The common bed bug (Cimex lectularius L.) is an obligate hematophagous ectoparasite that has significant impacts on human health and well-being. All life stages of bed bugs (except eggs) feed solely on blood, which is required to molt and reproduce. Bed bugs use multiple cues to locate their hosts, including heat, CO2, and body odors. Of these cues, detection of heat appears limited to a short distance of 50% of the bed bugs fed even when the entire antenna was removed, suggesting redundancy in sensory cues that drive feeding. These results will be used to better understand the role heat plays in bed bug host attraction and design of traps.Some plant pathogens are capable of manipulating their insect vectors and plant hosts in a way that disease transmission is enhanced. Aster leafhopper (Macrosteles quadrilineatus Forbes) (Hemiptera Cicadellidae) is the main vector of Aster Yellows Phytoplasma (Candidatus Phytoplasma asteris) in the Canadian Prairies, which causes Aster Yellows (AY) disease in over 300 plant species including cereals and oilseeds. However, little is known about the host range of Aster leafhoppers or their host-choice selection behavior in this geographical region. Several crop and noncrop species commonly found in the Canadian Prairies were evaluated as food and reproductive hosts for Aster leafhoppers through no-choice bioassays. To study possible effects of pathogen infection, AY-uninfected and AY-infected insects were used. Cereals and some noncrops like fleabane were suitable reproductive hosts for Aster leafhoppers, with numbers of offspring observed in treatments using both AY-uninfected and AY-infected insects, suggesting an egg-laying preference on these plant species. Development was similar across the different plant species, except for canola and sowthistle, where growth indexes were lower. Sex-ratios of Aster leafhopper adults did not differ among the plant species or with respect to AY infection. Potential fecundity differed across plant species and was affected by the infection status of the insect. These findings have implications for AY epidemiology and suggest that while cereals can be suitable host plants for Aster leafhopper oviposition and development, some noncrop species could act as alternate hosts for leafhoppers that migrate into the Canadian Prairies before emergence of cereal and canola crops.Spray coverage may influence the efficacy of insecticides targeting the invasive vinegar fly Drosophila suzukii (Matsumura), a primary pest of raspberries and blackberries. In commercially managed caneberries, spray coverage is typically lowest in the inner and lower plant canopy, regions that overlap with higher levels of adult D. suzukii activity. To understand how spray coverage of fruit impacts efficacy against D. suzukii, laboratory bioassays were conducted using raspberries. In laboratory bioassays, higher spray coverage did not impact larval infestation rates but did increase adult mortality, indicating that flies can avoid a lethal dose of insecticide when applications do not achieve adequate coverage. We also evaluated how carrier water volume impacts spray coverage patterns throughout the canopy of raspberry and blackberry plants using both airblast and CO2 backpack sprayers. Increasing carrier water volume generally improved spray coverage in the lower plant canopy. However, effects in the upper plant canopy were inconsistent and varied between sprayer types. In addition to carrier water volume, other approaches, including adjusting the pesticide sprayer equipment used and/or sprayer calibration, should also be explored to improve coverage. Growers should evaluate spray coverage in their caneberries to identify and troubleshoot coverage issues. Results from this study indicate that taking the time to optimize this aspect of pesticide application may improve chemical management of D. suzukii and will likely also improve control of other important caneberry pests.Sophisticated social behaviors in termite colonies are mainly regulated via chemical communication of a wide range of pheromones. Trail pheromones play important roles in foraging behavior and building tunnels and nests in termites. However, it is almost unclear how termites perceive trail pheromones. Here, we cloned and sequenced of olfactory co-receptor (Orco) genes from the two termites Reticulitermes chinensis Snyder (Isoptera Rhinotermitidae) and Odontotermes formosanus (Shiraki) (Isoptera Termitidae), and then examined their responses to trail pheromones after silencing Orco through RNA interference (RNAi). We found that Orco knockdown impaired their ability to perceive trail pheromones and resulted in the disability of following pheromone trails in the two termite species. Our locomotion behavior assays further showed that Orco knockdown significantly decreased the distance and velocity in the two termite species, but significantly increased the angular velocity and turn angle in the termite R. chinensis. These findings strongly demonstrated that Orco is essential for termites to perceive their trail pheromones, which provides a potential way to control termite pests by damaging olfactory system.Many species distribution maps indicate the ranges of Aedes aegypti (Linnaeus) and Aedes albopictus (Skuse) overlap in Florida despite the well-documented range reduction of Ae. aegypti. selleck kinase inhibitor Within the last 30 yr, competitive displacement of Ae. aegypti by Ae. albopictus has resulted in partial spatial segregation of the two species, with Ae. aegypti persisting primarily in urban refugia. We modeled fine-scale distributions of both species, with the goal of capturing the outcome of interspecific competition across space by building habitat suitability maps. We empirically parameterized models by sampling 59 sites in south and central Florida over time and incorporated climatic, landscape, and human population data to identify predictors of habitat suitability for both species. Our results show human density, precipitation, and urban land cover drive Ae. aegypti habitat suitability, compared with exclusively climatic variables driving Ae. albopictus habitat suitability. Remotely sensed variables (macrohabitat) were more predictive than locally collected metrics (microhabitat), although recorded minimum daily temperature showed significant, inverse relationships with both species.