A phylogenetic analysis of the species belonging to the weevil genus Rhinusa Stephens, 1829 (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Curculioninae: Mecinini) was carried out. Rhinusa weevils feed on plants of the closely related families Scrophulariaceae and Plantaginaceae. Based on a cladistic analysis of six outgroup and 33 ingroup taxa, and 39 adult morphological and 8 ecological characters, eight well s...

Captures of male dogwood borer, Synanthedon scitula (Harris), in traps baited with trinary andbinaryblendsof the female sexpheromonecomponentswere comparedwith those in traps baitedwith themost effective commercially available lure in apple orchards inWestVirginia, Virginia, and North Carolina. Traps baited with the trinary blend [88:6:6 vol:vol:vol (Z,Z)-3,13 octadecadienyl acetate (ODDA):(E,Z...

Animals can exert a strong influence on the structure and function of foundation species such as mangroves. Because mangroves live at the interface of land and sea, both terrestrial and marine species affect them, including numerous herbivores and boring species. These organisms can affect the fecundity, performance, and morphology of mangroves. In a mangrove stand in southwestern Taiwan, we di...

The digestion of lignocellulose is attracting attention both in terms of basic research into its metabolism by microorganisms and animals, and also as a means of converting plant biomass into biofuels. Limnoriid wood borers are unusual because, unlike other wood-feeding animals, they do not rely on symbiotic microbes to help digest lignocellulose. The absence of microbes in the digestive tract ...

Bioerosion of branched corals was assessed in a fringing reef (Playa Blanca) and a patch reef (Gorgonilla) of Gorgona Island in the tropical eastern Pacific. Cylinder-shaped experimental units (EUs), made from branches of Pocillopora spp., were set 50 cm above the sea bottom for 6, 12 and 18 mo in Playa Blanca (4 zones: Back Reef, Reef-Flat Crest, Reef Front and Reef Slope) and the Gorgonilla p...

The earliest bioeroded inorganic hard substrates in the Ordovician of Estonia appear in the Dapingian. Hardgrounds are also known from the Sandbian and Katian. Most of the bioerosion of inorganic hard substrates occurs as the boring Trypanites Mägdefrau, 1932 along with some possible Gastrochaenolites borings. North American hardground borings are more diverse than those in Baltica. In contrast...

The coffee berry borer, Hypothenemus hampei, is the most damaging insect pest of coffee worldwide. Like males in other species in the genus, male coffee berry borers have a lower number of facets in the compound eyes than females. The rudimentary eyes in male coffee berry borers could be an evolutionary response to their cryptic life habit, whereby they are born inside a coffee berry and never ...