Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius) represents a relatively large cryptic species complex. Australia has at least two native populations of B. tabaci sensu lato and these were first found on different host plants in different parts of Australia. The species status of these populations has not been resolved, although their mitochondrial sequences differ by 3.82–4.20%. We addressed the question of whether these AUSI and AUSII B. tabaci populations are distinct species. We used reciprocal cross-mating tests to establish whether the insects from these different populations recognize one another as potential mating partners. The results show that the two native Australian populations of B. tabaci have a mating sequence with four phases, each of which is described. Not all pairs in the control crosses mated and the frequency of mating differed across them. Some pairs in the AUSI-M × AUSII-F did mate (15%) and did produce female progeny, but the frequency was extremely low relative to controls. Microsatellite genotyping of the female progeny produced in the crosses showed these matings were successful. None of the AUSII-M × AUSI-F crosses mated although some of the males did search for females. These results demonstrate the critical role of the mate recognition process and the need to assess this directly in cross-mating tests if the species status of different populations is to be tested realistically. In short, AUSI and AUSII B. tabaci populations are distinct species because the individual males and females do not recognize individuals of the alternative population as potential mating partners.

Despite the fact that symmetry is common in nature, it is rarely perfect. Because there is a wide range of phenotypes which differs from the average one, the asymmetry should increase along with deviation. Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess the level of asymmetry in normal individuals as well as in phenodeviants categorized as minor or major based on abnormalities in forewing venation in honey bees. Shape fluctuating asymmetry (FA) was lower in normal individuals and minor phenodeviants compared with major phenodeviants, whereas the former two categories were comparable in drones. In workers and queens, there were not significant differences in FA shape between categories. FA size was significantly lower in normal individuals compared with major phenodeviant drones and higher compared with minor phenodeviant workers. In queens, there were no significant differences between categories. The correlation between FA shape and FA size was significantly positive in drones, and insignificant in workers and queens. Moreover, a considerable level of directional asymmetry was found as the right wing was constantly bigger than the left one. Surprisingly, normal individuals were significantly smaller than minor phenodeviants in queens and drones, and they were comparable with major phenodeviants in all castes. The correlation between wing size and wing asymmetry was negative, indicating that smaller individuals were more asymmetrical. The high proportion of phenodeviants in drones compared with workers and queens confirmed their large variability. Thus, the results of the present study showed that minor phenodeviants were not always intermediate as might have been expected.

Serpins are a broadly distributed family of proteases found in various organisms that play an important role in regulating the immune response. Here, we identified a serpin-1 gene from Antheraea pernyi that encodes a 279 amino acid protein with a molecular weight of 30.8 kDa. We expressed the recombinant Ap-serpin-1 protein in Escherichia coli and used the purified protein to prepare rabbit anti-Ap-serpin-1 polyclonal antibodies. We calculated the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay titer of the antibody as 1:128000. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction analysis revealed that Ap-serpin-1 was expressed in all examined tissues, including hemolymph, malpighian tubules, midgut, silk gland, integument and the fat body; the highest Ap-serpin-1 expression levels was detected in the fat body. We next investigated the expression patterns of Ap-serpin-1 in both fat body and hemolymph samples, following treatment with E. coli, Beauveria bassiana, Micrococcus luteus and nuclear polyhedrosis virus (NPV). We reported that NPV and M. luteus significantly enhanced Ap-serpin-1 expression in the fat body. While, in the hemolymph samples, treatment with B. bassiana and M. luteus was shown to upregulate Ap-serpin-1 expression at 24 h induction. Altogether, our results suggest that Ap-serpin-1 is involved in the innate immunity of A. pernyi.

The mealybug species Phenacoccus solenopsis (P. solenopsis) has caused much agricultural damage since its recent invasion in China. However, the source of this invasion remains unclear. This study uses molecular methods to clarify the relationships among different population of P. solenopsis from China, USA, Pakistan, India, and Vietnam to determine the geographic origin of the introduction of this species into China. P. solenopsis samples were collected from 25 different locations in three provinces of Southern China. Samples from the USA, Pakistan, and Vietnam were also obtained. Parts of the mitochondrial genes for cytochrome oxidase I (COI) were sequenced for each sample. Homologous DNA sequences of the samples from the USA and India were downloaded from Gen Bank. Two haplotypes were found in China. The first was from most samples from the Guangdong, Guangxi, and Hainan populations in the China and Pakistan groups, and the second from a few samples from the Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan populations in the China, Pakistan, India, and Vietnam groups. As shown in the maximum likelihood of trees constructed using the COI sequences, these samples belonged to two clades. Phylogenetic analysis suggested that most P. solenopsis mealybugs in Southern China are probably closely related to populations in Pakistan. The variation, relationship, expansion, and probable geographic origin of P. solenopsis mealybugs in Southern China are also discussed.

Ectropis grisescens Warren and Ectropis obliqua (Prout) are two morphologically similar sibling species with overlapping ranges. In this study, manipulative laboratory experiments were conducted to examine the possibility of reproductive interference in sympatric populations of E. grisescens and E. obliqua and the potential consequences of the mating interaction. Our results showed that the presence of males or females of different species could incur mating interference and significant reduction of F1 offspring. The reduction was not significant relevant to the initial relative abundance of E. grisescens and E. obliqua. Detailed observations of mating opportunity showed that female mating frequencies of both species were not significantly affected by the absolute species density, but the mating success of E. obliqua females with conspecific males depended on species ratio. In addition, adding males to the other species resulted in lower number of offspring suggesting that the males’ behaviour might be linked with mating interference. Males of both E. grisescens and E. obliqua could interfere the intraspecific mating of the other species, but the impact of the mating interference differed. These combined data indicated that asymmetric reproductive interference existed in E. grisescens and E. obliqua under laboratory conditions, and the offspring of the mixed species were significantly reduced. The long term outcome of this effect is yet to be determined since additional reproductive factors such as oviposition rate and progeny survival to adulthood may reduce the probability of demographic displacement of one species by the other in overlapping niches.

The effects of infestation by Contarinia nasturtii (Kieff.) on the growth and yield of swedes were observed in a centric-systematic-area sample consisting of 720 individually tagged plants. Severe infestation by the first generation caused multiple haeding and some reduction of yield, though it was attack by the second generation that more strongly depressed yield. From the results of laboratory experiments described it is inferred that it should be possible to achieve satisfactory control by simple cultural procedures designed to bury the pupal cocoons too deeply in the soil to permit successful emergence of the adult midges.

In a laboratory investigation in Rhodesia of the ability of Glossina morsitans Westw. to digest blood from the impala (Aepyceros melampus), the efficiency of digestion, as measured by the regression of the amount of haematin excreted in 48 hr. on the size of the blood meal, was found not to differ significantly between flies fed on impala blood and flies fed on blood from a variety of vertebrate hosts. This result, together with the report that captive flies can be induced to engorge from a live impala, refuts the suggestion that the low incidence of impala blood meals recorded in the firld is because impala blood contains a facor lethal to tsetse. One possible reason for the non-utilisation of this antelope, despite its abundance in tsetse areas, is its vigorous reaction to biting insects.

Aphid predators are a systematically disparate group of arthropods united on the basis that they consume aphids as part of their diet. In Europe, this group includes Araneae, Opiliones, Heteroptera, chrysopids, Forficulina, syrphid larvae, carabids, staphylinids, cantharids and coccinellids. This functional group has no phylogenetic meaning but was created by ecologists as a way of understanding predation, particularly for conservation biological control. We investigated whether trait-based approaches could bring some cohesion and structure to this predator group. A taxonomic hierarchy-based null model was created from taxonomic distances in which a simple multiplicative relationship described the Linnaean hierarchies (species, genera, etc.) of fifty common aphid predators. Using the same fifty species, a functional groups model was developed using ten behavioural traits (e.g. polyphagy, dispersal, activity, etc.) to describe the way in which aphids were predated in the field. The interrelationships between species were then expressed as dissimilarities within each model and separately analysed using PROXSCAL, a multidimensional scaling (MDS) program. When ordinated using PROXSCAL and then statistically compared using Procrustes analysis, we found that only 17% of information was shared between the two configurations. Polyphagy across kingdoms (i.e. predatory behaviour across animal, plant and fungi kingdoms) and the ability to withstand starvation over days, weeks and months were particularly divisive within the functional groups model. Confirmatory MDS indicated poor prediction of aphid predation rates by the configurations derived from either model. The counterintuitive conclusion was that the inclusion of functional traits, pertinent to the way in which predators fed on aphids, did not lead to a large improvement in the prediction of predation rate when compared to the standard taxonomic approach.

Adults of the cabbage root fly (Erioischia brassicae (Bch.)) reared in culture were inactive on the day of emergence but they fed on carbohydrate (sucrose) and protein (Yeastrel) on day 2. Without food, the egg follicles increased to approximately one-third of their maximum size and were then resorbed. When food was available, females ingested sucrose on days 2 and 3 to mature the first batch of eggs, without any stimulus from mating. Without either a mate or a suitable oviposition site, females retained most of their eggs. Females obtained sufficient food for egg maturation by day 4, when their egg follicles were 400 μm, approximately half the size of the mature eggs. Only females mating on day 4 laid eggs at the expected time 6±0·3 days after emergence. With a suitable oviposition site, these females laid 299±48 eggs, approximately twice as many as any other females, and ten times as many viable eggs. When males were not allowed to mate, peak ingestion was delayed from days 8–12 to days 14–18. Mated females provided with an oviposition site laid most eggs on days 5 and 6 and fed again on day 7. This second peak of feeding was delayed until day 9 when mated females were denied, or unmated females were given, an oviposition site. Similar volumes of sucrose were imbibed by females whether they laid or retained their eggs. Females denied both a mate and a suitable oviposition site laid less than 1% of the expected eggs.

Bibionid flies were sampled in grassland in Northern Ireland from 4 April to 13 June 1985 using water and sticky traps with a range of characteristics. Nearly 70 000 bibionids were taken, of which 89·5% were males. Bibio johannis (L.) accounted for 96% of the catch, the rest comprising Dilophus febrilis (L.) (3%) and D. femoratus Meigen (1%). Trapping was carried out adjacent to a hedgerow and in the centre of the field. Differences in the abundance of the flies at these two locations occurred for all three species. Yellow was the best colour for maximizing catches. Greater numbers of B. johannis (63%) were taken in water than sticky traps, but over 76% of Dilophus spp. were caught on the latter. Increasing the diameter of water traps tended to enlarge the catch (principally B. johannis), but catch per unit area was relatively constant. The height of sticky traps above the ground affected the catch of all three species, indicating different flight levels.

A systematic review of some species of the Coccid genus Saissetia occurring in East Africa led to the rediscovery of two species—S. persimilis (Newst.) and S. somereni (Newst.)—which although of economic importance have been almost completely neglected since they were first described. Both are redescribed in this paper. One new species recently collected in Kenya is described; this is S. pterolobina.

Seven species are dealt with in the paper, including the important and widely distributed S. oleae (Bern.). A provisional key for their separation is included, while one species—S. cuneiformis Leonardi—is sunk as a synonym of S. nigra (Nietn.).

A serially numbered list is given of plant species, both cultivated and wild, with the insect species found associated with each in Harar Province, Ethiopia, during 1960–64. In a second list, the insect species are arranged under orders and, alphabetically, under families and genera, the plant species with which they were associated being indicated by numbers referring to the first list.

Counts were made of the numbers of Oscinella adults caught in water traps in plots of grass and oats and in a suction trap in north-eastern England in 1969 and 1970. The numbers of eggs laid by O. frit (L.), O. vastator (Curt.), O. nitidissima (Mg.), O. hortensis Collin and O. maura (Fall.) on their respective host-plants were also counted. In both years, there were two generations of O. nitidissima and O. nigerrima (Macq.) and one of O. maura. In 1969, there were two generations of O. frit and one of O. hortensis and O. vastator. In 1970, there were partial second generations of O. hortensis and O. vastator and a partial third generation of O. frit. O. nigerrima was the first species to appear in the spring, followed by O. frit and O. nitidissima. O. hortensis, O. vastator and O. maura emerged later, and these species dominated the trap catches in July. The proportions of O. frit and O. nitidissima increased in August, and by late September these species again dominated the catch. The proportions of O. vastator and O. hortensis in the suction-trap catches were much lower than in the water-trap catches. Adults of all species were always found in the grassland water traps before they were found in the suction trap. The migratory requirements of other species in the genus, in particular O. maura and O. vastator, may be less than those of O. frit. The oviposition period on particular grass species was relatively long, and thus control of Oscinella spp. on grassland would be difficult.

Observations were made on Camptocerus aeneipennis (F.), C. aterrimus Eggers, C. niger (F.) and C. aquilus Wood infesting felled trees in the gallery and valley forests of the north-eastern Mato Grosso between September and December, 1968. The lifecycles of all four species are completed in 7–10 weeks. The gallery systems resemble those of the Xyloterini and Scolytoplatypus. The maternal galleries penetrate the wood and either lie in the transverse plane or run longitudinally, depending on the stem diameter. Trees of the family Burseraceae are especially attacked. The larvae are mycetophagous, developing in cradles which they enlarge as they grow. Larvae were attacked by an ectoparasitic Braconid wasp and predatory beetle larvae. Larval mortality is lower when one or both parents remain in the gallery. The potential forest importance of the four species could be contained by bark removal and rapid drying.

The synthetic sex pheromone (dicastalure) of the red bollworm of cotton, Diparopsis castanea Hmps., in Central and Southern Africa, and an inhibitor of male sexual attraction (trans-9-dodecenyl acetate,=IIA), were used in an enclosed 0·2 ha cotton field-cage to reduce successful female matings. Over one month dicastalure at 21·0 and 42·3 g/ha produced average reductions in mating of 47·9% and 72·5% respectively and 37·9 g IIA/ha produced an overall reduction in mating of 71·5%, or 79·5% in released moth populations, over the same period. The proportion of virgin females present in disruption situations was significantly greater than in untreated populations and was density-independent for moth populations of up to 2 200/ha. The proportion of fertile eggs in disruption situations was correspondingly reduced to 30·2% from an average of 67·9% in control cycles. Reduction in sex pheromone trap catches is an unsatisfactory indicator of the extent to which males are prevented from inseminating females and considerably over-estimates the true degree of disruption. This is the first time that a naturally occurring inhibitor has been used successfully to disrupt mating in a field population of insects and it indicates the potential of the method for the control of high density pest populations in cotton. However, use of polyethylene dispensing mechanisms similar to those used in the field-cage disruption experiments would be unsuitable as a practical method of dispensing behaviour modifying chemicals and it is suggested that, for suitably controlled release of such chemicals, currently available microencapsulation technology offers the best prospects.

The tsetse fly population of Block 9 at Shinyanga, Tanganyika, consisting of 40–50 square miles of thorn bush, was studied from 1935 to 1957 by means of fly-rounds with a total length of 30 miles. The mean annual apparent density (A.D.) of Glossina swynnertoni Aust., taken as the geometric mean of the 12 monthly figures, is plotted on a graph covering 23 years, together with data for 1930–36 from another block which, however, is only doubtfully comparable. Four peaks and five troughs occur on the graph of Block 9, the highest value being 18 times the lowest. The history of the natural and artificial events which have occurred in the block are detailed as far as they are known. The minimum A.D. was that of 1938, after a number of wild animals had died of rinderpest; thereafter, the A.D. rose for several years, in spite of certain anti-tsetse measures, and none of the fluctuations subsequent to 1938 can be associated with any natural or artificial event. The amplitude of the fluctuations is small compared with records in the literature for other animal populations, and their occurrence is irregular; the last peak observed was in 1954, but limited observations in 1959 gave catches little, if at all, below those of 1954.

The data were also analysed for seasonal variations. The least monthly mean catch was that of November, the greatest, differing from the least by a factor of only 1·34, that of April. Earlier published accounts of G. morsitans Westw. (based, however, on relatively short periods) give later maxima and greater amplitudes. Annual and seasonal records of the percentage of teneral individuals among male flies and the percentage of females among non-teneral flies are also given, but these data cannot be interpreted at present.

Sticky traps were operated over sugar-beet crops at Rothamsted Experimental Station (Hertfordshire), Broom's Barn Experimental Station (Suffolk) and elsewhere for five years to gain information about the flight of the aphids that transmit beet yellowing viruses and to aid in the spray warning scheme for sugar-beet growers.

Numbers of Myzus persicae (Sulz.), Aphis fabae Scop, and of all aphids caught per week are given. Records of aphids trapped at Rothamsted over a period of 23 years have been published; but no repeating pattern of aphid abundance from year to year has been detected. M. persicae flew early in 1960 and 1961, when beet viruses spread extensively, whereas in 1962, 1963 and 1964, when alates of this species did not fly early but were trapped in relatively larger numbers later in the year, yellows spread much less. Large numbers of A. fabae flew in 1963, but beet viruses spread little.

The long-lived polygynandrous ladybird beetle Tenuisvalvae notata (Mulsant) found in Brazil was evaluated in the laboratory for the effects of multiple mating and aging on its reproductive performance. This species is native to South America and is an important predator of mealybugs. Specifically studied were partner choice, female reproductive success, adult longevity, male virility, and offspring development. Young (5–10 days old) and older virgin females (95–100 days old) were subjected to either a single mate or multiple mating with the same or different males of various mating status (virgin or previously mated once, twice, and thrice). Results revealed a preference in both genders to mate with previously known partners. Additionally, younger females had higher fecundity and greater longevity when mated only once in comparison to those mated multiple times. Fecundity, fertility, and offspring development were similar across the treatments regardless of the number of mating or male mating history. Fecundity and fertility decreased throughout the oviposition period regardless of mating treatment.

Williams (1960) suggested the use of insect hormones as possible pest control agents. Hormones are internal secretions that regulate a wide variety of physiological processes especially those concerned with growth, development and egg maturation (Novék, 1966). Similar activity has been reported for a series of compounds related to insect hormones and known as juvenile hormone mimics or analogues (see reviews by Berkoff, 1969; El-Ibrashy, 1970; Ellis et al., 1970; Wigglesworth, 1970). This paper presents the results of a laboratory investigation using one such hormone analogue, methyl farnesoate dihydrochioride (DMF) prepared according to methods described by Law et al. (1966) and Romaňuk et al. (1967) when applied to the cotton stainer bug Dysdercus fasciatus Say.

The mode of inheritance of dieldrin-resistance in house-flies, Musca domestica L., was investigated by crossing experiments, using a selected, inbred resistant colony (R) and a normally susceptible one (N). Levels of susceptibility in both colonies and in various hybrids derived from them were determined by treating batches of flies with different concentrations of dieldrin by topical application.

Reciprocal crosses gave closely similar results, which were pooled. Results obtained with males and females were analogous, but were treated separately. The F1 hybrids were intermediate in resistance and the F2 generation segregated into susceptible, hybrid and resistant individuals in the ratio 1:2:1. The F1 generation back-crossed to either parental strain gave 1:1 segregation, corresponding to NN + NR or NR + RR. After killing the more dieldrin-susceptible forms in each case, the remaining males were back-crossed again. The second back-cross to normal gave a further 1:1 segregation of susceptibles and hybrids. The second back-cross to resistant now gave all homozygous resistant forms.

These results strongly indicate monofactorial inheritance.

Two highly dieldrin-resistant colonies of the sheep blowfly Lucilia cuprina (Wied.) had been colonised, one from Australia and one from South Africa. These were crossed and the progeny maintained to the F2 generation. Tests with dieldrin on the F1 and F2 generations gave results resembling those obtained with the parents. Since there was no appearance of susceptible or hybrid forms in the F2, it is concluded that the genes in the two colonies occur on the same chromosome and are either allelic (possibly identical) or very closely linked.