The literature published during 1964–72 concerned with the ecology and control of Glossina is reviewed and put into context with previously published information. Thirty species or subspecies of Glossina are recognised. Improved methods of sampling have been developed which catch many more females of the morsitans group than other methods and allow more accurate estimates of population density and structure to be made than has been possible hitherto. New concepts of the activity and behaviour patterns of G. morsitans Westwood have been developed from work carried out both in the field and in the laboratory. Detailed studies on resting sites have been followed by successful control campaigns based on the selective use of insecticides. Most large-scale control campaigns during the period under review were based on applications of insecticides from the ground; other control methods used were aerial applications of insecticides, mechanical clearing of vegetation, selective game destruction and a small-scale project using the sterile insect release method. Techniques for identifying and assessing trypanosome infections in Glossina are described and a Table is given of infection rates in various species of tsetse. Differences in observed infection rates can result according to the time and method of sampling but actual infection rates are affected by a variety of factors including the maintenance temperature of puparia and adults, the age of the fly at the time of the infective feed, the age structure of the tsetse population and the hosts on which it feeds. Genetic differences in infectibility may occur between different individuals of a single species and certainly occur between different species.

The effect of temperature within the range 10–30°C on Metopolophium dirhodum (Wlk.), Rhopalosiphum padi (L.) and Macrosiphum avenae (F.) was measured in controlled environment cabinets. Development rates increased with temperature to a maximum at 20°C for Metopolophium dirhodum, 22·5°C for Macrosiphum avenae and 25°C for R. padi, decreasing thereafter to zero by 30°C when all the nymphs died. The fourth instar and pre-reproductive adult appeared to be affected at temperatures below those for the younger instars. Mortalities of immature M. avenae were similar between 10° and 25°C, but more immature Metopolophium dirhodum died at high, and R. padi at low, temperatures. Survival rates decreased with increase of temperature, and fecundity was largest at 20°C. Rates of increase became largest at 20°C for M. dirhodum and Macrosiphum avenae and at 25°C for R. padi. Above 15°C, R. padi had a 4–16 times larger capacity for increase than the other two species because it developed faster and achieved its rate of maximum fecundity sooner.

In a study of aphids and their parasites, hyperparasites and predators in a field of cereals at Rothamsted Experimental Station in 1970–71, samples were taken by counting specimens in 0·3-m lengths of row and by means of a suction trap set 12·2 m above ground and 0·5 km away from the field. Migrant aphids (Metopolophium dirhodum (Wlk.) and Macrosiphum avenae (F.)) and Braconid parasites (Aphidius spp., Ephedrus plagiator (Nees) and Praon volucre (Hal.)) were caught from April–May to August–September, with most from mid-June to August, whereas hyperparasites (Phaenoglyphis sp., Lygocerus aphidivorus Kieff., Asaphes vulgaris Wlk., Coruna clavata Wlk. and Alloxysta sp.) occurred for more of the year. Of the six parasite species attacking aphids on cereals in 1970–71, three Aphidius spp. were more common than E. plagiator and Praon volucre. Parasitism was higher and aphids were fewer in 1971 than in 1970. In the field, more than 80% of the mummies were of old nymphs; parasitism of live old nymphs and apterae was similar, larger than for alatae, and larger for Metopolophium dirhodum than for Macrosiphum avenae. Hyperparasitism by five species affected parasitism, especially in 1970. Migrant Coccinellids were trapped at the start and end of aphid infestations on cereals, Syrphids mainly in July and August, and other predators for longer. The commonest predators were Coccinella septempunctata L. and Propylea quatuordecimpunctata L. in 1970 and Syrphus balteatus (Deg.) in 1971; the others were scarce. July populations of aphids were primarily reduced by the Syrphids.

After exposure for 24 h in polypropylene envelopes impregnated with the test substance, larvae of Boophilus microplus (Can.) are placed on a hot-plate (40°C) under light to stimulate movement among the survivors. The larvae are drawn one at a time into a suction bottle through a metal capillary into which is built a photo-electric cell that is actuated by each larva as it passes through. The electric impulses are transmitted to a counting device and recorded.

Leafhoppers collected from dying pawpaw trees in Dominica are described as new under the name Solanasca dominica. This genus is created for the solana group of Empoasca Walsh which is characterised by the shape of the aedeagus; a key is given to the 26 species now known.

Adults of two subspecies of Entypotrachelus meyeri Kolbe defoliate tea established on land cleared of montane rain forest, E. m. meyeri Kolbe occuring in Kenya and Tanzania to the west of the Great Rift Valley and E. m. micans Hust. only in the foothills of Mt. Kenya east of the Rift. Both subspecies are polyphagous and the host-plants are listed. Oviposition by E. m. meyeri occurs throughout the year; eggs hatch in 10–29 days, and the larvae feed on the roots of tea and various woody plants. The adults cannot fly, but field observations showed they could disperse 2–23 m in 14 days; mark-recapture data showed that 50% of the females lived 32 days, and males 37 days. The bionomics of E. m. micans were similar, but adults lived longer (50% of the females lived 55 days, males 49 days). The leaf area consumed by adults of E. m. micans was 66 mm2/day whereas the total leaf area of a seedling is 30–50 cm2, and it is shown that three adults per plant could effect defoliation in 21 days, assuming no new leaves are formed; leaf destruction at this rate is not considered economically important. Larvae of E. m. micans caused 37% rejection of tea seedlings through destruction of the tap root.

The pattern of spontaneous activity of the tsetse fly Glossina morsitans Westw. was measured in LD 12:12 at constant low temperature. At 22°C the typical V-shaped pattern was unchanged; at 19°C, when activity was reduced to five flights per day, the morning arm of the V was retained but the evening one suppressed. Cold therefore changes the shape of the endogenous rhythm only slightly, and its effects in the field must concern activity level rather than pattern. Examination of the published data shows that the correlation of field activity with temperature is not as good as is generally supposed.

Third-stage larvae of the following species of Dynastidae associated with coconut palms are described: Xylotrupes gideon (L.) (including four subspecies, X. g. ulysses (Guérin), X. g. szekessyi Endrődi, X. g. beckeri Schaufuss and X. g. asperulus Minck), Scapanes australis (Boisduval) (including three subspecies, S. a. grossepunctatus Sternberg, S. a. salomonensis Sternberg and S. a. australis (Boisduval)), Trichogomphus fairmairei Arrow, Oryctes rhinoceros (L.), O. centaurus Sternberg, Oryctoderus latitarsis Boisduval and Oryctoderus sp. (either O. coronatus Bates or O. godeffroyi (Fairmaire). A key to species, based on larval characters, is included. Some small differences, particularly in setation, were found among the four subspecies of X. gideon examined, and differences in setation of the abdominal segments were found between S. a. grossepunctatus and S. a. salomonesis on the one hand, and S. a. australis on the other.

In laboratory experiments with Prays citri (Mill.) in Israel, females 1–16 h old proved more attractive to 2–6-day-old males than did female pupae 1–8 h before emergence or female adults 1–4-days old. Attractiveness in the field was tested by means of sticky traps baited with female pupae or adult females. Females were attractive for up to 14 days in summer (19–30°C) and 27 days in winter (8–20°C). Greatest attraction was shown by 1–7-day-old females during summer as compared with 5–9-day-old females during winter. Field experiments with baited sticky traps attached to wind vanes showed that more males were caught by traps aligned with the wind than by those placed at right-angles to it or hung among tree branches, by traps 1–7 m above ground than those 30–50 cm above, and by traps five metres distant from trees than those 10–80 m distant.

To determine whether the brain medial neurosecretory cells (MNC) provide a hormone regulating ovulation and larviposition in females of Glossina austeni Newst., the effects of MNC ablations, sham operations, MNC implantations, and MNC extract injections were investigated. Ablation almost always inhibited ovulation and interfered with larval development and larviposition; it did not appreciably influence blood feeding, digestion or egg maturation. However, surgical brain trauma and even general stress also inhibited ovulation in control flies to some extent, though inhibition was more frequent and prolonged after greater trauma or incisions closer to MNC. A similar relationship existed between proximity of incisions to MNC and success of larval development and larviposition. MNC implants and extracts failed to induce ovulation in ablated flies. Most evidence indicates that MNC ablation affects ovulation and larviposition, not by removing a source of stimulatory hormone, but by interfering with nervous pathways necessary either for hormone release at some other site or for direct stimulation of the reproductive tract musculature.

The development of all stages of Spodoptera littoralis (Boisd.) was studied in controlled-environment cabinets under a range of constant and cycling temperatures. Larvae were tested on three food plants; development was faster on lucerne than on two cultivars of chrysanthemum, Taffeta and Fred Shoesmith. The durations of each instar were similar in relation to larval life span, but at low temperatures and on chrysanthemum many larvae went through an extra instar. Late-instar larvae were nocturnal but larval development was little disturbed by a night-break lighting regime as used in the production of all-the-year-round (AYR) chrysanthemums, and only slightly more so by a reversed temperature cycle. The latter changed the daily pattern of moth emergence which otherwise occurred mostly when temperatures were highest or in the dark. The development results were used to estimate duration of development by summing (a) daily increments of development (100/duration of development), (b) day-degrees (for eggs 28·6 day°C above 14·8°C; for larvae on lucerne 266·1 day°C above 11·5°C, on chrysanthemum 257·1 day°C above 13°C, and above 13°C 177·1 day°C for male pupae and 153·5 day°C for female pupae). The estimates were compared with observed development times for all stages in an environment where temperatures fluctuated naturally. Both methods gave satisfactory estimates when development times were short, but temperature summation was less accurate when maximum temperatures fell close to base temperatures. It is concluded that summation of development increments would give a more consistently accurate account of the life-cycle of S. littoralis on AYR chrysanthemum under glass to enable development to be predicted or past events in the life-cycle to be dated. Tables of development increments against daily maximum and minimum temperatures are given for each stage. To estimate duration of development from these Tables, the daily percentage development corresponding to each day's maximum and minimum temperature is summed up to 100%. This gives an estimate of the median point of hatching or pupation.

Experiments were done to compare respiration rate, thermal death point, weight loss and the life span of diapause and non-diapause larvae of Busseola fusca (Fuller). The oxygen consumed by non-diapause larvae was 578–772 mm3/g/h while that by diapause larvae was 58–238 mm3/g/h. Thermal death points for both types of larvae were in the range 46·5–49·5 °C. At high and low relative humidities non-diapause larvae lost 4·4% and 16·3% of their weight, respectively, while diapause larvae lost only 1·0% and 7·0%. At 46° and 48°C the percentage weight loss by non-diapause larvae was about twice as much as that by diapause larvae. Life span was greater at a saturation deficit of 14·2–22·5 mm Hg in both types of larvae than either at 2·8–14·2 mm Hg or 22·5–28·0 mm Hg. At this range starving non-diapause larvae lived for 4·3–5·1 days and the diapause larvae for 7·7–8·7 days. The main factor enabling diapause larvae to survive adverse conditions appears to be their efficient water conservation mechanism.

In experiments with laboratory-maintained colonies of Atta cephalotes (L.) the responses of foraging workers to brood and brood extracts encountered outside the nest were assessed. Ants returned many of the brood to the nest from about one metre, but few from eight metres; any not returned were dumped over the edge of the foraging table. Living and dead pupae were not distinguished by the ants, but to some extent living and dead larvae were. There was some evidence that brood from their own and from other nests were also distinguished. Attempts were made to simulate brood, using extracts and homogenates on filter paper discs, but in no case did the responses suggest that brood pheromones could be used as arrestants in leaf-cutting ant baits.

Exitianus occidentalis from rice in Ghana and E. centralis from Uganda and Congo, forming a subgroup with the hitherto unique species E. turneri Ross, are described as new. Comparative illustrations and notes are given for all three species.