Sweet potato leaf worm in Japan shown to comprise two distinct species: Aedia leucomelas and A. limitaris sp. rev. (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae)

This study aimed to evaluate the genetic dissimilarity among sweet potato genotypes using morphological and molecular descriptors. The experiment was conducted in the Olericulture Sector at Federal University of Jequitinhonha and Mucuri Valleys (UFVJM) and evaluated 60 sweet potato genotypes. For morphological characterization, 24 descriptors were used. For molecular characterization, 11 microsatellite primers specific for sweet potatoes were used, obtaining 210 polymorphic bands. Morphological and molecular diversity was obtained by dissimilarity matrices based on the coefficient of simple matching and the Jaccard index for morphological and molecular data, respectively. From these matrices, dendrograms were built. There is a large amount of genetic variability among sweet potato genotypes of the germplasm bank at UFVJM based on morphological and molecular characterizations. There was no duplicate suspicion or strong association between morphological and molecular analyses. Divergent accessions have been identified by molecular and morphological analyses, which can be used as parents in breeding programmes to produce progenies with high genetic variability.

Farmers' information on sweet potato production and millipede infestation in north-eastern Uganda. I. Associations between spatial and temporal crop diversity and the level of pest infestation

Species Distinction in Irish Populations of Quercus petraea and Q. robur: Morphological versus Molecular Analyses

Traditional sweet potato disease and pest detection methods have the limitations of low efficiency, poor accuracy and manual dependence, while deep learning-based target detection can achieve an efficient and accurate detection. This paper proposed an efficient sweet potato leaf disease and pest detection method SPLDPvB, as well as a low-complexity version SPLDPvT, to achieve accurate identification of sweet potato leaf spots and pests, such as hawk moth and wheat moth. First, a residual module containing three depthwise separable convolutional layers and a skip connection was proposed to effectively retain key feature information. Then, an efficient feature extraction module integrating the residual module and the attention mechanism was designed to significantly improve the feature extraction capability. Finally, in the model architecture, only the structure of the backbone network and the decoupling head combination was retained, and the traditional backbone network was replaced by an efficient feature extraction module, which greatly reduced the model complexity. The experimental results showed that the mAP0.5 and mAP0.5:0.95 of the proposed SPLDPvB model were 88.7% and 74.6%, respectively, and the number of parameters and the amount of calculation were 1.1 M and 7.7 G, respectively. Compared with YOLOv11S, mAP0.5 and mAP0.5:0.95 increased by 2.3% and 2.8%, respectively, and the number of parameters and the amount of calculation were reduced by 88.2% and 63.8%, respectively. The proposed model achieves higher detection accuracy with significantly reduced complexity, demonstrating excellent performance in detecting sweet potato leaf pests and diseases. This method realizes the automatic detection of sweet potato leaf pests and diseases and provides technical guidance for the accurate identification and spraying of pests and diseases.

Sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas) is the sixth most important food crop in terms of production globally. In Italy, sweet potato is mainly cultivated in Veneto province (northeast Italy), and to a lesser extent in Lazio and Apulia provinces, on a total area of about 400 hectares. Among the sweet potato pests, viruses are the second most important constraint next to sweet potato weevil (Barkessa, 2018). In 2020, tubers of six different genotypes, with uncertain geographical origins, were sent by a grower from Veneto province to IPSP-CNR, with the aim of ascertaining their phytosanitary status. Two tubers of each genotype were grown in an insect-proof greenhouse (26/22°C, day/night) under natural light conditions and transplanted in 25 cm diameter pots containing peat bog-moss as a substrate. After about one month, leaves of only one genotype (identified as DP/578) showed light diffuse chlorotic symptoms (Figures 1, 2). Sap extracts from both plants of each of the six genotypes were tested with ELISA using broad-spectrum potyvirus antibodies (Bioreba, Switzerland). Only the symptomatic genotype DP/578 tested positive to potyvirus antibodies. Total RNA was extracted from the leaves of the two plants of DP/578 and from a healthy plant, with the Plant RNA Kit (Omega Bio-Tek, USA), and subjected to RT-PCR using the universal Potyviridae forward primer (5'-GGBAAYAAYAGYGGDCARCC-3'; Gibbs & Mackenzie, 1997) and the reverse primer SPFMV-Rv (5'-TTGCACACCCCTCATTCCYAAG-3'; Parrella et al., 2006). An amplification product of approximately 1700 bp was produced only from samples with symptoms but not from the healthy control. Sequences obtained from the two symptomatic plants were identical (GenBank Accession No. MW456564) and showed highest identity (98.2%) with the CH2-32-1 isolate of Sweet potato virus G (SPVG) from China (MK778832). SPVG alone is not considered a real threat to sweet potato production since infected plants rarely display symptoms (Rännäli et al., 2008). Significant yield losses have been recorded only when SPVG co-infects sweet potato with other potyviruses such as Sweet potato feathery mottle virus (SPFMV) (Clark & Hoy, 2006). Previously, outbreaks of SPFMV were reported in sweet potato cultivation in central Italy (Parrella et al., 2006). In the current study, attempts to amplify other sweet potato closely related potyviruses were unsuccessful using RT-PCR developed by Li et al. (2012). Based on our observation and results (symptoms recorded and serological detection of SPVG), the yield effects of SPVG may have been overlooked in sweet potato. Considering the number of existing SPVG strains and of sweet potato landraces/varieties, further investigation would be desirable to understand the real incidence of SPVG in individual sweet potato crops and its effects on production.

An evaluation of the pest potential of millipede species occurring in Ontario sweet potato and carrot fields was conducted in response to recent grower concerns about the presence of millipedes in close proximity to damaged vegetables. This study is the first North American survey of millipedes on arable soils and the first evaluation of North American millipede damage to sweet potatoes and carrots. Through field surveys,Cylindroiulus caeruleocinctuswas found to be the dominant millipede species in Ontario sweet potatoes and carrots. Fields were surveyed over the growing season, and the factors important to each species’ abundance were evaluated using Minimum AIC Estimation (MAICE). Post‐harvest damage assessments were performed, and MAICE analysis was used to determine which arthropod and environmental parameters were most important in explaining damage to sweet potatoes and carrots. Wireworm (Elateridae) abundance was consistently found to explain root damage better thanC. caeruleocinctusabundance, and it is concluded that the majority of field‐observed damage was caused by wireworms.C. caeruleocinctuswas negatively correlated with both wireworms and damage in carrot fields and is not likely to be a pest of that vegetable. However, abundance ofC. caeruleocinctusin sweet potatoes was positively correlated with both wireworms and damage. This species may cause some damage to sweet potato tubers under field conditions, but management tactics should focus on wireworms as the primary source of damage.

The sweet potato weevil, Cylas formicarius, a serious pest of sweet potato, was reared on an artificial diet originally developed for Euscepes postfasciatus, another serious pest of sweet potato. When larvae were reared individually on the diet, the rate of adult emergence was 46%. The addition of corn oil or sesame oil to this diet improved the rate of larvae reaching the prepupal stage, and enhanced the rate of adult emergence to about 60%. On the other hand, the emergence rate was about 10% when 27–30 larvae were reared in a group. More larvae died at the first instar when reared in a group than when reared individually. In group rearing, frequent physical contact among larvae caused them to die due to injury, before they bored into the diet. Successful boring into the diet seems the first step for successful adult emergence. Females of C. formicarius did not oviposit on the E. postfasciatus diet. Replacement of the sweet potato powder contained in the diet with dried periderm of sweet potato and dried stems of wild morning glory did not improve the situation, even though the females were reproductively mature. Ovarian development was not good when rearing on these artificial diets. It is necessary to develop a novel artificial diet for egg collecting on which females can develop eggs and oviposit.

Sweetpotato is a major food security crop grown in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. Its production is however limited due to high prevalence of pests and diseases among other abiotic and biotic factors. A study was designed to aid understanding the knowledge of farmers about pests and their perception about climate variability impacts, as well as documenting the phenology of sweetpotato pests (pest population dynamics) in relationship with weather factors. The paper aimed at determined which climatic factors may be used as best predictors of the different status of pest populations (declines, outbreaks). Farmer based data was obtained using a semi structured questionnaire administered to several of farmers. Population dynamics of sweetpotato pests were monitored year-round from 2005 to 2015 in South Kivu province, eastern DRCongo. Field monitoring (visual counts) observations (population dynamic of different soil-dwelling and surface dwelling arthropods visiting sweetpotato fields) combined with a survey of farmers’ knowledge on sweetpotato pests and their practices in the management of these pests in South- Kivu Province were conducted for 11 years. Monitoring (with field observations and counts) was carried out in fields under different farming practices (monocropping and inter-cropping) in sites located at different altitudes. Similarly, data for climatic factors, for the same period, were collected from Lwiro Research center. Regression models were applied to understand the linkages between environmental factors (rainfall and temperature) and pest population dynamics. The results indicated that different varieties (local and improved ones) of sweetpotato are grown three times (3 seasons) per annum under various cropping systems (sole crop, mixed crops) in various agroecological zones at different altitudes. Various arthropod species visit the crop at its different stages of development including classically known pests (Acraea acerata, Cylas spp.) or as vectors of diseases (Bemisi tabaci, Aphis spp.). The results indicated a high fluctuation in the population density of different pests. The change in the population dynamics were characterized by gradual increase in the populations during rainy seasons followed by decline during dry seasons (hot months of the year). Significant (P<0.05) differences were observed in the population dynamics between sole sweetpotato and mixed sweetpotato intercropping. There was a synchronization of multiple pest generations (biannual, multiannual cycles of reproduction) built up with early rains. The results indicate that rainfall and maximum temperature were critical to the survival and population built up of the pest population. High rainfall in the previous months caused increases in the population density in the subsequent months within a year. The population dynamic (seasonal occurrence) over months and years was likely to coincide with favorable feeding and breeding conditions available within sweetpotato biotopes when temperatures were sufficiently high or after heavy rainfall. For some species, maximum temperature and dry seasons were associated with declines in the pest populations whereas for other species, heavy rainfall was associated with subsequent outbreaks (high populations) in the following months of the years. It is likely that perturbations in temperature/ rainfall patterns may cause serious changes in the pest population, therefore favoring the build-up of multiple generations within a year, thus. Rainfall and maximum temperatures were reliable predictors of key pest species. In fact, regressions analyses indicated that there were significant relationships (P<0.01) between the fluctuation of the population density of different pest species and the variability of climatic factors (mean monthly maximum/ minimum temperature, average rainfall). The population density of different insect pest species varied according to cropping system and to altitude. For example, a significant relationship (P<0.001) was observed between adult aphid population density and average maximum temperature whereas Cylas spp. correlated significantly (P<0.05) with rainfall at high and mid altitudes in both sole and mixed crops. The population density of Acraea acerata was not related to variability in rainfall because the species seemed to occur in number in crops (mono cropping and mixed crops) in marshland areas in June-July and December-February. The virus pressure (measured as the number of leaves symptomatically showing virus attack) followed the population density of whiteflies and aphids. Population trends of other arthropod groups (millipedes, beetles) were not affected by crop variety (clones) or by the altitude or the climate variability but more by the farming practice (mixed or monoculture) implemented by the farmer. It is possible that the resistance or tolerance of some varieties (bio-fortified/vitamin-rich/orange flesh varieties) may be reduced in the future under changing climatic conditions of crop growing in the region with Maximum temperature as the key driver of changes in the population density. The ability to predict the severity of pest populations from mean monthly rainfall/temperature data will provide a significant input into the development of IPM programme for sweetpotato pest species. The data indicates that building resilient sweetpotato crops will require the consideration of various approaches. It is likely that climate change may affect both the pests and vectordiseases and therefore the yield of the crop in eastern DRCongo. Such situation may endanger food security of small scale farmers in the future. Further investigations would be better focus on the understanding on the interacting of climatic, anthropogenic, environmental and soil factors on the pressure of sweetpotato pest in different agro-ecological zones of DRCongo.

Phymatolithon Foslie is one of the most studied and ecologically important genera of crustose coralline algae (CCA) due to their dominant abundance in various marine ecosystems worldwide. The taxonomy of the genus is complex and has been revised and updated many times based on morphological and molecular analyses. We report on a crustose coralline algal species collected in June 2011 via snorkeling in the subtidal zone along the beach Abu Qir on the Mediterranean coast of Egypt, as part of a larger macroalgal diversity survey in the region. The species shows significant sequence divergences (3.5%–14.8% in rbcL; 2.9%–11% in psbA) from other closely related Phymatolithon taxa. Morpho-anatomically, this species possesses the characters considered collectively diagnostic of the genus Phymatolithon, namely, thalli non-geniculate epithelial cells and non-photosynthetic and domed-shaped meristematic cells, usually as short with progressive elongation of their perithallial derivatives. Based on molecular and morphological analyses, we determined that these specimens encompass a new, distinct species that we herein name Phymatolithon abuqirensis. Including this new species, the total number of described Phymatolithon species found in the Mediterranean Sea is now six.

The brown Asian pitvipers of the genus Trimeresurus related to Trimeresurus puniceus (informal Trimeresurus puniceus-complex) are revised on the basis of morphological and molecular analyses. Variation in morphological characters were investigated among 119 specimens from 62 populations of the whole range of the pitvipers currently known as Trimeresurus puniceus (Boie, 1827), Trimeresurus borneensis (Peters, 1872) and Trimeresurus brongersmai Hoge, 1969. Molecular and morphological analyses clearly differentiate two groups of taxa, referrable to the informal Trimeresurus puniceus-group and Trimeresurus borneensis-group, and confirm the distinct specific status of T. puniceus and T. borneensis. Morphological univariate and multivariate analyses differentiate six clusters of populations that are morphologically diagnosable, of which five are here considered to represent independent lineages and one is placed incertae sedis pending the availability of further specimens. These clusters are considered to be distinct species following the Biological Species Concept and the Phylogenetic Species Concept. One of them is described as a new species, Trimeresurus andalasensis spec. nov. (T. borneensis-group), which includes populations from northern Sumatra. Trimeresurus wiroti Trutnau, 1981 is revalidated to accommodate populations from Thailand and West Malaysia. Trimeresurus borneensis is here considered endemic to Borneo. Trimeresurus puniceus is known from Java and from South Sumatra, but the taxonomy of this species in Sumatra is left unresolved. Also left unresolved is the taxonomic position of specimens from western Sumatra and the Mentawai Archipelago, and from the Natuna Islands and Anamba Islands. Although belonging to the T. puniceus-group, they show some differences to other specimens of the group. They are not referred to any taxon pending the collection of additional specimens. Lastly, Trimeresurus brongersmai is confirmed as a valid species from the Mentawai Archipelago. A key to these taxa is provided.

The genus Eupholidoptera includes 46 M editerranean species distributed from T urkey to G reece, I taly and southern F rance. In the eastern part of its range, Eupholidoptera has been considered to consist of several distinct species, while in the B alkans and I talian peninsula only E. chabrieri has been recognized. However, the status of some I talian populations, confined to particular geographic areas, remains uncertain. To investigate the delimitation of the I talian taxa of Eupholidoptera , we performed both morphological and molecular analyses. Morphological analysis was carried out by considering diagnostic characters usually used to distinguish different taxa, such as the shape of titillators in males and the subgenital plate in females. Molecular analysis was performed by sequencing three mitochondrial genes: 12S r RNA , 16S r RNA , partially sequenced and the entire gene of cox1 . Molecular markers were used to infer phylogenetic relationships among the I talian Eupholidoptera species and to reconstruct the historical processes that shaped their current geographic distribution. Results from both morphological and molecular analyses were used to revise the taxonomic arrangement of species. On the whole we were able to distinguish nine lineages of I talian Eupholidoptera , of which E. tyrrhenica sp.n. from C orsica is described as a new species. This published work has been registered in ZooBank, http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:EBD181A0-5263-4880-AC80-66F624506E3A .

The sweet potato weevil (Cyclas formicarius Fabr.) remains a serious threat to sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas Poir.) production and is considered the most destructive pest of sweet potatoes in the field and storagein the Philippines. Chemical control of the weevil is seldom practiced by farmers because they find it too costly, it may increase the chance for pesticide resistance, and because of public concern of its effectson non-target organisms. The use of biological controls such as entomopathogenic nematodes (EPN) could offer an effective, economical, and environmentally-friendly alternative management of the weevil. This study determined the occurrence and distribution of entomopathogenic nematodes in selected sweet potato growing areas in the Philippines. Using soil from 13 sweet potato growing areas, EPNs were recovered using the insect baiting method. Morbid insect larvae were suspended in sterile water for 48 h, and the suspension was examined under a stereomicroscope for the presence of EPN. Out of 47 samples collected from the 13 sweet potato production areas, 39 (82%) were positive for the presence of EPNs. Preliminary identification of the EPNs through morphological characters showed that they belonged to Rhaditida: Heterorhabditidae and Steinernematidae. This is the first report on the occurrence of EPNs in sweet potato fields in the Philippines, and their distribution strongly supports the possibility of utilizing them in an IPM management approach as biological agents against the sweet potato weevil. Morphometric and molecular-based identification and pathogenicity studies are underway.

This chapter presents some of the basic protocols involved in transformation of the genes that are under study to confer insect resistance, and the potential for using the technology to improve programs for insect pests of sweet potato. A number of genes have become available that may have potential for conferring insect resistance to sweet potato. Sweet potatoes can be micropropagated readily by cutting in vitro plantlets into single node cuttings, transferring the nodes onto the surface of fresh growth medium for plantlet development, and then culturing plantlets in either glass tubes or sterile plastic boxes maintained under a 16-hour photoperiod at 28°C. The technologies needed to produce transgenic sweet potato plants are available and it is likely that transgenic plants with some resistance to insect pests will be available for testing shortly. The use of synthetic protein sequences for transforming plants demonstrates that there is potential to genetically engineer sweet potato using Agrobacterium plasmids as a gene vector system.

Sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas L.) plays a major role in human and animal nutrition and enterprise. The production of sweetpotato in the world has been low due to several abiotic and biotic factors. The aim of the study was to determine theinsect pests associated with sweetpotato genotypes planted in the open field in Otobi Benue State, Nigeria. The research was carried out in a plot of land (9m2 )at National Root Crops Research Institute substation in Otobi, Benue State from July to November, 2021. Three months old sweetpotato vine cuttings of between 25 and 30cm long, with 3 to 4 nodes were planted on the ridges made in the plot of land. The experiment was laid out in a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replications. A total of 1,575different insect species were collected in Otobi, Benue State. The insects represent fourteen species of five orders at different stages of development were found to be associated with sweet potato crop in the study area. The grasshopper recorded the highest number of 214(13.59%) while the Hawk moth recorded the least number of 18(1.14%). The result has provided a comprehensive list of important pests of sweet potato and beneficial species that can be exploited as components of future integrated management approaches.

The axiidean families Callianassidae and Ctenochelidae, sometimes treated together as Callianassoidea, are shown to represent a monophyletic taxon. It comprises 265 accepted species in 74 genera, twice this number of species if fossil taxa are included. The higher taxonomy of the group has proved difficult and fluid. In a molecular phylogenetic approach, we inferred evolutionary relationships from a maximum-likelihood (ML) and Bayesian analysis of four genes, mitochondrial 16S rRNA and 12S rRNA along with nuclear histone H3 and 18S rRNA. Our sample consisted of 298 specimens representing 123 species plus two species each of Axiidae and Callianideidae serving as outgroups. This number represented about half of all known species, but included 26 species undescribed or not confidently identified, 9% of all known. In a parallel morphological approach, the published descriptions of all species were examined and detailed observations made on about two-thirds of the known fauna in museum collections. A DELTA (Description Language for Taxonomy), database of 135 characters was made for 195 putative species, 18 of which were undescribed. A PAUP analysis found small clades coincident with the terminal clades found in the molecular treatment. Bayesian analysis of a total-evidence dataset combined elements of both molecular and morphological analyses. Clades were interpreted as seven families and 53 genera. Seventeen new genera are required to reflect the molecular and morphological phylograms. Relationships between the families and genera inferred from the two analyses differed between the two strategies in spite of retrospective searches for morphological features supporting intermediate clades. The family Ctenochelidae was recovered in both analyses but the monophyly of Paragourretia was not supported by molecular data. The hitherto well recognised family Eucalliacidae was found to be polyphyletic in the molecular analysis, but the family and its genera were well defined by morphological synapomorphies. The phylogram for Callianassidae suggested the isolation of several species from the genera to which they had traditionally been assigned and necessitated 12 new generic names. The same was true for Callichiridae, with stronger ML than Bayesian support, and five new genera are proposed. Morphological data did not reliably reflect generic relationships inferred from the molecular analysis though they did diagnose terminal taxa treated as genera. We conclude that discrepancies between molecular and morphological analyses are due at least in part to missing sequences for key species, but no less to our inability to recognise unambiguously informative morphological synapomorphies. The ML analysis revealed the presence of at least 10 complexes wherein 2–4 cryptic species masquerade under single species names.