We report the following four uncommonly encountered assassin bug species: Empicoris errabundus, E. rubromaculatus, Ploiariacarolina, and P. hirticornis (Hemiptera: Reduviidae: Emesinae) for the first time from Arkansas. Both genera also were unreported previously for the state. Our Ploiariacarolina record constitutes a significant western range extension of >750 km to west of the Mississippi River; the other three species have been reported previously from areas surrounding Arkansas. We further provide digital images of each species and of taxonomically important characters, along with updated distribution maps.

The molecular characterization of the parasitoid, Blaesoxipha rufipes was studied for the first time using cytochrome oxidase subunit I (COI) and the ribosomal 12S genes to assist with species identification. Parasitoid samples were collected from five localities to examine the molecular variability of B. rufipes in western Saudi Arabia. The partial 12S and COI sequences were investigated using two analytical methods (maximum-parsimony and neighbor-joining). The A, C, G and T base compositions were 37.9%, 10.6%, 14.5% and 37%, respectively, for the 12S genes, and 27.9%, 17.5%, 16.8% and 37.8%, respectively, for the COI genes. The pairwise genetic distances (D) among the studied populations ranged from 0.006 to 0.012 in the 12S gene and from 0.002 to 0.05 in COI gene. The sequence of COI showed 97 base substitutions among and within the populations. Of these substitutions, only one amino acid changed at position 189. The array of amino acid sequences resembles the sequences of previously studied species of Blaesoxipha. Consequently, it could be concluded that the studied populations of B. rufipes showed low genetic variability, indicating that fragmentation and/or other ecological factors have some impact on them.

Sorghum is one of the most important crops in the state of Tamaulipas, Mexico, and is threatened by the pest aphid Melanaphis sacchari Zehntner. The coexistence of 11 species of Coccinellidae with M. sacchari Zehntner is reported for this location. Coccinella septempunctata (L.) is reported for the first time for the state of Tamaulipas; Brachiacantha decora Casey and Hyperaspis wickhami Casey are reported for the first time in Sorghum sp., as is Cycloneda sanguinea sanguinea (L.), which was noted earlier by Gilstrap and Hall, but not identified to subspecies. Species of Coccinellidae should be considered as potentially useful biological control agents for M. sacchari, as they have been reported on various crops in different countries as major predatory insects, and have now been shown to be numerous and diverse in aphid-infested sorghum fields in Tamaulipas. The list of known coccinellid species of Tamaulipas is here updated.

Eriosoma lanigerum (Hemiptera: Aphididae) is an important invasive pest causing serious damage to apple trees in many countries. The powdery wax covering the integument of this aphid plays an important role in its defense against natural enemies. We examined all instars and adults of E. lanigerum to determine the morphology and distribution of wax gland pores. We found four lines of wax-gland plates, two pleural and two marginal, on all thoracic segments and on the first seven abdominal segments. On the head, there are six pleural and two marginal plates on the first, while the eighth abdominal segment had just two pleural plates. In total, 50 wax gland plates were distributed over the dorsal region of the aphid. Each plate was composed of several wax gland pores arranged in a circle, with from 3 to 12 “petals.” On average, abdominal segments had 8 to 12 pores, thoracic segments had 7 – 10 pores, and the head had 5 – 8 pores. The wax secreted by different instars varied, and the optimal time to observe wax secretion in 1st to 4th instars and adults is at 16, 12, 8, 4 and 2 hours respectively after removing the wax on the cuticle. The rate of wax secretion increased with age, correlating with increases in body length, width, and diameter. In 1st to 3rd instars, marginal plates secreted more wax skeins and bundles of wax skeins than pleural plates, but there were no statistically significant differences between pleural and marginal plates. For 4th instars and adults, no significant differences were found in the number of wax filaments between pleural and marginal plates. For all E. lanigerum instars, more wax was found on the abdomen than on other parts of the body, which might help protect woolly apple aphids against honeydew, rain and parasitism.

We present a simple, manageable and cheap method for accelerated disturbance and, consequently, detection of thanatotic and soil-mimetic arachnids and other arthropods. The method combines sieving a substrate in the field, followed by heating and lighting the dispersed sample by a handheld electric light in the laboratory. The name Hot-Dancing alludes prompt and quick relocation of animals triggered by heating. We evaluated its efficiency experimentally.

The biological control agent and alien invasive ladybird Harmonia axyridis (Pallas, 1773), once introduced for pest control in Europe, is now spreading very rapidly over the European continent, especially since 2002. In this paper we give the first documented record of H. axyridis from Albania, southeastern Europe. The species was recorded in three localities in Albania.

A male American dog tick, Dermacentor variabilis (Say) was removed from a human at Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada, in April 2013. This represents the northernmost record of this species in Canada, which was approximately 1100 km north of its current distributional limits. Reports of adventitious ticks highlight the importance of human activity for transferring ticks to non-endemic areas.

Few studies have addressed the use of overnight substrate by congeneric bee species, although sleeping bees with other insect taxa or other bee families have been found to share the same substrates. We observed the sleeping aggregations of two sympatric bees, Amegilla florea urens and A. senahai senahai, to determine whether they shared the same substrates for sleeping on Ishigaki Island, Okinawa Prefecture, Japan. Many sleeping aggregations were found in broad-leaved deciduous forests and were patchily distributed along a pathway in broad-leaved evergreen forests in June for 2 years. Overnight aggregations formed on the leaves of monocotyledons or the fine roots of trees exposed on the slope of a bare cliff along the edge of the pathway. Neither species showed preference for any particular substrates. Over 2 years, we found 1 A. f. urens male aggregation, 6 A. s. senahai male aggregations, and 88 A. f. urens female aggregations. A sleeping site with aggregations of both Amegilla bee species was observed only once. Although no physical contact or mating approach es among sleeping individuals in each species were observed during the night, conspecific individuals slept close to other individuals in the aggregation. We suggest that single species aggregation would have an advantage for conspecifics to increase the night survival rate by sharing information such as predator attack.

The morphology of larvae of Dielocroce ephemera (Gerstaecker, 1894) is described and figured for the first time using light and scanning electron microscopy. The females were collected from Mardin Province, Turkey, and maintained in the laboratory. The different parts of the third instar larvae such as head, mandibles, antennae and types of sensory receptors are described and illustrated.