Andrew R. Cline

Lygus hesperus (Hemiptera: Miridae) Feeding on Cotton: New Methods and Parameters for Analysis of Nonsequential Electrical Penetration Graph Data

Abstract This study is the first to statistically analyze the stylet probing/penetration behaviors of Lygus (Hemiptera: Miridae) bugs, and the external body movements associated with both probing and nonprobing, via electrical penetration graph (EPG) and videorecording, respectively. Behavioral quantification allows powerful statistical comparisons among host plants or other treatments. Thus, statistical analysis of data has played an important role in EPG research. However, few attempts have been made to standardize types and terminology used for statistical parameters. We provide here the first complete system of organization and terminology for nonsequential EPG parameters. Widespread adoption of these terms will allow standardization in EPG research. Our EPG and video data reveal for the first time the stylet penetration behaviors of nymphal L. hesperus that cause cotton square damage, and the mechanism involved. L. hesperus nymphs spent only 15% of their time on squares probing; the remainder was spent standing motionless in place, grooming, or in sensory exploration. While probing, two thirds of their time was spent in laceration/salivation and one third in ingestion. Thus, L. hesperus nymphs actively spread out numerous, minute injections of their macerating watery saliva, deeply drilled/lacerated into all parts of the developing square. After injection of saliva within the square, the insect then stands and waits for solubilization of the square’s cell contents, and then quickly ingests the slurry. The extensive laceration by the stylets may, secondarily, potentiate salivary maceration by mechanically rupturing cell walls. The plant responses to such behavior are thus summarized as “mechanical cell rupture-enhanced maceration.”

The association of multiple sap beetle species (Coleoptera: Nitidulidae) with western honey bee (Apis mellifera) colonies in North America

James D. Ellis, Keith S. Delaplane, Andrew Cline and Joseph V. McHugh. Department of Entomology and Nematology, University of Florida, Bldg 970 Natural Area Dr., PO Box 110620, Gainesville, FL 32601, USA. Department of Entomology, Biological Sciences Building, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USA. California Department of Food and Agriculture, 3294 Meadowview Road, Sacramento, CA 95832-1448, USA.

Molecular phylogeny of Nitidulidae: assessment of subfamilial and tribal classification and formalization of the family Cybocephalidae (Coleoptera: Cucujoidea)

We present a molecular phylogeny of Nitidulidae based on thirty ingroup taxa representing eight of the ten currently recognized subfamilies. Approximately 10 K base pairs from seven loci (12S, 16S, 18S, 28S, COI, COII and H3) were used for the phylogenetic reconstruction. The phylogeny supports the following main conclusions: (i) Cybocephalidae are formally recognized as a distinct family not closely related to Nitidulidae and its constituent taxa are defined; (ii) Kateretidae are sister to Nitidulidae; (iii) Cryptarchinae are monophyletic and sister to the remaining nitidulid subfamilies; (iv) subfamily Prometopinae stat. res. is reinstated and defined, to accommodate taxa allied to Axyra Erichson, Prometopia Erichson and Megauchenia MacLeay; (v) Amphicrossinae, Carpophilinae and Epuraeinae are shown to be closely related taxa within a well‐supported monophyletic clade; (vi) tribal affinities and respective monophyly within Nitidulinae are poorly resolved by our data and must be more rigorously tested as there was little or no support for prior morphologically based tribes or genus‐level complexes; (vii) Nitidulinae are found to be paraphyletic with respect to Cillaeinae and Meligethinae, suggesting that they should either be subsumed as tribes, or Nitidulinae should be divided into several subfamilies to preserve the status of Cillaeinae and Meligethinae; (viii) Teichostethus Sharp stat. res. is not a synonym of Hebascus Erichson and the former is reinstated as a valid genus. These conclusions and emendations are discussed in detail and presented within a morphological framework.

First report in Italy of the dusky sap beetle, Carpophilus lugubris, a new potential pest for Europe

Following a report submitted by a beekeeper to Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale delle Venezie, in Padua province (Borgoricco, Veneto, NE Italy), the authors discovered in April 2011 several specimens of the dusky sap beetle Carpophilus lugubris Murray 1864 (Coleoptera, Nitidulidae) on the bottom board of some beehives. At a later time (May 2012), an isolated specimen was also collected within a Natural Reserve in Belluno province (Feltre, Veneto, NE Italy). These specimens represent the first known records of this species in Italy or Europe as a whole. This is also the first record of the species associated with beehives. This discovery led us to review the available bionomical and faunistic data for this widespread Nearctic and Neotropical species. C. lugubris is a recognized pest of corn, therefore is very important monitoring its possible dispersal into cornfields, beehives, and other agricultural regions of NE Italy and southern Europe over the next few years.

Key to Adventive Sap Beetles (Coleoptera: Nitidulidae) in Hawaii, with Notes on Records and Habits

Abstract A key to the species of adventive sap beetles of Hawaii is provided to assist in the separation of adventive species from endemics, and includes the following species: Cybocephalus nipponicus Endrödy-Younga, Conotelus mexicanus Sharp, Carpophilus (Urophorus) humeralis (F.), Carpophilus hemipterus (L.), Carpophilus (dimidiatus) dimidiatus (F.), Carpophilus (dimidiatus) freemani Dobson, Carpophilus (dimidiatus) maculatus Murray, Carpophilus (dimidiatus) mutilatus (Erichson), Carpophilus marginellus Motschulsky, Carpophilus oculatus Murray, Epuraea (Haptoncus) luteola Erichson, Epuraea (Haptoncus) munda (Sharp), Epuraea (Haptoncus) ocularis Fairmaire, Aethina (Idaethina) concolor (Macleay), Omosita discoidea (F.), Stelidota geminata (Say), Stelidota chontalensis Sharp, Phenolia (Aethinodes) attenuata (Reitter), and Phenolia (Lasiodites) limbata tibialis (Boheman). For each adventive species, general habits, island distributions within Hawaii, new collection records, and worldwide distribution are noted.

A scientific note on rapid host shift of the invasive dusky sap beetle (Carpophilus lugubris) in Italian beehives: new commensal or potential threat for European apiculture?

Department of Biology and Biotechnologies “C. Darwin”, University of Rome “La Sapienza”, Via A. Borelli 50, 00161 Rome, Italy Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale Lazio e Toscana, Laboratorio di Parassitologia e Sorveglianza Entomologica, Via Appia Nuova 1411, 00178 Rome, Italy MIPAAF-National Forest Service, Ufficio Territoriale per la Biodiversita di Belluno, Via Gregorio XVI 8, 32100 Belluno, Italy Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale delle Venezie, NRL for Beekeeping, Viale dell’Universita 10, 35020 Legnaro, Padua, Italy California Department of Food & Agriculture, Plant Pest Diagnostics Center, 3294 Meadowview Road, Sacramento, CA 95832-1448, USA

The Beetle (Coleoptera) Fauna of Pocket Gopher Burrows in Louisiana

Abstract A structured inventory of beetles inhabiting pocket gopher (Geomys breviceps Baird) burrows in Louisiana was conducted over a three year period. Samples from 27 burrow systems at seven different sites were collected, as well as species records from existing collections and prior publications. From these samples, and published references, 21 beetle species from four families (4 Histeridae, 2 Leiodidae, 7 Scarabaeidae, and 8 Staphylinidae) are here recorded from pocket gopher burrows in Louisiana. However, species from other families remain undetermined. Many species identified are new state records for Louisiana. Our results indicate a similar beetle fauna to those found in pocket gopher burrows in Texas and Oklahoma but differing from that of burrow systems in Florida, Nebraska, and Wisconsin. The beetle fauna associated with two subspecies of pocket gopher present in Louisiana are discussed in detail and evolutionary hypotheses for the discrepancy in species richness provided.

A peculiar new genus and species of pollen-beetle (Coleoptera, Nitidulidae) from eastern Africa, with a molecular phylogeny of related Meligethinae

The pollen beetle Tarchonanthopria freidbergi gen. nov., sp. nov., from SW Kenya, Rift Valley, is described and illustrated. The taxonomic and phylogenetic position of Tarchonanthopria is discussed using evidence from a preliminary molecular analysis of the new genus and a group of related genera, as well as results from a companion paper implementing a morphological cladistic analysis of all 47 extant and fossil Meligethinae genera. Morphological data suggest a taxonomic position of the new genus near the speciose Palaeotropical genus Pria Stephens, 1830, whereas molecular data suggest a closer relationship with the African genus Micropria Grouvelle, 1899. Larval host-plants of the single known species of the new genus are male inflorescences of Asteraceae trees in the genus Tarchonanthus Linnaeus, 1753. Tarchonanthopria freidbergi does not exhibit any close phylogenetic relationships with other Afrotropical meligethine genera associated with Asteraceae Tarchonantheae (i.e. members of the African ‘Anthystrix genus-complex’). A table is presented summarizing all available data on Meligethinae larval–host plant relationships. http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:AFC89330-3FA8-46E5-A8E5-2ADCB6D5A57D

First record of small hive beetle, Aethina tumida Murray, in South America

We report the discovery of adult small hive beetles, Aethina tumida, in a honey bee, Apis mellifera, apiary in Piracicaba, São Paulo State, Brazil, in March 2015. This is the first record for South America of this honey bee pest.

The status of Euhrychiopsis lecontei (Dietz) (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) in California, with notes on other weevils associated with milfoil.

ABSTRACT As part of an ongoing survey to determine the geographic distribution of Euhrychiopsis lecontei (Dietz) in California water systems, three aquatic species from two subfamilies of Curculionidae were found associated with two species of water milfoil. An accounting of weevils associated with water milfoil is provided, as well as a brief synopsis of E. lecontei as a biological control agent, a detailed distribution map for E. lecontei in California, and diagnostic characters to distinguish E. lecontei from other aquatic and semi-aquatic weevils.