Hyperapona , new genus, is described for some species formerly placed in Hecalapona DeLong and Freytag that differ in having the male subgenital plates overlapping. This genus includes seven species previously described, including: Hyperapona angera (DeLong and Freytag), new combination; H. brevisens (DeLong and Freytag), new combination; H. cena (DeLong and Freytag), new combination; H. dedeca (DeLong and Freytag), new combination; H. dumosa (DeLong and Freytag), new combination; H. quadrella (DeLong and Freytag), new combination; and H. rostella (DeLong and Freytag), new combination, and fourteen new species as follows: H. hansoni, H. nana and H. parkeri from Costa Rica; H. camana, H. ligata, H. macra and H. minispina from Panama; H. carpa, H. chocoensis, H. longula, H. magdalensis, H. mima and H. misella from Colombia; and H. curvata from Ecuador. The present distribution of this new genus is from Costa Rica to Ecuador.

E. dolichocerus Figueroa and Sanchez, new species of Eurytenes from Mexico is described and illustrated. A key to identify the described species of Eurytenes s. str. of the New World is included.

The ultrastructure of the tarsus of adult Oides decempunctatus (Billberg) (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) was examined using scanning electron microscopy. Structurally the tarsus consists of 5 tarsomeres and a pair of bidentate ungues on the pretarsus. The ventral surfaces of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd tarsomere are covered with dense adhesive setae. Each seta consists of two parts: a setal shaft and a modified apex. Three types of setae, viz. tapered setae, spatulate setae and discoidal setae, are identified based on the shape of the setal tip. The tapered setae are located at the edge of the 1st tarsomeres and on the whole 2nd tarsomeres of the male forelegs and mesolegs and on the whole 1st and 2nd tarsomere of the female legs and male metalegs. They are about 40–60 µm long and 4 µm broad at base, taper from base to apex with a curved, acute and hook-like apex and have a density of approximately 1 seta/100 µm². The spatulate setae are located at the edge of the 3rd tarsomeres of the male forelegs and mesolegs and on the whole 3rd tarsomeres of the female legs and male metalegs. They are 55–85 µm long and 2.5–4.5 µm broad at base, have a spatulate terminal plate with 7–15 digits on margins, and have a density of approximately 1.5 setae/100 µm². The discoidal setae are located in the centre of the 1st and 3rd tarsomeres of the male forelegs and mesolegs and are not present on female legs. They are about 45–80 µm long and 2.5–4.5 µm broad at base, have a discoidal terminal plate (7–9 µm in diameter) and have a density of one seta/100 µm². These setae are presumed to function as adherence during climbing or mating activities of the beetles. The gland apertures and secretion solidification are also present on the ventral surfaces of the tarsus.

The larvae of the cossid moth Semitocossus johannes (Staudinger) were found to utilize the native woody tree-like milkweed Calotropis procera (Aiton) W.T., Aiton. at Al Muzahimiyah, Al Kharrarah Park, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The life cycle of this moth is apparently bivoltine with overlapping emergence. Adults were captured from early April to late June as mean air temperature reached 27–35°C. Another adult activity peak occurred in early October, when air temperatures again ranged 24–34°C. Adult females laid eggs singly or in small clusters on the inner base of woody branches. Eggs hatched on the average of 58 (45–70) days under laboratory conditions. Measurements of the head capsule width and body length were used to recognize size classes I–VI; size classes III–V were present throughout the year. Most larvae tunneled larger branches at the lower portion of the main trunk of the plant. Pupation occurred within the galleries of mature larvae near a prepared exit hole. Before adult emergence, the active pupae moved partially through the hole. Larvae of S. johannes can cause severe damage and death to infested C. procera plants. Numerous larvae (47–192) could be collected from a single infested plant.

Rove beetles (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae) have been reported as predators of animal and human disease vectors and of insect pests associated with field and greenhouse crops including species in the genera Aleochara, Holobus, Paederus, Dalotia, Staphylinus and Philonthus; however, there is limited information on their life history parameters. The rove beetle Dalotia coriaria (Kraatz) is a predator of greenhouse pests including fungus gnats. In this study, stage-specific and total development, fecundity, longevity, and sex ratio were investigated under laboratory conditions using growing medium as a substrate, which was designed to simulate what rove beetles would experience under greenhouse conditions. Duration of life stages was 2.2, 7.1, and 7.8 days for egg, larva and pupa respectively, whereas total development time from egg to adult was 17.0 days. Average fecundity was 90.2 eggs per female and the number of adults produced per female was 69.1. In addition, D. coriaria male and female adult longevity was 60.3 and 47.8 days. The sex ratio was 1∶1 (females∶males). These results will be helpful in improving augmentative biological control and mass-rearing.

Eight species of the genus Phthitia Enderlein are recorded from China, including the following three new species: P. longula Su, new species, P. globosa Su, new species, and P. sternipilis Su, new species. The descriptions and illustrations of three new species, along with a key to the currently known species of Chinese Phthitia, are presented.

Measuring shifting patterns of occurrence and abundance among members of pollinator guilds is critical for studies of their ecology, conservation and contribution to host pollination. The constitution of floral bee guilds is not readily interpreted from passive sampling of bee communities (e.g., pan or Malaise traps). Net collecting at flowers positively associates bee and flowering species, but do sampling biases of individual net collectors obscure real spatiotemporal dynamics in floral guilds of bees, or generate spurious differences where no changes have occurred? The diverse guild of bees foraging at 1-ha plots of creosote bush (Larrea tridentata) was systematically net sampled by practiced collectors along randomized belt transects across the Chihuahuan, Sonoran and Mojave deserts. These guild samples were compared by Horn's Index of Similarity, evaluating the magnitude of collector biases contrasted with geographical and temporal variability in guild composition. Simultaneous samples taken by several collectors were always more similar than those by the same collector in sequential years at a site (0.86 vs. 0.54) or concurrently at neighboring sites (0.84 vs. 0.61). Pooling collectors' site samples did not alter spatiotemporal estimates of guild similarity. Repeated seasonal samples by three collectors at one site were very similar for any given day (0.90) with the more experienced pair being particularly consistent and similar (0.96 ± 0.01). Seasonal changes of the guild were readily detected and quantified. Thus, aerial net sampling provided reliable estimates of temporal and spatial dynamics of the Larrea bee guilds once the sampling protocol had been practiced. We recommend systematic aerial net collecting of pollinators at counted floral host plants to quickly and reliably characterize pollinator guilds quantitatively. Systematic net sampling of bees taken at a sequence of randomly chosen individuals of a given flowering species offers a reliable and replicable means of efficiently quantifying variability and change in such floral guilds of bees. The method should find application for conservation, agriculture and habitat management involving bees and other insect pollinators.

Abundances of Neohydatothrips catenatus (Hood) larvae and adults were determined on the native host-plant Pluchea sericea (Nuttall) Coville during 9 April–11 November 2012 at Boulder City in southern Nevada. A total of 531 first instars, 191 second instars, and 53 adults were counted in 800 apical leaf-clusters, and 141 adults were collected in 16 Berlese samples of soil and leaf litter beneath plants. Sex ratios of adults were similar on and beneath plants and were female biased (1 male: 1.8 female). Abundances of N. catenatus were greatest on 10 May 2012, when a maximum 74% of leaf clusters were inhabited by larvae or adults, 13 d after the appearance of new leaf-clusters. Two peaks in abundances of first instars in leaf clusters and adult females beneath and on plants were observed during spring and summer and interpreted as complete generations with thrips developing through all life stages. A third peak in first instars in leaf clusters and adult females beneath plants was observed during late summer and fall and interpreted as an incomplete generation with adult thrips not migrating to leaf clusters. Two additional Berlese samples of soil and leaf litter during January 2013 produced two male and two female adults, suggesting low numbers of N. catenatus adults overwinter beneath plants. Ingestion of chlorophyll by larvae and adults in leaf clusters was evident from the green coloration inside their abdomens. Pluchea sericea appears to support abundant, multivoltine populations of the leaf-feeding N. catenatus.