A total of 15 835 ticks was identified, mainly from sheep and goats, in a livestock survey in Cyprus in 1970–72. Hyalomma anatolicum anatolicum Koch, H. a. excavatum Koch, H. marginatum marginatum Koch, H. m. turanicum Pom., H. m. rufipes Koch, Haemaphysalis sulcata C. & F., Ixodes crenulatus Koch and Rhipicephalus turanicus Pom. & Matikashvili are recorded for the first time in Cyprus. H. sulcata was found in all parts of the island; Hyalomma spp. and Rhipicephalus spp. were mostly seen in the low drier areas, and Ixodes gibbosus Nutt. in the wetter areas; Boophilus annulatus (Say) was confined to one small area. Ticks were most common in autumn and early winter. Haemaphysalis sulcata and I. gibbosus were only found in the winter months, whereas Hyalomma spp. were found all the year round but especially in the warmer months. The Hyalomma subspecies showed some differences in seasonal distribution. Immature Rhipicephalus ticks were found in the colder months whereas the adults were seen mainly in the spring and early summer. Immature Haemaphysalis sulcata and Hyalomma spp. were extremely rare on ruminants. Only adults of I. gibbosus were seen in the first year of the survey, whereas only immatures, mainly larvae, were seen in the second year. The period of attachment of R. bursa C. & F. adults was shorter than that of R. turanicus and corresponded closely to the incidence of babesiosis in sheep and goats. The predilection sites of ticks for cattle, sheep and goats are given.

Spring migrants of Myzus persicae (Sulz.) may be produced either by parthenogenetic aphids derived from fertilised eggs laid on the primary host, or by parthenogenetic aphids overwintering on secondary hosts. Five variates, based1 on eight morphological characters of alate M. persicae, are examined to investigate how to distinguish between alatae derived from populations that have overwintered by these two means. No single variate is adequate to identify correctly all specimens, although two of them, number of abdominal tubercles, and shape of the fenestra in the central abdominal patch, may each correctly assign as many as 90%.

The occurrence and causes of plagues of tropical Locusta spp. are compared for the three major outbreak areas, Middle Niger of Mali (L. migratoria migratorioides (R. & F.)), south-west Madagascar (L. m. capito (Sauss.)), and Mindanao (Philippines) (L. m. manilensis (Meyen)). Multiplication and concentration are the two most important processes involved and may occur concurrently or sequentially depending on the outbreak area. In the Middle Niger and Madagascar heavy rainfall, through its effect of increasing multiplication, is the key density-disturbing factor, whereas on Mindanao the factor is drought leading to concentration of locusts. Variations in multiplication rates are determined by the response of eggs and hoppers to desiccation and by the density-dependent effects of fecundity and natural enemies. Concentration is caused by the restriction of favourable breeding habitats in relation to the seasonal population displacements and, because it occurs at different seasons in the three outbreak areas owing to their differing climates and geographies, profoundly modifies the timing of outbreaks. Man's modification of the environment, particularly in relation to the dry season survival of Locusta, has caused outbreaks to occur in new areas. Long-term solutions to the problem of controlling such outbreaks lie in the field of management rather than in the continued use of insecticides because of the continued reinfestation from surrounding populations. The use of natural enemies does not as yet show any promise as a means of controlling outbreaks of tropical Locusta.

A new species of sandfly, Psychodopygus lainsoni, is described from specimens captured in ‘ terra firme ’ rain forest at km 46 Altamira-Itaituba on the Transamazônica highway. In many respects the male resembles those of the squamiventris group, and the female is similar to those of other groups.

Descriptions are given of the collection and rearing of Psychodopygus lainsoni Fraiha & Ward and five sympatric species, P. carrerai (Barretto), a member of the P. squamiventris group, Lutzomyia anduzei (Rozeboom) and two undescribed species closely related to L. anduzei (Rozeboom) designated L. sp. no. 260.43 and 260.44, all from the Altamira region of the Transamazônica highway, Pará State, Brazil. Fungal contamination of rearing containers and a reluctance of reared flies to feed prevented the establishment of closed colonies of these silvatic species. Storage of P. lainsoni eggs at 15°C delayed hatching, and reduced hatch rates and larval viability. Pupal storage at 12°C failed to inhibit emergence. Diapause is reported in the egg stage of L. sp. 260.44.

In a survey of animal burrows in nine East African game areas or ranches 112621 specimens of Ornithodoros moubata pordnus Walton, vector of African Swine Fever Virus (ASFV), were collected from 172 burrows (out of 442 examined) in six areas. Burrows were usually located in open ground, in patches of scrub thicket and frequently in termite mounds; often the burrows had been excavated originally by antbear. Ticks were obtained by means of a lure, by chipping samples from the burrow walls and by taking soil samples from the burrow floors. Tick populations ranged from a few individuals to 250000 per burrow, second- and third-stage nymphae accounting for over 70% of the total population. Generally, ticks were found near the entrances of burrows on the floor, or on the roofs if the burrows had been unoccupied for some time, the latter position appearing to be a hunger response. Factors favouring large tick populations were neutral soils, high relative humidity, optimal temperature to be found at 3000–5000 ft above sea level, vegetation surrounding the burrow and the presence of burrow-inhabiting animals. Above 5000 ft O. m. porcinus was less common, and above 6150 ft none was found. Blood-meal identifications have shown warthog to be the primary host; other hosts included antbear, porcupine and hyaena. In areas with a particularly favourable environment the ticks can remain quiescent for long periods; in less favourable areas the continued maintenance of colonies is dependent upon the frequency with which ticks can feed on a suitable host. Some predation of adult ticks occurs but losses due to bush fires are not important. Heavy infestations of ticks may contribute to the mortality of young warthogs. The survey confirms experimental evidence that ASFV is well adapted to maintenance in the vector population.

The amounts eaten by Locusta migratoria migratorioides (R. & F.) on seedling grasses was less than on mature grasses in four other Acridids, Nomadacris septemfasciata (Serv.), Chortoicetes terminifera (Wlk.), Melanoplus sanguinipes (F.) and Schistocerca gregaria (Forsk.). Palatability of the young grasses increases with age, becoming maximal 6–10 weeks from the time of germination. Similar preferences were shown by other Acridids. Time-lapse film studies on Locusta showed that not only is less time spent feeding on seedling grasses, but that locomotor activity levels are considerably higher. Survival studies on the same species showed higher mortality on the seedlings as compared with the mature leaves at all stages of nymphal development, while on seedlings no individuals survived to the adult stage. Lipid-soluble materials were removed from seedling leaves with chloroform or acetone and this rendered them more acceptable, while the extract applied to mature leaves resulted in reduced palatability.

Most trapping techniques for estimating populations assume that all individuals are equally trappable. Where potential protein sources are used as baits for muscoid flies, which are known to have a cyclical intake of protein during ovarian development, numbers caught may not be comparable. Accumulated field data on the reproductive stages of samples of the bushfly (Musca vetustissima Wlk.) in a study area near Canberra have been analysed to show that only flies in the last stages of maturing their eggs (reproductive stage IV) are uniformly under-represented (about 22% of expectation) in baited samples.

Evidence gained using blowflies (Calliphora vicina R.-D., Lucilia sericata (Mg.), L. cuprina (Wied.) and Protophormia terraenovae (R.-D.) ), fleshflies (Sarcophaga spp.) and tsetse flies (Glossina spp.) in ligaturing experiments and by the injection of prepupal haemolymph (with added ecdysone) suggests that factors other than ecdysone, released in the posterior segments, may initiate pupariation. They could act as synergists for ecdysone. Puparium formation is reduced from 77·5±3·1% to 35·7±2·8% (P<0·001) if 50 ng α-ecdysone is injected through the anterior knot into the middle region of twice-ligatured Sarcophaga argyrostoma (R.-D.) larvae instead of into the abdomens of singly tied larvae. The pupariation score is increased to 57·2±4·8% if haemolymph from rounded-off prepupae is injected into the middle region of isolated abdomens. The uninjected posterior region sometimes darkens alone. Ligature of the abdomens of S. peregrina R.-D. and S. argyrostoma prepupae which have just reached the orange-peritreme stage before rounding-off confines the pupariation to the posterior segments.

The effects of retarding puparium formation for 12–24 h by the use of dopa decarboxylase inhibitors or by means of a loose constriction (‘ cummerbund‘) are reported because the location of the patches of cuticle which stabilise and darken as the inhibition slowly wears off implicates certain areas under the integument as the sites of production or secretion of puparial tanning hormone or ‘ posterior darkening factor ’. Retardation of pupariation results from the pressure stimulus applied to rounded-off prepupae because either a hormone is held back or an inhibitor is released as a consequence of the distortion of the cuticle by the cummerbund. When fleshfly larvae are tightly ligatured every hour in front of or behind the brain for 18 h after removal from a moist environment which inhibits pupariation, the percentage of larvae which pupariate in both situations suggests that the CNS itself can inhibit pupariation of the anterior region because of the presence of the stricture. This inhibition, which is not due to lack of oxygen, can be reversed by the presence of factors produced in the abdomen.

An Elachistid moth whose larva mines leaves of sugar-cane in Papua New Guinea is described and named Eupneusta solena gen. et sp. n. The genus is differentiated from Dicranoctetes Braun, a New World genus which contains the Cuban species D. saccharella (Busck) whose larva is also a miner in leaves of sugar-cane. Descriptions of the larva and pupa are included, and special note is made of the highly developed spiracular processes of these stages.

Females of Stegobium paniceum (L.) produce a sex pheromone to which only males are attracted. Live females 4–5 days old attract males which first respond when they are 5–6 days old. Females extracted in diethyl ether showed the presence of pheromone immediately after eclosion (0 days) but secretion is delayed until 3–4 days just before emergence from the pupal cocoon (4–5 days). Mated females show a slight reduction in pheromone content and mated male response is significantly reduced, as is the response of males previously exposed to a pheromone extract. A series of pheromone concentrations ranging from 0·0005–l female equivalents was assayed, and the threshold level of male response estimated at about 0·0004 female equivalents.

The embryonic development of Dysdercus fasciatus Sign. is described in terms of 15 arbitrary stages based on external morphological characters. The effects of treating eggs early in development with juvenile hormone and a mimic (JH) are then described in terms of the stages at which embryonic development is arrested and the resulting morphological aberrations are summarised. The effects of the treatment of two strains of D. fasciatus with two JH (Law's mimic and Ayerst synthetic juvenile hormone) are described and compared in terms of both the hatchability of the eggs and the stage distributions of the arrested embryos. Law's mimic was more effective than Ayerst SJH in preventing egg hatch, and the Malawi strain was less susceptible than the Reading strain. Embryonic development was never arrested earlier than the commencement of blastokinesis (Stage VIII). After treatment with Ayerst SJH most embryos of both strains were arrested during dorsal closure (Stages XI-XII) or at the time of eclosion (Stages XHI-XIV). Treatment of the Reading strain with Law's mimic resulted in the majority of embryos being arrested during blastokinesis (Stages VIII-X) at all doses. Examination of the timetable of development in both control and treated eggs reveals a dramatic reduction in developmental rate in treated eggs at the commencement of blastokinesis. It is suggested that JH may act on eggs of D. fasciatus in three ways: interference with eclosion, differentiation and the embryonic movements during blastokinesis.

The subgenus Larroussius of Phlebotomus includes several vectors of visceral leishmaniasis. A key is given for the tropical African species, three of which are described for the first time. Notes on the species include a discussion of the status of P. langeroni orientalis Parrot, one of the three species from the Ethiopian Region known to transmit leishmaniasis.

Circadian flight activity in the males and females of Anopheles gambiae Giles species A and B, A. melas (Theo.) and A. merus Dön. has been investigated using the acoustic actograph technique. In each species the pattern and timing of activity in males and females is almost identical. Cyclical activity continues in constant dark; the period of the cycle is approximately half-an-hour shorter in A. gambiae species A and half-an-hour longer in A. merus than in the other two species. In alternating 12 h light: 12 h dark, both sexes are active during the dark period, with peaks of activity following light-off and light-on. After light-off, the species become active in the following order: A. gambiae species A, A. melas, A. gambiae species B, A. merus. A. merus is approximately 20 min later than species A.

The food and water requirements of adults of the blowfly Lucilia cuprina (Wied.), singly or in groups of ten, were recorded under laboratory conditions from the intake of water and of sucrose and bovine serum albumin plus liver extract, either in solution or in dry form. Water intake by both male and female flies is negligible when sucrose solution is available. When fed sucrose females live 18–19 days as opposed to 4–5 days on water alone. Intake of sucrose solution increases in both male and female flies when protein is also available. Protein is ingested from the day of emergence by both sexes of the blowfly. A peak of protein intake occurs early in each ovarian cycle of the female. The amount of protein feeding by females remains the same and appears independent of the sucrose concentration; carbohydrate uptake is inversely related to that of protein. In males protein intake declines steadily after an earlier lower peak. Knowledge of the dietary requirements of the blowfly, related to nutritional and reproductive demands, has allowed recognition of a series of behavioural phases in adult life.

Eggs of Austrosimulium pestilens Mack. & Mack, were separated from sandy loam deposits in river beds in Queensland by washing the deposit through a 64·5 mesh/cm plankton sieve; the eggs were then picked off the surface of the sieve. Viable eggs were recovered only from permanently wet deposits; deposits above the water table contained only empty egg shells or dead eggs. Since eggs are laid directly into the water, their distribution in the river bed is related to its topography and the degree of scour and fill. Eggs stored in the laboratory in wet river deposits were still viable after 2½ years of storage, but died rapidly when exposed to relative humidities of 96% or less. Only a few eggs hatched from samples of riverbed deposits in water following up to four days' agitation with compressed air.

This paper describes the method used to produce maps of the incubation and hopper development periods of the desert locust Schistocerca gregaria (Forsk.). From these maps it is possible to calculate the likely development periods of eggs and hoppers for, respectively, laying and hatching on any date and at any place within the invasion area of the species. Maps could not be based on actual observations of development periods because such observations are few in number, irregular in distribution and are not for standard dates. Instead, expected mean development periods for laying and hatching on the first of each month were calculated for a large number of meteorological stations for which long-term mean temperatures were available, using relationships between the rates of development and mean daily screen temperatures. These relationships were, in the main, derived from earlier work by one of the authors (K.G.W.) and his associates. Some assessment has been made of the accuracy of development periods derived from the maps.

The neurosecretory cells of the pars intercerebralis, the corpus cardiacum and the corpus allatum were examined in histological sections of Glossina austeni Newst. females fixed at daily intervals over the first two cycles of pregnancy. Two groups of neurosecretory cells corresponding to the lateral and median cells of other insects were recognised. The median neurosecretory cells were found to undergo cyclic changes of net synthesis and net release, which were correlated with ovulation and larviposition. The single ellipsoid corpus allatum undergoes cyclic changes in volume and histological appearance which are correlated with changes in the volume of the milk gland.

Following the introduction and establishment of Rhabdionvirus oryctes in Mauritius, seven adults of Oryctes rhinoceros (L.) were found with external malformations ranging from slight deviation at the base of the elytra to almost complete atrophy of the wings and elytra. Histological abnormalities of the midgut are described from a sample of 46 beetles of which 36 proved to be infected; infected epithelial cells are discharged into the gut lumen and so into larval and adult habitats.

The four components of the synthesised sex pheromone of Spodoptera littoralis (Boisd.) are tetradecan-1-yl acetate (I); cis-9-tetradecen-1-yl acetate (IIA); trans-11-tetradecen-1-yl acetate (IIB); and cis-9, trans-11-tetradecadien-1-yl acetate (III). Dissolved in hexane they were dispensed in small polythene containers either singly or in combination over water-trough (WT) traps located in the potato-growing region of south-east Cyprus. Only III was necessary to attract male moths. Increased loadings of III resulted in an increased catch during the 20-day test periods; at a loading of 500 μg per dispenser the material was attractive for approximately 20 days, and at 5000 μg for up to 40 days. IIA combined with III in WT traps or with virgin females in the vane traps markedly reduced the catch of male moths. The level of inhibition induced by IIA on the attraction of female moths was related to the loading of this substance in the dispensers. An inhibitory effect on the attraction of female moths in vane traps was also shown for cis-11-tetradecen-1-yl acetate, although this substance was less active compared with IIA at the same loading. No marked attraction or inhibition was shown for I or IIB, neither was any synergistic action demonstrated for these substances when in combination with III. When 200 polythene dispensers each containing 500 μg of III were evenly distributed throughout a potato field of 2000 m2 during the test period of 19 days virtually no males were caught in a trap baited with virgin females located in the centre of the field. Using only 100 point sources of III at twice the loading, only a slight reduction in catch compared with control catches was noted.