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The bryocorine mirid Tenthecoris tillandsiae Henry (Hemiptera: Miridae) was described as a new species in 2016. Although the type locality is Charleston, South Carolina, the species is considered adventive in the United States and native to Latin America. Spanish moss (Tillandsia usneoides [L.] L.; Bromeliaceae) is the plant bug's only known host. Tenthecoris tillandsiae was found in three counties of the greater Charleston area in clumps of Spanish moss that grew on ten species of woody plants, especially Darlington oak (Quercus hemisphaericaW. Bartram exWilld.; Fagaceae) and live oak (Q. virginiana Mill.). Nymphs and adults fed on strands of the moss, on which they left dark spots of excrement. Overwintered eggs hatched in mid- to late April, with first-generation adults appearing by early May. Two additional generations were produced; nymphs were present into October, and an adult female was found as late as mid-December. Tenthecoris tillandsiae sometimes was syntopic with a native plant bug (Phytocoris tillandsiae Johnston) that specializes on Spanish moss. Pathways of entry that might have allowed T. tillandsiae to enter the southeastern United States from South America (where Spanish moss originated), Central America, or Mexico are discussed. This immigrant mirid is suggested to be a benign addition to the arthropod community associated with Spanish moss, a plant not only symbolic of the South, but also one known to help conserve insect biodiversity.

Nematus spiraeae Zaddach, a European sawfly that feeds on Aruncus diocus (Walter) Fernald (Rosaceae), was discovered in Quebec. This probable introduction is the first report of N. spiraeae in North America and the first record of a sawfly feeding on Aruncus in North America. A diagnosis and some life history notes are given for N. spiraeae.

Arytainilla spartiophila (Foerster) is native to central and western Europe and a specialist herbivore on Scotch broom (Cytisus scoparius [L.] Link; Fabaceae). This psyllid has been released for biological control and become established in exotic habitats where Scotch broom is invasive (Australia, New Zealand). Accidentally introduced into North America, it is known in the Pacific Northwest from California, Oregon, and Washington, and in Canada from British Columbia. Virginia has remained the only eastern North American record. Based on fieldwork in 2015 and 2016, Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina are added to the psyllid's known eastern distribution. Its syntopy with Arytaina genistae (Latreille) at a site in western North Carolina represents the first eastern North American locale where both immigrant Palearctic psyllids of Scotch broom have been found. Adults (mainly males) of this univoltine species appeared in mid-April, numbers declined by mid- to late May when populations became...

New U.S. records are given for two immigrant Old World insects established on mimosa, Albizia julibrissin (Fabaceae), based on collections from 2013 to 2015. The psyllid Acizzia jamatonica is newly reported from Arkansas (11 counties), Louisiana (3 parishes), and Oklahoma (3 counties); the westernmost collection site (95°34′) was in Oklahoma. New state records for the bruchine chrysomelid Bruchidius terrenus are Arkansas (2 counties), Kansas (1 county), Louisiana (3 parishes), Oklahoma (6 counties), and Texas (4 counties); it was taken as far west as 98°00′ in Kansas. Although the foci of introduction for both species are unknown, they might have entered the United States at southeastern ports (coastal, inland, or both) with the shipment of infested mimosa nursery stock from Asia. Following establishment, their spread north and west probably involved natural dispersal and movement of infested host plants (jump dispersal) within the United States.

Diaphania costata (Fabricius) (Lepidoptera: Crambidae) is a leaffolder on Apocynaceae in the Neotropics and the southeastern United States. Adult moths photographed or captured at light in the United States have been commonly misidentified, and the species’ Nearctic distribution has been poorly documented. We provide diagnostic characters for larval and adult stages, compare it to related Old World taxa, and describe the damage to ornamental Vinca L. The species is not restricted to Texas but occurs as far east as the Atlantic Coast and as far north as Virginia. Specimens collected in daily surveys over many years indicate that the range of D. costata spread naturally from Louisiana and Texas from the 1980s into the 2000s.

Two hundred and sixty-two adventive aphids (Hemiptera: Aphidoidea) have been previously reported in North America north of Mexico. We update this to include 25 previously unrecorded species, and include information on the location and date of first discovery, biogeographic origin, and economically important North American hosts for these species. The number of adventive species introduced per year has decreased overall since 1930.We discuss aphids intercepted at United States ports of entry and identified by the Systematic Entomology Laboratory from 2000–2016 and comment on how the composition of species intercepted may affect the adventive species that become established.

A new species of the phyline plant bug genus Rubrocuneocoris Schuh (Hetereroptera: Miridae) is described from Hawaii. Although known only from the Oahu and Hawaii in the Hawaiian Islands, it is considered an adventive species originating from elsewhere in eastern Asia or the Indo-Pacific Region. A diagnosis, description, habitus images, and illustrations of male genitalia are provided to help distinguish this new species from the other 13 previously known species of the genus.

New North American distribution records of the Palearctic micropezid fly Micropeza lateralisMeigen are given for the Pacific Northwest. In 2007, specimens of M. lateralis were beaten from Scotch broom (Cytisus scoparius) at two locales in Washington (new U.S. record). Micropeza chillcotti Merritt and Peterson, 1976 is proposed as a junior synonym of M. lateralis.

Larinus turbinatus Gyllenhal, a Palearctic weevil that feeds on thistle species of the genera Cirsium and Carduus (Asteraceae: tribe Cardueae), is newly reported for North America. It was first collected by sweep net sampling of flowers of pasture thistle Cirsium pumilum (Nutt.) Spreng. at Fort Indiantown Gap, Lebanon County, Pennsylvania in late July 2011 and specimens were hand-collected from field thistle Cirsium discolor (Muhl. exWilld.) Spreng. at Gettysburg National Park, Adams County, Pennsylvania in late August 2012. This is the first published record of this Old World species in the Western Hemisphere. At present, five species of the genus Larinus are known as introduced into North America. These are L. turbinatus Gyllenhal, L. carlinae (Olivier) (known formerly as L. planus), L. curtus Hochhuth, L. obtusus Gyllenhal, and L. minutus Gyllenhal. Brief summaries of their hosts, distributions, biology and a key for their separation are provided.

Mezira subsetosa Josifov and Kerzhner, a mezirine aradid native to the East Palearctic Region, is newly reported from North America. Beginning in 2015, by-catch specimens were extracted from Lindgren funnel trap samples in Maryland as part of a state surveillance program monitoring for the presence of exotic bark and ambrosia beetles and other wood-boring insects. This is the first confirmed record of this aradid in the New World. Subsequent collections from similar pest surveillance trapping in Georgia, North Carolina, and Virginia, coupled with verifiable online images of M. subsetosa photographed at various locations in the District of Columbia, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania, support the establishment of this species in the Mid-Atlantic states. A diagnosis, redescription, high-resolution images of the adult male and female, and a revised key to U.S. species of Mezira are provided.

An adventive, previously undescribed species, Neophyllaphis varicolor Miller and Halbert, n. sp., is described and illustrated. A modified key to Neophyllaphis found on Podocarpus spp. (Podocarpaceae) and a key to Neophyllaphis in the USA are provided.

Stinging nettle (Urtica dioica L.; Urticaceae), a Holarctic perennial herb, is a host plant of two lygaeoids of the family Heterogastridae: Heterogaster urticae (F.) in the Palearctic and H. behrensii (Uhler) in the Nearctic Region. We give the first published North American records (other than port-of-entry interceptions) of H. urticae, based on fieldwork in British Columbia in 2010 and 2011. We also give new distribution records for H. behrensii, a species of special concern in the province; it previously was known in Canada only from one site in British Columbia. Morphological characters are provided to distinguish the species. Both heterogastrids were collected from stinging nettle in British Columbia's Lower Fraser Valley and on Vancouver Island; H. urticae also was taken in the Vancouver Metro Area. The species were syntopic in two nettle colonies. We suggest that the heterogastrids'syntopy provides an opportunity to determine whether the adventive H. urticae might adversely affect the nat...

New distributional records are given for two Palearctic hemipterans established on Scotch broom, Cytisus scoparius (Fabaceae), in the Pacific Northwest. Additional records for the centrotine membracid Gargara genistae (F) include British Columbia (Vancouver Island), Oregon (seven sites in five counties), and Washington (eight sites in six counties). For the tingid Dictyonota fuliginosa Costa, we give new records from British Columbia (lower mainland and Vancouver Island) and Oregon (five counties) subsequent to the recent (2008) updating of its North American distribution.

Surveys of black flies on four Pacific islands revealed four species on Okinawa, two on Guam, and none on Rota or Saipan. Simulium aureohirtum Brunetti represents a new record for Guam and the only black fly that is not precinctive to Oceania. The banding patterns of the larval polytene chromosomes of this species are identical among populations from Guam, Okinawa, and Thailand, suggesting that the insular colonizations might be recent.

The Asian buprestid Agrilus subrobustus Saunders was first recorded from North America on the basis of three adults taken in sticky traps at a site in northwestern Georgia in 2006; nine adults since have been trapped at a site in eastern Tennessee. We collected adults of A. subrobustus by beating branches of mimosa (Albizia julibrissin) trees in the Southeast in 2007 (2 specimens) and 2010 (119 specimens). The collections represent the first records from Alabama (11 counties) and South Carolina (3 counties) and add to new records for Georgia (11 counties) and Tennessee (1 county). We map the known U.S. distribution of A. subrobustus and provide a description, diagnosis, photographs of the male genitalia, and color photographs of the adult to facilitate recognition of this adventive buprestid in the North American fauna.

Athalia cornubiae Benson, an Old World species that feeds on Sedum (Crassulaceae), is reported from North America. It was collected in a Lindgren funnel trap in East Syracuse, Onondaga Co., New York, U.S.A. in 2007 and found in Malaise trap collections at a residence in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, in 2010. This is the first record of both the genus and species in the Western Hemisphere.

Euscelis ohausi Wagner, a Palearctic deltocephaline leafhopper found mainly on Scotch broom (Cytisus scoparius; Fabaceae), was reported new to North America in 1971 based solely on late-instar nymphs from one locale in Oregon. We now confirm its establishment in North America based on collections from nine localities in Oregon, three in Washington, and four in British Columbia (first Canadian record). United States records are listed and mapped, and the adult is briefly described and illustrated. Characters are provided to distinguish E. ohausi from other species of the genus occurring in North America.

Pseudococcus saccharicola Takahashi was collected on Guana Island, and nearby Beef Island and Tortola, in the British Virgin Islands (BVI). The records are the first in the Western Hemisphere for this potentially important Old World pest of sugarcane and certain other graminoid crops. Host plants on Guana were Chloris barbata Sw. (swollen fingergrass), C. radiata (L.) (radiate fingergrass), Cynodon dactylon L. (bermudagrass), and Saccharum officinarum L. (sugarcane). A probable mealybug predator associated with colonies of P. saccharicola on all three islands was the hyperaspidine coccinellid Hyperaspis scutifera (Mulsant), previously recorded in the West Indies only from the Leeward Antilles (Curacao). Both the mealybug and lady beetle are considered adventive in the BVI. Diagnoses and illustrations of both species are provided to facilitate their recognition. Hyperaspis sanctaeritae Dobzhansky, 1941, described from Arizona, USA, is proposed (by N.J.V.) as a junior synonym of H. scutifera (Mulsant 1850).

New distributional records are presented for three non-native megachilid bees—Anthidium manicatum (Linnaeus), Anthidium oblongatum (Illiger), and Megachile sculpturalis Smith. These bees inhabited every county in Connecticut and several others in nearby northeastern states. My records of A. manicatum from Massachusetts and Rhode Island and of A. oblongatum from Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont represent the first published state records. The multiple, largely exotic, floral hosts reported with the distributional records provide more evidence that A. manicatum and A. oblongatum are polylectic. The current distributional range and the potential impact of these adventive species are discussed briefly.

The East Asian psyllid Acizzia jamatonica (Kuwayama) develops mainly on mimosa or silk tree (Albizia julibrissin Durazz.; Fabaceae). First recorded from Europe in 2001, the psyllid was detected in the Nearctic Region at two locales in Georgia, U.S.A, in 2006. Our surveys of mimosa in the southeastern United States in 2007 and 2008 indicate that A. jamatonica is widespread. It is newly reported from Alabama (9 counties), Florida (6), North Carolina (3), South Carolina (12), and Tennessee (4); 19 additional counties are reported for Georgia. The known U.S. distribution of the psyllid is mapped, a taxonomic diagnosis and description are provided to facilitate its recognition in the Nearctic fauna, and notes are given on its seasonality and habits. Also provided are color photographs of an overwintered (dark) and summer (green) adult, eggs, fourth- and fifth-instar nymphs, and injury to mimosa leaflets.

The first Newfoundland records are given for 12 Palearctic species: the aphids Acyrthosiphon caraganae (Cholodkovsky), A. pisum (Harris), Hyperomyzus lactucae (L.), Macrosiphoniella artemisiae (Boyer de Fonscolombe), Pleotrichophorus glandulosus (Kaltenbach), Tuberculatus annulatus (Hartig), and Uroleucon cirsii (L.); leafhoppers Athysanus argentarius Metcalf and Grypotes puncticollis (Herrich-Schaeffer); anthocorids Acompocoris pygmaeus (Fallen) and Anthocoris confusus Reuter; and microphysid Loricula pselaphiformis Curtis. All 12 Old World species are considered immigrant (rather than intentionally introduced) in Newfoundland. Two mirid species native to North America—Deraeocoris piceicola Knight and D. pinicola Knight—also are reported as new to the island. All 14 hemipteran species were collected in the eastern Avalon Peninsula (13 were found at the major port city of St. John's) and were found mainly on Old World plants. The record of the mirid D. piceicola is the first for eastern Canada, a...

Archips xylosteana (L.), a widespread Palearctic tortricid moth, is reported from four localities in St. John's, Newfoundland, the first records of this species in North America. Adults were found on a variety of ornamental trees and shrubs on the campus of Memorial University in August 2005 and 2006. This immigrant tortricid, a minor pest of rosaceous fruit trees and shrubs, is redescribed and diagnosed. Photographs of the adult male and female are provided to facilitate its recognition. Its worldwide distribution and biology are summarized.

The common asparagus beetle, Crioceris asparagi (Linnaeus) and the twelve-spotted asparagus beetle, Crioceris duodecimpunctata (Linnaeus) are introduced Palearctic leaf beetles that feed exclusively on asparagus. The introduction history of these species in North America is reviewed and their dispersal to and distribution in the Maritime Provinces of Canada are described. Both species were first reported in Canada in 1899 in asparagus production areas in Queenston, Ontario, and other parts of the Niagara Peninsula where they caused serious crop damage. However, we discovered that both species were already found around Quebec City 22 years earlier. Populations now established in the Maritime Provinces of Canada probably originated from southwestern Ontario where most commercial asparagus production in Canada began and now occurs. Crioceris asparagi and C. duodecimpunctata spread steadily throughout eastern Canada by adult flight dispersal abetted by wind, by the dissemination of seeds by birds, and by commercial movement of root crowns and spears of asparagus. Asparagus escaped from cultivation, growing along transportation corridors (such as railway tracks, power utility right-of-ways and roads) and in vacant lands, which facilitated the spread and establishment of C. asparagi and C. duodecimpunctata throughout North America. Now, both these adventive pest species occur wherever asparagus is grown. Both C. asparagi and C. duodecimpunctata are confirmed to occur in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, but not Newfoundland and Labrador. However, C. duodecimpunctata is newly recorded from Prince Edward Island. These introduced beetles are not regulated by Canada or by the U.S.A., and they are readily controlled at economically acceptable damage thresholds.

The origins and status of Chrysolina staphylaea (Linnaeus), first recorded in North America in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada in 1897, is reviewed. Additional records from Nova Scotia and Newfoundland are reported which establish that the species is more widely distributed than has hitherto been known. The status of the species on the continent is discussed, as are possible modes of introduction, dispersal, and potential host plants.