A New Genus and Two New Species of the Tribe Blaptini in China (Coleoptera:Tenebrionidae)

A new genus and two new species from the family Tenebrionidae of the order Coleoptera of China are reported in this paper,namely Neoblaps gen.nov.,N.huizensis sp.nov.,Dila bomiana sp.nov.The type specimens are preserved in the Museum of Hebei University.

A Newly Recorded Genus and Two Species of Lagriina (Tenebrionidae:Lagriinae) from China

Neogria cyanipennis Borchmann,1909 and Aulonogria coerulescens (Gyllenhal,1817) are recorded for the first time from China.The specimens studied are preserved in the Museum of Hebei University.

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.

Distribution and Taxonomy of the Subtribe Lagriina (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae: Lagriini) in China

In this paper, the distribution and taxonomy of the subtribe Lagriina in different provinces and regions of China was summarized. According to related data, different species of the subtribe Lagriina mainly distribute in the south of China. To be specific, Yunnan Province owns the greatest number of species, followed by Fujian Province and Sichuan Province. This study laid the theoretical foundation for further investigation of the evolutionary process of the subtribe Lagriina in China.

Two new species of the subgenus Cardiobioramix Kaszab from China(Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae: Bioramix)

Two new species, Bioramix （Cardiobioramix） glohipunctata sp. nov. and B. （C.） liupanshana sp. nov., were discovered on Mt. Liupan in Ningxia, China. A checklist and a key to the known Chinese species of the subgenus Cardiobioramix are provided.

The larvae of Gnaptorina felicitana and Agnaptoria amdoensis of the tribe Blaptini from China(Coleoptera:Tenebrionidae)

This paper describes the morphological data of the larvae of two species from the tribe Blaptini Leach, 1815. The two species are Gnaptorina felicitana Reitter and Agnaptoria amdoensis G. Medvedev, whose larvae have not been reported up to now. In this paper, morphological characters, informations of specimen, and character figures of the two species＇ larvae are provided. A key to the two genera and the reported species is listed here. The larvae specimens are deposited in the Museum of Hebei University.

Complete mitochondrial genome of yellow meal worm （Tenebrio molitor）

The yellow meal worm （Tenebrio molitor L.） is an important resource insect typically used as animal feed additive. It is also widely used for biological research. The first complete mitochondrial genome of T. rnolitor was determined for the first time by long PCR and conserved primer walking approaches. The results showed that the entire mitogenome of T. molitor was 15 785 bp long, with 72.35% A＋T content [deposited in GenBank with accession number KF418153]. The gene order and orientation were the same as the most common type suggested as ancestral for insects. Two protein-coding genes used atypical start codons （CTA in ND2 and AAT in COX1）, and the remaining 11 protein-coding genes started with a typical insect initiation codon ATN. All tRNAs showed standard clover-leaf structure, except for tRNASer （AGN）, which lacked a dihydrouridine （DHU） arm. The newly added T. molitor mitogenome could provide information for future studies on yellow meal worm.

An arthropod community beyond the dry limit of plant life

Water availability,which enables plant growth and animal activity,regulates dryland ecosystem function.In hyper-arid ecosystems,rain cannot support vascular plant growth.Therefore,hyper-arid vegetation is restricted to the lower topography,where runoff accumulates.Typically,food resources originating from areas of dense vegetation are dispersed across the desert floor,enabling animal life in areas lacking vascular plant growth.However,certain regions,such as the hyper-arid upper topography,may be devoid of plant-derived food resources.The present study examined arthropod activity in the upper topography of a hyper-arid desert,in comparison with arthropod activity in the lower topography.Pitfall traps were utilized to compare arthropod activity along unvegetated ridges with activity in parallel,vegetated riverbeds.Surprisingly,the study revealed dense arthropod communities in the barren upper topography.Arthropods collected in the upper topography represented 26%of total arthropod abundance.In addition,the overlap between arthropod identity in the ridges and wadis(i.e.,riverbeds)was low,and certain arthropods were strongly affiliated with the ridges.The upper topographic communities included high numbers of silverfish(Zygentoma:Lepismatidae),malachite beetles(Psiloderes),and predatory mites(Acari:Anystidae),and these arthropods were present at various life stages.It remains unclear how arthropod communities can persist in the unvegetated upper topography of the hyper-arid study area.These results raise the possibility that other food sources,independent from vascular plants,may play a significant role in the life history of hyper-arid arthropods.

Bioefficacy of Ethanolic Leaves Extract of Azadirachta indica Against Stored Product Insect Pest, Tribolium castaneum (Herbst.)

Tribolium castaneum is a species of beetle in the family tenebrionidae,the darkling beetle.Conventional insecticides used for controling stored product pests are expensive and are proven to have side effects hence the need to have an alternative biopesticides from plants which are proven to be effective against many insects.Azadrachta indica has been used for the control many insects,literature review show no report of its effects on Tribolium castaneum.This study is aimed at evaluating the bioinsecticidal activity of ethanolic leaves extract of Azadirachta indica against stored Tribolium castaneum.Different concentrations(60,70,80,90,and 100%)of ethanolic leaves extract of A.indica was applied on the filter paper and were allowed to dry.Control was done by applying water only on the filter paper.For the determination of the percentage mortality,15 adults of the insects was taken into the Petri dishes embedded with the filter paper covered with a lid.The A.indica extracts at different concentrations tested showed significant insecticidal activity against T.castaneum.Secondary metabolites screening indicated that the A.indica extract have secondary metabolites that are related to insecticidal activity.The study has shown that the ethanolic leaves extract A.indica is effective in managing stored product pest.

Lack of support for Rensch＇s rule in an intraspecific test using red flour beetle （Tribo/ium castaneum） populations

Rensch＇s rule proposes a universal allometric scaling phenomenon across species where sexual size dimorphism （SSD） has evolved： in taxa with male-biased dimorphism, degree of SSD should increase with overall body size, and in taxa with female-biased dimorphism, degree of SSD should decrease with increasing average body size. Rensch＇s rule appears to hold widely across taxa where SSD is male-biased, but not consistently when SSD is female-biased. Furthermore, studies addressing this question within species are rare, so it remains unclear whether this rule applies at the intraspecific level. We assess body size and SSD within Tribolium castaneum （Herbst）, a species where females are larger than males, using 21 populations derived from separate locations across the world, and maintained in isolated laboratory culture for at least 20 years. Body size, and hence SSD patterns, are highly susceptible to variations in temperature, diet quality and other environmental factors. Crucially, here we nullify interference of such confounds as all populations were maintained under identical conditions （similar densities, standard diet and exposed to identical temperature, relative humidity and photoperiod）. We measured thirty beetles of each sex for all populations, and found body size variation across populations, and （as expected） female-biased SSD in all populations. We test whether Rensch＇s rule holds for our populations, but find isometry, i.e. no allometry for SSD. Our results thus show that Rensch＇s rule does not hold across populations within this species. Our intraspecific test matches previous interspecific studies showing that Rensch＇s rule fails in species with female-biased SSD.