Effective monitoring is necessary to provide robust detection of bee declines. In the United States and worldwide, bowl traps have been increasingly used to monitor native bees and purportedly detect declines. However, bowl traps have a suite of flaws that make them poorly equipped to monitor bees. We outline the drawbacks of bowl traps, as well as other passive sampling methods. We emphasize that current methods do not monitor changes in bee abundance. We then propose future approaches to improve bee monitoring efforts, which include improving our understanding of the efficacy and drawbacks of current methods, novel molecular methods, nest censusing, mark-recapture, sampling of focal plant taxa, and detection of range contractions. Overall, we hope to highlight deficiencies of the current state of bee monitoring, with an aim to stimulate research into the efficacy of existing methods and promote novel methods that provide meaningful data that can detect declines without squandering limited resources.

Fruit flies are significant insect pests, worldwide. Tephritid species diversity and their seasonal abundance were investigated over 2 yr (May 2017 to May 2019) in Western Burkina Faso. A mass trapping experiment consisting of 288TephriTrap types, operating with four types of parapheromones comprising methyl eugenol, terpinyl acetate, trimedlure, and cue lure and an insecticide (Dichlorvos), was used for attracting and killing insects. Plant formations including natural fallows, mango orchards, and agroforestry parks in each of the six study sites were selected for data collection.Twenty-nine tephritid species belonging to 10 genera were identified. Fourteen fruit fly species were identified for the first time in Burkina Faso. The genera Ceratitis MacLeay (Diptera:Tephritidae) and Dacus Fabricius (Diptera:Tephritidae) with, respectively, 14 and 7 species recorded were the most represented. The dominant species caught was the invasive Bactrocera dorsalis Hendel (Diptera: Tephritidae) followed by Ceratitis cosyraWalker (Diptera:Tephritidae) and Ceratitis silvestrii Bezzi (Diptera:Tephritidae).The fruit fly population density was very high during the rainy season, with peaks occurring in June or July.The fruit fly species were generally more abundant during the hot and rainy seasons than during the cold and dry seasons. The highest diversity was recorded in natural fallows, as compared with the mango orchards and agroforestry parks. Tephritid species found refuge in the mango orchards during the dry and cold periods.The results of that investigation may be used for developing a sustainable pest management strategy for commercial orchards.

Sexual reproduction is the dominant mode of reproduction in plants and animals; however, some species from various taxonomic groups reproduce asexually. Because some of these asexual species lack DNA recombination and so have low genetic variability, these asexual species are more likely to go extinct than sexual species. Neochrysocharis formosa (Westwood) (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae) is a solitary endoparasitoid in which both arrhenotokous and thelytokous strains occur in sympatry. The thelytokous strain is infected by a parthenogenesis-inducing Rickettsia bacterium. We investigated whether fertilized progeny can be produced between females and antibiotic-induced males of the thelytokous strain. The males produced by antibiotic treatment showed the same courtship behaviors as the arrhenotokous males, but at a lower rate, and did not produce fertilized progeny. The results confirm that the thelytokous strain has been maintained by a functional apomixis mechanism rather than by occasional sex, preserving a degree of heterozygosity.

The Neotropical region has a wide aquatic biodiversity, which is affected by anthropogenic activities. Mining has caused a negative impact on these ecosystems, directly affecting benthic communities. Aquatic macroinvertebrates are effective bioindicators of water quality, especially Chironomidae larvae, since these show high species richness, abundance, and sensitivity to human activities.The genus Polypedilum is among the most representative of the family Chironomidae. Research on these species is focused on their abundance and dominance in water bodies. In addition, several studies have addressed alterations in the external morphology of some Chironomidae due to mining pollution (heavy metals). However, little is known about the effects of mining on the internal morphology of these species.This study provides the first histological description of different systems and organs of Polypedilum sp. larvae. Furthermore, we report histopathological alterations in larvae collected from two tributaries affected by mining, namely Toldafría and La Elvira streams located in the municipalities of Villamaría and Manizales (Caldas – Colombia). Our findings show target organs of mining pollution in a species of Polypedilum, which represent potential early-warning histopathological biomarkers with relevant implications for water quality monitoring.

Cynipid gall wasps play an important role in structuring oak arthropod communities. Wasps in the Cynipini tribe typically lay their eggs in oaks (Quercus L.), and induce the formation of a ‘gall’, which is a tumor-like growth of plant material that surrounds the developing wasp. As the wasp develops, the cynipid and its gall are attacked by a diverse community of natural enemies, including parasitoids, hyperparasitoids, and inquilines. Determining what structures these species-rich natural enemy communities across cynipid gall wasp species is a major question in gall wasp biology. Additionally, gall wasps are ecosystem engineers, as the abandoned gall is used by other invertebrates.The gall-associated insect communities residing on live oaks (Quercus geminata Small and Quercus virginiana Mill.) are emerging as a model system for answering ecological and evolutionary questions ranging from community ecology to the evolution of new species. Documenting the arthropods associated with cynipids in this system will expand our understanding of the mechanisms influencing eco-evolutionary processes, record underexplored axes of biodiversity, and facilitate future work. Here, we present the community of natural enemies and other associates of the asexual generation of the crypt gall wasp, Bassettia pallida Ashmead. We compare the composition of this community to communities recently documented from two other cynipid gall wasps specializing on live oaks along the U.S. Gulf coast, Disholcaspis quercusvirens Ashmead and Belonocnema treatae Mayr. B. pallida and their galls support a diverse arthropod community, including over 25 parasitoids, inquilines, and other associated arthropods spanning 5 orders and 16 families.

Evolutionary processes related to climatic changes and ecological factors, such as microhabitat affinities and food specialization, can be important contributors to phylogeographic discordance between codistributed and related species. Here, we evaluate the evolutionary histories of two cactophilic and codistributed Drosophila species (Diptera: Drosophilidae) from South America, Drosophila antonietae and Drosophila meridionalis, where they use mainly Cereus hildmaniannus (Cactoideae: Cereeae) as host, using mitochondrial DNA sequences and species distribution modeling. The diversification of both species was estimated during the Pleistocene. For both species, the distribution of suitable areas through the Last Glacial period to the present showed a similar dynamic from Andes Valley through east and through the Paraná-Paraguay river basin to the Atlantic coastline. The current distribution of D. antonietae was influenced by demographic expansion and putative migration route from northwest to south and then to coast, with two genetic incipient groups with bidirectional genetic flow between them. For D. meridionalis, we suggested a migration route from south to north as well as to coast, with three genetic groups deeply structured with no evidence of demographic expansion. Our comparative results showed that the Quaternary paleoclimatic dynamic has had a similar role in both species (displacement of the high suitability areas) with similar routes but in different directions. Additionally, the Araucaria forest represents a putative biogeographic barrier for Drosophila species and also for host C. hildmaniannus. The phylogeographical differences between these species related to geographical distribution, genetic structure, and demographic history could be explained for differences to adaptation and plasticity to explore a new host.

Triatoma longipennis Usinger 1939, Triatoma pallidipennis (Stal, 1872), and Triatoma picturata Usinger 1939 are considered among the species with the highest transmission capacity of Chagas disease in Mexico, with an impact on health mainly in rural zones and places with worn-out dwellings.There have been previous studies on the phylogenetic relationship of these species of the Phyllosoma complex using molecular approaches, in addition to analyzing morphological characters. However, one of the problems in the field is the presence of hybrids that due to the short genetic distance between species, and such organisms have not yet been identified and could be confused with parental organisms. In this work, we analyzed genotypical and phenotypic characters, between the species and the three possible hybrids resulting from the cross between the species. In the analysis of wings morphology, we found that the dominant phenotype in hybrids was that of T. pallidipennis, having a higher dominance than T. longipennis. Besides, the use of the COI marker amplified in DNA of parentals and the three possible hybrids showed by neighbor-joining phylograms a greater association of the hybrids with T. longipennis, in agreement with the analysis of genetic distances and polymorphic sites.Thus, the morphological data demonstrate the high dominance of T. pallidipennis and the molecular data of T. longipennis in its hybrids, in such a way that it is possible to differentiate hybrids from parental species.

Graphical abstract