The Australian curculionid Oxyops vitiosa Pascoe was introduced into Florida in 1997 as a biological control agent of the invasive tree Melaleuca quinquenervia (Cav.) S. T. Blake. Populations of the weevil increased rapidly and became widely distributed throughout much of the invasive tree's adventive distribution. In this study we ask if O. vitiosa has acquired natural enemies in Florida, how these enemies circumvent the protective terpenoid laden exudates on larvae, and what influence 1 of the most common natural enemies has on O. vitiosa population densities? Surveys of O. vitiosa populations and rearing of field-collected individuals resulted in no instances of parasitoids or pathogens exploiting weevil eggs or larvae. In contrast, 44 species of predatory arthropods were commonly associated (>5 individuals when pooled across all sites and sample dates) with O. vitiosa. Eleven predatory species were observed feeding on O. vitiosa during timed surveys, including 6 pentatomid species, 2 formicids and 3 arachnids. Species with mandibulate or chelicerate mouthparts fed on adult stages whereas pentatomids, with haustellate beaks, pierced larval exoskeletons thereby bypassing the protective larval coating. Observations of predation were rare, with only 8% of timed surveys resulting in 1 or more instances of attack. Feeding by the pentatomid Podisus mucronatus Uhler accounted for 76% of all recorded predation events. Podisus mucronatus numerically responded to fourth instars but no response was observed for other life stages. Damage to M. quinquenervia plants from feeding by O. vitiosa, however, was not influenced by P. mucronatus densities, indicating that predation does not alter plant suppression.

The mating strategies of male and female Ectropis oblique Prout were investigated with the aid of male antennae as an electroantennogram (EAG) detector and capillary-GC analysis. Each male was capable of mating with several females, but females that had received a spermatophore mated only once. Antennae dissected from males 0, 1, 2, 3, and 4 d post-mating and antennae from virgin males of corresponding ages displayed similar EAG responses to sex pheromone extracts from sexually active females. Pheromone extracts of mated females elicited significantly weaker male EAG responses than the pheromone extracts of virgin females. EAG responses of males to sex pheromone extracts taken from mated females at 0, 1, 2, 3, and 4 d post-mating were consistently weak. Pheromone production in the pheromone glands of mated females was strongly suppressed and declined during each of 4 successive nights after they had mated.

From 1995 to 2009, four Pseudacteon species were released in the U.S. with 3 species, P. curvatus, P. tricuspis, and P. obtusus released in Arkansas. To determine Pseudacteon establishment and expansion, sticky traps were used to monitor phorid fly species at and near 10 release sites, in counties bordering neighboring states, and along regional transects. Pseudacteon flies were captured in 16 Arkansas counties: Ashley, Chicot, Clark, Desha, Drew, Hempstead, Howard, Little River, Montgomery, Nevada, Perry, Phillips, Pike, Polk, Sevier, and Union. Pseudacteon curvatus was found in areas far from release sites, suggesting dispersal from neighboring states. The range of P. tricuspis evidently also expanded from its initial release sites in southern Arkansas.

The process of collecting and/or infesting plants with a designated number of small arthropods in biological experiments is tedious and laborious. We developed a modified mini-aspirator, powered with a vacuum pump and fitted with a specially adapted (removable) collection vial to reduce the handling effort. The efficiency of the mini-aspirator was tested with the chilli thrips, Scirtothrips dorsalis Hood (Thysanoptera: Thripidae), a predatory mite, Amblyseius (= Neoseiulus) cucumeris (Oudemans) (Acari: Phytoseiidae), and the insidious flower bug, Orius insidiosus (Say) (Heteroptera: Anthocoridae). Using the mini-aspirator, operators collected 10 A. cucumeris mites and 10 S. dorsalis thrips and transferred them onto pepper plants in 43 s and 37 s, respectively, compared with 639 and 229 s, respectively, using a camel's hair brush as a conventional method. The use of the mini-aspirator for collecting A. cucumeris predatory mites and S. dorsalis thrips and infesting pepper plants with them represents a 15-fold and 6-fold time saving, respectively. Collection of 10 O. insidiosus flower bugs took 20 s with the mini-aspirator compared with 30 s when an unmodified aspirator was used. Proportionally, the amount of time saved with the mini-aspirator for the handling of O. insidiosus flower bugs was minimal compared with the timesavings when handling S. dorsalis thrips and the A. cucumeris predatory mites with the mini-aspirator. Additionally, the mini-aspirator can be fitted with a battery-powered Mini-Vac, which makes it portable for field applications, such as in sampling field populations when screening for pesticide resistant individuals.

A taxonomic study of the genus Lesteva Latreille in Korea is presented. Four species including a new species, Lesteva coreana sp. nov., are recognized. Three species, L. cordicollis Motschulsky, L. distincta Watanabe and L. miyabi Watanabe, are new to the Korean fauna, and L. plagiata Sharp previously recorded from Korea is a misidentification of L. miyabi. A key and a comparison of morphological features of Korean Lesteva species with illustrations of the diagnostic features are provided.

The picture-winged fly Euxesta stigmatias Loew (Diptera: Ulidiidae) has been a serious pest of sweet corn (Zea mays L.) in Florida since 1930. Several other species in the family are known to infest corn grown in the Caribbean, Central America, and South America. Surveys were conducted throughout Florida to evaluate species richness and distribution of corn-infesting Ulidiidae. Adults were sampled with sweep nets and reared from fly larvae-infested corn ears collected from representative corn fields in 16 and 27 counties in 2007 and 2008, respectively. Four Ulidiidae species were found in corn fields using both sampling techniques. Euxesta eluta Loew and Chaetopsis massyla (Walker) were found throughout the state on field and sweet corn. Euxesta stigmatias was only found in Martin, Miami-Dade, Okeechobee, Palm Beach, and St. Lucie Counties on field and sweet corn. Euxesta annonae (F.) was found in sweet corn in Miami-Dade, Okeechobee, and Palm Beach Counties, but field corn was not sampled in these counties. Euxesta eluta, E. stigmatias, and C. massyla were collected from corn throughout the corn reproductive stage. Raising adults from fly larvae-infested ears provided the best method for assessing rates of ear infestation and species richness. Sweep netting did not provide reliable information on the presence or species composition of ulidiid species infestation. We report for the first time E. annonae and E. eluta as pests of corn in Florida and the USA.

Two new species of Betacixius Matsumura, 1914 (Hemiptera: Fulgoromorpha: Cixiidae: Cixiini), B. bispinus Zhang and Chen sp. nov. (China: Guizhou) and B. flagellihamus Zhang and Chen sp. nov. (China: Guizhou), from southwest China, are described and illustrated. A key for identifying 23 known species of Betacixius is provided.

Alate termite flights from mature colonies infesting marine vessels is a primary mechanism for anthropogenic transoceanic establishment of invasive termite species. A taxonomic review is given of 133 recorded termite infestations onboard vessels in Australia and Florida between 1986 and 2009. The differing governmental approaches to regulating entry by foreign boats appears to reflect the relative frequency of exotic termite establishments in Australia and Florida.

Adoxomyia aureovittata (Bigot, 1879), A. cinerascens (Loew, 1873), A. obscuripennis (Loew, 1873) and A. sarudnyi (Pleske, 1903) are recorded from Turkey for the first time. Both sexes of the first 3 species and the male of A. sarudnyi are redescribed and photographs of all species are provided. The distributions of all species are briefly discussed. The male genitalia and some other diagnostic characters of all the examined species are illustrated. An identification key to all East-Mediterranean species was constructed and is included in this report.

I investigated the contributions of body mass, order, family, and trophic level to nitrogen (N) content in riparian spiders and insects collected near the Colorado River in western Arizona. Most variation (97.2%) in N mass among arthropods was associated with the allometric effects of body mass. Nitrogen mass increased exponentially as body dry-mass increased. Significant variation (20.7%) in N mass adjusted for body mass was explained by arthropod order. Adjusted N mass was highest in Orthoptera, Hymenoptera, Araneae, and Odonata and lowest in Coleoptera. Classifying arthropods by family compared with order did not explain significantly more variation (22.1%) in N content. Herbivore, predator, and detritivore trophic-levels across orders explained little variation (4.3%) in N mass adjusted for body mass. Within orders, N content differed only among trophic levels of Diptera. Adjusted N mass was highest in predaceous flies, intermediate in detritivorous flies, and lowest in phytophagous flies. Nitrogen content in riparian spiders and insects is most dependent on allometry and order and least dependent on trophic level. I suggest the effects of allometry and order are due to exoskeleton thickness and composition. Foraging by vertebrate predators, such as insectivorous birds, may be affected by variation in N content among riparian arthropods.

Interest in the natural enemies of Cactoblastis cactorum (Berg) has increased since the moth was found in Florida in 1989. Previous surveys for natural enemies in Argentina identified egg parasitoids in the family Trichogrammatidae as potentially important control agents of C. cactorum. A study was conducted in north Florida to identify and to assess occurrence of egg parasitoids attacking this invasive moth in its new homeland. Surveys undertaken at 6 locations in north Florida from Jul 2008 to Dec 2009 revealed that eggsticks of C. cactorum were attacked by egg parasitoids from the Trichogramma genus: T. pretiosum Riley, T. fuentesi Torre, and an additional unidentified Trichogramma species belonging to the T. pretiosum group. In order to assess the importance of these egg parasitoids, the fate of individual C. cactorum eggsticks was determined during weekly visits to each site. This assessment showed that the combined level of parasitism of C. cactorum eggsticks was very low with less than 0.2% of host eggs attacked at any one of the 6 sites. While parasitoids attacked smaller eggsticks, there was no correlation between the numbers of eggs in an eggstick attacked with increasing number of eggs/eggstick. Comparing the mean number of eggs/eggstick, there was no difference between the 3 flight periods of C. cactorum, but there was a difference between the 6 sites. Based on these results, the use of Trichogramma wasps as an inundative biological control agent, complementary to the Sterile Insect Technique application, is discussed.

The Mediterranean fruit fly Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann) (Diptera: Tephritidae) is a key pest of a wide range of fruit crops and the focus of rigid quarantine restrictions and eradication measures in several countries. In Colombia, the susceptibility of purple passionfruit (Pasiflora edulis f. edulis Sims; Violales: Passifloraceae) to C. capitata is uncertain. Field collections of fruit were made to evaluate natural infestation. Forced infestation studies were conducted in the laboratory with punctured and intact fruit to determine the acceptability of fruit at different stages of maturity and physiological suitability of fruit to development. No C. capitata larvae were found and no adults emerged from a total of 976 hand-picked fruit and 623 fallen fruit. In the meantime, trap data indicated that C. capitata is not present in the principal passionfruit production regions. For intact fruit, C. capitata females oviposited exclusively in fruit of maturity level zero, with 41.67% of fruit accepted for oviposition and an average of 183.1 ± 33.8 eggs per fruit. No oviposition was recorded in fruit of maturity levels 2 and 4. For punctured fruit, C. capitata oviposited a total of 84,410 and 84,250 eggs into fruit of maturity levels 0 and 2, respectively, but no C. capitata adults emerged from fruit at either maturity level. Laboratory tests suggest that purple passionfruit is a non-host for C. capitata.

Greenidea psiidi van der Goot and Greenidea ficicola Takahashi (Hemiptera: Aphididae), are Asiatic species that feed on guava, Psidium guajava and Ficus spp.; both of these aphids were reported as exotic pests in Florida in 2002 and in Mexico in 2003. The present study characterized the population dynamics of both aphid species and their natural enemies on guava and ornamental figs in the Bajio region of Central Mexico. This report represents the first record of G. psiidi on Ficus sp. in Mexico and the first report of the presence of both species in the state of Guanajuato. Greenidea psiidi and G. ficicola were detected on guava in Mar 2007 and on fig trees during the same year in Apr near Irapauto, Guanajuato. Populations of both alate and apterous forms of G. psiidi in Apr were greater on guava than on fig trees (W = 119.0; P = 0.0122), which coincided with new vegetative growth after leaf loss in winter on guava. In Apr populations of apterous forms of both species were significantly greater than winged forms on both guava and figs. No correlation was found between temperature changes and population densities of aphids. The indigenous predators, Chrysoperla comanche Banks, Chrysoperla exotera (Navás) and Chrysoperla carnea (Stephens) (Neuroptera: Chrysopidae), fed readily on the aphids and were found on both guava and fig trees, although densities of all 3 species were in greater numbers on Ficus. The combined population densities of the 3 predators had a positive correlation with that of G. ficicola (r = 0.74), with a best fit found with a quadratic model of simple regression: y (densities of Chrysoperla spp.) = 1.2479x² 4.3073x 9.6493, and R²= 0.703. Nine species of coccinelid beetles (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) were identified, the most common being of the genus Scymnus. Results suggest that non-deciduous ornamental fig trees may serve as reservoirs of beneficial insects for deciduous guava trees. Results from the present study provide basic biological data to aid in management of these 2 exotic species of Greenidea on guava in central Mexico.