Descriptions of the Immature Stages of Three Species of the Tribe Ozophorini (Heteroptera:Lygaeidae:Rhyparochrominae) from China

Immature stages of 3 species of the tribe Ozophorini from China are described for the first time, they are Bryanellocoris orientalis Hidaka (3rd^5th instars), Primierus longispinus Zheng (4th^5th instars) and Vertomannus brevicollum Zheng (4th^5th instars). Abrief study on fine structure of pale spots on head, pronotum and abdomen of 5th instar nymph of Bryanellocoris orientalis Hidaka was also given.

Descriptions of Male and Immature Stages of Cryptococcus ulmi Tang et Hao (Homoptera: Coccoidea: Eriococcidae) with Brief Notes on Its Biology

In this paper, the crawler, second instar female and male, prepupa, pupa and adult male of Cryptococcus ulmi are described and illustrated for the first time; adult female is redescribed; a key to all stages is given and the biology is briefly repor ted.

Morphology of Kuwania bipora Borchsenius (Hemiptera:Coccoidea:Margarodidae)

In this paper the morphology of adult female of Kuwania bipora Borchsenius, 1960 is redescribed. The morphologies of adult male and all immature stages of both sexes are firstly described and illustrated. A key to all stages of K. bipora is provided.

Descriptions of first-instar nymphs of the mealybugs Antonina tesquorum Danzig and Nesticoccus sinensis Tang(Hemiptera: Coccoidea: Pseudococcidae) with a key to known species in the genus Antonina

The microscopic morphologies of first-instar nymphs of Antonina tesquorum Danzig and Nesticoccus sinensis Tang are described and illustrated in detail for the first time. The relationship between A.tesquorum and A. graminis is discussed. A key to known species of the genus Antonina in the world is provided based on first-instar nymph morphology.

Description of two new species of Newsteadia Green(Hemiptera:Coccomorpha:Ortheziidae)from China with a key to Chinese species

This study reported two new species:Newsteadia multipori Zheng&Wu,sp.nov.,collected from pine needle litter in Guizhou Province,are described and illustrated for its adult female,male,and first-,second-and third-instar nymphs;N.chebalingensis Zheng&Wu,sp.nov.,collected from broad leaf litter in Guangdong Province,are described and illustrated for its adult female and first-instar nymph.Identification keys are provided to the adult females of Newsteadia species known in China and to the adult males of Newsteadia species known worldwide.

Male larval experience of cues from adult rivals alters lifetime sperm investment patterns in a sperm heteromorphic moth, Ephestia kuehniella

Male animals may adjust their resource allocations for reproduction and other fitness functions in response to cues from rivals. For instance, adult males increase their investment in sperm for a higher paternity share when they perceive sperm competition risk in their surroundings. In nature, both juveniles and adults may coexist spatially and temporally. Yet, it is not clear how juvenile males of different ages respond to cues from adult rivals and fine-tune their lifetime investment in sperm production and ejaculation in any insect. Here we used the Mediterranean flour moth, Ephestia kuehniella, which produces both fertile eupyrene and infertile apyrene sperm, to explore this question. We demonstrate that the late, but not early, instar larvae are sensitive to adult male cues. As a response, they produce more sperm before emergence and their resultant adults have shorter mating latency and ejaculate more sperm in the first few matings. When the juvenile stage produces more eupyrenes, the adult stops making these sperm, but regardless of the number of apyrenes produced during the juvenile stage, the adult continues to make them. These findings suggest that the number of spermatogonia for eupyrenes may be limited and that for apyrenes may be flexible. Our results show that the insect does not trade off survival, mating frequency, body size, or testis size for sperm production in response to adult males during the larval stage. Knowledge created in the present study offers insight into the stage-dependent sensitivity of juvenile males to cues from adult rivals and subsequent lifetime resource allocations.

Larval social cues influence testicular investment in an insect

Socio-sexual environment can have critical impacts on reproduction and survival of animals.Consequently,they need to prepare themselves by allocating more resources to competitive traits that give them advantages in the particular social setting they have been perceiving.Evidence shows that a male usually raises his investment in sperm after he detects the current or future increase of sperm competition because relative sperm numbers can determine his paternity share.This leads to the wide use of testis size as an index of the sperm competition level,yet testis size does not always reflect sperm production.To date,it is not clear whether male animals fine-tune their resource allocation to sperm production and other traits as a response to social cues during their growth and development.Using a polygamous insect Ephestia kuehniella,we tested whether and how larval social environment affected sperm production,testis size,and body weight.We exposed the male larvae to different juvenile socio-sexual cues and measured these traits.We demonstrate that regardless of sex ratio,group-reared males produced more eupyrenes(fertile and nucleate sperm)but smaller testes than singly reared ones,and that body weight and apyrene(infertile and anucleate sperm)numbers remained the same across treatments.We conclude that the presence of larval social,but not sexual cues is responsible for the increase of eupyrene production and decrease of testis size.We suggest that male larvae increase investment in fertile sperm cells and reduce investment in other testicular tissues in the presence of conspecific juvenile cues.