African Journals Online
African Entomology

Volume 9, Issue 2, September 2001

Contribution to the systematics of Afrobaetodes Demoulin (Ephemeroptera : Baetidae)
Jacobus, L.M.McCafferty, W.P. 97-103

Abstract: Series of larval specimens of the genus Afrobaetodes Demoulin (Ephemeroptera : Baetidae) from Guinea, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Senegal, South Africa and Tanzania exhibit heretofore undocumented intraspecific variability. Specimens from Guinea, Ivory Coast and Senegal represent new distribution records. Afrobaetodes pugio Gillies and A. intermedius Lugo-Ortiz & McCafferty are shown to be synonyms of A. berneri Demoulin, and A. delicatissimum (Barnard) is shown to be a synonym of A. pusillus (Navás). The larval stage of Afrobaetodes and the species A. berneri are redescribed. Ataxonomic synopsis summarizes the new revisions.

Review of the primitive blister beetle genus Iselma, with a description of the first instar larva (Coleoptera : Tenebrionoidea : Meloidae)
Bologna, M.A.Fattorini, S.Pinto, J.D. 105-129

Abstract: The genus Iselma, a primitive group of blister beetles from southern Africa, is reviewed. Included are the first description of its first instar larva based on two Namaqualand species (I. flavipennis and I. pallidipennis), partial information on behaviour (sexual and asexual), and a summary of bionomics, with records of host plants, habitat preference, and elevational distribution. Two new species from Namibia (I. piscatrix and I. deserticola) are described, and remarks on the taxonomy of various other species are provided. Two new synonymies are proposed: I. longispina Kaszab, 1952 = I. okiepana Péringuey, 1909, syn. n.; I. namaqua Péringuey, 1909 = I. flavipennis Haag-Rutenberg, 1879, syn. n. A species catalogue, with complete distribution records, is provided.

Population structure of Apis mellifera scutellata (Hymenoptera : Apidae) : filling the Uganda gap
Radloff, S.E.Hepburn, H.R. 131-135

Abstract: Apis mellifera scutellata Lepeletier (Hymenoptera : Apidae) extends from South Africa to Ethiopia but includes local populations of varying morphology. The honeybees of Uganda previously represented an important biogeographical gap in defining the population structure of A. m. scutellata, but have now been resolved by morphometric analyses of worker honeybees analysed with multivariate techniques. Honeybees of lower altitudes (<2000 m) formed one distinct morphocluster typical of A. m. scutellata throughout the continent, while those at higher altitudes (>2000 m) formed a separate distinct cluster of large, dark bees. The latter occur as an archipelago of mountain ecotypes of A. m. scutellata.

Life history of the threatened Karkloof blue butterfly, Orachrysops ariadne (Lepidoptera : Lycaenidae)
Lu, S-S.Samways, M.J. 137-151

Abstract: The behaviour and life history of the threatened Karkloof blue butterfly, Orachrysops ariadne (Butler) (Lepidoptera : Lycaenidae), were studied between 1997 and 1999. The butterfly is now known from four sites in KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa. O. ariadne is univoltine and on the wing in March and April, when it utilizes eight species of nectar plants. The oviposition plant is Indigofera woodii H. Bol. var. laxa H. Bol. (Fabaceae), an erect variety. This butterfly is ant-dependent, with the young larva being taken into the nest of Camponotus natalensis (F. Smith) (Hymenoptera : Formicidae) where development continues, including pupation. Indications are that the critical factor limiting population levels is oviposition plant availability.

Thrips (Thysanoptera) species associated with mango trees in South Africa
Grove, T.Giliomee, J.H.Pringle, K.L. 153-162

Abstract: Thrips (Thysanoptera) were collected on mango trees (Mangifera indica L. (Anacardiaceae)) from 1992-1996 in the main mango production areas in South Africa to identify the complex of species associated with this crop and to monitor their abundance. Different monitoring techniques were used, which included sampling of flowers, fruit and leaves and the use of both yellow card and dispersal / emergence trapping methods. Fifteen thrips species were recorded, eleven belonging to the family Thripidae and four to the family Phlaeothripidae. The citrus thrips, Scirtothrips aurantii Faure, and the red-banded thrips, Selenothrips rubrocinctus (Giard), were the only two species that caused lesions on the fruit. Numbers of S. rubrocinctus were usually low in mango orchards and did not seem to be of economic importance. By contrast, Scirtothrips aurantii was abundant on new growth, causing stunting of growth and leaf malformation. Aleurodothrips fasciapennis (Franklin) and Haplothrips bedfordi Jacot-Guillarmod were the only predatory thrips recorded. The western flower thrips, Frankliniella occidentalis (Pergande), was collected from mango flowers in the Letsitele area, while Thrips acaciae Trybom, Thrips tenellus Trybom and S. aurantii were the most abundant species in the flowers.

Evaluation of the efficacy of deltamethrin using contact bioassays in a malaria vector control programme in Mpumalanga Province, South Africa
Govere, J.Durrheim, D.N.Hunt, R.H.La Grange, J.Coetzee, M. 163-166

Abstract: Field assessment of the residual effect of deltamethrin (20 mg/m²) against Anopheles arabiensis (Diptera : Culicidae) mosquitoes was performed during evaluation of the malaria vector control programme in Mpumalanga Province, South Africa. Ten treated sleeping rooms, five of which were mud- and five cement-walled, were used in bioassays with laboratory-reared An. arabiensis. The bioassays were run for seven consecutive months after treatment. Seven months after treatment deltamethrin-treated surfaces were still completely effective against the susceptible strain of An. arabiensis, with a 24-hour holding mortality of 100 %.

Improved techniques for mass-rearing Busseola fusca (Lepidoptera : Noctuidae) on an artificial diet
Ratnadass, A.Traore, T.Sylla, M.Diarra, D. 167-175

Abstract: Techniques are described for the continuous rearing of Busseola fusca (Fuller) (Lepidoptera : Noctuidae) on an artificial diet. The insect was reared for 20 successive generations at 25 ºC, 85 % RH and photoperiod 12 : 12 h. The larval stage lasted on average 27.6 days for males, and 28.5 days for females. The pupal stage lasted on average 13.4 days in both sexes, and mean total development time (egg to adult) was approximately 50 days. The mean pupation rate was 80 %. Adult emergence rate was 74 %, with a mean sex ratio of 1 : 0.9. Females laid an average of 514 eggs of which 52 % hatched. Additional experiments were conducted to develop techniques to improve oviposition by moths, and to manipulate larval, pupal and egg incubation times. Mating and hatching rates were similar with wooden-framed cages containing 35 males : 30 females and plastic, bottle cages with 4 males : 3 females used in the routine rearing. Pupation was delayed by 16 days when larvae were kept at 20 ºC instead of 25 ºC; adult emergence was delayed by 8-27 days when pupae were kept at 15 ºC instead of 25 ºC; and hatching of eggs was delayed by 3-7 days when eggs were kept at 15 ºC for 7-9 days instead of 25 ºC. Studies on larval diapause termination indicated that diapause could be manipulated to provide pupae and moths for use in the mass-rearing colony. The optimum pupation rate (70 %) was obtained by watering diapause larvae daily for six days (compared to 40 % pupation rate for larvae receiving no water), with pupae forming over a mean period of 12.3 days (compared to 43.9 days to pupation for larvae receiving no water).

The butterfly fauna of the Noyau Central, Lama Forest (Republic of Benin), with notes on its ecological composition and geographic distribution
Fermon, H.Schulze, C.H.Waltert, M.Muhlenberg, M. 177-185

Abstract: The Noyau Central (c. 4777 ha) in south-central Benin is the largest remaining natural forest within the Dahomey Gap. Based on field work conducted in 1998, a preliminary list of 83 butterfly species is presented for this largely unknown core area of the Lama Forest. Forty butterfly species were documented for the first time in Benin. Forty-one are true lowland forest species not found in savanna. Overall species richness was higher in clearings than in closed forest. However, a high proportion of forest species, especially those with a more restricted geographic range, were exclusively captured in the forest patches. Because other forest areas in Benin are much smaller, the Noyau Central is likely to contribute critically to the conservation of the country's butterfly fauna.

Aphytis chionaspis (Hymenoptera : Aphelinidae), a parasitoid introduced to South Africa from Thailand for the control of mango scale, Aulacaspis tubercularis (Hemiptera : Diaspididae) : short communication
Neser, O.C.Prinsloo, G.L. 199-201

Abstract: The mango scale Aulacaspis tubercularis (Newstead), which is of Asian origin, is a widespread pest throughout the mango-producing areas of South Africa, where it causes considerable losses to the export industry because of its cosmetic damage to fruit. Through an initiative of the Agricultural Research Council (ARC) - Institute for Tropical and Subtropical Crops (ITSC), several attempts at introducing parasitoids for the biological control of this pest in South Africa were made during 1992-1995 (Labuschagne & De Beer 1995). This entailed a search for parasitoids in Taiwan, Pakistan, India, Singapore and Malaysia that yielded at least four unidentified species of the genus Aphytis. This is an important group of primary ecto-parasitoids of diaspidid scale insects. None of these species could, however, be reared successfully in quarantine. Subsequently, a consignment of parasitized mango scales imported from Thailand in 1995 yielded yet another unidentified species of Aphytis. This species was successfully propagated in quarantine, initially at ARC - Plant Protection Research Institute (PPRI), Pretoria and later at the facilities of ITSC in Nelspruit (Labuschagne et al. 1996).
The purpose of this study was to determine the identity of the species from Thailand, which was previously referred to in the literature as `Aphytis sp.' and which has since become established in South Africa after it was released at various localities in the mango-growing areas of Mpumalanga and the Northern Province during 1996-1997 (Labuschagne et al. 1996; Daneel & Dreyer 1997). The species has subsequently been identified as A. chionaspis Ren, which was originally described from China as a parasitoid of the diaspidid Chionaspis cinnamomicola (Takahashi) (Ren 1988). A diagnosis and comments on its placement within the A. lingnanensis group of species are provided here to facilitate the recognition of this poorly known parasitoid, that was hitherto known only from its type material, which has been lost.

A dictionary of entomology, G. Gordh and D.H. Headrick ; Insect pests in tropical forestry, M.R. Speight and F.R. Wylie; The biology of wetas, king crickets and their allies, L.H. Field ; Hymenoptera : evolution, biology and biological control, A.D. Austin and M. Dowton : book reviews
Crouch, T.E.Govender, P.Bateman, P.W.Eardley, C.D. 203-206

Abstract: T.E. Crouch reviews A Dictionary of Entomology by G. Gordh & D.H. Headrick, P. Govender reviews Insect Pests in Tropical Forestry by M.R. Speight & F.R. Wylie, P.W. Bateman reviews The Biology of Wetas, King Crickets and their Allies by L.H. Field, and C.D. Eardley reviews Hymenoptera : Evolution, Biology and Biological Control by A.D. Austin & M. Dowton.