Minerals in edible insects:a review of content and potential for sustainable sourcing

In response to the rapid increase in world population and subsequent demands for food,edible insects represent an alternative food source for humans that is rich in proteins,amino acids and minerals.Entomophagy is a tradition in many countries including China and Thailand,and edible insects have attracted a lot of attention in Western World due to their suitable nutrient composition,high mineral content(e.g.,Fe,Zn,Ca,Mg)and potential use as a supplement in human diet.In this study,we surveyed mineral content in seven insect orders and 67 species of mass produced and wild-harvested edible insects.The total content of essential elements in edible insects was very high in Tenebrio molitor,Bombyx mori,and Zonocerus variegatus.The heavy metal content(summarized for eight species)was below the maximum limit allowed for safe consumption.Sustainable supply of minerals derived from insect biomass is complicated due to the high variations of mineral content in insects and the potential of its change due to processing.

31 Plant Species against Blood Feeding and Disease Vectors Insects: Beyond Anti-Insect Properties, Unvalued Opportunities and Challenges for Health and Sustainability

Plants with bioactive properties are greatly useful in preventing and controlling blood-sucking and disease-vector invertebrates, particularly in developing countries and low-income communities. Their application is a promising alternative to synthetic compounds whose use remains a health, environmental, and economic challenge. However, many are still unknown and unvalued, while others are becoming ignored and threatened. The main objective of this ethnobotanical study is to identify and characterize indigenous and locally grown plants against blood-sucking and disease-vector insects. Salient opportunities and challenges of using these plants are documented and discussed. Semi-structured interviews, using a prepared questionnaire, were conducted with 228 informants. The consensus index (CI) was calculated to analyze the reliability of the collected information. The identified 31 anti-insect plant species belong to 20 botanical families, four morphological categories, and six habitat types. They can be categorized as insecticidal plants (42% of the total), insect repellent (42% of the total), and both insecticidal and insect repellent (16% of the total). More than 54% of these are still abundant in the study area, while about 35.5% have become rare and difficultly accessible. Based on the numerical importance of related anti-insect plant species, the seven targeted blood-sucking insects range in the following decreasing order: Jiggers (16 species) > Fire Ants (9 species) > Flies (8 plants) > Mosquitoes (4 species) > Fleas (2 species) > Bedbugs (1 species) > lice (0 species). The three most commonly used plants, with the highest confirmation indices, are Tetradenia riparia (ICs = 0.712), Eucalyptus globulus subsp. maidenii (ICs = 0.302), and Solanum aculeastrum (ICs = 0.288). The antimicrobial role of many locally grown anti-insect plants and the multiple other associated valorization possibilities are ignored by most informants. Domesticating, propagating, protecting, and promoting the sustainable use of these plants would be an appropriate route for their conservation and continued availability.

Efficacy of Beneficial Fungi Isolates in Solanum lycopersicum L. Protection against Lepidopteran Insects through a Leaf Inoculation Technique

Helicoverpa armigera is a key insect pest of tomatoes reducing drastically yields. The effect of the endophytic colonization of tomato plants by Beauveria bassiana using leaf spray as an inoculation method on damage and survival of H. armigera was assessed in a screen house. Two B. bassiana isolates (Bb 115 and Bb 11) and two tomato varieties (a local variety Tounvi and an improved variety Padma) were included in the study. The adaxial and abaxial leaf surfaces were sprayed at a concentration of 107 conidia/ml and 109 conidia/ml for each isolate and each of the two tomato varieties. Thirty days after inoculation, five discs of tomato leaf and tomato root were cut for each isolate, each concentration per isolate and for each variety. The samples were incubated at room temperature (28°C ± 2°C) and periodically checked for fungal growth. Larval survival was checked and a damage assessment was done on tomato flowers and the leaves. The results show that the lowest Mean Survival Times (MSTs) were recorded on larvae feeding on plants inoculated with Bb 11 (4.2 ± 0.8 days against 11.5 ± 0.2 days for control). Compared to the other treatments, low damage rates of the flowers of the improved variety inoculated with Bb 11 at 109 conidia/ml were recorded from the 6th Day After Inoculation (DAI). This rate remains low until the end of treatment. Overall flower damage was lower than leaf damage. The results showed large differences in pathogenicity, with most endophytic isolate belonging to Bb 11 when inoculated at 109 conidia/ml using the leaf spraying technique. Data were discussed with regard to the use of endophytism B. bassiana in an integrated tomato pest control approach.

Historical and current climates affect the spatial distribution of herbivorous tree insects in China

Historical and current climate impacts reshape the evolutionary trajectory and ecological dynamics of entire vegetative communities,which can drive insect species distribution.Understanding the spatial distribution of insects can enhance forest management effectiveness.The effects of historical and current climates in the spatial distribution of herbivorous tree insects in China were explored.A species distribution model simulated insect spatial distribution based on 596 species and the distribution probability and richness of these species were assessed in forest ecoregions.The explanatory power of the historical climate was stronger than that of the current climate,particularly historical annual precipitation and annual mean temperatures,for the distribution of herbivorous insects.Under both historical and current climatic conditions,herbivorous tree insects were and are mainly distributed in the North China Plain and the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River Plain,namely in the Huang He Plain mixed forests,Changjiang Plain evergreen forests,and Sichuan Basin evergreen broadleaf forests.The Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau and northeast China are regions with large impact differences between historical and current climates.The findings of this study provide valuable insights into herbivorous insect responses to sustained climate change and may contribute to long-term biodiversity conservation activities.

Dynamic flight stability of hovering insects

The equations of motion of an insect with flapping wings are derived and then simplified to that of a flying body using the ＂rigid body＂ assumption. On the basis of the simplified equations of motion, the longitudinal dynamic flight stability of four insects （hoverfly, cranefly, dronefly and hawkmoth） in hovering flight is studied （the mass of the insects ranging from 11 to 1,648 mg and wingbeat frequency from 26 to 157Hz）. The method of computational fluid dynamics is used to compute the aerodynamic derivatives and the techniques of eigenvalue and eigenvector analysis are used to solve the equations of motion. The validity of the ＂rigid body＂ assumption is tested and how differences in size and wing kinematics influence the applicability of the ＂rigid body＂ assumption is investigated. The primary findings are： （1） For insects considered in the present study and those with relatively high wingbeat frequency （hoverfly, drone fly and bumblebee）, the ＂rigid body＂ assumption is reasonable, and for those with relatively low wingbeat frequency （cranefly and howkmoth）, the applicability of the ＂rigid body＂ assumption is questionable. （2） The same three natural modes of motion as those reported recently for a bumblebee are identified, i.e., one unstable oscillatory mode, one stable fast subsidence mode and one stable slow subsidence mode. （3） Approximate analytical expressions of the eigenvalues, which give physical insight into the genesis of the natural modes of motion, are derived. The expressions identify the speed derivative Mu （pitching moment produced by unit horizontal speed） as the primary source of the unstable oscillatory mode and the stable fast subsidence mode and Zw （vertical force produced by unit vertical speed） as the primary source of the stable slow subsidence mode.

THE ECO-GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF FOREST INSECTS IN CHINA

The ceo-geographical division of forest insects in China is generally divided into 4 levels: region, subrcgion, area and province. The region is formed by isolation of ocean, high mountain and desert etc. The division of subrcgion is on the basis of resistance of extreme temperature humidity in winter. The division of area or province is on the basis of landform, type of vegetation in forest zone and temperature zone.

Dynamic flight stability of hovering model insects:theory versus simulation using equations of motion coupled with Navier-Stokes equations

In the present paper, the longitudinal dynamic flight stability properties of two model insects are predicted by an approximate theory and computed by numerical sim- ulation. The theory is based on the averaged model （which assumes that the frequency of wingbeat is sufficiently higher than that of the body motion, so that the flapping wings＇ degrees of freedom relative to the body can be dropped and the wings can be replaced by wingbeat-cycle-average forces and moments）; the simulation solves the complete equations of motion coupled with the Navier-Stokes equations. Comparison between the theory and the simulation provides a test to the validity of the assumptions in the theory. One of the insects is a model dronefly which has relatively high wingbeat frequency （164 Hz） and the other is a model hawkmoth which has relatively low wingbeat frequency （26 Hz）. The results show that the averaged model is valid for the hawkmoth as well as for the dronefly. Since the wingbeat frequency of the hawkmoth is relatively low （the characteristic times of the natural modes of motion of the body divided by wingbeat period are relatively large） compared with many other insects, that the theory based on the averaged model is valid for the hawkmoth means that it could be valid for many insects.

Lateral dynamic flight stability of hovering insects: theory vs. numerical simulation

In the present paper, the lateral dynamic flight stability properties of two hovering model insects are predicted by an approximate theory based on the averaged model, and computed by numerical simulation that solves the complete equations of motion coupled with the Naviertokes equations. Comparison between the theoretical and simulational results provides a test to the validity of the assumptions made in the theory. One of the insects is a model dronefly which has relatively high wingbeat frequency （164Hz） and the other is a model hawkmoth which has relatively low wingbeat frequency （26 Hz）. The following conclusion has been drawn. The theory based on the averaged model works well for the lateral motion of the dronefly. For the hawkmoth, relatively large quantitative differences exist between theory and simulation. This is because the lateral non-dimensional eigenvalues of the hawkmoth are not very small compared with the non-dimensional flapping frequency （the largest lateral non-dimensional eigenvalue is only about 10% smaller than the non-dimensional flapping frequency）. Nevertheless, the theory can still correctly predict variational trends of the dynamic properties of the hawkmoth＇s lateral motion.

Book review on Edible insects: Future prospects for food and feed security

Book review on Edible insects: Future prospects for food and feed

The Importance of Insects in Agricultural Ecosystems

Sufficient food production for a growing human population has become an issue of global concern. Almost all of the world’s fertile land is currently in use and arable land areas cannot be expanded significantly. The global challenge is to secure high and quality yields and to make agricultural production environmentally compatible. Insects have been hugely successful in terms of both species richness and abundance. Insects make up the most numerous group of organisms on earth, around 66% of all animal species, and being good dispersers and exploiters of virtually all types of organic matter, can be found almost everywhere, forming an important part of every ecosystem and are vital within our food supply chains performing valuable ecosystem services. Insects have been predominantly perceived as competitors in the race for survival. Herbivorous insects damage 18% of world agricultural production. Despite this damage less than 0.5 percentage of the total number of the known insect species are considered pests. Insect pests are created through the manipulation of habitats by humans, where crops are selected for larger size, higher yields, nutritious value, and are cultivated in monocultures for maximum production. This provides a highly favourable environment for the population increase of herbivorous insects. To ensure stable crop yields we need to change the management strategies of agroecosystems. We need to manage these systems in such a way that insects performing valuable ecosystem services are also incorporated into the system. This will ensure stable, resilient and sustainable systems in a constantly changing environment and will go a long way to ensure future food security. This paper examines the important role that insects generally play in ecosystems and how the services that insects provide can improve agricultural ecosystems.

Precise Agriculture:Effective Deep Learning Strategies to Detect Pest Insects

Pest insect monitoring and control is crucial to ensure a safe and profitable crop growth in all plantation types,as well as guarantee food quality and limited use of pesticides.We aim at extending traditional monitoring by means of traps,by involving the general public in reporting the presence of insects by using smartphones.This includes the largely unexplored problem of detecting insects in images that are taken in noncontrolled conditions.Furthermore,pest insects are,in many cases,extremely similar to other species that are harmless.Therefore,computer vision algorithms must not be fooled by these similar insects,not to raise unmotivated alarms.In this work,we study the capabilities of state-of-the-art(SoA)object detection models based on convolutional neural networks(CNN)for the task of detecting beetle-like pest insects on nonhomogeneous images taken outdoors by different sources.Moreover,we focus on disambiguating a pest insect from similar harmless species.We consider not only detection performance of different models,but also required computational resources.This study aims at providing a baseline model for this kind of tasks.Our results show the suitability of current SoA models for this application,highlighting how FasterRCNN with a MobileNetV3 backbone is a particularly good starting point for accuracy and inference execution latency.This combination provided a mean average precision score of 92.66%that can be considered qualitatively at least as good as the score obtained by other authors that adopted more specific models.

Conventional and Molecular Approaches towards Genetic Improvement in Pigeonpea for Insects Resistance

Pigeonpea [Cajanus cajan (L.) Millspaugh] is an important food legume of the semi-arid tropics (SAT) sustaining livelihood of millions of people. Stagnant and unstable yield per hectare all over the world is the characteristic feature of this crop. This is primarily ascribed to its susceptibility/sensitivity to a number of biotic and abiotic factors. Among biotic factors, insects such as pod borer (Helicoverpa armigera), pod fly (Melanoagromyza obtusa) and spotted borer (Maruca vitrata) substantially damage the crop and result in significant economic losses. Management of these insects by genetic means has always been considered environment friendly approach. However, genetic improvement has always been impeded by limited genetic variability in the primary gene pool of pigeonpea. Wild species present in the secondary and tertiary gene pools have been reported to carry resistance for such insects. However, transfer of resistance through conventional backcrossing has not been much successful. It calls for gene introgression through marker assisted backcrossing (MABC) or advanced backcross breeding (AB breeding). In this review, we have attempted to assess the progress made through conventional and molecular breeding and suggested the ways to move further towards genetic enhancement for insects resistance in

Advances in Researches on Genetic Diversity of Lepidoptera Insects

This paper reviewed advances in researches on genetic diversity of Lepidoptera insects from chromosome polymorphism,protein polymorphism,and DNA polymorphism,and stated that DNA sequence variation will become main points of researches about genetic diversity.

Ozone disrupts the communication between plants and insects in urban and suburban areas:an updated insight on plant volatiles

Plant-insect interactions are basic components of biodiversity conservation.To attain the international Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs),the interactions in urban and in suburban systems should be better understood to maintain the health of green infrastructure.The role of ground-level ozone(0_(3)) as an environmental stress disrupting interaction webs is presented.Ozone mixing ratios in suburbs are usually higher than in the center of cities and may reduce photosynthetic productivity at a relatively higher degree.Consequently,carbon-based defense capacities of plants may be suppressed by elevated 0_(3) more in the suburbs.However,contrary to this expectation,grazing damages by leaf beetles have been severe in some urban centers in comparison with the suburbs.To explain differences in grazing damages between urban areas and suburbs,the disruption of atmospheric communication signals by elevated 0_(3) via changes in plant-regulated biogenic volatile organic compounds and long-chain fatty acids are considered.The ecological roles of plant volatiles and the effects of 0_(3) from both a chemical and a biological perspective are presented.Ozone-disrupted plant volatiles should be considered to explain herbivory phenomena in urban and suburban systems.

Prevalence of Wolbachia in 10 Tenebrionidae stored-product insects and spatiotemporal infection dynamics in Tribolium confusum(Jaquelin Du Val)(Coleoptera:Tenebrionidae)

Insect symbionts Wolbachia used for pest population control has focused on vector pest species and agricultural insects while rare reports in Chinese stored-product insect samples.In this paper,we surveyed the prevalence of Wolbachia using a PCR detection method in ten Tenebrionidae stored-product insects.Subsequently,the spatiotemporal Wolbachia infection dynamics in Tribolium confusum and Wolbachia elimination patterns using tetracycline treatment were investigated in detail by TaqMan®probe real-time quantitative PCR,and host reproductive fitness parameters were compared.T.confusum was the only Wolbachia infected species in all the surveyed species.Wolbachia infection density consistently increased with the development of T.confusumand plateaued at 3.7×107 wsp copies per individual insect at the young adult stage.Wolbachia densities in females were higher than that in males with a significant difference at the pupae stage and varied among different tissues and organs.Uninfected female beetles were completely incapable of producing mature progenies when crossed with Wolbachia infected males.Embryogenesis and egg hatch rate were specifically inhibited after Wolbachia elimination,while other traits,including the number of eggs,pupation rate and sex ratio,remained unaffected by tetracycline treatment.Our results showthat the TaqMan®probe qPCR is a reliable detection method for quantifying the density of Wolbachia as compared to qualitative detection of wsp gene by PCR and relatively quantified by real-time qPCR.The fitness results indicated that Wolbachia infection was not an obligate symbiont and benefited the host confused flour beetle.

Effect of Colored Sticky Cards on Non-target Insects

Field experiments to evaluate four different colored sticky cards for trapping non-target insects were conducted in an organic maize field in the Heinigou region of China. Yellow, blue, green, and red sticky cards were used to trap insects in the field. The total number of insects species caught was 54, with 3,862 individuals recorded. Over half of the specimens caught were non-target insects, including phytophagous insects, particularly dipteran species(including many mosquitoes)(50.3%), followed by target pests(37.0%), and beneficial insects(12.7%). Statistical analysis revealed a significant difference in attraction to target pests, non-target pests, and beneficial insects among treatment groups. The results showed that higher numbers of target pests(Myzus persicae Sulzer, Empoasca flavescens Fabricius, Nysius ericaecshinly Schilling) were caught on yellow sticky card traps compared with blue, green, or red sticky card traps, indicating that yellow was the best trap color for target pests, with green and blue being progressively less attractive. For non-target insects, including phytophagous insects, flies, and mosquitoes,higher numbers of were caught on blue sticky card traps compared with yellow,green, or red sticky card traps. Our study indicated that blue was the most attractive color for flies, especially for the housefly, Musca domestica Linnaeus. Our study also showed that most beneficial insects exhibited preferences to particular trap color characteristics: yellow was the most attractive color for parasitic wasps and lady beetles; blue was the most attractive color for hoverflies and honeybees. In contrast,green and red had no significant attraction to beneficial insects.

Nanoindentation Mechanical Properties and Structural Biomimetic Models of Three Species of Insects Wings

Mimicking insect flights were used to design and develop new engineering materials. Although extensive research was done to study various aspects of flying insects. Because the detailed mechanics and underlying principles involved in insect flights remain largely unknown. A systematic study was carried on insect flights by using a combination of several advanced techniques to develop new models for the simulation and analysis of the wing membrane and veins of three types of insect wings, namely dragonfly （Pantala flavescens Fabricius）, honeybee （Apis cerana cerana Fabricius） and fly （Sarcophaga carnaria Linnaeus）. In order to gain insights into the flight mechanics of insects, reverse engineering methods were used to establish three-dimensional geometrical models of the membranous wings, so we can make a comparative analysis. Then nano-mechanical test of the three insect wing membranes was performed to provide experimental parameter values for mechanical models in terms of nano-hardness and elastic modulus. Finally, a computational model was established by using the finite element analysis （ANSYS） to analyze and compare the wings under a variety of simplified load regimes that are concentrated force, uniform line-load and a torque. This work opened up the possibility towards developing an engineering basis for the biomimetic design of thin solid films and 2D advanced engineering composite materials.

RECENT ADVANCES IN THE PHYSIOLOGY OF FOREST INSECTS IN CHINA

In China the research in the phusiology of forest in inseets began in the 1970s,and in the 1980s a great deal of research works was done in this field,a lot of which were concen-trated on the isolation,identification and synthesis of sex pheromones on the injurious forest in-seets with in Lepidopteron and Coleopteron.In the field of tree resistance physiology,some ad-vanees were achieved in the resislance mechanism of poplar to Longicorn beetles and prominents.The research of the resistance of plne to Matsucoccusmalsumurae Kuwana is now also going on.In addition,the seductive function of plant sex seducements to the Longicorn bee-tle and its digestion physiology are also being studied.Many reports on the analysis of proteins,isoenzymes and amino acids applied to classification of Longicorn beetles,Pine moths and Aphids have been published.A relatively deep insight was gained in the physiological characters of overwintering larvae of Coleophoradahuriea Flkv.in the deep cold region of Hellongjiang

A List of Insects on Stored Traditional Chinese Medicinal (TCM) Materials in Anhui Province of China

[ Objective ] The paper was to ascertain the insects on the stored traditional Chinese medicinal （TCM） materials in Anhui Province of China, so as to control pests on stored TCM materials effectually. [ Method] The insects on stored TCM materials in 17 regions of Anhui Province were investigated from 2009 to 2012 and 873 kinds of insect samples on TCM materials were collected. [ Result] Investigation showed that a total of 94 species of insects on stored TCM materials belonging to 38 families, 9 orders in Anhui Province had been identified, among which 81 species of pests belonged to 31 families, 5 orders, and 13 species of natu- ral enemies belonged to 7 families, 4 orders ; additionally, 24 species of insects were newly recorded in Anhui Province. The distribution and hosts of 94 species of insects were also described. [ Conclusion] The results could provide scientific basis for controlling pests of the stored traditional Chinese medicinal materials in An- hui Province.

Diversity of Insects Trapped by Jiaduo Frequoscilation Pest-killing Lamp in Vegetable Fields in Jianghan Plain of China

The trapping effect of Jiaduo frequoscilation pest-killing lamp was studied in vegetable fields in Jianghan plain from 2009 to 2010. The results showed that the insects trapped by the lamp were mainly Lepidoptcra and Coleoptera insects. There was no significant difference between the trapped numbers in the two years, but there were significant difference among the months. The peak of species richness was nearly 50 ; the diversity index was from 2.0 to 4.0, and the even- ness index varied from 0. 3 to O. 8, while the dominant concentration index of insects varied from 0.05 to 0. 50. It was helpful to detect and prevent insect pests ac- cording to their peak occurrence time inferred by trapping results.