The third-instar larvae of four Anomala species: A. cincta Say, A. forreri Bates, A. sticticoptera Blanchard, and A. discoidalis Bates from Mexico are described and diagnostic characters of the species are illustrated. The third-instar of two Callistethus species: C. vidua (Newman) and C. cupricollis (Blanchard) from Mexico are also described and illustrated. The pupa of A. cincta is described. These six species are included in a key to the larvae of North American and Mexican Anomalini, which now includes four genera and 20 species. The use of larval morphology in the taxonomy of Anomalini is briefly discussed. Data on larval biology and life cycle of the six species are also provided.

Apidaurus, a neotropical alydine genus, is revised. Apidaurus conspersus Stål is redescribed and Apidaurus triguttatus Berg synonymized with it (new synonymy); Apidaurus longitylus Schaefer and Schaffner new species is described, and the two species are keyed. The fifth instar of A. conpsersus is briefly described. The genital capsule of Apidaurus is also described, and its homologies with structures of other alydine genital capsules are discussed. Apidaurus conspersus occurs from southern Texas into southern Brazil, and A. longitylus from French Guiana into Brazil; the two species overlap in Paraguay. The phylogenetic relationships of the genus, and of the two species, are discussed.

The edaphic genus Hesperotyphlus Coiffait is distributed exclusively in the western Iberian peninsula. Several groups of species are proposed, based mainly on Coiffait’s publications. A key to species of the Hesperotyphlus besucheti Coiffait group is provided. Hesperotyphlus reyesae n. sp., belonging to the latter group, is described from Galicia (Spain). Among the H. besucheti group, H. reyesae is close to H. novoai Outerelo based on similarities between the male genitalia. The species was found in an Atlantic deciduous forest, living in the humus layer. Male genitalia and other morphological features of several species are illustrated.

Variation in sperm precedence was examined in the Colorado potato beetle, Leptinotarsa decemlineata Say, using neutral allozyme markers. Two temporal components were studied: (1) pairing duration and (2) time since initial pairing. We used two pairing protocols that differed in the time males and females were allowed to mate for first and second pairings. When pairings were limited to 8 h each for the first and second male, the proportion of offspring in the xth egg mass attributable to the second male, P2(x), rose from 68% in the first egg mass after pairing with the second male to 78% in the tenth egg mass. When pairing was extended so that the first male-female pair had time to produce three egg masses and the second male was allowed to remain with the female indefinitely, P2(x) rose from 44% in the first egg mass after pairing with the second male to nearly 100% in the third and subsequent egg masses. Observations that (1) multiple matings are necessary to fill the female’s spermatheca and (2) the last male accounts for a greater proportion of offspring with time, provide evidence for both the sperm mixing and sperm displacement hypotheses. These data also help to explain male-guarding behavior in Colorado potato beetle. Because the allozyme markers were shown to be neutral with respect to fitness, other aspects of mating behavior could be tested by establishing a similar series of unique lines.

The root weevils Diaprepes abbreviatus (L.) and Pachnaeus litus (Germar) are both pests of Florida horticulture, but D. abbreviatus is a regulated exotic species that causes severe damage whereas P. litus is considered a minor pest. Egg masses of these two weevil species are indistinguishable when they are detected on host plants. Two approaches to differentiating the egg masses are described herein. Total genomic DNAs extracted from D. abbreviatus and P. litus were used for polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification and the PCR products were sequenced to obtain the 2014-bp sequence of the complete 18S rRNA gene for each species. A 446-bp region amplified from the 5′ end of the 18S rDNA of P. litus contained a restriction fragment-length polymorphism marker, an extra BstU I recognition site that was not present in D. abbreviatus. Agarose gel electrophoresis of the restriction enzyme-digested PCR products produced a restriction pattern that enabled differentiation of the egg masses. Additionally, two species-specific reverse primers were designed to exploit a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) that occurred at the restriction fragment-length polymorphism marker site. These reverse primers differed only by a single nucleotide at the 3′ end. When used in concert with a standard 18S rDNA forward primer, each species-specific reverse primer distinctly amplified a 256-bp product only when the correct genomic DNA was present.

Ambush bugs, Phymata pennsylvanica Handlirsch (Heteroptera: Phymatidae), are generalist sit-and-wait predators commonly found hunting on old-field flowers in the Northeastern United States. Individuals will often probe flowers for long periods, suggesting that the bugs are feeding on nectar. The objective of the reported studies was to examine the ambush bug’s ability to detect and use simulated and real nectar as food. In a field experiment, ambush bugs that were restricted without prey on inflorescences survived longer than bugs restricted to nonflowering sites, thus indicating that the bugs were able to gain nutritive material directly from flowers. In laboratory choice tests, individuals were more likely to drink from a dilute sucrose-solution than from a plain water solution, indicating that the bugs were able to identify nectar as a food resource. Last, individuals provided with sucrose-solution in laboratory feeding trials survived significantly longer in the absence of prey than individuals given only plain water or nothing and also lost mass at a slower rate. However, juveniles could not molt past any instar in which they had fed on only sucrose solution. As with many other generalist predatory arthropods, then, plant-feeding in nature likely allows ambush bugs to survive longer when prey are scarce, but plant food alone is likely to be nutritionally insufficient for normal growth and development. Further research to examine patterns of prey scarcity and possible trade-offs between the consumption of nectar and the consumption of prey will help to clarify the overall role of nectar-feeding in ambush bug ecology.

The life cycle of Kurosaia jiju, a mite phoretic on the mason wasp Anterhynchium flavomarginatum micado, is described based on the results of field observations and artificial rearing of the host. One to two deutonymphs of the mite, on average, disembarked from a female wasp and migrated into a host cell while the host was laying an egg or provisioning the cell with prey. The deutonymphs quickly molted to tritonymphs and then to female adults, which copulated with their single sons (small-type males) that they produced ovoviviparously and laid a mean of ≈300 eggs for about 1 wk. Tritonymphs and adults fed on hemolymph of prey provisioned by the wasp and facultatively on host larvae, whereas larvae and protonymphs scavenged various organic debris, including prey feces. Eggs of the mite hatched when nonoverwintering prepupal host turned into pupae, and then larval mites molted to protonymphs on the host pupae. Protonymphs became deutonymphs 12–24 h before host eclosion, and they attached to specific parts of adult host surface. On overwintering hosts, deutonymphs made dense aggregations composed of 50–300 individuals on the ventral surface of the thorax of prepupal hosts during winter. Venereal transmission of deutonymphal mites between host sexes was common. The mite gave no apparent detrimental or beneficial effects on fertility, immature survival, or development of the host. The biology of K. jiju is compared with related mites from the viewpoint of parasite–host interaction are discussed.

Archips fuscocupreanus Walsingham (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) is an eastern Asian leafroller that recently was detected in Connecticut and Massachusetts. Based on males captured in pheromone traps between 1998 and 2000, A. fuscocupreanus inhabits five northeastern coastal states between Massachusetts and New Jersey. In Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New York, larvae had a broad host range, feeding on 87 plants in 15 families. Fifty-nine hosts (67.8%) were in the Rosaceae, the plant family that includes economically important pome and stone fruits. In outdoor cages, adult females laid a similar number of egg masses on five different species of potted fruit trees that are grown widely. At The Arnold Arboretum in Massachusetts, larval abundance was highest on Ilex verticillata (L.) Gray (3.4 larvae per plant) although it was statistically similar to that on four rosaceous species (1.0–1.8 larvae per plant), and significantly higher than that on another 12 rosaceous trees (0–0.5 larvae per plant). In an insecticide-free apple orchard at Hamden, Connecticut, males flew for 4–5 wk between mid-June and mid-July 2000–2001. Based on its broad host range in the United States and on its development of insecticide resistance in Japan, A. fuscocupreanus poses a threat to the fruit and nursery industries in North America.

Deraeocoris nigritulus (Uhler) is often collected from the cones of Virginia pine, Pinus virginiana. Most species of Deraeocoris are predacious, but whether this plant bug is phytophagous or predacious is not known. To better understand the feeding adaptations of this mirid, the digestive enzymes from the salivary glands and anterior midgut were analyzed, and the mouthpart stylets were investigated with scanning electron microscopy. Evidence of a trypsin-like enzyme, a chymotrypsin-like enzyme, and pectinase were found in the salivary glands. Low levels of trypsin-like, chymotrypsin-like, elastase-like, pectinase, and α-amylase activities, as well as high levels of α-glucosidase activity, were found in the anterior midgut. The right maxillary stylet has two rows of at least seven strongly recurved teeth in front of at least three weakly recurved teeth on the inner surface, all pointing away from the head. Therefore, this insect is equipped with digestive enzymes and mouthparts mainly adapted for zoophagy.

The number, external morphology, and distribution of antennal sensilla of Zamagiria dixolopella Dyar were determined by light and scanning electron microscopy. The antennal flagellum of both sexes has six types of sensilla: trichodea (subtypes I and II), chaetica, coeloconica, styloconica, auricillica, and squamiformia. There is sexual dimorphism in the antennae of Z. dixolophella. The male antenna has a tuft of hairs or modified scales at its base and one protuberance for each segment in the first seven segments, below the tuft of hairs or modified scales. These structures are not present in the female antenna. We believe that these structures have not been reported previously in Pyralidae. Sexual dimorphism was also observed in the subtypes of sensilla trichoidea. One subtype of long sensilla trichoidea (subtype I) occurs only on male antennae, whereas the other subtype of short sensilla trichoidea (subtype II) occurs mainly on female antennae.

Polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-amplified mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) assays have been used in studies of the Africanization process in neotropical feral and managed honey bee populations. The approach has been adopted, in conjunction with morphometric analysis, to identify Africanized bees for regulatory purposes in the United States such as in California. In this study, 211 Old World colonies, representing all known introduced subspecies in the United States, and 451 colonies from non-Africanized areas of the southern United States were screened to validate a rapid PCR-based assay for identification of Africanized honey bee mtDNA. This PCR-based assay requires a single enzyme digestion (BglII) of a single PCR-amplified segment of the cytochrome b gene. The BglII polymorphism discriminates the mitochondrial haplotype (mitotype) of Apis mellifera scutellata L. (ancestor of Africanized bees) from that of A. m. mellifera, A. m. caucasia, A. m. ligustica, A. m. carnica, A. m. lamarcki, A. m. cypria, A. m. syriaca, and some A. m. iberiensis, but not from that of A. m. intermissa and some A. m. iberiensis. Nonetheless, given the very low frequency (<1%) of African non-A. m. scutellata mitotype present before arrival of Africanized bees in the United States, cytochrome b/BglII assay can be used to identify maternally Africanized bees with a high degree of reliability.

Local enhancement has been shown to occur in the social wasp Vespula germanica (F.), a species that feeds on live insects as well as on dead animals. Some studies suggest local enhancement is based on sight, whereas others suggest that odors emanating from wasp bodies are more important in attracting conspecifc workers to a food source. We studied whether the attraction of V. germanica foragers to meat baits increases by the addition of live conspecific foragers and analyzed which cues (olfactory and visual) elicit this attraction. Our results show that the combination of meat and wasps strongly enhances the attraction of conspecific foragers. Presenting both visual and olfactory cues together leads to a wasp response that is much greater than if isolated visual or isolated olfactory cues were added, suggesting some synergistic action of both cues.