This book presents the current knowledge on arthropod vision and the results of successful manipulations of arthropods. It also suggests new methods for using optical manipulation to protect against arthropod pests and to improve the performance of beneficial arthropods. Due to the applied nature...

This chapter focuses on visual mechanisms of some arthropod species of agricultural importance. Species from different orders such as Araneae, Blattodea, Mantodea, Hemiptera, Thysanoptera, Neuroptera, Diptera, Lepidoptera, Hymenoptera, and Coleoptera are included.

This chapter focuses on the visual characteristics of plants that deter pests or attract pollinators and natural enemies. During their long period of coexistence, plants and insects have evolved a complex set of interactions including several modes of visual communication. Plants reflect sunlight...

This chapter deals with attracting beneficials such as predators, parasitoids and pollinators by visual attraction method using UV, blue or green light. Case studies of recruiting natural enemies are given. The few recent studies described in this chapter indicate that it is possible to recruit...

A crucial choice an organism can make is for solitary or social living; for any kind of resource exploitation there is a fine balance (from a set of trade-offs) for solitary or group living (therefore group size), that is, for exploiting the resource solitarily or in an aggregation (defined in this ...

This chapter focuses on the basics of biotic mortality agents (parasitoids and predatory arthropods) and the apparent responses or adaptations of various lepidopteran species to these agents. The various mechanisms used by Lepidoptera in ensuring their survival are also discussed.

In this chapter on mimicry, attention is given to the life history aspects of signalling in butterflies, both honest signalling of defences (i.e. nauseous flavours, unpalatability, poisons, stings) and deception (i.e. Batesian mimicry and automimicry). The subject is a vast one; attention here is...

This chapter provides information on the symbiosis, larval growth and evolutionary links on ant-butterfly associations. Butterflies are not always purely on the defensive but have occasionally raised their game to exploit the typical enemy-prey situation for their own benefit. The classic...

Issues in butterfly behaviour are complex if only because the context for observations is also complex and because findings often relate to observations made on few individuals at single sites (habitats). Behavioural observations, necessarily based on individuals, will vary for key dimensions: (i)...

This chapter focuses on egg-laying, which is a critical phase in butterfly behaviour. Host selection is almost invariably highly specific, such that only a fraction of potential host plants is exploited. This reflects on egg-laying fulfilling a number of integrated functions and factors include:...