The oleander aphid, Aphis nerii Boyer de Fonscolombe, feeds on members of the Apocynaceae family. In Kentucky, A. nerii colonizes several Asclepias species and Cynanchum laeve. The prevalence of milkweeds and A. nerii in Kentucky ecosystems allow natural enemies, including the primary parasitoid Lysiphlebus testaceipes, to utilize this aphid as a resource. The efficacy of L. testaceipes when utilizing A. nerii reared on different host plant species was studied in the field and in the laboratory. In the laboratory, the time until first host contact and the number of ovipositional attempts by L. testaceipes did not vary among aphids from different host plant species. However significantly more aphids were mummified and more parasitoids successfully emerged from aphids on C. laeve than from aphids on tested Asclepias species. The successful emergence rates of L. testaceipes from A. nerii colonizing four species of milkweed were also determined in a naturally infested field plot. While no significant differences were detected in 2009, significantly more L. testaceipes emerged in 2010 from A. nerii mummies collected from C. laeve than from mummies on A. syriaca and A. incarnata with numbers emerging from mummies on A. tuberosa being indistinguishable from those on C. laeve or A. syriaca. Five hyperparasitoid species were also recovered from A. nerii mummies over a two year period. A comparison of hyperparasitoid emergence among A. nerii mummies collected from four species of milkweed found that with the exception of one species during 2009, emergence rates did not differ significantly among aphid host plants. Our results suggest that parasitoid development may be affected by aphid host plant and that adverse effects of A. nerii on L. testaceipes are less severe when aphids develop on C. laeve compared to tested Asclepias species.

The new genus Hirsutapona is described and compared to the similar genus Hecalapona. The new genus contains H. aspira (DeLong and Freytag), new combination, type species and H. titula (DeLong and Freytag), new combination, previously included in Hecalapona (Carapona), and the following 19 new species, H. breviata, H. godoyae, H. hansoni, H. inflata, H. labella, H. lata, H. limba, H. mera and H. meta from Costa Rica; H. angula, H. delicata, H. granda, and H. prona from French Guiana; H. minuta from French Guiana and Suriname: H. myersi and H. munda from Ecuador; H. dietzi and H. metana from Venezuela; and H. mediata from Brazil.

The Leptosaldinae (Leptopodomorpha: Leptopodidae) are considered an isolated subfamily, possibly the sister group to the remaining species of the bug family Leptopodidae. Until now the subfamily consisted of two species: Leptosalda chiapensis Cobben, in Miocene amber from Chiapas, Mexico; and Saldolepta kistnerorum Schuh and Polhemus, a Recent species from Ecuador and Colombia. The new species, Leptosalda dominicana Grimaldi and Engel and L. niarchos Grimaldi and Engel are described from Miocene amber of the Dominican Republic (a third species is recorded but undescribed since it is based on a very fragmentary specimen). Archaesalepta Grimaldi and Engel, new genus, is described for A. schuhi Grimaldi and Engel, new species, preserved in Early Eocene Cambay amber from western India, and which appears to be a sister group to the New World leptosaldines. Unexpected discovery of a leptosaldine from the Old World greatly expands the known distribution and emphasizes the perils of biogeographic scenarios in the absence of fossil data. Archaesalepta schuhi reveals that leptosaldines were once more widespread and that their present-day distribution is relict.

A new fossil stephanid wasp (Stephanidae, or so called ‘crown wasps’) is described and figured from mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber. Kronostephanus zigrasi Engel and Grimaldi, new genus and species, is the oldest stephanid currently known in amber, and only the second amber specimen documented from the Mesozoic. Like Archaeostephanus corae Engel and Grimaldi (Turonian, New Jersey), the Burmese species belongs to the basal subfamily Schlettereriinae. The implications of this new taxon are elaborated and comments are provided regarding the age of the clade as well as the Hymenoptera as a whole.

The Meropeidae consists of only three rare, highly disjunct Recent species, Merope tuber Newman from eastern North America, Austromerope poultoni Killington from Western Australia, and the recently discovered A. brasiliensis Machado, Kawada, and Rafael from southeastern Brazil. A new genus and new species of meropeid scorpionfly, Burmomerope eureka Grimaldi and Engel, is described in 99 myo amber (mid-Cretaceous: Aptian/Cenomanian-aged) from northern Myanmar. It is one of only two fossils known for the family, the other (Boreomerope Novokshonov: mid-Jurassic of Siberia) known only as a compression fossil wing. Burmomerope shares with the three living species several distinctive, derived features of the antenna, wing, as well as the uniquely large, forcipate male terminalia. Burmomerope plesiomorphically possesses fewer crossveins (though this may be related to its small size), and possibly ocelli; its robust rostrum may be either plesiomorphic or apomorphic. Burmomerope appears to be a stem-group meropeid probably more closely related to the living species than is Boreomerope. The mid-Triassic fossil species Sinothauma ladinica Hong and Zhu is removed from Meropeidae and considered to be a dictyopteran.

The diversity of bethylid wasps from Early Cretaceous (Albian) amber from Moraza (Álava amber, Spain) is presented. A total of eight specimens have been recorded from this outcrop and are assigned to the following taxa: Lancepyris alavaensis, new species; Liztor pilosus, new genus and species; and Cretepyris martini, new genus and species. Together this brings the total known fossil species of Bethylidae to 48. Unsurprisingly, given the antiquity of the taxa involved, placement in a living subfamily is difficult, especially for Cretepyris. The initial decision for its placement was doubtful between Bethylinae, for its more complete venation, and Epyrinae for the lack of clypeal mid-longitudinal carina or insertion, lack of propodeal anterior constriction, and lack of posterolateral spines (highlighting the doubts about the validity of Epyrinae as currently defined). However, the fossil subfamily Lancepyrinae was recently described from Lebanese amber, and the specimens from Spanish amber match almost perfectly that group, albeit mostly on plesiomorphies, suggesting that erection of this subfamily may have limited value.

Se presenta la diversidad de avispas betílidas en ámbar del Cretácico Inferior (Albiense) de Moraza (Ámbar de Álava, España). Se han registrado un total de ocho especímenes en éste yacimiento y se asignan a los siguientes taxones: Lancepyris alavaensis, nueva especie; Liztor pilosus, nuevos género y especie; y Cretepyris martini, nuevos género y especie. Esto eleva a 48 el total de especies fósiles conocidas de betílidos. No sorprende, dada la antigüedad de los taxones que se tratan, que su asignación a una familia actual sea complicada, especialmente para Cretepyris. Inicialmente, la decisión para su asignación fue muy dudosa entre Bethylinae, por su venación más completa, y Epyrinae por la ausencia de inserción o carena longitudinal-media del clípeo, ausencia de constricción propodeal anterior, y ausencia de espinas postero-laterales (resaltando las dudas sobre la validez de Epyrinae tal como se define hoy en día). Por otra parte, la subfamilia fósil Lancepyrinae fue descrita recientemente en el ámbar libanés, y los especímenes del ámbar español encajan casi perfectamente en ese grupo, aunque mayormente en plesiomorfías, sugiriendo que el erguimiento de esta subfamilia puede tener un valor limitado.

Three species in the genus Stactobia are previously known from China, Stactobia salmakis Malicky & Chantaramongkol, 2007, from Zhejiang, S. parva Wells & Dudgeon, 1990, from Hong Kong, and S. semele Malicky & Chantaramongkol, 2007, from Taiwan. Examination of materials collected from Jiangxi and Sichuan Provinces in the southern part of China has revealed 4 new species of Stactobia, bringing the number of Chinese Stactobia species to 7. Newly described species include S. forcipata, new species, S. rhombica, new species, S. leptoclada new species, and S. spicifera, new species. Previously described species S. salmakis and S. semele, along with all the new species belong to the Stactobia martynovi diagnostic species group; S. parva belongs to the Stactobia nielseni diagnostic species group. The diagnostic characters for the new species and for these two species groups are summarized.