The codling moth Cydia pomonella, a major invasive pest of pome fruit, has spread around the globe in the last half century. We generated a chromosome-level scaffold assembly including the Z chromosome and a portion of the W chromosome. This assembly reveals the duplication of an olfactory receptor gene (OR3), which we demonstrate enhances the ability of C. pomonella to exploit kairomones and pheromones in locating both host plants and mates. Genome-wide association studies contrasting insecticide-resistant and susceptible strains identify hundreds of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) potentially associated with insecticide resistance, including three SNPs found in the promoter of CYP6B2. RNAi knockdown of CYP6B2 increases C. pomonella sensitivity to two insecticides, deltamethrin and azinphos methyl. The high-quality genome assembly of C. pomonella informs the genetic basis of its invasiveness, suggesting the codling moth has distinctive capabilities and adaptive potential that may explain its worldwide expansion.

Insecticide‐based management programmes targeting codling moth, Cydia pomonella L. (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae: Olethreutinae), in apple orchards in southern France have incurred increasing levels of fruit injury in recent years. An alternative programme incorporating the use of exclusion netting named Alt'carpo has been developed. This study aimed at studying its efficiency and gaining more insight into its mode of action. This was achieved through laboratory and field behavioural tests and observations in a network of commercial orchards in southern France. The moths were able to lay eggs through the nets and escape from net cages in the laboratory. Male moths released in the netted rows were poorly recaptured using sexual pheromone trapping, whereas over 20% of the released males were recaptured in unprotected rows. The netting reduced fruit injury by up to 91% compared to the unprotected rows in the experimental orchard. The efficacy of this netting was even higher in commercial orchards in which fruit injury did not exceed 0.1% without any application of specific insecticide. These results lead us to assume that netting alters the reproduction of the pest, mainly by preventing it from flying over the canopy to find mates.

In southern Brazilian apple (Malus spp.) orchards, predominantly organophosphates are used to control the oriental fruit moth, Cydia molesta (Busck) (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae), but control failures often occur. Therefore the susceptibility of three C. molesta Brazilian populations was investigated to five insecticides of different groups and modes of action, in comparison with a susceptible laboratory strain mass reared in southern France for >10 yr. At the same time, comparative biochemical and genetic analysis were performed, assessing the activities of the detoxification enzymatic systems and sequencing a gene of insecticide molecular target to find out markers associated with resistance. The three Brazilian populations were significantly resistant to chlorpyrifos ethyl compared with the reference strain. One of the field populations that had been frequently exposed to deltamethrin treatments showed significant decreasing susceptibility to this compound, whereas none of the three populations had loss of susceptibility to tebufenozide and thiacloprid compared with the reference strain. All three populations had slight but significant increases of glutathione transferase and carboxylesterases activities and significant decrease of specific acetylcholinesterase activities compared with the reference. Only the most resistant population to chlorpyriphos exhibited a significantly higher mixed function oxidase activity than the reference. The acetylcholinesterase of females was significantly less inhibited by carbaryl in the Brazilian populations than in the reference strain (1.7-2.5-fold), and this difference was not expressed in the male moth. However, no mutation in the MACE locus was detected. These biological and molecular characterizations of adaptive response to insecticides in C. molesta provide tools for early detection of insecticide resistance in field populations of this pest.

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Cydia pomonella (L.) and Cydia molesta (Busck) (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) are two important lepidopteran pests that may co-occur in apple orchards and are difficult to differentiate in the larval stage. We investigate the possibility of using near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) coupled with partial least squares analysis to distinguish the larvae of the two species. We further assess whether wild individuals can be differentiated using laboratory strains of the two species for model calibration. The NIRS spectra of C. molesta and C. pomonella differed most in the wavelengths between 1,142 and 1,338 nm. Using these wavelengths, partial least squares analysis allowed the differentiation of C. molesta and C. pomonella at the larval stage with very low error, but only as long as both the calibration and prediction sets for individuals had the same origin (either both from the laboratory or both from the field). Errors that appeared when using laboratory individuals for calibration were owing to the divergence of the C. pomonella laboratory strain, most likely following evolution during rearing. Thus, NIRS appears to be a promising tool for the easy and rapid identification of individuals in the field, provided that it is calibrated based on a subset of field individuals.

The European corn borer (Ostrinia nubilalis (Hübner)) is one of the most serious corn pest in Europe where it is controlled with pesticides, in particular, pyrethroids. First control failures with this chemical family occurred on the field in 2008 in the center of France, and the first resistance case was described in 2012. In the present study, we investigate resistance mechanisms involved in seven French populations of O. nubilalis collected in the field. Resistances to deltamethrin and lambda-cyhalothrin were confirmed, with a higher resistance ratio for lambda-cyhalothrin (63.79 compared to 7.67). Resistance to the two active compounds was correlated except for one population, indicating a high probability of cross-resistance. Analyses of the activity of three major families of detoxification enzymes in resistant individuals showed a significant increase of the average MFO activity in males of four populations (activity ratios of 2.76-5.73) and higher GST activity in females of two other populations (activity ratios 4.48 and 5.21). Molecular investigation of the sodium channel gene sequence showed the presence of the kdr mutation in a highly resistant individual. We designed a PCR-RFLP screening tool to search for this mutation in the field, and we found it in five populations but not in the susceptible one. The resistance of O. nubilalis to pyrethroids in France seems to result from a combination of resistance mechanisms, possibly as a consequence of a selection pressure with an exceptional duration (almost 40 yr old).

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