The last 2 decades have produced a better understanding of insect-microbial associations and yielded some important opportunities for insect control. However, most of our knowledge comes from model systems. Thrips (Thysanoptera: Thripidae) have been understudied despite their global importance as invasive species, plant pests and disease vectors. Using a culture and primer independent next-generation sequencing and metagenomics pipeline, we surveyed the bacteria of the globally important pest, Hood. The most abundant bacterial phyla identified were Actinobacteria and Proteobacteria and the most abundant genera were . A total of 189 genera of bacteria were identified. The absence of any vertically transferred symbiont taxa commonly found in insects is consistent with other studies suggesting that thrips primarilly acquire resident microbes from their environment. This does not preclude a possible beneficial/intimate association between and the dominant taxa identified and future work should determine the nature of these associations.

A new phytotelm plant for the Americas is recorded for San Miguel de los Bancos, Pichincha Province, Ecuador. In the leaf axils of Hook. f. (Amaryllidaceae) were collected larvae and pupae of a common mosquito, (Dyar) (Diptera: Culicidae: Sabethini). This plant is a South African native, introduced into several countries, but never reported as a habitat for immature mosquitoes. We provide notes about its botanical and ecological characteristics, and also of the mosquito associated at this locality.

We investigated the direct and indirect effects of elevated atmospheric CO(2) on freshwater container habitats and their larval mosquito occupants. We predicted that a doubling of atmospheric CO(2) would (1) alter the chemical properties of water in this system, (2) slow degradation of leaf litter, and (3) decrease larval growth of Aedes albopictus (Skuse) mosquitoes raised on that litter under competitive conditions. Effects of elevated CO(2) on water quality parameters were not detected, but the presence of leaf litter significantly reduced pH and dissolved oxygen relative to water-filled containers without litter. Degradation rates of oak leaf litter from plants grown under elevated CO(2) atmospheres did not differ from breakdown rates of litter from ambient CO(2) conditions. Litter from plants grown in an elevated CO(2) atmospheres did not influence mosquito population growth, but mosquito production decreased significantly with increasing larval density. Differences among mosquito density treatments influenced survivorship most strongly among male Ae. albopictus and time to emergence most strongly among females, suggesting fundamental sex-determined differences in response to competition. Results of this and other studies indicate that direct and indirect effects of doubled atmospheric CO(2) are minimal in artificial containers with freshwater.