens provides a foundation for future disease management research, supporting the sustainable development of the avocado industry.

Sclerodermus harmandi (Buysson) (Hymenoptera: Bethylidae) is a generalist parasitoid that has been mass-produced and released for biological control of many agricultural and forest pests in China. However, few studies have examined the potential non-target risks of this parasitoid in targeted agriculture or forest ecosystems. In this study, we demonstrate that S. harmandi successfully attacks Triaspis sp. (Hymenoptera: Braconidae), an important native natural enemy of the pine weevil pest Pissodes punctatus Langor et Zhang in Yunnan Province of China. When exposed to older larvae of Triaspis sp. at three different parasitoid-to-host group sizes (1:1, 2:2 and 3:3) with a constant 1:1 parasitoid-to-host ratio, S. harmandi successfully attacked 100%, 75% and 83.3% of the test larvae, respectively. All life stages (egg, larva, pupa and adult) of S. harmandi were observed on Triaspis sp. larvae, indicating that Triaspis sp. are suitable for the completion of S. harmandi development. There were no significant differences in the number of S. harmandi progeny produced among the different parasitoid-to-host exposure treatments. Immature stages of S. harmandi on parasitized Triaspis sp. took 25.4 days to complete their development (the egg stage: 3.6 days, the larval stage: 5.0 days, the pupal stage: 16.5 days). Together, results from our study indicate that mass-releases of S. harmandi for biological control of forest pests in Yunnan Province may adversely affect some valuable non-target insects such as Triaspis sp. We suggest that the potential non-target risk of S. harmandi be considered in future augmentative release biological control programmes against forest pests.

In this study, changes in physiological characteristics of Coridius chinensis (Hemiptera: Dinidoridae) during diapause and post-diapause development period were determined. The moisture content of C. chinensis at the beginning of diapause was significantly lower than that at any other stage, and the moisture content during post-diapause development period was significantly higher than that from October to December 2021 and in February and April of the following year. The fat content gradually declined over time. The glycogen content remained at lower levels during diapause but rose sharply during the post-diapause development period, when it became significantly higher than that during diapause. The trehalose content gradually declined in the early stages of diapause but rose greatly in the middle stage, followed by a gradual decline in the late stages and a significant increase during the post-diapause development period. The protein content was at lower levels in the early stages of diapause, significantly lower than that in the middle and late stages of diapause and that during post-diapause development period. The results indicated significant differences in changes in the moisture, fat, carbohydrate, and protein contents between the diapause and post-diapause development periods, with obvious stage characteristics. This study provides a scientific basis for further research on the diapause physiology of C. chinensis.

Advancements in remote sensing technology have enabled the acquisition of high spatial and radiometric resolution imagery, offering abundant and reliable data sources for forest fire monitoring. In order to explore the ability of Sustainable Development Science Satellite 1 (SDGSAT-1) in wildfire monitoring, a systematic and comprehensive study was proposed on smoke detection during the wildfire early warning phase, fire point identification during the fire occurrence, and burned area delineation after the wildfire. The smoke detection effect of SDGSAT-1 was analyzed by machine learning and the discriminating potential of SDGSAT-1 burned area was discussed by Mid-Infrared Burn Index (MIRBI) and Normalized Burn Ratio 2 (NBR2). In addition, compared with Sentinel-2, the fixed-threshold method and the two-channel fixed-threshold plus contextual approach are further used to demonstrate the performance of SDGSAT-1 in fire point identification. The results show that the average accuracy of SDGSAT-1 fire burned area recognition is 90.21%, and a clear fire boundary can be obtained. The average smoke detection precision is 81.72%, while the fire point accuracy is 97.40%, and the minimum identified fire area is 0.0009 km², which implies SDGSAT-1 offers significant advantages in the early detection and identification of small-scale fires, which is significant in fire emergency and disposal. The performance of fire point detection is superior to that of Sentinel-2 and Landsat 8. SDGSAT-1 demonstrates great potential in monitoring the entire process of wildfire occurrence, development, and evolution. With its higher-resolution satellite imagery, it has become an important data source for monitoring in the field of remote sensing.

Wallacea dactyliferae Maulik 1919 (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) has been reported as a new invasive palm pest in Asia recently. So far, a total of 29 species have been reported in Wallacea. In the present study, the whole mitochondrial genome of W. dactyliferae was identified for the first time (also for the first species of Wallacea) by using high throughput sequencing systems. The entire genome is 16,243 bp in length (ACCN: OK513040) consisting of 13 protein-coding genes, 2 ribosomal RNA genes, 22 transfer RNA genes, and an A + T-rich region. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that insects from the same subfamily were clustered together, with W. dactyliferae being clustered together with other Cassidinae species. This study can provide essential DNA molecular data for further phylogenetic and evolutionary analyses for Chrysomelidae family of the Coleoptera order.