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Background The Florida Keys Mosquito Control District utilises dry ice-baited light traps to monitor mosquito populations on Key Largo, Florida. This paper describes the methodology of trapping, habitat description and dataset of adult mosquito populations from 18 years of weekly monitoring from a single site on Key Largo, Monroe County, Florida, USA. New information This paper details a previously unreported dataset derived from trap collections made on Key Largo, Florida at a site designated as “Gun Club Road.” [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background The Florida Keys Mosquito Control District has used dry ice-baited light traps to monitor mosquito populations on Key Largo since 2003. This paper describes the methodology of trapping, the habitat and the dataset of adult mosquito populations from 18 years of weekly monitoring from a single site on Key Largo, Monroe County, FL, USA. New information This data paper provides previously unpublished data from a single trapping location in Key Largo, Florida. Two new species have been added to previously-published data from this trapping site. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background The Florida Keys Mosquito Control District deploys dry ice-baited light traps to monitor mosquito populations throughout the Florida Keys. Cross Key is an island directly north of Key Largo and via bridges it serves as a link between Key Largo and mainland Florida. New information This paper describes a data set compiled from trap collections on Cross Key, Florida, between September 23, 2002 and March 1, 2016. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new species of Melibe is described based on two specimens collected in Florida. This new species is well differentiated morphologically and genetically from other species of Melibe studied to date. The four residue deletions in the cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 protein found in all previously sequenced tropical species of Melibe sequenced (and Melibe rosea) are also present in this new species. These deletions do not appear to affect important structural components of this protein but might have fitness implications. This paper provides the first confirmed record of Melibe in the tropical western Atlantic Ocean. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Feral swine were targeted for and successfully eradicated from Saint Vincent Island (SVI), a National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) along the coast of Florida's panhandle to protect its habitats and uncharacteristically high diversity of wildlife species for barrier islands in the region, including federal and state-listed threatened and endangered species. The eradication effort was initiated in early 2015 and concluded in 2019. A total of 438 feral swine were removed from the Island, 417 by federal control experts and 21 by recreational hunters. In general, the amount of effort needed to eradicate each feral swine slowly increased as the eradication effort progressed; however, effort increased by an order of magnitude in the final six months. The last three feral swine took 77 days of effort to remove. The eradication effort provided an opportunity for evaluating and comparing methods for indexing feral swine population abundance and their abilities to describe population trends and to detect animals at low population abundance. The feral swine population was monitored from 2015–2019 using a passive tracking index (PTI) twice each year and using camera traps. Camera and track plot data were used to calculate abundance indices based on a well-documented indexing paradigm applied to feral swine populations. In addition, we simultaneously monitored relative abundance of other mammalian species crucial to management for the Island. The PTI and camera index both well-tracked population abundance simultaneously for the large ungulates inhabiting the Island (feral swine, white-tailed deer, sambar deer). However, the sensitivity for the PTI to capture animal observations was much greater than for the camera stations. This held true even over 5-day observation sessions by cameras versus 3-day observation sessions for track plots. Additionally, the PTI was sensitive for simultaneously capturing data for smaller animals, raccoons and armadillos, whereas the camera stations were ineffective for the smaller species, likely due to camera positions being optimised to capture feral swine. Our 100-m track plots outperformed the camera stations in many regards, but the camera stations required less labour in the field and were less fragile in the field, especially from weather or access issues. In 2018, Hurricane Michael, a category 5 hurricane, struck SVI. Its habitat damage may have adversely impacted white-tailed deer and sambar deer populations, but not armadillos or raccoons. Both the swine eradication and hurricane impacts provided valuable means for validating indexing procedures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the past decade, several species of platygastroid wasps were found to be adventive in North America and Europe while under evaluation in quarantine as biological control agents of invasive pests. The scope and relative risk of this phenomenon is not fully known, but it is clearly a trend with implications for classical biological control. As a means of assessing the issue and to provide a global baseline, we implemented a data-mining approach with DNA sequences in the Barcode of Life Database, yielding 201 platygastroid BINs with intercontinental and island distributions. At least fifty-five BINs displayed exact COI barcode matches across continents, with many more BINs scored as inconclusive due to sequence length variation. These intercontinental and island BINs include biocontrol agents known to be adventive, as well as many species identified only to genus with uncertain geographic origins. We provide 2,500 identifications for platygastroid BOLD BINs, 88% to genus, to encourage additional research on this distributional phenomenon. The intercontinental BOLD BINs were compared to literature records and GBIF occurrences of cosmopolitan species to identify gaps and discordance across data sources. Smaller COI barcode datasets from localities in Florida and Germany, including topotypical specimens, revealed more intercontinental matches. We analyzed COI sequences in BOLD for the entirety of Insecta and Araneae to assessthis phenomenon more broadly and because these taxa contain many hosts for platygastroid wasps. This method revealed that the intercontinental distribution phenomenon is widespread with implications for assessing biological diversity, taxonomic methodology and regulatory frameworks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gymnoscirtetes is endemic to the southeastern portion of the North American Coastal Plain and previously comprised two species: G. pusillus Scudder, 1897 and G. morsei Hebard, 1918. Here, this genus is revised based on male genital morphology and geographic data, and four new species are described: G. georgiaensis sp. nov., G. pageae sp. nov., G. rex sp. nov., and G. wadeorum sp. nov. Gymnoscirtetes is primarily associated with mesic grasslands such as pitcher plant bogs, flatwoods, and the edges of seasonal ponds, but can be found less commonly in a variety of other grasslands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Psix striaticeps (Dodd) is an egg-parasitoid wasp previously known only from the Old World. We report this species from twelve counties in Florida, which are the first records in the Western Hemisphere. It was collected in yellow cylinder traps and reared from the eggs of three stink bug species: Nezara viridula L., Chinavia marginata (Palisot de Beauvois), and Piezodorus guildinii (Westwood). A COI barcode analysis found a 100% match between the Floridian population and a specimen from South Africa. The prospects of using Ps. striaticeps as a biological control agent against exotic stink bugs are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new species of blind subterranean ground beetle in the genus Anillinus Casey is described from Florida. Anillinus albrittonorum sp. nov. (type locality: 6 miles NW High Springs, Columbia County, Florida) has a unique structure of female genitalia and occupies an isolated position within the genus. This new species is illustrated with images of the habitus, body parts, and male and female genitalia. Relationships of A. albrittonorum to other members of the genus are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stony coral tissue loss disease (SCTLD) was first observed in September 2014 near Virginia Key, Florida. In roughly six years, the disease spread throughout Florida and into the greater Caribbean basin. The high prevalence of SCTLD and high resulting mortality in coral populations, and the large number of susceptible species affected, suggest that this outbreak is one of the most lethal ever recorded. The initial recognition and management response to this catastrophic disease in Florida was slow, which delayed the start of monitoring programs and prevented coordinated research programs by at least two years. The slow management response was a result of several factors that operated concurrently. First, the Port Miami dredging project was ongoing during the coral disease epidemic and dredging rather than SCTLD was blamed by some managers and local environmental groups for the extreme coral losses reported in the project's compliance monitoring program. Second, this blame was amplified in the media because dredging projects are intuitively assumed to be bad for coral reefs. Third, during this same time State of Florida policy prohibited government employees to acknowledge global warming in their work. This was problematic because ocean warming is a proximal cause of many coral diseases. As a result, the well-known links between warming and coral disease were ignored. A consequence of this policy was that the dredging project provided an easy target to blame for the coral mortality noted in the monitoring program, despite convincing data that suggested otherwise. Specifically, results from the intensive compliance monitoring program, conducted by trained scientific divers, were clear. SCTLD that was killing massive numbers of corals throughout Florida was also killing corals at the dredge site - and in the same proportions and among the same suite of species. While eradication of the disease was never a possibility, early control measures may have slowed its spread or allowed for the rescue of significant numbers of large colonies of iconic species. This coral disease outbreak has similarities to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States and there are lessons learned from both that will improve disease response outcomes in the future, to the benefit of coral reefs and human populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aprostocetus smilax Gates & Zhang, sp. nov., is described from stem and leaf galls on Smilax havanensis Jacq. in southern Florida, USA. It is the third species of Aprostocetus Westwood known to induce plant galls. Two parasitoids of A. smilax are also described: Phylloxeroxenus smilax Gates & Zhang sp. nov. and Sycophila smilax Gates & Zhang, sp. nov. We conclude that A. smilax is the true gall inducer on Smilax L., and thus the host records of Diastrophus smilacis Ashmead and its inquiline Periclistus smilacis Ashmead, both from Smilax, are erroneous. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Keylimepie peckorum Fernandez-Triana, gen. n. and sp. n., are described from southern Florida, U.S. Females have the shortest wings (0.6-0.7 × body length) of any known microgastrine wasp. The genus can also be recognized on features of the head, propodeum and first three metasomal tergites. All specimens were collected in hammock forests of the Florida Keys and Everglades National Park, but their host caterpillar is unknown. Because its morphology is unique and it is the first new microgastrine genus discovered in North America since 1985, the potential for future conservation of the species is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Esagonatopus floridensis sp. n. is described from Florida, Oklaloosa County (USA). A revision of the three Nearctic species of Esagonatopus Olmi, 1984 is presented. New data on geographic distribution, morphologic variability and opposite sexes of E. niger (Fenton, 1924) and E. perdebilis (Perkins, 1907) are given. A key to the Nearctic species of Esagonatopus is presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Schinia psamathea sp. n. is described from the southern coastal plain in Georgia and the East Gulf coastal plain in Florida and Alabama in habitats associated with sandy soil or dunes. Adult males and females and their genitalia are described and illustrated. Schinia psamathea is compared to Schinia saturata (Grote). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on the description of the new species of plant parasitic nematode named Hemicaloosia (H.) vagisclera from Florida. It mentions that the description of new Hemicaloosia was obtained for publication in the on-line version of "Nematology" on April 27, 2012, but was not registered in ZooBank. It states that a morphological comparison of Hemicaloosia adults shows that their morphometrics and morphological features overlap in the two descriptions.