A new Miocene fossil crane fly is described and figured from a single male preserved in fine paper shale from Stewart Valley, Nevada. Tipula nevadensis, new species, is distinguished from other similar Tertiary crane flies in western North America.

A new species - Dictyon termitophilum from Korea - is described and illustrated. A key to the known species of Dictyon is provided.

This paper documents the predation of Centris muralis by Zaedyus pichiy. It presents the first detailed observations of the predation of solitary bee nests by a mammal in soils and reports the alternative use of soil mounds as a nesting site by Centris muralis.

Traps baited with sex pheromone lures for the noctuid moths Chrysodeixis chalcites (Esper) and Feltia jaculifera (Guenée) captured males of the confamilial moth Fishia yosemitae (Grote). These lures were a mixture of (Z)-7-dodecenyl acetate (Z7-12Ac) and (Z)-9-tetradecenyl acetate (Z9-14Ac). When these chemicals were tested as lures in traps, separately and together, F. yosemitae males were not captured in traps baited with Z7-12Ac alone, or Z-14Ac alone, but were consistently captured in traps baited with a one to one mixture of the two chemicals. In three field tests, male F. yosemitae were trapped in late September and early October. This moth is not an agricultural pest, but may be captured in traps used to detect or monitor several important armyworm, cutworm, and looper pests of agricultural crops, interfering with the monitoring of those pests.

The small stingless bee, Tetragonula fuscobalteata (Cameron), is widely distributed in Southeast Asia and is used in Thailand to supply honey and to enhance pollination of tropical fruits. A method of establishing colonies in hives without inbreeding is presented. Clusters of cocoons consisting of both workers and males are transferred to a new box, and a queen from another source colony is provided. Mating occurs in the box. Cocoons of workers and males are distinguishable by shape, and can therefore be transferred in the proportions desired. Details of provisioning of brood cells and of oviposition are presented; the egg laying involved one contraction of the queen's abdomen for a male-producing cell, two contractions for a worker cell. The duration of development (egg laying to adult) decreases with rise in temperature; 35 C or higher is destructive.

Tecoma stans (L.) Juss. ex Kunth (Bignoniaceae) is a ubiquitous showy plant species that occurs naturally throughout much of the tropics and is commonly used as an ornamental in urban landscapes. The natural distribution and abundance of this floral resource in northwestern Costa Rica presents the opportunity for a comparative study of urban bees across repeated samples and in multiple cities, filling an important data gap in urban bee ecology. Community composition and daily foraging patterns of bees visiting flowering urban T. stans resources were outlined and compared over a 21-month period from July 2007 to March 2009. A total of 27 species were identified as foragers, accounting for over 10% of the known diversity from nearby wildlands. These bees were in the families Apidae and Halictidae and represented diverse feeding and nesting habits, as well as social and solitary life histories. Centris eurypatana Snelling, Ancyloscelis sp. 1, and Nannotriogna perilampoides (Cresson) were the dominant species collected and accounted for nearly 75% of all records. Clear daily phenology was evident, with peak visitation occurring before 1300h. Common visitors can be sorted into early morning or full day foragers represented by Xylocopa and Halictus species, respectively. Community similarity and relative taxon dominance in each city appears to be related to the surrounding peri-urban landscapes, however further study is needed to verify this trend. The potential of T. stans to serve as an in-situ monitoring resource for urban bee communities is discussed as the natural distribution and attractiveness present opportunities across a broad geographic range.

The southern corn stalk borer [Diatraea crambidoides (Grote)] has become a serious pest to eastern gamagrass [Tripsacum dactyloides (L.) L.]. Managing this insect will be important to the future of this forage crop in the United States. An experiment was conducted to understand the life cycle of the southern corn stalk borer infesting eastern gamagrass. For a two year period, four plant crowns which contained numerous shoots were dug randomly each week from a field plot located in Woodward, OK. All shoots from each crown were dissected and the number of larvae and pupae present was recorded for each shoot type, i.e., reproductive or vegetative shoot. The life stages of the southern corn stalk borer in eastern gamagrass can be described by three distinct populations in northwestern Oklahoma: a) over-wintering, b) first generation, and c) second generation. Over-wintering larvae feed within a cavity near the base of the shoot or within the proaxis. Pupation occurred within the feeding cavity. Larvae occurred in reproductive shoots 2.5 times more often than in the vegetative shoots, which suggested an oviposition preference by adult females for reproductive shoots. The life cycle of the southern corn stalk borer in eastern gamagrass was completed in about 911 cumulated growing degree days. Understanding the life cycle of this insect devastating to eastern gamagrass forage and seed production will help formulate methods of control.

To screen the composite components of the plant volatiles that effectively attract Batocera horsfieldi (Hope) (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) adults, GC-MS (Gas Chromatography – Mass Spectrometry) was used to analyze and identify the type and relative content of the volatiles of the host plants of B. horsfieldi adults: Viburnum awabuki K., Betula luminifera H. Winkl, Juglans regia L. and Populus tomentosa Carr. We measured the EAG (Electroantennogram) responses of the different antennal segments of unmated female and male B. horsfieldi adults to seven host plant volatiles (β-myrcene, (Z)-3-hexen-1-ol, nonanal, dichloromethyl ether, salicyaldehyde, 3-methyl-butanoic acid and trichloroethylene) and to their composite components. A Y-tube olfactometer was used to test the insects' behavioral responses. The results of GC-MS showed that the four host plants of B. horsfieldi had different chemical fingerprints. The EAG test results showed that the responses in the apical part of the unmated female and male B. horsfieldi antennae were stronger than those in the middle part and basal part (P < 0.01). For the seven volatiles, with five different concentrations (of 0.0001, 0.001, 0.01, 0.1 and 0.2 µL/µL), the unmated female B. horsfieldi had the strongest EAG responses to 3-methylbutyric acid of 0.0001 µL/µL and the unmated female and male B. horsfieldi had increasing EAG responses to salicyaldehyde after the concentration reached 0.1 µL/µL. Among the five composite components of plant volatiles, the one mixed according to a ratio of (Z)-3-hexen-1-ol: nonanal: trichloroethylene: β-myrcene (Z∶N∶T∶M)  =  57∶15∶17∶11 caused the strongest EAG response, and that response was distinctly higher than for the other four composite components (P < 0.01). The behavioral response results tested by Y-tube olfactometer were in accordance with the EAG response results. The composite component mixed according to the ratio of Z∶N∶T∶M  =  57∶15∶17∶11 had a stronger attractive effect for the unmated female and male B. horsfieldi adults.