PONE-D-20-25310

First description and comparison of the morphological and ultramicro characteristics of the antennal sensilla of two fir longhorn beetles

PLOS ONE

Dear Dr. Lu,

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Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

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Review Comments to the Author

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Reviewer #1: The study proposed by Done et. al is based on antennal morphology analyses of A. asiaticus and C. villosulum using scanning electron microscopy based approach. The study described in this manuscript was conducted in China and it reports the first comprehensive list of antennal sensilla of two fir longhorn beetles, important pests in this region of the world. The overall objective of the study was accomplished as stated. The new information reported in the study builds upon what is already known about the antennal sensilla of other insects. The comparative analyses also validate some of the previously published information on morphological and ultramicro of antennal sensilla in other insect pests. Information from this study, can provide a better understanding of the molecular basis of olfaction and other chemical cues that regulate behavior in A. asiaticus and C. villosulum. This in turn, can provide a basis for developing alternative and better methods of controlling this pest.

This study is the first of its type on A. asiaticus and C. villosulum and it provides useful information on the comparative morphological and ultramicro analyses on the economically important insect pests. I believe it will contribute to the body of knowledge that is available on A. asiaticus and C. villosulum. In this regard I will recommend the manuscript for acceptance for publication subject to the comments addressed here.

1. As a whole，this article is tedious and repeated, such as the abstract, which should be compressed to more describe morphological and ultramicro characteristics.

2. There are many logical problems in this paper, such as “the study on the comparison between…” (lines 316-319), “during field trials, C. villosulum shown…” (lines 368-371) and “this is related to the identification of…” (lines 378-383), move logically from one idea to the nextlogically from one idea to the next and don't skip steps, revise it again.

3. Overall, the authors paid attention to details in writing of the manuscript.

Reviewer #2: In this study, the authors compared the antennal morphology and sensilla ultrastructure between A. asiaticus and C. villosulum and between the sexes of each species via scanning electron microscopy (SEM) techniques. The findings of the current study can contribute to a better understanding of the differences in their living habits and behaviors. Meanwhile, this descriptive work will also provide the theoretical basis for future work on pheromone identification and development of prevention and control techniques for these two pests. Overall, this study is interesting, the methods used are standard, the manuscript is well written scientifically and the data is sufficient to support its main conclusion. However, I have a few comments for improvement in my view.

Some suggestions:

Lines 15-17: Please rewrite this sentence more clearly.

Lines 21-22: I think no need of this sentence.

Lines 26-29: The given reference focus Chinese firs only in Fujian Province, China. Please provide references for their distribution in other countries or revised the statement which focus only China.

Lines 31: Replace indigenous by Indigenous..

Lines 43-45: Please provide references for these sentences.

Lines 108: Please use full scientific name at the start of a sentence. Check whole MS and correct it.

Lines 110-114: The use of three adversative conjunction ‘Interestingly’, ‘Meanwhile’ and ‘Nevertheless’ led to a logic miss. Please consider to rewrite these three sentences. Also, please check whole MS regarding this kind of mistakes.

Lines 131-132: P should be italic. Correct this in whole MS.

Lines 142-143: A. asiaticus and C. villosulum, should be italic.

Lines 158: Remove “a large” from sentence.

Lines 159: Replace sex by “sexes”.

Lines 177; 297-299; 378-379: The contractions in English should be avoided in scientific article. Please remove "What's more" and revise the sentence accordingly.

Lines 302: Replace significant by “significantly”

Lines 314-315: Please add references.

Lines 368-369: Replace “One past study” by “Previous study”. Also, please provide references.

Lines 401-404: Please remove “Generally speaking” and revise the sentence accordingly.

Lines 412-430: The conclusion section is too large, please reduce the text and conclude concisely.

First description and comparison of the morphological and ultramicro characteristics of the antennal sensilla of two fir longhorn beetles

PONE-D-20-25310R1

Dear Dr. Lu,

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Kind regards,

Yulin Gao

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE