The fall webworm, Hyphantria cunea (Drury) (Lepidoptera: Arctiidae), was originally distributed in North America and spread into central Europe and eastern Asia in the early 1940s. This species was first found in Seoul, Korea in 1958. In this study, the effect of temperatures on development in regional variation of the H. cunea was investigated. Local populations of fall webworm were collected in Goyang and Pusan, Korea and the larvae were reared on an artificial diet, incubated at seven constant temperatures of 17.5, 20.0, 22.5, 25.0, 27.5, 30.0 and 32.5℃ under the photoperiod 16L:8D. The average developmental periods decreased as the temperature increased at all stage in the Goyang population. The temperature dependent developmental rates in each stage were well described by linear and nonlinear Briere model in the Goyang population. The lower threshold temperature for development from egg to adult was 13.7℃ and all the eggs did not hatch at 32.5 ℃. Optimum temperatures for reproduction was 22.5℃, and average number of eggs laid by individual female at the temperature was 441.5±121.8. Developmental periods of larval and pupal stage in the Goyang population were not significantly different from those in the Pusan population at 25℃.

The diurnal flight pattern of Platypus koryoensis (Murayama) was examined using sticky traps attached to the trunks of oak trees in central Korea in 2011. The flight activities of the beetle were estimated on the basis of 2-h interval trap catches from 05:00 to 17:00, between June 9 and July 21 (the peak flight period of the beetle). Peak flight time of the beetle ranged from 09:00 to 13:00, with variations due to the day surveyed and the facing slope. The flights began when the air temperature reached 16.7 °C, and the flights peaked when the air temperature was 23.6 °C. Flights were not observed during rainfall, suggesting that rainfall is one of the factors that influence beetle flight. The time of sunrise was not significantly correlated with the flight initiation time. The direction of flight along with the slope was changed bidirectional to unidirectional (movement from upslope to downslope) between 9:00 and 13:00.

In Hymenoptera, thanks to its haplodiploid sex determination, arrhenotokous parasitoid females are able to control offspring sex ratio by determining whether to use sperm or not at the time of oviposition. However, the offspring sex ratio may also be influenced by the mating behavior of a male. When a male searches females, he will have more chances to encounter with other males in a high male density population than low male density population. If the male is competitive, the male can find females faster and may have longer copulation time, and eventually transfer more sperm than other males. In this study, we investigated mate searching time, copulation duration and offspring sex ratio as a function of the male density. Although the results show difference between searching time and copulation duration, they are not statistically significant. We will discuss the statistical consequence, male density dependent offspring sex ratio and its evolutionary implications.

Myanmar is located in the south-east Asia peninsular and it is flanked by five neighboring states: Bangladesh, India, China, Laos and Thailand. It is located 10~22 degree north latitude, to 92~101 degrees east longitude. Myanmar has a tropical climate with three seasons in Myanmar. Hot season (March through April), rainy season (May through October) and the cool season (November through February). The coastal regions can get very hot and humid, especially before the rainy season. Myanmar has a monsoon season from May to October when there are heavy rains and often flooding. The investigation was carried out during the dry season(2013) in Nat Ma Taung National Park and Popa Mountain Park. Popa Mountain Park is located in Kyawpadaung Township, Myinchan district, Mandaly Division. The area is 49.63 square miles. Its coordinates are 29°31'60" N and 27°43'60" E. Nat Ma Taung National Park, Myanmar treasure is in Mindut District of Chin State and its area of 279 square miles. It is the third highest mountain in Myanmar with the height of 10,500 feet. Its coordinates are 21°14'00" N and 93°54'00" E. As the result, butterflies(Lepidoptera) collected in the two regions were about 60 species of 7 familys. Collecting dates, expedition activities, photo of main specimen and information of Myanmar were provided.

Repellency of 20 plant essential oils to malaria main vector in the Republic of Korea (ROK), Anopheles kleini, was evaluated using skin direct contact bioassay. Anopheles kleini showed the highest repellency to Pelargonium graveolens with EC50 value of 0.244 mg/cm2, followed by Pinus sylvestris and Cinnamomum camphora with EC50 values of 0.484 mg/cm2 and 0.862 mg/cm2. The lowest repellency of An. kleini was revealed from Clary sage oil with EC50 value of 4.665 mg/cm2. Anopheles kleini did not demonstrated any repellency to Lemon, Orange, Neem, Coconut and Olive oil over 20 mg/cm2. Major repellent constituents of Geranium, Pine and Camphora oil were analyzed and identified using Mass-data, GC and GC-Mass. Major constituent of Geranium were β-citronellol (37.0%) and Camphora, 1,8-cineole (35.8%) and Pine, α-terpineol (39.5%). Anopheles kleini showed higher repellency to β-citronellol and 1,8-cineole than to DEET and IR3535 and did not showed any repellency to sabinene and γ-eudesmol over 20 mg/cm2. Residual repellent time of 1,8-cineole and β-citronellol were 26 and 41 min, respectively and DEET, 84 min and IR3535, 102 min. In the light of global efforts to reduce the level of highly toxic synthetic repellents, the three essential oils and their major constituents described merit further study as potential biorepellents for the control of An. kleini populations

Myanmar is located in the Southeastern region of Asia. It lies between latitudes 9° and 29°N, and longitudes 92° and 102°E. The bordering countries are China on the northern side, Thailand and Laos on the eastern region, Bangladesh on the western side and India on the northwestern region. Myanmar has a total area of 678,500 square kilometers (262,000 sq mi). The rainy season exists primarily during the months between June and September. Whiledry season stays during the months between December and April. Northern regions of the country are the coolest, with average temperatures of 21 ℃ (70 ℉). Coastal and delta regions have an average temperature of 32 ℃ (86.9 ℉). This expedition was conducted four times for three years. Among them we explored three area including Popa Mountain, Alaungdaw Kathapa National Park and Nat Ma Taung National Park[Popa Mountain(8.7~8.17, 2011; 7.24~8.3 2012; 2.18~2.28 2013), Alaungdaw Kathapa National Park(2.2~2.9, 2012) and Nat Ma Taung National Park(2.18~2.28 2013)]. Collecting methods was sweeping net, lignt trap, burket trap, pitfall trap with other method, and collected especially mainly Coleoptera and Lepidoptera. As the result, totally about 30 families in Coleoptera and 7 families in Lepidoptera were collected, among them Carabidae and Nymphalidae was revealed most diversity species. Main collect specimens, expedition activities and collections data etc. were provided herein.

In Korea, twelve species in genus Myrmica have been described. Some of them are morphologically similar and this makes their identification difficult. For this reason, we collected several Myrmica species in question and inferred their phylogenetic relationship using the 418bp partial COI (cytochrome C oxidase 1) region from a total of 33 individuals. We found that the CO1 haplotypes are effectively grouped into three clusters that match well to their external morphological characters. Although this three species could be distinguished by the only small part of the COI region, the two individual sample of the M. kotokuii and one sample of the M. carinata are included in the M. kurokii group. The results indicate that the morphological identification could be obscure in the three species and it requires a close examination for this phenomenon.

The body and head lice (Pediculus humanus humanus and Pediculus humanus capitis, respectively) are hematophagous ectoparasites of humans and only the body louse between two is known to transmit three bacterial diseases through its feces. The proliferation profiles of Bartonella quintana, the causative agent of trench fever, inside the louse body and its excretion patterns were investigated in the two louse subspecies following oral challenge with B. quintana-infected blood meal. The initial density of B. quintana was sustained inside head lice without any noticeable proliferation for the entire period after infection. In contrast, B. quintana proliferated rapidly inside body lice and the maximum density reached at 10 days post-infection. The numbers of bacteria detected in feces from infected lice were almost the same and steadily decreased over time in both body and head lice. Nevertheless, the viability of the bacteria, as determined by fluorescence, was significantly higher in body louse feces, especially at 1 day post-infection and this tendency lasted for 11 days. These findings suggest that excretion of feces containing more viable B. quintana that is proliferated inside body lice following ingestion of infected blood meal is responsible for the higher vector competence of body lice.

The bumblebee, Bombus ignitus (Hymenoptera: Apidae), is a valuable natural resource that is widely utilized for greenhouse pollination in South Korea. Understanding the magnitude of genetic diversity and geographic relationships is of fundamental importance for long term preservation and utilization. As a first step, we sequenced a partial COI gene of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) corresponding to the “DNA barcode” region and the complete internal transcribed spacer 2 (ITS2) of nuclear ribosomal DNA from 88 individuals collected in nine South Korean localities. The complete ITS2 sequences were longest among known insects, ranging in size from 2,034 bp ~ 2,052 bp, harboring two duplicated 112-bp long repeats. The 658-bp long mtDNA sequences provided only six haplotypes with a maximum sequence divergence of 0.61% (4 bp), whereas the ITS sequences provided 84 sequence types with a maximum sequence divergence of 1.02% (21 sites). The combination of the current COI data with those of published data suggest that the B. ignitus in South Korea and China are genetically a large group, but those in Japan can be roughly separated into another group. Overall, a very high per generation migration ratio, a very low level of genetic fixation, and no discernable hierarchical population were found to exist among the South Korean populations of B. ignitus, which suggests panmixia. This finding is consistent with our understanding of the dispersal capability of the species.

Rice planthoppers (RPH) such as brown planthoppers (BPH), small brown planthoppers (SBPH), and white-backed planthoppers (WBPH) have been serious constraints to the rice production in Asian countries. It is important to manage their outbreak through the international cooperative network between concerned countries. RDA initiated a regional AFACI (Asian Food and Agriculture Cooperation Initiative) project for this purpose. And to facilitate information exchange of planthopper scouting data and technical knowledge between AFACI member countries, the internet-based AMIVS (www.amivs.org) Platform was being operated since 2011. In this system, scouting data includes daily light trap, aerial net data and weekly field collection data on BPH, WBPH, and SBPH and virus occurrence in scouting fields. Analysis results of the 2012 light trap and field collection data showed that each country or region has unique seasonal dynamics and dominance pattern of planthoppers according to the cropping pattern and environment. The high BPH density was mainly observed in Thailand and Vietnam. In other coutries, BPH density was rather low. Now, more and more scouting sites and data from member countries are entered in this system regularly, and we could expect that more substantial scouting information could be produced and shared in near future.

The brown marmorated stink bug Halyomorpha halys Stål (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae), is native to Korea, Japan, and China. H. halys is one of the major polyphagous pentatomids with a wide host range encompassing ornamental shrubs, trees, and cultivated crops such as millet, sesame, soybean, apple, yuzu, pear, cherry, and peach and inflicting losses of several crops in Korea. However, study on dietary importance of these hosts on the development rate of H. halys is sparse. We evaluated fruits of apple and orange with or without soybean plus peanuts as food sources to investigate development rate, mortality and fecundity of the stink bug. Not apple but orange only diet could support development up to adult stage but with higher mortality. First instars were found to molt into second instars without feeding. The longest time H. halys took to develop was in its fifth instar. Overall shortest developmental period (39.82) days was recorded on those fed on orange+soybean and peanut whereas those fed on orange only diet had longest development period (78.92 days). Generational mortality of those fed on diets consisting of soybean and peanuts ranged from 43 to 53%. Those only fed on water could not develop into third instars. H. halys could not develop into fourth instar in apple only diet. However, on orange only diet 20% H. halys could emerge as adults. Fecundity was measured for the first day of oviposition per female. Fecundity was recorded highest (28 eggs) on orange+soybean and peanut diets. The results suggest that H. halys require leguminous seeds in order to develop fully and lay fertile eggs.

Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) is a gram-positive bacterium that produces parasporal crystal proteins known as endotoxins or Cry proteins. The Cry protoxins are then cleaved by insect midgut proteinases to form active Bt toxins. The activated Cry protein then binds to specific receptors at the midgut epithelium. Cadherin-like and aminopeptidase N (APN) proteins are involved in Bt toxin binding by interacting sequentially with different toxin structures. Aminopeptidase N (APNs) from several insect species have been shown to be putative receptors for these toxins. We have characterized four different midgut APNs(APN1, APN2, APN3, APN4) cDNAs from S. exigua. Forward primers and reverse primers for confirmation of four different midgut APNs were designed based on their sequences cloned from the cDNA libraries. Quantitative RT-PCR procedures includes 42℃ for 20min (cDNA synthesis), 99℃ for 5min, and 35 cycles (94℃ for 1min, and 60℃ for 50 s) for collection. Four aminopeptidase N isoforms were confirmed with qRT-PCR. Sequence analysis was performed by BlastX search the National Center for Biotechnology Information(NCBI) nucleotide. Furthermore, double-stranded RNAs(dsRNAs) were synthesized. DsRNAs were determined for bioassay.

We compared the grafting success in total of 107 rearing Apis carana queens cells, to which we grafted 540 larvae. The wax for cups we prepared from A. mellifera and A. cerana wax. The A. cerana wax cups were found that artificial queen cell cups with the internal diameter of 8.0 mm at the mouth and 8.0 mm depth were highly preferred by the bees for rearing of queens from the grafted larvae. From the 210 grafted larvae into A. mellifera wax bees accepted 30 queens cells, only (16.67 %) ; A. cerana wax bees accepted 59 queens cells (33 %) ; plastic cup bees accepted 18 queens cells, only (10 %). In the preference test the grafting success in the A. cerana wax cups were better than in the A. mellifera wax and plastic cup. The results show better acceptance of larvae grafted into the pure A. cerana wax cups for rearing A. cerana queen. A new method for rearing honey bees, A. cerana, in vivo was developed and the effects of royal jelly from A. mellifera. We used royal jelly diluted 50:50 with sterile water (The royal jelly is kept frozen until used). A small amount of royal jelly is placed at the center of each cell cup. Young A. cerana larvae were transferred into the queen cups containing ± 10 ㎍ of the Royal jelly from A. mellifera and A. cerana. The average rates of acceptance were affected significantly due to the royal jelly source in the queen cell cups. It is so workable first to produce pure A. cerana wax for making the queen cups before a beekeeper starts with grafting.

Rapid identification of pest species found under quarantine is an important factor in preventing an economic loss of agricultural commodities. In this study, we analyzed RNA-Seq of the larvae of C. sasakii, G. molesta and G. dimorpha, which are serious pests in several fruits in Korea and are difficult to discriminate by species in their larval stage because of lack of a morphological character. To select immunological diagnostic markers, discriminating the larvae of C. sasakii from the G. molesta and G. dimorpha, RNA-Seq was performed for the larvae of the three insects. The 454 pyrosequencing generated 3,058-4,686 contigs for each three pest species, which assembled into 2,584-3,970 isotigs with average lengths of 829-1,244 bp. Functional annotation of the sequencing results generated 774 orthologs for the three pest species, and 12 isotigs were finally registered as candidate markers for species discrimination through bioinformatical screening, literature search, and gene expression study. The selected candidates include serine proteases, serpins, 27 kDa glycoprotein and storage protein with a constitutive gene expression in their larvae, pupae and adult stage.

In some cicada species, male calling songs are so loud that they become a nuisance to city dwellers in Korea. To understand the abundance of cicada species in central Korea, we conducted complete enumeration surveys of exuviae in Hyalessa fuscata, Cryptotympana atrata, Meimuna spp, and Graptopsaltria nigrofuscata. Exuviae collection was conducted in three representative habitats in central Korea: metropolitan, suburban, and country. We collected the exuviae twice with a 10-day interval between samplings in August 2010. Resource-weighted density of each species was calculated based on the area and the number of trees. H. fuscata was the dominant species in all three regions. Resource-weighted densities in metropolitan and suburban regions were much higher than those in the country region, due to H. fuscata and C. atrata. The results of the multivariate general linear models showed that region, date, and the interaction between these two variables were all significant for population densities of cicada species. Unlike the resource-weighted densities, the organism-weighted densities that indicated the intensity that an individual had to share its host with others were much larger than tree-weighted densities for cicada exuviae. Furthermore, there was no significant difference in organism-weighted densities among habitats. The difference between resource-weighted and organism-weighted densities implied that larger proportions of trees were not used by cicada juveniles in the country. Thus, the distributions and abundance of tree host species could be an important factor for cicada density in Korea.