♀ Integument black, densely squamose dorsally; the head brown, but pale round the eyes and beneath; the prothorax brown (with a slight coppery reflection) and with an ill-defined broad sinuate pale stripe on each side, adjoined externally at the base by a very indefinite blackish patch, and another very vague pale stripe on the extreme dorsal margin, the pleurae with thinner scaling, which is blackish on the upper half and grey below; the elytra brown, usually more or less heavily mottled with black and grey, but interval 1 always brown with a strong coppery reflection, the extreme base of intervals 1 and 4 blackish, that of intervals 2 and 3 and 6 and 7 grey, interval 3 with a conspicuous small black-ringed whitish spot near the top of the declivity, interval 7 mainly grey, and the lateral area below it thinly clothed with black scales and scattered grey ones; the lower surface rather more thinly covered than the dorsum with grey scales having a coppery reflection.

The success of agriculture relies on healthy bees to pollinate crops. Commercially managed pollinators are often kept under temperature-controlled conditions to better control development and optimize field performance. One such pollinator, the alfalfa leafcutting bee, Megachile rotundata, is the most widely used solitary bee in agriculture. Problematically, very little is known about the thermal physiology of M. rotundata or the consequences of artificial thermal regimes used in commercial management practices. Therefore, we took a broad look at the thermal performance of M. rotundata across development and the effects of commonly used commercial thermal regimes on adult bee physiology. After the termination of diapause, we hypothesized thermal sensitivity would vary across pupal metamorphosis. Our data show that bees in the post-diapause quiescent stage were more tolerant of low temperatures compared to bees in active development. We found that commercial practices applied during development decrease the likelihood of a bee recovering from another bout of thermal stress in adulthood, thereby decreasing their resilience. Lastly, commercial regimes applied during development affected the number of days to adult emergence, but the time of day that adults emerged was unaffected. Our data demonstrate the complex interactions between bee development and thermal regimes used in management. This knowledge can help improve the commercial management of these bees by optimizing the thermal regimes used and the timing of their application to alleviate negative downstream effects on adult performance.

Adult female (as observed in specimens preserved in alcohol) broadly oval (fig. 1, b, c), strongly convex (fig. 1, a), circular under compression; divisions of segments indicated on the dorsum by moderately deep transverse furrows: marginal area tumescent, overlapping the ventral area (fig. 1, b). Colour (of alcoholic material) ochreous, brownish, or olivaceous, very thinly powdered with white mealy secretion.

A lateral view of the terminal segments is essential for the identification of a Culicine larva, but owing to the necessity of the larva to pierce the surface film of the water with the spiracular valves at the distal end of the respiratory siphon, it will retain a position with the dorsal surface uppermost in spite of all efforts to induce it to do otherwise. Even if placed in water so shallow that there is insufficient space between the bottom of the container and the surface of the water for the siphon to be held erect, the insect will incline its siphon but keep the rest of the abdomen dorsum uppermost, thus possibly presenting a lateral view of the siphon, and showing the pecten, but the comb and anal segments will still not be in a suitable position for a detailed study of the characters to be made

The following is a description of a mosquito found to occur in the hills surrounding Tambunan Plain, North Borneo, whilst working with the Malaria Research Department, in 1939–42. It appears to represent a new variety of the Anopheles aitkeni type, which it is proposed to name Anopheles aitkeni borneensis.

Temperature strongly impacts the rates of physiological and biochemical processes, which in turn can determine the survival and population size of insects. At low temperatures performance is limited, however, cold tolerance and performance at low temperature can be improved after short- or long-term acclimation in many insect species. To understand mechanisms underlying acclimation, we sequenced and compared the transcriptome of the blowfly Chrysomya megacephala under rapid cold hardening (RCH) and long-term cold acclimation (LCA) conditions. The RCH response was dominated by genes related to immune response, spliceosome, and protein processing in endoplasmic reticulum with up-regulation during recovery from RCH. In contrast, LCA was associated with genes related to carbohydrate metabolism and cytoskeleton branching and stabilizing. Meanwhile, mRNA levels of genes related to glycerophospholipid metabolism, and some heat shock proteins (Hsps) were collectively up-regulated by both RCH and LCA. There were more genes and pathway adjustments associated with LCA than RCH. Overall, the transcriptome data provide basic information of molecular mechanisms underpinning the RCH and LCA response. The partly independent molecular responses to RCH and LCA suggest that several avenues for manipulating cold performance exist and RCH might be more effective as it only triggers fewer genes and affects the general metabolisms less. These observations provide some appropriate methods to improve cold tolerance of C. megacephala, and hold promise for developing an extended use of mass-reared C. megacephala with better cold performance as a pollinator of crops at low temperatures.

For some years past, when using insecticide dusts on a small scale, we have employed a very simple, improvised apparatus as a distributor, which has given such satisfactory results that we venture to describe it.

The larvae of Uranotaenia ornata, Theo., are commonly found in pineapple plants in the neighbourhood of Lagos, Nigeria, and invariably in company with Harpagomyia larvae.

In pursuing my studies of the genital armature of the tsetse-flies, I have been fortunate in securing some valuable and interesting material from various parts of the African continent which has enabled me to offer a further contribution on the specific characters of the recently discovered Glossina austeni, Newst., from British East Africa; to present a detailed account of the armature of the apparently rare G. fuscipleuris, Aust., and to clear up some doubtful points in regard to the structural details of the male genital armature in G. longipennis, Corti. Later I hope to be able to offer some further remarks on G. palpalis, R.D., especially in regard to the colour and structural variations existing in this species. Meanwhile I may here state, for the guidance of the student, that G. fuscipes, Newst., which was described by me as a distinct species, must sink as a well-marked race of G. palpalis.

A species of Gelechiid moth bred from larvae living in galls on the leaves of an unidentified species of Eugenia in New Ireland is described as new and is named Idiophantis eugeniae sp. n. The species is differentiated from I. chiridota Meyr., to which it is closely related and which occurs in the Indo-Malayan region. Illustrations are given of the adult male and the genitalia of both sexes.

A new genus, Austrotortrix, is erected for Teras postvittana Walker, the Apple Leaf Roller or Light Brown Apple Moth, a common pest of apple and Citrus in the coastal regions of Australia, and in Tasmania and New Zealand.

Two new synonyms of A. postvittana in addition to those already recorded are given.

As there are several species in Australia closely resembling postvittana, making identification difficult, descriptions of the genitalia of postvittana are given as these provide the best means of positive identification.

Apart from the type species, postvittana, ten other species are assigned to the new genus.

In spite of the notable economic importance of the scale-insects and in spite of their extraordinary biological interest, all of which has generated a very considerable activity in their study, it cannot be said that the systematics of the group are in anything that even approaches a satisfactory condition.

The material belonging to this family brought back by the expedition includes representatives of only four species, one of which, however, is apparently new. That three out of the four species obtained should belong to the Aegophagamyia-Bouvierella group is not surprising, in view of the predominance of this group in the Malagasy Subregion.

A species of Trichogrammatid reared from the eggs of Entypotrachelus meyeri Kolbe (Col., Curculionidae) is described as new and is named Oligositoides semicinctium.

The following are a few observations made on the larvae of Auchmeromyia luteola taken in Uganda. The larvae were kept in glass-topped cardboard boxes containing earth. Several attempts were made to feed them on the less hairy parts of puppies but in no case did they make any attempt to draw blood. I then placed some on my own hand. In only one instance was this successful, the details of the feeding being described below.

Meat, crushed ticks, bananas were placed in the boxes at various times, but so far as could be gathered, they were left untouched. By dampening the earth with water every few days larvae were kept alive up to a month. They would probably have lived longer were it not that the exigencies of constant travelling caused their neglect. The small immature larvae however did not seem to grow, those which pupated having been mature, or almost so, at the time of capture. The longest period between capture and pupation was 12 days, and this larva was full of blood when taken and two days later its alimentary tract was still red with blood.

A high diversity library of recombinant human antibodies was selected on complex antigen mixtures from midguts of female Anopheles gambiae Giles. The library of phage-displayed single chain variable region fragment constructs, derived from β-lymphocyte mRNA of naïve human donors, was repeatedly selected and reamplified on the insoluble fraction of midgut homogenates. Five rounds of panning yielded only one midgut-specific clone, which predominated the resulting antibody panel. In A. gambiae, the epitope was found throughout the tissues of females but was absent from the midgut of males. The cognate antigen proved to be detergent soluble but very sensitive to denaturation and could not be isolated or identified by Western blot of native electrophoresis gels or by immunoprecipitation. Nevertheless, immunohistology revealed that this sex-specific epitope is associated with the lumenal side of the midgut. Severe bottlenecking may limit the utility of phage display selection from naïve libraries for generating diverse panels of antibodies against complex mixtures of antigens from insect tissues. These results suggest that the selection of sufficiently diverse antibody panels, from which mosquitocidal or malaria transmission-blocking antibodies can be isolated, may require improved selection methods or specifically enriched pre-immunized libraries.