The diamondback moth, Plutella xylostella L. (Lepidoptera:Plutellidae), is one of the most serious pests of Brassicaeous plants worldwide. The suitable artificial diet formulations are required for mass rearing of insects under laboratory conditions. The aim of the study is to determine the most suitable formulation and to reveal the age-stage and two-sex life tables by examining the biological properties of diamondback moth on different artificial diets. Two-way hierarchical cluster analysis was established to determine some biological traits using different artificial diets and white cabbage as a positive control. In hierarchical cluster analysis, the results were obtained in CS diet was similar to control for some biological characteristics such as pupal weight, longevity etc. On the artificial diets, the GRR was the highest on the H&H diet as 39.92±7.22 offspring/individual and the lowest on the tested Tuta diet as 18.92±5.21 offspring/individual. λ and r were the highest in A diet as 1.10±1.01 and 0.10±9.20 days, lowest in Plutella and Tuta diet 1.07±1.70 and 0.07±1.52 days, respectively. R0 was the highest on CS diet (12.08±2.64 offspring/individual) and lowest in Tuta diet (4.58±1.44 offspring/individual). The highest daily fecundity (mx) was on the H&H diet as 8.69 eggs and the lowest on the Tuta diet as 3.06 eggs. The results showed that the CS diet developed in this study may be offered as an alternative diet formulation for mass rearing of the diamondback moth under laboratory conditions.

The false chinch bug, Nysius cymoides (Spinola, 1837) (Hemiptera: Lygaeidae), is an important pest with a wide host range. It was first discovered in Italy but now causing agricultural damage worldwide, including Turkey. Specimens of Nysius cymoides were collected from surveys of the sunflower and corn fields in Malkara-Keşan province, in Edirne in July 2020. Because of the population increase of the pest and their damages to sunflowers and corn fields, the pest identification have become an important issue. We investigated molecular characterization and identification of the pest by using mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I (COI) barcode region. Adult and late immature stage of the specimens were examined under a stereozoom microscope and morphologically identified as well. The partial COI gene (659 bp) was amplified by using LCO1490/ HCO 2198 and PCR products were sequenced directly for molecular characterization. The sequence was registered GenBank database with accession number OL989232. Molecular analyzes were performed using MEGA X software. As a result, the nucleotide frequencies were A = 33.81%, T/U = 35.79%, C = 16.03%, and G = 14.37%. The distance-based species limitation method applied by using ASAP and ABGD, identified 5 species in the partition with the lowest ASAP score (1.5). The barcode gap distance of this partition with the best ASAP score was determined as 1.7%. The threshold distance was determined as 1.62%. The highest nucleotide identity of the studied specimen (OL989232) was detected as 99.8% with the specimen of Nysius cymoides from France (KJ541649.1) in GenBank. The objective of this study was the first attempt to identify Nysius cymoides specimens collected in Edirne based on DNA barcode regions.