This Anopheline was first found in Syria in the larval stage on 30th August 1941. Up to the time of writing, 11th October 1941, adults and larvae have been taken on several occasions. Isolated larvae have been bred to the adult stage, and larval and pupal pelts preserved. Through the courtesy of Professor S. Adler and Dr. O. Theodor, of the Hebrew University at Jerusalem, I was able to consult the literature regarding the distribution of this species and to confirm its identification. The discovery of Anopheles marten in Syria is a new record.

Recent developments of physiology have emphasised the importance of membranes, and in entomology, studies on the permeability of membranes would offer the necessary basis for investigations on the physiological action of insecticides, particularly those applied externally, as well as on the many aspects of insect physiology.

In practice it is seldom found that any one of the numerous grades of oil prepared from crude petroleum is a satisfactory mosquito larvicide. The final product is almost invariably blended from several constituents. Each of the constituents may confer beneficial properties on the larvicide directly, or it may serve to correct undesirable features possessed by the other ingredients.

Even under world conditions which might be regarded as normal compared with those prevailing to-day, difficulties have confronted those who wished to select or blend a larvicide. There was firstly, in the remoter parts of the world, a lack of any specialised chemical apparatus ; secondly, the lack of a complete minimum performance specification by which to judge laboratory blends ; and thirdly, the difficulty arising from the fact that the specifications supplied for commercial grades of oil do not include data on many properties of the oil which are important to the malariologist but unimportant to the usual consumer.

This paper represents an endeavour to overcome the three difficulties outlined above. It provides a minimum performance specification for a larvicide and describes a series of simple tests which may be applied (a) to a commercially blended larvicide in order to establish whether this meets the requirements of the specification, and (b) to the individual ingredients (e.g., kerosines, Diesel oils or fuel oils) so that, in each case, the one with the most desirable combination of properties may be selected for incorporation in the final blend.

A new method of determining the duration of the aquatic stages of Anophelines in nature is described. Repeated daily dippings of a stretch of stream were made, and the numbers of pupae and of larvae of each instar were recorded. The duration of the aquatic stages was then determined by analysis of the sequences of peaks in these numbers.

The duration of larval life of A. minimus, when living in a stream at an average daily range of water temperature between 26·5°C. and 30·6°C, was seven days.

The full life cycle of A. minimus, under monsoon conditions in Assam, probably occupied 14 days—egg 2 days, larva 7 days, pupa 2 days, adult to first egg-laying 3 days.

The map of South America shows Peru as a rather long, narrow country, broadening at the north, and presumably tropical in climate judging by its position just south of the Equator, but with high mountains close to the coast. But it does not show the cold ocean current coming from the south—the Humboldt Current—or ar least we are not accustomed to noticing such presumably minor features, even though in the case of Peru, this is equal in importance with the mountains in determining the climate of the country and every factor that the climate may affect.

Head black with pale scales; palpi black; proboscis black. Thorax and scutellum purplish brown. Abdomen black, with curved apical bands on the second, third, fourth and fifth segments and with lateral apical spots on the fifth, sixth and seventh segments. Legs black, unbanded.

A simple, but reliable, technique is described for the study of the acceptability to locust hoppers of poison baits under field conditions.

This was applied to the study of a number of vegetable materials which might be used for the manufacture of wet baits to destroy hoppers of the Desert Locust.

The materials tested could be divided into five classes of acceptability, and consideration of these indicated that heavy lignification detracted from acceptability while the presence of starch added to it.

It was shown that molasses adds to the acceptability of only the least acceptable materials unless very large amounts are used.

Simple tests showed that acceptability was not correlated with water-absorbing properties, that the rate of drying of bait was dependent on the amount of water initially absorbed, and that molasses influences the rate of drying only when large amounts are added.

Abgrallaspis pictor is described as new from specimens collected on Cymbidium sp.in a nursery in England. It damages the plants by causing leaf-spotting. The orchid plants were collected in North India in 1968.

Food-baited dishes were used to monitor the impact of ground-sprayed DDT (4% WP @ approx. 200 g/ha) and deltamethrin (0.05% SC @ 2.6 g/ha) for tsetse fly (Glossina spp.) control, on epigeal ants in mopane woodland in north-western Zimbabwe. Twenty species of ants were recorded at dishes baited with various types of food. Pheidole spp. and Monomorium opacum Forel (Formicidae: Myrmicinae) were predominant, both in the number of baits attended and in the number of workers present at individual baits. Season apparently had a greater effect on the composition and activity of the ground foraging ant assemblage than did either pesticide. There was a decline in the rate at which baits were found and in species richness of the ant assemblage as the dry season progressed and several species also showed changes in their ability to locate baits. There was no major pesticide induced disruption of the species richness or food finding ability of the diurnal ground foraging ant assemblage sampled. However, foraging success by Platythyrea cribrinodis (Gerstaecker) (Formicidae: Ponerinae) was reduced immediately after spraying with deltamethrin. Subtle effects of either insecticide on rarer species cannot be discounted from the results of this study.

The highlands of Abyssinia are remarkably free from blood-sucking flies, if the Culicidæ, Stomoxys, and Hippoboscidæ are excepted.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of growth-regulating insecticides of synthetic (e.g., Certero 480 SC, Intrepid 240 SC, Match EC and Mimic 240 SC) and botanical origins (e.g., Azamax 1.2 EC, Agroneem 850 EC, Azact 2.4 EC and Fitoneem 850 EC) on the biological parameters and fertility life table of Spodoptera frugiperda (J.E. Smith) under laboratory conditions. Larvae were fed insecticides that were incorporated into artificial diets. To develop the fertility life table, the following biological parameters were evaluated: survival at 7 days after infestation (d.a.i) and survivorship at adult eclosion, duration of the neonate-to-adult eclosion period, larval and pupal weights and total fecundity (number of total eggs per female). The results indicated that S. frugiperda neonates surviving LC25 or LC50 concentrations of the evaluated insecticides showed longer larval and egg-to-adult periods, lower larval and pupal weights and reduced fecundity, when compared to the control treatment. Larvae exposed to Azamax at LC25 or LC50 concentrations showed the greatest increase in generation duration (75 d). In addition, S. frugiperda adults emerged from pupae when larvae reared on an artificial diet containing growth regulating insecticides of synthetic and botanical origins produced fewer females per female per generation (Ro). As well as, lower rates of natural population increase per day (rm) compared to insects fed the control diet. Our findings indicated that, neem-derived products and growth-regulating insecticides of synthetic origin may be employed within integrated management strategies that aim to keep populations of S. frugiperda below levels that cause economic damage. Similarly, they offer alternatives for insecticide resistance management programs.

Mutualism between ants and honeydew-producing hemipterans is a highly successful evolutionary innovation that attains the status of ecological keystone across many terrestrial ecosystems, involving a multitude of actors through direct or cascading effects. In these relationships, ants often protect their hemipteran partners against their arthropod natural enemies, sometimes interfering with the biological control of pest species. However, the dynamics of these interactions are highly variable based on the specific identity of all the actors involved, and baseline data remain scarce. We performed a field experiment exposing colonies of the walnut aphid Panaphis juglandis attended by five European ant species (Camponotus piceus, Ca. vagus, Crematogaster scutellaris, Dolichoderus quadripunctatus, Lasius emarginatus) to a native and an exotic lady beetle (Adalia bipunctata and Harmonia axyridis), documenting the behavioural interactions between these insects and the performance of ants in the protection of the aphids. Our results reveal a significant behavioural diversity among the ant species involved, with D. quadripunctatus and L. emarginatus being the most aggressive and having the best performance as aphid defenders, and Ca. piceus being least effective and often fleeing away. Cr. scutellaris displayed a rare rescue behaviour attempting to pull away the aphids that the lady beetles grabbed. On the other hand, behavioural responses to A. bipunctata and H. axyridis were similar. Further investigations are needed to understand the eco-ethological implications of these differences, while a better understanding of ant behavioural diversity may help refine biological control strategies.

Myzus persicae (Sulzer) is an important agricultural pest worldwide causing major economic losses due to its ability to transmit over 100 viruses including Potato virus Y (PVY). Myzus persicae shows considerable variation with respect to performance on its host plants. The objective of this study was to use a survival experiment, behavioural observations, including observations of probing and feeding behaviour obtained using the electrical penetration graph (EPG) technique, and a PVY acquisition experiment to determine whether or not potato was still the more suitable host for M. persicae originating on potato and reared on a novel host, table beet, for over 15 years. In a survival experiment, the pre-reproductive period was significantly longer while adult survival and whole longevity were significantly lower for M. persicae reared on beet fed beet leaves compared to M. persicae reared on potato fed potato leaves. The number of progenies produced and fecundity were both significantly reduced (90 and 85%, respectively) for M. persicae reared on beet fed beet leaves. Ethological observations and EPG assessment of M. persicae behaviour reared on beet placed on beet leaves showed significantly impaired behavioural responses compared to M. persicae reared on potato placed on potato leaves. The rate of PVY acquisition was the same for M. persicae reared on beet and on potato. These results indicate that after 15 years on table beet, M. persicae still performs better on its original host, potato, and appears to be a specialized potato-adapted genotype.

The carnation tortrix moth, Cacoecimorpha pronubana (Hübner, [1799]) (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae), is one of the most economically important insect species affecting the horticultural industry in the UK. The larvae consume foliage, flowers or fruits, and/or rolls leaves together with silken threads, negatively affecting the growth and/or aesthetics of the crop. In order to understand the polyphagous behaviour of this species within an ornamental crop habitat, we hypothesized that different host plant species affect its life history traits differently. This study investigated the effects of the host plant species on larval and pupal durations and sizes, and fecundity (the number of eggs and the number and size of egg clutches). At 20°C, 60% RH and a 16L:8D photoperiod larvae developed 10, 14, 20 and 36 days faster when reared on Christmas berry, Photinia (Rosaceae), than on cherry laurel, Prunus laurocerasus (Rosaceae), New Zealand broadleaf, Griselinia littoralis (Griseliniaceae), Mexican orange, Choisya ternata (Rutaceae), and firethorn, Pyracantha angustifolia (Rosaceae), respectively. Female pupae were 23.8 mg heavier than male pupae, and pupal weight was significantly correlated with the duration of larval development. The lowest and the highest mean numbers of eggs were produced by females reared on Pyracantha (41) and Photinia (202), respectively. Clutch size differed significantly among moths reared on different host plants, although the total number of eggs did not differ. This study showed that different ornamental host plants affect the development of C. pronubana differently. Improved understanding of the influence of host plant on the moth's life history parameters measured here will help in determining the economic impact that this species may have within the ornamental plant production environment, and may be used in developing more accurate crop protection methodologies within integrated pest management of this insect.

Oviposition and host discrimination behaviour of unmated Anagyrus pseudococci(Girault), an endoparasitoid of the citrus mealybug Planococcus citri (Risso), were investigated in the laboratory. Female parasitoids were able to discriminate between parasitized hosts and healthy ones. The mean number of ovipositions was significantly higher in unparasitized than in parasitized hosts. Conspecific-superparasitism occurred more often than self-superparasitism. Changes in consecutive ovipositions over three hours by A. pseudococci suggested that egg load influenced the discrimination behaviour of the parasitoids, with females which had low egg loads mostly avoiding oviposition in already parasitized hosts at time intervals ranging from 0 h to 96 h, and distributing their eggs in the high quality (unparasitized) hosts. The parasitized hosts were rejected more commonly through antennal perception of external markers than during ovipositor probing which could have encountered internal markers but this relationship changed with increasing time after oviposition. The parasitoid‘s oviposition rate in unparasitized and conspecific-parasitized hosts varied at the different oviposition time intervals when the females had fewer eggs in the ovaries. Percentage emergence of parasitized offspring was not significantly influenced by whether they developed in single or superparasitized mealybugs. The significance of host discrimination by A. pseudococci is discussed.

Arthropod species diversity enhances ecosystem productivity and sustainability by increasing pollination and biological control services. Although, it is declining rapidly due to conventional agricultural intensification, organic agriculture with reduced reliance on agronomic inputs can regenerate ecosystems' resilience and restore them. Here, we report whether hexapod communities differ on both types of farming systems in small-scale field plot experiments, wherein Maize variety AG-589 was grown organically and conventionally in the 2020 and 2021 seasons. Livestock manure was applied in organic fields, whereas nitrogen and phosphorous were used as synthetic fertilizers in conventional fields. Hexapods were sampled three weeks after sowing once a week from the middle rows of subplots from both organically and conventionally grown maize. Twelve species of herbivores and four species of predators were recorded. Hexapod abundance overall and that of herbivores only was higher in conventionally cultivated maize, while predator abundance was higher in organic maize. Herbivores species diversity and evenness were significantly higher in conventional maize. Predator species diversity and evenness were significantly higher in organic maize fields. We noted predator abundance, diversity, and evenness as strong predictors to lower herbivore populations. These findings suggest that organic farming conserves natural enemies’ biodiversity and regulates herbivores with increased provision of suitable habitats and prey resources for natural enemies, leading to enhanced relative abundance in their specialized niches. Thus, organic agriculture can potentially mediate better ecosystem services.

All the leaf-feeding sawflies on Larix in Britain belong to the Nematine Tenthredinidae. Up till a few years ago, the most notorious recorded in this country was Pristiphora erichsonii (Hartig), though local attack of P. wesmaeli (Tischbein) and P. laricis (Hartig) have also occured. These are also the chief Tenthredinid enemies of larch on the European continent, where the genus Anoplonyx has apparently never occured in sufficiently large numbers to cause economic damage. In Britain, where larch is not a native tree, the sawflies attacking its leaves are all restricted to it and so must have been introduced into the country.