A new species of the genus Euagona belonging to the coreid tribe Spartocerini is described from Bolivia and Peru under the name E. hamata, new species. Redescription of the genus and known species as well as illustrations, new distributional records, and a key to Euagona taxa are provided.

Histura perseavora Brown, new species, from Guatemala, is described and illustrated. It is compared with Histura curvata (Meyrick) from Brazil and Histurodes costaricana Razowski from Costa Rica. All specimens of H. perseavora were reared from either fruit, fruit pedicels, or young green branches of avocados (Persea americana Mill.; Lauraceae) during efforts to identify lepidopteran pests of this commodity in Guatemala. Coincidentally, we discovered museum specimens of H. costaricana reared from avocados in Costa Rica. We present a brief review of the fragmentary knowledge of the larval stages of Polyorthini, the tribe to which H. perseavora is assigned.

Five new species of Trichoptera from Mexico are described and the male genitalia are illustrated. The new species described here include Protoptila tarahumara (Glossosomatidae); Neotrichia yavesia and Leucotrichia dinamica (Hydroptilidae); Smicridea florecita (Hydropsychidae); and Cernotina chiapaneca (Polycentropodidae). The female terminalia of S. florecita is also illustrated.

Associating sexes in many species of the Neotropical hesperiid genus Porphyrogenes has been difficult, erroneous, or impossible, owing to their sexual dimorphism. Despite the extreme sexual dimorphism of Porphyrogenes peterwegei Burns, new species, full description of this rainforest skipper from Area de Conservación Guanacaste (ACG), northwestern Costa Rica, is no problem. The available sample amounts to nearly 100 reared adults, almost evenly divided between the sexes. Of these, 67 have been DNA barcoded and found to vary minimally in their COI haplotypes, with one haplotype predominating. Caterpillars and pupae consistently go through a distinctive set of developmental changes in their color patterns. Foodplant choice is conservative: of 227 immatures found in the wild, 94% were eating woody vines of the genus Machaerium, especially M. seemannii (Fabaceae), whereas 6% were feeding on the quite unrelated species Dichapetalum morenoi (Dichapetalaceae)—a peculiar pattern of larval foodplant selection seen in another skipper and two butterfly species in ACG. Caterpillars of P. peterwegei are occasionally attacked by a host-specific parasitoid (an undescribed tachinid of the genus Siphosturmia), which has not otherwise been encountered in 20,642 tachinid attacks on the caterpillars of >3,000 species of Lepidoptera in ACG. Morphologically, P. peterwegei differs significantly from its many congeners in both facies and genitalia.

A proturan (Acerentulus confines (Berlese)) was observed and videotaped in an encounter with a springtail (Tomocerina lamellifera (Mills)). Following repeated contacts between the two, the proturan released a sticky exudate when a leg of the springtail came in contact with the proturan's abdomen. The exudate stretched to a 1-mm length before snapping. This exudate emanated from the large gland openings on the eighth abdominal segment. Comparison with the few other videotaped examples of proturan defensive behavior suggests that the exudate is released only after repeated contact between the proturan and another organism.

The number of recorded phlebotomine sand fly species in Ecuador has nearly doubled during the past 20 years as a result of surveys. In 2005, a sand fly survey of two localities, Tiputini in the Amazon rain forest and Paraiso Escondido in the Pacific coastal lowland forest, resulted in the capture of 25 species. New records for Ecuador consisted of five species from the Amazonian region and one from Paraiso Escondido. The Amazonian species were Nyssomyia richardwardi (Ready and Fraiha), Psathyromyia dreisbachi (Causey and Damasceno), Psathyromyia runoides (Fairchild and Hertig), Trichophoromyia pabloi (Barretto, Burbano and Young), and Trichopygomyia witoto (Young and Morales). The Pacific coastal lowland species was Psathyromyia punctigeniculata (Floch and Abonnenc).

The natural history of the potentially threatened hairstreak butterfly Cyanophrys bertha (Jones) is discussed, and the morphology of its penultimate and last instar larvae and pupa are described and illustrated. New distribution records from southern Brazil are provided. Based on morphological and ecological traits of immatures and adults, the conservation status of this species is discussed and compared with other sympatric Eumaeini.

Stantonia pallida (Ashmead) sensu Braet and Quicke (2004) is reported from Neomusotima conspurcatalis Warren (Lepidoptera: Crambidae), a classical biological control agent of Lygodium microphyllum (Cav.) R. Br. (Polypodiales: Lygodiaceae) in Florida. It is the first reported parasitoid of N. conspurcatalis. One undetermined species each of Cotesia Cameron, Glyptapanteles Ashmead, and Rhygoplitis Mason (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) are likely parasitoids of N. conspurcatalis but need to be confirmed through rearing from host larvae isolated individually. The use of S. pallida, under the name Stantonia lamprosemae Muesebeck, for control of Diaphania hyalinata (Linnaeus) and Diaphania nitidalis (Stoll) (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) in Florida is reviewed and used to illustrate the importance of systematics and natural history collections to classical biological control. The potential effects of these parasitoids on control of L. microphyllum in Florida are discussed.

Collection records for the Palearctic flower bug Orius (Heterorius) minutus (Linnaeus) (Heteroptera: Anthocoridae) in western North America date back to 1930. This species can be very similar in appearance to another Palearctic species, Orius (Heterorius) vicinus (Ribaut). Positive identification is made by examination of the genitalia. We now report O. vicinus from western North America. Over 250 specimens belonging to the subgenus Heterorius were examined from collections made between 1930–2008 in western Washington, western Oregon and western British Columbia. These specimens were identified as O. vicinus, suggesting that all previous records of O. minutus in North America are based on misidentifications of O. vicinus. We observe that O. vicinus can have more extensive darkening on the legs than has been reported in the literature, which may have been a factor contributing to confusion of this species with O. minutus.

The life cycles of two pentatomid species, Ramosiana insignis and Vulsirea violacea, are reported for first time. We include descriptions and illustrations of all instars, as well as the host plant and behavior. Females of these two species care for their eggs and first-instar nymphs, and both species have the same host, Schoepfia schreberi, although R. insignis feeds on flower buds, fruits, and vegetative structures, whereas V. violacea feeds only on fruit. Adults are present at the same time on the plant, and even though their life cycles are separated in time, it seems that there is competition between them. Parasitoids and predators are also reported.

New species of shore flies (Diptera: Ephydridae) from the Delmarva States are described, and taxonomic clarifications are made. The six new species are (type locality in parentheses): Discocerina delmarva (Virginia. Stafford: Aquia Harbour, Lions Park), Hydrochasma aquia (Virginia. Stafford: Aquia Harbour, Lions Park), Hydrochasma avanae (Utah. Grand: Swasey Beach (N Green River; shore of Green River; 1255 m), Hydrochasma garvinorum (Virginia. Rappahannock: Hazel River (NW Culpeper; 171 m)), Allotrichoma deonieri (Virginia. Spotsylvania: Rappahannock River), and Hydrellia toma (Virginia. Fairfax: Great Falls (Clay Pond)). The taxonomic changes are as follows: Psilopa obscuripes Loew is the correct name for “P. compta” of New World authors, nec Meigen; Discocerina parva Loew is confirmed as a junior synonym of Discocerina obscurella (Fallén), and the identification of the latter species is clarified with detailed illustrations and description of structures of the male terminalia.

A key is provided for the eleven species of Thrinchostoma Saussure (Halictinae: Halictini) known from Asia. A hitherto unknown male, apparently of Thrinchostoma (Thrinchostoma) afasciatum Michener, from Borneo is described and illustrated.

Three new species of Aulacidae, Aulacus gerais Smith and A. unicus Smith, from Minas Gerais, Brazil, and Pristaulacus petiense Smith, from Minas Gerais, Esperito Santo, Mato Grosso do Sul, and Santa Catarina, Brazil, are described. The species are illustrated and separated from described species of their respective genera.

Since its description from North America (America boreali) in 1850, Hyperaspidius venustulus (Mulsant) has been recorded only from an adult at a locale in Georgia and from Miami–Dade County, Florida (number of adults unspecified). Its habits and habitats have remained unknown. This scymnine coccinellid is newly reported from South Carolina on the basis of 43 adults from grasses, mainly big cordgrass (Spartina cynosuroides (L.) Roth; Poaceae), in or near brackish marshes and along tidal waterways. Its probable prey on big cordgrass is the mealybug Dysmicoccus dennoi Kosztarab. Near stands of S. cynosuroides, the coccinellid was collected occasionally from marshhay cordgrass (S. patens (Ait.) Muhl.) and from a beardgrass, Andropogon tenuispatheus (Nash) Nash (sensu Weakley 2007), that was infested by the mealybug Trionymus clandestinus McConnell and the eriococcid or felt scale Eriococcus dubius Cockerell. A diagnosis of H. venustulus and color photograph of the adult habitus are provided to facilitate recognition of this little-known lady beetle.

Nymphs of all instars and adults of a lygaeoid bug, the myodochine rhyparochromid Cnemodus mavortius (Say), were collected from fallen pine cones, mainly those of longleaf pine (Pinus palustris Mill.; Pinaceae), at 22 sites in the southeastern United States (Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina). Nymphs and adults of C. hirtipes Blatchley were found in fallen pine cones at eight sites in Florida. Nymphs (occasionally >20/cone; n = 5) of all instars, exuviae, and teneral nymphs and adults were observed in cones, suggesting more than incidental and ephemeral occupancy by species of Cnemodus. The bugs might use the labium to transport seeds of pine and other plants to the shelter of cones before they begin to feed, obtain nutrition from pine seeds that remain in fallen cones, or feed on seeds of grasses or other plants that lodge in cones. Fallen cones could be used for overwintering and oviposition but might be most important for allowing the bugs to minimize desiccation in xeric habitats characterized by high soil-surface temperatures, especially if nymphs cluster in cones. Other heteropteran species were infrequent inhabitants of fallen pine cones: the rhyparochromids Eremocoris setosus Blatchley (Florida, Georgia, South Carolina), Neopamera bilobata (Say) (Florida), and Ozophora trinotata Barber (Florida); and the largid Arhaphe carolina Herrich-Schaeffer (South Carolina). We also record C. mavortius from crowns of bunchgrasses in southern states (Georgia, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas) and C. hirtipes from bunchgrasses in Florida.