A new species, Heterota sunjaei Park and Ahn sp. nov. (type locality: Geumgab Beach, Jindo, Jeonnam Province, Korea), is described from Korea. The new species is compared with the related species H. plumbea (Waterhouse) and H. arenaria Cameron and the differences are summarized. An illustration of the habitus and line drawings of diagnostic characters are presented. An annotated world catalog of the genus Heterota Mulsant and Rey is provided.

Two large-scale forestry experiments, in Quebec (Sylviculture et aménagement forestiers écosystémique (SAFE)) and Alberta (Ecosystem Management by Emulating Natural Disturbance (EMEND)), were established in the late 1990s to test the effects of alternative silvicultural strategies (e.g., partial cutting) on biodiversity in northern boreal forests. We collected spiders in pitfall traps 2 years after the application of partial-cutting treatments in deciduous stands at EMEND and 6 years after similar treatments in deciduous stands at SAFE. Although we are aware of the challenges imposed by disparate locations and whole-scale experimental methods, our objective was to compare the effects of partial cutting on spider assemblages (diversity and community composition), and in doing so, to formulate a few general statements. Overall, 98 species (6107 individuals) were collected from Alberta and 86 species (3414 individuals) from Quebec. Of these, 44 species were common to both regions. Ordination and indicator-species analyses revealed a distinct effect of geographic separation: the spider assemblages in deciduous stands within the boreal plains ecoregion of Alberta and the boreal shield in Quebec were distinct. However, the effects of partial cutting on spider assemblages within each project were similar: removal of 25%–33% of trees shifted a characteristic old-growth fauna toward one more typical of clearcuts. Indicator-species analysis also revealed the dominance of wolf spider (Lycosidae) species in clearcuts within both experiments and we present evidence that clear-cutting homogenizes spider assemblages. Old-growth forests contain spider faunas that are easily disrupted by moderate partial cutting. In the face of intense harvesting practices, managing for the maintenance of biodiversity and conservation of spider faunas in northern forests will require retention of old-growth forests.

It is well known that noctuid moths respond to ultrasound frequencies produced by insectivorous bats performing a series of evasive maneuvers such as loops, dives, rolls, and turns. Certain ultrasound frequencies may be considered an environmental stress factor for these moths, causing physiological and behavioral effects. We investigated changes in acetylcholinesterase activity of Helicoverpa armigera (Hübner) exposed to ultrasound produced from a commercial device (LHC20). Our results indicated that stress effects on acetylcholinesterase activity resulting from exposure to ultrasound do not differ according to sex, but effects on different developmental stages of H. armigera differ significantly depending on duration of exposure. Enzyme activity increased in adults after 20 min exposure to ultrasound and decreased in pupae after 30 and 50 min exposure. Enzyme activity in larvae was reduced after 20 min and increased after 40 and 60 min. The results of this study also indicate that stress caused by exposure to ultrasound could modulate the cholinergic system in H. armigera.

We tested the hypothesis that slow rewarming would improve the ability of Drosophila melanogaster Meigen (Diptera: Drosophilidae) larvae to survive acute low-temperature exposure. Four larval stages (1st, 2nd, and 3rd instars, including wandering-stage 3rd instars) of four wild-type strains were exposed to –7 °C for periods of time expected to result in 90% mortality. Larvae were then directly transferred to their rearing temperature (21 °C) or returned to this temperature either in a stepwise fashion (pausing at 0 and 15 °C) or by slow warming at 1 or 0.1 °C/min. We observed a reduced rapid cold-hardening effect and no general increase in survival of acute chilling in larvae rewarmed in a stepwise or slow fashion, and we hypothesize that slow rewarming may result in accumulation of chill injuries.

Saproxylic insect assemblages inhabiting dead wood in Canadian forests are highly diverse and variable but quite poorly understood. Adequate assessment of these assemblages poses significant challenges with respect to sampling, taxonomy, and analysis. Their assessment is nonetheless critical to attaining the broad goals of sustainable forest management because such species are disproportionately threatened elsewhere by the reductions in dead wood generally associated with commercial exploitation of northern forests. The composition of the saproxylic fauna is influenced by many factors, including tree species, degree of decay, stand age, and cause of tree death. Wildfire and forest harvesting have differential impacts on saproxylic insect assemblages and on their recovery in postdisturbance stands. Exploration of saproxylic insect responses to variable retention harvesting and experimental burns is contributing to the development of prescriptions for conserving saproxylic insects in boreal forests. Understanding of processes that determine diversity patterns and responses of saproxylic insects would benefit from increased attention to natural history. Such work should aim to provide a habitat-classification system for dead wood to better identify habitats (and associated species) at risk as a result of forest management. This tool could also be used to improve strategies to better maintain saproxylic organisms and their central nutrient-cycling functions in managed forests.

Aggregation of the European earwig, Forficula auricularia L. (Dermaptera: Forficulidae), is known to be, in part, a response to aggregation pheromone. However, many aspects of pheromone biology remain unknown or controversial. In two-choice experiments with field-collected specimens in a still-air olfactometer, we determined that female, male, and juvenile F. auricularia all produce and respond to aggregation pheromone and that the pheromone is perceived by means of olfaction. Various sources (or extracts thereof) reportedly containing or emitting pheromone (including the insects’ integument, tibiae, or fecal excreta) did not induce significant responses. Our data suggest that none of these sources contains all or any of the essential pheromone components. These controversial results may be due to differences in (i) experimental procedures, such as single- or grouped-insect bioassays, or (ii) developmental stages of the bioassay insects. It is conceivable that juveniles and adults produce and respond to different components of aggregation pheromone.

Pentanota meuseli Bernhauer was erroneously reported from Alaska, based on a misidentification of a specimen of Neothetalia sp. near N. columbiana Klimaszewski, and is here removed from the list of genera and species occurring in North America. A lectotype and a paralectotype are designated for the species from the only two existing original Bernhauer specimens. External and genital illustrations are provided to avoid identification problems in the future.

We examined whether collection time (pre-winter vs. post-winter) influenced adult and female emergence success and body mass of wheat stem sawfly, Cephus cinctus Norton (Hymenoptera: Cephidae), from four Montana populations in 2005-2006. Adult emergence was generally higher from post-harvest material in post-winter collections but varied widely among populations. No significant effect of collection time on male-biased adult emergence from post-harvest residue collected near Conrad (37% vs. 31%) was detected, although adult emergence was greater for post-winter collection than for pre-winter collections from sites near Havre (90% vs. 81%), near Amsterdam (88% vs. 41%), and near Loring (67% vs. 0%); these three populations had a bias towards adult females that exceeded 2:1. Adult body mass was greater for post-winter-collected males (30% higher) and females (15%) only from near Amsterdam. Diapausing C. cinctus larvae overwintering under field conditions had better adult emergence, and spring collection is recommended in order to minimize time allocated to acquiring C. cinctus populations for research.

We tested the hypothesis that the western conifer seed bug, Leptoglossus occidentalis Heidemann, uses a substrate-borne vibratory signal for short-range communication. To record such a signal we used computers equipped with data-acquisition hardware and software, microphones sensitive to sonic and (or) ultrasonic frequencies, membrane-type and piezoelectric speakers capable of emitting sonic and ultrasonic sound, and piezoelectric devices capable of emitting low-level, low-frequency vibrations. By tapping their abdomen on substrate, males produced a wide-band vibratory signal 20 dB (sound pressure level; 0 dB = 20 µPa) above ambient sound, with dominant frequencies of 115 ± 10 and 175 ± 15 Hz and a distinct temporal pattern. There was no evidence for (i) ultrasonic signal components; (ii) signals produced by females or nymphs, or (iii) repeated trains of signal pulses. In two-choice arena experiments, males and females preferred the played-back recording of the male-produced substrate-borne signal over silent controls, whereas nymphs showed no preference for either stimulus. In two-choice dowel experiments with hickory wood or lodgepole pine crossbeams, females (unlike males or nymphs) preferred played-back recordings of the same signal over controls. In two-choice field experiments, this signal emitted in the air by piezoelectric devices or transferred through a wire to lodgepole pine branches attracted more L. occidentalis than did silent controls. Our data support the hypothesis that L. occidentalis uses a substrate-borne vibratory signal for short-range communication. The use of such a signal is consistent with reports on communication by other true bug species.

QM, a tumor-suppressor gene, plays an important role in cell growth, differentiation, and apoptosis. In this report, a homologue of human QM was isolated from the ant Polyrhachis vicina Roger. The full-length cDNA of P. vicina QM (PvQM) is 827 base pairs (bp) and contains a 5′-untranslated region of 91 bp and a 3′-untranslated region of 77 bp. The open reading frame of PvQM encodes a deduced 219-amino acid peptide with a predicted molecular mass of 25.1 kilodaltons. The results of sequence alignments indicate that the PvQM protein shares an overall identity of 76.7%–98.2% with other known QM homologues, and is most closely related to that of Apis mellifera L. (Hymenoptera: Apidae). Real-time quantitative reverse transcription - polymerase chain reaction was performed to compare PvQM mRNA expression during P. vicina development and within different castes. The data revealed that PvQM mRNA is differentially expressed during P. vicina development, with the highest expression level in embryos and the lowest in late-instar larvae and pupae. The levels of PvQM transcripts also vary among castes, with higher levels in workers and lower levels in both males and females. These results suggest that PvQM is developmentally and caste-specifically regulated at the level of transcription.

The forest tent caterpillar, Malacosoma disstria Hübner (Lepidoptera: Lasiocampidae), and large aspen tortrix, Choristoneura conflictana (Walker) (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae), are important pests of trembling aspen, Populus tremuloides Michx. (Salicaceae), in western Canada. Populations of both species can be monitored with sex pheromone-baited traps as part of an integrated pest management program. Moths captured in pheromone traps can also be used for ecological studies. Captured males of each species were examined to test the effect of population density, geographic region, and collection date on moth quality. Moth quality was assessed on the basis of wing area and level of infection with microsporidian parasites. The level of microsporidian infection of M. disstria was strongly dependent on geographic region but not on population density. Male M. disstria from high-density populations had smaller wings than males from endemic populations. Wing area of male M. disstria decreased throughout the flight period. Neither collection date nor microsporidian infection level affected wing area of male C. conflictana. Collection date also did not affect the level of microsporidian infection of C. conflictana. These data support pheromone trapping as a tool to detect microsporidian infections and examine their temporal and density-dependent effects on wing size in M. disstria and C. conflictana populations.

Cues used by parasitoids to detect habitat of the mountain pine beetle, Dendroctonus ponderosae Hopkins (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), were investigated by observing parasitoid attraction to logs infested with D. ponderosae, logs inoculated with one or both of the symbiotic fungi of D. ponderosae (Grosmannia clavigera (Rob.-Jeffr. & R.W. Davidson) Zipfel, Z.W. de Beer & M.J. Wingf. (Ophiostomataceae) and Ophiostoma montium (Rumbold) Arx (Ophiostomataceae)), logs containing no beetles or fungi, or empty screen cylinders. Captures of Heydenia unica Cook and Davis (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae) and Rhopalicus pulchripennis (Crawford) (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae) on logs with both G. clavigera and O. montium were greater than those from control treatments. These results suggest that characteristics of tree tissues simultaneously colonized by the two symbiotic fungi facilitate a detectable change in the volatile compounds released from D. ponderosae-attacked trees that may be used by parasitoids to locate hosts.

Pear psylla, Cacopsylla pyricola (Förster) (Hemiptera: Psyllidae), is a pest of pears, Pyrus L. (Rosaceae), throughout North America and western Europe. Previous studies in our laboratory showed that males of the overwintering form (winter morphotype) were attracted to volatile chemicals from pear shoots infested with post-diapause females. The current study shows that males of the summer morphotype also are attracted to volatiles from female-infested host material. Older females (8–10 d old) were significantly more attractive to males than younger (2–5 d old) females. Both virgin and mated females attracted male psylla. Volatiles from female summerforms attracted males even in the absence of host-plant material, and both living and freshly killed females were attractive. Our results indicate that female C. pyricola emit a volatile sex attractant, and the results of the studies further define the life-history conditions in female pear psylla that lead to male attraction.

A total of 2702 individuals representing nine species of Pteromalidae (Chalcidoidea) plus at least one species of Diapriidae, Trichopria haematobiae (Ashmead) (Diaprioidea), were reared as pupal parasitoids of filth-breeding flies in bovine manure during a 2-year study in northern Tamaulipas, Mexico. The Pteromalidae included two undescribed species of Spalangia Latreille plus Spalangia cameroni Perkins, S. drosophilae Ashmead, S. endius Walker, S. nigroaenea Curtis, Muscidifurax raptor Girault and Sanders, M. zaraptor Kogan and Legner, and Pachycrepoideus vindemiae (Rondani). Spalangia nigroaenea accounted for 71% of all the pupal parasitoids and all six Spalangia species for 94% of the parasitoids over the 2 years. Based on its preponderance, S. nigroaenea is recommended as a candidate for inundative releases within integrated pest management programs to help control fly pests of cattle in northeastern Mexico.

We review the existing literature on patterns of moth (Lepidoptera) species richness and community composition in northeastern Nearctic forest ecosystems across hierarchical scales ranging from individual trees to entire managed ecoregions. Moths are species-rich in northeastern forests of North America, with the most diverse families being Noctuidae and Geometridae. Individual trees and forest stands, however, are often dominated by few species. Climate, stand age, disturbance regime, and landscape heterogeneity are significant predictors of abundance of dominant species. Most other moth species in the regional pool are patchily distributed and appear to occur regularly at very low abundance. Moth communities respond predictably to forest-management practices, and the outcomes of postmanagement response are largely driven by changes in the plant community. Significant reductions in moth species richness and changes in community composition are correlated with clear-cut harvesting, whereas selective logging appears to cause more moderate changes in moth community structure. Broad-scale effects of forest fragmentation on moth communities in unglaciated regions are best described by species replacement rather than species loss; moth species richness decreases slightly across a gradient of fragment sizes, but shifts in moth community composition are more important, especially in the relative importance of herbaceous-plant-feeding species in large and small fragments. Species that appear to be most sensitive to timber management or habitat loss are dietary specialists as larvae, dispersal-limited as adults, or dependent on commercially valuable tree species such as oaks, Quercus L. (Fagaceae). Restored forest stands tend to converge in terms of lepidopteran species dominance and diversity among stands, suggesting that the long-term consequences of timber management or habitat loss include a significant reduction of regional β-diversity. Finally, future research on forest Lepidoptera should include an emphasis on understanding the role of urban woodland habitat in retaining viable and diverse moth communities and how the spatial pattern of timber harvest affects the relative magnitude of α- and β-diversity components within a given ecoregion.

The existence of a sex pheromone of Bradysia odoriphaga Yang and Zhang was investigated prior to the possible development of a semiochemical-based monitoring system or tools for controlling this pest. In laboratory bioassays, live virgin females stimulated 91% of males to attempt to mate. Methylene dichloride washes of whole bodies and excised ovipositors of females attracted males in olfactometer assays. These results indicate the presence of a female sex pheromone in B. odoriphaga, with the ovipositor as its possible source.

We investigated the impact of different fluorescent marking powders on both survivorship and daily body condition, measured as mass/volume ratio, using adult mountain pine beetles, Dendroctonus ponderosae Hopkins (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae), in a laboratory study. Initial condition of the marked beetle groups did not differ from that of an unmarked group. However, beetles in better initial condition survived longer, thus validating our condition index. The condition but not the survivorship of mountain pine beetles was affected by the marking treatment. Overall, the condition of beetles declined over time. The condition of marked beetles decreased at a higher rate than that of unmarked beetles while alive but at a lower rate after death. This pattern of decreasing condition suggests that marked beetles lost water faster than unmarked beetles while alive, so unmarked beetles had more water to lose after death. Because reduced condition may affect optimal dispersal behaviour, we suggest that these effects be routinely examined and minimized in mark-recapture studies.

The Tenebrionidae of the Maritime Provinces of Canada are surveyed. Forty-eight species have been reported from the region. Eleven of these species (ten Palearctic and one Nearctic) have been introduced to the region, five of which are apparently now extirpated. Dates of first detection of these species are provided for each province and North America. Thirteen species are newly recorded in New Brunswick, 25 in Nova Scotia, and 15 on Prince Edward Island, for a total of 53 new provincial records. Of these, 18 species including Bolitophagus corticola Say, Neatus tenebrioides (Palisot de Beauvois), Helops gracilis Bland, Blapstinus substriatus Champion, Hymenorus obesus Casey, Hymenorus picipennis Casey, Hymenorus pilosus (Melsheimer), Mycetochara bicolor (Couper), Mycetochara binotata (Say), Mycetochara fraterna (Say), Platydema excavatum (Say), Platydema teleops Triplehorn, Corticeus praetermissus (Fall), Alobates pennsylvanicus (DeGeer), Haplandrus fulvipes (Herbst), Xylopinus saperdioides (Olivier), an undescribed species of Paratenetus Spinola, and an undescribed species of Neatus LeConte are newly recorded for the Maritime Provinces as a whole. One of these, Helops gracilis, is recorded for the first time in Canada. The fauna is discussed from the perspective of the patterns of distribution of species in the region and their possible underlying causes. Island faunas are discussed, as is the saproxylic component of the fauna, with a brief consideration of the importance of this trophic group in the dynamics of forest ecosystems in the region.

Fourteen species of Carabidae are added to Prince Edward Island’s (P.E.I.) faunal list, bringing the known fauna to 167 species. Bembidion nitidum (Kirby) and Bembidion obtusum Audinet-Serville are newly recorded for the Maritime Provinces. Six species are removed from P.E.I.’s faunal list. The history of collecting of Carabidae on P.E.I. is briefly recounted. Despite differences in land area and distance from the mainland between P.E.I., Cape Breton Island, and insular Newfoundland, their carabid faunas exhibit many similarities in size and composition. The native carabid fauna of P.E.I. comprises 49% of the species in the combined Maritime Provinces fauna, perhaps reflecting an island-related diminution of species diversity. The proportion of flightless species on P.E.I. (4.9%) is less than that in the Maritime Provinces as a whole (7.1%), an apparent indication that the Northumberland Strait has been a barrier to colonization. Twenty-seven introduced species are found on P.E.I., 26 of which can be classified as synanthropic and may have originated in dry-ballast quarries in southwestern England. Although the earliest dates of detection of many introduced species on P.E.I. are substantially later than elsewhere in the Maritimes, this reflects the paucity of early collecting. Land-management practices on P.E.I. (large-scale and early forest clearances, intensive agriculture, and the extensive use of biocides) may have had an impact on P.E.I.’s carabid fauna.

Experiments were conducted under laboratory conditions to determine the influence of the relative sizes of predator and prey, temperature, presence of refugia, size of the search area, and host-plant species on the predation performance of Podisus maculiventris (Say) nymphs against viburnum leaf beetle, Pyrrhalta viburni (Paykull), a new landscape pest in North America that feeds on the foliage of species of Viburnum L. (Caprifoliaceae). Predator handling time was positively correlated with body mass of the prey for all instars of P. maculiventris, but the rate of increase of handling time relative to prey mass decreased as predator age increased. Temperature was positively correlated with predation rates, but the presence of refugia did not have an impact on predation. The influence of host-plant species and size of the search area was tested on southern arrowwood (Viburnum dentatum L.) and American cranberrybush (Viburnum opulus L. var. americanum Aiton). There was a significant interaction between plant species and size of the search area, the species effect becoming significant as leaf surface area increased. In the case of southern arrowwood a negative correlation between size of the search area and predation rate was also detected. The identification of these factors adds valuable knowledge for using P. maculiventris as a biological-control agent against P. viburni.