Predation, development, and ovipostion experiments were conducted to evaluate Amblyseius swirskii (Athias-Henriot) (Acari: Phytoseiidae) as a potential biological control agent for tomato russet mite, Aculops lycopersici (Massee) (Acari: Eriophyidae) which is a periodic pest of greenhouse tomatoes. Results show that A. swirskii attacked all developmental stages of A. lycopersici, and had a type II functional response on the prey densities given. The predation rates of A. swirskii on A. lycopersici in the presense of alternative food sources such as pollen, thrips first instar, or whitefly eggs were recorded as 74%, 56%, and 76%, respectively of the predation rate on A. lycopersici alone. Amblyseius swirskii successfully completed their life-cycle on either A. lycopersici or cattail pollen. At 25oC, 70% RH, development time of female A. swirskii fed on A. lycopersici or on cattail pollen took 5.0 and 6.2 days, respectively. For the first 10 days after moulting to the adult stage, A. swirskii fed on A. lycopersici had higher daily oviposition rate (2.0 eggs per day) than on pollen (1.5 eggs per day). From this laboratory study, it can be concluded that A. swirskii has promising traits as a predator against A. lycopersici and that their populations can be stably maintained using alternative food such as cattail pollen. We suggest that the effectiveness of A. swirskii against A. lycopersici under field conditions deserves to be investigated.

Subterranean termites excavate tunnels for searching and transporting food below the ground, which in turn causes complicated tunnel networks. In the present study, we explored the connectedness of the networks by using spectral graph theory. In the theory, tunnel network pattern can be constitutively expressed by the Laplacian matrix, and among the set of all eigenvalues of the matrix, the second eigenvalue directly reflects the degree of the connectedness. We constructed the simulated tunnel networks for Coptotermes formosanus and Riparius flavipes by the use of a lattice model suggested by Lee et al., (2006) and computed their connectedness. The results showed that the values of the connectedness between the two species were statistically-significantly different. We briefly discussed the results in relation to foraging efficiency.

Subterranean termites construct complicated tunnel network for foraging below the ground. Thus, they often encounter a number of tunnel intersections during their moving from place to place in the network. In order to understand how termites respond to the intersections, we artificially excavated two tunnels intersected with 90° degree in soil-filled arenas. The two tunnels had the width of W1 and W2 (=2, 3, and 4mm), respectively. We systematically observed the response behavior of advancing termites to the intersection with the combination of W1 and W2, (W1, W2). For (W1, W2)=(2, 2) and (3, 3), the advancing termites passed the intersection without directional changes because it was difficult for termites to bend their body to change their moving direction due to the small-sized width. For (W1, W2)=(4, 4), the termites statistically-equally chose the three directions, left, right, and straight, which was due to the fact that the intersection provided enough space for termites to bend. For (W1, W2)=(2, 3), (2, 4), and (3, 4), termites, advancing in narrower tunnels, tended considerably to turn right or left, while termites, advancing in wider tunnels, were favorably inclined to go straight. These results can be understood by considering the relationship between termite body length and tunnel width as explained for the cases of W1=W2. In addition, we briefly discussed our findings in relation to termite foraging efficiency.

The use of electron beam irradiation has been emerged as one of alternative ways of the restriction of methyl bromide usage for the disinfestation of stored-products and quarantine pests. Here we demonstrated effects of electron beam irradiation on development and gene expression of P. interpunctella, which is a serious pest of various stored-products. P. interpunctella at various developmental stages were irradiated at 0, 0.25, 0.5, 0.75 and 1 kGy. Eggs failed to hatch at all treated doses of electron beam. Fifth instar larvae pupated only 6.7% by 0.25 kGy irradiation but failed pupation at above doses. Interestingly, survived larvae by low-dose irradiation did not pupated until 40 days. Pupae eclosed to adults only 12.1% by 0.25 kGy irradiation but failed at above doses. In addition, 5-day-old pupae eclosed 94.4, 91.6, 100 and 49.9% at 0.25, 0.5, 0.75 and 1.0 kGy, respectively. However, most of those emerged adults were malformed, especially in wings, and showed very low oviposition rate. We demonstrated whether the electron beam irradiation induces gene expression. Upregulated genes at any doses were hsp70, which is a stress-responsive protein, at fifth instar larval stage and hemolin, which is an immune-responsive protein, at pupal stage. Some genes of pupae, such as β-1,3 glucan recognition protein, hsp70 and acp25 (small hsp) were upregulated only at high doses. However, other genes, such as prophenoloxidase, ultraspiracle , ecdysone receptor and heat shock proteins (hsp90, hsc70) were downregulated by irradiation of electron beam

A glucose-regulated protein 78 (grp78) gene, which is belongs to a heat shock cognate 70 (hsc70) subfamily, was cloned from Indian meal moth, Plodia interpunctella. Its full length cDNA was 2679 bp and contains a 1980 bp open reading frame. The translated amino acid sequence consists of 660 residues with a calculated molecular mass of 72,975 Da and an isoelectronic point (pI) of 5.27. It contains several highly conserved functional motifs of the Hsp70 family and, particularly, C-terminal motif of KDEL that is characteristic for endoplasmic reticulum (ER) hsc70. Its deduced amino acid sequence shows a high identity (83-94%) with Hsc70s of other insects and grouped with Hsc70-3 among 5 Hsc70 members of Drosophila melanogaster. During development the grp78 transcript level was high in egg, feeding larval and adult stages but low in molting and wandering larval and pupal stages. Particularly its level was higher in the gut than integument and fat body of fifth instars. Furthermore its level was greatly decreased when fifth instar larvae were starved for 48 hrs but recovered at 3-6 hrs after re-fed diet. Our data suggests that grp78 is a member of hsc70 gene that belongs to ER and may have a role for energy metabolism at cellular level.

On the study of phyline plant bug, four species of the genus Psallus Fieber have been observed as new record to Korea. According to the Korean Catalog (Yong Jung Kwon, Sang Jae Suh and Jung Ae Kim, 2001) nineteen species are recorded from the Korean peninsula. Our recent investigation discovered four additional species, Psallus cinnabarinus Kerzhner 1979, P. flavescens Kerzhner 1988, P. stackerlbergi Kerzhner 1988 and P. loginovae Kerzhner 1988. All the four species are described with genital illustration, biology and host information.

Camptomyia is a genus of gall midges belonging to subfamily Porricondilinae. On the study of shiitake mushroom farm in Korea, three species of maggots were collected. Among them, two Camptomyia spp. were recognized as the major pests. Colonies of these maggots were feeding on the mycelium of shiitake mushroom, disturbing the formation of mushroom fruit body. The morphology of C. heterobia and C. corticalis were illustrated with the description.

Inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate (IP₃) plays an important role in the release of Cα²+ from intracellular stores into the cytoplasm in a variety of cell types. IP₃ translocation dynamics have been studied in response to many types of cell signals. However, the dynamics of cytosolic IP₃ in salivary acinar cells are unclear. A green fluorescent protein (GFP)-tagged pleckstrin homology domain (PHD) was constructed and introduced into a phospholipase C δ1 (PLC δ1) transgenic mouse, and then the salivary acinar cells were isolated. GFP-PHD was heterogeneously localized at the plasma membrane and intracellular organelles in submandibular gland and parotid gland cells. Application of trypsin, a G protein-coupled receptor activator, to the two types of cells caused an increase in GFP fluorescence in the cell cytoplasm. The observed time course of trypsin-evoked IP₃movement in acinar cells was independent of cell polarity, and the fluorescent label showed an immediate increase throughout the cells. These results suggest that GFP-PHD in many tissues of transgenic mice, including non-cultured primary cells, can be used as a model for examination of IP₃intracellular dynamics.

Odontepyris sp. nov., a new ectoparasitoid on the caterpillar of Telorta divergens (Butler, 1879) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae), is recognized from Korea. After rearing the larvae on the host insect, adult females were obtained and described. Revising all known species of genus Odontepyris, a key to the species of the genus Odontepyris is presented for the Eastern Palearctic region.

Camptomyia is a genus of gall midges belonging to subfamily Porricondilinae, with 42 species known from the palaearctic region. In November 2007, serious damages of the Shiitake mushroom logs were reported in many shiitake farms from the middle part of South Korea. Rearing the adults in laboratory, a Camptomyia species was recognized as the major species causing damages on shiitake. Colonies of maggots were observed, feeding the mycelium of shiitake mushroom and the phloem of oak timbers, disturbing the mushroom fruit body formation. The morphology of the larvae and adult of this Camptomyia heterobia. is illustrated with the description of the damage symptom.

The present study was undertaken to identify changes of plasminogen activators (PAs) in porcine oviductal epithelial cells (POECs) during the estrous cycle classified with post-ovulatory stages (Post-Ov), early to mid-luteal stages (Early-mid L) and pre-ovulatory (Pre-Ov) stages. The urokinase-type plasminogen activator (uPA) was only observed on day 5 and day 7 of culture in the POECs on all the estrous cycles and gradually increased according to increasing culture times, but not Early-mid L. In POECs-conditioned medium, uPA, tissue-type (tPA) and tPA-PA inhibitor (tPA-PAI) activity were observed at all culture times during estrous cycles. The uPA activity of POECs-conditioned medium on Post-Ov stage were significantly (p<0.05) decreased during prolonged cultures. On the other hand, the tPA activity of POECs-conditioned medium at Post-Ov stage was significantly (p<0.05) higher on day 5 than compared to the other days. Although was higher on day 1 at Post-Ov stage, the tPA-PAI activity of POECs-conditioned medium was significantly (p<0.05) higher on day 7 at all stage than that of day 5 of the culture. Taken together, these results suggest that uPA, tPA and tPA-PAI are produced by POECs, and the variations of the PAs activity are regulated in the different stages of the estrous cycle.