A pitfall trap survey of spiders was conducted on the Dalquest Research Site in the Trans-Pecos counties of Brewster and Presidio, Texas, within the northern Chihuahuan Desert, U.S.A. During 13.5 months 1,326 spiders were collected from two separate habitats. Sixty-six recognizable species representing 24 families and 46 genera were identified. The habitats, which were 800 m apart, had 20 shared species. The Sandy Canyon Site contained 29 unique species, whereas the Camp Site contained 17. Sites differed in vegetation, elevation, soil type, and availability of water.

Malkiatus, n. gen., subfamily Blennocampinae, is described for Periclista bumasta Konow, 1907, which becomes Malkiatus bumastus (Konow), n. comb. The species is redescribed. Malkiatus includes only the single species from Sikkim, India.

The first records from North Carolina, the southeasternmost for the United States, are given for five unintentionally introduced Palearctic heteropterans: the berytid Berytinus minor (Herrich-Schaeffer); the mirids Megalocoleus molliculus (Fallén), Orthocephalus coriaceus (F.), and Phoenicocoris dissimilis (Reuter); and the tingid Dictyla echii (Schrank). The bugs were collected at mid to high elevations (circa 825-2000 m) in the southern Appalachians. Their North American distributions and host-plant associations are reviewed.

Data from recent collections of Ephemeroptera from Texas reported here include new state records of the Heptageniidae species Heptagenia elegantula (Chihuahuan Province), H. diabasia (Kansan Province), Leucrocuta aphrodite (Balconian and Texan Provinces), and Rhithrogena plana (Chihuahuan Province). Other Texas species reported from particular biotic provinces in Texas for the first time include Maccaffertium terminatum (Tamaulipan Province), Stenacron interpunctatum (Austroriparian and Kansan Provinces), and Stenonema femoratum (Balconian Province). The 13 known species of Texas Heptageniidae have primarily eastern and midwestern North American faunal affinities; however, the new records of H. elegantula and R. plana involve the first Texan heptageniids with western North American affinities.

Uracanthella oriens, new species, is described based on series of larvae from Thailand and Vietnam. The new species is distinguished from other Uracanthella by having small, spatulate setae relatively densely distributed on the dorsal surfaces and posterior margins of the femora. The new species has a relatively uniform light brown body color with no dorsal longitudinal stripes.

All pompilids use spiders to provide food for their larvae, and these hunting wasps can be responsible for a significant impact on the populations of their prey. Data on spider species captured, characteristics of the nests, fecundity and seasonal variation in reproductive frequency, however, are not available for most pompilid species. Here we describe the nesting behavior of Auplopus argutus based on 108 nests from an area of Atlantic Forest in southeastern Brazil. The wasps deposited each spider in a clay vessel, constructed within the bamboo cylinders used as traps. In each trap we found from 1 to 19 vessels, totalizing 508 provisioned cells. From these, 84 contained spiders in good conditions of conservation, allowing identification. The females of A. argutus provisioned their nests with 21 spider species, belonging to eight families: Anyphaenidae, Corinnidae, Ctenidae, Miturgidae, Salticidae, Senoculidae, Sparassidae and Zoridae. Almost all the spiders collected in the nests had their legs amputated and were equivalent or greater in size than the mean body size of the wasps.

Altica copelandi sp. nov., a new species of flea beetle from Oenothera in South Carolina, is described.

A new species, Hydrophorus henanensis, from China is described. A key to species of the genus from China is presented.

Feeding records are presented for 65 species belonging to 16 genera of Turkish Alticinae (flea beetles). The determined associations results from field observations gathered during a five-year-period study. Precise host plant, geographical data as well as pertinent literature citations are included for each species. Lamiaceae, Brassicaceae, Scrophulariaceae, Boraginaceae, and Asteraceae seem to be the mostly preferred host plant families.

Three species of the genus Mesosa Latreille, 1829; namely, Mesosa (Mesosa) curculionoides (Linnaeus, 1761), Mesosa (Mesosa) myops (Dalman, 1817) and Mesosa (Aphelocnemia) nebulosa (Fabricius, 1781) were recorded in Turkey. Mesosa obscuricornis Pic, 1894 is a new record for Turkey.

Three species of Mutillidae (Hymenoptera: Myrmosinae), Myrmosa unicolor Say, Myrmosina nocturna Krombein, and Myrmosula parvula (Fox), are reported from Mississippi for the first time. Notes on M. parvula and its interactions with a gregarious nesting bee species, Lasioglossum (Dialictus) imitatum (Smith) (Hymenoptera: Halictidae), are given.

The bromeliad-inhabiting biting midge, Forcipomyia (Phytohelea) bromelicola (Lutz) is recorded for the first time in the United States from specimens reared from bromeliads in the Florida Keys (Monroe County).

Two new species, Thiallela naevilla sp. nov. and Thiallela platantra sp. nov., are described from China. Thiallela hiranoi Yamanaka, 2002 is newly recorded to the Chinese fauna. Photographs of the adults and the genital structures are provided. A key for the identification of the described Chinese species is included.

The spermathecae of four species of asilid genus Dysmachus (D. fuscipennis, D. picipes, D. praemorsus, and D. transcaucasicus) were studied with both light and scanning electron microcopy (SEM). There are three spermathecae in all the species examined. The spermathecae consists of a receptaculum seminis, a ductus receptaculum, an ejection apparatus, a furca, and an apodeme. Spermathecae of D. picipes, D. praemorsus, and D. transcaucasicus have just swollen at base but they extend apically like a duct; the spermatheca of D. fuscipennis is long and cylindrical. In all species; the receptacular surface and the spermathecal duct are covered by chitin layer. The ejection apparatus is generally located in the middle of spermathecal ducts, cotrolling the passage of spermatozoa. The surroundings of the ejection apparatus are covered by strong muscles that regulate its opening and closing.