Abstract: Fourth instar Bombyx mori silkworm larvae were fed on mulberry leaves to which royal jelly had been added. The impact on the larval, cocoon, shell and pupal weight, shell ratio percentage, filament length and weight, and the number of breaks during reeling were examined. The results indicate that royal jelly-enhanced diet significantly increased larval, cocoon and pupal weights, but had no significant effect on shell weights and denier. Similarly filament length, weight and filamen...
Abstract: We studied the ovary structure and initial stages of oogenesis in 15 representatives of several dermapteran taxa, including the epizoic Arixeniina. In all examined species, the ovaries are meroisticepolytrophic.The ovaries of the basal taxa (‘Pygidicranidae’, ‘Diplatyidae’, and Labiduridae) are composed of elongated ovarioles, attached to short lateral oviducts. In these groups, ovarioles contain several (more than 30) ovarian follicles in a linear arrangement. In the Euder...
Abstract: In East Africa, insect farming is a rapidly growing business providing access to ‘climate-smart’ protein, other nutrients, and income. With the continental drive to transform existing food systems that are becoming continuously unsustainable due to scarcity of arable land and water, and high ecological imprint, insect farming for food and feed with circular economy potential has gained remarkable interest. In this review, we report on the recent research trends on key substrate...
Abstract: The establishment of grazing exclosures is widely practiced to restore degraded agricultural lands and forests.Here, we evaluated the potential of grazing exclosures to contribute to the “4 per 1000” initiative by analyzing the changes in soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks and sequestration (SCS) rates after their establishment on de graded communal grazing lands in Tigray region of Ethiopia. We selected grazing areas that were excluded from grazing for 5 to 24 years across the t...
Abstract: Globally, the expansion of livestock and fisheries production is severely constrained due to the increasing costs and ecological footprint of feed constituents. The utilization of black soldier fly (BSF) as an alternative protein ingredient to fishmeal and soybean in animal feed has been widely documented. The black soldier fly larvae (BSFL) used are known to voraciously feed and grow in contaminated organic wastes. Thus, several concerns about their safety for inclusion into anima...
Abstract: Olfaction plays an important role in the behavioural ecology of the desert locust Schistocerca gregaria (Orthoptera:Acrididae). Different locust life stages and sexes use olfactory cues for different behaviours such as grouping, mating, oviposition, feeding, maturation and gregarization, which can be exploited for management of the desert locust. However, the full spectrum of the chemistry of volatiles released by the desert locust remains unknown. Here, we compared the volatile em...
Abstract: Invasive alien species such as Bellyache bush (Jatropha gossypiifolia L.) pose immense threats to global food security, biodiversity, ecosystem integrity and provision of ecosystem services. The Bellyache bush has generally been naturalised in Africa but poses vast management challenges in the African Savannah, yet there is little knowledge of its spatial distribution and future potential invasion risk.In this study, we modelled the spatial distribution of Bellyache bush in South A...
Abstract: Stingless/meliponine bees are eusocial insects whose polylactic nature enables interaction with a wide variety of wild plants and crops that enhance pollination and, hence, support ecosystem services. However, their true potential regarding pollination services and honey production is yet to be fully recognized. Worldwide, there are over 800 species of meliponine bees, with over 20 species documented on the African continent. Out of these, only 12 species have been well documented ...
Abstract: Chalcidoidea are mostly parasitoid wasps that include as many as 500 000 estimated species. Capturing phylogenetic signal from such a massive radiation can be daunting. Chalcidoidea is an excellent example of a hyperdiverse group that has remained recalcitrant to phylogenetic resolution. We combined 1007 exons obtained with Anchored Hybrid Enrichment with 1048 ultra-conserved elements (UCEs) for 433 taxa including all extant families, >95% of all subfamilies, and 356 genera chosen ...
Abstract: Bioconversion of livestock wastes using insect larvae represents an emerging and effective strategy for waste management. However, knowledge on the role of the garden fruit chafer (Pachnoda sinuata L.) in waste recycling and influence on the diversity of microbial community in frass fertilizer is limited. Here, we determined whether and to what extent the conversion of cattle dung into insect frass fertilizer by P. sinuata influences the frass’ microbial community and its associa...
Abstract: A bee’s ability to return home, its homing ability, can be used as a proxy for the maximum foraging distance of that species. Body size is hypothesized to affect foraging distance with larger bees having larger foraging ranges. In this study, we estimated the maximum foraging distance of six different afrotropical stingless bee species (Meliponula bocandei, Meliponula ferruginea, Meliponula togoensis, Meliponula beccarii, Plebeina armata and Hypotrigona gribodoi.) in two differen...
Abstract: The small hive beetle Aethina tumida Murray, is an African native that has become an invasive pest of honeybees in North America. The beetle is capable of rapid population growth on pollen,honey, and bee brood. It is also capable of feeding and reproducing on various kinds of fruit, but its ability to sustain population growth on diets other than bee products has remained unknown. We examined this question by observing A. tumida on 2 diets: pollen dough (inoculated with a species o...
INTRODUCTION Introduction to the topic of climate change in East Africa within the past decade is vital for understanding the environmental challenges faced by the region. Over the years, East Africa has experienced significant changes in weather patterns, including prolonged droughts, unpredictable rainfalls, and increased temperatures. These changes have had a profound impact on agriculture, water security, and the livelihoods of millions of people living in the region.
Abstract: Insects are among the most successful organisms in the animal Kingdom. Their capacity to survive and reproduce depends greatly on their ability to identify and respond selectively to cues from a heterogeneous environment. They can identify conspecifics and mates, differentiate between hosts, both plant and animal, and distinguish between many microclimatic factors such as variation in humidity, temperature and airflow. All these factors are attributed to the complexity of their sen...
Abstract: The honeybee, Apis mellifera L., is indispensable to global food security, poverty alleviation and natural biodiversity conservation. However, the ecto-parasitic mite Varroa destructor and its associated pathogens are one of the most serious threats to the health of honeybees, especially both wild and managed European honeybees found in Europe and North America. In contrast to European honeybees, their African counterparts appear to be minimally affected by these stressors. However...