The cases of dengue reported earlier in the late 1990s from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) occurred in the cities of Jeddah and Makkah. Although the kingdom has ample financial resources to establish effective control measures for the dengue vector, numerous cases of dengue occur and fluctuate in numbers from year to year. This necessitates a serious review of the current vector control strategies being practiced in order to identify the existing shortcomings. This short report provides an update on epidemiology of dengue in KSA (specifically in cities of Jeddah and Makkah) with a critical look at the current vector control strategies.

Thrips cause considerable economic loss to mango, Mangifera indica L., in Penang, Malaysia. Three nondestructive sampling techniques—shaking mango pa

Mating is a physiological process of crucial importance underlying the size and maintenance of mosquito populations. In sterile and incompatible insect technologies (SIT and IIT), mating is essential for mass production, persistence, and success of released individuals, and is a central parameter for judging the effectiveness of SIT/IIT programs. Some mosquitoes have an enormous reproductive potential for both themselves and pathogens and mating may contribute to persistence of infection in nature. As Aedes albopictus can transmit flaviviruses both sexually and horizontally, and as infected insects are usually derived from laboratory colonies, we investigated the implications of mating between a long-term laboratory colony of Ae. albopictus and wild populations.

The pattern of Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera and Trichoptera (EPT) distribution in rivers of Gunung Jerai catchment in Kedah, a northern state in Peninsular Malaysia, varied significantly among rivers (p < 0.005) coinciding with the substrate embeddedness and shaded areas of their habitats. Generally Ephemeroptera preferred a habitat with optimal embeddedness (0–25% substrates surrounded by fine sediments) while Trichoptera and Plecoptera preferred marginal (50–75% substrates surrounded by fine sediments) or suboptimal (25–50% substrates surrounded by fine sediments) conditions. The Kruskal–Wallis test indicated that the EPT abundance differed significantly among various categories of substrate embeddedness (χ ² = 19.673, p < 0.005) and canopy cover (χ ² = 20.723, p < 0.005). The Canonical Correspondence Analysis (CCA) ordination and the non-supervised artificial neural network (ANN) showed that distribution of Neoperla (Plecoptera), Hydropsyche and Setodes (Trichoptera) were strongly influenced by the embeddedness of rivers' substrates in the surrounding sand and silts in each river. In addition, the amount of canopy covering the water surface determined the associations of Kamimuria, Ecnomus, Macrostemum, Setodes and Ganonema with their habitats. These results showed that distribution of the EPT genera in these rivers was influenced by the availability of surface area on rocky substrates and the amount of light penetration into the water.