Male predaceous stink bugs (Pentatom idae: A sopinae) in the genus Podisus release longrange a ttrac tan t pherom ones from a pair o f hypertrophied glands opening underneath the wings. Pherom one com positions are reported for four additional Podisus spp.: two N eotropi­ cal species (P. connexivus and an undeterm ined Podisus sp.), and two N earctic species (P. placidus and P. mucronatus). M a...

Herbivores are squeezed between the two omnipresent threats of variable food quality and natural enemy attack, but these two factors are not independent of one another. The mechanisms by which organisms navigate the dual challenges of foraging while avoiding predation are poorly understood. We tested the effects of plant defense and predation risk on herbivory in an assemblage of leaf-chewing i...

Plant resistance and predation have strong independent and interacting eff ects on herbivore survival, behavior, and patterns of herbivory. Historically, research has emphasized variation in the consumption of herbivores by enemies. Recent work, however, demonstrates that predators also elicit important changes in the traits of their prey, but we do not know how this is infl uenced by plant qua...

Molecular gut-content analysis enables detection of arthropod predation with minimal disruption of ecosystem processes. Mass-collection methods, such as sweep-netting, vacuum sampling and foliage beating, could lead to regurgitation or rupturing of predators along with uneaten prey, thereby contaminating specimens and compromising resultant gut-content data. Proponents of this 'cross-contaminat...

Received: 18/07/2012; Approved: 20/02/2014 Part of the first author Doctorate’s Thesis. Agronomist, Doctor of Science. Departamento de Fitossanidade, Faculdade de Ciências Agrárias e Veterinárias, Via de Acesso Professor Paulo Donato Castellane, s/n, 14884-900, Jaboticabal, São Paulo, Brazil. [email protected] (corresponding author). Agronomist, Doctor of Science. Departamento de Fitossan...

The chorionic structure of sixteen pentatomid species is described. Morphological patterns in different taxonomic levels are discussed. In addition, egg characters useful in cladistic analyses are listed, and some of those characters are tested for congruence with two cladistic analyses previously conducted within Pentatomidae. Descriptive studies were conducted with Banasa induta, Capivaccius ...

The predator Podisus distinctus (Stål) (Heteroptera: Pentatomidae: Asopinae) has been reared to control lepidopteran defoliators. In this study, we describe this predator's morphology, postdepositional dynamics and eggs in different developmental stages under scanning electron microscope. Its eggs are subglobular and ovoid, narrower at the base than at the top, with a convex, circular operculum...