We describe four new species in the genus Cymatodera Gray (Coleoptera: Cleridae: Tillinae): Cymatodera acuminata and Cymatodera unica from Mexico, Cymatodera parva from El Salvador and Honduras, and Cymatodera magdalena from Colombia. A distribution map of the new species is given. All relevant diagnostic characters are extensively figured and discussed. Finally, we include some biogeographic and taxonomic remarks for selected species.

Two new species of Diodontus Curtis, 1834 (Hymenoptera: Pemphredonidae) are described. Diodontus polytylus Budrys new species is widespread in North Africa, from Libya and Chad to Morocco, as well as in southern Spain and Portugal. Diodontus guichardi Budrys new species was found in several localities in Morocco. The new species have small differences in their morphology; however, they can be easily separated using molecular characters. Comparison of 17 molecular markers has revealed that the highest evolutionary divergence is observed in mitochondrial gene ND6 and internal transcribed spacer ITS2. The variable regions of the nuclear rDNA genes 18S and 28S demonstrated the lowest evolutionary divergence; thus they were of the least use for species identification. The most coherent reconstruction of phylogeny, in comparison to other groups of markers, was obtained using exons of nuclear protein-coding genes. A provisional key to the species of D. minutus (Fabricius, 1793) species group of the Mediterranean Region is presented.

The necrocolous Coleoptera (attracted to carrion) are important to maintain balance in insect communities and in the recycling of soil nutrients; however, there is scarce data on the species that occur in Agave tequilana Weber (Asparagaceae) fields. The diversity patterns of beetles (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae, Silphidae, and Trogidae) dwelling in 2–4-year-old A. tequilana plots were established by sampling specimens from May to November 2016. In total, 5509 individuals of 23 species were collected. The highest species diversity was found in Magdalena Municipality, followed by the Arandas and Tequila municipalities (Jalisco, Mexico), with significant differences in abundance among municipalities and crop age. The variability in Magdalena and Tequila assemblages was associated with the temperature, while in Arandas it was attributed to the precipitation. The beetle species diversity, species replacement, and dominance in different municipalities are the result of changes in habitat, the interaction of environmental variables, distribution affinities of species, and agronomic practices in A. tequilana fields.

Female Asian longhorned beetles, Anoplophora glabripennis (Motschulsky) (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae), were observed rhythmically extruding their genitalia, resembling the calling behaviour observed in other species of Cerambycidae. We demonstrate that only female A. glabripennis adults perform this behaviour, which lasts up to nearly six minutes and typically includes two types: (1) extrusion of only the tip of genitalia and (2) genitalia fully extruded and deflexed. The frequency and duration of this behaviour are affected by temperature and posteclosion feeding experience, but do not vary with the female age. Anoplophora glabripennis adult males were observed flexing their abdomen downward while extruding their genitalia but only when exposed to the odour of live females with host twigs. In Y-tube olfactometer assays, the volatiles from live females or female genital extracts both attracted more males than the volatiles from live males, male genital extracts, or solvent controls, all in the presence of host-plant volatiles. These findings indicate that A. glabripennis females may produce volatile sexual attractants in association with genital extrusion.

Eleven of the 12 species of owls (Aves: Strigidae, Tytonidae) known to occur in Manitoba, Canada, were examined for chewing lice (Phthiraptera: Amblycera, Ischnocera) from 1976 to 2015: barn owl (Tyto alba (Scopoli); Aves: Tytonidae) (n = 2), snowy owl (Bubo scandiacus (Linnaeus); Aves: Strigidae) (n = 77), great horned owl (Bubo virginianus (Gmelin); Aves: Strigidae) (n = 262), great grey owl (Strix nebulosa Förster; Aves: Strigidae) (n = 142), barred owl (Strix varia Barton; Aves: Strigidae) (n = 10), northern hawk owl (Surnia ulula (Linnaeus); Aves: Strigidae) (n = 18), short-eared owl (Asio flammeus (Pontoppidan); Aves: Strigidae) (n = 74), long-eared owl (Asio otus (Linnaeus); Aves: Strigidae) (n = 67), eastern screech owl (Megascops aslo (Linnaeus); Aves: Strigidae) (n = 59), boreal owl (Aegolius funereus (Linnaeus); Aves: Strigidae) (n = 47), and northern saw-whet owl (Aegolius acadicus (Gmelin); Aves: Strigidae) (n = 44), a total of 802 owls. No lice were found infesting barn owl (Tyto alba (Scopoli); Aves: Tytonidae) or eastern screech owl (Megascops asio (Linnaeus); Aves: Strigidae). We collected a total of 113 810 lice of 12 species: Kurodaia Uchida (Phthiraptera: Menoponidae) – three species; and Strigiphilus Mjöberg (Phthiraptera: Philopteridae) – nine species. Overall prevalence of infestation ranged from 10.0% to 88.9%. Mean intensity for total lice ranged from 22.4 to 506.5. Infestation parameters for each louse–host combination are provided; prevalence and mean intensity were not related for louse–host species combinations. Distribution of louse infestations was highly aggregated. In all louse–host combinations but one, either females were more prevalent than males or there was no significant deviation from 50:50. Male Strigiphilus ceblebrachys Denny significantly outnumbered females in snowy owls. There was a tendency for louse species to co-occur on the same host specimen. Where sample sizes for owls were large enough, no seasonal patterns in abundance of lice were detected.

Specimens (n = 508) of eight species of owl (Aves: Strigiformes) collected from 1994 to 2017 in Manitoba, Canada, were weighed and examined for chewing lice (Phthiraptera: Amblycera, Ischnocera). The relationship between host body mass and infestation by 12 species of lice was examined. Host body mass explained 52% (P = 0.03) of the variation in mean intensity of louse infestation among hosts, due primarily to a high abundance of lice on the heaviest owl species. The relationship was due to the mean intensity of lice, and neither species richness nor the prevalence of lice was related to host body mass. For individual louse species, the relationship was due primarily to Kurodaia acadicae Price and Beer, Kurodaia magna Emerson, and an undetermined species of Kurodaia Uchida (Phthiraptera: Menoponidae) (R2 = 0.997), but not the nine Strigiphilus Mjöberg (Phthiraptera: Philopteridae) species (R2 = 0.27). Louse intensity did not increase with body size for individual birds of any of the owl species. Mean intensity is expected to increase in proportion with the size, specifically the surface area, of the host. Why that relationship holds only for one louse genus, and not for the most abundant genus of lice on owls, and weakly compared with other families of birds, has yet to be determined.

This study investigated insect diversity of olive (Olea europaea Linnaeus (Oleaceae)) groves grown in arid and semiarid climates in northeastern Algeria. Using several sampling techniques, a total of 1326 insect specimens were collected and identified into 151 species, 124 genera, 65 families, and 10 orders. Hymenoptera and Coleoptera were quantitatively the most abundant, whereas the dominant functional feeding groups were phytophages then predators. The entomofauna included several olive pests such as Bactrocera oleae (Rossi) (Diptera: Tephritidae), Parlatoria oleae (Colvée) (Hemiptera: Diaspididae), Euphyllura olivina (Costa) (Hemiptera: Liviidae), and Liothrips oleae Costa (Thysanoptera: Phlaeothripidae). Although insect diversity parameters recorded for both observed and expected species richness were higher in olive groves grown under semiarid compared with arid climate, the completeness rate of species richness obtained using the nonparametric incidence estimators was higher in arid olive groves. Generalised linear models showed that the number of individuals and species richness varied significantly between climates (P < 0.01), whereas the variation of the rest of diversity parameters was not significant. Diversity traits of insect assemblage of each climatic region were positively correlated. Besides, the Mantel permutation test revealed similar patterns (r = 0.91, P < 0.0001) between correlation matrices of the two climates. When increasing the number of samples, species richness extrapolation revealed that diversity is expected to increase by 130% in olive groves grown under arid climate and 93% in semiarid climate. These increases are related to continuous appearance of rare and scarce insects as demonstrated by species rarefaction curves. Even with high evenness values of insect communities, similarity was low between climate indicating the rarity and scarcity of populations.

Euscelidius variegatus (Kirschbaum) (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae) is a leafhopper known to vector phytoplasmas in cultivated vines (Vitis vinifera Linnaeus (Vitaceae)) of western Europe. Its occurrence has been recorded in western North America more than 60 years ago, but so far not in eastern North America, including Canada. In the last 15 years, three specimens have been found in Ontario near and around vineyards. Here we report the first record of E. variegatus in Canada and eastern North America.

Tebufenozide (Mimic) kills Lepidoptera larvae that ingest it. Aerial applications of tebufenozide were made against spruce budworm (Choristoneura fumiferana (Clemens)) (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) in boreal forest in Manitoba, Canada, in 1999 and 2000. In 2000 and 2001, moths in sprayed and unsprayed plots were sampled with light traps; trapping was supplemented by foliage sampling. Relative to unsprayed plots, catches of spruce budworm moths in plots sprayed in 1999 and 2000 were depressed in 2000, but not in 2001. Host tree defoliation was reduced in 2000 by 1999 and 2000 applications; the 2000 application reduced numbers of spruce budworm larvae in 2000 and 2001. Multivariate analysis revealed negative effects of tebufenozide application on two species of non-target moths in 2000 and no negative effects in 2001. Negatively affected species have larvae feeding in the tree canopy at the time of spray application. Higher catches of non-target species in sprayed treatments were observed for three species in 2000 and two species in 2001. We conclude that tebufenozide can depress the numbers of spruce budworm larvae and provide foliage protection during the year of application and the following year, and that negative effects on non-target species are detectable for about 15 months after application.

The striped flea beetle, Phyllotreta striolata (Fabricius) (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae), is a major pest of canola (Brassica Linnaeus, Brassicaceae) on the Canadian prairies. The previously published methods to rear striped flea beetles under laboratory conditions are not sufficient to maintain laboratory colonies over a sustained period of time. Here, we describe two methods to rear striped flea beetles in the laboratory. The first method produces both immature stages and adult flea beetles using Napa cabbage (Brassica napa subsp. pekinensis (Loureiro) Hanelt) and canola as food sources. Beetles reared using this method produced an average of 9.7 ± 4.5 eggs, had a juvenile development period of between 26 and 33 days, and had an adult longevity between 17 and 55 days. Between 62% and 90% of the colony-reared eggs resulted in the successful development to an adult beetle. The second method uses canola as the only host, and facilitates easy access to high quantities of adult beetles. This method resulted in a six-fold to nine-fold increase in adult numbers per generation. Developmental time from adult to adult ranged from 25 to 30 days. Our two methods facilitated rearing striped flea beetles for several generations in the laboratory with or without hibernation.