A biological assessment was done to determine the impact of heavy metal discharge from the Schuykill Metals Recycling Plant (SMCP) on Cannon Creek, Missouri, its receiving stream. The relationship between sediment chemistry and chironomid emergence was examined. Twenty-four heavy metals and nutrients from the SMCP discharge effluent were examined in Cannon Creek from above the effluent, at the effluent, and below the effluent. Five heavy metals (barium, cadmium, lead, manganese, and zinc) and sodium varied significantly between sites. Changes in community composition, mean abundance of emerging chironomids, and Kansas Biotic Index Values were used to detect impairment by heavy metals and nutrients in Cannon Creek. Concentrations of lead and zinc in Cannon Creek were at levels potentially lethal to chironomids, yet mean abundance of emerging chironomids actually increased with the increase of heavy metals and nutrients and showed a strong and positive correlation with barium and sodium, and a weaker correlation with increases in lead and cadmium. Chironomid diversity patterns did not correlate with the concentrations of heavy metals in Cannon Creek. Community similarity between sites was greatest between the reference site and the site at the SMCP discharge effluent. Low similarity between sites was attributed to gross changes in stream morphology rather than to any effects from the SMCP effluent. Finally, the KBI tolerance values to heavy metals for chironomids in Cannon Creek were above those encountered in the reference condition for the Western Cornbelt Plains Ecoregion, indicating minimal impairment.

In 1999, bees were sampled from several flowering individuals of the leguminous tree, Andira inermis (Papilionoideae), at two sites in northwestern Guanacaste Province of Costa Rica. One site, city outskirts of Liberia, was experiencing steady encroachment of human development, whereas the other was a moderately impacted cattle ranch/wildland area near the small town of Bagaces. A standardized method was employed to sample the bees, which had been used previously in 1996 in the same tree populations at the same two sites (Frankie et al., 1997).

Results of the 1999 samples were compared with those taken in 1996 to examine possible changes in bee diversity and abundance. During this three-year period, El Niño and La Niña climatic events had occurred back-to-back, and this combination of weather patterns provided an opportunity to evaluate possible short-term changes in the bee taxa that use A. inermis as one of their preferred host plants. Other bee host plants at both sites were also surveyed for seasonal flowering, the results of which formed a broader context for assessing the A. inermis bee samples.

The comparison revealed the follwing. 1) The composition of bees had changed with reductions in large bees from 1996 to 1999; most noticeably some anthophorids and especially Centris and Epicharis. Africanized honey bees and smaller bee taxa remained about the same in composition and overall abundance. 2) During El Niño and La Niña years from mid 1997 through early 1999, the flowering of key resources for large bees, especially Byrsonima crassifolia, was substantially delayed (and sometimes reduced) to the point where building and provisioning of bee nests was likely reduced, which apparently led to declines in large bee taxa. Other possible causes of decline, including increasing agricultural development in the region, are also discussed. 3) Intertree variation in attraction of bees to A. inermis was documented in both 1999 and 1996, but persistence of this variable attraction on the same individual trees could be only partially evaluated in 1999. The flowering pattern(s) of individual A. inermis trees has proved to be highly variable within and between the two study sites.

Dictyophara nekkana Matsumura (Hemiptera: Fulgoroidea: Dictyopharidae), unrecorded since its 1940 description, is recently rediscovered. Two syntypes of D. nekkana are recently found and a lectotype is newly designated for the identity of this species. Diagnosis and description of the adults, with illustrations of the male genitalia, are presented. New distributional records for D. nekkana are given for Heilongjiang, Inner Mongolia, Hebei, Beijing, Shandong, Shanxi, and Shaanxi. This has extended the distribution range of the species considerably, which was previously known only from Manchuria in northeastern China.

Pitfall traps were used to determine diversity, seasonality, and numbers of burying beetles on the Konza Prairie Biological Station (KPBS) during the summers of 1997 and 1998. Traps were baited with either beef liver (1997) or whole mouse carcasses (1997 and 1998); significantly more carrion beetles were found in traps baited with carcasses. A total of 1003 carrion beetles, representing 8 species, were trapped over the course of 1556 trap nights. One of these species, Necrophila americana Linneaus, had not previously been recorded in Riley County. One additional species was found at sites where pitfall trap bait was discarded, bringing the total number of KPBS silphid species to 9. Bait age was an important determinant in attracting silphids to pitfall traps, as numbers of beetles in the trap continued to increase with bait age up to 6 days. Grassland topography (upland vs. lowland trap sites) significantly affected the numbers of carrion beetles trapped. Grassland burn history did not affect number of carrion beetles trapped, but did seem to influence species diversity.

We investigated the ability of the tropical social wasp Polybia occidentalis to recognize local species of scouting-and-recruiting ants by their odor. Wasps in colonies that had not recently experienced Crematogaster ?rochai or Solenopsis geminata did not respond to the odors of these ants. Following contact with these ants, however, some of the individuals responded defensively to the odor of these ant species, showing that wasps can learn the odor of ants. Wasps were better able to learn to respond to the odor of Crematogaster than to Solenopsis. The results of this preliminary field study point to a role for learning in the defensive behavior of social wasps.

In Kansas, the western corn rootworm, Diabrotica virgifera virgifera LeConte (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae), is one of the most economically important pests of corn. Crop losses and control costs attributed to Diabrotica spp. reach $1 billion annually in the U.S. Recently, Bt corn hybrids resistant to western corn rootworm larval damage have been field-tested for rootworm control. This study evaluated the effect of a specific Bt corn (YieldGard Rootworm®) for corn rootworm control on larval survival. Elytra length, fecundity, percent egg hatch, and longevity of adult D. v. virgifera that survived exposure to Bt corn in the larval stage were also evaluated. Two groups of D. v. virgifera adults were assessed. One group had emerged from Bt and non-Bt corn roots; the other group was obtained from a colony with no larval exposure to Bt corn and fed Bt or non-Bt corn silk and ears. Bt corn significantly reduced the number of D. v. virgifera beetles emerging from corn roots. In general, Bt corn had no significant effect on longevity, elytra length, and female fecundity of D. v. virgifera beetles emerging from Bt corn plants. Bt corn had no significant effect on longevity and female fecundity of D. v. virgifera beetles feeding only as adults on Bt corn silk and ears. In general, Bt corn had no effect on number of D. v. virgifera beetles feeding in the field on corn silk and on silk damage caused by adults. Generally, the results of this study demonstrated that Bt corn (MON 863) expressing the Cry3Bb1 toxin was extremely effective in reducing damage caused by D. v. virgifera larvae and had no significant effects on the longevity of beetles emerging from YieldGard Rootworm® corn.

Based on the examination of type material, we recognize a new synonym for Camelobaetidius warreni [=C. similis, NEW SYNONYM]. Published records of C. similis have been based either on misidentifications of C. mexicanus or are referable to a previously undescribed species, C. maidu Jacobus and McCafferty, n. sp. Camelobaetidius maidu is described based on male and female larvae from the far western United States and Mexico. It is distinguished from congeners by having a combination of osmobranchiae present on the forecoxae and absent on the midcoxae; claws with relatively few denticles; and a labrum with relatively few setae in the dorsal, submarginal anterior line and relatively many sublateral setae. Diagnoses are provided for the larvae of C. maidu, C. mexicanus, and C. warreni.

A systematic study of the chewing louse genus Ornithobius (Phthiraptera: Ischnocera: Philopteridae) was undertaken to identify several species found among the unidentified specimens in the K. C. Emerson Collection. The seven described species are reviewed, one species is placed in synonymy and two new species are described.

The new genus Oculomenopon is described to include the single new species, O. melampittae, with the type host being the Lesser Melampitta, Melampitta lugubris (Passeriformes: Genera Incertae Sedis), from New Guinea.