A phylogenetic analysis of the Neotropical riodinid butterfly genera Charis Hübner and Calephelis Grote & Robinson is presented. Cladistic analyses using 31 characters of male and female genitalia and external facies generated cladograms indicating that Charis is paraphyletic with respect to Calephelis. The analyses highlight the existence of four major clades, the ocellata Hewitson, cleonus Stoll, anius Cramer, and virginiensis Guérin-Méneville groups, which we treat as genera. The generic names Charis and Calephelis are applicable to the last two groups, but new genera are described for the first two: Seco n. gen. for the ocellata group and Detritivora n. gen. for the cleonus group. Each genus is diagnosed and provided with illustrations of representative adults and male and female genitalia, a synonymic checklist and list of all known foodplants. The following taxa are misplaced in the analyzed clade: aerigera Stichel and xanthosa Stichel are transferred from Charis to Emesis F. (n. combs.), and myrtis H. Druce is transferred from Charis to Exoplisia Godman & Salvin (n. combs.). Charis irina Stichel is synonymized with Charis iris Staudinger (n. syn.) and Charis cadytis acroxantha Stichel is synonymized with nominate C. cadytis Hewitson (n. syn.). The taxon candiope H. Druce is transferred from Charis to Calephelis for the first time (n. comb.) and iris and velutina Godman and Salvin are returned to Calephelis from Charis (rev. combs.).

Argyroploce unedana Baixeras, new species, is described from the Iberian Peninsula. The species is closely related to A. arbutella (L., 1758), which occurs on most of the European continent; the two species are allopatric. Although they share similar biologies, the two can be distinguished by structures of the male and female genitalia. Genitalia variability is analyzed. Forewing patterns and hindwing anal roll are discussed in relation to their systematic significance. The olethreutine wing pattern is reexamined. A review of the genus-level taxonomic problems surrounding Argyroploce Hübner, [1825] and allied genera suggests a fragile situation in the present systematic scenario within the Olethreutini.

Copestylum alberlena, sp. nov. (Diptera: Syrphidae) was reared from larvae collected in decaying platyclades of Opuntia Mill. (Cactaceae) in the state of Veracruz (México). The third-instar larva, puparium, and adult morphology are described. Preliminary data about its life cycle and breeding behavior are included. This species is close to Copestylum tamaulipanum (Townsend), also breeding in Cactaceae, whose male genitalia are also described and compared with C. alberlena. The most important morphological differences between immature stages and adults of C. alberlena and C. tamaulipanum are illustrated and analyzed in a comparative table.

Parastrachia, with its two species P. japonensis (Scott) and P. nagaensis Distant, has been placed as a subfamily (Parastrachiinae) in Cydnidae. Those who placed it there [C. W. Schaefer, Dolling, W. R., and S. Tachikawa. 1988, The shieldbug genus Parastrachia and its position within the Pentatomoidea (Insecta: Hemiptera). Zool. J. Linn. Soc. 93: 283–311] expressed their doubts at the time. We confirm those doubts after comparing Parastrachia with several pentatomoid groups, including Pentatomidae and Cydnidae. We conclude that the genus warrants family-level rank, as Parastrachiidae Oshanin, 1922.

Species in the Phyllophaga (Listrochelus) timida group are reviewed, and three new species from Mexico are described. The group includes the following: P. (L.) timida (Horn) P. (L.) snowi Saylor, P. (L.) mimicana Saylor from California, Arizona, U.S.A. and Sonora, Mexico; P. (L.) yaqui Saylor, P. (L.) nogueirana n. sp. and P. (L.) seri n. sp. from Sonora, Mexico; P. (L.) oblongula Bates from Guerrero, Morelos and Puebla, Mexico; and P. (L.) suriana n. sp. from Guerrero, Mexico. A key is provided for males of the eight species. Figures of diagnostic structures, and maps of distribution of each species are included.

RESUMEN Se revisa el grupo de especies Phyllophaga (Listrochelus) timida, y se describen tres especies nuevas de México. El grupo incluye: P. (L.) timida (Horn), P. (L.) snowi Saylor, P. (L.) mimicana Saylor de California, Arizona, E.U.A., y Sonora, México; P. (L.) yaqui Saylor, P. (L.) nogueirana n. sp., y P. (L.) seri n.sp. de Sonora, México; P. (L.) oblongula Bates de Guerrero, Morelos y Puebla, México; y P. (L.) suriana n. sp. de Guerrero, México. Se presenta una clave para separar los machos de las ocho especies. Se incluyen ilustraciones de las estructuras diagnósticas y mapas de distribución.

The nymphal stage of whitefly pests is important in terms of its relationship to pest management measures and virus epidemiology. Among the nymphal forms, the active first instar, i.e., crawler, is the only mobile form of immature whiteflies. A study was conducted to determine any influence of vegetable plant species and temperature on net distance moved (between the egg site and final resting site) by crawlers of the B-biotype sweetpotato whitefly, Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius). Tests were conducted in the greenhouse and under controlled laboratory conditions on five vegetable hosts: cantaloupe, Cucumis melo L.; collard, Brassica oleracea ssp. acephala de Condolle; cowpea, Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walpers; pepper, Capsicum annuum L.; and tomato, Lycopersicon esculentum Miller. The net distance moved was shortest on collard in which the crawler ceased traveling ≈2 mm from where it hatched. The crawler ceased traveling ≈10–15 mm from the site of hatching on the other vegetable host plants. Observations on collard in the laboratory indicate that the crawlers traveled 21 min during the first stadium. No effect of constant temperature over the temperature range of 16–34°C was detected on the net travel distance of the crawlers. These data suggest that among the plant species in this study, collard is highly attractive for feeding and/or it offers suitable feeding sites that are easy to locate by the crawler. The results of this study help define the behavior of crawlers on several host plants.

Overwintering shelters composed of cardboard bands were placed on pear and apple trees located in central Washington state to monitor overwintering by predatory arthropods and by two pest taxa. A subset of bands was sampled at regular intervals between late summer and mid-December to determine when taxa began to enter bands. The remaining bands were left undisturbed until collection in mid-December to determine the numbers and types of arthropods overwintering on tree trunks in these orchards. More than 8,000 predatory arthropods were collected from bands left undisturbed until mid-December, dominated numerically by Acari (Phytoseiidae) [Galendromus occidentalis (Nesbitt), Typhlodromus spp.], Araneae, and Neuroptera (Hemerobiidae, Chrysopidae). Predatory mite numbers were higher in bands placed in apple orchards than bands placed in pear orchards. The Araneae were particularly diverse, including >3,000 spiders representing nine families. Less abundant were Heteroptera, including a mirid [Deraeocoris brevis (Uhler)] and three species of Anthocoridae [Anthocoris spp., Orius tristicolor (White)]. Coleoptera included Coccinellidae, dominated by Stethorus picipes Casey, and unidentified Staphylinidae and Carabidae. The bands that were collected at regular intervals to monitor phenology provided >15,000 predatory arthropods, dominated numerically by spiders, Dermaptera [Forficula auricularia (F.)], lacewings, and predatory mites. Some well-defined phenological patterns were apparent for some taxa. Brown lacewing adults (Hemerobius) began appearing in bands in late October, coinciding with leaf fall in orchards. Cocooned larvae of green lacewings (Chrysopa nigricornis Burmeister), conversely, were most abundant in bands in September, which was well before leaf fall. Predatory mites began to appear in bands in late September before onset of leaf fall. Patterns for predatory Heteroptera were less clear, but results showed that D. brevis and O. tristicolor were active in the orchards well into the period of leaf fall. Two pest taxa, spider mites (Tetranychus spp.) and pear psylla [Cacopsylla pyricola (Foerster)], were also monitored. Spider mites entered bands beginning in September and finished movement at the beginning of leaf fall, similar to patterns shown by Phytoseiidae. Pear psylla moved into bands very late in the season (November and December). Our results suggest that postharvest applications of chemicals, as made by some growers, would occur before most predatory taxa have entered overwintering quarters.

The bagworm Thyridopteryx ephemeraeformis (Haworth) is univoltine and overwinters as diapausing eggs within the silken bag from the female moth. We have sought to determine whether selection of this overwintering site protects eggs against desiccation and low temperature injury. Bag-enclosed eggs retained water nearly three times more effectively (net water loss rates were lower) than naked eggs. A similar trend was noted in the ability of eggs to withstand prolonged exposure to subzero temperatures: naked eggs were four times more susceptible to chilling injury compared with those tucked inside a bag. Plastic or tissue paper artificial bags did not mimic the protection against cold. The eggs contained low levels of glycerol and sorbitol, suggesting no major role for these cryoprotectants. Bagworm eggs are not freeze tolerant, and their high water content implies that they have neither been enhanced for water conservation nor cold hardiness. These observations indicate that use of the female bag as the overwintering site is crucial to high winter survival by T. ephemeraeformis.

The red imported fire ant, Solenopsis invicta Buren, became established in North America more than 70 yr ago, and it currently occupies most of the southeastern United States. Fire ants change the physical and chemical components of soil, which likely influence soil fungi in ant mounds. To determine the effects of fire ants on soil fungi, we sampled soil from fire ant mounds and the surrounding nonmound soil. In addition, we sampled soil from the nests of the native ant Aphaenogaster texana carolinensis Wheeler. We found that both fire ant mounds and native ant nests had greater fungal abundance but lower species richness and diversity than nonmound soil. Fire ant mounds contained 19 times more colony forming units (cfu g⁻¹) than adjacent soil; however, nonmound soil had more than twice the number of fungal species. Two species (Papulaspora byssina Hotson and Penicillium janthinellum Biourge) made up the majority (54.5 and 19.2% relative colony frequencies, respectively) of fungi in fire ant mounds. These high proportions of limited numbers of fungal species in fire ant mounds indicate that only some species are tolerant to and thrive in mound conditions. Alternatively, fire ants might not selectively remove these fungi from their mounds. Given the high densities of fire ants and their frequent mound movements, changes in soil fungal communities might have lasting impacts on soil conditions. In addition, we suggest that differences between fungal communities in soil from native and non-native ant colonies might indirectly influence ant-mediated seed dispersal by affecting seedling survival.

The effects of hemolymph sugar levels and carbohydrate metabolism on postfeeding diuresis in corn earworm moths, Helicoverpa zea (Boddie) were examined. High levels of ingested sucrose or the ingestion of nonmetabolizable sugars resulted in a reduced rate of diuresis. The magnitude of postfeeding diuresis appears to be dependent on the ability of the moth to metabolize ingested sugar after it has been passed to the hemolymph. Glycogen synthase (GS) and trehalose-6-phosphate synthase (TS) can reverse the increase in hemolymph osmolarity that accompanies sucrose digestion by the conversion of glucose to glycogen and trehalose. The level of fat body GS/TS activity correlates with differences in postfeeding diuresis between males and females and with changes in the magnitude of diuresis as moths age. These data suggest that the magnitude of postfeeding diuresis may ultimately depend on the enzymatic activities that control hemolymph sugar levels.

The study of mosquito metamorphosis has relevance to understanding the mosquitocidal mechanisms of juvenile hormone analogues and may provide information concerning dipteran evolution. This report details the chronology and coordination of morphological changes in imaginal disc growth and differentiation, respiratory trumpet morphogenesis, and midgut remodeling that occur during Aedes aegypti (L.) metamorphosis. These observations were facilitated by the transparent A. aegypti larval cuticle and the relatively synchronous development of individually grown larvae. The results indicate that within 12 h of the last larval-larval ecdysis, leg imaginal discs start to grow and differentiate, pupal respiratory trumpets start their morphogenesis, and midgut remodeling starts in that programmed death of midgut polytene cells and division of midgut diploid cells are initiated. Morphological changes in all of these structures continue throughout the fourth stadium and are concomitant with substantial larval feeding and growth. These observations are prerequisite to a biochemical understanding of events that occur during mosquito metamorphosis.

Anastrepha fraterculus (Wiedmann), a South American fruit fly, is an economically important pest for fruit-bearing plants of the neotropical region. Some evidence indicates that the nominal A. fraterculus comprises multiple cryptic species. In the current work we analyzed genetic variability and structure in Argentine populations of A. fraterculus based on eight isoenzymatic loci and the restriction patterns of a fragment of ≈500 bp belonging to the 16 S mitochondrial ribosomal DNA. The isoenzymatic analysis indicated a significant excess of homozygotes (F_IS > 0), due to the fact that sampling sites probably do not constitute stable Mendelian populations. Genetic similarities ranged within values expected for conspecific populations and gene flow, estimated indirectly from the F_ST value, was high. The phenogram obtained by unweighted pair-group method with arithmetic average among populations shows disagreements with the expected result based on geographic distribution. Populations located in the neighborhood of Buenos Aires City show high diversity probably due to a high migration rate from different regions. The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) restriction fragment-length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis of the mtDNA fragment involved 11 Argentine and one south Brazilian populations. The PCR product was digested by three endonucleases: Ssp-I, Ase-I, and Mnl-I. The observed patterns showed no variation within nor among the populations studied here but differed from the expected results based on the sequences recorded by other researchers for populations of north Brazil, Venezuela, and Mexico. The results so far obtained indicate that, despite the occurrence of macrogeographical variation, the Argentine and south Brazilian populations studied here belong to a single biological species.

Multiple mating by social Hymenopteran queens significantly lowers the average genetic relatedness among female nestmates, which subsequently affects a wide range of social behaviors. Honey bees (Apis spp.) have among the highest levels of multiple mating in social insects, and have received the most empirical effort to quantify the effective paternities within colonies. We reviewed 24 studies that estimated paternity frequencies of individual, naturally-mated honey bee queens using molecular techniques. We summarize the methods used to estimate effective paternity (m_e) and intracolonial genetic relatedness (G). We then concentrate on the effect of sample size on estimates of m_e using Monte Carlo simulations. The results demonstrate that m_e estimates may vary significantly as a result of sampling error, particularly at low worker sample sizes and high paternity numbers. From these simulations, we arbitrarily define a “threshold” worker sample size to effective paternity ratio (n/m_e) that, at best, reduces the error of estimating m_e to less than one subfamily. The literature review illustrates that no study with an n/m_e ratio above this threshold estimates an m_e above 15 subfamilies. Finally, we briefly discuss other factors that may serve to over-estimate m_e, including numerous sampling biases. We conclude that although 152 colonies in the various species of Apis have been tested, the extremity of their paternity frequencies may be somewhat exaggerated, although not drastically.