The best known and most destructive exotic ant species in the US is the red imported fire ant, Solenopsis invicta Buren. Recently, this species has been reported from several islands in the West Indies, including St. Croix, US Virgin Islands (USVI) and Guana Island, British Virgin Islands (BVI). In the present study, we report new records of S. invicta on St. Croix (13 sites) and the first records of S. invicta from 3 other of the Virgin Islands: St. Thomas, USVI (7 sites), St. John, USVI (2 sites), and Tortola, BVI (6 sites). Solenopsis invicta appears to be well established in disturbed open environments on all 4 islands. It is important that people in the Virgin Islands and elsewhere in the West Indies, particularly healthcare professionals, are aware of the presence of S. invicta, can recognize the symptoms of S. invicta stings, and know proper treatments for adverse reactions to the stings, including rare but potentially deadly anaphylactic shock.

The extent of predation and parasitism on larvae of the plum curculio, Conotrachelus nenuphar (Herbst) (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), was measured independently with several different experimental designs at sites in northern Florida and central Georgia. Experimental manipulation in Monticello, FL, and in Byron, GA, demonstrated equivocal impacts by predation. However, direct observations in Byron, GA, revealed that ants are the dominant invertebrate predators of plum curculio larvae, causing up to 62% mortality. Primary ant predators included Solenopsis invicta (Buren) (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) and Dorymyrmex bureni (Trager) (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Predation may be more important later in the season when infested fruit does not abscise and plum curculio larvae must drop to the ground from the trees and spend a considerable time burrowing into the soil. This contrasts with the early season when infested fruit abscise and larvae crawl from the fruit directly into the soil, reducing their exposure to predators. Recorded parasites included Nealiolus curculionis (Fitch) (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) and Cholomyia inaequipes Bigot (Diptera: Tachinidae). Parasitism, particularly by N. curculionis, was common in northern Florida but rare in middle Georgia.

A collection of Bacillus thuringiensis isolates plausibly active against coleopteran insects was obtained from the Agricultural Research Service Culture Collection. Each isolate was cultured, spores and δ-endotoxin crystals were pelleted by centrifugation and lyophilized, and the resulting product was incorporated in insect diet for testing against Diaprepes abbreviatus neonates. A bioassay method was developed that utilized small amounts of insect diet and B. thuringiensis spores and δ-endotoxin to treat single neonates confined to 0.2-mL clear polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tubes. The method was less expensive in terms of labor and materials as compared to previous methods and reduced control losses due to burrowing and aggressive behaviors of D. abbreviatus larvae confined together. Of 19 B. thuringiensis isolates screened for activity against D. abbreviatus with a discriminating dose of 250 ppm spores and δ-endotoxin on diet, 5 were selected for further evaluation in dose-response experiments. Diaprepes abbreviatus larvae demonstrated a significant dose response to 4 of the 5 isolates tested. The most active isolates were those that expressed CryET33 and CryET34, or Cyt2Ca1 proteins. A wild-type B. thuringiensis strain that expressed Cyt2Ca1 generated the lowest LC₅₀ value (50.7 μg/ml) and steepest slope (1.11) based on log10 probit analysis of the data. These B. thuringiensis δ-endotoxins may have utility in transgenic approaches to citrus rootstock protection from D. abbreviatus.

Lantana lace bug, Teleonemia scrupulosa Stål, (Hemiptera: Tingidae) is a primary insect pest of lantana, a landscape plant commonly grown across the southern United States. Twenty-eight cultivars of lantana were evaluated for resistance to lantana lace bug in replicated field plantings. Natural infestations of lantana lace bugs developed in mid-Jul, and were dispersed across all the replicates within 30 d in Dallas, TX. Populations of nymphs and adults were sampled bi-weekly from Sep-Nov 1996. Highest mean populations were present on ‘Patriot Desert Sunset’ (40.3 nymphs and adults/3-leaf sample/plant), ‘Pink Frolic’ (20.6) and ‘Patriot Sunburst’ (19.4). Nineteen of the cultivars exceeded 4 lace bugs per 3-leaf sample. Lace bugs were never detected on 3 cultivars, ‘Weeping White’, ‘White Lightning’ and ‘Weeping Lavender’ during the test period, and ‘Imperial Purple’, ‘Patriot Rainbow’ and ‘Denholm Dwarf White’ had seasonal means of only 0.1 total lace bugs per sample. Cultivars of L. montevidensis (K. Spreng.) Briq. (mean of 0.02 lace bugs/3 leaf sample) were highly resistant, whereas many cultivars of L. camara L. and L. hybrida hort (6.73 and 9.54 lace bugs/3 leaf sample, respectively) were susceptible. Cultivars with gold, red, purple, and white flowers had far fewer lace bugs than did cultivars with either orange/red, yellow, or bicolors of yellow with another color. These results indicate that within most flower colors or bicolors, there exists a range of resistance among the cultivars and usually at least 1 cultivar per color form with resistance to the lantana lace bug.

Androthrips ramachandrai Karny is an exotic thrips, assumed to be predacious, and is associated with gall-inducing thrips. It was first reported in the U.S. from FL, and intercepted in CA from Thailand in 2002. We surveyed Ficus spp. with Gynaikothrips-induced galls in AL, CA, FL, HI, LA, MS, and TX, and document that A. ramachandrai is now established in CA, FL, HI, and TX. It probably has been spread by the ornamental horticulture industry. We outline its biology and compare it to a congener A. flavipes, a documented thrips predator. Androthrips ramachandrai has the potential to be a beneficial biological control agent and a hindrance to weed biological control.

No publications have reported delphacid planthoppers (Family Delphacidae) to be turf pests in the United States. In March 2005, a large infestation of the delphacid planthopper, Liburnia pseudoseminigra (Muir & Gifford), was found infesting St. Augustinegrass, Stenotaphrum secundatum (Walt.) Kuntze, in a commercial sod farm in southern Florida. Thereafter, a survey was conducted in commercial sod farms in southern Florida to determine the extent of the planthopper infestation in different St. Augustinegrass varieties. The planthoppers were found in low numbers in Floratam, Palmetto, and Seville and were moderately abundant in Bitterblue. However, Classic was clearly the variety supporting large numbers of the planthopper. Liburnia pseudoseminigra was described from Florida and apparently is a native species. Virtually nothing was known about its biology prior to its appearance as a pest of St. Augustinegrass in this study.

Several South American species of Pseudacteon have been released for biocontrol of red imported fire ants Solenopsis invicta in the U.S. Here we provide additional data from host specificity tests on 4 additional candidate species, P. nocens, P. nudicornis, P. cultellatus, and P. obtusus, all of which are components of multi-species complexes that occur within Argentinean Solenopsis populations. All 4 species were tested with sequential, no choice exposures to the red imported fire ant S. invicta, and the tropical fire ant, S. geminata. Levels of intra-generic specificity ranged from moderate to high and all 4 species showed greater specificity than some Pseudacteon species already approved for release.

A liquid bait delivery system containing borate was evaluated for controlling the Argentine ant, Linepithema humile (Mayr), in an organic citrus orchard. Two concentrations of disodium octaborate tetrahydrate (1% and 0.5%) were tested in 500-mL capacity bait stations placed at the base of trees. Both concentrations significantly reduced ant activity over the 11-wk duration of the test when compared with controls. However, the 1% concentration of borate significantly reduced ant activity up to 76 m away from the treatment, whereas the 0.5% did not. Compared to ant control with contact insecticides, the bait delivery system uses less insecticide and is more target-specific, reducing environmental contamination.

The enemy release hypothesis (ERH) frequently has been invoked to explain the naturalization and spread of introduced species. One ramification of the ERH is that invasive plants sustain less herbivore pressure than do native species. Empirical studies testing the ERH have mostly involved two-way comparisons between invasive introduced plants and their native counterparts in the invaded region. Testing the ERH would be more meaningful if such studies also included introduced non-invasive species because introduced plants, regardless of their abundance or impact, may support a reduced insect herbivore fauna and experience less damage. In this study, we employed a three-way comparison, in which we compared herbivore faunas among native, introduced invasive, and introduced non-invasive plants in the genus Eugenia (Myrtaceae) which all co-occur in South Florida. We observed a total of 25 insect species in 12 families and 6 orders feeding on the six species of Eugenia. Of these insect species, the majority were native (72%), polyphagous (64%), and ectophagous (68%). We found that invasive introduced Eugenia has a similar level of herbivore richness as both the native and the non-invasive introduced Eugenia. However, the numbers and percentages of oligophagous insect species were greatest on the native Eugenia, but they were not different between the invasive and non-invasive introduced Eugenia. One oligophagous endophagous insect has likely shifted from the native to the invasive, but none to the non-invasive Eugenia. In summary, the invasive Eugenia encountered equal, if not greater, herbivore pressure than the non-invasive Eugenia, including from oligophagous and endophagous herbivores. Our data only provided limited support to the ERH. We would not have been able to draw this conclusion without inclusion of the non-invasive Eugenia species in the study.

We report the first record of the citrus pest Papilio demoleus Linnaeus collected near Guánica in the United States, Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, in March 2006.

Two new species of the genus Ceratophysella from Korea, Ceratophysella biclavata n. sp. and Ceratophysella platyna n. sp. are described and illustrated. Ceratophysella biclavata differs from the closely related species Ceratophysella sigillata (Uzel 1891) by the shape of antennal bulb on antennal segment IV, the number of clavate tenent hairs and the number of granules between p₁ upon abdominal segment V. Ceratophysella platyna resembles Ceratophysella denticulata (Bagnall 1941) and Ceratophysella communis (Folsom 1898), but distinctly differs from the latter by the shape of tenent hairs. A key to the identification of the Korean species of Ceratophysella is included. In addition, the known species Hypogastrura gracilis (Folsom 1899) is described and recorded for the first time from Korea.

Ormia depleta is a parasitoid of pest mole crickets in the southeastern United States. From 2 to 8 larvae of O. depleta were placed on each of 368 mole cricket hosts and allowed to develop. The weights of the host crickets, number of larvae placed, number of resulting pupae, and the weights of those pupae were all factored to determine optimal parasitoid density per host under laboratory rearing conditions. Based on larval survival and pupal weight, this study indicates that 4-5 larvae per host is optimal for laboratory rearing.

The susceptibility of the predatory beetles Cybocephalus nipponicus Endrödy-Younga and Rhyzobius lophanthae Blaisdell to 6 pesticides commonly used for treating cycad aulacaspis scale, Aulacaspis yasumatsui Takagi, was tested. Three concentrations (half field rate, field rate, and twice field rate) of each pesticide were tested against both beetle species with a coated glass vial bioassay. Nearly 100% mortality in both beetle species occurred at all concentrations when treated with methidathion, dimethoate, and malathion. Insecticidal soap, fish oils, and imidacloprid were much less toxic. At one-half the field rate, C. nipponicus had 66% mortality with insecticidal soap, 76% mortality with imidacloprid, and 83% mortality with fish oil. At one-half the field rate, R. lophanthae had 43% mortality with insecticidal soap, 63% mortality with imidacloprid, and 46% mortality with fish oil. Mortality rate for each beetle species rose with increasing concentration of each pesticide and the soap and oil were the least toxic of all pesticides tested.

In order to carry on the detection and species inventory of hymenopteran parasitoids associated with fruit flies, we examined various tropical fruits growing at the Southern region of Yucatan. During a yearly cycle (Jun 2000 to Jun 2001), 9 host fruit species (including some varieties) were collected by 2 different methods. The first method involved weekly collection of ripened fruits that were transported to the laboratory (“Fruit-Lab”); and the second method was collection of fruits placed on the ground below the tree canopy (“Fruit-Beds”), and which remained in the field for two weeks, after which they were transported to the laboratory. Fruits obtained were counted and weighed, and the recovered pupae were quantified for each sample. As a whole, we sampled 4,470 fruits (850.8 Kg) from the 9 host plant species and varieties, which were infested by 5 fruit fly species: Anastrepha ludens (Loew), A. obliqua (Macquart), A. serpentina (Wiedemann), A. striata Schiner, and A. fraterculus (Wiedemann). The average parasitism in all samples was 3.69% represented by 11 hymenopteran species as follows: Braconidae, Doryctobracon areolatus (Szépligeti), and Opius bellus (Gahan); Figitidae, Aganaspis pelleranoi (Brethes), Aganaspis sp., Odontosema anastrephae Borgmeier and Odontosema sp.; Diapriidae, Coptera haywardi (Oglobin); Chalcididae, Dirhinus sp.; Pteromalidae, Spalangia endius Walker; Eurytomidae, Sycophila sp.; and Perilampidae, Euperilampus sp. On the basis of results in differences among samples for parasitism rates, fruit fly parasitoid, and fruit fly host plant, parasitoid assemblages are analyzed and discussed.