Cerceris fumipennis (Say, 1837) (Hymenoptera: Crabronidae) is a solitary ground-nesting wasp that uses adult buprestid beetles to provision nests. It is being used as a detection tool for the invasive buprestid, Agrilus planipennis F., the emerald ash borer. Modeling the degree days necessary for emergence of the wasp will aid in that effort. During 2010 and 2011, 27 and 23 soil temperature probes, respectively, were deployed at C. fumipennis colonies in three US states and Ontario, Canada. Sites were monitored daily for wasp emergence. Degree-day models were constructed using the soil temperature data from the probes and air temperature data available on the internet from nearby weather stations. Our base temperature for degree-day accumulation for C. fumipennis was 10°C. The average soil degree days needed for emergence was 696.2 ± 16.8. The average air degree days needed for emergence was 463.73 ± 14.01. To measure the performance of the air degree-day model, we tested the model against a set of 24 distinct sites for which emergence dates were known from 2010–2012. The average difference in date at which the predicted degree days were accumulated, and that at which wasps emerged at a site was—0.15 d, with a median value of 1 d. This provides a narrow window to monitor for emergence using readily available data, air temperature, which is more efficient and cost effective than driving to colonies weekly or daily to ascertain wasp activity.

The Chinese scorpion, Mesobuthus martensii (Karsch, 1879), is a medically important arthropod, with its venom representing a rich resource for bioactive molecules. Very little is known about the natural enemies of scorpion, albeit some populations are on the verge of extinction due to human over-exploitation. In this study, we found, for the first time, that a medically and forensically important flesh fly, Sarcophaga dux (Thompson, 1869), can parasitize M. martensii in China.We identified the flesh flies by both morphology and DNA-based methods employing the mitochondrial cytochrome C oxidase I gene. Our phylogenetic analyses indicated that S. dux was not monophyletic with respect to Sarcophaga aegyptica (Salem, 1935) and Sarcophaga harpax (Pandellé , 1896), and was comprised of two distinct mitochondrial lineages. The flesh flies infesting the Chinese scorpion formed one of the paraphyletic lineages of S. dux. These lineages together with S. aegyptica and S. harpax represented a species complex with genetic distances ranging from 1.0 to 1.5%. Our findings suggested that S. dux was capable of larviposition nocturnally.

We report that male Japanese beetles produce substrate-borne vibrational signals during mating. Males produced these signals while mounted on the female, mainly before genital intromission but also during intromission and afterwards during mate guarding. Females thus likely perceive male signals as contact courtship. We also describe new details of male mating behavior, including stroking the female with the forelegs.We discuss the likely function of male signaling and stroking behavior as courtship in the context of pre- and postcopulatory sexual selection.

Understanding the factors that constrain or promote symbiotic microbial communities gives a clearer picture of the niches that can be occupied by a host organism. Many insects harbor symbiotic microbes that can alter various aspects of insect behavior and biology including digestion, sex determination, and pathogen defense. Habitat diversity has a major influence on insect and microbial diversity within an environment. In the current study, we assessed how habitat biodiversity affects the bacterial species richness within the gastrointestinal tract of insects. We measured species abundance of plants and insects present in three replicated habitats (prairie, pasture, and maize fields) that inherently represent a continuum of biological diversities. Gut bacterial symbiont diversity of the crickets Gryllus pennsylvanicus Burmeister and Allonemobius sp. (Orthoptera: Gryllidae) were described using terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis of rRNA genes. The resulting data show that gut bacterial diversity of both cricket species is positively correlated with biodiversity according to habitat type. This demonstrates that microbial diversity within insect gastrointestinal tracts, and possibly their functions within these insects, is tied to the biodiversity within the habitats where insects live. These results have important implications as to how reductions in habitat biodiversity may affect the ecological functions and services that the remaining species can perform.

Nectar larcenists target flowers with a long nectar spur. The western prairie fringed orchid, Platanthera praeclara Sheviak and Bowles (Orchidaceae), has a 50-mm-long spur and is pollinated by hawk moth (Lepidoptera: Sphingidae) species with tongues that are shorter than the spur.We placed net traps above inflorescences at P. praeclara sites in southeastern North Dakota to survey potential nectar larcenists, including hawk moth thieves (2004–2014) and bumble bee robbers (2007–2014).We captured two hawk moths, Manduca quinquemaculata (Haworth) and Agrius cingulata (F.), that have tongues over twice the length of P. praeclara's spur. Also captured were eight bumble bee species (genus Bombus), which may produce the holes discovered in P. praecala's spur. Holes triggered loss of the spur and its nectar. In 2007, 2013, and 2014, robbery was observed in 10, 60, and 37% flowers per plant, respectively. At the flower level, robbery had a positive effect on removal of pollinaria and no effect on pollen deposition or seed capsule production. Based on results of an experiment, we propose that P. praeclara deploys variable nectar rewards across the inflorescence to promote a balance of selfing and outcrossing pollination. We expect less harm to this strategy from a robber bee satisfied by feeding on a single flower and more harm from a hawk moth thief that removes nectar from every flower of the inflorescence. Experiments are needed to determine whether nectar larceny is creating problems for conservation and recovery of P. praeclara, a threatened species in the United States and Canada.

The evolution of tritrophic interactions requires adaptations of natural enemies to both herbivorous hosts and host foodplants that can ultimately lead to the formation of locally adapted populations, host races, or ecological species. To situate our model organism, Cotesia congregata (Say), within this spectrum, we estimated genetic differentiation of wasps originating from two common host—foodplant complexes, Manduca sexta L. on tobacco (“MsT”) and Ceratomia catalpae (Haworth) on catalpa (“CcC”). To test the hypothesis that C. congregata associated with these host—foodplant, complexes were genetically differentiated even where they occur in sympatry, we experimentally introduced tobacco at an established “catalpa site” for two consecutive years and compared wasps collected at this site with wasps collected from allopatric tobacco and catalpa sites in the mid-Atlantic region of North America. Using seven microsatellite loci and the mitochondrial COI locus, we found differences in microsatellite allele frequencies based on host—foodplant complex (Φ_PT values 0.47–0.50 among populations from different host—foodplant complexes), but not based on geographic location (mean Φ_PT=0.03). COI haplotypes of MsTand CcC wasps exhibited ∼2% sequence divergence, even where the host—food complexes were colocated within meters at the experimental site. Results indicate that MsT and CcC wasps represent distinct genetic lineages that are most likely incipient or nascent species with limited gene flow.

Parasitic wasps are among the most speciose of all animals yet the drivers and mechanisms underlying their remarkable diversity are not well understood. Cotesia congregata (Say) and host, Manduca sexta (L.), have long-served as a model system for host-parasite and tritrophic interactions at multiple levels, as well as the evolution of symbiotic coevolved bracoviruses that suppress host defenses to parasitism. We investigated potential barriers to reproduction between two genetically differentiated host-foodplant complex sources of C. congregata originating from caterpillar hosts, M. sexta on tobacco (“MsT wasps”) or Ceratomia catalpae (Boisduval) on catalpa (“CcC wasps”). Both MsT and CcC wasps displayed ∼30% lower responses to cuticular washes of females from the alternate complex. Male courtship songs differed with respect to frequency, absolute amplitude, and duration of song elements. Despite differences in courtship behaviors, MsT and CcC wasps mated and produced offspring in the laboratory. However, mating success of F₁ MsT♂ × CcC♀ wasps was lower and fitness of F₁ CcC♂×MsT♀ hybrids was greatly reduced due to encapsulation and melanization of wasp eggs in M. sexta. Heritable differences in brood size and secondary sex ratios of emergent adults indicate hostspecific adaptations. Overall, results demonstrate the evolution and accumulation of both pre- and postzygotic barriers to reproduction, two of which are asymmetrical, and offer additional support that MsT and CcC wasp are incipient species.

Terrestrial invasions of the aquatic environment are evolutionarily rare and involve significant morphological and behavioral adaptations. The Hawaiian endemic moth genus Hyposmocoma have truly amphibious larvae, and the genus has several convergent examples of adaptations to an aquatic environment. The study of a terrestrial species, Hyposmocoma ochrociliata Walsingham, and an aquatic species, Hyposmocoma kahamanoa Schmitz and Rubinoff, provides a template for understanding how general larval morphology, including chaetotaxy, exterior larval friction pads, thoracic legs, and extrinsic leg musculature, might impact significant ecological adaptations in the genus. The case diversity of Hyposmocoma is summarized and a detailed study of the burrito and cone type cases is discussed. The general larval morphology between the two studied species is not large, and we observed only slight differences in chaetotaxy, friction pad location, and thoracic sclerotizations. We suggest that the differences in friction pad placement on the larval body are linked to the larval case type and may support the independent evolution of the different larval cases. The musculature and internal sclerotizations suggest that Hyposmocoma display morphological adaptations to an atypical antiphase or tripod gait. Furthermore, the observation that H. kahamanoa has two extra trochanteral extensors and an extra trochanteral flexors suggests that extrinsic thoracic leg musculature could be informative in future studies on the gait type of Hyposmocoma. The largest morphological differences between the larval cases of two studied species suggest that the cases may be part of the secret to Hyposmocoma's unprecedented diversity.

The classical model of juvenile hormone (JH)-mediated wing polymorphism was proposed in the early 1960s, and numerous studies have tested this model using exogenous hormone treatment. However, this indirect method may yield misleading results, necessitating direct quantification of JH titers in insects. In this study, the effects of JH application on wing development and comparisons of hemolymph JH titers between presumptive long-winged (LW) and short-winged (SW) nymphs in the cricket Velarifictorus aspersus (Walker) are investigated. The results show that treatment of presumptive LW nymphs with high-dose JH III significantly decreases the percentage of macropterous individuals during the penultimate and first half of the last stadia, indicating that exogenous JH III can suppress wing development in V. aspersus and that the last two stadia are critical periods for wing determination. However, application of precocene to presumptive SW nymphs does not induce macropterizing effects, and JH III titers are not significantly higher in presumptive SW females than in presumptive LW females during the critical period of wing development. Therefore, this model may not be applicable to this species and the brachypterizing effects associated with JH application may be induced by affecting other innate factors rather than by direct JH titers in hemolymph.

Acanthiophilus Becker (Diptera: Tephritidae) is a fruit fly genus currently with 10 species, all of which restricted to flowerheads of plants in the family Asteraceae. Most species in the genus are limited to the Afrotropical Region, but Acanthiophilus helianthi (Rossi) is also widespread in the Palearctic Region, where it is considered to be a major pest of safflower. No information on the life history of any of the species other than A. helianthi has been available so far, and the phylogeny and geographic origin of the genus have never been investigated. In this work, we revised Acanthiophilus based on a thorough morphological and cladistic study of the 10 described and three undescribed species and provide a key and illustrations for all of them.We describe Acanthiophilus minor, n. sp., Acanthiophilus summissus, n. sp., and Acanthiophilus unicus, n. sp., and reassign Acanthiophilus astrophorus Hering, Acanthiophilus coarctatus Hering, Acanthiophilus kohleri Hering, Acanthiophilus melanoxanthus Hering, and Acanthiophilus trypaneodes Hering to other genera. The immature stages of Acanthiophilus brunneus Munro are described and illustrated for the first time, and new host plants are recorded for A. brunneus, A. ciconia Munro, A. helianthi, Acanthiophilus lugubris Hering, and A. minor n. sp. Our cladistic analysis supports the taxonomic conclusions and actions, as well as the monophyly of Acanthiophilus as defined here. A dispersal-vicariance analysis suggests that the genus originated in Africa and dispersed from it to other parts of the world following climate changes and the dispersal of its host plants.

Subsociality is known in 35 species in 10 genera of the chrysomelid subfamilies Cassidinae and Chrysomelinae. In Cassidinae, the behavior is clustered in two tribes, Eugenysini and Mesomphaliini, but unknown biologies of many of these species limit fine-scaled resolution of the origins and diversity of this interesting behavior. We report three new records of subsocial Cassidinae, Eugenysa martae Borowiec in Colombia, Omaspides (Omaspides) clathrata L. in French Guiana, and Paraselenis (S.) aulica in Brazil. Females guard larvae and pupae; larvae retain exuvio-fecal shields in some stages. Longer-term study of P. (S.) aulica on the host Ipomoea (Convolvulaceae) revealed that eggs, larvae, and pupae are gregarious and guarded by the female. Larvae lose the defensive exuvio-fecal shields in older instars. Females will mate despite being occupied with brood care. A wasp, Emersonella sp. (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae), and a tachinid fly (Diptera) were observed associated with and reared from juveniles. Our report increases the dataset of documented subsocial cassidines to 26 species, with 23 in Mesomphaliini and three in Eugenysini.