A new species of Grylloblatta from the Coast Mountains of British Columbia and two new subspecies of Grylloblatta campodeiformis Walker from northern British Columbia are described and figured. The distribution of the species groups from the Rocky Mountain and Coast–Cascade Cordillera are indicated. An interpretation of the present distribution as a result of late Pleistocene and Holocene geological and climatic events is presented.

No one I think can have been long engaged in collecting insects without having noticed the remarkable diversity in the products of different years, not only in quantity, but in kinds. Each summer seems to bring its own particular species to the front, so that if a person wishes to get a moderately correct idea of the insects of any locality, it is necessary for him not only fo hunt diligently all the season, but every season for a considerable length of time; and if he has from any cause missed one, he may be sure he has missed something which it may be years before he will again have an opportunity of securing, or securing in the same abundance. The causes of these variations seem as yet to a great extent a mystery.

The spruce budworm, Choristoneura fumiferana (Clemens), was reared on a synthetic diet. Comparison of two successive laboratory generations reared on synthetic diet and on frozen balsam fir buds showed that diet-fed insects had a higher survival, developed faster, were heavier, mated more successfully, and were more fecund.

Four families of parasitic mites (Acari: Rhinonyssidae, Ereynetidae, Cytoditidae, and Turbinoptidae) have evolved independently to live inside the nasal passages of birds. A previous survey of nasal mites in Canada drew attention to the dearth of knowledge about these specialised mites, and indicated there were more species of nasal mites to discover in Canada. Since 2008, we have continued to survey nasal mites and herein present the details from infested hosts, 92 host individuals representing 64 species from 11 orders and 23 families. We report 18 new records for species of nasal mites in Canada: 16 Rhinonyssidae, one Ereynetidae, and one Turbinoptidae. No Cytoditidae have yet been recorded in Canada. We also collected five undescribed species of rhinonyssids. A total of 64 host-parasite species records are reported, and of these records, 52 rhinonyssids, one ereynetid, and three turbinoptids are new for Canada. Nasal mites were not collected from 127 host species, and several of these host species were sampled extensively (⩾50 individuals). This research furthers our understanding of avian nasal mites in Canada and highlights the need for continued investigations on these mites.

We investigated changes in a wild bee community by repeating a detailed historical study of bee biodiversity in Ontario. In 1968 and 1969 (period 1), an inventory of bee species was taken from an old field habitat in southern Ontario. We resampled the bee fauna in 2002 and 2003 (period 2), following the same methods. Bee species richness, diversity, and evenness were significantly greater in period 2, and this was observed in all functional guilds except wood-nesting, pollen specialist, and nonnative bees. In period 2, a total of 150 bee species were found (2002, 98 species; 2003, 143 species), whereas in period 1, a total of 105 species were found (1968, 98 species; 1969, 76 species). Although 90 bee species collected in period 1 were re-collected in period 2, bee community composition was remarkably different between periods, with an estimated community similarity of only 7.5%. Changes in the bee fauna, specifically the increase in the proportions of pollen specialist and wood-nesting bees, might be best explained by changes in the habitat as a result of succession over the intervening 34 years. We compare and contrast our findings of bee community change with the published literature and discuss the possible factors driving the change.

Syrphids (Diptera: Syrphidae) are a diverse and widespread family of pollinating flies. Their diverse life history traits not only allow them to thrive in a wide range of habitats but also make them potential bioindicators of environmental change. Here, we report on their distributions from a previously understudied and undeveloped part of northern Ontario that is a large part of the third-largest wetland in the world. Samples were collected from across the region between 2009 and 2016, using numerous sampling methods. Of the 122 species identified from 1514 specimens, six are new provincial records to Ontario. Five species were collected over 800 km from their previously known ranges, some of which were west of the Rocky Mountains. Of all the trapping methods employed in the study, Malaise traps were found to be the most effective at catching syrphid species. This work updates known range and provincial records for more than 100 species of syrphids, bringing into clearer focus their distribution throughout this region.

Conservation of biodiversity is growing in interest, and wetlands are disappearing at an alarming rate, so understanding how communities are assembled and how interactions among species and ecosystems influence evolution is critical to the management of threatened habitats. We compared diversity and assemblages of peatland Diptera within and between ecoregions in Québec, Canada. We then determined the phylogenetic structure of peatland Diptera communities and how the structure differed with spatial scale (trap, site, ecoregion). Finally, we tested alpha and beta diversity along environmental and spatial gradients to determine which processes influence Diptera communities and diversity. Bogs across the three ecoregions support similar abundance, species richness, and functional diversity. We found that the major forces structuring Diptera assemblages in bogs across Québec are stochastic processes such as dispersal limitations. However, those random patterns change to clustering when anthropogenic disturbances modify the landscape. Assembly rules are mostly dictated by patch and landscape parameters specific to each ecoregion affecting dispersal and establishment between sites. Conservation of mobile organisms in habitats such as bogs will depend on conservation plans focusing on both patch quality and surrounding landscape, and that different conservation strategies need to be applied in different ecoregions.

Urbanization causes the fragmentation of natural habitats into isolated patches surrounded by anthropogenic habitats. Fragment size and the intensity of human disturbance have been shown to affect both composition and diversity of arthropod communities, but most groups have been understudied. We investigated effects of urbanization on ant assemblages (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in and around the Molson Reserve, a preserved maple-beech forest surrounded by residential properties near Montréal, Quebec. We studied how local ant assemblages differed in terms of composition, abundance, and species richness, depending on whether they were situated in the interior forest, in adjacent residential backyards, or at the edge between these two habitats. We also compared an intact forest interior with a younger and moderately disturbed forest (“buffer zone”) between the urban matrix and the interior forest. Few differences were detected between the buffer zone and the intact forest interior. Extrapolated estimates of species richness suggest that it is lowest in the forest interior and highest in urban zones. Community composition, as investigated with ordination analysis, revealed a clear difference between the fauna of urban sites and the fauna of edges and forest interiors, and analyzing the relative abundance of ants showed residential backyards to contain the most ants. Urban assemblages were characterized by several competitively dominant species, including one introduced or “tramp” species. The occurrence of aggressive and dominant species in urban sites and at the edges of the Molson Reserve could potentially interfere with the dispersal and immigration of ground-dwelling arthropods and negatively affect local diversity or community composition in isolated forest reserves in urban centres.

The long-horned beetles (Cerambycidae) of Prince Edward Island are surveyed. Records of 28 species of cerambycids new to the province are provided, increasing the known fauna of this family on the island to 38 species. One species, Pogonocherus penicillatus LeConte, is removed from the list of the province's fauna. Additionally, one exotic species, Rhopalophora tenuis (Chevrolat), is reported as intercepted from merchandise imported from Mexico. This fauna is examined in relation to its distribution within the province, biogeographical components, island biogeography, the composition of the regional fauna, the impact of anthropogenic activities, and adventive species. All these provide lessons to improve our understanding of the biodiversity of the province.

Arctic ecosystems are characterised by a mosaic of distinct microhabitats, which play a key role in structuring biodiversity. Understanding species diversity in relation to these microhabitats, and how communities are structured seasonally, is imperative to properly conserve, monitor, and manage northern biodiversity. Spiders (Arachnida: Araneae) are dominant arthropod predators in the Arctic, yet the seasonal change in their communities in relation to microhabitat variation is relatively unknown. This research quantified how spider assemblages are structured seasonally and by microhabitat, near Cambridge Bay, Nunavut, Canada. In 2014, spiders were collected in 240 pan and pitfall traps placed in common microhabitat types (two wet and two dry) from 3 July to 11 August, the active season in the high Arctic. In total, 10 353 spiders from 22 species and four families were collected. Non-metric multidimensional scaling ordinations revealed that spider assemblages from wet habitats were distinct from those occurring in drier habitats, but that differences within each of those habitats were not evident. Abundance and diversity was highest in wet habitats and differed significantly from dry habitats; both these variables decreased seasonally. Spider assemblages in the north are structured strongly along moisture gradients, and such data informs planning for future ecological monitoring in the Arctic.

We examined the successional community of insect fauna on exposed carrion in shade and sun in the Boreal Forest Region of Canada, near Edmonton, Alberta, over a 3-year period. This paper focuses on results obtained in the final year of study. Recently killed pigs (Sus domesticus L.) were clothed and placed in direct sunlight or shade on 18 and 20 May 1999. There was no difference in start time or duration of decomposition stages between the two habitats. Species abundance differed between the sun and shade habitats for Protophormia terraenovae (Robineau-desvoidy) larvae (Diptera: Calliphoridae), Necrobia sp. adults (Coleoptera: Cleridae), Catops basilaris Say adults (Coleoptera: Leiodidae), Onthophagus nuchicornis (L.) adults (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae), Heterosilpha ramosa (Say) adults and larvae (Coleoptera: Silphidae), Creophilus maxillosus (L.) adults (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae), and Ontholestes cingulatus (Gravenhorst) adults and larvae (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae). The orders Diptera and Coleoptera were important components of all communities and had the greatest diversity at both the family and the species level throughout succession. Overall species abundance within families was greater in the sun habitat than in the shade. Similar species dominated the sun and shade carcasses during early succession, but dominance was not clearly evident later in succession.

Saproxylic insect assemblages inhabiting dead wood in Canadian forests are highly diverse and variable but quite poorly understood. Adequate assessment of these assemblages poses significant challenges with respect to sampling, taxonomy, and analysis. Their assessment is nonetheless critical to attaining the broad goals of sustainable forest management because such species are disproportionately threatened elsewhere by the reductions in dead wood generally associated with commercial exploitation of northern forests. The composition of the saproxylic fauna is influenced by many factors, including tree species, degree of decay, stand age, and cause of tree death. Wildfire and forest harvesting have differential impacts on saproxylic insect assemblages and on their recovery in postdisturbance stands. Exploration of saproxylic insect responses to variable retention harvesting and experimental burns is contributing to the development of prescriptions for conserving saproxylic insects in boreal forests. Understanding of processes that determine diversity patterns and responses of saproxylic insects would benefit from increased attention to natural history. Such work should aim to provide a habitat-classification system for dead wood to better identify habitats (and associated species) at risk as a result of forest management. This tool could also be used to improve strategies to better maintain saproxylic organisms and their central nutrient-cycling functions in managed forests.

The issue of biodiversity is examined from the viewpoint of human values and three questions are posed: What kinds of human values affect biological diversity? Why do humans think about the loss and conservation of biological diversity? Does it really matter? The conclusion is that human values are contributing to the loss of biological diversity and could lead to massive extinctions in the future just as major natural events did in the past. However, as it did in the past, evolution will continue, so will speciation, and so will biological diversity.

Lyme borreliosis (LB), also known as Lyme disease, is emerging as a serious tickborne illness across Canada. More than three decades of research on LB in North America and Europe have provided a large, complex body of research involving well-documented difficulties at several levels. However, entomologists are well situated to contribute to resolving some of these challenges. The central pathogen in LB, the spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi Johnson et al., includes numerous genospecies and strains that are associated with different disease symptoms and distributions. The primary vectors of LB are ticks of various Ixodes Latreille species (Acari: Ixodida: Ixodidae), but questions linger concerning the status of a number of other arthropods that may be infected with B. burgdorferi but do not transmit it biologically. A variety of vertebrates may serve as reservoirs for LB, but differences in their ability to transmit LB are not well understood at the community level. Persistent cystic forms of and immune system evasion by B. burgdorferi contribute to extraordinary challenges in diagnosing LB. Multiple trade-offs constrain the effectiveness of assays like ELISA, Western blot, polymerase chain reaction, and microscopic visualization of the spirochetes. Consequently, opportunities abound for entomologists to contribute to documenting the diversity of the players and their interactions in this devilishly complex disease.

We present the systematics and ecology of a new species of arboreal oribatid mite in the family Achipteriidae, Anachipteria geminussp. nov., a dominant arthropod in canopy lichens associated with western hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla (Raf.) Sarg. (Pinaceae)) and Pacific silver fir (Abies amabilis (Dougl. ex Loud.) Dougl. ex Forbes (Pinaceae)) in the coniferous temperate and montane forests of the Pacific Northwest of North America. The species is described on the basis of the morphology of all active instars plus molecular sequence data for the D3 region of the 28s rRNA (D3-28s) and mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase 1 (CO1) genes. Anachipteria geminus is the dominant oribatid mite in foliose lichens in the upper canopies of Pacific montane conifer trees. Specimens were found in 100% of canopy lichens sampled, and abundances can reach 1450 individuals / 100 g dry mass of lichen. Analysis of the population structure indicates that A. geminus has seasonally stable populations consistent with overlapping generations. Anachipteria geminus expresses morphological character states that require expanding the diagnoses of the genus Anachipteria and the family Achipteriidae. A revised diagnosis and morphological key to species of Anachipteria in Canada are given.

The objective of this study was to assess the similarities and differences between selected bioindicator groups within tallgrass prairie and adjacent aspen forest. Based on pitfall trapping from 1998 to 2000, species richness and abundance of ground beetles and spiders were examined across a tallgrass prairie – aspen forest ecotone located near Winnipeg, Manitoba. The abundance of spiders and ground beetles was higher in the forested portion of the transect than in the prairie section. There were 639 specimens of ground beetles collected, representing 53 species; 19 species were found only on the prairie, 19 species were found only in the forest, and 15 species were found in both habitats, although the abundance of most species was too low to confidently assign them to either habitat type. Excluding single records in any sampling year yielded 9 prairie species, 5 forest species, and 10 species found in both aspen forest and tallgrass prairie. The five most abundant species of ground beetles were Agonum placidum (Say), Pterostichus caudicalis (Say), P. femoralis (Kirby), P. melanarius (Illiger), and Synuchus impunctatus (Say). There were 4499 specimens of spiders collected, representing 92 species; 25 species were found only in the prairie, 15 species were unique to the aspen forest, and 52 species were found in both habitats. Excluding single records in any sampling year yielded 26 prairie species, 15 forest species, and 22 species found in both habitats. The five most abundant species of spiders were Pardosa moesta Banks, P. distincta (Blackwall), Agroeca ornata Banks, Centromerus sylvaticus (Blackwall), and Alopecosa aculeata (Clerck). Our study concurs with other studies in demonstrating that there are distinct assemblages of both groups of predators in each of the two habitat types.

The daylily gall midge, Contarinia quinquenotata (Loew) (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae), is an ornamental pest of daylilies, Hemerocallis spp. Linneas (Asphodelaceae). Originally native to Asia, this pest was accidentally introduced to western North America, and it is believed to occur throughout other parts of North America even though its presence has not been confirmed. Using an online survey of gardeners across Canada’s “Maritimes” (the region that includes the provinces of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island), we determined that symptoms of the pest occurred at multiple sites across Nova Scotia, but we received no reports from Prince Edward Island or New Brunswick. Sequencing the cytochrome c oxidase 1 gene of the samples submitted by community scientists, we confirmed the daylily gall midge occurs at multiple sites across Nova Scotia. A common garden study that included 517 daylily varieties found that yellow-flowering varieties were almost twice as likely to be affected as nonyellow varieties. Early-flowering varieties were more likely to be attacked than later-flowering varieties. For each day that the date at first flowering was delayed, the likelihood of gall midge attack decreased by 16%. To avoid or mitigate damage where the daylily gall midge occurs, selecting late-flowering varieties with nonyellow flowers can be a useful complement to destructing infested flower buds.

The role of insects as pollinators within plant communities is well established, yet our knowledge of insect biodiversity in many habitats is lacking. Given the growing concern that insect biodiversity is declining, it is increasingly important to document insect assemblages from a wide range of geographic locations and habitats. Pan trapping is a common means of sampling local insect diversity. Many studies have found different insects associated with different-coloured pan traps. Here, eight different-coloured pan traps were used to sample local insect diversity in habitats supporting Platanthera (bog and rein) orchids on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. A total of 16 sites supporting seven orchid species resulted in 435 insects from 53 families being caught over 64.9 hours of pan trapping. Both Shannon and Simpson diversity index values were low despite sampling in markedly different habitats. Yellow traps caught higher numbers of insects, but no statistical difference was found among colours overall. No activity indicating pollination was recorded from a total of 254 insect observations over 21.5 hours. Our results contribute important baseline data on the diversity and behaviour of insect communities in orchid habitats of Vancouver Island and on the use of pan traps to characterise insect communities.

Eleven of the 12 species of owls (Aves: Strigidae, Tytonidae) known to occur in Manitoba, Canada, were examined for chewing lice (Phthiraptera: Amblycera, Ischnocera) from 1976 to 2015: barn owl (Tyto alba (Scopoli); Aves: Tytonidae) (n = 2), snowy owl (Bubo scandiacus (Linnaeus); Aves: Strigidae) (n = 77), great horned owl (Bubo virginianus (Gmelin); Aves: Strigidae) (n = 262), great grey owl (Strix nebulosa Förster; Aves: Strigidae) (n = 142), barred owl (Strix varia Barton; Aves: Strigidae) (n = 10), northern hawk owl (Surnia ulula (Linnaeus); Aves: Strigidae) (n = 18), short-eared owl (Asio flammeus (Pontoppidan); Aves: Strigidae) (n = 74), long-eared owl (Asio otus (Linnaeus); Aves: Strigidae) (n = 67), eastern screech owl (Megascops aslo (Linnaeus); Aves: Strigidae) (n = 59), boreal owl (Aegolius funereus (Linnaeus); Aves: Strigidae) (n = 47), and northern saw-whet owl (Aegolius acadicus (Gmelin); Aves: Strigidae) (n = 44), a total of 802 owls. No lice were found infesting barn owl (Tyto alba (Scopoli); Aves: Tytonidae) or eastern screech owl (Megascops asio (Linnaeus); Aves: Strigidae). We collected a total of 113 810 lice of 12 species: Kurodaia Uchida (Phthiraptera: Menoponidae) – three species; and Strigiphilus Mjöberg (Phthiraptera: Philopteridae) – nine species. Overall prevalence of infestation ranged from 10.0% to 88.9%. Mean intensity for total lice ranged from 22.4 to 506.5. Infestation parameters for each louse–host combination are provided; prevalence and mean intensity were not related for louse–host species combinations. Distribution of louse infestations was highly aggregated. In all louse–host combinations but one, either females were more prevalent than males or there was no significant deviation from 50:50. Male Strigiphilus ceblebrachys Denny significantly outnumbered females in snowy owls. There was a tendency for louse species to co-occur on the same host specimen. Where sample sizes for owls were large enough, no seasonal patterns in abundance of lice were detected.

For 40 years, the Biological Survey of Canada (BSC) has encouraged and organised studies of the arthropod fauna of Canada, through the wide involvement of the scientific community and the leadership of an expert steering committee. The benefits of the BSC to science include the completion of major cooperative projects to acquire and synthesise knowledge (documenting faunas in the Yukon, Canadian grasslands, and other significant regions and habitats), the assembly and organisation of information and specimens, and improved communication among entomologists. Its efforts have led to valuable monographs, scientific briefs, newsletters, and other products summarised here, including documents that are also useful to those outside entomology. Key operating principles of the BSC are identified. In particular, decisions come from broadly based scientific considerations, an approach to understanding the fauna that guarantees the scientific relevance of the work and is not offset by political or other influences. Core work is planned over the long term to ensure collaboration, focus, efficiency, integrity, quality, productivity, and delivery. The achievements of the BSC over many years confirm the effectiveness of this model for scientific cooperation.