Two new species of Diodontus Curtis, 1834 (Hymenoptera: Pemphredonidae) are described. Diodontus polytylus Budrys new species is widespread in North Africa, from Libya and Chad to Morocco, as well as in southern Spain and Portugal. Diodontus guichardi Budrys new species was found in several localities in Morocco. The new species have small differences in their morphology; however, they can be easily separated using molecular characters. Comparison of 17 molecular markers has revealed that the highest evolutionary divergence is observed in mitochondrial gene ND6 and internal transcribed spacer ITS2. The variable regions of the nuclear rDNA genes 18S and 28S demonstrated the lowest evolutionary divergence; thus they were of the least use for species identification. The most coherent reconstruction of phylogeny, in comparison to other groups of markers, was obtained using exons of nuclear protein-coding genes. A provisional key to the species of D. minutus (Fabricius, 1793) species group of the Mediterranean Region is presented.

Specimens (n = 508) of eight species of owl (Aves: Strigiformes) collected from 1994 to 2017 in Manitoba, Canada, were weighed and examined for chewing lice (Phthiraptera: Amblycera, Ischnocera). The relationship between host body mass and infestation by 12 species of lice was examined. Host body mass explained 52% (P = 0.03) of the variation in mean intensity of louse infestation among hosts, due primarily to a high abundance of lice on the heaviest owl species. The relationship was due to the mean intensity of lice, and neither species richness nor the prevalence of lice was related to host body mass. For individual louse species, the relationship was due primarily to Kurodaia acadicae Price and Beer, Kurodaia magna Emerson, and an undetermined species of Kurodaia Uchida (Phthiraptera: Menoponidae) (R2 = 0.997), but not the nine Strigiphilus Mjöberg (Phthiraptera: Philopteridae) species (R2 = 0.27). Louse intensity did not increase with body size for individual birds of any of the owl species. Mean intensity is expected to increase in proportion with the size, specifically the surface area, of the host. Why that relationship holds only for one louse genus, and not for the most abundant genus of lice on owls, and weakly compared with other families of birds, has yet to be determined.

Kleptoparasitism (one organism stealing prey from another) is especially common in birds. Avian kleptoparasites should be especially likely to target insects such as digger wasps (Hymenoptera: Sphecidae) that occur in large aggregations and repeatedly deliver large prey to the same nesting site. We document kleptoparasitism of digger wasps (Sphex pensylvanicus L.) by sparrows (Passer domesticus (L.)) and catbirds (Dumetella carolinensis (L.)). During summer 2008, we observed 697 wasp provisioning attempts (return of a prey-laden wasp to a marked nesting site) in a mown field. One-third (244/697) of attempts were intercepted by birds, primarily sparrows, which increased their hourly total number and hourly number of successful attacks per capita. Wasps maintained a consistent rate of successful provisioning attempts but may not have been able to do so indefinitely. Energetic costs related to kleptoparasitism may exert strong selection pressures on affected digger wasps.

Pending completion of the writer's current bumblebee work, the following information should be of interest and use to others who are now devoting attention to the taxonomy of this group in the Western Hemisphere and who contemplate publishing. The existing and recognizable types of all the accepted names referred to beyond were studied except the Gribodo types which were well reviewed by Richards (1929), inrhose homotype of volucelloides was examined at the British Museum (N.H.) in London. The condition and where-abouts of most of the type specimens on which are based the various conclusions presented here, have already been discussed by the writer (1960). There are, however, other types of infraspecific taxa that were not treated at that time, and it is emphasized that a reliable knowledge of these is also important for the present synonymies and other taxonomic considerations.

A method is described for the laboratory rearing of adult bark beetles and their broods in whole bark. A Petri dish rearing chamber is described, which maintains bark moisture at a relatively constant level for periods of up to two months and permits observation of adults and immature stages.

A two by two factorial experiment in a randomized complete block design tested single and combined effects of tree felling and semiochemical baiting on the attractiveness of spruce (Picea spp.) trees treated with monosodium methanearsenate (MSMA) to Dendroctonus rufipennis (Kirby) in British Columbia and Alaska. In British Columbia, tree felling and semiochemical baiting had significant effects on attack density, but in Alaska only tree felling had a significant effect. Semiochemical baiting had a significant effect on within-tree attack distribution in British Columbia but cot in Alaska, regardless of the felling treatment. The felled treatment captured more beetles than the not-felled treatment regardless of the baiting treatment in British Columbia, but only in the absence of a semiochemical bait in Alaska. The differences between the two locations may have been caused by lower temperatures and beetle population density in Alaska. Effective spruce beetle management with MSMA-treated trees requires tree felling, and beetle capture can be improved with the use of a semiochemical bait.

Pansy spot, a discoloration of the skin of McIntosh and Spartan apples, was shown to be a reaction of the apples to the egg punctures of thrips. Periodic sampling of apple blossoms and native hosts associated with apple orchards showed that Frankliniella occidentalis (Pergande) was the dominant species. The adult thrips moved from host to host as each came into flower, and apples were but one of several hosts attacked during the early spring.

The thrips were most numerous in apple blossoms during the bloom period, and oviposited in the flower parts. The adult thrips left the apples after the bloom period, and the nymphs that hatched from the eggs developed in the calyx end of the young fruit. When the nymphs matured they oviposited in the young apple before leaving for other hosts. The area of apple skin surrounding the thrips egg developed the typical pansy spot symptoms. Other apple varieties were also attacked, but did not develop pansy spots.

It was evident that the best time to apply control measures was at the petal fall period, when nymphal thrips were present but before damage was caused to the young apples.

In most books which treat of D. folliculorum, considerable space is given to a description of the lesions it produces in man, dogs, cats and sheep, while its presence on cattle is simply mentioned with the remark that Claus and Gros state that it is occasionally found on these animals.

Gros seems to be the first who observed it on cattle. His original article is not at my disposal, but I quote from Blanchard.

Interest in this insect was first aroused by the reports of Felt (1926a, 1926b) and York (1933), who attributed injury to several species of pines in the State of New York to Hylobius pales (Hbst.). Later it became apparent that the injury reported was not caused by H. pales, but by a new species that Huchanan (1934) described as H. radicis. This insect was first reported in Canada at Angus, Ont. (Wallace, 1954), and has since become abundant in pine plantations totalling about 500 acres in Simcoe County. This County supports the principal infestations in Ontario, but other widely separated infestations have been reported near Sault Ste. Marie and from five plantations totalling 50 acres in Renfrew County. H. radicis is now known to be widely distributed. In addition to New York State and Ontario, the insect has been reported from Virginia, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Manitoba.

The adult of Phyllocnistis populiella was described by Chambers in 1875. No detailed descriptions of the immature forms of this species have appeared in publication, although descriptions of other species in the genus have been published. Sich (1902), in his paper on P. suffusella Zell., presents a critical discussion of earlier works on the genus and gives a comprehensive account of the general features of the immature forms, although he omits details on setation and some other features of taxonomic interest. Certain aspects of larval and pupal morphology have been treated by Grandi (1932), Kozlovsky (1955) and Trägårdh (1913), while Hering (1951) and Needham (1928) have discussed structure as related to habit.

The species composition, diversity, and phenology of a community of water beetles (Dytiscidae) were studied over a 4-year period at George Lake, Alta. There was a pronounced trend of decreasing diversity between years due to the loss of several rarer species. In any year, there were distinct seasonal assemblages of different species, as well as a group of permanent residents. There were few differences in species composition between various microhabitats in the lake. The decline in diversity is attributed to habitat stability and competitive success of one species.

Examination of material of the genus Campichoeta Macq. (= Thryptocheta Rond.) from both the Old and the New Worlds, follawing clarification of the identities of most of the Palaearctic species by Basden and Collin (1958), revealed significant new information on the taxonomy of the genus. It showed that the common species in North America, heretofore called Thryptocheta micans Hendel (1911), is the same as Campichoeta griseola (Zett.) (1855) known from a single collection apparently made by Boheman in central Sweden about 1852. Also, it showed that an undescribed species occurs in southwestern United States.

In 1954 Delucchi erected the genera Enaysma and Epilampsis in an attempt to extend and clarify the generic concepts in the Derostenus Westwood-Chrysocharis Förster complex of the subfamily Entedontinae. As the type of Enaysma he designated Enaysma zwolferi Delucchi. Later in rhe same year (Delucchi 1954a) he revised the entire complex as he understood it in the Palaearctic region giving keys to the genera and species he included. Subsequently (Delucchi 1957) he supplemented his original description of the genus Enaysma and expanded his concept of it, adding Enaysma aenea Delucchi, Enaysma parva Delucchi, 1956, and two new species with a revised key to all the Palaearctic species then included by him in the genus. Recently Graham (1959) published a key to the British species in which he erected the new subgenus Pentenaysma, selecting as its type Eulophus latreillii Curtis.

This paper contains six annotated keys to the larval behavior of 28 species of Lepidoptera that mine the leaves of Picea spp., Abies spp., Tsuga canadensis (L.), Larix spp., Juniperus spp, and Thuja occidentalis L.

Artificial diet is commonly used to rear the spruce budworm, Choristoneura fumiferana (Clemens) (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae), in the laboratory. While its effect on spruce budworm performance is relatively well studied, no information exists about the influence of rearing diet on larval parasitism. In this study, spruce budworm larvae reared in the laboratory on artificial diet or balsam fir, Abies balsamea (Linnaeus) Miller (Pinaceae), foliage were introduced in the field to compare parasitism. Additionally, a laboratory choice test was conducted with the larval parasitoid Tranosema rostrale (Brischke) (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae). No significant influence of spruce budworm rearing diet on parasitism in the field was found. However, in the laboratory, T. rostrale attacked significantly more foliage-fed larvae. We conclude that even if initial differences in parasitism may exist between diet-fed and foliage-fed larvae in the laboratory, spruce budworm larvae reared on artificial diet can be used in field studies investigating parasitism of wild spruce budworm populations without concern that the food source would affect parasitism.

Anterior and posterior wings linear lanceolate, and apparently destitute of nervures. (In a single specimen of the hind wing, mounted as a microscopic specimcn in Canada balsam, a short costal nervure, a subcostal and an independent nervure close along the posterior margin, but not beginning at the base, are visible, but ordinarily I can fincl no trarce of any nervure except Perhaps the costal is visible; to all ordinary observation the wings are without nervures. Thc posterior are excised from the basal fourth of the costal margin to the apex.

During a 1981 study on possible insect vectors of a yeast in Saskatchewan mustard crops, several incidental observations of attack by the western damsel bug, Nabis alternatus Parshley, on adults of the flea beetle Phyllotreta cruciferae (Goeze) were made near Oxbow in the southeastern part of the province. This is the fourth record of insect predation on crucifer-feeding flea beetles in the Canadian prairie provinces. Previous records involved the beetle Collops vittatus Say (Gerber and Osgood 1975), a big-eyed bug, Geocoris bullatus (Say) (Burgess 1977), and larvae of the green lacewing, Chrysopa carnea Stephens (Burgess 1980).

Through the courtesy of Dr. McDunnough, I have recently been permitted to study many specimens of mayflies allied to the genus Iron, which were collected in Western Canada. Imagoes of both sexes and correctly associated nymphs of several species were included in the material, which was loaned to me from the Canadian National Collection. A study of these specimens, together with others in the Cornell University Collection, convinces me that two new genera are represented, which I designate respectively as Ironodes and Ironpsis.

The following notes are based on collections made by the junior author and a few other collectors whose names are indicated in brackets. The descriptions of localities, including faunistic observations are also made by the junior author, while the senior author is responsible for determinations and notes on the geographical distribution of the species.