The six species of Lissorhoptrus LeConte known previously from Noth America north of Mexico are treated taxonomically. Two subspecies are raised in rank to species, Lissorhoptrus insularis Kuschel and Lissorhoptrus longitarsis Kuschel, new rank, and one species, Lissorhoptrus robbinsorum O'Brien, new species, is described. The nine species include one that attacks rice, Oryza sativa L., and two that attack wild rice, Zizania aquatica L. The new species L. robbinsorum has been reared from the aquatic grasses Echinochloa crus-galli (L.) and Echinochloa holciformis (H. B. K.) Chase. The genus and previously described eight species are redescribed, and the nine species are keyed. Photographs of the habitus and the male hind tibial mucro of all species and the male genitalia of selected species are provided.

The species of the giant water scavenger beetle genus Hydrophilus Geoffroy occurring in the United States and Canada are reviewed. Three species are recorded: Hydrophilus (s. str.) insularis Laporte de Castelnau, Hydrophilus (Dibolocelus) ovatus Gemminger and Harold, and Hydrophilus (s. str.) triangularis Say. A key to species and distribution maps of each taxon are provided.

Individuals of Canthon quinquemaculatus Laporte de Castelnau rolled balls up to 4 m from the food source. Stealing balls was common. Male headstand position was observed at the entrance of chambers containing a rolled ball and a female. Nests were shallow, telecoprid, and compound. Male and female cooperate, and parental care is performed (Nesting Pattern V). A total of 23 brood balls from five nesting chambers were obtained from terraria. The brood balls display a protuberance that is separated from the provision chamber by a partition of soil material. An egg chamber that lacks an organic lining is located at the base of the protuberance. At the roof of the egg chamber, there is an aeration conduit that ends in a filter composed of loose soil. The carrion provisions contain a high percentage of soil material. Some brood balls have larval fecal pellets in the external surface of the wall. Egg chamber separated from provisions, lack of an organic lining coating the egg chambers, ejection of larval fecal pellets, and loose soil filters are typical characters of brood balls made by necrophagous Scarabaeinae. The first three characters might reflect a set of adaptive characters of the necrophagous species to their food. These characters might be useful to distinguish fossil brood balls constructed by necrophagous Scarabaeinae from those constructed by coprophagous species.

We describe the genetic control of body color polymorphism in the metallic stag beetle, Cyclommatus metallifer Boisduval. As with many species of sexually dimorphic stag beetles, male C. metallifer exhibit condition-dependent exaggerated growth of mandibles. Another characteristic of this species is that two body colors have been described from both wild and captive bred populations. The two body colors are a commonly observed gold and a more rare black. We performed a simple Mendelian cross of individuals from families that produced only gold offspring to individuals from families that produced only blue-black offspring. All of the F₁ hybrid progeny between these two pure gold families and pure black families exhibited the gold body color. The F₂ progeny resulting from the crossing of F₁ hybrids exhibited a 3:1 gold to black ratio. The backcross of the F₁ hybrid to the gold morph resulted in 1:0 gold to black ratio. The backcross of the F₁ hybrid to the black morph resulted in progeny with a 1:1 gold to black ratio. Our results show that the color polymorphism in the metallic stag beetle is under simple bi-allelic, autosomal control, and that the gold allele (G) is dominant to the black allele (g). The putative genotypes for the gold morph are GG and G_g and the blue-black morph is gg. Identification of this simple genetic mechanism for color polymorphism in the metallic stag beetle allows for future studies to use this trait as a marker in the investigation of evolutionary and ecologically relevant experiments such as those for male paternity, male mating success, and predation risk.

Ucai letiziae Santos-Silva, the second known species of the genus, is described and illustrated. A key to both described species of Ucai Galileo and Martins is presented.

Reviews of the biology of the Silphidae consistently fail to mention the occurrence or role of predation in the behavior, ecology, or evolution of the family. Herein are presented 180 literature records from 1889 to 2011 that document acts of predation on members of the Silphidae by birds, mammals, reptiles, and amphibians. Factors are presented indicating that this documentation represents a significant underestimation of predation on silphids.

The genera Badelina Thomson, 1880, Balsameda Thomson, 1880, Guatemalica Neervoort van de Poll, 1886, and Heterocotinis Martínez, 1948 are reviewed. Redescriptions, diagnoses, distributions, and illustrations of all species in each genus are provided. Balsameda monzoni Ratcliffe and Balsameda porioni Ratcliffe are described as new species from Guatemala and Mexico, respectively. Gymnetis marginicollis Burmeister, 1842 (formerly Guatemalica marginicollis) was recently transferred to Amithao, and Gymnetis luctuosa Bourgoin, 1916 is not in the genus Guatemalica but in a yet-to-be determined species of Gymnetis MacLeay. Gymnetis smaragdinea Gory and Percheron, 1833 and Cotinis nitidicollis Moser, 1907 are placed in new junior synonymy with Heteroconitis terminata (Gory and Percheron, 1833).

A simple, rapid technique is presented for the eversion of the endophallus in the Curculionoidea. The endophallus is inflated using the introduction of a viscous gel from a syringe inserted in the base of the median lobe, which is held in place by Pierse corneal forceps. This relatively time-efficient technique works on a wide size range and taxonomic diversity within the Curculionoidea.

Coccinellids typically do not show exaggerated sexual dimorphisms, and the only reliable sexing methods for some species have been dissection and behavioral observations. Behavioral methods can potentially lead to sex identification but are very time consuming, require exposing sexually naïve individuals to conspecifics, and risk incorrect identification since homosexual mounting in these species has been observed in the laboratory. Research involving use of live specimens requires techniques to non-invasively determine the sex of individuals, but such methods have not been clearly or fully described in the literature. Closer examination of the species Coccinella novemnotata Herbst, Coccinella septempunctata L., Coccinella transversoguttata richardsoni Brown, and Coccinella trifasciata perplexa Mulsant has led to the discovery of a reliable and efficient way to differentiate the sexes by looking at the shape of the seventh sternite (fifth visible), and this method has been demonstrated to be 100% reliable for all four species. Another, even more rapid, method uses the shape of a prominent black pronotal marking and shows promise for C. novemnotata but is not applicable to the other species. Additionally, most species of Coccinella L. have males with conspicuous pale anterior coxal spots and femoral stripes that can be easily viewed, especially on mobile specimens. Morphometric data that quantify external dimorphisms and provide evidence for the reliability of using them for sexing are reported. All known external characters that can be used for sexing North American Coccinella species are consolidated for easy reference. The significance of these findings for research into the decline of native Coccinella species in the United States is discussed.

At four sites spanning a general triangle with 50–100 km legs in East Tennessee over a six-week period in July and August 2013, 56 fireflies, male and female, from four species and three genera were associated with common milkweed, Asclepias syriaca L. Photinus pyralis (L.), Photinus cooki Green, Pyropyga minuta LeConte, and an determined species of Photuris Dejean repeatedly exhibited seven common behaviors of nectaring from individual blooms and stigmatic slits and actively mouthing floral stems, recurved sepals, and uppermost leaves, lasting from 9–175 minutes. Milkweed pollinia were noted on three of the four species. Maximum firefly presence was observed the first two survey days, 7 and 8 July, falling to low but persistent numbers the remainder of the survey. These firefly behaviors were observed primarily in the four hours before sunset and after sunrise. Twelve Photuris larvae were observed feeding on milkweed rhizomes in captivity. Reports of milkweed-firefly associations involving at least four additional firefly species in two additional genera, Lucidota atra (Olivier), Photinus indictus (LeConte), Pyropyga decipiens (Harris) and a species of Pyractomena Melsheimer spanning 90 years across the eastern US are presented along with recent reports of similar behaviors witnessed from Texas to Canada.

One hundred eighty-three species/subspecies of longhorn beetles are recorded from Nebraska, an increase of 19 species since 1971. The greatest number of recent discoveries have come from sites along the Missouri River, especially Indian Cave State Park in southeastern Nebraska, as well as the Pine Ridge at Chadron.

New larval hosts for 59 North American Cerambycidae are presented. Host plants for Astylopsis fascipennis Schiefer, Leptura obliterata deleta (LeConte), Typocerus acuticauda acuticauda Casey, and Typocerus deceptus Knull are documented for the first time.

The first instar of Hoperius planatus Fall, 1927 is described and illustrated for the first time with an emphasis on the chaetotaxy of the head capsule, head appendages, legs, last abdominal segment, and urogomphi. Hoperius planatus is characterized by the presence of additional campaniform sensilla (pores) on the frontoclypeus, representing a unique character state within the tribe Colymbetini (Colymbetinae). A phylogenetic analysis based on 42 first-instar characters using the program TNT reinforces the hypothesis of monophyletic origin of the Colymbetini and suggests a placement of Hoperius Fall, 1927 as sister to a clade comprised of Neoscutopterus J. Balfour-Browne, 1943, Meladema Laporte, 1835, and Bunites Spangler, 1972. Members of this clade are uniquely characterized within the Colymbetini by the presence of a large number of additional spiniform sensilla on the urogomphus.

The fifth instar of Entomophthalmus rufiolus (LeConte, 1866) (Coleoptera: Eucnemidae: Melasinae: Dirhagini) is described and illustrated. This is the first larval description for the genus Entomophthalmus Bonvouloir, 1872. The description is based on larvae collected from pieces of rotten sugar maple (Acer saccharum Marshall; Aceraceae) collected in two Wisconsin counties, as well as rotten Quercus sp. (Fagaceae) and basswood (Tilia americana L.; Tiliaceae) logs in Dane County. Adults were reared from from larvae in wood placed in plastic bags and associated with preserved larvae found in the field. Biological information is provided and external morphology of immature E. rufiolus is compared with Rhagomicrus bonvouloiri (Horn, 1886) and other similar Nearctic eucnemid larvae.