The genus Isozulia is re-characterized and compared with Aeneolamia. Two species are transferred from Aeneolamia to become I. astralis (Distant) comb. n. and I. christenseni (Lallemand) comb. n., and I. flamen Fennah is reduced to a subspecies, I. astralis flamen, stat. n. Two populations from Ecuador and Peru are described as new species, I. minor sp. n. and I. charaxus sp. n., respectively, and a population of I. christenseni in Jujuy Province, Argentina, is recognised as a distinct subspecies, I. c. jujuyana subsp. n. Both this subspecies and I. minor are reported as attacking sugarcane.

Observations were made on the behaviour of some Costa Rican species of Phyllophaga. Studies of oviposition and early larval survival under controlled conditions indicated that P. menetriesii (Blanchard) laid most eggs under a ground cover containing grasses and that the presence of living roots in the soil was important to the survival of the young larvae of the two most common species, P. menetriesii and P. vicina (Moser). At Turrialba, Costa Rica, the destruction of young maize plants by larvae of these two species and the consequent reduction in yield were significantly greater in land which was weedy or in close association with stands of old cassava plants, than where weeds had been effectively controlled and cassava was absent. Both plant loss and yields of maize were significantly correlated with larval densities. The best correlations were with numbers of second- and third-instar larvae sampled in July and with the total numbers of third-instar larvae sampled. Regression analyses established that 4·45 seedlings, or approximately 170 kg dry grain/ha, were lost per larva per square metre sampled during the seedling stage in July. An expression to calculate the economic threshold was determined. Significantly more larvae of P. vicina were found in maize growing on ridged than on unridged land, and where applications of lime and phosphate fertilizer had been made to an acid soil. The significance of weed control on infestation is discussed.

Baseline responses of United Kingdom field populations of Macrosiphum euphorbiae (Thomas) and Brevicoryne brassicae (L.) to demeton-S-methyl were investigated using the FAO-recommended dip-test bioassay. Dose-response lines were produced, and discriminating doses for the two species were derived from the results (320 and 500 mg a.i./litre, respectively) and validated by testing further field populations at those single doses. Of the 1620 individuals of M. euphorbiae and 330 of B. brassicae tested, none survived the discriminating doses.

A semi-defined synthetic diet for Glossina spp. was developed and used successfully to rear G. palpalis palpalis (Robineau-Desvoidy) for five generations. The survival, fecundity and offspring size achieved were similar to those obtained when flies are fed on whole blood in vitro. The diet was also tested on G. morsitans morsitans Westwood, G. austeni Newstead and Stomoxys calcitrans (L.), and in all cases was satisfactory. The diet consists of commercially available ingredients and is the first such diet to be developed for obligate haematophagous insects.

Ferrisia meridionalis sp. n. is described from Paraguay on cassava and from Argentina on ragweed (Ambrosia tenuifolia). Characters are given to separate it from F. virgata (Cockerell) with which it may easily be confused in life in South America on cassava.

Breeding of Simulium damnosum Theobald s.1., the vector of Onchocerca volvulus, had been eliminated by 1977 from about 654 000 km2 of the Onchocerciasis Control Programme in the Volta River Basin Area (OCP) of West Africa. Nevertheless, migrating adult females continually invaded the controlled area, being blown on the prevailing south-westerly winds from uncontrolled breeding sites beyond the south-western border of the OCP area. Graphs of numbers of females caught per man per day (the daily biting rate) throughout the wet season, March to October, at 16 sites in 1977 within the OCP controlled area were remarkably similar in pattern from site to site over a range of about 500 km downwind. In 1978, only seven sites within the OCP area were similarly monitored, and the graphs were different in pattern from those in 1977, when they each consisted of three or four well-defined waves or cycles of daily biting rate which could be easily identified and traced across country, their times of occurrence lagging increasingly as the distance of the site from the south-western border of the OCP area increased. Four methods were used to demonstrate and estimate the lag: visual comparison of seasonal graphs; comparison of the mean dates of cycles at different sites and the regression of these dates on distance from the south-western border; the dates when particular cumulative percentages of the total season's catch occurred at each site and their regression on distance; and principal coordinate analysis of the data and its relation to distance from the south-western border. Statistically significant lags were demonstrated and averaged one day for every 10–30 km from the border in 1977, which indicated an average speed of migration across country. In 1978, a rate of one day per 7–35 km was indicated. Where some graphs at outlying sites were anomalous, possible alternative sources of immigrant flies are considered. The possible behaviour of flies in causing the lag is discussed.

Adult females of Panolis flammea (Denis & Schiffermüller) in the laboratory laid more eggs on some provenances of lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta) than on others, even when offered no choice. Their preoviposition period was inversely related to the suitability of the host for larval growth and development. The shorter the preoviposition period the greater the number of eggs that were laid. Delayed mating resulted in reduced fecundity and reduced egg fertility. Female moths lived longest on those hosts on which they oviposited most. Oviposition preferences were correlated with the ratio of the two monoterpenes α- and β-pinene within the host-plants. The effects of provenance, delayed mating and adult mortality were demonstrated through a simulation model; the effect of delayed mating was particularly marked when adult survival was poor. Egg production in the field in Scotland varied from 30 to 123 eggs per female, but this variation could largely be explained by spring temperature. It was concluded that this relationship was due to the influence of temperature on mating and egg laying. The relationship between temperature and egg production forms a basis for predicting damaging levels of Panolis flammea from either pupal or adult numbers. The effects of provenance and delayed mating demonstrate that the frequency of P. flammea outbreaks in the UK may be reduced by the planting of less preferred lodgepole pine provenances and by mating-disruption methods.

The impact of injury by larvae and adults of Sitona discoideus Gyllenhal on lucerne production was studied in two consecutive seasons at two adjacent sites near Christchurch, New Zealand. The root-feeding larvae were found to be more damaging than the adults; in the first cut in the 1982–83 season in a three-year-old stand, larvae reduced dry matter yield by 18%. In the wetter following season in a one-year-old stand, second and third cut losses of 43 and 30% dry matter production, respectively, were recorded. In both seasons, the lucerne had apparently substantially recovered from larval damage by the time of the last cuts. In the drier 1982–83 season, two cuts were taken compared with four in the 1983–84 season. Adult feeding was found to reduce second cut wet yields by 20–30% in the 1982–83 season but had no measurable effect in the 1983–84 season. In both seasons, manipulated ranges of larval densities showed that damage appeared only when larval populations were in excess of a distinct larval population density threshold. At larval densities less than this threshold, yield was unaffected; above the threshold, yield losses were independent of larval density. Such a yield response curve was found to be adequately described mathematically by a simple arctan model; this approach allowed the threshold to be further defined and overall estimates to be made of the yield losses arising from larval damage. The threshold occurred at about 1200 larvae/m2 in the dry season and about 2100 larvae/m2 in the wet season. This suggested moisture sensitivity and the possibility that the crop may enter a damage-induced dormancy related to that observed during a severe drought.

Detailed studies were conducted over a five-year period at a rice farm in the Philippines on the flight activity of Nilaparvata lugens Stål) and Sogatella furcifera (Horváth). Suction traps were used to measure aerial density, and catches included immigrants, emigrants and insects undertaking trivial flight. Activity was partitioned using a variety of other trap types. Emigration was effectively monitored using net canopy traps and immigration was best measured using green water traps. Yellow water traps also measured immigration, but when macropterous adults were being produced within the plot, insects undertaking trivial flight were also caught. The light-trap caught immigrant and over-flying migrant insects.

Simple one- and multi-generation models are used to show the essential features of the dynamics of selection for resistance to one insecticide or two unrelated insecticides in insect populations, part of which are unexposed to either compound. The use of a mixture appears advantageous provided that resistance is not fully dominant, but, if it is, linkage disequilibrium builds up rapidly and nullifies the advantage of the mixture

Data are presented from five series of 240 adults of Rhipicephalus appendiculatus Neumann kept in the laboratory, in which a steady decline in the numbers of granules in e cells of type 3 acini of the salivary glands occurred. This was readily detected in whole gland preparations of the salivary glands stained with methyl green and pyronin, and the same specimens could be used for detecting Theileria parasites in the salivary glands. Characteristics for grading these ticks into three physiological age grades are given, and a formula is provided for incorporating the age grade with infection rate. This gives a value for comparative estimates of the challenge posed by field populations of ticks for the transmission of Theileria to cattle.

Vast populations of Meligethes heteropus Gerstaecker have recently been found on millet in Nigeria. The damage they cause is described and the previously unknown male is described and figured. The validity of characters previously used in the diagnosis of Meligethes is discussed.

Energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometry was used to make quantitative determinations of the elemental composition of plasma-ashed apterous individuals of Rhopalosiphum padi (L.) and Metopolophium dirhodum (Walker). R. padi was reared on 24 plant–soil combinations and M. dirhodum on nine plant-soil combinations. Analyses were done for 12 elements: Na, Mg, Al, P, S, Cl, K, Ca, Mn, Fe, Cu and Zn. Principal components analyses of individuals showed no distinction, in either aphid species, between insects reared on any plant–soil combination, whether all elements, elemental sub-sets, soil sub-sets or host-plant sub-sets were considered. When group means (mean for all individuals from a particular plant-soil combination) were used in principal components analyses, five groups of R. padi could be distinguished from the other 19, although neither set could be further separated. Four of the five distinguishable groups were from plants that grew particularly poorly, and the fifth was from plants in a soil in which all host-plants grew less well than in other soils. There were no distinct separations between groups of M. dirhodum, though there were slight indications that soils were distinguishable. In both R. padi and M. dirhodum, elemental differences involved the minor elements, particularly Mn, Fe, Cu and Zn. The uniformity of elemental content in the apterae of both aphid species may be a consequence of genetic uniformity within clones of parthenogenetically reproducing species.

Aedes lineatopennis (Ludlow) is thought to be a vector and maintenance host for Rift Valley fever virus in Kenya and perhaps other parts of sub-Saharan Africa. Immature examples are often found in tremendous numbers in restricted, low lying habitats known as dambos. A dambo in Thika District, Central Province, Kenya, was artificially flooded to simulate the conditions occurring when this area naturally floods and induces the hatch of A. lineatopennis eggs. Observations on the dispersion and survival of the emerging adult population were made at a time when no other adult A. lineatopennis populations existed. More than 10% (87 511) of the estimated A. lineatopennis adults that emerged from the flooded dambo were collected during a 45-day period. The overall mean distance travelled by males in the 45 days after emergence was only 0·07 km. Female dispersal was interrupted but generally was with the prevailing wind. The overall mean distance travelled by females in the 44 days after emergence was 0·15 km. Mortality of both males and females was independent of age. The high daily survival rate of males (0·83) was not significantly different from that of the females (0·85).

The sawfly Cephalcia lariciphila (Wachtl) is a pest of larch (Larix spp.) that has recently become widespread in Britain. Before taking measures to control the sawfly the status of parasites in the infestations was investigated. The only insect parasite species found was the ichneumonid Olesicampe monticola (Hedwig), which is new to Britain. As this insect is taxonomically so poorly known it is redescribed from specimens collected in South Wales. The preliminary biological observations show O. monticola to be well-adapted to its host and that it can significantly reduce an infestation.

Studies were made of the susceptibility of wild-caught females of Glossina pallidipes Austen to deposits of DDT, dieldrin and deltamethrin on cotton canvas and Terylene netting. Aqueous suspensions of 3% dieldrin wettable powder, 3% dieldrin emulsifiable concentrate, 5·0% DDT wettable powder and 0·0625% deltamethrin flowable concentrate, were sprayed on the canvas at 0·36% litre/m2 Over 95% of the flies resting for 45 s on fresh deposits of these insecticides died within 72 h. Deposits of dieldrin, DDT and deltamethrin exposed to the sun during 140 days of the dry season produced mortalities of 100, 0 and 10% compared with 100, 75 and 100% for shaded deposits. The concentration of dieldrin and deltamethrin on exposed canvas was about 1% that on shaded canvas, but dieldrin produced photodieldrin upon exposure to the sun. Flies colliding with Terylene netting that had been immersed in 0·75–6·0% suspensions of dieldrin wettable powder and 0·01–0·1% suspensions of deltamethrin flowable concentrate produced mortalities of 100%. Deltamethrin deposits were resistant to weathering by rain, but dieldrin deposits were not. It is suggested that deltamethrin flowable concentrate should be used during the wet season and that dieldrin wettable powder should be used during the dry season. Dieldrin sprayed on an electrocuting target reduced the catch, but deltamethrin did not.

Following the emergence of Dialeurolonga simplex Takahashi as a pest of citrus in Mauritius, the species is redescribed and illustrated. A key is presented to the three species of Dialeurolonga known to colonize Citrus species worldwide.

Insecticide-impregnated blue cotton targets 70 × 110 cm weretested for the control of Glossina palpalis palpalis (Robineau-Desvoidy) and G. tachinoides Westwood in riverine fringing forests in central Nigeria, under wet-season conditions. Following exposure to treated cloth for 1·5 min, delta-methrin caused 100% mortality of G. p. palpalis for six weeks at 0·05% and for 13 weeks at 0·1%. Dieldrin at 5% was not very effective. At 4%, endosulfan initially caused a high mortality, but rapidly lost its activity, especially against females. By chemical analysis, 43% of deltamethrin applied to the fabric was found to have been lost within 12 weeks, in which 230 mm of rainfall was recorded. Placed 150 m apart in a fringing forest, targets impregnated with 0·05% deltamethrin caused a rapid decline in the G. p. palpalis population, and after 12 weeks only 5% of the original density was recorded. No further reduction or significant increase was observed during the following six months, though it appeared that flies caught during this period had immigrated from an adjacent undisturbed riverine forest. The effect on G. tachinoides was less dramatic, but this may have been due to the low initial density of this species, and to its greater mobility, giving rise to reinvasion from elsewhere.

Phenacoccus avenae Borchsenius, a mealybug described originally from beneath the leaf sheaths of a grass in Armenia, USSR, has been intercepted at quarantine in the Netherlands. USA and England on bulbs, corms and rhizomes of ornamental plants from Turkey. The mealybug, however, has never been recorded from Turkey although it probably exists there on monocotyledons. It is redescribed and illustrated here to facilitate identification at quarantine stations, and a list is given of its host-plants in the families Gramineae, Amaryllidaceae, Iridaceae and Liliaceae.

Ninety-two individuals of Sitobion avenae (F.) collected throughout Britain in 1979 and 1980, were cloned and investigated genetically by electrophoresis of 14 enzymes representing 26 loci. Percentage polymorphism (P) differed considerably between years, 64% (16/25 loci) in 1979 and 19% (5/26) in 1980, whereas average heterozygosity () was low (ca. 2%) in both years and confined mainly to one locus, EST-1. The prevalence of homozygous allozyme variation supports ecological findings suggesting S. avenae to be largely anholocyclic in Britain. In 1981 and 1982, large populations, sampled from 11 sites in Britain and Spain, were examined at 13 loci. ranged from 2 to 7·6%, with heterozygosity restricted again mainly to EST-1. Some alleles were unique to certain geographical regions (including Britain or Spain); others showed significant spatial, and in two British populations examined in successive years, temporal frequency differences. Calculating Nei’s genetic identity (I) and distance (D) coefficients for each population pair mostly gave I>0·8, D<0·2 with overall means (± s.e.m.) of 0·896 ± 0·006 and 0·111 ± 0·006, respectively, which are comparable with geographical population values for other insects. D was poorly correlated with geographical distance, although values were slightly greater (ca. 0·025) for international population comparisons and did not overlap on a principal coordinates plot. The overall population similarity suggests substantial inter-population gene flow; geographical barriers may have restricted movements but seemingly have not led to allopatric race formation. P and values resemble those for many other aphids, but H values are lower than typically found in other insects. Possible causes of this heterozygote deficiency are discussed.