The genus Calotelea Westwood of the Nearctic region is revised. Ten species are recognized, all of them new to science, viz.: C. anthracina ♀ ♂ (New Mexico), C. atra ♀ ♂ (Florida), C. aurulenta ♀ (Texas, North Carolina), C. bicolor ♀ ♂ (Virginia), C. cincta ♂ (New Mexico), C. flava ♀ (Florida, North Carolina, Texas), C. lutea ♀ (Virginia), C. mellea ♀ ♂ (Georgia), C. nebulosa ♀ (Georgia, South Carolina), and C. pulla ♀ (Florida). The taxonomic concept of Calotelea is reviewed. The taxonomic position of the 10 Nearctic species is discussed and the keys to females and males given.

Recent developments in ecological theory pertaining to the coexistence of insect species in response to forest disturbance are reviewed, and the findings are applied to the requirements for the Biological Survey of the Insects of Canada. It is important that a data collection system have a sound theoretical base, otherwise it will probably be found inadequate for the purpose for which it was designed. Questions about changes in faunal assemblages should be related to the scale of disturbance relative to the replacement time of the forest. Recommendations for research on faunal assemblage disturbance relationships are made for the Forest Insect and Disease Survey of Canada, and for the northern boreal forest.

Twenty-six species of grasshoppers were collected from 50 sweep-net samples taken annually in mid-August over the period 1928–1944 on mixed prairie at Manyberries, Alta. Three species, Melanoplus infantilis Scudder, Melanoplus sanguinipes (Fabr.), and Melanoplus packardii Scudder, comprised 79% of the 3041 specimens collected. Published data on the phenologies of the species, their feeding preferences, the forage value of their diets, their habitat preferences, and cases of damage to rangeland were used to assess the potential for economic damage of 17 of the more abundant species. Only two of these species, Melanoplus femur-rubrum femur-rubrum (De Geer) and Melanoplus dawsoni (Scudder), could be regarded as innocuous. The others have the potential to cause economic damage should they become numerous. An additional species, Aerochoreutes carlinianus carlinianus (Thomas), was added to the potentially harmful list because of its reported feeding preferences.

Populations of the spotted tentiform leafminer, Phyllonorycter blancardella (Fabr.), from sprayed orchards across southern Ontario were found highly resistant (about 160-fold at LC50) to azinphosmethyl. Cross resistance to phosmet and partial cross resistance to diazinon were also indicated. All populations were highly susceptible to several synthetic pyrethroid insecticides. Resistant populations were controlled with pyrethroid insecticides applied when eggs were first found or by methomyl applied at about 50% hatch.

A chemical mixture highly attractive to males of western pine shoot borer, Eucosma sonomana Kearfott, were dispensed from manually applied polyvinyl chloride releasers on 15 ha of ponderosa pine plantations during spring 1978 near Bly, Oregon. Mating disruption treatments, replicated 4 times, were 3.5 g/ha from 100 releasers/ha spaced at 10 m, and 14 g/ha from 400 releasers/ha spaced at 5 m. Both were equally effective; the number of damaged terminal shoots was reduced 83.0% with the low dosage and 84.2% with the high dosage.

Egg masses and eggs of Sialis hasta, S. iola, S. joppa, S. infumata, S. aequalis, S. vagans, S. glabella, S. mohri, S. velata, and S. itasca are described using SEM micrographs. Diagnostic characteristics of chorion surface and micropylar structure and a key for specific determination of eggs of these 10 species are given. Oviposition is confined to leaves and twigs near or overhanging water. Eggs are oriented either vertically or horizontally in the egg mass, and hatch in 5 to 10 days in the laboratory. Hatching larvae are aided by an egg burster which tears the chorion and aids in removing the embryonic envelope.

The alate virginopara of Gharesia polunini Stroyan is described from Carex mertensii Prescott in British Columbia. Morphological variation in the apterous morph is discussed. The taxonomic status of the genus Gharesia Stroyan is considered.

The relationship between bark beetle infestation of ponderosa pine and severity of infection by Ceratocystis wageneri was investigated by closely monitoring 256 trees (136 apparently healthy, 60 moderately diseased, and 60 severely diseased at initiation of study) for beetle infestation from summer 1972 to fall 1975. Disease ratings were updated by periodic examination, and some trees changed disease category during the study. Ninety trees were infested by Dendroctonus brevicomis, D. ponderosae, or both, five by buprestids alone, and one tree died from effects of the pathogen alone. Sixty-two of the beetle-infested trees were severely diseased at time of infestation, 25 were moderately diseased, and only three were apparently healthy. Thus, the results showed that bark beetles were much more likely to infest infected than healthy trees. Among diseased trees, those with advanced infections were most likely to be infested. There was evidence that buprestids (especially Melanophila spp.) and possibly Ips spp. attacked diseased trees prior to Dendroctonus spp. infestation.

A re-investigation of the taxonomic status of Bombus franklini (Frison) is described. Comb architecture was found to be characteristic of other taxa within its subgenus (Bombus s.s.) but multivariate analysis of wing venation data taken from queens gave a clear separation of franklini from other species within the subgenus. The male genitalia of franklini are markedly distinct from those of B. occidentalis Green. The authors advocate retention of specific status for franklini.

Direct contact toxicity data were obtained with selected insecticides on 24–48 h old adults of insecticide-susceptible onion maggot, Hylemya antiqua (Meigen), cabbage maggot, H. brassicae (Bouché), and seedcorn maggot, H. platura (Meigen); and on third-stage darksided cutworm, Euxoa messoria (Harris). All insecticides were highly toxic to onion maggot flies, with the order of toxicity being: cypermethrin > chlorpyrifos > fenvalerate > permethrin > parathion > isofenphos > terbufos. Chlorfenvinphos was 1.4 × more toxic to cabbage maggot adults than parathion; the pyrethroids were less toxic, with fenvalerate being 1/13 as toxic as parathion. The order of toxicity of insecticides tested on seedcorn maggot flies was: diazinon > cypermethrin > chlorpyrifos > fenvalerate > permethrin. With the darksided cutworm, DDT and leptophos were 1/10 and 3/4 as toxic as chlorpyrifos, while cypermethrin, fenvalerate, permethrin, and decamethrin were ca. 10, 11, 12, and 120 × more toxic, respectively.

The genus Acerotella of the Nearctic region is studied. Six species are recognized, all new to science: A. acerina ♀ ♂ (Canada, U.S.A.), A. aceris ♀ ♂ (Canada), A. depressa ♀ (U.S.A.), A. gouleti ♀ ♂ (U.S.A.), A. nearctica ♀ ♂ (Canada, U.S.A.), and A. vockerothi ♀ (Canada). The generic diagnosis of Acerotella and key to Nearctic species are given. The higher classification, species-groups, and world distribution of Acerotella species are discussed.

Three new species of Miridae described are: Coquillettia albertae from Alberta, Megalopsallus femoralis from Alberta and Saskatchewan, and Deraeocoris rubripes from Manitoba. Tytthus pygmaeus (Zett.) is now known to be Holarctic in distribution. Adults are illustrated.

Male Ips paraconfusus selected a host, ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa), over a non-host, white fir (Abies concolor), only after the beetles had bored through the outer bark and into the phloem. Males, when given a choice between bark discs of these tree species in petri dishes, bored readily through the outer bark of either species. However, the beetles penetrated no more than 1 mm into the phloem of white fir, but they bored extensively in the phloem of ponderosa pine. The beetle’s preference for the pine over fir phloem was apparent with intact samples of phloem with the outer bark removed and with ground phloem. No preferences were apparent for the ground or intact pine or fir outer bark, with the phloem removed. The beetles bored preferentially in fissured as opposed to smooth outer bark of either tree. Beetles did not feed in the outer bark but did feed in the phloem of either species. In field experiments beetles attracted to logs of pine and fir bored through the outer bark of each species in nearly equal numbers. In white fir they re-emerged and departed soon after penetration of the phloem, whereas in ponderosa pine they continued excavation of tunnels in the phloem. In contrast, few beetles penetrated even the outer back of incense cedar (Calocedrus decurrens), another non-host species.

Chironomid fossil assemblages in sediment cores collected from the Bay of Quinte, Lake Ontario, were examined to assess the impact of cultural development on the aquatic environment and to estimate, semi-quantitatively, the relative importance of the various impact processes influencing the chironomid communities. The impact of the six cultures defined in the core—the British–Modern, French, Iroquois, Algonkian, Hopewell, and pre-Hopewell periods—was exerted through eutrophication, sedimentation, and contamination processes. Although the chironomid communities in general followed the accepted theories of faunal response to eutrophication, the impact of sedimentation compounded and at times overshadowed the impact of eutrophication. The chironomid community, which responded to initial European colonization by developing a more eutrophic fauna parallel with increased productivity in the bay, reverted to a more oligotrophic fauna when large scale deforestation of the watershed introduced massive amounts of clay sediments into the bay. The resulting unstable bottom conditions and dilution and/or burial of food materials led to an imbalanced oligotrophic fauna characterized by Micropsectra. This fauna was maintained until the high rates of mineral sediment accumulation declined and the effects of eutrophication became manifest. The transition from the imbalanced oligotrophic fauna to the depleted Chironomus/Procladius fauna tolerant of the present-day eutrophic conditions was so rapid that the intervening mesotrophic Phaenopsectra community was unable to develop fully. The recent increased incidence of deformed larvae implicates industrial and/or agricultural contamination in the continued degradation of the Bay of Quinte fauna.

Primitive cultures similarly had measurable effects on the chironomid communities. The “more eutrophic” fauna engendered by the Hopewell culture was not inhibited by the accompanying accumulation of fine sediments as in the European periods and only reverted to a more oligotrophic fauna when reduced populations brought decreased productivity during the Algonkian and early Iroquois stages.

The chemical composition of plants is one of the major factors influencing their acceptability as food by insects. The interrelationships among these chemicals and between them and insect predators is very complex (Davis 1968). Some are inherently toxic to insects (Singleton and Kratzer 1969); others inhibit feeding (Hsiao and Fraenkel 1968); and still others act both as toxicants and as repellents (Bennett 1965). Apparently, no class of chemical compound is without representation in this regard.

Field observations of Rhagoletis pomonella (Walsh) adults on apple and hawthorn trees revealed that mating encounters occur on leaves in early-season and shift to fruit with the onset of oviposition. Most matings on leaves are initiated from a male frontal approach to the female and most of those on fruit from a rear approach while the female is engaged in some phase of oviposition behavior. This suggests that matings on fruit may be forced matings with unreceptive females.

The chorionic architecture, including the general and fine structure, of the eggshell of the microtype egg of the tachinid Euexorista futilis (Osten Sacken) is described. It is about 220 μm long, flattened dorso-ventrally, and has distinct dorsal and ventral chorions, each of which is differently structured. The surface features of the microtype eggs of an additional 20 tachinid species are described, and the usefulness of these features in taxonomic decisions is discussed. Three new combinations are used: Allophorocera arator (Aldrich), Cyzenis browni (Curran), and Eufrontina mitis (Curran).

Observations, measurements, dissections, and histological preparations were made daily of the eggs and larvae of Bathyplectes anurus (Thomson) while in their host, Hypera postica (Gyllenhal) (Coleoptera: Curculionidae). Observation of development began 24 h after oviposition and ended when parasite larvae emerged from their hosts.

Parasite eggs doubled in length and width during their 3- to 4-day incubation period. Parasite larvae fed on hemolymph initially but later instars preferred the fat body and other tissues. B. anurus has five instars. From 18 to 21 days were required for the larvae to complete development and total development time was 21–25 days at 21 ± 1 °C.

The Colorado potato beetle, Leptinotarsa decemlineata (Say), is distributed throughout the world and is an occasional pest of potatoes in Atlantic Canada. During the course of rearing Colorado potato beetles for behavioral studies at the Fredericton Research Station I obtained a strain of beetles which differs from the normal brown morph in being predominantly white. Similar coloring occurs in larvae and pupae and in young female and male adults. The eggs are light yellow instead of the usual orange-yellow. Such an albinic mutant has been previously reported in the United States by Tower (1906) and named L. pallida. Tower found the white mutant to be true-breeding and widely distributed, occurring both in nature and in laboratory colonies. Such a mutant has not been reported since and this is the first record of a white morph in Canada.

The Nearctic Idiocerini exclusive of the fauna of the Sonoran subregion are reviewed. The 68 recognized species are assigned to three genera: Idiocerus Lewis, Rhytidodus Fieber, and Balcanocerus Maldonado-Capriles. Three subgenera of Idiocerus are recognized, including I. (Liocratus) Dub. and I. (Populicerus) Dlab. (n. stat). Sahlbergotettix Zvk., 1953, Viridicerus Dlab., 1974, Tremulicerus Dlab., 1974, and Acericerus Dlab., 1974 are synonymized with Idiocerus Lewis, 1834.

Sixteen new species of Idiocerus are described: aureus, carolina, cedrus, freytagi, gillettei, immaculatus, inebrius, iodes, lucidae, midas, pericallis, taiga, unicolor, vanduzeei, venosus, and xanthiops. I. varions n. n. is created for varias DeLong & Hershberger, 1947 (nec Germar, 1818). I. lunaris Ball (n. stat.), I. obsoletus (Wlk.) (n. stat.), and I. raphus Freytag (n. stat.) are recognized as valid species for the first time. Twelve other species are removed from synonymy. I. verrucosus Ball is placed as a subspecies of I. musteus Ball (n. stat.). Five new synonymies are created: alnirubratus Bliven, 1955 = I. couleanus Ball & Pkr., 1946; nigrens DeL. & Cld., 1937 = I. distinctus Gill & Bak., 1895; duzeei Prov., 1890 and vagus Ball, 1902 = obsoletus Walker, 1851; and apertus DeL & Hbr., 1947 = I. verticis (Say), 1831.

Additional characters of the male antennae, male abdominal apodemes, and female ovipositor are described and illustrated. The phylogeny and hosts of the members of Idiocerus are discussed. Keys are provided to the genera of the Nearctic Idiocerini, and to the species of Idiocerus of the Nearctic region, exclusive of the Sonoran subregion, for both sexes.