The density of staphylinid species is affected by crop type and production system. A study was made to compare the effect of conventional system with organic agricultural system on rove beetle fauna regarding the crop type. The study was conducted for a period of two years at eight different localities of Punjab province of Pakistan and five different collection methods i.e., pitfall trap, light trap, flight intercept trap, Berlese funnel trap and sweep net were used for collecting the rove beetles. The population (abundance) and diversity of rove beetles were taken as dependent variables in separate generalized linear mixed models (GLMM). In the GLMM, time (yr) was found non-significant random effect but locality as random effect was significant. In GLMM, with locality as random effect, the fixed effects crop type and soil moisture showed significant effect with population (abundance) as response and fixed effect system was also significant in the model with diversity as response variable. Generally, the farm yard manure had more positive effect on the density of different species than inorganic fertilizers. Hence, the density of all species was more prominent in the organic management system than in the conventional one.

A new species of Apanteles from Mexico is described and illustrated. Apanteles montezumae Sánchez, Figueroa and Whitfield, new species, attacks Argyrotaenia montezumae Walsingham and Amorbia cuneana (Walsingham) (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) on Rubus sp. in Michoacan state, Mexico.

Monarch butterflies are one of the best studied non-pest lepidopterans, serving as a model for migration, chemical ecology, and insect conservation. Despite the intensity with which the larvae and adults have been studied, the cryptic pupal stage is often difficult to study in the wild. It is perhaps due to this difficulty that researchers have largely overlooked monarchs’ interactions with a pupal parasitoid, Pteromalus cassotis. Using field experiments in the northern U.S. and observational data from wild collected pupae in the southern U.S., we report occurrences of this host-parasitoid interaction at sites Minnesota, Georgia, Oklahoma, Texas, and Wisconsin. At sites in Minnesota, rates of parasitism of experimentally placed monarch were highly variable, ranging from 60% in 2010 to 0% in 2013 and 2014. Observations of wild-collected pupae suggest that rates of parasitism may near 100% at some sites in the southern U.S. The number of wasps emerging from a single host ranged from 1–425 (mean  =  71). Later dissections of hosts revealed that, in some cases, dead parasitoids remained inside the host as larvae, pupae, and/or adults. Within a host, wasp sex ratios were typically female biased (median  =  91% female), as is common in gregarious parasitic hymenopterans. Infected monarch pupae at a site in Oklahoma produced more wasps per host, more male-biased sex ratios, and had higher survival than hosts from other sites. We discuss the possibility that P. cassotis is a specialist on monarchs and perhaps closely related species, based on monarchs’ sequestered cardenolides, published host records, and evidence for correlated population dynamics of this host and parasitoid.

The pupal case of the robber fly Archilestris magnificus (Walker, 1854) from Arizona, U.S.A. is described and images are provided for recognition. Characters of the pupal case indicate that this species can be included in the Dasypogoninae as previously placed.

Peru is one of the most biodiverse countries in the world. Its complex topography with Pacific coastal desert, high Andes, and Amazon basin underlies its exceptional species richness. Knowledge of Peru's beetle fauna is poorly known. Based on a literature review, institutional records, and fieldwork, this contribution reviews the fauna of three cerambycoid families, Cerambycidae, Disteniidae, and Vesperidae, recorded from Peru. The checklist presents 6 subfamilies, 60 tribes, 411 genera, and 869 species and subspecies for Peru. Type localities and known host plant records are also provided and pest species in Peru are briefly noted. This is the first paper in a series, Beetles of Peru. Many more new species await discovery and description as fieldwork continues in Peru.