The following new species was reared from the eggs of a Pentatomid bug, Tectocoris lineola, F. (banksi, Don.), which attacks cotton. It occurred in company with Hadronotus nigricornis, Dodd, and was more abundant than that species.

Rothschild in 1917 (Novit. Zool., 24, p. 355) stated that the above name, which had previously been accepted as the “Brown-tail” or “Cul brun”, really represents the “Gold-tail” or “Cul doré”. Although this opinion was discussed and agreed to by such writers as Barnes and Benjamin in 1924 (Proc. ent. Soc. Wash., 26, p. 213) and Joannis in 1928 (Encyc. ent., Sér. B III, Lep. 3, p. 99), the great majority of systematic works since published in Europe still adhere to the interpretation of P. chrysorrhoea as the Brown-tail.

The biology of the immature stages and adult eclosion of Ufens principalis Owen, an important parasitoid of Homalodisca eggs in southern California, were studied. The duration of the egg, larval and pupal stages at 26.7°C were 0–1, 7 and 9 days, respectively. Sacciform larvae, which developed gregariously within host eggs, were motile until about five days of age, and then became sessile. Parasitized host eggs changed from whitish and soft when freshly-laid to yellow-orange and hard at five days and older. This change was accompanied by formation of septal walls separating the mature larvae and pupae. The rate of immature development had a strong positive linear relationship (R2=0.853, n=98) with temperatures in the range of 20.0–30.3°C. The theoretical minimum threshold for immature development was 13.5°C, and the required heat units were 241.0 degree-days. Adult eclosion from host eggs occurred mostly (85%) on the first two days of emergence. Although most females emerged during the morning hours (0600–1200 h), males tended to emerge earlier than females with equal emergence during the morning and late night hours (2400–0600 h). The rate of successful adult emergence was high (88%). The ratio of eclosed adults to the number of exit holes was 1.18, indicating that most adults tended to independently cut their exit holes. The number of exit holes had a strong negative relationship (R2=0.711, n=125) with exit hole size, suggesting that larger numbers of developing immatures per host egg result in an overall decrease in adult size.

Egg cannibalism serves various functions in the Coccinellidae. Here we examined the fitness consequences of egg cannibalism by neonates, fourth instar larvae, and prereproductive adults of Coleomegilla maculata DeGeer, with beetles fed a diet of Ephestia kuehniella Zeller eggs. Cannibalism of two eggs by neonates had no effect on development, and cannibalism of five eggs by fourth instars did not benefit any aspect of reproduction, but delayed pupation slightly. Cannibalism of eggs by pre-reproductive adults had no effect on reproductive success in any combination of reciprocal crosses of cannibals and non-cannibals. Females did not recognize, nor avoid consuming, their own clutches, and cannibalism propensity did not change following mating and onset of oviposition in either sex. These results contrast with those for more strictly aphidophagous species in which larvae gain developmental benefits, and females may recognize and avoid filial egg clusters while using cannibalism to interfere with conspecific females, whereas males reduce egg cannibalism after mating because they cannot recognize filial clusters. Egg cannibalism may confer developmental benefits to C. maculata when diet is suboptimal, as previously shown, but no such benefits were evident on the high-quality E. kuehniella egg diet. Female C. maculata do not require aphids to reproduce and distribute their eggs broadly in the environment, given that larvae can develop on pollen and non-aphid prey. Thus, C. maculata is not subject to the intraspecific competition that selects for cannibalism in more aphidophagous species, and also lacks many secondary adaptations associated with the behaviour.

Pesticide resistance monitoring includes resistance detection and subsequent documentation/ measurement. Resistance detection would require at least one (≥1) resistant individual(s) to be present in a sample to initiate management strategies. Resistance documentation, on the other hand, would attempt to get an estimate of the entire population (≥90%) of the resistant individuals. A computer simulation model was used to compare the efficiency of simple random and systematic sampling plans to detect resistant individuals and to document their frequencies when the resistant individuals were randomly or patchily distributed. A patchy dispersion pattern of resistant individuals influenced the sampling efficiency of systematic sampling plans while the efficiency of random sampling was independent of such patchiness. When resistant individuals were randomly distributed, sample sizes required to detect at least one resistant individual (resistance detection) with a probability of 0.95 were 300 (1%) and 50 (10% and 20%); whereas, when resistant individuals were patchily distributed, using systematic sampling, sample sizes required for such detection were 6000 (1%), 600 (10%) and 300 (20%). Sample sizes of 900 and 400 would be required to detect ≥90% of resistant individuals (resistance documentation) with a probability of 0.95 when resistant individuals were randomly dispersed and present at a frequency of 10% and 20%, respectively; whereas, when resistant individuals were patchily distributed, using systematic sampling, a sample size of 3000 and 1500, respectively, was necessary. Small sample sizes either underestimated or overestimated the resistance frequency. A simple random sampling plan is, therefore, recommended for insecticide resistance detection and subsequent documentation.

The use of pesticides impairs biological control in the agroecosystems and thus compromises the effectiveness of natural enemies against populations of pest species. The concerns over pesticides should expand beyond mortality and encompass their sublethal effects and their consequences to the target insect species and natural enemies to aid in our understanding of the potential and consequential use of these compounds. The present study aimed to determine the effects of an insecticide mixture on life-history and demographic parameters of the cotton aphid Aphis gossypii Glover (Hemiptera: Aphididae) and two of its main parasitoids – Aphidius flaviventris Kurdjumov (Hymenoptera: Aphelinidae) and Aphidius colemani Viereck (Hymenoptera: Braconidae). Based on the obtained results, thiacloprid + deltamethrin in its lethal concentration dose 20% of the pest population (LC20) significantly affected the cotton aphid for two generations, increasing developmental time and demographic parameters. The LC20 manifested changes in many demographic parameters of the parasitoid A. flaviventris. This concentration also increased preadult and female longevity, total pre-ovipositional period, and mean generation time (T) of A. colemani, but no other demographic parameters were affected. Nonetheless, the insecticide mixture did not affect the parasitism rate of A. colemani. Thus, the thiacloprid + deltamethrin mixture significantly impaired the cotton aphid population and its parasitoid A. flaviventris. Therefore, the use of thiacloprid + deltamethrin is not encouraged for controlling the parasitoid A. flaviventris, but it is a relatively safe compound for A. colemani.

Embryo development in eggs of the spittlebug Mahanarva spectabilis (Distant) (Hemiptera: Cercopidae) passes through four phases (known as S1 to S4) being stopped at S2 during diapause. Studies about the molecular basis of diapause in spittlebugs are nonexistent. Here, we analyzed proteins from non-diapausing (ND), diapausing (D) and post-diapausing (PD) eggs of the spittlebug M. spectabilis. In total, we identified 87 proteins where 12 were in common among the developmental and diapause phases and 19 remained as uncharacterized. Non-diapausing eggs (S2ND and S4ND) showed more proteins involved in information storage and processing than the diapausing ones (S2D). Eggs in post-diapausing (S4PD) had a higher number of proteins associated with metabolism than S2D. The network of protein interactions and metabolic processes allowed the identification of different sets of molecular interactions for each developmental and diapause phases. Two heat shock proteins (Hsp65 and Hsp70) along with two proteins associated with intracellular signaling (MAP4K and a serine/threonine-protein phosphatase) were found only in diapausing and/or post-diapausing eggs and are interesting targets to be explored in future experiments. These results shine a light on one key biological process for spittlebug survival and represent the first search for proteins linked to diapause in this important group of insects.

Kazal-type serine protease inhibitors (KaSPI) play important roles in insect growth, development, digestion, metabolism and immune defence. In this study, based on the transcriptome of Mythimna separata, the cDNA sequence of MsKaSPI with Kazal domain was uploaded to GenBank (MN931651). Spatial and temporal expression analysis showed that MsKaSPI was expressed at different developmental stages and different tissues, and it was induced by 20-hydroxyecdysone in third-instar larvae of M. separata. After 24 h infection by Beauveria bassiana, the expression level of MsKaSPI and the corresponding MsKaSPI content were significantly up-regulated, being 6.42-fold and 1.91-fold to the control group, respectively, while the activities of serine protease, trypsin and chymotrypsin were inhibited. After RNA interference interfered with MsKaSPI for 6 h, the expression decreased by 73.44%, the corresponding content of MsKaSPI protein decreased by 55.66% after 12 h, and the activities of serine protease and trypsin were significantly enhanced. Meanwhile, both the larval and pupal stages of M. separata were prolonged, the weights were reduced and the number of eggs per female decreased by 181. Beauveria bassiana infection also increased the mortality of MsKaSPI-silenced M. separata by 18.96%. These prove MsKaSPI can not only result in slow growth and low fecundity of M. separata by regulating the activity of related protease, but also participate in the resistance to pathogenic fungi by regulating the serine protease inhibitor content and the activities of related serine protease.

The timing of critical events like mating, migration, and development has noticeably and recently shifted in many populations of diverse organisms. Here, we report a change in the breeding phenology of giant waterbugs, Belostoma flumineum Say (Heteroptera, Belostomatidae), in the northeastern United States. Waterbugs collected in 2005 and 2006 exhibited previously typical patterns of mating and reproduction: two annual reproductive peaks in which overwintered adults mated in the spring and young adults from a new generation mated in the fall. In 2012 and 2015, despite similar sampling effort, we detected no fall breeding activity in the study area. Reproductive behaviour under controlled laboratory conditions was also different between the earlier (2005 and 2006) and recent (2012 and 2015) years: waterbugs collected in recent years exhibited significant delays in reproduction (>30 days) under similar photoperiod and thermal conditions. We discuss potential causes of this dramatic change in reproductive behaviour, such as climate change, as well as possible negative impacts of the absence of fall reproduction on populations of B. flumineum in the study region.

The prediction of the post-diapause emergence is the first step towards a comprehensive decision support system that can contribute to a considerable reduction of pesticide use by forecasting a precise spraying date. The cumulative field emergence can be described as a function of the cumulative development rate. We investigated the impact of seven constant temperatures and five light regimes on post-diapause development in laboratory experiments. Development rate depended significantly on temperature but not on photoperiod. We therefore fit non-linear thermal performance curves, a better and more modern approach over past linear models, to describe the development rate as a function of temperature. The four parameter Brière function was the most suitable and was subsequently applied to temperature data from 36 previous pea fields, where pea moth emergence was measured with pheromone traps in Northern Hesse (Germany). In order to describe the variation in development times between individuals, we fit five nonlinear distribution models to the cumulative development rate as a function of cumulative field emergence. The three parameter Gompertz model was selected as the best fitted model. We validated the model performance with an independent field data set. The model correctly predicted the first moth in the trap and the peak emergence in 81.82% of cases, with an average deviation of only 2.00 and 2.09 days respectively.

Florida red scale, Chrysomphalus aonidum (L.) is a species of armored scales, which attacks citrus crops. Biological control, particularly ladybeetles, are critical for its management in citrus production systems. We evaluated predation of C. aonidum by adult and larvae (3rd–4th instar) of the metallic blue ladybeetle, Curinus coeruleus. C. coeruleus were tested against C. aonidum in three separate treatments on Valencia orange leaves in Petri-dish arenas (1) individuals with armor intact, (2) individuals with armor removed, and (3) mix of individuals with armor intact or removed, to determine if armor inflicts distraction to predator consumption of scale and impact. Within 24 h of exposure to C. aonidum, adult beetle consumption rate averaged 64–68% in the two treatments containing all or half of the individuals with armor, compared to 100% in the treatment with armor removed. The consumption rate in the former two treatments increased to 83–89% within 72 h. Larval consumption of C. aonidum with armor intact was 25% at 24 h and 41% at 72 h, compared to 92–100% in the treatment with armor removed. The adults resulting from the larvae developed on C. aonidum with the armor intact or between the diets of armor intact or removed consumed more scales without armor than with armor. Significant consumption of C. aonidum by adults and larvae of C. coeruleus indicates that it is an efficient predator of this pest species. These novel findings suggest that this predator could be useful for suppressing C. aonidum populations in citrus production systems, particularly in habitats where both species are established such as Florida.

Between 1990 and 1999, at Rekomitjie Research Station, Zambezi Valley, Zimbabwe, 29,360 female G. pallidipes were dissected to determine their ovarian category and trypanosome infection status. Overall prevalences were 3.45 and 2.66% for T. vivax and T. congolense, respectively, declining during each year as temperatures increased from July – December. Fits to age-prevalence data using Susceptible-Exposed-Infective (SEI) and SI compartmental models were statistically better than those obtained using a published catalytic model, which made the unrealistic assumption that no female tsetse survived more than seven ovulations. The improved models require knowledge of fly mortality, estimated separately from ovarian category distributions. Infection rates were not significantly higher for T. vivax than for T. congolense. For T. congolense in field-sampled female G. pallidipes, we found no statistical support for a model where the force of infection was higher at the first feed than subsequently. The long survival of adult female tsetse, combined with feeding at intervals ≤3 days, ensures that post-teneral feeds, rather than the first feed, play the dominant role in the epidemiology of T. congolense infections in G. pallidipes. This is supported by estimates that only about 3% of wild hosts at Rekomitjie were harbouring sufficient T. congolense to ensure that tsetse feeding off them take an infected meal, so that the probability of ingesting an infected meal is low at every meal.

The generalist predatory mite, Neoseiulus cucumeris (Oudemans) (Acari: Phytoseiidae) is one of the most effective biocontrol agents to control the pests of many crops in indoor cultivations. In this study, the effects of the enriched diets of the second trophic level, i.e. the stored-product mite, Tyrophagus putrescentiae (Schrank) on the performance of N. cucumeris as the third trophic level was determined in a tritrophic system. In the first step, different pollens including almond, maize, date palm, castor bean, saffron, and cattail or different legume flours including pinto bean, lentil, black-eyed pea, chickpea, mung bean and broad bean as enrichment additives were added to the basic diet, i.e. a mixture of wheat bran and flour as a basic diet of T. putrescentiae. In the second step, to reveal the effects of the mentioned additives on the performance of N. cucumeris, the demographic parameters of the predator were determined when it was fed with the prey enriched with the additives. Our results indicated that N. cucumeris had higher performance by feeding on the prey reared on diets enriched by either pollens or legumes compared with the basic diet. Overall, there was no significant difference between pollen grains and some legume flours when the predatory mite was fed with them through its prey. Since legumes are more available and cost-effective food sources than pollens, they can be affordable supplementary diets for the mass rearing of N. cucumeris.

Culicoides biting midges (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) are the main vectors of livestock diseases such as bluetongue (BT) which mainly affect sheep and cattle. In Spain, bluetongue virus (BTV) is transmitted by several Culicoides taxa, including Culicoides imicola, Obsoletus complex, Culicoides newsteadi and Culicoides pulicaris that vary in seasonality and distribution, affecting the distribution and dynamics of BT outbreaks. Path analysis is useful for separating direct and indirect, biotic and abiotic determinants of species' population performance and is ideal for understanding the sensitivity of adult Culicoides dynamics to multiple environmental drivers. Start, end of season and length of overwintering of adult Culicoides were analysed across 329 sites in Spain sampled from 2005 to 2010 during the National Entomosurveillance Program for BTV with path analysis, to determine the direct and indirect effects of land use, climate and host factor variables. Culicoides taxa had species-specific responses to environmental variables. While the seasonality of adult C. imicola was strongly affected by topography, temperature, cover of agro-forestry and sclerophyllous vegetation, rainfall, livestock density, photoperiod in autumn and the abundance of Culicoides females, Obsoletus complex species seasonality was affected by land-use variables such as cover of natural grassland and broad-leaved forest. Culicoides female abundance was the most explanatory variable for the seasonality of C. newsteadi, while C. pulicaris showed that temperature during winter and the photoperiod in November had a strong effect on the start of the season and the length of overwinter period of this species. These results indicate that the seasonal vector-free period (SVFP) in Spain will vary between competent vector taxa and geographic locations, dependent on the different responses of each taxa to environmental conditions.

The larvae and pupae of Tryporyza innotata (Wlk.), T. incertulas (Wlk.), Chilo suppressalis (Wlk.), C. polychrysa (Meyr.) (Pyralidae) are described and notes are given on Sesamia ingerens (Wlk.) (Noctuidae) with particular reference to setal characters of the larvae. No obvious difference in chaetotaxy was found between T. incertulas and T. innotata, but the two species of Chilo could be distinguished on this basis. The pupae of the species of Tryporyza could be separated by differences in the shape of the labrum and those of the species of Chilo by differences in that of the thoracic tubercles.

An improved technique is described for the preparation of permanent mounts of small Arthropoda and Nematoda, using a phenol-balsam mounting medium; a method is also described for clearing live, or freshly killed, specimens in strong chloral hydrate solution. The essential feature of the mounting method is the transfer of the specimen to a slide, in a drop of phenol, to which dry, powdered balsam is added and allowed to dissolve in situ. The mount is then dried and later covered in the usual fashion.