Anew species of Phaneropterinae from northeastern Mexico, Pterodichopetala alfredoi n. sp., is described. P. alfredoi n. sp., may be easily separated from congeneric P. cieloi on morphological characters such as length of tegmen (shorter in P. alfredoi n. sp., leaving exposed the last abdominal tergites), male cerci composed of three processes vs two processes in P. cieloi, internal genitalia made up of two subtriangular processes, proximally and distally very produced (not so in P. cieloi), stridulatory file with ca 113 teeth (9–10 mm in length, 8–15 teeth/mm) vs P. cieloi stridulatory file ca 70 teeth (7–8 mm in length, 8–12 teeth/mm). Information on acoustic signals, ecology and distribution of P. alfredoi n. sp., is provided and discussed.

Somewhat surprisingly, the rather speciose subfamily Catantopinae has largely evaded phylogenetic scrutiny. This note describes relationships among a small, but larger than that heretofore studied, subset of members based on an analysis of mitochondrial sequence characters.

Analysis of portions of 4 mitochondrial genes, some sequenced in this laboratory and some obtained from GenBank, was applied to 12 specimens of Catantopinae. Also included were representatives of the subfamilies Calliptaminae, Cyrtacanthacridinae, Eyprepocnemidinae, Melanoplinae and Oxyinae. Pyrgomorpha conica served as the outgroup. Sequences were analyzed by weighted and unweighted maximum parsimony and Bayesian methods.

Both weighted parsimony and Bayesian approaches, with some minor exceptions, yielded similar relationships. Although some clusters of catantopines do occur, molecular results appear to confirm earlier suspicions that the subfamily is not monophyletic and therefore should be subdivided. More work clearly needs to be devoted to the Catantopinae in order to determine the nature and extent of the subfamily's inevitable sundering.

There are nine Necroscia species recognized in China, among which N. inflata (Redtenbacher) and N. marginata (Gray) are reported for the first time from China. One new synonym is discovered: N. maculata (Chen & He) is regarded as a junior synonym of N. multicolor (Redtenbacher) n. syn. First description is given for the female and egg of N. hainanensis (Chen & He) n. comb., which is transferred from Sosibia Stål. A list and key to all Chinese species are given.

A new species, Entoria hei sp. nov, is described and illustrated. Notes on the status of the genus from Hong Kong are given. A key and important figures of the Entoria species of Hong Kong are provided.

The orchid mantis, Hymenopus coronatus (Insecta: Mantodea), is renown for its visual resemblance to a flower blossom. It has been hypothesised that the ‘flowerlike’ orchid mantis is an aggressive mimic that attracts pollinators as prey items. This is the first study into the morphology of the orchid mantis that explores this widely discussed hypothesis. We quantified color and shape patterns of orchid mantises that are likely to present visual cues to pollinators. We used spectrometry to measure their overall coloration and geometric morphometric techniques to quantify the shape of their ‘petal-like’ mid- and hind-legs. This was done for both juvenile and adult female orchid mantises. To investigate how this stimulus may be perceived by a pollinating insect we investigated within-individual color variation using physiological models of hymenopteran vision. Mantises were found to reflect primarily UV- absorbing white. Visual models indicated that within individuals, different body parts did not contrast highly in color. Femoral lobes showed patterns of bilateral symmetry with juveniles expressing similar patterns of shape variation to adults. The results are used to provide specific and testable hypotheses as to how the morphology of the orchid mantis may constitute a signal directed towards pollinating insects.

The second known specimen of the genus Oshwea Ramme 1929 was captured in Southern Uganda; it appears to be the unknown male of O. dubiosa, previously recorded only from West-Central Congo. At present it seems best to retain it in the subfamily Catantopinae, though it differs from other members of that taxon in several anatomical features.

In nature, Eastern Lubber Grasshoppers, Romalea microptera, tend to hatch in the morning, thus exhibiting a daily hatching rhythm. They also show high intra-pod hatching synchrony. We tested the hypotheses that both diel-hatching rhythmicity and intra-pod hatching synchrony are elicited by a daily temperature cycle. In the laboratory, we exposed egg pods to either a daily 15:26 ^°C temperature cycle (12 h at each temperature) or a constant 26 ^°C temperature regimen. Under the daily temperature cycle, hatching was strongly rhythmic, with peak hatching at 3 h after the beginning of the warm phase. Under the constant temperature, hatching rhythmicity was greatly reduced and eggs hatched throughout the 24-h period. There was little intra-pod hatching synchrony under either treatment. We propose that in nature both daily hatching rhythm and intra-pod hatching synchrony are controlled by a thermal threshold for hatching.

One new species, Ocellarnaca conica sp. nov., one new combination, O. angulata (Gorochov, 2004) comb, nov., and one new recorded species, O. braueri (Griffini, 1911) of the genus Ocellarnaca from China are reported. Photographs of known species, a key to the species and a distribution map are provided. The material is deposited in the Museum of Heibei University.

The identity of Japanese Megacrania Kaup is clarified. Yamasaki”s Megacrnia alpheus adan is a synonym of Megacrania tsudai Shiraki.