The Lost Pines forest of East Central Texas is a relict ecosystem of the last glacial age that ended 10,000 years ago. A crossroads mixture of flora and fauna classified as Eastern, Western, Central, Southern, Widespread, and Introduced is the result of a Pleistocene expansion from the southeastern United States combined with the ecosystem's marginal position along the east-west biogeographical divide and its location in the central plains corridor and at the northern extremity of Neotropical species ranges. For invertebrates at large the modal biogeographical affinity is eastern, with widespread taxa next in abundance but with much smaller contributions from the remaining four categories. Nine additional analyses at the taxonomic level and one analysis at the level of species dispersal ability are included in addition to comments on invertebrate groups represented by only one or a few species.

Research was conducted to evaluate the possibility that a plant bug damaging cotton, Gossypium hirsutum L., in south Texas is actually green mirid, Creontiades dilutus Stål, which is the primary plant bug pest of cotton in Australia. Molecular comparisons targeting a fragment of the CO1 region of mitochondrial DNA were made on Creontiades specimens collected from the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas and specimens of green mirid and brown mirid, C. pacificus Stål, collected from Queensland, Australia. The emerging south Texas cotton pest is neither of the species tested from Australia; rather it is a closely related, possibly indigenous species. Further morphological systematics work is needed to identify the Creontiades species from Texas, and collection of additional specimens from several locations where it is known to occur is ongoing.

The efficacy of novaluron (Diamond™ 0.83 EC) on cotton, Gossypium hirsutum L., against nymphs of different instars of field-collected southern green stink bug, Nezara viridula (L.), was investigated in a spray chamber using two nozzles, 650033 and 8002E. The nozzles delivered rates of 18.7 and 46.7 L/ha, respectively, of total water-based spray. Novaluron was applied at 0.0218, 0.0436 and 0.0654 kg active ingredient (AI) rates per ha. The 8002E nozzle produced significantly larger droplets, increased droplet density and increased spray coverage compared to the 650033 nozzle. Regardless of dosage and spray rate, the age of nymphal instars significantly influenced mortality. Mortality of small nymphs (2^nd instars) was significantly greater than that of either 3^rd- or 4^th-instar nymphs. When novaluron was applied at 0.0654 and 0.0872 kg AI per ha with or without crop oil concentrate, the deposit from the 8002E nozzle significantly increased mortality of 3^rd-instar nymphs; however, neither dosage nor addition of crop oil concentrate increased mortality of 3^rd-instar nymphs. Novaluron did not cause a great amount of mortality of 4^th-instar nymphs. This study suggests that application of novaluron should be directed at 2^nd-instar nymphs to maximize efficacy for control of southern green stink bug on cotton and that applications that produce deposits with increased droplet size and density on plants might increase efficacy.

The rice water weevil, Lissorhoptrus oryzophilus Kuschel (Coleoptera: Erirhinidae), is one of the most important pests of rice, Oryzae sativa L., in the US, and has emerged as a pest of rice in eastern Asia where it reproduces parthenogenetically. Females were collected from early July to late September 2006 from flooded main crop rice, ratoon crop rice, and a light trap placed in grassy vegetation and fallow fields near Beaumont, TX. Their mating status and ovarian developmental stages were monitored, and their reproductive capacity on rice plants was determined in the laboratory. Sexually reproductive individuals occurred consistently from early July to mid-September, which accounted for more than 50% of the females in most collections. Less than 7% of females seemed to be reproducing parthenogenetically. In the laboratory, 45.1% of females were mated within 9 days after emergence. For females emerging in late July and late August, only 17.4 and 6.1%, respectively, developed to ovipositing and post-ovipositing stages after feeding on rice plants for 4 weeks. These results indicated that in Southeast Texas >80% of summer females entered diapause after emergence, but reproductive females often are abundant later in rice fields. Contributions of summer females to the occurrence and abundance of this insect in subsequent seasons are discussed.

Populations of the bollworm, Helicoverpa zea (Boddie), and the tobacco budworm, Heliothis virescens (F.), were monitored with pheromone-baited wire cone traps on the Red River Research Station from 1986 to 2005. Data are presented on population variation and changes observed during the sampling period for the months of May through August. Bollworm moths made up 87.8, 79.0, 82.7, and 63.5% of the total number of male moths captured in May through August, respectively. Overall, 76.3% of the male moths captured from May though August were bollworms. The abundance of bollworms in pheromone traps indicated considerable variation on a yearly and monthly basis. The number of bollworms captured in traps and an analysis of variance provided no evidence that the introduction of Bt cotton in 1996 had any significant effect on bollworm abundance at this location. However, abundance of tobacco budworm has been decreasing since approximately 1993–1994. Analysis of variance confirmed that abundance of male tobacco budworms caught in traps was significantly less post-Bt cotton (1997–2005) compared with the pre-Bt cotton period (1986–1996). However, the analysis also indicated that abundance of tobacco budworms had been decreasing significantly before commercialization of Bt cotton in 1996. The decline did not seem to have increased since the introduction of Bt cotton although bollworm abundance still is decreasing. The decline in tobacco budworm abundance in this study seems to have begun before the introduction of Bt cotton. It is still possible that the duration and significance of the decline is related in some way to the introduction of Bt cotton in 1996, or the decline could be the result of normal variation and/or population cycles of a length that cannot be ascertained due to the length of the sampling period in this study. Regression analyses indicated that numbers of tobacco budworm in any given month were a good predictor of abundance in subsequent months. This was not true for abundance of bollworm.