황색점착트랩의 설치각도에 따른 고설재배 딸기의 주요 해충종들의 부착 특성을 확인하기 위해 수직, 수평 앞면 및 뒷면, 45도 앞면 및 뒷면 등으로 달리 트랩을 설치하여 점착트랩내의 부착위치를 조사하고, 각 트랩에 포획된 곤충종의 다양성을 분석하였다. 설치각도에 따른 점착트랩 내의 포획 위치는 진딧물류와 총채벌레류가 유사하게 모든 각도에서 상부에서 유살수가 많았으나 유의한 차이는 나타나지 않았다. 수직, 45도 윗면 트랩에서 종수와 총포획수가 유의하게 높았으나 각 처리별 Shannon 지수의 차이는 없었다. 45도 윗면 트랩에서만 Shimpson 지수가 높게 나타나 소수 종에 집중된 포획양상을 보였으며 모든 트랩에서 공통적으로 초파리와 총채벌레류가 우점하여 포획되었으나 총포획수가 적은 45도 아랫면 트랩의 경우 이들 우점종의 검출도가 낮았다.

거미는 산림 및 농작물 해충의 천적으로 알려져 있으며, 겨울철 벼 재배지에서 볏짚이나 논둑 등에 월동한다. 이 연구는 월동시기부터 모내기 전까지 유기 벼 재배지에 서식하는 거미상을 알아보기 위해 수행하였다. 거미의 발생을 조사하기 위해 함정트랩을 이용하였고, 농업과학원 유기재배포장에서 2018년 1월 중순부터 5월 중순까지 2주 간격으로 총 8회에 걸쳐 거미를 채집하였다. 조사가 이루어진 논은 거미가 월동 서식처로 이용할 수 있도록 볏짚을 걷어내지 않은 상태로 유지하였다. 조사 결과 6과 15종 359개체의 거미가 채집되었다. 그 중에서 애접시거미가 119개체(33%)로 가장 많았고, 들늑대거미(23%), 턱거미(17%), 각시긴손접시거미(8%) 순으로 나타났다. 또한 4월 중순(7회)에 가장 많은 개체가 채집되었고, 채집이 이루어질수록 거미의 개체수가 증가하는 경향을 보였다.

점착트랩은 특정 광파장에 유인되는 곤충의 반응을 이용하여 비행 곤충의 유살 및 모니터링에 널리 이용되고 있다. 그러나 유색 점착트랩은 해당 색상에 반응을 보이는 모든 곤충을 유인하기 때문에 비표적곤충(Non target insect)이 부착되는 문제가 발생한다. 비표적곤충은 부착면을 차지하여 표적곤충의 유인을 방해하며, 해충밀도 모니터링에 필요한 노력과 시간 소요를 증대시킨다. 본 연구에서는 비표적 곤충과 이물질의 부착을 물리적으로 방지하기 위하여 내경 5mm, 10mm의 방지망을 설치하였을 때, 각 처리에 따른 유입 곤충의 종다양성 지수를 분석하여 방지망의 현장 적용 가능성을 검정하였다. 그 결과 망을 처리하지 않은 트랩과 5mm, 10mm 방지망을 설치한 트랩 간 종다양성 지수에서 유의한 차이를 보이지 않았다. 그러나 포획된 총 종의 수는 망을 처리하지 않은 트랩에서 높게 나타났는데 이는 대형 비표적 곤충의 포획수가 높은 것이 주 요인이었다. 표적 해충인 총채벌레, 가루이 등 미소해충의 유입 빈도 또한 무처리, 5mm, 10mm 간에 유의한 차이를 보이지 않아 방지망의 설치가 표적곤충인 미소해충의 유입에 악영향이 없으며, 5mm 망을 적용하여도 무방하다는 결과를 얻었다.

Triceratopyga, is a common and synanthropic genus of medical and forensic significance in eastern Asia which have includes only one species, Triceratopyga calliphoroides. In this study we are reporting the complete mitogenome of the only member of the genus Triceratopyga. The structure of the compete mitogenome is similar with the common ancester fly mitogenome. The size of the mitogenome is 16,529 bp. This is the longest mitogenome recorded from the family Calliphoridae. Although the size of mitogenome is longer than previous records, structure and gene positions are identical with ancestral insect genome.

Calliphora is a genus from the family Calliphoridae, which includes blow flies and bottle flies. Calliphora flies are one of the most entomologically important fly species because of their relative time of arrival and colonization to animal carcasses. Until now there are only three complete mitochondrial genome recorded from the genus. In this study we added a new complete mitochondrial genome record from the species Calliphora lata. Although genome structures and gene orientations of the four Calliphora flies mitochondrial genome are identical. The size and nucleotide composition of the genomes are slightly different.

Drosophila suzukii (Matsumura), commonly called the Spotted Wing Drosophila (SWD), originally from South Asia, is a major pest in orchards. Recently, chemical control was applied to prevent the SWD in cultivated fields, but it was not much effective because D. suzukii tended to avoid place where insecticide was treated, to reproduce in wild field, and then to recolonize neighboring cultivated fields. In contrast to chemical control, biological control can reduce these problems by using natural enemies who attack the D. suzukii. Some species of genus Asobara (Hymenoptera; Braconidae; Alysiinae) are parasitoids of Drosophila, and, In South Korea, there are 3 species recorded parasitizing in D. suzukii. In this study, we used morphological characters and mitochondrial COI gene to identify Asobara species. As a result, one species was found as a possible parasitoid of D. suzukii.

The genus Aphidius is the most commercially available species in greenhouse control, especially for aphids. Although twelve species were recorded in Korea, we collected 7 species including 2 unrecorded and 1 unidentified species. We aligned 16 sequences, except for duplicates, from 31 individuals of 14 species including GenBank sequences, and made phylogenetic tree based on Neighbor-Joining method. Surprisingly, 3 species were clustered into a clade and some species was not monophyletic. In this study, we reconstructed phylogenetic tree of Korean Aphidius species using COI marker, and compared them with GenBank sequences. In addition, we try to experiment a new marker and check its ability of discrimination.

One species of the genus Ephedrus Haliday, 1833 (Hymenoptera: Braconidae: Aphidinae) is recognized in this study. The Ephedrus genus is known to 72 species worldwide. Of these, 16 species were reported in Korea. This genus is parasitic to groups of aphids and their relatives. Additionally, this genus is very similar to genus Toxares Haliday, 1840 in the morphology, but there is no difficulty in sympathy because there are certain morphological differences. In this study, Ephedrus blattnyi Starý, 1973 is recognized for the first time in South Korea. Information on this species has not been widely known yet. Descriptions, diagnosis distribution and illustration are provided.

Origin of the red imported fire ant (RIFA, Solenopsis invicta) is South America, a tropical climate region. It has settled in the invasive area, causing various problems. In recent, colonies of Solenopsis invicta were discovered in Busan in 2017, and then in Busan, Pyongtaek, Incheon, Daegu and Ansan in 2018. This study aims to validate 31 microsatlite loci referred from previous study for tracing origin of Solenopsis invicta colonies. We tried to test previously developed microsatellite loci so that we establish the protocol for molecular epidemiology of RIFA. We applied 31 microsatellite loci to DNA samples from the RIFA colonies found in Texas and Florida, USA. We will present 31 markers were divided into three injections and the amplification rate for each marker was shown as follows.

In the 21st century, the risk of the exotic pest being invaded is increasing due to the rise of trading activities. Oriental fruit fly, Bactrocera dorsalis (Diptera: Tephritidae), has been considered to very destructive invader as it is highly intrusive and has a wide host range. In this study, 2,299 samples were collected from 88 locations in 12 countries by quarantine and investigation. Among them, 608 individuals (including B. correcta) were used for COI DNA barcoding analysis based on Neighbor Joining method with P-distance model. Population genetics analysis was conducted for 510 individuals selected from 47 locations of 12 Southeast Asian countries using 15 microsatellite loci. The barcoding analysis resulted in that any clade was not clustered according to a geographical isolation but indicated geographically mixed populations. Population genetics analysis showed shared genetic structure between neighboring countries across borders. Genetic structure of most Korean quarantine groups was more similar to that of Taiwan, China and Thailand in the order of appearance than other countries.

The morphological identification of alate aphids needs reliable and appropriate methods such as morphometrics. In previous studies, the seven species which aphids have been known as migrating to potato had been separated into genus levels using specific points of forewing vein (Landmarks). Adding the number of secondary sensillum of antennae, setae of abdomen, etc., we experimented to separate four species of genus Aphis (Aphis craccivora, Aphis fabae, Aphis gossypii, Aphis spiraecola). After taking each of 25X twenty photographies of four species, we calculated and measured coordinates of landmarks, the number of secondary sensillum of antennae, dorsal setae of 8th abdominal segment, anterior/posterior genital plate setae and cauda, and then performed the principal component analysis using PAST3 and the canonical variate analysis using MORPHO J, only with a landmarks. As results, in PCA, Aphis gossypii has been separated, but the others are overlapping. In CVA, all species of aphis has been separated.

Beauveria bassiana is widely studied for its potential as biopesticide. However, little is known about the factors to influence genetic diversity among isolates. In this work, we aimed to study the gene diversity of 42 isolates to figure out the impact of sequences variability on various biological features. The accumulated data showed no correlation between sequence variability and the fungal geographic localization. Meanwhile, weak to strong correlations have been obtained between the sequence diversity of various genes and the studied biological features. Interestingly, Biotrophy-associated gene 2 gene variability was correlated with all the studied biological features, being an important marker to determine isolates of interest for biological control. Therefore, the obtained data would serve as a database to focus on interesting genes related to improving or screening highly virulent isolates as biological control agents.

A species of Beauveria bassiana is widely used for biological pest management in many countries. Many efforts have been given to figure out the clear fungal mode of action to enhance the insecticidal activity. Homologous recombination (knock-out) or hairpin RNA (knock-down) is popularly used in fungal gene function study, but gene cloning and generation of knock-out or -down mutants takes long time or temporarily knock-downed. Here in this work, we used previously generated egfp-expressing B. bassiana strain (Bb-egfp #3) and integrated dsegfp to the Bb-egfp #3 using a protoplast integration method. This work suggests that protoplast integration with dsRNA possibly generate significantly reduced gene expression in B. bassiana and the reduction is quite stable over generations which provide easy of functional study for fungal mode of action.

Sacbrood virus (SBV) caused significant colony collapse in Korean Apis cerana. Considering that hygienic behavior in honey bees confers colony-level resistance against brood diseases, we utilized this trait for selecting A. cerana colonies. In addition, the brood survival rate was evaluated after colonies were SBV-inoculated. Over four selective generations, dead brood removal and brood survivorship in selected colonies were higher than those in the unselected colonies (P < 0.01, 99.3 vs. 89.9% for removal of pin-killed pupae; P < 0.01, 99.0 vs. 63.9% for removal of SBV-killed larvae; and P < 0.01, 70.0 vs. 9.2% for brood survivorship). Following SBV-inoculation, selected colonies showed an increase in the number of surviving pupae and adults, whereas unselected colonies collapsed mostly. Our results confirm the feasibility of selecting SBV-resistant A. cerana.

Prostaglandin E2(PGE2) is an autocrine and paracrine signal in insects and other animals. Its signal pathways in target cells are well understood in mammalian system but not in insects. Here, we assessed PGE2 signaling in hemocytes of Spodoptera exigua through knocking-down of signal component genes by RNA interference (RNAi) and knocking-out (KO) of PGE2 receptor using CRISPR-Cas9. From S. exigua transcriptome, we selected hemocyte signaling components and analyzed their functions in cellular immune responses through RNAi. KO mutant against PGE2 receptor exhibited severely hampered larval development and adult fecundity.

Insulin/IGF signaling (IIS) regulates multiple physiological processes such as larval growth, reproduction, and life span in many organisms including legume pod borer, Maruca vitrata (Lepidoptera: Crambidae). RNA interference of IIS components, insulin receptor (InR) and Forkhead Box O (FOXO), impaired larval growth and female reproduction. To further validate the physiological roles of InR and FOXO, we generated knock-out (KO) mutants using CRISPR/Cas9-mediated genome-editing technology. Both KO mutants exhibited delayed larval growth and reduced pupal and adult body sizes. In conclusion, these results demonstrated the critical role of insulin signaling (IIS) pathway to control M. vitrata growth and development.

The serious emergence of chemical-mediated residual toxicity and insect resistance have been enforced the regulation of synthetic pesticides. Future decisions to select more realistic control options probably depend on the speed of technological development in chemical and biological pesticides. Now, a strategic collaboration between synthetic pesticides and biopesticides has been progressed, such as distribution and R&D in collaboration and M&A for obtaining microbial resources. Recently registered microbial pesticides are entomopathogenic fungi in pest management. A concept of e-biopesticide could be properly combined with digital agriculture and accelerate the use of biological control agents in the future farming.

The longhorned tick, Haemaphysalis longicornis, is one of the vectors of severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome virus (SFTSV) in human. The use of pyrethroid insecticides induced pest resistance and environmental residual toxicity. Here in this work, our interest was given to the selection of highly virulent fungi against longhorned tick. A total of 101 fungal pathogens were assayed by dipping the nymph stage of ticks into a conidial suspension. Interestingly of the several species, one species showed high virulence and mycosis were observed in 7-15 days. Highly virulent strains were selected, and semi-field experiments were conducted. As a result, the control efficacy of the isolate was over 80% at 30 days of treatment. This work suggests that entomopathogenic fungi could be used to effectively control longhorend ticks.

In this study, we developed 11 microsatellite markers specific to A. crataegi using NGS to investigate the genetic relationships of A. crataegi populations from South Korea to circumferential Asian countries (China, Russia, Mongolia, and Japan). Further, two mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) gene segments (COI and CytB) were sequenced from the samples. The population- and individual-based Principal Coordinates and STRUCTURE analyses collectively suggested that the South Korean population of A. crataegi is most differentiated from the Japanese population, whereas it was closer to Mongolian and Chinese populations. These results collectively suggest that northern populations, in particular, Mongolian populations can be considered as the most genetically compatible one as donee population, when the reintroduction program is launched. †These authors contributed equally to this paper.

Silverleaf whitefly, Bemisia tabaci is a worldwide agricultural pest that cause serious damage to crops. However, since this insect developed resistance to variety of chemicals, alternative control strategy needs to be studied. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the potential of entomopathogenic fungi as biological control tools against this pest. We developed a dipping method in laboratory conditions to screen insecticidal activity of different fungal species and isolates against the nymphal stage of whitefly. The highly virulent isolates were characterized and 2 isolates were further selected based on their high conidial productivity and thermotolerance. Finally, several grain substrates were used to confirm the conidial productivity and thermotolerance of the selected isolates, revealing optimum conidial production when the fungi were cultured on millet grains. Both isolates could be used in further millet grain-based formulations to control the whitefly in fields.