Quick Sex-Determination of the Asiatic Garden Beetle, Maladera castanea (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae)

The orientation of the posterior abdominal sternite and pygidium allows for quick sex-determination of Maladera castanea (Arrow) (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Melolonthinae) adults with a dissecting microscope or hand lens. Maladera castanea (the Asiatic garden beetle) is an emerging pest of field crops and this information will help researchers to conduct studies more easily on its biology and ecology

Preliminary Feeding Assessments for Asiatic Garden Beetle, Maladera formosae (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae), Grubs and Adults

The Asiatic garden beetle, Maladera formosae (Brenske) (syn. M. castanea [Arrow]), is an annual white grub species that was unintentionally introduced from east Asia to North America in 1921 in New Jersey, and has since spread to at least 25 states and two Canadian provinces. Grub populations in the Great Lakes region have recently emerged as significant early-season pests of field crops, particularly field corn, grown in sandy soils. Asiatic garden beetle has also recently become established in other regions including Alabama. Prior research on this species was conducted mainly in the 1930s in horticultural and turfgrass systems of New York and New Jersey. In this study, we document Asiatic garden beetle preference and performance on previously un-investigated food resources, in populations from Ohio and Alabama. The objectives of these experiments were to a) understand if grubs show preference to potential diet choices present in a typical Ohio corn-soybean rotation, and gained mass when provided a single diet, and b) to conduct a preliminary assessment on the development, survival, and fecundity of field-collected beetles on different diets present in suburban Alabama. In general, grubs were more likely to be found at corn and marestail and they significantly increased in body mass when subjected to those diets. However, they were also able to survive and gain mass when provided soybean, crop residues or bare soil. Adults consumed more rose flower petals than floral tissue of white clover and Queen Anne’s lace. In no-choice trials, only females that were fed a diet of rose petals laid eggs, and diet consumption rates were similar among males and females. These findings provide insight into the feeding behaviors of Asiatic garden beetle grubs and adults collected from novel environments

Invasion of sorghum in the Americas by a new sugarcane aphid (Melanaphis sacchari) superclone

In the United States (US), the sugarcane aphid (SCA) Melanaphis sacchari (Zehnter) (Hemiptera: Aphididae) was introduced in the 1970s, however at that time it was only considered a pest of sugarcane. In 2013, a massive outbreak of M. sacchari occured on sorghum, resulting in significant economic damage to sorghum grown in North America including the US, Mexico, and Puerto Rico. The aim of the present study was to determine if the SCA pest emergence in American sorghum resulted from the introduction of new genotypes. To this end we used microsatellite markers and COI sequencing to compare the genetic diversity of SCA populations collected in the Americas after the 2013 SCA outbreak on sorghum (during 2013–2017) to older samples collected before the pest outbreak (during 2007–2009). Our results show that the SCA outbreak in the Americas and the Caribbean observed since 2013 belong to populations exhibiting low genetic diversity and consisting of a dominant clonal lineage, MLL-F, which colonizes Sorghum spp. and sugarcane. The comparison of MLL-F specimens collected post-2013 with specimens collected in Louisiana in 2007 revealed that both populations are genetically distinct, according to COI sequencing and microsatellite data analyses. Our result suggest that MLL-F is a new invasive genotype introduced into the Americas that has spread rapidly across sorghum growing regions in the US, Mexico, Honduras and the Caribbean. The origin of this introduction is either Africa or Asia, with Asia being the most probable source

Technological Advances to Address Current Issues in Entomology: 2020 Student Debates

The 2020 Student Debates of the Entomological Society of America (ESA) were live-streamed during the Virtual Annual Meeting to debate current, prominent entomological issues of interest to members. The Student Debates Subcommittee of the National ESA Student Affairs Committee coordinated the student efforts throughout the year and hosted the live event. This year, four unbiased introductory speakers provided background for each debate topic while four multi-university teams were each assigned a debate topic under the theme ‘Technological Advances to Address Current Issues in Entomology’. The two debate topics selected were as follows: 1) What is the best taxonomic approach to identify and classify insects? and 2) What is the best current technology to address the locust swarms worldwide? Unbiased introduction speakers and debate teams began preparing approximately six months before the live event. During the live event, teams shared their critical thinking and practiced communication skills by defending their positions on either taxonomical identification and classification of insects or managing the damaging outbreaks of locusts in crops

Invasion of sorghum in the Americas by a new sugarcane aphid (<i>Melanaphis sacchari</i>) superclone - Fig 6

<p><b>Prevalence of MLL-C and MLL-D on different host plant species in Louisiana (A) and in the continental US (B).</b> A: Prevalence (number of samples bearing at least one specimen of each of the MLLs described in this study) of MLL-D and MLL-F in Louisiana among 2007 or post-2013 samples, according to host plant. B: prevalence of MLL-D and MLL-F in the continental US among post-2013 samples.</p

Map of the distribution and relative abundance of the COI haplotypes in post-2013 SCA populations.

<p>Aggregation by state, the surface of the pie charts is proportional to the number of genotyped specimens. Haplotype network computed with Phyloviz (embedded figure left): the surface of the circles is proportional to the relative abundance of the haplotype, each node or step represents one base substitution, and the black dot corresponds to an unobserved haplotype. (a) data from Berlanga-Padilla et al. [<a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0196124#pone.0196124.ref028" target="_blank">28</a>]; (b) J. Orozco personal communication.</p

Distribution map of the microsatellite multi locus lineages (MLLs) in post-2013 samples.

<p>The size of the pie charts is proportional to the number of specimens.</p

Invasion of sorghum in the Americas by a new sugarcane aphid (<i>Melanaphis sacchari</i>) superclone - Fig 4

<p><b>Evolution of the distribution of MLL in Louisiana from 2007 (A) to 2013–2017 (B).</b> Data are summarized by parish. The size of the pie-charts is not proportional to the number of genotyped specimens.</p

<i>M</i>. <i>sacchari</i> COI haplotypes.

<p><i>M</i>. <i>sacchari</i> COI haplotypes.</p

Minimum spanning network computed with Hapstar based on the genotyping at nine microsatellite loci.

<p>MLGs are either from the present study or from previous studies [<a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0196124#pone.0196124.ref014" target="_blank">14</a>,<a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0196124#pone.0196124.ref016" target="_blank">16</a>]. Numbers within the circles refer to the MLG number according to [<a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0196124#pone.0196124.ref014" target="_blank">14</a>,<a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0196124#pone.0196124.ref016" target="_blank">16</a>] and the present study. MLGs in the same colored box share the same COI haplotype: H1, H2 or H3. Haplotype H6, which was observed in two Ms50 specimens, is not represented. The steps between each MLL represent the number of allele differences.</p