The stalk-eyed fruit flies, with their eyes borne at the ends of long stalks, are distinctly different from all other members of the family Tephritidae (Diptera). They resemble stalk-eyed flies (Diptera, Diopsidae) but they are much larger and their antennae are located in the middle of the head instead of on the eye stalks. The stalk-eyed fruit flies are represented by two genera (Pelmatops Enderlein and Pseudopelmatops Shiraki) mainly found in the Oriental tropics and subtropics, but their basic biology remains poorly documented. Here, we describe the life history, reproductive biology, and host use patterns of Pelmatops spp. (mainly P. ichneumoneus (Westwood)). These flies used two local brambles, Rubus setchuenensis and R. multibracteatus (Rosales, Rosaceae), as hosts, with females laying eggs below the epidermal tissue.The larvae bore into the stem, where they feed, eventually dropping to the ground to pupate in the soil. We describe the pupal morphology and eclosion, including the elongation of their eye stalks, feeding, mating, and agonistic behavior in adults. We observed mating between female P. ichneumoneus and male P. tangliangi and tentatively suggest that the two species could be conspecific. Our work presents the first detailed report on the biology of stalk-eyed fruit flies and it lays a significant foundation for future studies on the ecology and evolution of this group.

Ptelea trifoliata L., is a North American tree that supports insect communities through floral rewards. Our objectives were to determine the importance of insects as pollinators of P. trifoliata; describe the community of floral visiting insects of P. trifoliata in Iowa, where no such information was available; and to note insect preferences for male or female flowers. Over two years, inflorescences on 13 trees were covered with mesh bags before blooming and the amount of fruit produced was compared to uncovered inflorescences from the same trees. In one year, insects were collected from male and female trees with an insect vacuum every 3 h between 7 am and 7 pm from four sites in Iowa, USA between 30 May and 16 June 2020. In 2019 and 2020, almost no fruit set occurred from inflorescences covered with mesh bags while an average of 51.2 fruits formed on unbagged inflorescences (P < 0.0001), suggesting insects larger than the 600 µm pore diameters mesh were responsible for pollination of P. trifoliata. Insects from five orders, 49 families, and at least 109 species were collected. Most insects were Hymentoptera (48.3%) or Diptera (28.2%). Male flowers attracted 62.3% of all insects collected. Since most of the insects found visiting P. trifoliata were not bees, the floral rewards of the flowers may be a valuable resource for a wide variety of insects in the central United States.

Recent research has shown that a subterranean termite (Coptotermes formosanus Shiraki) is dependent on dietary nitrogen in order to fulfill it's nitrogen requirements for colony growth and development. Crypototermes brevis (Walker) was chosen as a model for comparison, as it has no access to dietary nitrogen outside of it's wood diet. A full nitrogen inventory before and after colony growth was conducted in order to determine the species' dependence on atmospheric N₂ fixation. In addition, an expression assay was conducted for a gene encoding a nitrogenase subunit (nifH). Nitrogenase expression was then compared between C. formosanus and Cr. brevis. Results showed that N₂ fixation was an important source of nitrogen acquisition for Cr. brevis, and nitrogenase expression was approximately four-fold higher in Cr. brevis than in C. formosanus. The nitrogenase assay used in this study is proposed as a potential tool to measure dependence on N₂ fixation versus dietary nitrogen roles in diverse species of termite.

Cotesia chilonis (Munakata) is the predominant parasitic wasp of Chilo suppressalis Walker (Lepidoptera: Pyralidea), a major rice pest in China. As climate change continues to intensify, C. chilonis and C. suppressalis must adapt to the increased frequency of adverse temperatures. In this study, the novel Cchsp90-2 was isolated and characterized from C. chilonis. The full-length Cchsp90-2 cDNA was 2689 bp and encoded 728 amino acids with an isoelectric point of 4.93. Cchsp90-2 encodes three heat shock protein 90 (HSP90) family signatures, and the alignment of genomic and cDNA sequences revealed that Cchsp90-2 does not contain introns. Real-time quantitative PCR revealed that Cchsp90-2 was induced in eggs and adults; however, larvae and pupae showed no significant differences in Cchsp90-2 expression levels. Cchsp90-2 was induced at both high and low temperatures, with very high expression levels after a 2-h exposure to 33°C or –13°C. This study provides insight into the mechanistic basis of thermal tolerance in C. chilonis and has implications for deploying this wasp to control C. suppressalis.