Insecticide resistance due to mutations in the knockdown resistance (kdr) gene in Anopheles gambiae populations has been reported in some West African countries, despite the absence of large-scale mosquito control in this sub-region. Agricultural and/or household use of insecticides has been implicated in the development of resistance in An. gambiae. However, such studies had not been carried out in Ghana, where large-scale use of insecticide-treated bed nets is a major component of the Roll Back Malaria programme. There is therefore a need to establish baseline information on patterns of insecticide use and vector susceptibility levels in Ghana. A questionnaire survey of 171 households with 800 inhabitants was conducted to obtain information on knowledge, attitude and perception of respondents on household insecticide use in the Accra metropolis. Also, adult An. gambiae were tested for resistance to permethrin and deltamethrin using WHO adult mosquito test kits. The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was used to detect the presence of the kdr mutation in the test mosquitoes and to identify sibling species within the An. gambiae complex. Results indicated a high frequency of household pyrethroid insecticide use with respondents preferring aerosols to insecticide-impregnated coils. The use of anti-mosquito screens on doors and windows was very high (77 %) but use of bed nets was low (5 %). There was no significant difference in the reported incidence of malaria in all socioeconomic classes. All of the mosquito specimens examined were found to be An. gambiae s.s. Bioassay mortalities were 76 % (range: 72–80 %) for deltamethrin and 74.74 % (range 68–85 %) for permethrin, indicating the existence of resistance to these two insecticides in An. gambiae populations in Accra. The kdr mutation was found in 81.3 % of the survivors of the bioassays and in 8.8 % of the test mortalities. There was a strong correlation between resistance and the occurrence of kdr.

The butterfly fauna of the Boabeng-Fiema Monkey Sanctuary in Ghana is reviewed in detail. The Sanctuary covers just 1.9 km² but only parts are truly forested. It is situated in the extreme north of the original forest zone and is currently isolated from any larger forests by some 50 km of derived savanna and farmbush. It has survived only because it provides the essential habitat for two species of monkey that are revered by the local communities. Surveys indicate that the present butterfly fauna is about 375 species, which is impressive for a tiny forest in far from pristine condition. Comparison with other forests in Ghana indicates that it would have contained about 500 species when it was part of a larger, contiguous forest system. It would thus seem that the small size and increasing isolation has so far led to a loss of no more than 125 species (25 % of its original fauna), which includes most of the endemic and rarer species in the country. A larger number of butterflies appears to survive in small forest fragments than is the case with birds. Continued monitoring would be interesting in its own right, but also because forest fragments are potentially important as stepping stones between the increasingly isolated major forests of Ghana.

The impact of chlorpyrifos ethyl (applied at a rate of 225 g a.i./ha) and fenitrothion (at 450 g a.i./ha), two insecticides commonly used to control desert locusts (Schistocerca gregaria Forskål), on the activity of Psammotermes hybostoma Desneux, a subterranean, wood-eating termite, were assessed in the Tafidet Valley in the Aïr area, during July–December 2005. Termite activity was significantly reduced with chlorpyrifos and fenitrothion compared with unsprayed control plots. Termite activity was most affected 1–30 days (Interval I) after treatment and thereafter for a period up to 60 days (Interval II) . Chlorpyrifos ethyl was the more toxic insecticide, leading to 75 % and 73 % reduction in termite activity during Intervals I and II, respectively. Recovery of the termite population occurred 60 days after treatment, as reflected by resumption of feeding activity. Both insecticides showed no effect on termite activity from 75–90 days after treatment.

A survey of mealybugs and their associated natural enemies occurring in vineyards was conducted in 2003 and 2004 in different Tunisian grapevine-growing regions. Two mealybug species, the citrus mealybug, Planococcus citri (Risso), and the vine mealybug, Planococcus ficus (Signoret), were found in all inspected vineyards. Parasitoids were recorded more frequently than predators as natural enemies of the two Planococcus species. Four encyrtid primary parasitoids, Anagyrus pseudococci (Girault), Leptomastix dactylopii (Howard), Leptomastidea abnormis (Girault) and Coccidoxenoides peregrinus (Timberlake), were recorded from mummified mealybugs collected in the field. Anagyrus pseudococci, with a rate of parasitism of 80.3 %, was the most abundant parasitoid, followed by L. abnormis (12.1 %), C. peregrinus (4.5 %) and finally L. dactylopii (3 %). Two coccinellids, Rhyzobius lophanthae and Scymnus sp., were found associated with mealybugs.

The morphology of the puparium of a species of Afrodinia near medleri Cogan, is described and illustrated using both light and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The specimens reared from ‘gum’ in galleries of Acacia karroo Hayne (Fabaceae) in the Limpopo Province of South Africa. This represents the first description of the immature stages of an Afrotropical species of Odiniidae, the first using SEM techniques, and the first record of an association with Acacia. Biology is discussed, with the minimum period of larval development determined as 39–46 days and the puparial stage as 17–22 days. The immature stages of 12 species of Odiniidae are known and these are reviewed. The puparium of Afrodinia is most similar to that of the genus Odinia Robineau-Desvoidy, supporting the inclusion of Afrodinia in the Odiniinae. Functional morphology of the hooked spinules on the ventral creeping welts and development of subanal pads on the anal division of the larva are discussed. It is suggested that these structures aid both anchorage and mobility of larvae within the smoothly bored tunnels in which they largely reside. There is an apparent correlation between the greater size of subanal pads and a reduction in the size and extent of spinules on creeping welts.

The predicted geographic distributions of seven forensically important blowfly species are modelled using the computer program Maxent, based on selected climatic variables for South Africa, a country with large climatic and environmental gradients. It is shown that although temperature was hypothesized to most influence the distributions of these ectotherms, moisture, and particularly humidity, was in fact usually paramount. Chrysomya albiceps (Wiedemann) and C. marginalis (Robineau-Desvoidy) had the most widespread geographic and climatic distribution, while the forest-associated C. inclinata (Walker) was the least widespread. Chrysomya putoria (Wiedemann) and C. megacephala (Fabricius) had very similar predicted distributions that were restricted mainly to Limpopo, Mpumalanga, KwaZulu-Natal and the coast of the Eastern Cape. Chrysomya chloropyga (Wiedemann) and Calliphora croceipalpis (Jaennicke) were the only species predicted to occur at high altitudes. Blowfly distributions restricted to part of the map area were predicted better than those that were more widespread in the region, presumably because species with extremely wide-spread distributions in a study area occupy nearly the whole range of variation of most predictor variables, leaving little variation with which the maximum entropy modelling method can discriminate between presence and absence of the organism.

Development rates of the egg, larval and pupal stages of codling moth, Cydia pomonella (Linnaeus), on apples were determined at constant temperatures of 15, 17, 20, 25 and 30 ± 1 °C and at fluctuating temperatures. There was a linear relationship between rate of development and temperature over the range of temperatures used. The lower threshold temperatures for embryonic, larval and pupal development were 11.1, 7.9 and 9.9 °C, respectively. The degree-days required to complete embryonic, larval and pupal development were 80.1, 345.5 and 280.0, respectively. The responses of the different stages of C. pomonella to constant temperatures were similar to those under fluctuating temperatures. It is suggested that a base temperature of 10 °C be used in South Africa for calculating degree-days in predicting phenological events such as first egg hatch.

Teratopomyia Oldroyd, 1980 is monotypic. Tetrapomyia cyanea (Fabricius, 1781), the oldest known southern African asilid species, remains the only species after a study of 184 specimens. No evidence could be found to suggest that undescribed species or even geographical variants exist. It is not a commonly encountered species and is usually found in low numbers. Although superficially similar to representatives of other genera, relationships within the subfamily will only be known once phylogenetic studies have been conducted. Tetrapomyia cyanea is widely distributed in South Africa, but most commonly encountered in the Western Cape and Eastern Cape provinces. While there is some evidence of an association with flowering plants, this may be indirect and relate to prey availability.

Three insects were introduced into South Africa for the biological control of the alien invasive weed Hakea sericea Schrad. & J.C. Wendl. (Proteaceae) some 30 to 40 years ago. These agents included a fruit weevil, Erytenna consputa Pascoe (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), a seed moth, Carposina autologa Meyrick (Lepidoptera: Carposinidae) and a shoot-boring weevil, Cydmaea binotata Lea (Coleoptera: Curculionidae). A strain of a local fungus, Colletotrichum acutatum (Penz) Sacc, has also been exploited as a mycoherbicide. Despite these biological control efforts, the weed still persists and forms dense monocultures that displace the natural vegetation. In 2001 permission was granted to release a stem-boring beetle, Aphanasium australe (Boisduval) (Cerambycidae), for the biological control of H. sericea in South Africa. The larvae of the beetle tunnel within the base of the stems and sub-surface roots of the tree and this is the first insect agent that has been introduced that can kill hakea trees. The collection of A. australe in Australia, culturing in quarantine, and the release techniques used to establish the beetle in South Africa are discussed. Aphanasium australe has established at half of the 23 release sites recently surveyed to determine establishment. It is concluded that although it is too early to predict the likely success of A. australe on H. sericea in South Africa, the prognosis is good given the early signs of mortality at some of the sites.

Four new species of Dilyta (D. australafricana sp. n., D. ghanana sp. n., D. kenyana sp. n. and D. somaliana sp. n.) are described from the Afrotropical region, and the only previously known species of this genus from this region, D. africana (Benoit), is redescribed. These five species have two small apical carinae on the apex of the scutellum, instead of the -shaped carina characteristic of the Dilyta species from the rest of the world. A key to the Afrotropical species of Dilyta and a checklist for all records of Afrotropical Charipinae are provided.

Species of fig trees (ficus) and their fig wasp pollinators (Agaonidae) were traditionally thought to have a highly specific one-to-one relationship, but increasing numbers of exceptions to this pattern are emerging. Here we describe an exceptional situation, where four different agaonid species (Alfonsiella brongersmai Wiebes, Alfonsiella natalensis Wiebes, Elisabethiella allotriozoonoides (Grandi) and Alfonsiella longiscapa Joseph) were recorded from a single host individual of Ficus natalensis natalensis Hochst. growing within its native range in Kibale Forest, Uganda. Germination studies confirmed that figs pollinated by at least three of the agaonid species contained viable seeds. Some of the agaonids are known to be associated with other Ficus species, raising the possibility that gene flow maybe occurring between taxa in the Ficus natalensis species group. The figs also contained an exceptionally rich fauna of non-pollinating fig wasps (21 species), but there was no evidence that any non-pollinators were linked to figs pollinated by a particular agaonid.