Among the pests of cassava, the shoot fly, Neosilba perezi (Romero & Ruppell), is one of the most prevalent. It attacks mainly the terminal shoots and causes infested plants to produce lateral shoots. Reports on this species are rare or inexistent; thus, the purpose of this study was to assess three different areas for N. perezi infestation. The survey began in March 2008 and finished in February 2009. Fortnightly analyses were performed starting 45 days after planting, calculating the rate of infestation by N. perezi larvae in each study area. The areas were correlated separately for each parameter: fortnightly mean temperature, fortnightly mean rainfall, and plant age. The N. perezi larvae occurrence rate was higher in area 1 - which presented the highest population peaks in autumn and winter. There was only a single population peak in area 2, in winter; and area 3 presented the weakest population peak among the three, in November. The shoot fly population dynamics in the studied region is separately correlated to temperature, rainfall and plant age: temperatures above 23ºC, relatively high rainfall and older plants seem to have a negative effect on populations of this insect.

Em vespas de figo, os acasalamentos ocorrem dentro da prole de uma ou poucas vespas fundadoras, no interior do figo. Posteriormente, as fêmeas acasaladas se dispersam para colonizar novos figos. Sob estas condições, machos aparentados competem entre si por acasalamentos. Vários estudos mostram que esta competição local por acasalamentos (CLA) favorece a ocorrência de uma razão sexual da prole desviada em favor das fêmeas. Estudando Pegoscapus tonduzi que poliniza Ficus citrifolia no Brasil, nós analisamos o efeito da CLA (número de fundadoras) na razão sexual da prole das vespas polinizadoras. A relação do número de fundadoras e a razão sexual da prole seguiu qualitativamente o predito pela teoria, porém, os valores observados foram mais desviados em favor das fêmeas que o esperado. O modelo para razão sexual ótima considera que cada vespa fundadora contribui com o mesmo número de ovos na prole. A violação deste pressuposto explicaria a falta de ajuste dos resultados em relação à teoria.

In fig wasps, mating takes place among the offspring of one or a few foundress mothers inside the fig from which mated females disperse to found new broods. Under these conditions, related males will compete with each other for mating and several studies have shown female bias in brood sex ratios as a response to Local Mate Competition (LMC). Studying Pegoscapus tonduzi which pollinates Ficus citrifolia in Brazil, we analysed the effect of LMC (number of foundresses) on the sex ratio of the offspring of pollinating wasps. The relationship between the foundress number and brood sex ratio qualitatively followed the theory, however the empirical sex ratio was more female biased than expected from theoretical values. The model for an optimal sex ratio considers that each foundress wasp contributes the same number of eggs to be bred and that the violation of this assumption may explain the lack of adjustment in relation to the theory.

O intuito deste estudo foi avaliar as espécies acarinas encontradas em amostras de poeira de cortinas presentes em 33 salas e 22 quartos de um total de 41 domicílios na cidade de Campinas, SP. Foram encontrados 148 ácaros. Desse total, 83 foram encontrados na sala de TV (56,1% do total) e 65 nos quartos (43,9%). As principais subordens encontradas foram: Acaridida (n = 79; 53.4%), Actinedida (n = 53; 35.8%), Oribatida (n = 14; 9.5%) e Gamasida (n = 2; 1.3%). As principais famílias observadas foram: Pyroglyphidae (n = 61; 41,2% do total), Eriophyidae (n = 25; 16,9%), Tarsonemidae (n = 15; 10,1%) e Glycyphagidae (n = 13; 8,8%). Não houve diferença significativa no número de ácaros observados nas amostras da sala e do quarto.

The aim of this study was to investigate the mite fauna present in 33 living room and 22 bedroom curtain dust samples from 41 different homes in the southern Brazilian city of Campinas, SP. A total of 148 mite bodies were found. Of these, 83 were found in living-room curtain samples (56.1% of total) and 65 were in bedroom curtain dust samples (43.9%). The most frequently observed mite suborders were: Acaridida (n = 79; 53.4%), Actinedida (n = 53; 35.8%), Oribatida (n = 14; 9.5%), and Gamasida (n = 2; 1.3%). The most frequent families were Pyroglyphidae (n = 61; 41.2%), Eriophyidae (n = 25; 16.9%), Tarsonemidae (n = 15; 10.1%), and Glycyphagidae (n = 13; 8.8%). No statistical difference was observed between the number of mites found in the samples from living room and bedroom curtains.

O valor médio da largura da cápsula cefálica de Alphitobius diaperinus foi verificado de acordo com seus estádios larvais, sendo medidos cinco indivíduos para cada estádio. O experimento foi conduzido em temperatura constante de 27ºC (± 0,1ºC). Os resultados obtidos mostraram que as larvas atingem oito estádios, com média de 0,228 mm (SD = 0,0192) para a larva recém-eclodida, até 1,339 mm (SD = 0,0436) no 8º estádio. Também foi observado que o fator de crescimento das larvas corresponde à regra de Dyar-Hutchinson, apresentando média de 1,29 para razões de crescimento ao longo do desenvolvimento. Esses dados poderão ser utilizados em estudos de fenologia e estruturação etária de populações de A. diaperinus no campo.

The mean width (n = 5) of the cephalic capsule instar of Alphitobius diaperinus was determined. The larvae were reared at 27ºC (± 0.1ºC). The result showed that A. diaperinus has eight larval instars. The head capsule of the 1st instar larvae measured x = 0.228 (SD = 0.0192) and the last instar larval measured x = 1.339 (SD = 0.0436). The developmental rate, determined by Dyar-Hutchinson's rule, was 1.29. These data may be useful for studies on phenology and age structure of A. diaperinus in the field.