Kyushu University · Agricultural and Biological Sciences
Professor Midori Tuda's research lab specializes in the evolutionary ecology and phylogenetics of seed-feeding beetles, particularly bruchid and bean beetles (Bruchinae), with a focus on host plant associations, speciation, and pest evolution. The lab investigates how ecological transitions—such as shifts to novel host plants or adaptation to stored crops—drive diversification and pest status, integrating molecular phylogenetics, population genetics, and field ecology. Research also extends to biological control applications, exploring the potential of seed beetles to manage invasive leguminous plants while developing novel strategies to control pest species. The lab emphasizes understanding evolutionary transitions in insect-plant interactions in the context of global trade and anthropogenic change.
Figures are computed from collected data and may differ slightly.
A new species Megabruchidiussophorae (Insecta, Coleoptera) is described from Japan (Honshu). The larval host of this bruchid is the seeds of the tree legume 'enju', or chinese scholar tree, Styphnolobium japonicum (a senior synonym of Sophora japonica), which is a new host genus to Bruchidae. Styphnolobium is positioned basally in molecular phylogeny of the leguminous subfamily Papilionoideae. Other members of Megabruchidius are known to feed on Gleditsia, the tree legumes that belong to the mos
Despite the fact that many plant-feeding insects are pests, little effort has been made to identify key evolutionary trait transitions that allow taxa to acquire or lose pest status. A large proportion of species in the genus Callosobruchus are economically important pests of stored, dry postharvest beans of the tribe Phaseoleae. However, the evolution of this feeding habit is poorly understood. Here, we present a reconstruction of the phylogeny of the Asian and African Callosobruchus based on t
Genetic differentiation can be promoted allopatrically by geographic isolation of populations due to limited dispersal ability and diversification over time or sympatrically through, for example, host-race formation. In crop pests, the trading of crops across the world can lead to intermixing of genetically distinct pest populations. However, our understanding of the importance of allopatric and sympatric genetic differentiation in the face of anthropogenic genetic intermixing is limited. Here,
Bean beetles of the subfamily Bruchinae (formerly, the family Bruchidae) include notorious pests of stored legumes, Callosobruchus, Caryedon, Acanthoscelides and Zabrotes that are able to feed and reproduce on dried beans and peas. Here, I review recent findings on the ecology, phylogeny, invasion and evolution in the bean beetles, based on field investigation of host plants and molecular studies. Possible future application of the new knowledge to weed and pest control is proposed, such as pote
Abstract An endophagous seed predator, Acanthoscelides macrophthalmus (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae: Bruchinae), utilizes Neotropical Leucaena (Fabaceae: Mimosoideae). One of its hosts, Leucaena leucocephala , is a fast‐growing nitrogen‐fixing tree that serves as a multipurpose beneficial plant but eventually becomes an aggressive invader where it was introduced. Herein, we report A. macrophthalmus invasion of the Far East, South Asian tropics and subtropics (Japanese Pacific Islands, Taiwan, South
Abstract We evaluated the functional responses of two aphid parasitoids: Aphidius colemani on the green peach aphid Myzus persicae (Hemiptera: Aphididae), and Aphelinus asychis on M. persicae and the potato aphid, Macrosiphum euphorbiae (Hemiptera: Aphididae). Parasitoid oviposition occurred at host densities of 5, 10, 20, 30, 50, 80 or 100 aphids for A. colemani and 5, 10, 20, 30 or 50 aphids for A. asychis. More M. persicae were parasitized by A. colemani than by A. asychis at an aphid density
Abstract The present study evaluated the relative effects of abiotic (weather: temperature, wind speed, and rain) and biotic (intra‐ and intertrophic density dependence: densities of conspecifics, prey per predator individual and leaves on plants) factors on the dispersal and on‐plant activity (foraging and oviposition) of the predatory bug, Orius minutus , under seminatural field conditions. Experiments were conducted at plots, each comprising 25 potted azuki bean plants, placed symmetrically i
A North American bruchid beetle Acanthoscelides pallidipennis (Motschulsky) was newly found on Kyushu Island, Japan, the larvae of which feed in seeds of introduced false indigo (or indigobush), Amorpha fruticosa L. (Fabaceae: Astragaleae). The morphological characters of the Japanese population were similar to those of introduced populations in Korea and China and of native populations in Texas. Plant quarantine records indicated that the introduction of A. pallidipennis was due to recent intro
The genetic diversity of populations of the azuki bean beetle, Callosobruchus chinensis (Linnaeus) from natural, pre-harvest and post-harvest sites, was investigated to understand population structure and gene flow. A 522-bp fragment of the mitochondrial gene COI was sequenced for eight populations of C. chinensisfrom Japan, Korea and Taiwan collected from different habitats. Six haplotypes were detected, one of which, U1, occurred most frequently and widely. The following hypotheses were tested
Abstract Relative effects of weather and three‐trophic interactions were studied for a classical biological control system consisting of the arrowhead scale Unaspis yanonensis , known formerly as a serious pest of the Satsuma mandarin orange Citrus unshiu , and its two introduced parasitoids, Coccobius fulvus and Aphytis yanonensis . Yearly population responses of the three insect species on a per‐tree basis for up to 10 years at two orange groves were analyzed by general linear models, with a b
Open papers in the app to read, cite, and organize with AI.
