The greater wax moth, Galleria mellonella (Linnaeus) (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) is the most destructive pest of honey bee, Apis mellifera Linnaeus (Hymenoptera: Apidae), throughout the world. The present study was conducted to determine the quantitative and qualitative impairing effects of the arthropod venoms, viz., death stalker scorpion Leiurus quinquestriatus (Hemprich & Ehrenberg) venom (SV), oriental Hornet (wasp) Vespa orientalis Linnaeus venom (WV) and Apitoxin of A. mellifera (AP) on the larval haemogram. For this purpose, the 3rd instar larvae were treated with LC50 of each of these venoms (3428.9, 2412.6, and 956.16 ppm, respectively). The haematological investigation was conducted in haemolymph of the 5th and 7th (last) instar larvae. The important results could be summarized as follows. Five basic types of the freely circulating haemocytes in the haemolymph of last instar (7th) larvae of G. mellonella had been identified: Prohemocytes (PRs), Plasmatocytes (PLs), Granulocytes (GRs), Spherulocytes (SPs) and Oenocytoids (OEs). All venoms unexceptionally prohibited the larvae to produce normal hemocyte population (count). No certain trend of disturbance in the differential hemocyte counts of circulating hemocytes in larvae of G. mellonella after treatment with the arthropod venoms. Increasing or decreasing population of the circulating hemocytes seemed to depend on the potency of the venom, hemocyte type and the larval instar.  In PRs of last instar larvae, some cytopathological features had been observed after treatment with AP or WV, but SV failed to cause cytopathological features. With regard to PLs, some cytopathological features had been observed after treatment with AP while both SV and WV failed to cause cytopathological features in this hemocyte type. No venom exhibited cytopathological effects on GRs, SPs or OEs.

No abstract

No abstract

List of Initials and Abbreviations………………. 5. Other parameters of haemogram as affected by botanicals…. 6. Immune responses and defense reactions of insects against Botanicals. 6.1. General outline ………………. 6.2. Insect immunocytes …………………… 6.3. Immuno-suppressive potential of botanicals on insects… 6.4. Major mechanisms of cellular innate immune responses in insects……. 6.5. Melanization as a humoral defense in insects … 6.6. Endocrine control of immune defenses ……. 7. Targeting the insect haemogram and immune reactions as a pest control strategy ….. 8. Summary points ………………… 9. Conclusions and future research needs ……………………… References ………………………………. List of Initials and Abbreviations: Abscisic acid (ABA), adiphohaemocytes (ADs), azadirachtin (Azt), blood volume (BV), coagulocytes (CGs), Differential haemocyte count (DHC), gibberellic acid (GA3), granulocytes (GRs), haemolymph volume (HV), 20-hydroxyecdysone (20E), indole-3acetic acid (IAA), juvenile hormone (JH), Mitotic index (MI), oenocytoids (OEs), phenoloxidase (PO), plant growth regulator (PGR), plasmatocytes (PLs), prohaemocytes (PRs), prophenoloxidase (proPO), scanning electron microscope (SEM), spherulocytes (SPs), Total haemocyte count (THC).

Background The pink bollworm, Pectinophora gossypiella, is the most destructive pests of the cotton plant in Egypt. Due to the several problems of insecticides, the present study was conducted to evaluate the toxicity effect of the entomopathogenic fungi (EPF), Beauveria bassiana and Metarhizium anisopliae, against the different stages of the pink bollworm, Pectinophora gossypiella (Saunders) (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae) Results The fungal isolates exhibited a toxic effect against the treated stages, egg, larva, and pupa. According to the obtained data of LC50, B. bassiana was more potent in inducing toxicity than M. anisopliae. However, eggs of P. gossypiella were less susceptible to the EPF than the other stages. Based on total mortality, LC50 was 4.97×1011, 6.03×1012 spores/ml for egg; 8.25×108, 6.03×109 spores/ml for neonate; 2.52×108, 1.29×1010 spores/ml for early 4th instar larvae; and 6.79×108, 8.36×109 spores/ml for pupae after treatment with B. bassiana and M. anisopliae, respectively. Conclusions Entomopathogenic fungi exhibited an activity in inducing mortality against different stages of P. gossypiella.