We documented effects of spring burns on grasshopper assemblages of the shortgrass prairie at the Comanche National Grassland, Baca County, Colorado, in 1999 and 2000. We measured grasshopper density and diversity at each of four transects on both burned and unburned sites at three locations. We did not find consistent responses of these assemblages to fire in 1999 or 2000 due to site-specific assemblage dynamics. Specifically, grasshopper density exhibited three different trends between treatments at the three locations sampled: responses were similar between burned and unburned plots at Location 1, there were significantly more grasshoppers in the unburned pasture at Location 2, and there were significantly more grasshoppers in the burned pasture at Location 3. These site-specific trends were supported by species richness measurements. Furthermore, there were no significant differences in any of the subfamilies or guilds in the number of grasshoppers collected in the burned versus the unburned treatment pooled over location. The different trends between treatments at each location for the grasshopper assemblage as a whole were most likely the result of pre-existing differences among locations and sites. That the same three trends were seen in 2000, despite time for recovery, supports this explanation. The results suggest that spring burns in the shortgrass prairie do not affect the grasshopper assemblage beyond the natural variability occurring within the grasshopper assemblage.

Male courtship during copulation is common in insects and spiders, and presumably serves to induce the female to fertilize her eggs with the male's sperm. Fragmentary observations indicate that in Ditemnus acantholobus, typical male and female roles are reversed. The female courts vigorously and persistently during copulation while keeping one portion of the male's highly modified pronotum inside her buccal cavity. I propose that female copulatory courtship in this species functions to induce the male to provide material from his pronotum for the female to ingest, and that the species-specific modifications of the male pronotum are courtship devices.

Late instar larvae of the army cutworm, Euxoa auxiliaris (Grote), infested replicated test plots of 43 wheat varieties in Hays, Kansas in early April, 2004. Five varieties, Trego, 2147, Betty, Thunderbolt, and Jagger, were selected for sampling cutworm defoliation and larval densities. Damage was lowest in Trego (12–41 damaged tillers/m of row), and highest in Betty (128–285 damaged tillers/m). Plots of Betty averaged 105 cutworms/m², significantly more than plots of other varieties where densities ranged from 13 to 42 cutworms/m². Plots of Thunderbolt sustained significantly more damage than plots of 2137, Trego or Jagger, but did not have significantly more larvae. The small size of the test plots appeared to facilitate aggregation of cutworms in plots of the preferred variety Betty. Grain yields of all varieties in 2004 were average for the region and the final grain yield of Betty plots averaged 20% less than that of Thunderbolt and Trego plots. This compares to an average of 10% lower yield for Betty compared to these cultivars in years without cutworm damage. Late instar cutworms offered equal amounts of Trego and Betty in Petri dishes in the laboratory consumed 10 times the leaf area of the latter variety over a 16 h period, supporting the inference that varietal differences in damage and cutworm densities reflected larval feeding preferences.

Qualitative collections of aquatic insects were made at Fort Sill, Lawton, Oklahoma, between 2002 and 2004. Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, Trichoptera, Odonata, Coleoptera, aquatic Heteroptera, Neuroptera, and Megaloptera were targeted. Additional records are included from a survey that took place in 1999. More than 11,000 specimens from more than 290 collections were examined. Based on the current understanding of aquatic insect systematics, 276 taxa distributed over 8 orders, 46 families, and 141 genera were identified. Twenty-three of the 276 taxa, Plauditus texanus Wiersema, Tricorythodes allectus (Needham), Palmacorixa nana walleyi Hungerford, Climacia chapini Parfin and Gurney, Oxyethira forcipata Mosely, Oxyethira janella Denning, Triaenodes helo Milne, Ylodes frontalis (Banks), Acilius fraternus Harris, Coptotomus loticus Hilsenhoff, Coptotomus venustus (Say), Desmopachria dispersa Crotch, Graphoderus liberus (Say), Hydrovatus pustulatus (Melsheimer), Hygrotus acaroides (LeConte), Liodessus flavicollis (LeConte), Uvarus texanus (Sharp), Gyrinus woodruffi Fall, Haliplus fasciatus Aube, Haliplus lewisii Crotch, Haliplus tortilipenis Brigham & Sanderson, Chaetarthria bicolor Sharp, Epimetopus costatus complex, and Hydrochus simplex LeConte are reported from Oklahoma for the first time. The three most diverse orders included Coleoptera (86 species), Odonata (67 species) and Trichoptera (59 species), and the remaining taxa were distributed among Heteroptera, (30 species), Ephemeroptera (21 species), Plecoptera (6 species), Megaloptera (4 species), and Neuroptera (3 species). Based on previous published records, many of the species collected during this study were expected to be found at Fort Sill; however, 276 taxa of aquatic insects identified from such a small geographic area is noteworthy, especially when considering local climatic conditions and the relatively small size of Fort Sill (38,300 ha). Despite agricultural practices in Oklahoma, the dust bowl days, and the development of water-based recreation at Fort Sill, a high percentage of the total known aquatic insect fauna of Oklahoma can be found in a small geographic area.

Twenty six new species are added to the genus Chiasmodolon Dietrich for the Neotropical Region. These are C. bispinatus, C. egeri, C. torrus, and C. alatus from Brazil: C. sabanus, C. stenus, C. acutus, C. procerus, C. obtusus, C. deltus, C. saranus and C. camarus from French Guiana: C. dozieri from Ecuador; and C. ulcus, C. lobatus, C. angulatus, C. hamatus, C. inflatus, C. orthodens, C. cornutus, C. latidens, C. gracilis, C. bellus, C. lautus, C. merus and C. exornatus from Colombia.

A new species of the genus Coladenia, C. neomaeniata is described and illustrated from Weixi County, Yunnan Province, China. The new species is closely allied to C. maeniata Oberthür, but can be distinguished from the latter in the hindwing in which the spot in space Sc R₁ sharply shifted outwardly and its inner edge is not in line with that of the cell spot; also, the valva of male genitalia with long and narrow harpal process. A key to Chinese species is presented, along with their distribution.