The largest of the stick insects, Megacrania alpheus Westwood, has paired thoracic glands which produce five volatile, protective chemicals. In response to irritation, five special odor compounds are ejected of which actinidine is identified as the major constituent by IR, NMR, and GC-Mass spectrometry and elemental analysis. Different juvenile stages contain varying amounts of actinidine. Few nymphs deprived of actinidine survive to maturity because of high incidence of mortality from natural predators.

The numbers of host-seeking adult American dog ticks, Dermacentor variabilis (Say), in a sweet gum field in Maryland reflected changes in the population density of a host species, the meadow vole, Microtus pennsylvanicus (Ord), which within 1.5 yr fell from an estimated 157 to 8 voles on a 0.8 ha grid. During high vole density, there was no significant difference (P > 0.05) in tick burdens between sexes on an annual basis. Juvenile and subadult voles (< 33 g) harbored significantly fewer D. variabilis larvae and nymphs than did mature voles (> 33 g) on an annual basis. However, during periods of both peak host-seeking activity by D. variabilis larvae and nymphs and high host density nearly all the voles examined were infested. There was no evidence of a relationship between weight of adult voles and likelihood of parasitization by D. variabilis during months of moderate tick host-seeking activity. Of 163 adult D. variabilis recaptured ≥ one week after marking, 86 (52.7%) had moved > 3.8 m, 59 (36.2%) > 5.3 m.

A large infestation of southern pine beetle, (Dendroctonus frontalis Zimm.), located in central Louisiana, was surveyed for the pinewood nematode, Bursaphelenchus xylophilus (Steiner and Buhrer) Nickle. Pinewood nematodes were present in 4.2 percent of 94 loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.) trees attacked by D. frontalis and were absent from 101 unattacked trees that surrounded the infestation. Monthly sampling of this infestation revealed an increase in the incidence of nematodes as the season progressed. Samples taken from different heights on beetle infested-boles did not differ significantly in the presence of nematodes.

Frass production by Heliothis zea (Boddie) larvae infected at varying mortality levels with Heliothis nuclear polyhedrosis virus (NPV) was determined and used to estimate the effect of the virus on larval food consumption. Treatment in the early stages was essential to substantially reduce food consumption. Reduction in food consumption was also directly related to NPV dosage. Food consumption by larvae surviving NPV treatment was not significantly different from the untreated larvae. Field tests indicated that NPV applications must be timed against 1st- or 2nd-stage larvae to achieve an appreciable mortality level and prevent infected larvae from reaching the damaging late developmental stages. Preliminary maximum treatment levels for use of Heliothis NPV for suppression of H. zea on soybean are presented.

A museum collection and recent trappings for blow flies confirm the presence of Chrysomya rufifacies (Macquart) in Arizona. The implication of this new distribution is discussed.

Three methods, which are more efficient than previously reported techniques, are described for in vitro production of Trichogramma pretiosum Riley in numbers ranging from a few to thousands. Several antibiotics with concentrations as high as 0.5% were not toxic to the parasitoids, reduced microbial growth, and permitted the successful rearing to the pupal stage of T. pretiosum on artificial diet composed of insect hemolymph, egg yolk, and milk. The likelihood that Trichogramma can be mass produced efficiently in vitro has been significantly increased, but it is essential that the cost and nutritional quality of the artificial diet be significantly improved.

One and 2% fenitrothion caused high mortality of southern pine beetles, Dendroctonus frontalis Zimmermann within billets removed from infested trees which had been sprayed. Mortality of beetles through 72 hours post-emergence was significantly higher than mortality of those which emerged from billets from lindane-treated trees.

Although lindane is superior to fenitrothion for prevention of SPB attack, fenitrothion was more effective for remedial control.

Listed alphabetically by order, family, genus, and species are 360 insect and mite species that attack flowers, cones, and seeds of world conifers. Synonyms, misspellings, invalid combinations, erroneous author names, and abbreviations of author names are listed exactly as published following the currently accepted species binomen. All species names listed are referenced to the cone and seed insect literature where that terminology appears.

Seed and oil of Coriandrum sativum L. (coriander) were evaluated for their contact toxicity to adults of Callosobruchus maculatus (F.), Sitophilus oryzae (L.), Lasioderma serricome (F.), and Tribolium confusum Jacquelin du Val; and for their repellency to S. oryzae and T. confusum. The acetone extract of the seed was topically nontoxic to C. maculatus, slightly toxic to L. serricorne and T. confusum, and moderately toxic to S. oryzae at 40 μg/insect and higher at 48 hr after application. The oil was topically nontoxic to C. maculatus, L. serricome, and T. confusum, and was moderately toxic to S. oryzae at 30 μg/insect and higher.

Both the acetone extract and oil were repellent to S. oryzae when they were used to surface treat the wheat at dosages of 0.2, 0.1, and 0.05%, with the oil slightly more repellent than the extract at the 0.2% concentration. Both the extract and oil repelled T. confusum when the insects were exposed to the surface of the treated paper at concentrations of 600, 400, 200, and 100 μg/cm², with the extract more effective than the oil

A behavioral catalogue of the adult southern green stink bug, Nezara viridula (L.), was developed from observations taken in a cowpea field. A total of 23 behaviors are described, and the effects of sex, mating status, time of day, height on the plant, and substrate on these behaviors are quantified. Of the seven most common behaviors, which occupied 97% of the total observation time, sex significantly influenced the duration and/or frequency of kicking, rocking, and mating. Mating status significantly affected the frequency of antennal waving and walking. Time of day had a significant effect on the duration and/or frequency of resting, antennal waving, feeding, kicking, and mating. Height on the plant significantly affected the duration and/or frequency of resting, antennal waving, walking, feeding, kicking, rocking, and mating. Substrate significantly influenced the duration and/or frequency of antennal waving, feeding, kicking, and mating. The proportion of time spent basking on the tops of plants decreased significantly from morning to noon and from noon to afternoon.

The ovipositional cycle of Psorophora columbiae was bimodal when gravid females were exposed to natural climatic conditions over three separate 24 hr periods. Peak egg deposition (49.8 eggs/cage) occurred during the first 24 hr period after sunset. Other cages of Ps. columbiae females were exposed to aliquots of soil with various moisture levels by weight. Average numbers of eggs deposited per cage in soil at 0, 20, 40, 60 and 80% moisture by weight differed significantly (P < 0.001) with 2.2, 30.2, 89.8, 28.3 and 14.0 eggs, respectively. When the intervals between moisture levels were reduced to 10% and caged mosquitoes were exposed to soil at 30, 40, 50, 60, 70 and 80% moisture, significant differences (P < 0.008) occurred among the mean numbers of eggs per moisture level (125.8, 188.6, 176.9, 39.6, 46.3, and 31.5, respectively).