ARCTIC No. 11 INSECT NEWS 2000 IN THIS ISSUE Editor’s Comments.............1 Feature locality: The UK Arctic Research News Briefs ................2 Station at Ny-Ålesund .........10 Feature species: The Chalcid wasp Encyrtus History Corner ..............15 infidus ..................3 Publications Available ..........19 Symposium on Cold Hardiness 2000 . 5 Update to Annotated List of People Update On A Survey Of The Black Flies interested in Arctic Insects ......21 (Diptera: Simuliidae) From The Northwest Mailing List for Arctic Insect News....22 Territories And Nunavut Project ....6 Contributors to this Issue .........31 EDITOR’S COMMENTS — THE FINAL ISSUE The original objective of Arctic Insect News was to support work in arctic entomology in Canada, because this area is critical to understanding the nature, history and adaptations of the Canadian arthropod fauna. However, this objective has not been met. Despite some support chiefly in theory for arctic initiatives in Canada, research in arctic entomology has remained strictly limited, by restricted funding, by additional permit requirements and more complex permit procedures, and by a lack of personnel. Much of the content of Arctic Insect News now comes from overseas (as for the Feature Species and the Feature Locality articles in this issue), while the Canadian content has often been somewhat limited. Indeed, far more arctic researchers now receive the newsletter overseas than in Canada. At its recent meeting, the advisory Scientific Committee for the Biological Survey of Canada agreed that Arctic Insect News should be discontinued as a separate newsletter, because it is not serving its initial purpose. Moreover, effort is required to support initiatives such as a growing project, including a newsletter, on arthropods of Canadian grasslands. Instead, Canadian arctic interests will be supported by including any relevant submissions in a separate section of the main BSC newsletter. All those on the arctic newsletter mailing list will now receive this Newsletter of the Biological Survey of Canada (Terrestrial Arthropods) (which is published in spring and in fall), unless they notify the Secretariat otherwise. Although Arctic Insect News therefore ends after 11 years, the scientific community may feel that such a vehicle is still useful. If so, someone may wish to launch a comparable, but truly international, newsletter with a different title, which could imitate those features of Arctic Insect News felt to be still useful. I would like to end these final editorial comments by thanking all contributors and readers for their support of Arctic Insect News and for their kind comments about the publication over the past decade. H.V.D. 2 ARCTIC INSECT NEWS No. 11, 2000 NEWS BRIEFS Fourth European Workshop of Invertebrate Ecophysiology The Fourth European Workshop of Inverte- ¤ Impacts and responses to climate change brate Ecophysiology (EWIE IV) will take place Other sessions will be also added to the at St. Petersburg State University, Russia, from programme if there are a substantial number of 9–15 September 2001, continuing the sequence oral presentations that lie outside of the main of the previous meetings held in Paimpont, themes. France (1992), eské Budejovice, Czech Re- public (1995) and Birmingham, UK (1998). The European Journal of Entomology will The workshop will cover all aspects of publish a special issue of all papers and posters ecophysiology of terrestrial invertebrates presented at EWIE IV, subject to the normal (mainly arthropods), the main themes for sepa- refereeing procedures of the journal. rate sessions being: Fuller details of the conference can be ob- ¤ Life cycles and phenological strategies tained, preferably by email, from: ¤ Geographic variation of ecophysiological Professor Vladilen E. Kipyatkov, Depart- traits ment of Entomology, Faculty of Biology and ¤ Overwintering and cold hardiness Soil Sciences, St. Petersburg State University, ¤ Temperature requirements of development 7/9 Universitetskaya emb., St. Petersburg, ¤ Water relations and respiration 199034, Russia. E-mail:[email protected] ASTIS Database on Web The Arctic Science and Technology Infor- available: citations to publications and descrip- mation System (ASTIS) database is now tions of research projects about Northern Can- searchable on the web at the following URL: ada. http://www.aina.ucalgary.ca/astis/. The pur- ASTIS is maintained by the Arctic Institute pose of ASTIS is to make information about of North America at the University of Calgary, northern Canada more accessible. The ASTIS and is made available free of charge with sup- database contains over 47,000 records and cov- port from the Canadian Polar Commission. ers all subjects. Two types of information are Task Force on Northern Research ¤ establish 24 university research chairs—12 The Task Force on Northern Research, senior and 12 junior—dedicated to northern which involved people from university, gov- research; ernment and northern communities to look at ¤ create 40 northern graduate scholarships and the crisis in northern research, recently pub- 40 postdoctoral fellowships; lished its final report [From Crisis to Opportu- ¤ support 70 strategic research projects of high nity. Rebuilding Canada’s Role in Northern Re- social, industrial or environmental relevance search. Final Report to NSERC and SSHRC (modelled on NSERC’s Strategic Projects from the Task Force on Northern Research. program); Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council and the Social Sciences and ¤ build partnerships between northern commu- Humanities Research Council of Canada, nities and university researchers (modelled Ottawa. 43 pp. Also available at on SSHRC’s Community-University Re- ftp://ftp.nserc.ca/pub/nserc_pdf/nor/crisis.pdf]. search Alliance program); and The task force made specific recommendations ¤ provide funding for critical equipment, in- to rebuild Canadian northern research: frastructure and logistical needs. ARCTIC INSECT NEWS , 2000 3 FEATURE SPECIES: THE CHALCID WASP ENCYRTUS INFIDUS Eugeny S. Sugonyaev Zoological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, 199034, St. Petersburg, Russia. E-mail: [email protected] Encyrtus infidus Rossi (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea: Encyrtidae) Range: E. infidus is widespread in Eurasia, north to Kola peninsula and south to Asia Minor. Habitat: Northern taiga forest, including peat bogs and mountainous and forest tundra. Larval food: Internal parasite of larva and female of birch coccid, Eulecanium douglasi Sulc (Homoptera: Coccidae), living on polar birch, Betula nana, etc. Features of special interest: Chalcid wasp fauna and taxonomy; pattern of seasonal development; host-parasite relationship. Sample references: Sugonyaev and Vu Quang Con 1979; Sugonyaev and Voinovich 1988; Sugonyaev 1990; Sugonyaev and Voinovich 1992. Encyrtus infidus demonstrates the wonder- site infests the first-instar host nymph and ful capacity of a parasitic insect for adaptation forms the overwintering generation (Fig. l, I). and prosperity under different environmental The first-instar parasite larva of this generation conditions. In fact, its mode of seasonal devel- differs from that of the summer generation be- opment and parasitization on host in high lati- cause it is solitary, loses caudal spiracles and tudes seems to be incredible. Most of the fol- has cuticular respiration (apneustic type). Such lowing observations have been made in the adaptations permit the parasitic larva to live neighbourhood of St. Petersburg and at Cape successfully inside the body of the host without Cartesh in the White Sea situated a little south inhibiting the host’s development. It acceler- of the Arctic Circle, partly in the transpolar ar- ates growth and metamorphosis of the host in eas of the Khibin mountain range and the shore order to finish its own development in the of the Barents Sea. A significant contribution to young adult host female in spring (“transit para- the study has been made by N.D. Voinovich. sitism”). In middle latitudes where the host coccid E. In high latitudes, the life cycle of the host caraganae Borchs. has monocyclic seasonal coccid E. douglassi normally lasts for 2 years. development (Fig. 1, middle), the annual cycle As a consequence of this host hemicyclism, the of E.infidus consists of two generations (Fig. 1, annual cycle and character of parasitism of E. top). During the development of the summer infidus are modified: 1) solitary parasitism in generation the species is a multiple (“gregari- the first-instar host nymph transforms into gre- ous”) parasite of the mature female host. Its garious parasitism with completion of develop- larva has open posterior (“caudal”) spiracles ment in the young adult host female; 2) owing which remain in contact with the aeroscopic to a regulative affect by the parasite, the sea- plate of its own egg chorion, supplying it with sonal development of the infested host acquires atmospheric air (metapneustic type of larva). an aberrant character and proceeds on the Emerging from the host body, the female para- monocyclic scheme like in middle latitudes 4 ARCTIC INSECT NEWS No. 11, 2000 (Fig. 1, middle), and the adult parasite emerges Sugonyaev, E.S., and N.D. Voinovich. 1988. from the young adult host female every summer Peculiarities of chalcid-wasp parasitization in order to infest the first-instar host nymph (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoiea) on Eulecanium again; 3) the parasite loses part of its annual cy- douglasi (Homoptera: Coccidae) in the hypoarctic cle: the summer generation