Altica subcostata sp.nov. is described and illustrated. This flea beetle feeds on Betula spp. and is recorded from Manitoba, Alberta, and British Columbia.

The attractiveness of the aggregation pheromones produced by males of four species of Ips pine bark beetles was assessed to determine whether competition for a private communication channel among sympatric species or phylogenetic divergence better explains the current pheromonal specificity among the species. In the southeastern United States, Ips calligraphus (Germar), I. grandicollis (Eichhoff), and I. avulsus (LeConte) are broadly sympatric and they represent three different species groups. A member of the I. grandicollis species group, I. confusus (LeConte), is allopatric to the other three and native to the southwestern United States. Only the pair of species from the same species group were pheromonally cross-attractive. Broadly allopatric species from dissimilar species groups were not cross-attractive. Thus, their pheromonal specificity paralleled their taxonomic relationship regardless of geographic overlap and competitive interaction.

A fifth species of the genus Eudigraphis, E. sinensis sp.nov., and a third species of the shinoharai group of the genus Polyxenus, P. hangzhoensis sp.nov., are described, representing the first records of penicillate diplopods from China.

A degree-day model was developed for Alberta populations of Ostrinia nubilalis Hübner. Starting with overwintered fifth-instar larvae, the model calculates the temporal distribution of first- and second-instar larvae which are the stages most vulnerable to chemical suppression. Predictions from three alternative models were compared against field data from southern Alberta. Use of a standard 10°C growth threshold to calculate physiological time scales allowed predictions as accurate as those obtained using either a pooled threshold (11.4°C) calculated specifically from Alberta populations, or a model using two thresholds (12.3°C for fifth-instar larvae to adult and 10.2°C for eggs to second-instar larvae) that incorporated significant differences in growth characteristics observed among life stages. We conclude that standard thresholds are sufficient for degree-day models for northern populations of O. nubilalis. The standard model (t 0 = 10°C) predicts that moth emergence will peak at ca. 145 degree-days after median pupation, and that numbers of eggs, and first- and second-instar larvae should peak at 200, 310, and 450 degree-days, respectively. Model predictions can be used to time sampling effort in support of management decisions.

Trichogramma pretiosum Riley was released in the field for suppression of corn earworm, Heliothis zea (Boddie), egg populations in Nova Scotia in 1985–1987. Trichogramma pretiosum reduced com earworm populations 7.4–53% compared with chemical treatments reductions of 19–100%. Trichogramma pretiosum were not as effective as insecticides, especially when populations of the corn earworm were low (less than five larvae per 1000 ears). Timing of T. pretiosum releases and spray applications were determined by blacklight trap catches and were considered critical for effective control.

In 1983, while sorting Campopleginae in the Canadian National Insect Collection, Biosystematics Research Centre, Ottawa, Ont., I discovered two females of a species of Nemeritis Holmgren. In North America this genus was previously known only from the west (Townes 1970) so it was surprising to see specimens collected in Maine (Sherman Mills, 24.VI–4.VII.1973, G. Heinrich). A survey of the genus showed that these specimens are indistinguishable from the European species N. lativentris Thompson. It is impossible to determine whether or not this is a recently established species as I have been unable to locate more specimens.

The alfalfa leafcutting bee, Megachile rotundata (Fab.), is an important domesticated pollinator of alfalfa grown for seed in Canada. Chalkbrood, a disease caused by the fungus Ascosphaera aggregata Skou, has caused high mortalities in M. rotundata populations in the northwestern United States since 1972. Chalkbrood was found in Manitoba in 1982, Alberta in 1983, and Saskatchewan in 1984 (Richards 1985). Although subsequent surveys have indicated the presence of A. aggregata at high levels in some southern Alberta M. rotundata populations, the disease has been detected only sporadically and at low levels in Saskatchewan populations (Goerzen 1990).

The eastern spruce budworm, Choristoneura fumiferana Clemens, is the most widely distributed and destructive forest insect pest in North America. Although much is known about the ecology, population dynamics, and impact of C. fumiferana on tree growth (Sanders et al. 1985), there is very little information available on the physiology of this forest pest. Physiological studies are crucial to the development of novel strategies for spruce budworm control.