Half a million species of herbivorous insects have been described. Most of them are diet
specialists, using only a few plant species as hosts. Biologists suspect that their specificity is …

Necrotrophic fungal pathogens cause considerable disease on numerous economically
important crops. Some of these pathogens are specialized to one or a few closely related …

Insects harbor a tremendous diversity of sex determining mechanisms both within and
between groups. For example, in some orders such as Hymenoptera, all members are …

Abstract Armored scale insects (Hemiptera: Coccomorpha: Diaspididae) are major
economic pests and are among the world's most invasive species. Here we describe a …

There is much in common between the aim and tools of the quantitative geneticist and the
comparative biologist. One of the most interesting statistical tools of the quantitative genetics …

Abstract Mealybugs (Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae, Rhizoecidae and Xenococcidae) are
important organisms for understanding processes of evolution, especially microbial …

Insects display a staggering diversity of mating and social behaviours. Studying these
systems provides insights into a wide range of evolutionary and behavioural questions, such …

Theory predicts that sexual reproduction is difficult to maintain if asexuality is an option, yet
sex is very common. To understand why, it is important to pay attention to repeatably …

Abstract Background The red algae (Rhodophyta) diverged from the green algae and plants
(Viridiplantae) over one billion years ago within the kingdom Archaeplastida. These …

According to the pre‐adaptation hypothesis, the evolution of insecticide resistance in plant‐
eating insects co‐opts adaptations that initially evolved during chemical warfare with their …