,The horn fly, Haematobia irritans irritans (Linnaeus, 1758; Diptera: Muscidae), a hematophagous external parasite of cattle, causes considerable economic losses to the livestock industry worldwide. This pest is mainly controlled with insecticides; however, horn fly populations from several countries have developed resistance to many of the products available for their control. In an attempt to better understand the adult horn fly and the development of resistance in natural populations, we used an Illumina paired-end read HiSeq and GAII approach to determine the transcriptomes of untreated control adult females, untreated control adult males, permethrin-treated surviving adult males and permethrin + piperonyl butoxide-treated killed adult males from a Louisiana population of horn flies with a moderate level of pyrethroid resistance. A total of 128,769,829, 127,276,458, 67,653,920, and 64,270,124 quality-filtered Illumina reads were obtained for untreated control adult females, untreated control adult males, permethrin-treated surviving adult males and permethrin + piperonyl butoxide-treated killed adult males, respectively. The de novo assemblies using CLC Genomics Workbench 8.0.1 yielded 15,699, 11,961, 2672, 7278 contigs (≥ 200 nt) for untreated control adult females, untreated control adult males, permethrin-treated surviving adult males and permethrin + piperonyl butoxide-treated killed adult males, respectively. More than 56% of the assembled contigs of each data set had significant hits in the BlastX (UniProtKB/Swiss-Prot database) (E <0.001). The number of contigs in each data set with InterProScan, GO mapping, Enzyme codes and KEGG pathway annotations were: Untreated Control Adult Females – 10,331, 8770, 2963, 2183; Untreated control adult males – 8392, 7056, 2449, 1765; Permethrin-treated surviving adult males – 1992, 1609, 641, 495; Permethrin + PBO-treated killed adult males – 5561, 4463, 1628, 1211.,Data is with this article and also available at the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) Short Read Archive (SRA) through the direct link https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sra/SRP131897 or through SRA accession number SRP131897. The adult horn fly transcriptome Shotgun Assembly project has been deposited at DDBJ/EMBL/GenBank under the accession GGLM00000000. The version described in this paper is the first version, GGLM01000000. The overall BioProject ID is PRJNA429442 and the BioSample accessions are SAMN08355023, SAMN08355024, SAMN08355025, and SAMN08355026.,,

,The bacterial 16S tag-encoded FLX-titanium amplicon pyrosequencing (bTEFAP) method was used to carry out the classification analysis of bacterial flora in adult female and male horn flies and horn fly eggs.,The bTEFAP method identified 16S rDNA sequences in our samples which allowed the identification of various prokaryotic taxa associated with the life stage examined. This is the first comprehensive report of bacterial flora associated with the horn fly using a culture-independent method. Several rumen, environmental, symbiotic and pathogenic bacteria associated with the horn fly were identified and quantified. This is the first report of the presence of Wolbachia in horn flies of USA origin and is the first report of the presence of Rikenella in an obligatory blood feeding insect.,Adult horn flies were collected on a single date from pastured cattle at the Louisiana State University Agricultural Center, St. Gabriel Research Station using aerial nets. Within 1 h after collection the flies were transferred to large sterile Erlenmeyer flasks and maintained in total darkness for 1.5 h and 30°C to allow flies to oviposit on the flask bottom [73]. Adult flies were released from the flasks into a cage and eggs were collected by rinsing with distilled water onto a filter paper. Both the eggs and adult flies were frozen at −80°C. To preserve nucleic acid integrity, adults were sexed on dry ice prior to freezing. Each sample used for DNA extraction and pyrosequencing consisted of 5 adult males, 5 adult females or 50 eggs pooled together and homogenized. Three replicates of adult male, adult female and eggs were analyzed.,The horn fly, Haematobia irritans, is one of the most economically important pests of cattle. Insecticides have been a major element of horn fly management programs. Growing concerns with insecticide resistance, insecticide residues on farm products, and non-availability of new generation insecticides, are serious issues for the livestock industry. Alternative horn fly control methods offer the promise to decrease the use of insecticides and reduce the amount of insecticide residues on livestock products and give an impetus to the organic livestock farming segment. The horn fly, an obligatory blood feeder, requires the help of microflora to supply additional nutrients and metabolize the blood meal. Recent advancements in DNA sequencing methodologies enable researchers to examine the microflora diversity independent of culture methods.,,

,Hessian fly (HF, Mayetiola destructor Say) is a major pest on wheat and can cause significant yield losses. Currently there are some HF resistance genes deployed, but mostly in hexaploid winter wheat (Triticum aestivum), with fewer resistance genes identified in durum wheat (Triticum turgidum ssp. durum L.) and other wheat wild relatives. Mapping of additional resistance genes, along with developing markers for these is needed to develop resistant germplasm. ARS researchers in Fargo, ND evaluated the BP025 population under greenhouse and growth chamber conditions to the Great Plains (GP) biotype of Hessian fly (HF, Mayetiola destructor Say). The BP025 population was developed by crossing Ben (PI 596557), a North Dakota hard amber durum variety, with PI 41025, a cultivated emmer (T. turgidum ssp. dicoccum) accession collected near Samara, Russia. The BP025 population consists of 200 RILs developed by single seed-descent and was advanced to the F7:8 generation. The BP025 population was evaluated for stunting score, larval mortality, and the percentage of resistant plants under growth chamber and greenhouse conditions in Fargo, ND (46.893273, -96.807319). Experimental plants were maintained in a greenhouse at 20 ± 2° C with an ambient relative humidity of between 40 and 70% and a 16:8 (L:D) photoperiod. Natural lighting was enhanced with the use of 430-watt high pressure sodium lamps. Individual seeds of the mapping population entries were planted in Ray Leach cone-tainer (4 cm diameter × 21 cm deep, Stuewe & Sons, Inc., Tangent, OR), held in racks (RL98). Plants were grown in potting media (SB100 Professional Growing Mix, Sungro Horticulture, Bellevue, WA), and fertilized at planting with Osmocote Plus 15-9-12 (N-P-K) standard release fertilizer. Each cone was considered an experimental unit. The BP025 population and the parental lines Ben and PI 41025 were screened for HF larval resistance over two greenhouse seasons. All plants were evaluated using a completely randomized design. For the infestations, seedling plants were exposed to egg-laying HF adult females (~ 1 female for each plant) for 24 h. Infestations were timed to occur when seedlings were at the two-leaf growth stage. Three days after exposure to adult females, plants were moved to a high humidity (50-75% RH) growth chamber. High humidity facilitates egg hatching and promotes the successful migration of neonate larvae down the leaf blade to feeding sites at the base of the plant. Following egg hatch, plants were returned to the greenhouse for 10 to 14 days. This provided time for virulent larvae to grow and be differentiated from the small presumably dead avirulent larvae. Detailed observations of plant quality and larval success provided each plant with a score of “resistant” or “susceptible.” Specifically, plants were scored for their growth, with information on the number of leaves and tillers being recorded. Plant health and appearance (i.e., severity of larval-induced stunting), was also scored for each plant. Normal healthy plants were given a score of 0, lightly stunted plants were scored as a 1, moderately stunted plants were given a 2, and severely stunted planted were given the score of 3. Each plant was also dissected using a stereo microscope. At the time of plant dissection, virulent (i.e., successful) larvae were expected to be large and white in color. The number of dead larvae (eg. large, medium, small, and neonate) and live larvae (eg. large, medium, and small) were recorded for each plant. Averages for the plant and insect measurements were derived from the mean score of the 12 to 14 plants evaluated for each entry in the population. Phenotypic data was analyzed using JMP version 15 (SAS Institute, 2015). Prior to analysis, homogeneity of variance was tested using an O-Brien test at p < 0.05 (O’Brien, 1979). The genotypic data used for further QTL analysis is available Peters Haugrud, Amanda; Saini Sharma, Jyoti; Zhang, Qijun; Green, Andrew J.;

,Data include microbial count data (CFUs), 16S-rRNA copy number data (qPCR), and microbial community (microbiome) data from the guts of the invasive tephritid fruit flies, melon fly (Zeugodacus cucurbitae) and medfly (Ceratitis capitata).,Resources in this dataset:,

,This dataset reports discovery and initial comparative analysis of 88 presumptive microRNA (miRNA) sequences from the stable fly, obtained using high-throughput sequencing of small RNAs. The majority of stable fly miRNAs were 22-23 nucleotides (nt) in length. Many miRNAs were arthropod specific, and several mature miRNA sequences showed greater sequence identity to miRNAs from other blood-feeding dipterans such as mosquitoes rather than to Drosophilids. This initial step in characterizing the stable fly microRNAome provides a basis for further analyses of life stage-specific and tissue-specific expression to elucidate their functional roles in stable fly biology.,The stable fly, Stomoxys calcitrans (L.), is a serious ectoparasite affecting animal production and health of both animals and humans. Stable fly control relies largely on chemical insecticides; however, the development of insecticide resistance as well as environmental considerations requires continued discovery research to develop novel control technologies. MicroRNAs are a class of short noncoding RNAs that have been shown to be important regulators of gene expression across a wide variety of organisms, and may provide an innovative approach with regard to development of safer more targeted control technologies.,,

,Description: This dataset consists of field data (arthropods, nematodes and NDVI) collected over the course of 6 field excursions in 2015 and 2016 near TyTy, GA, in a field used for growing Miscanthus x giganteus. It also includes interpolated values of soil measurements collected in 2015 and meteorological data collected on an adjacent farm. Point-in-time measurements include all meteorological, NDVI, arthropod and nematode measurements and their derivatives. Fixed values were measurements that were held constant across all sampling dates, including location, terrain and soils measurements and their derivatives.,Dawn Olson and Jason Schmidt collected and processed arthropod count data. Jason Schmidt collected and processed spider count data and computed spider diversity. Richard Davis collected and processed nematode count data. Alisa Coffin collected and processed NDVI data and positional locations. Tim Strickland collected and processed soils data and Alisa Coffin interpolated soils values using kriging to derive values at arthropod sample locations. David Bosch collected and processed meteorological data. Lynne Seymour provided statistical expertise in deriving any estimated values (phloem feeders, parasitoids, spiders, and natural enemies). Alisa Coffin derived terrain data (elevation, slope, aspect, and distances) from publicly available datasets, transformed values (SI, WI, etc), carried out the geographically weighted regression analysis and calculated C:SE values, harmonized the full dataset, and compiled it using Esri's ArcGIS Pro 2.5. Methods for most data are published in the accompanying paper and associated supplements.,Questions about dataset development and management should be directed to Alisa Coffin (alisa.coffin@usda.gov). This work was accomplished as a joint USDA and University of Georgia project funded by a cooperative agreement (#6048-13000-026-21S). This research was a contribution from the Long-Term Agroecosystem Research (LTAR) network. LTAR is supported by the United States Department of Agriculture.,At request of the author, the data resources are under embargo. The embargo will expire on Fri, Jan 01, 2021.,

,These data represent V. destructor genomic annotations to be used for evolutionary comparison with other arthropods.,The ectoparasitic mite Varroa destructor has emerged as the primary pest of domestic honey bees (Apis mellifera). Here we present an initial survey of the V. destructor genome carried out to advance our understanding of Varroa biology and to identify new avenues for mite control. This sequence survey provides immediate resources for molecular and population-genetic analyses of Varroa-Apis interactions and defines the challenges ahead for a comprehensive Varroa genome project.,

,Risks of post-introduction evolution in insects introduced to control invasive pests have been discussed for some time, but little is known about responses to selection or genetic architectures of host adaptation and thus about the likelihood or rapidity of evolutionary shifts. We report here results on the response to selection and genetic architecture of parasitism of a sub-optimal, low-preference host species by an aphid parasitoid, Aphelinus rhamni, a candidate for introduction against the soybean aphid, Aphis glycines. The parasitoid was collected in Beijing, China, from the soybean aphid on a Rhamnus species. In the laboratory at the USDA-ARS, Newark, Delaware, we selected A. rhamni for increased parasitism of Rhopalsiphum padi by rearing the parasitoid on this aphid for three generations. We measured parasitism of R. padi at generations two and three, and at generation three, crossed and backcrossed parasitoids from the populations reared on R. padi with those from populations reared on Aphis glycines and compared parasitism of both R. padi and Aphis glycines among F1 and backcross females. Aphelinus rhamni responded rapidly to selection for parasitism of R. padi. Selection for R. padi parasitism reduced parasitism of Aphis glycines, the original host of A. rhamni. However, parasitism of R. padi did not increase from generation two to generation three of selection, suggesting reduced variance available for selection, which was indeed found. We tested the associations between 184 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) and increased parasitism of R. padi and found 28 SNP loci, some of which were associated with increased and others with decreased parasitism of R. padi. We assembled and annotated the A. rhamni genome, mapped all SNP loci to contigs, and tested whether genes on contigs with SNP loci associated with parasitism were enriched for candidate genes or gene functions. We identified 80 genes on these contigs that mapped to 1.2 Mb of the 483 Mb genome of A. rhamni but found little enrichment of candidate genes or gene functions.,,

,The small hive beetle (Aethina tumida, ATUMI) is an invasive parasite of bee colonies. ATUMI feeds on both fruits and bee nest products, facilitating its spread and increasing its impact on honey bees and other pollinators. The ATUMI genome has been sequenced and annotated, providing the first genomic resources for this species and for the Nitidulidae, a beetle family that is closely related to the extraordinarily species-rich clade of beetles known as the Phytophaga. ATUMI thus provides a contrasting view as a neighbor for one of the most successful known animal groups. A robust genome assembly and a gene set possessing 97.5% of the core proteins known from the holometabolous insects are presented. The ATUMI genome encodes fewer enzymes for plant digestion than the genomes of wood-feeding beetles, but nonetheless shows signs of broad metabolic plasticity. Gustatory receptors are few in number compared to other beetles, especially receptors with known sensitivity (in other beetles) to bitter substances. In contrast, several gene families implicated in detoxification of insecticides and adaptation to diverse dietary resources show increased copy numbers. The presence and diversity of homologs involved in detoxification differs substantially from the bee hosts of ATUMI. Results provide new insights into the genomic basis for local adaption and invasiveness in ATUMI, and a blueprint for control strategies that target this pest without harming their honey bee hosts. A minimal set of gustatory receptors is consistent with the observation that, once a host colony is invaded, food resources are predictable. Unique detoxification pathways and pathway members can help identify which treatments might control this species even in the presence of honey bees, which are notoriously sensitive to pesticides.,,