The many components of seasonal adaptations in insects are reviewed, especially from the viewpoint of aspects that must be studied in order to understand the structure and purposes of the adaptations. Component responses include dispersal, habitat selection, habitat modification, resistance to cold, dryness, and food limitation, trade-offs, diapause, modifications of developmental rate, sensitivity to environmental signals, life-cycle patterns including multiple alternatives in one species, and types of variation in phenology and development. Spatial, temporal, and resource elements of the environment are also reviewed, as are environmental signals, supporting the conclusion that further understanding of all of these seasonal responses requires detailed simultaneous study of the natural environments that drive the patterns of response.

Two new athetine beetles from eastern Canada are described and illustrated: Atheta (Metadimetrota) savardae Klimaszewski and Majka, sp. nov. (Nova Scotia, Quebec) and Atheta (Datomicra) acadiensis Klimaszewski and Majka, sp. nov. (Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Quebec). Their relationships to other closely related species are discussed, and new data on bionomics and distribution are provided. The new species are presented with a short diagnosis, description, colour habitus images, and black-and-white genital images.

Eight additional adventive aleocharine beetles, native to the Palaearctic region, are reported from Canada, five of them for the first time. They belong to three tribes: Crataraea suturalis (Mannerheim) (Nova Scotia, Saskatchewan, British Columbia) and “Meotica pallens (Redtenbacher)” (Ontario, British Columbia) belong to Oxypodini; Atheta (Chaetida) longicornis (Gravenhorst) (Nova Scotia, Quebec), Atheta (Thinobaena) vestita (Gravenhorst) (New Brunswick), Dalotia coriaria (Kraatz) (Alberta), Dinaraea angustula (Gyllenhal) (Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Quebec, Alberta), and Nehemitropia lividipennis (Mannerheim) (New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Quebec, Ontario) belong to Athetini; and Homalota plana (Gyllenhal) (Nova Scotia, New Brunswick) belongs to Homalotini. These species have likely been introduced into Canada from Europe by various anthropogenic activities, and their bionomics and possible modes of introduction are discussed. For each species, a short diagnosis and habitus and genital images are provided to assist with identification. The habitus and genital images are presented here for the first time for these species in North America. New United States records are not included in the abstract.

The third-instar larva and pupa of the shining leaf chafer, Chrysophora chrysochlora (Latr.), from Cauca, Colombia, are described for the first time. Illustrations of diagnostic structures, modifications in the key to the larvae of the genera of Rutelini in the New World, and data on the biology and distribution of C. chrysochlora in Colombia are included.

This paper completes a review and revision of the tribe Anemadini in North America, covering the subtribe Eocatopina (new for North America), with the genus Neoeocatopsgen. nov. containing one species, and the subtribe Nemadina, with the genus Nemadus Thomson containing 12 species. Species are forest inhabitants feeding on carrion and other decaying materials, may occur in caves, or are myrmecophiles occupying the nests of formicine ants, mostly of the genera Formica L. and Camponotus Mayr. The following new synonyms are recognized: N. ellipticus Jeannel, 1936 = N. horni Hatch, 1933 and N. obliquus Fall, 1937 = N. triangulum Jeannel, 1936. Lectotypes are designated for Catops brachyderus LeConte, 1863, Catopspusio LeConte, 1859, and Choleva decipiens Horn, 1880. New species are Nemadus browni Peck and Cook, sp. nov., N. criddlei Peck and Cook, sp. nov., and N. falli Peck and Cook, sp. nov.

Fungivorous Coleoptera were sampled from old-growth and managed (selectively logged in 1999) hemlock–hardwood forests in southeastern Ontario to examine the effect of small-scale forest management on fungivore diversity in forest fragments. Sampling using flight-intercept traps and trunk-window traps for 22 weeks in 2003 yielded 11 888 beetles representing 73 species in 11 target families (Anthribidae, Cerylonidae, Endomychidae, Erotylidae, Leiodidae, Mycetophagidae, Scaphidiidae, Sphindidae, Tenebrionidae, Trogossitidae, and Zopheridae). The leiodid subfamily Leiodinae was the dominant taxon (10 386 individuals, 38 species). While old-growth stands had no recent logging and had higher volumes of coarse woody debris, species diversity and composition of fungivorous Coleoptera were similar between forest types, suggesting that the stand differences measured (recent logging history, volume of coarse woody debris) did not have a significant effect on beetle diversity in this study. Indicator species analysis showed that Triplax macra LeConte (Erotylidae) was strongly associated with old-growth stands, while Anisotoma blanchardi (Horn), Anogdus obsoletus (Melsheimer), Agathidium sp. 1 (Leiodidae), and Mycetina perpulchra (Newman) (Endomychidae) were associated with managed stands. The lack of difference observed between stand types may be related to the small size of the forest fragments or the relatively small scale of the disturbance.

The name Eupithecia deserticola McDunnough, 1946 is a junior secondary homonym of Tephroclystia deserticola Turati, 1934, now included in the genus Eupithecia Curtis. The replacement name Eupithecia jamesi Ferris and Mironov is proposed.

Small numbers of larval wheat midge, Sitodiplosis mosellana Géhin, survived and matured in each of five field seasons in a plot of spring wheat carrying the Sm1 gene for antibiosis resistance against this insect. Wheat midge developing on resistant wheat had higher survival in the laboratory than in the field, but survival was always very low compared with that of larvae developing on susceptible wheat. The mass of these larvae and their survival during diapause were approximately half those of larvae developing on susceptible wheat in both the laboratory and the field. The survival of some wheat midge larvae on resistant wheat, and their reduced mass, is consistent with the hypothesis that a virulence allele allowing adaptation to Sm1 is present in the population. Assuming this to be the case, the frequency of the allele in the population was estimated to be between 0.8 × 10−4 and 1.6 × 10−2, if surviving larvae are heterozygous for the allele. Although rare, a virulence allele occurring at this frequency would likely allow the wheat midge to overcome the resistance gene Sm1 once resistant wheat is grown over a wide area.

The red turpentine beetle, Dendroctonus valens LeConte, 1860 (Coleoptera: Curculionidae, Scolytinae), is a common bark beetle found throughout much of North America and China. In 2004, we observed that attack densities of the California fivespined ips, Ips paraconfusus Lanier, 1970 (Coleoptera: Curculionidae, Scolytinae), in logging debris were inversely related to D. valens attacks on freshly cut stumps, which led to the demonstration that components of the aggregation pheromone of I. paraconfusus inhibited the response of D. valens to attractant-baited traps. In this study, we test the response of D. valens and Temnochila chlorodia (Mannerheim, 1843) (Coleoptera: Trogositidae), a common bark beetle predator, to racemic ipsenol, racemic ipsdienol, and (−)-cis-verbenol (IPSR) in the presence and absence of two release rates of (−)-verbenone. The addition of a relatively low release rate of (−)-verbenone (4 mg/24 h) to attractant-baited traps did not affect catch and had no significant effect on the response of D. valens to IPSR. IPSR significantly reduced D. valens attraction to baited traps. The addition of high release rates of (−)-verbenone (50 mg/24 h) to IPSR significantly increased inhibition; however, the effect was not significantly different from that observed with (−)-verbenone alone (50 mg/24 h). Temnochila chlorodia was attracted to traps baited with (−)-β-pinene, (+)-3-carene, and (+)-α-pinene. The addition of (−)-verbenone (50 mg/24 h) significantly increased attraction. Traps baited with IPSR caught significantly more T. chlorodia than those baited with (−)-verbenone. Few other beetles were collected. We are hopeful that these results will help facilitate the development of an effective tool for protecting Pinus spp. from D. valens infestations.