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The whitefly, Bemisia tabaci, is an important agricultural pest in tropical and subtropical zones. Whiteflies cause extensive damage to tomato, cotton and cassava particularly through direct feeding and transmission of plant viruses. Heat shock proteins (HSP) are essential molecular chaperones and play important roles in the stress responses of insects. To better understand the function of HSP proteins in whiteflies, a comprehensive genomic approaches and RNAi technology were applied (see pages 44–57). Photo provided by Xiao‐Wei Wang and Li‐Xin Qian.     

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The social aphid Pseudoregma bambucicola can produce morphologically and behaviorally specialized sterile soldiers and reproductively normal nymphs, and represents a good model system for studying social evolution. The cover photo shows a colony of this species on bamboo, in which several parthenogenetic viviparous mothers are producing offspring. Remarkable reproductive plasticity in parthenogenetic mothers and a novel strategy of regulating caste ratio via maternal reproductive differentiation were found in this social hemipteran (see pages 582-586). Photo provided by Xiaolei Huang.     

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The fall armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda, is a major pest native to the Americas that has recently invaded the Old World. A whole-genome sequencing (WGS) approach was used to identify mutations associated with resistance to insecticides and Bt proteins in 150 individuals of S. frugiperda collected from China, Malawi, Uganda and Brazil. This approach revealed three amino acid substitutions (A201S, G227A and F290V) of the acetylcholinesterase-1 (ace-1) in the four geographical populations of S. frugiperda, which are known to be associated with organophosphate resistance. A novel Cry1F resistance allele in the ABCC2 gene was identified from the Brazilian population but absent in the invasive populations (see pages 627-638). Photo provided by Prof. Run-Zhi Zhang.     

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It is often assumed that learning improves foraging, but its direct benefits are not often examined. We demonstrate the contribution of learning to the foraging success of desert ants when a trained colony successfully competes against a naïve one. The outcome also depends on the relative group size. Desert Cataglyphis ants search individually for food (mostly dead prey) without laying pheromone trails (see pages 241-250). The cover photo shows a Cataglyphis niger worker searching for food in its typical sandy habitat. Photo provided Arik Dorfman.     

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The Colorado potato beetle (CPB), Leptinotarsa decemlineata (Say), is an infamous invasive species worldwide that aggressively attacks potato and Solanaceae crops. It was first found in China in 1993 and has since spread in northwestern areas in Xinjiang. Generally, CPB adults can fly actively to find new hosts within short distance or spread long distance helped by strong wind as well as by transportations. The image shows an adult CPB being ready for flying. Genetic diversity in Xinjiang populations was at low level and retained during its invasion. See pages 643–654. Image by Ying‐chao Li.     

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Cover: North American Papilio glauscus females nectaring upon bull thistles. The dark (mimetic) wing pattern in females is regulated by both a Z (=X) linked enabler and a W (=Y) linked dark melanism factor which introgress independently across an interspecific hybrid zone with the sister species P. canadensis further north. Across this changing thermal landscape, recombinant homoploid hybrids reflect differential geographic movement for several additional Z‐linked, as well as important autosomal, traits. See page 121. Image: J.M. Scriber     

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Like most aphid species, the Vetch aphid, Megoura viciae, produces honeydew while feeding on broad bean, Vicia faba. After being rejected on the host plant surface, honeydew releases a kairomonal blend of volatile molecules that guide aphid predators, including the Asian lady beetle, Harmonia axyridis, toward aphid colonies (Credits F.J. Verheggen, see pages 498–506).     

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Cover: The leaf beetle Gastrophysa viridula clinging to the surface of its host plant, the dock leaf (Rumex). The beetle uses both its claws and hairy adhesive pads to climb on a variety of surface profiles. Its ability to attach to rough and smooth substrates was investigated by James Bullock and Walter Federle who found that attachment performance varies as the roughness scale increase or decreases relative to the tip size of the beetle's adhesive hairs. See pages 298‐304. Photo credit: Thomas Endlein.     

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Host alternation has significant consequences for the diversification and success of the superfamily of aphids. We explored the underlying molecular mechanism through a large‐scale gene expression analysis on the mealy aphid Hyalopterus persikonus, a worldwide pest to stone fruits, collected from its winter and summer host plants. More than four times as many unigenes of the mealy aphid were significantly upregulated on summer host. Putative salivary gland expressed genes and genes encoding secretory proteins were given special attentions (see pages 431–442). Photo provided by Le Kang.     

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Artificial sentinel prey can be useful to measure and compare predation pressure in various habits. Green‐coloured plasticine caterpillars are readily attacked by up to 14 groups of predatory organisms, and can be identified by their attack marks. Predators include various arthropods, birds, and mammals. Information collected by using sentinel prey is summarised in the review article by Lövei and Ferrante (see pages 528‐542). The cover photo shows the carabid Carabus cancellatus attacking an artificial caterpillar. Photo by C.B. Eötvös.     

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The common cutworm, Spodoptera litura (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) is one of the most destructive phytophagous pests of crops. Body coloration affects how animals interact with the environment, and pigmentation also influences behavior and immunity. To explore the mechanisms that drive pigmentation, the CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing system was applied to target the ebony gene in the non‐model insect S. litura. The mutants showed the typically deep coloration during the pupal and adult stage. This study clearly demonstrates the function of ebony in the body coloration and also provides a potentially useful marker gene for functional studies in S. litura as well as other lepidopteran pests (see pages 1011–1019). Photo provided by Hong‐Lun Bi.     

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A burying beetle mother (Nicrophorus vespilloides) interacts with and feeds its offspring in the mouse carcass she has prepared. In the brain, there is variation in the differential expression of the eight orthologs of octopamine across different social and reproductive contexts. In this issue, Cunningham et al. show that the different orthologs of octopamine also vary in differential expression in different tissues?. see pages 495‐502, photo by Allen J. Moore?     

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Dendroctonus valens, an introduced exotic pest from North America to China, has killed millions of healthy Chinese pines. Xu et al. (2016) showed two yeasts and three bacteria associated with the invasive pest degraded 20%‐50% of 〈‐pinene, the most abundant defensive monoterpene of Chinese pines. The microorganisms capable of 〈‐pinene degradation in vitro and their tolerance to high levels of 〈‐pinene suggested that D. valens‐associated microorganisms may help both microorganisms and the bark beetle overcome host 〈‐pinene defense (see pages 183‐190). Photo by Run‐Zhi Zhang.     

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Asian citrus psyllid, Diaphorina citri Kuwayama, is vector of the bacterial pathogens causing huanglongbing. It occurs as three distinct color morphs in nature. Our results indicate that decreasing insecticide susceptibility among D. citri populations caused by over‐spraying is associated with increasing levels of detoxifying enzyme groups. Furthermore, orange/yellow morphs of this insect are more susceptible than blue/green and gray/brown color morphs suggesting that cuticular melanization may be a mechanism associated with development of resistance in this insect (see pages 843–852). Photo provided Tonya R. Weeks.     

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Cotesia vestalis has been used as a good biological control agent for management the pest of global cruciferous plants, Plutella xylostella. The successful parasitization strictly relies on C. vestalis olfactory perception, and odorant binding protein (OBP) play a key role in searching for hosts (see pages 1354-1368). The cover photo shows C. vestalis is parasitizing the host with the help of three OBP genes expressed in C. vestalis antennae for locating P. xylostalla larva. Photo provided by Xi-Qian Ye.     

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The green peach aphid, Myzus persicae Sulzer, is one of the most devastating agricultural and horticultural pests around the world. Recently, more and more works have been focusing on the mechanism of insecticide resistance and the exploration of the new management strategy at molecular levels. To better accurately elucidate these results, a comprehensive evaluation and recommendation of reference genes under various experimental conditions was provided in this issue (see pages 222–234). Photo provided by Zhi‐Wei Kang.     

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The honeybee is an excellent model organism for research on behavioral biology. In this study, the authors compared the working habits of foragers on days that were followed by a sunny day and those that followed by a rainy day using the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID). The results showed that honeybees worked harder before a rainy day (see pages 157‐159). Photo by Wei‐Liang Zhang and Zhi‐Jiang Zeng.     

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Tomato flowers are pollinated by bees that vibrate their thorax for pollen collecting, behavior known as buzz‐pollination. The phenomenon is common and a specimen of the Neotropical stingless bee Melipona quadrifasciata is here depicted visiting a tomato flower for pollen collecting. While testing whether flower anthers exhibit optimal frequency for pollen release and whether flower bees tune their buzzes to match these frequencies, we recognized that neither bees nor plants are tuned to optimal pollen release frequencies (see pages 133–142). Photo provided José Lino‐Neto.     

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Spider mites are notorious agricultural pests worldwide. A male adult of Tetranychus truncatus is waiting for mating with a female. Spider mites harbor diverse bacterial communities, whose structure could be affected by many factors. We found that host species is the primary determinant of the microbiome composition of spider mites. Also, the microbiome of spider mite feces potentially reflects the gut bacterial community in spider mites (see pages 859‐868). Photo provided by Xiao‐Yue Hong of Nanjing Agricultural University, China.     

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Bactericera cockerelli (Hemiptera: Psyllididae) has caused millions of dollars loss in solanaceous crop production in many countries, particularly by causing Zebra Chip (ZC) disease, so named for the characteristic symptoms that develop in fried chips from infected potato tubers. B. cockerelli feeding causes significant changes in free amino acid (FAA) composition in potato plant tissues. The FAA changes in plant metabolism indicate that B. cockerelli feeding may cause the plant stress and the stressed plants are more vulnerable to ZC disease than the unstressed ones. See pages 663–670. Photo taken by Tong‐Xian Liu.