Here, we report on the first state and county record of Euschistus quadrator Rolston (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) in Washington County, Mississippi. The species has been documented from Honduras to Virginia primarily on soybean, cotton, various row crops, fruit, and non-crop hosts. The local impact on agricultural crops in the area is unknown. The lack of E. quadrator sightings in Mississippi compared with the frequency of occurrence in literature from Louisiana is of interest. Weather patterns may have contributed to the range expansion. Future efforts to educate growers and consultants on identifying key characteristics of the various Euschistus species common in the southeastern United States may reveal an even larger distribution of E. quadrator in the state and region.

The kudzu bug, Megacopta cribraria (F.), is an urban nuisance and significant agricultural pest. The median lethal concentrations of three strains of Beauveria bassiana (Balsamo), including the Mississippi Delta native strain (NI8) isolated from Lygus lineolaris (Palisot de Beauvois), the commercial strain BotaniGard® (GHA) (Victor, NY, USA), and the B. bassiana strain isolated from M. cribraria (KUDSC), were estimated on kudzu bug adults. A technique developed to evaluate B. bassiana against L. lineolaris was used. Younger adults (eight days after collection) were treated with NI8 and GHA and older adult (50 days after collection) were treated with NI8, GHA and KUDSC. Higher concentrations (n × 106, n × 107) of NI8 and GHA caused kudzu bug mortality two days after treatment in younger adults and similar concentrations of NI8, GHA, and KUDSC caused mortality one day after treatment in older adults. Lower concentrations (n × 104, n × 105) were not significantly different in mortality between strains. LS50 values of the KUDSC were significantly lower than NI8 and GHA values in older adults. This is the first available information on median lethal concentration of B. bassiana on kudzu bug adults bioassayed on artificial diet. It was determined that B. bassiana (KUDSC and NI8) are highly effective for young adults at very low doses (LC50 1.98–4.98 viable spores per mm2).

Aspergillus oryzae and Aspergillus flavus are closely related fungal species. The A. flavus morphotype that produces numerous small sclerotia (S strain) and aflatoxin has a unique 1.5 kb deletion in the norB-cypA region of the aflatoxin gene cluster (i.e. the S genotype). Phylogenetic studies have indicated that an isolate of the nonaflatoxigenic A. flavus with the S genotype is the ancestor of A. oryzae. Genome sequence comparison between A. flavus NRRL3357, which produces large sclerotia (L strain), and S-strain A. flavus 70S identified a region (samA-rosA) that was highly variable in the two morphotypes. A third type of samA-rosA region was found in A. oryzae RIB40. The three samA-rosA types were later revealed to be commonly present in A. flavus L-strain populations. Of the 182 L-strain A. flavus field isolates examined, 46%, 15% and 39% had the samA-rosA type of NRRL3357, 70S and RIB40, respectively. The three types also were found in 18 S-strain A. flavus isolates with different proportions. For A. oryzae, however, the majority (80%) of the 16 strains examined had the RIB40 type and none had the NRRL3357 type. The results suggested that A. oryzae strains in the current culture collections were mostly derived from the samA-rosA/RIB40 lineage of the nonaflatoxigenic A. flavus with the S genotype.

The painted bug, Bagrada hilaris (Burmeister) (Heteroptera: Pentatomidae), has been found in the United States. Without its coevolved natural enemies it has become a serious threat to cole and other crops. The painted bug is native to eastern and southern Africa through western Asia (Map 417 1981, Distribution Maps of Pests, Commonwealth Agricultural Bureau). In the United States, it was first documented in coastal southern California in 2008 and, by 2012, it had dispersed to areas within Arizona, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, and west Texas (Palumbo and Natwick 2010, Plant Health Progr. doi:10.1094/PHP-2010-0621-01BR; Bundy et al. 2012, Southwest. Entomol. 37: 411–414; Reed et al. 2013, J. Integrated Pest Manag. 4: doi: http//dx.doi.org/10.1603/IPM13007). More recently, it was reported from cole crops in Coahuila, Mexico (Sanchez-Pena 2014, Southwest. Entomol. 39: 375–376). It is expected to continue to spread, threatening the commercial cole crop industry and ornamentals east of the Mississippi River. A classical biological control project was initiated in 2014 to discover and import key natural enemies within the area of origin of B. hilaris for quarantine evaluation in the United States. This is a report on initial results. Surveys were conducted in 2014 throughout Pakistan for natural enemies of this pest pentatomid, focused on parasitoids associated with their eggs. Although well known as a pest of Brassica crops, this insect is highly polyphagous and has been previously reported in Pakistan from a wide range of plants including Brassica oleracea L., Brassica rapa L. (as Brassica campestris L.), Brassica napus L.,

A nontoxigenicAspergillus flavusstrain, K49, is currently being tested as a biological control agent in corn fields in the Mississippi Delta. However, little is known about the overall genetic diversity ofA. flavusfrom year to year in corn fields and specifically in Mississippi. Our objective was to assess the genetic variability ofA. flavusisolates from different seasons, inoculum sources, and years, from a no-till corn field. Of the 175A. flavusisolates examined, 74 and 97 had the typicalnorB-cypAtype I (1.5 kb) and type II (1.0 kb) deletion patterns, respectively. Variability in the sequence of theomtAgene of the majority of the field isolates (n=118) was compared to strain K49. High levels of haplotypic diversity (24omtAhaplotypes; Hd = 0.61 ± 0.04) were found. Among the 24 haplotypes, two were predominant, H1 (n=71), which consists of mostly toxigenic isolates, and H49 (n=18), which consists of mostly atoxigenic isolates including K49. Toxigenic isolates were prevalent (60%) in this natural population. Nonetheless, about 15% of the population likely shared the same ancestral origin with K49. This study provides valuable information on the diversity ofA. flavus. This knowledge can be further used to develop additional biological control strains.

A nontoxigenic Aspergillus flavus strain, K49, is currently being tested as a biological control agent in corn fields in the Mississippi Delta. However, little is known about the overall genetic diversity of A. flavus from year to year in corn fields and specifically in Mississippi. Our objective was to assess the genetic variability of A. flavus isolates from different seasons, inoculum sources, and years, from a no-till corn field. Of the 175 A. flavus isolates examined, 74 and 97 had the typical norB-cypA type I (1.5 kb) and type II (1.0 kb) deletion patterns, respectively. Variability in the sequence of the omtA gene of the majority of the field isolates (n = 118) was compared to strain K49. High levels of haplotypic diversity (24 omtA haplotypes; Hd = 0.61 ± 0.04) were found. Among the 24 haplotypes, two were predominant, H1 (n = 71), which consists of mostly toxigenic isolates, and H49 (n = 18), which consists of mostly atoxigenic isolates including K49. Toxigenic isolates were prevalent (60%) in this natural population. Nonetheless, about 15% of the population likely shared the same ancestral origin with K49. This study provides valuable information on the diversity of A. flavus. This knowledge can be further used to develop additional biological control strains.

The kudzu bug or bean plataspid, Megacopta cribraria (Fabricius), is native to Asia where it appears to be widely distributed (although the taxonomy is not entirely clear), but is infrequently a pest of legumes. This bug appeared in 2009 in the southeastern United States, where it is closely associated with kudzu, Pueraria montana Lour. [Merr.] variety lobata [Willd.] Maesen & S. Almeida. However, the insect has become a consistent economic pest of soybeans, Glycine max (L.) Merr., and some other leguminous crops in areas where large numbers can build in kudzu, in addition to being a considerable nuisance in urban landscapes where kudzu occurs. The insect has remarkable capacity for movement and has spread rapidly from nine Georgia counties in 2009 to seven states in 2012. Despite being a nuisance in urban areas and a crop pest, high populations of the bug also reduce the biomass of kudzu, which is itself a seriously problematic invasive weed, complicating the status of M. cribraria in its expanded range. Extant predators and a pathogen in the US have been observed attacking kudzu bugs in the laboratory and field, but no parasitism of eggs or nymphs has been observed to date. A single record of parasitism of an adult kudzu bug by a tachinid fly is known from the US, but no other adult parasitism has been observed in the US or elsewhere. Extant enemies may eventually significantly reduce the bug’s populations, but at present native enemies appear to be insufficient for the task, and exotic enemies from the kudzu bug’s native range may offer the best possibility for effective biological control in the US. Based on the available literature, the best option for an importation biological control program appears to be the platygastrid egg parasitoid Paratelenomus saccharalis (Dodd) because of its apparent host specificity, intimate biological linkages with M. cribraria, and wide geographic distribution in the Eastern Hemisphere. Other natural enemies may eventually emerge as good candidates for importation, but at present P. saccharalis appears to be the most promising.

The pathogenicity of the newly discovered entomopathogenic fungus species Isaria poprawskii, found during epizootics on Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius) in the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas, was tested against the glassy-winged sharpshooter (GWSS), Homalodisca vitripennis (Germar) Takiya, under laboratory conditions (27 ± 1 °C; 75 ± 5% RH; photoperiod of 14:10 (L:D) h. Exposures of nymphs and adults to 500, 1000, and 2000 conidia/mm2 on cowpea, Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp, leaves resulted in insect mortality. Median lethal concentrations for second- (685 conidia/mm2) and fourth-instar nymphs (771 conidia/mm2) were similar to those for adults (855 conidia/mm2). Virulence, as measured as mean time to death of the GWSS by survival analysis, was different between concentrations within each insect stage. For example, for the second-instar, I. poprawskii was more virulent at high concentrations (4.6 days) than medium (5.4 days) or low (5.5 days) concentrations. Mycosis in sharpshooters occurred at 3–4 days and continued for 8–10 days after spray. This fungus has the ability to immobilize and stop feeding on infected GWSS, which could potentially slow the spread of Pierce's disease. These results indicate that I. poprawskii is pathogenic to H. vitripennis nymphs and adults. Its pathogenicity and virulence against H. vitripennis show that this fungus is a promising biocontrol agent to control the glassy-winged sharpshooter.

Megacopta cribraria F. (Hemiptera: Plataspidae), commonly known as the kudzu bug or bean plataspid, was fi rst discovered in the Western Hemisphere in October 2009 (Eger et al. 2010. Insecta Mundi 121:1 11). The plataspid quickly spread from the 9 northeastern Georgia counties in which it was initially confi rmed into 383 additional counties in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia by the end of 2012 (Gardner et al. 2013. J. Entomol. Sci. 48:118 127). Subsequent reports show that the insect has now been confi rmed in 4 additional states – Delaware, Kentucky, Louisiana, and Maryland – and the District of Columbia, bringing the total number of confi rmed states to 12 (W.A. Gardner, unpubl. data). Ruberson et al. (2013, Appl. Entomol. Zool. 48:3 13) reported that several existing generalist predators and a single entomogenous pathogen had been recorded as attacking M. cribraria in its expanded range in the southeastern U.S. They also reported a tachinid, Phasia robertsonii (Townsend), parasitizing a single adult M. cribraria in 2012, but no parasitism of eggs or immatures was observed in their 2010 and 2011 surveys in Georgia. Golec and Hu (2013, J. Entomol. Sci. 48: In Press) discovered Strongygaster triangulifer (Loew) (Diptera: Tachnidae) parasitizing individual adults (mean parasitism = 5.14%; n = 214) collected from soybean, Glycine max (L.) Merr.,

Isaria poprawskii is described as a new entomopathogenic species similar to Isaria javanica (=Paecilomyces javanicus). It was discovered on the sweet potato whitefly, Bemisia tabaci biotype B in the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas (LRGV), USA. Morphological and DNA examinations indicated the distinctness of I. poprawskii from the ex-type isolate of I. javanica. I. poprawskii produced light yellow young colonies to darker yellow with a grayish-violet center to a taupe or a brownish-gray mature conidial mass; conidia hyaline, one-celled, 3.9 (2.9-4.6) mu m long x 1.6 (1.4-2.1) mu m wide; colored synnemata, but I. javanica ex-type produced white colony, hyaline conidia and no synnemata. A phylogenetic position of I. poprawskii was inferred by a nucleotide sequence analysis of beta-tubulin along with standard beta-tubulin sequences from GenBank. Fifteen unsequenced isolates, including eight from the LRGV, were investigated. The analysis confirmed that I. poprawskii could be recovered from LRGV fields, and that both I. javanica and I. poprawskii are present in the LRGV in sympatry. I. poprawskii was shown to be closely related to I. javanica; however, it formed its own unique clade, thus confirming its status as a new fungal species. (C) 2012 The Mycological Society of Japan. Published by Elsevier B. V. All rights reserved.

In 2002, a new invasive pest ant in the genus, Nylanderia (formerly Paratrechina), was found in Houston, TX. This invasive ant has been causing significant economic and ecological damage in infested areas. Because of the morphological and behavioral similarities to Nylanderia pubens Forel (Caribbean crazy ant) found in Florida, this ant was named Nylanderia sp. nr. pubens (Rasberry crazy ant). So far, morphometric and phylogenetic analyses have not determined if the two ants are the same or separate species. To determine the relationships between the two populations, a molecular approach was undertaken. Five novel genes with various functions from N. pubens and N. sp. nr. pubens were cloned, sequenced, and identified, including a chemosensory protein (NpCsp), the cyclophilin-like protein (NpClp), the fatty acid binding protein (NpFabp), the ferritin 2-like protein (NpFlp), and an odorant binding protein (NpObp). The cDNA sequences of NpCsp, NpFabp, NpFlp, and NpObp, shared 100% identity between N. sp. nr. pubens and N. pubens. The cDNA of NpClp shared 99% identity, with the only difference at the nucleotide position 358. Comparisons of four partial genomic DNA sequences from Caribbean and Rasberry crazy ants indicated 100% identity for a 710-bp partial genomic DNA sequence of cytochrome oxidase subunit I gene, 99% identity for a 774 bp, and a 452-bp partial genomic DNA sequence of NpFabp and NpObp containing noncoding regions, and 100% identity for a 289 bp partial genomic DNA sequence of NpCsp containing only coding region. This study showed that N. sp. nr. pubens in Texas is the same, or at most an intraspecific variant or ecotype of the species in Florida.

The heat shock proteins (Hsps) that are abundantly expressed in insects are important modulators of insect survival. The expression of different Hsp genes are induced and modulated in insects in response to environmental inputs including abiotic stresses such as heat shock, ultraviolet radiation, chemical pesticides, as well as biotic stresses such as viruses, bacteria, fungi and other insects. This minireview will provide useful information related to the expression of Hsp genes in response to abiotic and biotic stressors as well as developmental regulation and modulation of Hsp genes involved with insect survival.

Ron Borsato, William Jones, Jennifer Greenhalgh, Mark Martin, Rick Roberson, Carlos Fontes, Paul Markwick y Andy Quallington discuten por que los datos sismicos mas modernos y las reconstrucciones de placas mas precisas permiten un mejor entendimiento de los factores criticos que hacen de las caracteristicas analogas en los margenes conjugados inexplorados un objetivo potencial para la perforacion de exploracion.