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In 1980 and 1981, pitfall traps and an insect vacuum net were used to sample polyphagous predators in plots of winter wheat treated or not treated with herbicides. Dense populations of broad-leaved and grass weeds occurred in untreated plots. Significantly more large carabids ( Pterostichus melanarius and P. madidus ) were caught in pitfall traps in treated than in untreated plots, where their activity may have been reduced by the vegetation. Numbers of the carabids Loricera pilicornis, Agonum dorsale and Amara species, of the staphylinids Philonthus cognatus, Tachinus signatus, Tachyporus species and Aleocharinae and of larvae of both families were significantly reduced by herbicide treatments. Some species were unaffected by the treatments. Cereal aphids were sparse during the trials and their numbers were unaffected by herbicide treatments. In 1981, more Sitobion avenae occurred on the cultivar Maris Huntsman than on Kador.

The Palearctic staphylinid beetles of the subfamily Aleocharinae occuring in North America are discussed. The record of Meotica exilis (Knoch) is regarded doubtful. The records of seven species doubtfully reported from North America are confirmed: Atheta amicula (Stephens), A. coriaria (Kraatz), A. fungi (Gravenhorst), A. islandica (Kraatz), A. pallidicornis (Thomson), A. palustris (Kiesenwetter) and Dinaraea angustula (Gyllenhal). Nine Palearctic species are recorded for the first time from North America: Atheta botanicarum Muona, A. dilutipennis (Motschulsky), A. harwoodi Williams, A. longicornis (Gravenhorst), A. nigricornis (Thomson), Geostiba circellaris (Gravenhorst), Gnypeta caerulea (C. R. Sahlberg), Dochmonota rudiventris (Eppelsheim) and Meotica apicalis G. Benick. The genera Homia Blackwelder and Schistoglossa Kraatz are occuring in North America. Pragensiella Machulka, 1941 is regarded a junior subjective synonym of Thecturota Casey, 1893. By the 16 species added here the number of Holarctic species of Aleocharinae amounts to 32.

A revision of the genus Hoplandria of America north of Mexico is presented. Four subgenera are recognized, of which two (Genosema Notman and Lophomucter Notman) previously were given generic status and one (Arrhenandria) is here newly described. Twelve species are defined, of which eight are described as new: H. alternans, H. isabellae, H. kisatchie, H. klimaszewskii, H. oconee, H. okaloosa, H. sanbornei, and H. smetanai. The species are arranged according to their relationships into species groups within the subgenus Lophomucter, where seven species are assigned. For the remaining subgenera species grouping was not possible due to the smaller number of species. The following synonymies are confirmed (the first specific name is valid): Subg. Hoplandria, H. lateralis (Melsheimer) = H. ochracea Kraatz = H. texana Casey = H. arizonica Casey = H. carinata Casey; Subg. Arrhenandria, H. laeviventris Casey = H. acudentata Dury. The species Genosema sexualis Notman is here synonymized with H. pulchra Kraatz. Hoplandria brittoni Casey was previously regarded as a synonym of H. lateralis (Melsheimer); it is now considered as a junior synonym of Platandria carolinae Casey. Lectotypes are designated for Gyrophaena lateralis Melsheimer, Hoplandria arizonica Casey, H. carinata Casey, H. laeviventris Casey, H. ochracea Kraatz, H. pulchra Kraatz, and H. texana Casey. Keys to subgenera and species are provided. All species are described, diagnostic characteristics of each are illustrated with line drawings and scanning electron microscope photomicrographs, and all available bionomic and distributional data are given. The morphology, systematics, and phylogeny of the subgenera and certain species are discussed, and a checklist of Nearctic species is added.

This complex of the Deremini (subfamily Aleocharinae) now includes the genera Dorylopora Wasmann, Rodylopora (type attenuata; ; Congo Republic and Ivory Coast), and Draconula type minuta; Ivory Coast). These and their respective species are described and illustrated, and a key is given to Dorylopora , in which 10 new species from tropical Africa are added to the 6 previously known. Known geographic ranges have been extended and host data augmented for nearly all previously known species in the complex. These beetles were found to be obligate scavengers, feeding on minute pieces of dropped booty and on dead ants. By using a new method for measuring the degree of colonial integration, it was found that species with larger numbers of carinas on their bodies were more integrated into the ant colonies than those with fewer, although the degree of integration for Dorylopora was never high. Comparative data, arrived at by the same method, are presented for certain members of the Dorylomimini and Pygostenini, groups which are well integrated into the ant colonies. Host specificity was found to be applicable only at the ants' subgeneric level, though there was some indication that dereminine species associated with Dorylus (Anomma) emeryi ssp. opacus Forel are not found with other ants in the same location.

During his investigations of the termite faunae of the neotropics and the United States, Dr. Alfred E. Emerson has collected from the nests of these social insects a most remarkable series of termitophilous arthropods of a number of families. Most of this material has already been taxonomically considered; the Coleoptera by Mann (1923, 1926) and Seevers (1937, 1938, 1939), Diptera and Hymenoptera by Brues (1923, 1932), Hemiptera by Morrison (1923), Diplopoda by Chamberlin (1923), and the Collembola and Thysanura by Folsom (1923). These collections were made at the Tropical Research Station of the New York Zoological Society at Kartabo, Bartica District, British Guiana, in Trinidad, on Barro Colorado Island in the Canal Zone, and in various localities of the United States.

A new genus and species of termitophilous staphylinid, SKATITOXENUS coatoni , is described from South- West Africa. This genus is so different from other staphylinids, both termitophilous and free-living, that a new tribe, Skatitoxenini, is proposed to contain it. It is the first termitophile to be reported from a new genus and species of termite related to Speculitermes . The species shows both positive and regressive glandular adaptations. Regressive adaptations are: reduction of the tergal defense gland and of the postpleural glands; type 1 glandular cells at the anterior edges of abdominal segments III–VI also somewhat reduced. Positive adaptations are: a stipital gland; type 1 glandular cells at the anterior edge of sternite VII and between tergite I and the metapimera; type 2 glandular cells numerous in all abdominal sclerites but especially in abdominal sternites and in the highly modified mouthparts. Glands associated with the genital organs were also studied. Some of the adaptations exhibit a convergent resemblance to those of the Corotocini, but these adaptations are sufficiently different in detail to support separate tribal status for the genus.

Two species of Pygostenini (Coleoptera, Staphylinidae, Subfamily Aleocharinae) are redescribed and illustrated. Both species ( Pygostenus magnum Tottenham and Sympolemon rufobrunneus Tottenham) are also carefully compared with the other species in their respective genera. The lateral lobe of the male genitalia of Pygostenus magnum is illustrated and compared to similar structures in other genera. It is then concluded that the lateral lobe tends to strengthen the restricted concept of this genus as well as the phylogenetic position of that genus in relation to other related genera.

There were no significant differences in the attack density, gallery length, and number of eggs per unit of gallery of Ips paraconfusus (Coleoptera: Scolytidae) within the infested tree boles of Pinus radiata. Adult Aleocharinae sp. (Staphylinidae), Plegaderus sp. (Histeridae), and larvae of Medetera aldrichi (Diptera: Dolichopodidae) were evenly distributed throughout the infested tree bole. There was a significant, positive linear correlation with tree height and the number of larvae of Coeloides rufovariegatus (Hymenoptera: Braconidae), Rhopalicus pulchripennis (Pteromalidae), and Roptrocerus xylophagorum (Pteromalidae); the bark's being thinner in the upper parts of the tree bole allowing the parasites's ovipositors to reach the host larvae through the bark.

The defensive secretions of bothTramiathaea cornigera andThamiaraea fuscicornis contain undecane, toluquinone, ethyl decanoate and smaller amounts of other esters. The presence of esters particularly ethyl decanoate as a major component sets these two beetles apart chemically not only among the staphylinids but also within the subfamily Aleocharinae.

Oriental Region (Coleoptera, Staphylinidae, Aleocharinae). - Four new Oriental species of the genus Gnypeta Thomson, 1858 are described and illustrated: Gnypeta bolmi sp. n., Gnypeta mindanaoensis sp. n., Gnypeta sabangensis sp. n. and Gnypeta guineensis sp. n. Their affinities with related species are discussed.

A new genus and species, Thendelecrotona natalica Paśnik, gen. & sp. n., from the Royal Natal National Park, South Africa is described and illustrated. The new genus is placed in the tribe Thamiaraeini Fenyes, 1921, and its affinities with related genera are discussed.

Myrmecophiles which have developed intimate relationships with their hosts may nevertheless be subject, at times, to aggressive treatment by their formicid benefactors. Thus, it is not surprising that certain myrmecophilous beetles possess well-developed glands which secrete defensive products when they are molested by their normally tolerant hosts. This is particularly true of many species in the staphylinid subfamily Aleocharinae, a taxon which contains beetles which have achieved various degrees of association both with ants and termites. The tergal gland of myrmecophilous aleocharines, which evacuates between the 6th and 7th tergites (Pasteels 1968), constitutes the primary defensive gland utilized by these staphylinids (Jordan 1913). In Lomechusa strumosa (Gravenhorst) the secretion of the tergal gland has been observed to be accurately discharged at aggressive ants which were effectively detered (Jordan 1913). Jordan further noted that ants confined in a tube containing the tergal gland secretion soon died. L. strumosa , a symphile or obligate myrmecophile of Formica santiuinea Latreille, possesses an hypertrophied tergal gland which appears to be more highly developed than those of free-living aleocharines (Pasteels 1968). We report here on the chemistry of the tergal gland secretion of L. strumosa .

The diel flight activity of dung-inhabiting beetles was monitored during the whole active season (May to October) in two localities in southern Finland, one exposed and one shaded using a baited Johnson-Taylor suction trap and a window trap. Altogether 49200 individuals were trapped, representing 148 species, of which 86 were included in the analysis. Ten different flight activity distributions, three unimodal and seven bimodal were distinguished, based on the hourly numbers of individuals captured. In the specialist coprophages, Sphaeridium and Aphodius, and the larger predators (subfamily Staphylininae) a unimodal pattern dominated, these being mostly day-flyers, while the generalist coprophages (genera Cercyon and Megarthrus and subfamily Oxytelinae) and the smaller predators (subfamily Aleocharinae) were mostly bimodal, and consequently more or less crepuscular. In most species the flight activity pattern changes characteristically by season and habitat. The duration of flight activity was the longest in summer, and shortest in autumn. The variance between the seasons was greatest at the beginning of the daily flight period than at the end. In most bimodal species the distributions overlapped totally in autumn resulting in a unimodal activity pattern. In the multivoltine species two different strategies was suggested as means of coping with the large seasonal temperature variations: (1) a flexible bimodal and (2) a broad unimodal activity pattern. In bimodal species a significant negative correlation was found between median flight temperature and macrohabitat niche width. Trends in the evolution of dispersal flight in dung-inhabiting beetles are discussed.

Leptagria perexilis Casey (Staphylinidae: Aleocharinae: Falagriini) is known from North America from two records: 1) south-central New York, and 2) southern Texas (Hoebeke 1985). We report here 60 specimens collected by sifting horse dung on Big Pine Key (together with specimens of the staphylinid Aleochara notula Erichson, a known member of the dung fauna). Probably L. perexilis is widely distributed across the entire eastern United States. Its habitat is poorly known, though Hoebeke (1985) recorded it from cow dung and by a pond. Collection data are: USA, Florida, Monroe Co., Big Pine Key, 15.XII.1986, J. Klimaszewski & S. B. Peck, sifting horse dung (2 males, 6 females, and 52 specimens of undetermined sex). Specimens are in the Canadian National Collection, Florida State Collection of Arthropods, and in the collections of J. Klimaszewski and J. H. Frank. Myllaena audax Casey (Staphylinidae: Aleocharinae: Myllaenini) is known mainly from western North America, with a few records from the northeast and still fewer from the southern USA (Klimaszewski 1982, Klimaszewski & Genier 1986). Its habitat is the banks of rivers, streams and lakes. We report here the first record from Florida: USA, Florida, Putnam Co., Ordway Preserve, Mill Creek Ford, 12.X.1985, J. H. Frank, in wet leaves at stream edge, 1 female (in collection J. H. Frank). Six other species of Staphylinidae have been added to the Florida list since Frank's (1986) checklist. Cephaloxynum rambouseki Bierig was reported from Dade Co. by Newton (1988); it was known previously only from Cuba, but may have occurred in southern Florida since prehistoric times as a component of the West Indian biota of the Florida Keys and adjacent mainland. Neohypnus coloratus Smetana and Oxybleptes meridionalis Smetana were described as new (Smetana 1988) from a few specimens from north-central Florida and southeastern Florida respectively; at present they must be considered as precinctive to Florida (i.e., occurring only in Florida). Lepitacnus pallidulus (LeConte) was reported from Florida by Smetana (1988) and is now known in the southern tier of states west to California. Atheta troglophila Klimaszewski & Peck and Atheta lucifuga Klimaszewski & Peck are known only from caves in the southern USA, including Florida (Klimaszewski & Peck 1986). Field work by S. B. & J. Peck and J. Klimaszewski was supported by a grant to S. B. Peck from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada. We thank M. C. Thomas and R. E. Woodruff for reviewing a manuscript draft. This is University of Florida, Institute of Food & Agricultural Sciences, journal series no. 9967.

Three species of ecitophilous myrmedoniine beetles (Microdonia nitidiventris (Brues), M. occipitalis Casey, and Ecitoxenidia alabamae Seevers) are reported from Florida (U.S.A.) for the first time. A new genus and species, Ecitocala rugosa Frank, with affinities to the Central American genus Ecitosius Seevers, is described. A habitus illustration is provided for adults of M. occipitalis, E. alabamae and E. rugosa, while diagnostic structures of E. rugosa are illustrated.

A new tribe of termitophilous aleocharine Staphylinidae, the Drepanoxenini, is described. The tribe includes a single genus, Drepanoxenus, with six species, all associated with species of Australian harvester termites Drepanotermes (Amitermitinae). No Drepanoxenus is known from more than one species of Drepanotermes.