The parathalassine genera Thalassophorus Saigusa, Eothalassius Shamshev and Grootaert, and Chimerothalassius Shamshev and Grootaert are recorded from the New World for the first time. Thalassophorus arnaudi Brooks and Cumming sp. nov. is described from specimens collected at coastal localities in British Columbia, Oregon, and California, and represents the second known species in the genus, the type species being T. spinipennis Saigusa, known only from Rishiri Island in Hokkaido Prefecture, Japan. Detailed illustrations of the male genitalia of T. spinipennis are provided. Eothalassius borkenti Cumming and Brooks sp. nov. is described from specimens collected along the Pacific coast of Costa Rica, bringing the total number of described species of this former Southeast Asian genus to three, with one probable additional described species in the Mediterranean region. The genus Chimerothalassius, which was previously known from a single New Zealand species, is recorded from the island of Dominica, based on a female specimen plus a slide-mounted wing of an undescribed species. A new undescribed parathalassiine genus is also recorded from Chile, based on limited material of two undescribed species. A key to the six genera of Parathalassiinae in the New World, including Parathalassius Mik and Microphorella Becker, is given, as are some preliminary remarks on the limits and phylogenetic relationships of the parathalassiine genera.

The wheat stem sawfly, Cephus cinctus Norton (Hymenoptera: Cephidae), is historically one of the most important economic insect pests in the northern Great Plains of North America. Within this geographical region, the areas subjected to greatest attack are southern Alberta and Saskatchewan, southwestern Manitoba, eastern and northern Montana, North Dakota, northern South Dakota, and western Minnesota. Cumulative grain-yield losses and annual economic losses associated with this pest can exceed 30% and $350 million, respectively. Solid-stemmed cultivars of common wheat, Triticum aestivum L. (Poaceae), tolerant of infestation, are critical for C. cinctus management, but outbreaks of this pest continue to occur even after six decades of cultivar development. Furthermore, chemical control (a primary control option for other cereal (Poaceae) insect pests) has proven ineffective; this underscores the need to integrate resistant cultivars into a comprehensive integrated pest management program. We provide overviews of wheat stem sawfly biology, recent advances in applied research, the efficacy and integration of cultural and biological management strategies, and future directions for global research activities to manage wheat stem sawfly.

A taxonomic study of Megarthrus Curtis in Korea is presented. The genus is represented in Korea by 10 species including M. coreanus Kim and Cuccodoro sp. nov.Megarthrus corticalis Sharp, M. fennicus Lahtinen, M. incubifer Cuccodoro, M. japonicus Sharp, M. montanus Sawada, M. sawadai Cuccodoro, and M. zerchei Cuccodoro and Löbl are reported from Korea for the first time. A diagnosis of the genus and a key to the Korean species are provided. The new species is diagnosed, described, and illustrated and the other species are diagnosed and illustrated. Species distributions are presented, and the effect of these Korean findings on the level of endemism of the Megarthrus fauna of Japan and Far East Russia is discussed.

The history of Diptera research at the Canadian National Collection of Insects is briefly outlined. Short biographic sketches of the coordinators of the Manual of Nearctic Diptera are given and the development of the Manual project is presented to provide background on their achievements. Lists of publications by each of the coordinators and of patronyms honouring them are provided. This Festschrift honours the remarkable contributions of the coordinators, J. Frank McAlpine, Bobbie V. Peterson, Guy E. Shewell, Herbert J. Teskey, J. Richard Vockeroth, and D. Monty Wood.

Coneworms, Dioryctria Zeller (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae), are destructive pests of conifers across North America, and members of several different species groups present significant pest-management challenges in conifer seed orchards. Dioryctria abietivorella Grote (abietella group) is the most pestiferous Dioryctria species in Canada. Despite this status, control tactics are currently limited to broad-spectrum pesticides that threaten non-target species and may result in pesticide resistance. The development of integrated pest management programs targeting Dioryctria species will benefit from a conceptual framework on which to base future research. To create this structure, we review the systematics, evolutionary ecology, and management of cone-feeding North American Dioryctria species. Current research suggests that many species boundaries are in need of further revision. Major gaps in our understanding of Dioryctria ecology impede the development of integrated pest management tactics. For example, host-generated semiochemicals are important in Dioryctria reproduction, although the uses of these cues in host-finding and host acceptance remain unknown. Future research should identify factors that mediate population distribution at landscape (e.g., migration), local (e.g., feeding stimulants), and temporal (e.g., development thresholds) scales.

We report the presence and effects of parasitoid larvae (Hymenoptera) in the carabid beetle Poecilus versicolor (Sturm). Dissection of one female and one male live host found 33 and 25 hymenopteran larvae, respectively. Although eggs were absent in the female host, likely because of consumption by parasitoids, distinct corpora lutea (present in parous females) were observed. In the male host, reproductive organs were undamaged. These observations suggest incomplete “parasitic castration” of the host beetle by the parasitoids. Parasitism rates in specimens from three localities were markedly low (0%–3.2%). At one locality, only one male and three female beetles containing parasitoids were found; those individuals each contained 9–27 larvae (mean 19.3). These results suggest that hymenopterous parasitoids in adult P. versicolor have little effect on the population dynamics of this beetle. The parasitoid larvae included two morphological types belonging to at least two taxa. Mitochondrial DNA analyses suggested that one of the types represented two species of Microctonus Wesmael (Braconidae: Euphorinae). The result of the genus-level identification, however, requires confirmation because the analyzed data set did not cover all braconid genera.

Aphids of the genus Tuberculatus Mordvilko feed on Fagaceae trees and exhibit various interactions with ants, ranging from non-attendance to intermediate or close associations. Despite possession of fully developed wings, two ant-attended species, Tuberculatus quercicola (Matsumura) and Tuberculatus sp. A, exhibited extremely low dispersal. I examined the correlation between wing loading (ratio of body volume to wing area) and ant associations in 20 species of Tuberculatus. Based on a 1317 bp sequence in two mitochondrial regions, cytochrome oxidase I (COI) and NADH dehydrogenase subunit 1 (ND1), phylogenetic trees were reconstructed by neighbor-joining (NJ), most parsimony (MP), maximum likelihood (ML), and Bayesian analyses. All phylogenetic trees showed that mutualistic interactions with ants have evolved in Tuberculatus at least five times. Comparative analyses based on the NJ, MP, and ML trees showed that increase in wing loading is correlated with ant associations, suggesting that ant-attended aphids have allocated more resources to their bodies than to their wings, resulting in lowered dispersal.

Scanning electron microscopy on the ultrastructure of scales on the forewings and labial palpi suggests species-diagnostic differences among six sibling species of the genus Ostrinia Hübner. Among four species with small mid-tibiae, O. furnacalis (Guenée) and O. nubilalis (Hübner) show similar ultrastructure of the distal forewing scales, which is distinctly different from that of O. orientalis Mutuura and Munroe and O. dorsivittata (Moore). The diameter of windows between longitudinal ridges and cross ribs of forewing scales in O. dorsivittata is the largest among examined species, and clearly different from that in the other three small mid-tibiae species. Scales of the labial palpi of O. orientalis have indistinct vestigial windows; windows of O. nubilalis are more numerous and larger than in the other three small mid-tibiae species. Among two species with massive mid-tibiae, window diameter of forewing scales is larger in O. zealis (Guenée) than in O. scapulalis (Walker). Moreover, the number and diameter of windows in scales of the labial palpi differs between these two species. In addition to other known morphological differences, these ultrastructural differences provide further evidence that closely related Ostrinia species are distinct.

Study of specimens of Merodon Meigen collected in southwestern Europe resulted in new data and taxonomic changes for this genus. The cryptic species Merodon confusussp. nov. (Merodon equestris species group) is described based on specimens collected in Cabañeros National Park, central Spain. Morphological and molecular diagnostic characters are provided to separate members of the species group. Merodon aeneus fulvus Gil Collado is proposed as a junior synonym of Merodon pumilus Macquart. The first Iberian record of Merodon rufus Meigen is reported and updates of the revision of Iberian Merodon are provided.

The woodwasp Sirex noctilio F. is invading North American forests, where it will interact with a large guild of pine-inhabiting beetles and their associated fungi. The woodwasp's obligate fungal symbiont, Amylostereum areolatum (Fries) Boidin (Stereaceae), plays an essential role in the wasp's larval development but is expected to be a poor competitor in the presence of fungi vectored by co-occurring insects. We examined the outcomes of competitive interactions between A. areolatum and two fungal species vectored by bark beetles, Leptographium wingfieldii Morelet (Ophiostomataceae) and Ophiostoma minus (Hedgcock) H. and P. Sydow (Ophiostomataceae), and the effect of temperature and substrate on these interactions. Beetle-associated fungi were usually able to capture more uncolonized resource than A. areolatum regardless of substrate or temperature. Amylostereum areolatum was able to colonize relatively more space in some cases but could not gain substrate already colonized by the ophiostomatoid competitor. These findings suggest that competitive interactions between beetle-vectored fungal species and A. areolatum could influence the reproductive fitness and distribution of S. noctilio within individual trees and also across a wide geographic area.

Efferia okanagana sp. nov. is described from specimens collected in the grasslands of the southern Interior of British Columbia, Canada, mainly the Okanagan Valley. The male and female genitalia are described and illustrated. The existing key to species of Efferia Coquillett is modified to enable identification of male and female E. okanagana. The species belongs to the E. arida species group and perhaps is most closely related to E. arida (Williston) and E. pinali Wilcox. Efferia coulei Wilcox is the closest sympatric relative. Sequences of the cytochrome oxidase I gene (DNA barcode) for E. okanagana and E. coulei show distinct clusters for each species that are approximately 7.0% divergent (uncorrected p distance). Efferia okanagana has an early flight period (May and June) and lives in low-elevation grasslands dominated by bluebunch wheatgrass (Pseudoroegneria spicata (Pursh) Á. Löve) (Poaceae), especially where the soil is gravelly. It is considered a potential species at risk by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada.

We present evidence favoring the use of (E)-pityol as an aggregation pheromone in Pityophthorus pubescens (Marsham). (E)-Pityol was detected in effluvia of male and female P. pubescens, and antennae of both sexes responded to (E)-(+)-pityol in electroantennogram assays. In two-choice olfactometer tests, males significantly preferred (E)-(+)-pityol and (E)-(±)-pityol to blank controls at doses of 1, 10, and 100ng, whereas females only showed a preference for (E)-pityol at the 1ng dose.

The unusual new Neotropical genus Exalla is described and illustrated, along with three new species, E. browni, E. macalpinei, and E. shewelli. A key to the species is provided. The species are known from wet montane rainforest habitats in Colombia and Ecuador at elevations above 1500m.

A new genus and species of microphysid bug is described and illustrated from two individuals preserved in Late Cretaceous (Campanian) amber from Alberta, Canada. Popovophysa entzmingerigen. et sp. nov. is distinguished from its fossil and modern counterparts. The new species has attributes of the two currently recognized subfamilies Ciorullinae and Microphysinae, suggesting that those taxa may not be distinct and are in need of cladistic analysis.

Hodostates Foerster is revised, representing the first comprehensive comparison of Nearctic and European species. Three species are recognized as valid, and the Nearctic Hodostates rotundatus (Davis) is recorded from Canada for the first time. Hodostates schaffneri Hinz is transferred to Lethades Davis, based largely on ovipositor morphology, and is redescribed. Placement in the tribe Pionini is discussed, given the presence of a deep subapical notch in the ovipositor of both New and Old World species of Hodostates. Host records for Hodostates are reviewed.

We identified species of mites phoretically associated with mountain pine beetle, Dendroctonus ponderosae Hopkins (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae), collected from bolts of lodgepole pine, Pinus contorta Douglas ex Louden (Pinaceae), and pheromone-baited traps in northwestern Alberta, Canada. Mite load and species composition were compared between beetle sexes and with beetle emergence time and estimated body size. The vast majority of mites associated with D. ponderosae in Alberta belonged to three species: Proctolaelaps subcorticalis Lindquist (Acari: Mesostigmata: Melicharidae), Histiogaster arborsignis Woodring (Acari: Astigmatina: Acaridae), and Tarsonemus ips Lindquist (Acari: Prostigmata: Tarsonemidae). There was no difference in mite loads on male and female beetles recovered from bolts in the laboratory and those from pheromone-baited traps in the field. More mites were found on larger beetles in the laboratory, but only T. ips showed this pattern on field-trapped beetles. There was no relationship between total mite load or load by mite species and beetle emergence time in the laboratory, but total mite load on field-trapped beetles decreased over the collecting season (10 June – 3 September 2009) at five collection locations (Grovedale, Blueberry Mountain, Hythe, Evergreen Park, and Glenleslie). This study is the first to document the assemblage of phoretic mites on D. ponderosae in Alberta and will help to direct future research on their interactions.

We examined rates of late-season parasitism of larvae of the wheat stem sawfly, Cephus cinctus Norton (Hymenoptera: Cephidae), by native species of Bracon F. (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) over 8 years in Montana and North Dakota, United States of America. We found that rates of parasitism of larvae in diapause chambers reached a maximum of 46%, exceeding the previously reported maximum of 2.5% in 75% of sites and years examined. In contrast to previous work, our results demonstrate that C. cinctus larvae are suitable hosts for braconid parasitoids, even after the formation of diapause chambers, and suggest that parasitism rates may be underestimated if stems are sampled prior to harvest.

The apple clearwing moth, Synanthedon myopaeformis (Borkhausen) (Lepidoptera: Sesiidae), is a European species discovered in Cawston, British Columbia, Canada, in 2005. Using coupled gas chromatographic – electroantennographic detection analyses we identified candidate sex pheromone components in pheromone gland extracts and effluvia from calling females. Analysis of gland extracts using four gas-chromatography (GC) columns (DB-5, DB-17, DB-23, and DB-210) showed three components (A, B, and C) that consistently elicited strong responses from male antennae. Based on previous work, the most antennally stimulatory component, B, was hypothesized to be (3Z,13Z)-octadecadienyl acetate ((3Z,13Z)-18:OAc). Its retention time on the four GC columns and its mass spectrum in a concentrated extract matched those of an authentic standard, thus confirming structural assignment. Components A and C were below the detection threshold of the mass spectrometer, but their retention times on the four GC columns matched those of authentic standards of (3Z,13Z)-octadecadienol ((3Z,13Z)-18:OH) and (2E,13Z)-octadecadienyl acetate ((2E,13Z)-18:OAc), respectively. Synthetic (3Z,13Z)-18:OAc, (3Z,13Z)-18:OH, and (2E,13Z)-18:OAc all elicited strong responses from male antennae, further supporting structural assignments of these three components. Of these antennally active compounds, only (3Z,13Z)-18:OAc and (3Z,13Z)-18:OH were detected in effluvia from calling female moths. In field trapping tests in Cawston, (3Z,13Z)-18:OAc alone was as attractive as, or more attractive than, binary or ternary blends containing this component. (2E,13Z)-18:OAc was behaviourally inactive alone or in combination with (3Z,13Z)-18:OAc, whereas 5% (3Z,13Z)-18:OH appeared antagonistic. Our analysis confirms that (3Z,13Z)-18:OAc is the major pheromone component in S. myopaeformis, and it alone is sufficiently attractive for use in detection surveys and development of pheromone-based controls for this introduced pest in Canada.

We examined the role of chemical signals in sex attraction of pear psylla, Cacopsylla pyricola (Förster), assessing the response of summerform male and female psyllids to male- and female-produced volatile chemicals. Male psyllids were attracted to odors from live females and pentane extracts of females. Extracts of females were as attractive to males as live females, suggesting that the female-produced volatile chemicals responsible for male attraction might be isolated by extracting females with pentane. Females were not attracted to odorants from live females and tended to avoid odorants from extracts of females. Furthermore, summerform males and females were not attracted or repelled by male-produced odorants from live males or extracts of males. Results of olfactometer assays using male summerform C. pyricola are consistent with results from earlier studies with the winterform morphotype of this species.

Although human-modified landscapes are characterized by the loss of natural habitats, new habitats also can be created and exploited by many species. The importance of landscape change to invertebrate associations (particularly host-parasite associations) is understudied. Our objective was to determine whether prevalence and intensity of gregarine parasitism in the damselfly Ischnura verticalis (Say) (Odonata: Coenagrionidae) differed between 17 artificial and 7 natural wetlands in landscapes that varied in amount of forest and wetland cover and road density determined at spatial extents of 500m and 1km from each wetland. Wetlands were located in and around Ottawa, Ontario, and Gatineau, Quebec, Canada. Wetland type did not account for significant variation in principal components based on forest and wetland cover and road density at either spatial extent. Gregarine prevalence was higher in damselflies collected from natural wetlands than in those collected from artificial wetlands and was positively associated with increasing forest cover. In contrast, gregarine intensity was inversely related to road density. Our results suggest that parasitism of damselflies by gregarines is associated with wetland type and landscape characteristics, although the mechanisms producing such relationships are unknown.