Weevils (Coleoptera: Curculionoidea): Biology, Ecology and Behavior

A special issue of Insects (ISSN 2075-4450). This special issue belongs to the section "Insect Pest and Vector Management".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 August 2023) | Viewed by 1347

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
1. Stockbridge School of Agriculture, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003, USA
2. Department of Entomology, Rutgers University, 96 Lipman Dr., New Brunswick, NJ 08901, USA
Interests: annual bluegrass weevil; reproductive diapause; overwintering; migration; management; resistance

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The family Curculionidae (Coleoptera) comprises about 83,000 weevil species and includes destructive pests of agricultural crops, orchards, landscapes, pastures, forest ecosystems and stored products. Most weevil species are herbivores. Because larvae of many species at least partially complete their development inside of plant tissues, weevils have complex and fine-tuned host–plant interactions and chemical ecology characteristics. The behavioral and physiological adaptability of curculionids to adverse environmental conditions and management efforts has sparked scientific curiosity and poses an emerging management challenge.

The changing climate adds yet another challenge to weevil pest management by causing an expansion of range, the shifting of weevil behavioral and physiological adaptations and alterations to host–plant interactions.

This Special Issue aims to assemble expertise in various crop systems in which weevils represent devastating pests. The Issue aims to exemplify and highlight important advances in understanding weevil biology, behavior, seasonal and chemical ecology, genetics, host–plant interactions, and their adaptations in changing climates.

Dr. Olga Kostromytska
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Insects is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • weevils
  • Curculionidae
  • cold hardiness
  • diapause
  • aggregation pheromone
  • migration
  • kairomones
  • sex pheromone
  • climate change
  • voltinism
  • host preference

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Review

15 pages, 1163 KiB  
Review
Breeding Cultivars for Resistance to the African Sweetpotato Weevils, Cylas puncticollis and Cylas brunneus, in Uganda: A Review of the Current Progress
by Benard Yada, Paul Musana, Doreen M. Chelangat, Florence Osaru, Milton O. Anyanga, Arnold Katungisa, Bonny M. Oloka, Reuben T. Ssali and Immaculate Mugisa
Insects 2023, 14(11), 837; https://doi.org/10.3390/insects14110837 - 25 Oct 2023
Viewed by 1022
Abstract
In sub-Saharan Africa, sweetpotato weevils are the major pests of cultivated sweetpotato, causing estimated losses of between 60% and 100%, primarily during dry spells. The predominantly cryptic feeding behavior of Cylas spp. within their roots makes their control difficult, thus, host plant resistance [...] Read more.
In sub-Saharan Africa, sweetpotato weevils are the major pests of cultivated sweetpotato, causing estimated losses of between 60% and 100%, primarily during dry spells. The predominantly cryptic feeding behavior of Cylas spp. within their roots makes their control difficult, thus, host plant resistance is one of the most promising lines of protection against these pests. However, limited progress has been made in cultivar breeding for weevil resistance, partly due to the complex hexaploid genome of sweetpotato, which complicates conventional breeding, in addition to the limited number of genotypes with significant levels of resistance for use as sources of resistance. Pollen sterility, cross incompatibility, and poor seed set and germination in sweetpotato are also common challenges in improving weevil resistance. The accurate phenotyping of sweetpotato weevil resistance to enhance the efficiency of selection has been equally difficult. Genomics-assisted breeding, though in its infancy stages in sweetpotato, has a potential application in overcoming some of these barriers. However, it will require the development of more genomic infrastructure, particularly single-nucleotide polymorphism markers (SNPs) and robust next-generation sequencing platforms, together with relevant statistical procedures for analyses. With the recent advances in genomics, we anticipate that genomic breeding for sweetpotato weevil resistance will be expedited in the coming years. This review sheds light on Uganda’s efforts, to date, to breed against the Cylas puncticollis (Boheman) and Cylas brunneus (Fabricius) species of African sweetpotato weevil. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Weevils (Coleoptera: Curculionoidea): Biology, Ecology and Behavior)
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