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Aphis intybi Koch is recorded for the first time in North and South America. Measurements for the identification of this species in comparison with Aphis craccivora Koch are given. Aphis cytisorum Hartig is recorded for the third time in Argentina. Data on morphological variation, geographical distribution, and host plants of these species in Argentina are provided. Their morphological identification is supported by comparison of DNA sequences of the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit 1 (DNA barcode) and subunit 2. Aphis intybi Koch se cita por primera vez tanto en América del Sur como del Norte. Se aportan características métricas para la identificación de la especie en comparación con Aphis craccivora Koch. Aphis cytisorum Hartig se cita por tercera vez en la Argentina. Se aportan datos sobre la variación morfológica, así como sobre la distribución geográfica y las plantas hospedadoras en Argentina de esas especies. Las identificaciones morfológicas han sido corroboradas mediante comparaciones de las secuencias de la citocromo oxidasa I (DNA barcode) y de la citocromo oxidasa II del DNA mitocondrial. EEA Mendoza Fil: Mier Durante, Milagros Pilar. Universidad de León. Departamento de Biodiversidad y Gestión Ambiental (área de Zoología); España Fil: Foottit, Robert. Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. Canadian National Collection of Insects. Invertebrate Biodiversity; Canadá Fil: Dohlen, Carol D. Von. Utah State University. Department of Biology; Estados Unidos Fil: Ortego, Jaime. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Mendoza; Argentina

Redbay ambrosia beetle (RAB), Xyleborus gla bratus Eichhoff (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Sco lytinae), a native of Asia, was first discovered in the USA near Savannah, Georgia in 2002 (Haack 2001; Rabaglia et al. 2006). RAB is an effective vector of Raffaelea lauricola T.C. Harr., Fraedrich & Aghayeva (Harrington et al. 2008) that causes laurel wilt (LW), a lethal disease of several trees in the Lauraceae in the southeastern USA (Crane et al. 2008; Mayfield et al. 2008). Ambrosia beetle adults bore through the bark and into the xy lem (wood) where they lay eggs, then adults and larvae cultivate and feed on symbiotic ambrosia fungi that grow in the galleries. Native Persea (Laurales: Lauraceae) species appear to be pre ferred hosts. LW is responsible for high mortality of redbay [P borbonia (L.) Spreng.], swampbay [P palustris (Raf.) Sarg.], and sassafras [Sassa fras albidum (Nuttall) Nees] in Alabama, Flor ida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina and South Carolina (Fraedrich et al. 2008; Hanula et al. 2008; Gramling 2010). As LW encroaches upon the Lake Wales Ridge ecosystem in south central Florida, silkbay (P. humilis Nash) is also showing susceptibility to LW and is dying. Addi tional species affected by LW include avocado (P. americana Mill.), spicebush [Lindera benzoin (L.) Blume], and other woody Lauraceae (Fraedrich et al. 2008) (Table 1). The susceptibility of 5 avocado cultivars of Mexican, Guatemalan or West Indian origin to RAB and LW was demonstrated by Mayfield et al. (2008). However, with more than 23 West In dian cultivars grown in Florida, it is necessary to determine their susceptibility. Moreover, as an adventive species to the North American conti nent, RAB might affect other valuable New World species. Most Persea species are of Mexican, Cen tral American, or South American origin. These Persea may have significant value in germplasm collections, some have been discovered recently, and some have resistance to diseases that afflict their commercial relative, the avocado (Skutch et l. 1992; Scora & Bergh 1992; Zentmyer & Schieber 1992). Thus, their susceptibility to RAB and LW warrants evaluation. Another member of the Lauraceae of much concern is the California bay laurel [Umbellularia californica (Hook. & Arn.) Nutt.], a dominant hardwood species of the U.S. Pacific Coast. Through inoculation experi ments, Fraedrich (2008) demonstrated that U. californica is susceptible to LW. With continued westward spread of LW, the host status of U. cali fornica needs to be confirmed. The 3 studies presented here evaluate sus ceptibility to RAB and LW in: 1) 13 West Indian avocado cultivars; 2) 10 non-commercial Persea spp., 1 Beilschmidia sp. (a genus related to Per sea), and 3) U. californica. First, no-choice ex periments were conducted to determine if RAB would bore into avocado cultivars not screened previously by Mayfield et al. (2008) and follow ing similar methodology. Avocado cultivars 'Ber necker', 'Beta', 'Brooks late', 'Choquette', 'Don nie', 'Dupuis', 'Hall', 'Loretta', 'Lula', 'Monroe', 'Simmonds', 'Tower 2' and 'Waldin' (4 plants each) were planted in 10-gallon pots in a screenhouse at he Plant Sciences Research and Education Unit, University of Florida (UF), Citra, Florida in VI 2008. Two plants of each cultivar were infested by enclosing 4 newly emerged 9 RAB (UF colony reared) within a mesh sleeve on the lower trunk. Two plants per cultivar were uninfested controls. Entrance holes and perseitol (white exudate from wounds) were monitored for 4 wk. Severity of wilt symptoms was scored using the following LW in dex: 0 = no wilt; 1 = wilt, no leaf necrosis; 2 = wilt, 10% necrosis or defoliation; 3 = wilt, 30% necrosis/ defoliation; 4 = 50% necrosis/defoliation; 5 = 75% necrosis/defoliation; 6 = 100% necrosis/defoliation

We report the discovery of Aulacaspis yasumatsui Takagi (Hemiptera: Diaspididae) in Chiapas State near the Guatemala–Mexico border. This cycad pest presents a potentially serious threat to the many cycads species native to Mexico. SumarioEste es el primer reporte de Aulacaspis yasumatsui Takagi (Hemiptera: Diaspididae) en la frontera sur de Mexico. Esta plaga podria representar una grave amenaza para las especies de cicadas nativas de Mexico. View this article in BioOne

P. 111-116 Se citan por vez primera para Sudamérica seis especies de pulgones: Saltusaphis scirpus Theobald, Myzocallis boerneri Stroyan, Macrocrosiphoniella abrotani (Walker), Macrosiphoniella absinthii (Linnaeus), Macrosiphoniella pseudoartemisiae Shinji y Macrosiphoniella tapuskae (Hottes & Frison). Todas ellas recogidas en la Argentina. Se presentan comentarios de cada especie y claves de identificación para las especies de Myzocallidina y de Macrosiphoniella conocidas en Sudamérica SI

The egg parasitoid Paratelonomus saccharalis (Dodd) (Hymenoptera: Platygastridae) is reported for the first time on the eggs of the kudzu bug Megacopta cribraria (F.) (Heteroptera: Plataspidae) in Alachua County, Florida. This egg parasitoid was previously reported only in Georgia and Alabama. Sumario El parasitoide de huevos Paratelenomus saccharalis (Dodd) (Hymenoptera: Platygastridae) es reportado por primera vez en huevos de la chinche del kudzu Megacopta cribraria (F.) (Heteroptera: Plataspidae) en el condado Alachua de la Florida. Este parasitoide de huevos habia sido previamente reportado solamente en Georgia y Alabama. View this article in BioOne

P. 839-842 Three aphid species, Cinara pruinosa (Hartig), Acyrthosiphon lactucae (Passerini) and Coloradoa bournieri (Remaudière & Leclant) are recorded for the first time in South America from specimens caught in the Argentinean Patagonia. Data are given on their biology and distribution and characters distinguishing each one, as well as proximate species known in South America. SI

From 1915 until 1991,Belonuchus rufipennis (E) and B. pallidus Casey were the only species of this genus reported from Florida (Frank 1986, Smetana 1995). The adults are 4.6-9.0 mm long and, like the larvae, are predatory. The former is the more widespread in Florida and elsewhere in the eastern and southern USA. The latter seems restricted to central and southem Florida. I have often encountered both, under fallen, decomposing citrus fruits, where they feed on smaller insects including fly larvae and perhaps larvae of nitidulid beetles. Then, in the 1990s, Smetana (1991, 1995) reported B. gagates Erichson from the Florida Keys and from Chekika State Recreation Area in Dade County, without habitat information, but with collection records as early as 1971. I have never detected this species in Florida, but had in Jamaica in 1969-1972 found it to be an ecological homologue of the foregoing two species: it likewise is widespread and abundant in fallen, decomposing citrus fruits. Adults of B. gagates are totally black and easily distinguished from those of the other two species, which are bicolored, red and black. It seemed obvious that B. gagates is an adventive species in Florida, having arrived somehow from the West Indies, where it is known not only from Jamaica but also from the Bahamas, Cuba, Hispaniola, Montserrat, and the US Virgin Islands (St. John and St. Thomas) (Blackwelder 1943). The only other species known from Jamaica is B. agilis Erichson, which I never found in fallen citrus fruits in 1969-1972. Blackwelder (1943) reported it also from Cuba, and listed one habitat as "on Ceiba (silk-cotton tree)." Its habitat nevertheless remained mysterious to me until 1985, when I found adults to be plentiful in the yellow flower bracts of Heliconia caribaea Lamarck in the John Crow Mountains of Portland Parish in eastern Jamaica. I now have various records of Belonuchus spp. in Heliconia spp. flower bracts from several countries, which I will discuss in a later paper. I state here, without further detail, that I also collected specimens of B. agilis in Heliconia bracts in the Dominican Republic in 1987. It seems to me that B. agilis is not an exact ecological homologue of the foregoing species because I have not found it to colonize the habitat provided by fallen citrus fruits in Jamaica or the Dominican Republic (I have been denied permission to visit Cuba by the US Treasury Department). On 9 July 2003, a "multilure trap" in a mango tree in the 7400 block of SW 139th Terrace, Miami, Florida, caught a staphylinid beetle which was later submitted to me for specific identification (the collector was Division of Plant Industry Inspector Gwen Myres). It was a female of B. agilis, lacking the apices of both antennae and some tarsomeres. Specimens of this species may easily be distinguished from other adult Belonuchus in Florida by being black, with the last two abdominal segments largely yellow. The species poses no threat to agriculture because adults and larvae are predacious. The method of arrival of this species is unknown, so by default we may call it adventive (it arrived). I do not know whether it arrived in Florida as an immigrant (by wind-assisted flight, or as a hitchhiker aboard an aircraft, from Cuba or Jamaica or the Dominican Republic; if it arrived in an aircraft, it may have been a contaminant of cut Heliconia flowers from Jamaica or the Dominican Republic; if it arrived naturally, its most likely source is Cuba), or (vastly less likely) it was introduced (someone imported it deliberately without permit [no permit has ever been issued]). There are thus two native species (B. rufipennis and B. pallidus) and two adventive species (B. gagates and B. agilis) of this genus in Florida. One of these (B. pallidus) is precinctive to Florida (is known from nowhere else and presumably evolved here). Definitions of these terms are given by Frank & McCoy (1990, 1995). It seems highly unlikely that a specimen of B. agilis would have been taken in a "multilure trap" on a mango tree in southwestern Miami (far from Miami airport) unless the species were established, at least temporarily, in southern Florida. In this note, I am reporting B. agilis for the first time from the Dominican Republic and Florida. I made value judgments with inadequate data. I believe that this species has been present in the Dominican Republic for hundreds or thousands of years, but has simply been overlooked by collectors, and may thus be called native. I believe that it has arrived recently in Florida. If my assumptions are correct, the year of first record proves little when comparing the faunas of south Florida and the Greater Antilles. There is no evidence that the species was "introduced" (the unfortunate vocabulary in general use) to either the Dominican Republic or Florida. I thank M. C. Thomas and P. E. Skelley for reviewing a manuscript draft. This is Florida Agricultural Experiment Station journal series R-09669.