Urban Pests

A total of 102 foreign materials related with arachnids found in various products were examined at the technical research institute, TeisoToyoka Co., Ltd. from 2002 to 2013. The spiders as contaminant were found in different kinds of products. The most commonly and highly contaminated products with spiders were food products (36 samples; 35.3%), followed by film products (17 samples; 16.7%), and glass containers (13 samples; 12.7%). Other products such as plastic containers, medical and pharmaceutical products, fiber products, paper products, and cosmetic products were less than 10%, respectively. 87 spider samples out of 102 found from products consisted of 17 families. Salticidae was most dominant (29 samples; 33.3%), followed by Araneidae (12 samples; 13.8%) and Pholcidae (9 samples; 10.3%). In terms of life styles of spiders, the ratio of hunters (57.5%) exceeded than that of snarers (42.5%). Among 87 samples of the spiders, 39 samples were classified into 20 species. Both Scytodesthoracica (5 samples; 12.8%) and Heteropodavenatoria (5 samples; 12.8%) were the most dominant species, followed by Plexippus setipes (4 samples; 10.3%), Pholcusphalangioides (3 samples; 7.7%) and Neosconanautica (3 samples; 7.7%). More than 60% of those spiders were indoor species seen through the year.

One centipede specimen identified as Otostigmus scaber was captured during a monitoring survey of medically important pests inside a Japanese pub in Okayama City, Okayama Prefecture. This specimen was captured in a sticky trap set between August and September 2024. This is the case of invasion by O. scaber into buildings, marking the breaking of the eastern limit of this species on the Japanese mainland.

During insect monitoring surveys inside a factory building in Akaiwa City, Okayama Prefecture, a trap-jaw ant dealate queen and its alate queens were captured in sticky traps. The species was captured in sticky traps set in September-October 2023, August-September 2024, and September-October 2024, respectively. This is the first case of building invasion of this species, suggesting the possibility that this species may be contaminating products as a foreign object.

Our species have altered their surroundings since its early dispersion on Earth. Unfortunately, thanks to human-modified habitats, several pest organisms such as domiciliary insects have expanded their distributions. Moreover, pest-related microorganisms may also be aided by anthropization. Pest cockroaches are globally distributed and capable of carrying several diseases. We explored if urbanization may buffer environmental conditions allowing pest insects to expand their distribution. Specifically, we suggest that human settlements may generate suitable microhabitats for synanthropic cockroaches, helping them to survive and establish with disregard to overall climatic restrictions. To test this idea we studied the distribution of pest cockroaches spanning the length of Chilean territory. Chile, along its 4270 km length north to south extent, is a country offering a formidable sampling of Earth's climatic diversity accompanied by dense urbanizations. We studied entomological co...

Cockroaches have the potential to disseminate bacteria in their environments and therefore a systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted to assess the state-of-the-art of our knowledge regarding bacterial contaminants of cockroaches. At least 78 bacterial species and 42 genera from 24 families and 11 orders of bacteria were reported to have contaminated cockroaches. At least 61, 42, 12, 13, 7, and 16 bacterial species have contaminated Blattella germanica (L.) (Blattaria: Ectobiidae), Periplaneta americana (L.) (Blattaria: Blattidae), Blatta orientalis (L.) (Blattaria: Blattidae), Diploptera punctata (Eschscholtz) (Blattaria: Blaberidae), Periplaneta fuliginosa (Serville) (Blattaria: Blattidae), and Supella longipalpa (F.) (Blattaria: Ectobiidae), respectively. Blattella germanica is the most commonly contaminated cockroach species, with the widest bacterial species diversity that threatens human health, followed by P. americana. Cockroach bacterial contaminants may result in the dissemination of opportunistic or pathogenic infections, particularly nosocomial and foodborne infections. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed significant differences between bacterial contaminant species of cockroaches, species of cockroaches with bacterial contaminants, cockroach body part surfaces from the point of view bacterial contaminants and countries of cockroach infested with bacterial contaminants (P < 0.05). This statistical analysis indicates that the bacterial contaminants of the external cockroach body parts are potentially more harmful than from internal surfaces, and secondly, the bacterial contaminants of cockroaches in hospital environments are potentially more harmful than from other human environments. The survey indicated that the bacterial contaminant species of cockroaches appear to be mostly multiple drug resistant. The challenges of cockroaches as being potential vectors of pathogenic or opportunistic agents of human infections are discussed.

This dissertation focuses on the feeding preference, foraging behavior, population estimation, as well as control of the forest fire ant, Tetraponera rufonigra (Jerdon). Among different types of lipid food provided, T. rufonigra preferred egg yolk the most (P < 0.05). However, they did not show any specific preference toward different choices of carbohydrate and proteinaceous foods that were provided (P > 0.05). When their most preferred food from each of the three food class was selected, they showed higher preference for carbohydrate-base food (sucrose) than those of protein-rich food (tuna) and lipid-base food (egg yolk) (P < 0.05). Qualities of food did not affect much on their feeding preference. They were attracted to the sucrose solution from 60% to as low as 20% concentration (P < 0.05). Foraging activity rhythm of T. rufonigra was negatively correlated with ambient relative humidity (y = - 2.5651x + 235.28, r2 = 0.525, P < 0.05) but positively correlated with ambient temperature (y = 11.22x - 288.36, r2 = 0.7304, P < 0.05). Peak activities were recorded between 0800 hours and 1800 hours. It could forage over a distance of 46 ± 8.4m (mean ± SEM, n = 4) and a foraging territory of 2,082.5 ± 202.7m2 (mean ± SEM, n = 4). Nevertheless, its foraging activity was found to be affected by the presence of other ant species. This could have delimitated its foraging distance and territory as observed in this study. The foraging population could reach more than 2,000 for a mature colony of T. rufonigra. Three insecticides namely indoxacarb, fipronil, and deltamethrin, which were tested against T. rufonigra showed 70-98% reduction of foragers after 1 day post-treatment. Almost complete reduction of foragers was achieved within three days for fipronil. However, indoxacarb and deltamethrin were not effective to eliminate T. rufonigra colonies. Although 70-80% reduction was observed after 1 day post-treatment, the number of foragers increased at the following days.

5 dysregulated miRs comparing patients and controls discovering an easy and non-risk procedure to achieve a closer personalized follow-up in high-risk patients. Our findings could shed light on the molecular mechanism of ccRCC. Validation of our statistical models in a larger cohort of patients is required.

Arthropod fauna was studied from July 2012 to July 2013 in three elevator pits in a pharmaceutical factory in Aichi Pref., Japan. In total, 976 arthropods (5 classes; 17 orders; 30 families) were captured with sticky traps placed in the corners of the elevator pits. Arthropods may constantly use the elevator pits as their habitat. Both crawling arthropods and flying insects（ 5.1％） were captured in the elevator pits. Therefore, those flying insects might use the elevator shafts to travel to other floors. Various arthropods were captured regardless of pit size and season, so elevator pits may have different arthropod fauna and ecosystems even though in the same building.

Our species have altered their surroundings since its early dispersion on Earth. Unfortunately, thanks to human-modified habitats, several pest organisms such as domiciliary insects have expanded their distributions. Moreover, pest-related microorganisms may also be aided by anthropization. Pest cockroaches are globally distributed and capable of carrying several diseases. We explored if urbanization may buffer environmental conditions allowing pest insects to expand their distribution. Specifically, we suggest that human settlements may generate suitable microhabitats for synanthropic cockroaches, helping them to survive and establish with disregard to overall climatic restrictions. To test this idea we studied the distribution of pest cockroaches spanning the length of Chilean territory. Chile, along its 4270 km length north to south extent, is a country offering a formidable sampling of Earth&#39;s climatic diversity accompanied by dense urbanizations. We studied entomological co...

Os principios do manejo integrado de pragas, utilizado ja ha algum tempo na agricultura e mais recentemente na area urbana, envolve o uso de tecnicas de manejo ambiental, educacao da populacao e controle quimico. Mas, o primeiro passo, para que o processo de controle seja eficaz e tenham menor risco ao meio, e conhecer quais as especies de maior demanda social e com maior impacto ambiental. Assim, este estudo procurou conhecer qual a maior demanda da populacao da regiao em relacao a presenca de animais sinantropicos e quais medidas adotadas mais frequentes para seu controle por meio das solicitacoes recebidas pela Unidade de Vigilância Ambiental de uma Subprefeitura do Municipio de Sao Paulo, durante tres anos consecutivos. Em cada solicitacao foram anotados o tipo de animal presente, o controle utilizado e quantidade de biocida. Do total de 1661 solicitacoes, recebidas nos tres anos, 88,50% foram para ratos, 9,33% para baratas, 0,78% para escorpioes, 0,54% para formigas, 0,42% para...

RESUMO Os princípios do manejo integrado de pragas, utilizado já há algum tempo na agricultura e mais recentemente na área urbana, envolve o uso de técnicas de manejo ambiental, educação da população e controle químico. Mas, o primeiro passo, para que o ...

Esta é uma primeira lista de pesquisadores que atuam em pragas e vetores urbanos no Brasil,
resultante de uma enquete realizada eletronicamente, no período de dezembro de 2010 a maio de
2011. A ideia surgiu ao ser organizada a palestra “Urban entomology in Brazil: short history, big
challenges, great men” a ser apresentada durante a 7th International Conference on Urban Pests
(7th ICUP) em Ouro Preto, MG, no período de 7 a 10 de agosto de 2011. Os autores sentiram falta
de um conhecimento amplo dos especialistas no assunto, suas linhas de pesquisa e instituições.
Os dados da enquete recebidos até esta publicação estão disponibilizados eletronicamente neste
volume e espera-se que os pesquisadores que não estejam aqui listados, encaminhem seus dados
para que esta publicação esteja sempre atualizada. A informação disponível inclui a instituição,
nome do pesquisador, área de atuação e período de atuação. Assim, os que desejarem alterar ou
incluir dados, devem encaminhar as informações para o endereço eletrônico da primeira autora.