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Diaphorina citri Kuwayama (Hemiptera: Liviidae) commonly known as Asian citrus psyllid is one of the most ubiquitous of phloemfeeding pests of citrus in the major citrus growing areas across the world. It serves as the main vector of the phloem-limited bacterium Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus (CLas), causing citrus greening disease also known as Huanglongbing (HLB;Hall & Rohrig, 2015).Currently, HLB is a disease responsible for huge economic losses in the citrus producing industry (Chavez et al., 2017;. Imidacloprid and other neonicotinoids, bifenthrin, chlorpyrifos and chlorfenapyr are the most frequently used, and sometimes overused broad-spectrum insecticides for D. citri management (Gatineau et al., 2010;Naeem et al., 2016). However, the persistence or frequency of application has made them effective only for a short period of time and their overuse has led to increased D. citri resistance, pesticide residues, loss of biodiversity and resurgence problems (Oliveira et al., 2013); besides, their applications pose hazards to beneficial insects, human beings and the environment in general (Gharalari et al.,

Background Tea geometrid Ectropis grisescens (Geometridae: Lepidoptera), is one of the most destructive defoliators in tea plantations in China. The MAPK cascade is known to be an evolutionarily conserved signaling module, acting as pivotal cores of host–pathogen interactions. Although the chromosome-level reference genome of E. grisescens was published, the whole MAPK cascade gene family has not been fully identified yet, especially the expression patterns of MAPK cascade gene family members upon an ecological biopesticide, Metarhizium anisopliae, remains to be understood. Results In this study, we have identified 19 MAPK cascade gene family members in E. grisescens, including 5 MAPKs, 4 MAP2Ks, 8 MAP3Ks, and 2 MAP4Ks. The molecular evolution characteristics of the whole Eg-MAPK cascade gene family, including gene structures, protein structural organization, chromosomal localization, orthologs construction and gene duplication, were systematically investigated. Our results showed that the members of Eg-MAPK cascade gene family were unevenly distributed in 13 chromosomes, and the clustered members in each group shared similar structures of the genes and proteins. Gene expression data revealed that MAPK cascade genes were expressed in all four developmental stages of E. grisescens and were fairly and evenly distributed in four different larva tissues. Importantly, most of the MAPK cascade genes were induced or constitutively expressed upon M. anisopliae infection. Conclusions In summary, the present study was one of few studies on MAPK cascade gene in E. grisescens. The characterization and expression profiles of Eg-MAPK cascades genes might help develop new ecofriendly biological insecticides to protect tea trees.