Miomantis, Saussure. Bull. Ent. Suisse, III., p. 64, 1870.

Preoccupied by Miomantis, Blanchard. D'Orbigny, Voy. Amer. Merid., VI., Ins., p. 209, 1842 (Coleoptera). To fill the deficiency, I propose the name Calidomantis.

Harpax, Serville. Ann. Sci. Nat., XXII., p. 45, 49, 1831.

Preoccupied by Harpax, Parkinson. Organic Rem., 1811 (Mollusca). I have not been able to examine the first edition of Parkinson, but in the second the name Harpax occurs on page 221 of volume III. To replace Serville's genus, I propose the name Australomantis.

The cecidomyiid Endaphis sp. is a locally common endoparasite of the aphid Euceraphis gillettei on alder in coastal British Columbia. The midge represents the first known protelean parasite of aphids that may develop gregariously inside the host. Field and laboratory observations are presented on the parasite’s life history and host instar preference. Mechanisms enabling the partitioning of the available “host space” between Endaphis sp. and the aphidiid parasite Praon sp. are discussed.

Palaeodipteron walkeri Ide (Diptera: Nymphomyiidae) is recorded from watercourses of two northern Quebec localities. The known distribution of the species is thus extended to 54°N, in the subarctic zone. Collections were made in a wide variety of habitats. Nearly 200 adults and many larvae were captured; emergence rate of this supposedly uncommon insect reached 98 adults/m2/day. Habitats and sampling methods are described, and larval locomotion, phenology, distribution, and abundance are discussed.

Reproductive phenology of organisms is modulated by biotic and abiotic factors, with direct effects on the demography. This study describes the annual reproductive phenology of Dichotomius satanas (Harold, 1867) (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae, Scarabaeinae) of the cloud forest in eastern Mexico, through the morphological changes in the reproductive systems of individuals and their relationship with climatic conditions. Three stages of sexual maturity were recognised as occurring throughout the year: immature, maturing, and mature – with a higher occurrence of immature individuals. Abundance of immature and maturing females was explained by minimum temperature, but none of the environmental variables considered was related to mature females. Abundance of immature and maturing males was related to precipitation, while abundance of mature males was related to minimum temperature and precipitation. The phenology of D. satanas was markedly seasonal with a single peak of abundance corresponding to the reproductive period during the warm and rainy season, thus indicating a univoltine pattern of reproduction. Immature females were recorded before immature males, and no synchrony was observed between the maturing and mature males and females. We provide information pertaining to the reproductive biology of coprophagous beetles and highlight the importance of reproductive phenology as a tool with which to understand future environmental scenarios.

Six new flower fly species are described: Blera chillcotti Thompson (Nepal), Sphiximorpha mcalpinei Thompson (Mexico), Psilota shewelli Thompson (Nepal), Rhopalosyrphus teskeyi Thompson (Argentina), Parasyrphus vockerothi Thompson (United States of America and Canada), and Lycopale woodi Thompson (Mexico). Keys are provided to the species of the genera Lycopale Hull and Rhopalosyrphus Giglio-Tos, the Nearctic species of Sphiximorpha Rondani, and the Oriental species of Blera Billberg and Psilota Meigen.

A detailed morphological study of the immature stages of Contarinia pseudotsugae Condr., C. constricta Condr. and C. cuniculator Condr., along with their description, is presented in this paper. This work is based on examinations of several hundred larvae of each species, with numerous observations of larvae in the act of moulting and pupating which confirmed the morphological indications of three larval instars. Included also is a brief description of the galls associated with each midge species. Terminology used in the larval descriptions follows that of Möhn 1955.

Trypophloeus klimeschi Eggers (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae) was first discovered in China in 2003, and it exhibits strong species specificity to Populus alba var. pyramidalis Bunge (Salicaceae). To screen plant volatile compounds for monitoring and trapping T. klimeschi, the electroantennogram responses of adult T. klimeschi to eight plant volatiles, including nonanal, 2-methylbutanal, decanal, 2-hydroxybenzaldehyde, (Z)-3-hexen-1-ol benzoate, methyl benzoate, methyl salicylate, and geraniol were tested at various concentrations. Behavioural responses of female and male adults to various concentrations of these eight plant volatiles were also determined using a Y-tube olfactometer. We then tested the effectiveness of these compounds as lures for trapping T. klimeschi in the field. Electroantennogram tests showed that T. klimeschi possesses olfactory sensitivity for eight compounds. Additionally, walking T. klimeschi exhibited attraction to low concentrations (≤ 1 μg/μL) of all eight compounds in Y-tube olfactometer. Field experiment results indicated that baits composed of each volatile compound alone were more attractive to greater numbers of T. klimeschi than the control. The methyl benzoate bait was better attracted by T. klimeschi than other tested volatiles. These results suggest that these compounds could be used in attraction of this stem-boring pest. This study could have important implications for the development of an effective semiochemical-based management tool for T. klimeschi in the field.

Description of structures of all three larval instars of Hydroporus (Heterosternuta) cocheconis Fall 1917 is presented. The chaetotaxy and porotaxy of the cephalic capsule, head appendages, legs, last abdominal segment, and urogomphi are discussed in detail. Hydroporus cocheconis is compared with Hydroporus (Heterosternuta) wickhami Zaitzev 1907. Both species share a very short and constricted siphon; this character state is suggested as a synapomorphy of the subgenus Heterosternuta Strand 1935.

The daily pattern of oviposition, the rank order of oviposition preference for three potential hosts, and the effect of experience on oviposition preference were investigated under natural abiotic conditions in the obliquebanded leafroller, Choristoneura rosaceana. Females from the two adult cohorts occurring seasonally oviposited between 0400 and 2400 hours, with peak oviposition around 2000 hours. Both non-choice and choice oviposition trials revealed that the apple and snowberry hosts were preferred over wild rose. Oviposition preference resulted in delays in laying on the less preferred host, but seemed to have no effect on clutch size. Females caged with exclusive access to one of the three hosts appeared to have similar lifetime fecundity or longevity. A first oviposition on wild rose resulted in a delay in laying a second clutch on that host, which suggests the presence of aversive learning that could function to reduce the liklihood of laying successive clutches on a less preferred host. A first oviposition on the apple host, however, seemed to have no effect on further oviposition preference. Hence, it appears that learning would not function specifically to concentrate foraging of the females within apple orchards.

Fourteen coniferous feeding species of Argyresthia in Canada are dealt with. The following seven species are described as new: canadensis n. sp., Quebec; mariana n. sp., Ontario; columbia n. sp., British Columbia; picea n. sp., Ontario, Quebec, Yukon Territory; abies, n. sp., Ontario; tsuga n. sp., British Columbia; pseudotsuga n. sp., British Columbia. Two species, confused under the name freyella Walsingham, are distinguished. A key is given to the species.

Patterns of seasonal abundance of Colorado potato beetle, Leptinotarsa decemlineata (Say), potato flea beetle, Epitrix cucumeris (Harris), potato leafhopper, Empoasca fabae (Harris), and aphids on potato cv. Norland are reported for the 1983–1985 growing seasons in southern Manitoba. Each year, Colorado potato beetles and potato flea beetles underwent one generation on the crop. There were two peaks of leafhopper abundance in 1983 and 1984, but only one was evident in 1985. Aphid populations rose to a single peak in August of each year.

In experimental plots in the absence of insecticides, Colorado potato beetles completely defoliated plants in two seasons out of the three. In commercial fields, insecticide sprays applied in July and early August greatly reduced populations of Colorado potato beetles for the rest of the season, and there was no defoliation at harvest. Insecticides had less effect on potato flea beetle populations. Leafhopper and aphid populations were small at the time of spraying.

The specific impact of the aphid Macrosiphum euphorbiae (Thomas) on seedlings of common flax, Linum usitatissimum L., is 3.317 mg/mg, quantified as the dry mass of plant tissue required to produce a unit of herbivore tissue. This measure of the efficiency of biomass conversion between trophic levels for the aphid–flax interaction is similar to that previously reported for seven species of aphid on monocotyledonous cereals (Poaceae), but lower than that for two species of aphid on a species of Brassicaceae, a dicotyledonous plant. Therefore, the interaction between M. euphorbiae and the dicot, flax, does not support the hypothesis that aphids have less impact on monocots than on dicots.

Vairimorpha necatrix (Kramer) readily infects and kills the European corn borer, Ostrinia nubilalis (Hübner), in the laboratory. The corn borer is either killed in the larval stage within a few days after infection by disruption of the midgut and septicemia or in the pupal stage by microsporidiosis. Insects that are not killed by V. necatrix have a reduced potential for pupation, emergence, and reproduction.

Despite their inert appearance, the wings of insects are living appendages and are supplied with blood. This is true for definitive wings as well as for developing ones, and for modified wings such as tegmina, elytra, hemelytra, and halteres as for those that are specialized for flight. Typically the blood circulates only through the wing veins, but in some insects it escapes into the surrounding membrane in certain areas, and in highly modified forms it may be entirely unconfined. The course of circulation is basically the same in the wings of most insects. It flows outward from the body in the costo-medial veins, moves toward the posterior margins via cross-veins, and returns to the body through the cubito-anal veins and axillary cord. However, rhe precise route followed is highly variable concomitant with distinctive patterns of venation in different taxonomic groups and with wing structure. This is illustrated for a number of orders.

We describe four new species of feather mites of the family Gabuciniidae collected from Accipitridae and Falconidae (Falconiformes) from South and North America. Three of these belong to new genera, Metagabuciniagen. nov. with one new species and Proaposolenidiagen. nov. with two new species. We also describe one new species of the genus Aposolenidia Gaud and Atyeo. The new species and host records are Aposolenidia striatasp. nov. from the pearl kite, Gampsonyx swainsonii Vigors, Metagabucinia caracaraesp. nov. from the red-throated caracara, Ibycter americanus (Boddaert), Proaposolenidia accipitrissp. nov. from the Cooper’s hawk, Accipiter cooperii (Bonaparte), and Proaposolenidia elanoidessp. nov. from the swallow-tailed kite, Elanoides forficatus (Linnaeus). Aposolenidia, Metagabucinia, and Proaposolenidia constitute a morphologically distinct group within the Gabuciniidae. This “Aposolenidia genus group” is characterized by the following features: bases of epimerites of legs I and II inflated, ball-shaped, heavily sclerotized, and connected by sclerotized dorsolateral bridges; tarsi of legs I and II with dorsal walls strongly thickened and dorsobasal part of tarsus I inflated. Members of this group coexist on falconiforms with other gabuciniid taxa that exhibit longer and more extensively sclerotized bodies, such as the genera Aetacarus Gaud and Atyeo, Hieracolichus Gaud and Atyeo, and Ramogabucinia Gaud and Atyeo.

Clover phyllody virus was transmitted from ladino clover to ladino clover by Paraphlepsius irroratus (Say). The preinfective period of the insect following acquisition of the virus was between 21 and 28 days. Nineteen of 25 plants fed on by leafhoppers that had completed their preinfective period became infected.

In Nova Scotia one leaf cluster with an adjoining 1 inch of twig taken from the inside of each of 10 apple trees replicated four times is an adequate sample unit to measure the density of the brown mite.

The brown mite has one generation with a partial second in some orchards and one with a partial second and partial third in others. The first generation adults in the bivoltine and trivoltine populations lay summer eggs on the leaves and twigs, and diapause eggs on tin twigs. The second generation adults in the bivoltine populations lay only diapause eggs; in the trivoltine populations they lay both summer and diapause eggs. The adults of the third generation lay only diapause eggs.

The brown mite is found on both the leaves and woody parts of the tree. In orchards with bivoltine populations the proportion of mites on leaves reached a peak of 80% by mid-July, but thereafter gradually decreased to 10% by the end of August. However, in orchards with trivoltine populations the proportion of mites on leaves reached a peak of 80 to 90% by mid-July, remained constant until mid-August, and thereafter decreased to approximately 40% by the end of August.

The number of diapause eggs laid by adults of each generation in both the bivoltine and trivoltine populations varies widely. The eggs are deposited on the trunk as well as on the branches, with the heaviest deposition in the central area of the tree. The diapause eggs laid by adults of the first generation are the last to hatch and those laid by the third generation are the first to hatch the following spring.

The factors responsible for the differences in the number of generations and in the number of diapause eggs laid are unknown.

The effect of density on host–parasite interactions between Hypera postica (Gyllenhal) and Bathyplectes anurus (Thomson) was studied in a caged system in the laboratory. There was no significant relationship between proportion of hosts parasitized and host density. The frequency distribution of the parasite’s eggs approximated the Poisson distribution in 83% of the cases. There was a quadratic relationship between number of superparasitized hosts and parasite density. However, no significant correlation between proportion superparasitized and host density was detected. The Nicholsonian area of discovery was inversely related to parasite density with a strong mutual interference constant of −.467.

Mature larvae of Pissodes strobi (Peck), Pissodes schwarzi Hopkins, Pissodes nemorensis Germar, and Pissodes terminalis Hopping are described and external morphology illustrated. A key to species is presented. A phylogenetic analysis is done using single- and multiple-outgroup comparisons, which both find trees of identical topology. Character states of clypeus pigmentation and premental sclerite shape putatively support a monophyletic relationship of the P. strobi complex.