Main description:

Principles of Insect Pathology, a text written from a pathological viewpoint, is intended for graduate-level students and researchers with a limited background in microbiology and in insect diseases. The book explains the importance of insect diseases and illuminates the complexity and diversity of insect-microbe relationships. Separate sections are devoted to

the major insect pathogens, their characteristics, and their life cycles
the homology that exists among invertebrate, vertebrate, and plant pathogens
the humoral and cellular defense systems of the host insect as well as the evasive and suppressive activities of insect disease agents
the structure and function of passive barriers
the heterogeneity in host susceptibility to insect diseases and associated toxins
the mechanisms regulating the spread and persistence of diseases in insects.

Principles of Insect Pathology combines the disciplines of microbiology (virology, bacteriology, mycology, protozoology), pathology, and immunology within the context of the insect host, providing a format which is understandable to entomologists, microbiologists, and comparative pathologists.

Contents:

Preface. 1. Insect-Pathogen Relationships. 2. General Features of Viral Disease Agents. 3. Major Groups of Insect Viruses. 4. Baculoviruses. 5. Characteristics of the Pathogenic Prokaryotes. 6. Insect Pathogenic Bacteria. 7. Bacillus Thuringiensis: Producer of Potent Insecticidal Toxins. 8. General Properties of Fungal Pathogens. 9. Entomopathogenic Fungi: `Perfect' Phyla. 10. Entomopathogenic Fungi: Fungi Imperfecti. 11. Insect Pathogenic Protozoa. 12. Phylum Microsporidia. 13. Insect Immune Defense System, Part I: Innate Defense Reactions. 14. Insect Immune Defense System, Part II: The Recognition of Nonself. 15. Insect Immune Defense System, Part III: Prophenoloxidase Cascade and Post-Attachment Processes of Phagocytosis.