Observations of five free foraging colonies of Bombus (Megabombus) ruderatus (Fab.) are reported with respect to brood production and mortality. Emphasis is given to the nutrition of larvae and new adults, and larval ejection. Seasonal trends in the sex, caste, and size of adults are reported. Colony size was relatively large for a temperate Bombus species. Intraspecific variation in colony size was related to the timing of male production.

The relative concentration of elements in adults of the red turnip beetle, Entomoscelis americana Brown, as determined by X-ray energy-dispersive spectroscopy (XES), was used with discriminant analysis to identify source populations of beetles from different fields in the same district. Classification of dispersed beetles from the same district, using discriminant functions, suggests that XES is a promising technique for dispersal studies. However, multivariate analysis of variance and canonical analysis of XES results of groups of beetles given different foods over varying times in the laboratory indicate that highly significant changes occur in the chemoprint. Methods of minimizing the effect of such changes are suggested for future studies of dispersal.

Labopidea chloriza Uhler (1877) is synonymized with Tinicephalus simplex Uhler (1872). Labopidea brooksi n. sp. is described from Alberta and Saskatchewan. Orthotylus discolor Sahlberg, a European species now known to occur in North America, is transferred to Labopidea. Nine species currently placed in Labopidea are here removed from that genus. The new combinations are as follows: Labopidea atriseta Van Duzee is transferred to Hesperocapsus Knight, Orthotylus insignis Van Duzee is transferred to Ilnacorella Knight, Labopidea viridula Knight is transferred to Melanotrichus Reuter, and Labopidea utahensis Knight is synonymized with Diaphnidia heidemanni Knight (= Brachynotocoris heidemanni). Labopidicola n. gen. is described and Labopidea idahoensis Knight, L. planifrons Knight, L. ainsliei Knight, L. allii Knight, and L. geminata Johnston are transferred to it. Key to species of Labopidea is given.

The taxonomic position of the genus Creutzeria in the family Anoetidae is examined, and a description of a new species, C. seychellensis, from the pitcher plant, Nepenthes pervillei, from the Seychelles is given. A couplet is proposed for the Hughes-Jackson key that would separate the genera Creutzeria and Zwickia.

Seven species of Aradophagini are classified in three genera. Aradophagus Ashmead includes A. fasciatus (USA, Canada, Europe) A. pulchricornis n. sp. (Mexico, USA), and A. microps n. sp. (South India). Ladora n. gen. includes L. brunnea n. sp. (type-species: Morocco, Mallorca, Gambia), L. maura n. sp. (South Africa), and L. trjapitzini n. sp. (Central Asia). Abuko n. gen. with A. sarotes n. sp. (type-species: Gambia). The tribe Aradophagini is redefined and its taxonomic position in the family Scelionidae is discussed. Keys to genera and species of Aradophagini are given.

Crop failures are a frequent phenomenon of saskatoon berries, Amelanchier alnifolia Nutt., in Saskatchewan. The curculionid beetle Tachypterellus quadrigibbus Say is shown to have a pronounced effect on the relation and quality of fruit produced. Its feeding and reproductive habits on the berries are proposed as a major cause of crop failures.

The efficacy of seven chemical insecticides, five commercial preparations of Bacillus thuringiensis, and two preparations containing diatom dust were tested against the European skipper, Thymelicus lineola (Ochs.), under field conditions. Satisfactory control was obtained with carbaryl, carbofuran, methomyl, permethrin, trichlorfon, Dipel 45B(=Dipel SC), Dipel WP, Thuricide 26B, Thuricide HPC, and Novabac 3 while dimethoate, chlorpyrifos, and the diatom dusts afforded little or no foliage protection. While larval mortality occurred less rapidly when B. thuringiensis preparations were applied, their use is strongly recommended as they afford the same degree of foliage protection as chemical insecticides and diminish possible undesirable off-target effects.

Efficiencies of light and pheromone traps were estimated from captures of moths emerging from pupae in the center of circular arrays of traps up to 200 m in radius. Light traps captured 1 insect for every 3.6 that passed through a linear meter at the trap, an efficiency factor of 0.28. This factor was constant for different insect densities. The pheromone traps were 3.5 times as efficient as light traps based on the captures of males only. The low efficiencies imply that the traps have a small zone of influence and several may be needed in a limited area to produce catches within reasonable confidence limits when populations are sparse and detection of increasing numbers has the greatest value.

Statistical analysis of traffic data at the nest entrance of a colony of the yellowjacket, Vespula arenaria (F.), showed no evidence for the operation of social facilitation of the type described by Blackith (1957). As in bumble bees, the appearance of contagion in the temporal distribution of exits and sorties is the result of overall change in flight activity and is not due to social interaction between wasps.

An annotated list of corrections is provided for the third and last volume of the monograph “The Odonata of Canada and Alaska”. Published reviews of Volume III are listed.

We studied the ovipositional behavior of the citrus blackfly (CBF), Aleurocanthus woglumi Ashby, and found several plant species (mango, pink trumpet, and kumquat) to be as attractive as Citrus spp to ovipositing CBF at low densities. There is a significant (P < 0.01) positive correlation between the attractiveness of various host plants in our tests and the frequency of CBF occurrence on these plants in field surveys The host range of CBF increases with increasing CBF density. Oviposition by CBF on preferred hosts appears to occur at all CBF densities and is independent of their frequency in the environment We also found that CBF adults appear to be attracted to plant material reflecting light in the 500–600 nm range and it appears that this is the only long-range attractant operative.

Nearctic mites of the family Anisitsiellidae are reviewed. A key and revised diagnoses are presented for the four genera, keys to species are provided for the first time, and distributional data are reviewed for each of the 13 known species. Three original species groups of Bandakia are proposed based on knowledge of nearctic species, but with the four exotic species tentatively placed. Adults of four new nearctic species, Bandakia borealis n. sp., Bandakia oregonensis n. sp., Bandakia fragilis n. sp., and Bandakiopsis fonticola n. gen., n. sp., are described. Reared larvae of Bandakia vietsi Cook and Bandakia borealis n. sp., the first known anisitsiellid larvae, also are described providing new insight on life history and phylogeny in the Anisitsiellidae.

The developmental sequence of the asexual generation of the gall wasp Acraspis hirta Bassett (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae) on its host plant Quercus prinus (Fagaceae) is described from a site in New Jersey. Chalcid attack was the key mortality factor in the gall population. Parasitoids concentrated their attack on host galls before galls matured and hardened. Hardening of gall walls appears to be the most important deterrent to later attack by inhibiting oviposition. Parasitoids which emerged from A. hirta galls did not reinfest the surviving hosts but probably shifted to other gall species. The parasitoids of Cynips divisa, a similar Old World gall species, became progressively more generalized in their feeding preferences as the season progressed. No such temporal sequencing wau observed in A. hirta.

Spacing out of A. hirta galls among leaves is an important strategy for increasing individual fitness in response to parasitoid attack. Most trees were sparsely infested, and few leaves supported more than one gall. Parasitoid mortality was significantly higher on multiply infected leaves than on leaves with one gall. Galls which were parasitized had a significantly smaller average distance to the nearest neighboring gall than those that escaped parasitism suggesting a slight resource concentration effect.

Sample sizes needed to measure population levels of the birch casebearer, Coleophora fuscedinella Zeller, and its damage to white birch, Betula papyrifera Marsh, were calculated for various degrees of confidence and assurance. Both a non-destructive and a destructive sampling plan are presented and a new method to classify the damage level of a stand. This method uses a maximum likelihood technique to estimate the proportion of trees of various damage classes.

Comparison of yolk protein deposition rates as inferred from rates of leucine incorporation in ovarial yolk proteins was made between Dendroctonus rufipennis caged on living white spruce trees and freshly cut logs of the same species. Samples coinciding with resin exudation into the beetle galleries by the living tree revealed significant inhibition of this rate as compared with that observed on cut logs. These results constitute a clear example of the effect of a specific event in the tree on the reproductive processes of the adult beetle. Advantages of measuring rate of yolk deposition over counting total oviposition for determining the effect of various factors on reproduction are discussed.

There are now two strains of the European corn borer, Ostrinia nubilalis (Hübner), in Quebec. The strain normally found produces one generation while the more recently introduced strain produces two generations per year. Both strains have been characterized and compared with corn borer strains from Ontario and New York State. The two attributes of the recently introduced strain that promote the development of a second generation are (1) early emergence in the spring with less intense diapause and (2) a lower critical photoperiod for diapause induction. The latter characteristic allows pupation of first generation larvae. Field and laboratory tests on the pheromone response of adult male moths demonstrated that the origin of this recent introduction was New York State.

Adults and larvae of the cottonwood leaf beetle, Chrysomela scripta Fab., defoliated tissue cultured Aigeiros (Populus × euramericana (Dode) Guinier) subclones and destroyed apical tips. Fecundity was 510 ± 153 eggs . Four generations occurred between May and September in southern Wisconsin. Maximal insect numbers and damage occurred in the third generation. The minimal developmental threshold was 10.8 °C with a mean 257 ± 26 day-degree (°C) required per generation. Important biological control agents included Coleomegilla maculata, which consumed up to 25% of the eggs, and Shizonatus latus, a pteromalid parasite, which destroyed up to 26% of the pupae.

Annual assessments from 1953 to 1977 of insect damage to the preharvest crop in apple orchards in Nova Scotia show a general decline in injury, except for 1966–68. Laspeyresia pomonella (L.) and fruit chewing insects (chiefly Operophtera brumata (L.), Alsophila pometaria (L.), Orthosia hibisci Guenee, Lithophane spp., and Xylena spp.) caused the greatest amount of fruit damage. Dysaphis plantaginea (Pass.), Campylomma verbasci (Meyer), and Atractotomus mali (Meyer) were serious in some years. In integrated control program orchards the proportion of fruit damaged was twice that in preventative pesticide orchards. Fruit destined for processing had more injury than fruit destined for the fresh fruit market.

Population levels of the major insect pests and their natural enemies were monitored regularly and gave early warning of threatening levels of pests. Generally predator population levels were high during periods of selective insecticide use but were low when widely toxic insecticides were introduced into the integrated control program.

The effect of an alternating and a constant temperature regime on some aspects of the biology of two strains of Hylemya antiqua were studied. One strain was a laboratory strain, the other a newly colonized wild strain. Several population statistics were assessed and life tables constructed. Significant differences between the strains were recorded.

The laboratory strain mated significantly better under both environments than the wild strain, it also oviposited earlier and lived longer. No difference between the strains was recorded for either total egg production or oviposition rate. The wild strain larvae survived significantly better than the laboratory strain larvae and produced larger pupae. As the weighted mean temperature of the alternating regime was 16.6°C compared with the constant regime of 23°C many temperature dependent processes were retarded. Nevertheless as the alternating temperature increased larval survival and increased pupal size, this temperature regime has now been adopted for the routine laboratory rearing of H. antiqua larvae. The net reproductive rate, R0, and the intrinsic rate of increase, r, were calculated for both strains in both environments. The wild flies had the highest R0 at the alternating temperature and the lowest at the constant temperature. This trend was completely reversed when r was calculated as this statistic takes into account generation time, which was much shorter in the constant temperature.

The results were discussed in the framework of the quality of the laboratory stock in relation to its use in a genetic control programme.

A phenology model based on a time–temperature relationship has been developed for the western cherry fruit fly, Rhagoletis indifferens Curran. The model predicts the occurrence of various biological events such as emergence levels, mating, oviposition, larval appearance, parasite activity, and pupation. These events are predicted as a function of summation of thermal units (TU) starting 1 March. For example, emergence begins at 462, oviposition at 541, hatch at 594, and pupation at 795 TU. The model was validated by actual field observations for a period of 3 years (1976–1978). Extended validation of first emergence was obtained from an entirely different cherry growing area, the Hood River Valley. The model could be a useful tool in integrated pest management program on cherries.