We test the morphology based hypothesis that the Western Palaearctic spurge hawkmoths represent two species, the Eurasian H. euphorbiae and Afro-Macaronesian H. tithymali. It has been suggested that these species merged into several hybrid swarm populations, although a mitochondrial phylogeography revealed substructure with local differentiation. We analysed a three-gene mt-dataset (889 individ...

Analysing historic DNA from museum specimens offers the unique opportunity to study the molecular systematics and phylogenetics of rare and possibly extinct taxa. In the Hawaiian fauna, the hawkmoth, Hyles calida calida, occurs on several of the main islands and is quite frequent, whereas Hyles c. hawaiiensis is restricted to the Island of Hawaii where it appears to be very rare. Analysis of mi...

A binomial sampling method for the potato aphid, Macrosiphum euphorbiae (Thomas), on processing tomato plants, Lycopersicon esculentum (Mill), is proposed. Relationships between mean number of M. euphorbiae per leaf and proportion of leaves infested [P(I)] with M. euphorbiae for both upper and interior leaves of the processing tomato varieties 'Alta' and 'Halley' are presented. A split-plot des...

Aphid species feeding on lettuce occupy distinct feeding sites: the lettuce aphid Nasonovia ribisnigri prefers to feed on heart leaves, whereas the potato aphid Macrosiphum euphorbiae feeds only on outer leaves. The aphid parasitoid Aphelinus abdominalis, known to be able to regulate M. euphorbiae on many crops, has recently been indicated as a promising biocontrol candidate also for use agains...