نشریه نامه انجمن حشره شناسی ایران
سال چهل و یکم شماره 3 (پیاپی 87، پاییز 1400)

The rose-grain aphid, Metopolophium dirhodum is one of the most important species among wheat and barley aphids and its population trajectory in field is characterized by rapid boom. In the present study, three datasets from M. dirhodum population in a wheat field in Varamin (Tehran) from 1999 to 2001 and two datasets from a barley field in Aleshtar (Lorestan) in 2017 and 2018 were used for modeling the aphid population dynamics. We demonstrate that Normal and Hyperbolic Secant Squared models presented a much better description of M. dirhodum population dynamics in the whole season for all datasets from wheat and barley fields than the Exponential or Logistic Growth models. The Normal and Hyperbolic Secant Squared model analysis of data showed that the models were useful representations of the data, gave biologically reasonable descriptions of rose-grain aphid population dynamics, and were statistically powerful basis for the analysis of experimental data obtained in this research. The parameters of two mentioned models are the predicted peak size, Nmax, the predicted time of peak, tmax, and an approximate per capita birth rate, all of which are of interest in practical applications. Overall, the results of this study showed that the Normal and Hyperbolic Secant Squared regression models were shown to fit diverse abundance curves adequately and the parameters of the mechanical model can be estimated by the parameters of these models.

Ants are one of the most successful and abundant groups of insects, which due to their high reproductive and wide distribution, have a very large population in different parts of the world. In order to study these insects and associated mesostigmatic mites in some parts of Khuzestan and Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari Provinces, samples were collected from different habitats during 2019–2020. Totally, 21 species belonging to 3 subfamilies, Dolichoderinae (1 genus and 2 species), Formicinae (6 genus and 12 species), Myrmicinae (5 genus and 7 species), and 59 species belonging to 12 families of Mesostigmata were collected. Among them, Gamasellodes minor Athias, 1961 and Gaeolaelaps neoaculeifer (Hirschman, 1966) are reported for the first time from Iran, and two families and 15 species are new records for the Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari Province, which are marked with two and one asterisk (s) in Table 2, respectively.

Panonychus citri (McGregor) (Acari: Tetranychidae) is an important pest species in the citrus growing world. Due to broad spectrum chemical pesticides applied on citrus orchards pests, P. citri became an important citrus orchard pest in the north of Iran. In this study, lethal and sub-lethal effects of two biocompatible compounds, citronellol and neem extract, were investigated on different developmental stages of citrus red mite using the potter spray tower method. The results showed that citronellol and neem had high toxicity on egg and larval mite stages with LC50 values of 245.55 and 666.94 mg/L, respectively. The sub-lethal effects of citronellol and neem extract on adult citrus red mite in comparison control significantly reduced fecundity (0.1, 1.5 and 18.03 eggs/female, respectively), fertility (0.066, 1.07 and 17 hatched eggs/female, respectively) and longevity (5.43, 5.86 and 11.83 days, respectively). The results showed appropriate control effects of biomite® and neem extract against early growth stages of the citrus red mite with an environmental protection approach. Therefore, these compounds could be recommended in the program of resistance management of this pest.

The khapra beetle, Trogoderma granarium (Everts), 1898 is one of the damaging pests of different stored cereal grains in Iran. In this research, effect of four cereal grain species including wheat (varieties N-91-9 and Aftab), barley (varieties Dasht and Oxin), maize (varieties AR and 704), and rice (varieties Hashemi and Fajr) was studied on nutritional indices and digestive proteolytic and amylolytic activities of T. granarium fifth instar at 33±1˚C, relative humidity of 65±5% and a photoperiod of 14: 10 (L: D) h. The results showed that the highest food consumption by larvae was observed on wheat N-91-9 and the lowest value was seen on maize 704 and rice Fajr. The relative growth rate was the highest on wheat N-91-9 and barley Dasht. The highest proteolytic activity was in larvae fed on wheat Aftab, barley Dasht and rice Hashemi, and the lowest activity was in those fed on rice Fajr. The amylolytic activity of larvae fed on varieties Dasht, N-91-9, Hashemi and AR was significantly higher than those fed with other tested cereals. The results of this study indicated that barley Dasht and both wheat varieties tested were relatively more favorable than other examined cereals for feeding of T. granarium larvae.

Flea beetles (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae, Galerucinae) are important pests of Canola, which the adult feedings on cotyledon cause severe damage to the crop. In this paper, Psylliodes Latreille species collected by sticky or pan traps during 2018–2020 from canola farms of Gilan province, Iran, have been studied and an identification key of the following species, Psylliodes anatolica Gök & Cilbiroglu, 2004; P. chalcomera (Illiger, 1807); P. chrysocephala (Linnaeus, 1758); P. circumdata (Redtenbacher, 1842); P. cuprea (Koch, 1803) and P. persica Allard, 1866 with photos of their habitus and genitalia are provided. Also some taxonomic comments on the species are presented. Psylliodes anatolica is new record for the Iranian fauna.

Hypopharyngeal glands (HGs) are one of the most important body organs of nurse honey bees which produce the major protein fraction of royal jelly that is fed to larvae and queen. The HGs mass and acini size can be considered as robust indicator that is used to determine the quality of the diets fed to nurse bees. In the present study we focused on the effect of different nutritional diets on HGs growth and acini size in nurse honey bee workers. Results of ANOVA indicated that the test diets have a significant effect on HGs mass and their acini size.

During faunistic survey of parasitoid wasps in Ardabil province at 2019-2020, a parasitoid species from Braconidae was collected.The parasitoid wasp identified  as Schizoprymnus rimosus Tobias, 1966 and confirmed by Dr. Matthias Riedel from Germany as . This Braconid species is new for Iranian fauna.