New genera and species of Phylini (Heteroptera: Miridae: Phylinae) are described from Mexico and the western United States and two new combinations are created. Roburocoris n. gen. accommodates Psallus maculosus Knight, 1925 and three new species. The four species have a wide distribution in the southwestern United States and Mexico for the most part and are collected on various species of Quercus (Fagaceae). Viscacoris n. gen. is created for Plagiognathus phoradendronae Knight, 1929 and comprises four species from Mexico and the southwestern United States. The four species are recorded from mistletoe (Viscaceae).

Eminoculus Schuh is revised and an updated diagnosis is presented for the genus. Seven species are recognized, five of which are described as new. Diagnoses, digital habitus photographs, illustrations of male and female genitalic structures, keys to both the males and females, and detailed locality are provided. Scanning micrographs of diagnostic morphological structures—the head, pronotum, scent-gland evaporatory area, vestiture, and pretarsus—are included for four species. A phylogenetic analysis is presented, using the South African species Lasiolabopella capeneri Schuh and the Nearctic Chlamydatus keltoni Schuh and Schwartz as outgroups. Host data are presented for 6 species, and patterns of host association with the “mesem” clade of the Aizoaceae are discussed.

Aoplonema lopidium sp. nov. is described from the Mexican states of Guerrero and Oaxaca, representing the first records of this genus from mainland Mexico. A summary of the hypothesized phylogenetic species relationship is (A. princeps (A. lopidium (A. rubrum A. nigrum))). A biogeographical analysis proposes that the Sierra Madre del Sur is the sister area to the rest of the areas occupied by the other species of Aoplonema.

The study of a carrion fauna from a forensic perspective provides insight into cadaveric succession during vertebrate decomposition and contributes to documentation of taphonomic processes. The insects associated with sea lion bones of 1290 ± 100 years BP found in Puerto Madryn (Argentina) were examined. The recorded species were: Cochliomyia macellaria and Fannia sp. (Diptera), Dermestes maculatus and Necrobia rufipes (Coleoptera), and Tineola cf. biselliella (Lepidoptera). The succession of insect species occurred at the end of spring or the beginning of summer, on carrion exposed to the open air for approximately 50 days. Decomposition was apparently interrupted by mass wasting that buried the carcasses.

Characters of adult morphology, male genitalia, and nest architecture are combined in a cladistic analysis of the neotropical paper wasp genus Synoeca. The single resulting cladogram supports the monophyly of genus. The species are related as follows: S. chalibea (S. virginea (S. septentrionalis (S. surinama S. cyanea))). A new identification key is also presented.

At two locations in central New York, including the Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge, Isodontia mexicana females nested in 8 and 9 mm diameter trap nests. As is typical for Isodontia, partitions and plugs in the nests were constructed using fragments of grass stems, and the outermost portion of the final nest plug consisted of a tuft of grass leaves that extended as far as 7 cm beyond the nest entrance. The vast majority of prey were adult tree crickets (Gryllidae: Oecanthinae; Oecanthus), although nymphal tree crickets and katydids (Tettigoniidae: Conocephalinae) also occurred among provisions. The sex ratio of adult tree cricket prey was strongly female-biased. Nest associates included three other nest-provisioning aculeates, along with Psocoptera, spiders, ants, Coelioxys sp. (Megachilidae), and bombyliid, sarcophagid, and phorid flies. The overall sex ratio of I. mexicana offspring did not differ from unity, but the sex of offspring in any given cell was related to the position of the cell and the total number of cells in a nest. As females added cells to the linear sequence in each nest, new cells were increasingly likely to house sons, especially in nests with fewer cells. Surprisingly, given results of previous studies, the sex of an offspring was unrelated to nest tunnel diameter.