1. The effect of the removal of Timarcha lugens (Chrysomelidae), one of the main herbivores of Hormathophylla spinosa (Cruciferae), on the abundance of co-occurring phytophagous insects, the abundance of non-phytophagous arthropods (detritivores, predators, and parasitoids), and the structure and diversity of the entire arthropod community, was studied for 3 years (1999–2001). 2. There was comp...

For phytophagous arthropods, host acceptance behavior is a key character responsible for host plant specialization. The grain rust mite, Abacarus hystrix (Nalepa), is an obligately phytophagous, polyphagous eriophyid mite recorded from at least 70 grass species. In this study, the hypothesis that two host populations of this mite (one collected from quackgrass and the other from ryegrass) are h...

Phytophagous pentatomid insects can negatively impact agricultural productivity and the brown marmorated stink bug (Halyomorpha halys) is an emerging invasive pest responsible for damage to many fruit crops and ornamental plants in North America. Many phytophagous stink bugs, including H. halys, harbor gammaproteobacterial symbionts that likely contribute to host development, and characterizati...

The Quaternary climate cycles played an important role in shaping the distribution of biodiversity among current populations, even in warm-temperate zones, where land was not covered by ice sheets. We focused on the Castanopsis-type broadleaved evergreen forest community in Japan, which characterizes the biodiversity and endemism of the warm-temperate zone. A comparison of the phylogeographic p...

The extremely specialized ionic composition of the haemolymph in some phytophagous insect species presents certain difficulties in the interpretation of axonal conduction in terms of the classical membrane theory which has been found to be applicable in most animal groups. In particular the very low sodium level, together with the relatively high concentration of magnesium ions, represent condi...

Interspecific interactions between insect herbivores can be either negative (competitive) or positive (facilitative) (Damman 1993, Denno et al. 1995). In the context of traditional community ecology, however, negative interactions have received the most attention (e.g., Lawton and Strong 1981, Schoener 1982, Strong et al. 1984, Denno et al. 1995) until quite recently (e.g., Lill and Marquis 200...

Bacteria in the genus Rickettsia, best known as vertebrate pathogens vectored by blood-feeding arthropods, can also be found in phytophagous insects. The presence of closely related bacterial symbionts in evolutionarily distant arthropod hosts presupposes a means of horizontal transmission, but no mechanism for this transmission has been described. Using a combination of experiments with live i...

Six new Brazilian species of the gall-associated Doryctinae genus Allorhogas are described and illustrated: A. copaiba sp. nov. , ilexaffinis inquilinus quarentenus vassununga viridis We provide host plant records for five these species, three one which genera ( Ilex L., Copaifera L. Eugenia P. Micheli ex L.) family (Aquifoliaceae) records, respectively. whose biology was previously reported, r...