The Douglas-fir beetle (Dendroctonus pseudotsugae Hopkins) (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) antiaggregation pheromone, 3-methylcyclohex-2-en-1-one (MCH), has been used since 2000 to protect high-value trees and stands throughout western North America. Operational treatments involve placing individual releasers on a 12 m × 12 m grid throughout the area to be protected. In this study, six widely spaced trap lines were established with aggregation attractant–baited traps located 1, 3, 9, 27, and 81 m from a location where an operational MCH release device was alternately either present or absent, and changes in catches caused by the MCH device were assessed at all distances. Trap catches were suppressed by about 70% at one and three metres, by 50% at nine metres, by 30% at 27 m, and not at all at 81 m. Inhibition by the MCH device varied with distance (m) from the source according to the function 0.79 − 0.092x0.51 (R2 = 0.986). Decline of attractant inhibition with distance from the MCH device was much less steep than would have been expected if catch inhibition had varied directly with the average airborne concentration of MCH.

During his study of the ecology of red pine plantations, Mr. J. L. Martin, Forest Insect Laboratory, Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, found a species of Laspeyresia feeding as larvae under the bark of living trees. This species is described here to enable him to report on the results of his investigation.

Laspeyresia resinosae, new species

Antenna, head, thorax, and abdomen powdery-grey. Basal half of forewing grey; outer half blackish, with cupreous reflections, the tips of the scales ochreous; outer three-fifths of costa with four pairs of silvery-white geminations; the basal pair of geminations fuse into a single, angular, transverse, shiny-leaden fascia, that extends to the trailing margin just beyond the middle; a similar fascia arises from the second costal geminations, and extends only to the fold; a third leaden fascia arises from the apical geminations, extends irregularly to the tornus, and is broken into three almost equal sections; the central portions of the second and third fasciae are narrowly margined with a few black scales, representing a very poorly defined ocelloid patch; outer margin with a very distinct black line basad to the shiny leaden fringe; the black line cut by three white dashes, two opposite the breaks in the outer, transverse fascia, and the third at the tornal end of that fascia. Hind wing powdery-grey; fringe dirty-white with darker basal line. Under-surface and legs silvery-grey. Tarsi black banded. Wingspread: 9.5-10.5 mm. Moth in late June and early July.

The last-instar nymph of the nabid Lasiomerus annulatus (Reuter) is described for the first time and a diagnosis of the adult is presented. Its geographical distribution is detailed and the northern limit of its range in North America is established at 45 °37′N latitude. New phenological and ecological information is provided based on collections made in Québec from 1979 to 1985 and the bioecology is discussed, especially with regard to habitat preferences and phenological cycle.

The Nearctic species of Diadegma that have the abdomen compressed and the propodeum produced beyond the base of the hind coxa are treated as a complex composed of three species groups. A key to groups and species is provided. Two previously described species, D. stenosomus (Vier.) and D. aestivalis (Vier.), and ten new species are described and discussed from the standpoint of their taxonomy, distribution, and host relationships.

The large yellow underwing moth, Noctua pronuba (L.), was first recorded as occurring in Canada by Wright and Neil (1983), when a single specimen was taken at a porch light in Halifax, Nova Scotia, 7 July 1979. Since then the species has become prevalent throughout eastern Nova Scotia. In Newfoundland, this moth was first taken at Kilbride in 1984 in a light trap and in subsequent years it was caught in light traps at Goulds and Mt. Pearl (Table 1). A total of 17 moths have been taken in light traps to date, and all but one were males. In the Palearctic, N. pronuba (L.) has been reported from North Africa through western Europe to Finland and Iceland (Wright and Neil 1983).

Moths of the genus Pseudexentera are early-season fliers that include three species of economic importance: P. spoliana (Clemens) on oak (Quercus), P. oregonana (Walsingham) on aspen (Populus), and P. mali Freeman on apple (Malus). GC and GC/MS analysis, EAG and behavioral bioassays, and field tests confirmed that Z10-16:Ac is an attractive sex pheromone component of female P. spoliana. Capillary GC analysis supported by GC/MS also indicated the presence of 16:Ac, Z10-16:OH, and 16:OH in pheromone extracts and there was tentative GC evidence for Z12-16:Ac. However, addition of these compounds to Z10-16:Ac in various blends did not enhance male attraction. The major sex pheromone component of female P. oregonana is Z8-14:Ac. There was also GC and GC/MS evidence for Z8-14:OH and tentative GC evidence for 14:Ac in the pheromone of this species. Their addition to Z8-14:Ac failed to increase moth catches in baited traps. Pseudexentera mali males were attracted by Z,Z-8,10-16:Ac, a previously reported sex pheromone of this species. Pheromone lures targeted for each species were not cross-attractive.

Robinsonia Grotei, sp. nov.—Head white, posteriorly shaded with yellow. Collar white, with a central brown spot. Thorax brown, with a central white line; patagia white, larerally edged with brown. Abdomen dorsally brownish-yellow, with a subdorsal row of small white spots, and a lateral row of small black spots; underneath whitish. Primaries above white, with the margins broadly brown, except at the apex, where the white extends to the fringe; an oblique brown band, from the costal margin at a third from the base to the inner angle, separates the white into two large spaces. Secondaries white, Primaries underneath white, showing indistinctly the markings of the upper surface.

Tiger beetles of the Genus Cicindela (Coleoptera: Cicindelidae) apparently have few natural enemies. About seven per cent of the larvae of Cicindela scutellaris lecontei Hald, are parasitized by larvae of Spongostylum anale Say (Diptera: Bombyliidae) according to Shelford (1909, 1913). Frick (1957) notes egg deposirion by a “small black bombyliid fly” in the larval burrows of Cicindela in Washington State. Wallis (196l) has seen large asilid flies capture tiger beetles on the wing. He believes that the asilids attack only while the Cicindela are in flight and vulnerable areas are exposed; the beak is inserted in the softer parts just behind the scutellum.

Importations into North America of shipments of broom corn (Sorghum vugare var. technicum) have always been a source of anxiety to plant quarantine officials. It is well known that the European corn borer, Pyrausta nubilalis Hbn., was almost certainly introduced onto this continent in this commodity (22), a surmise which receives perennial support from the continued finding of this species in consignments from various parts of Europe. Broom corn is usually imported in bales weighing from 100 to 250 pounds each, (Figures 1 and 2) which contain both the brush and anything up to 12 inches of stalk necessary for the proper binding of the broom. It is interesting to note that in the country of origin, after the broom corn is harvested, it is dried and curcd and is then usually subected to the fumes of burning sulphur overnight in a closed room in order to bring about, through bleaching, a uniform yellowish colour desired in the trade. None of these treatments have any appreciable effect on the populations of living borers found in the stalks. In addition to insect pests which feed in or on broom corn as a normal host, other species may use the borings of the normal pests as sites of hibernation or pupation. Under some conditions, no doubt, stalks may be left lying in the field for some time prior to harvesting, and thus constitute a refuge for many potential pests.

The Simulium arcticum Malloch sibling (IIS-10.11), which breeds in the Athabasca River (Procunier et al. 1984), is a major pest of cattle in central Alberta (Haufe and Croome 1980). Insecticide treatment of the river is the primary control method with the number of applications per season having increased from one to two treatments since 1978. The timing and number of applications per season are determined from information on larval instar and abundance, which is obtained from an extensive larval monitoring program that is conducted annually from late April to mid-September. Prediction of embryonic development and hatching rates of S. arcticum (IIS-10.11) eggs and when eggs enter diapause would provide for more accurate determination of the timing and number of treatments required each season.

Ticks of various species are among the most important of the pests of animals, not only because of their direct effects as parasites, but also as a result of maladies they carry. Moreover, they are predisposing agents for attacks by important secondary invaders, such as foot-rot and screw-worm flies.

1. An albino male Colias Philodice.

I received this example from Mr. H. E. Wilford, of Batavia, N.Y., last fall. Mr. Scudder, Butt. N.E., p. 1285, says:-“Instances of albinism are confined, so far as we yet know, to the Rhodoceridi” (which term he uses to include Colias, under his name of Eurymus). “and to the female sex.” In colour this male is white, with no tint of yellow; the borders of both wings are of median width, and solid—in all respects like the usual border of the yellow male.

While studying the types of the Crambinae in the National Museum of Natural History, Washington, DC, I came across an odd-looking specimen with a crambine facies but with a very faint wing pattern unlike any crambine I had ever seen. A note that it was probably a member of the Pyraustinae (Pyralidae) had been written by A.B. Klots on the label of the female genitalia slide (prepared by Carl Heinrich on 30 August 1930). Closer examination showed that the tympana1 organs were of the pyraustine type, with the praecinctorium bilobed. Upon my request, E.G. Munroe examined the specimen and discovered that it belonged to the genus Udea Guenée in the Pyraustinae. The specimen is the type of Platytes aenigmatica Heinrich (1931), a species described in the Crambinae (Pyralidae). It is here transferred to the genus Udea as Udea aenigmatica (Heinrich), new combination. Because this name was classified incorrectly, the species was not treated by Munroe (1966) or included in Munroe (1983).

Eudamus coyate: Expands 2⅛i inches. Primaries dark glossy brown, several shades darker than Eudam. bathyllus; fringes of same colour as the wings. The apices of the wings run more to a point than in other species of the genus. There are no markings on the primaries, although there are some very faint indications of markings, which are not brought out by transmitted light. Secondaries immaculate and same colour as primaries, but with well marked dirty white fringes.

For the first time the male of Sirex juvencus californicus (Ashmead) (= Sirex obesus Bradley, new synonymy) is described; the female is redescribed. Biological notes on this subspecies are included, together with a key to the California species of the genus.