Surveillance for the Asian longhorn beetle, Anoplophora glabripennis, currently depends on visual inspection. As one complementary method, dogs have been trained and employed for the detection of A. glabripennis since 2009. In this study, two sets of experiments in double‐blind trials were carried out to quantify the sensitivity of the dog detection method using 10 dogs in the first set and 14 dogs in the second. All experiments used the same basic set‐up of 2 positive and 6 negative samples presented in random order. In the first series, A. glabripennis scent material (frass, a living larva or infested wood plus a living larva) was placed in hollow building blocks invisible to dogs and handlers. The experiments had an overall sensitivity of 85–93% (correct positives of all positives) and specificity of 79–94% (correct negatives of all negatives). The second series tested more realistic but also standardized situations: A. glabripennis frass and wood shavings were hidden in ground vegetation at the base of young poplar trees in a plantation, in tubes at a height of 1.8 m on these poplar trees and in crevices on old trees in an orchard at a height of about 1.8 m, respectively. These experiments had an overall sensitivity of 75–88% and a specificity of 85–96%.

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1 Larvae of Thaumetopoea pityocampa (Lepidoptera: Notodontidae) develop throughout the winter, although their feeding activity and survival can be impaired by adverse climatic factors. The present study investigated the survival at low temperature of larvae originating from a population with range expansion in an alpine valley in Northern Italy. 2 The supercooling point of individually analysed larvae averaged at -7 °C. This value insufficiently described the cold hardiness of the larvae; 39% of the tested larvae were alive when returned to room temperature immediately after freezing. When larval colonies inside their nest were exposed to -17 °C for 1 h after gradual temperature decrease, survival was 70.4%. 3 Rearing of larvae in the laboratory at different day/night temperatures indicated an effect of cumulative chill injury on larvae. A logistic regression explained the relationship between negative thermal sum (h°C below 0 °C) received in the laboratory experiment and larval survival. A similar relationship was demonstrated between negative thermal sum and survival of larval colonies in the field. 4 In the laboratory experiment, some tested larvae were able to survive for up to 8 weeks without feeding depending on rearing temperature. As expected, feeding occurred only when larvae were reared at temperatures of 9 °C day/0 °C night. 5 We classify the larvae of T. pityocampa as being moderate freezing tolerant. The winter behaviour allows this species to track climate warming by a rapid expansion into those areas that become compatible with the insect's development.

Investigation of pathogens of populations of the gypsy moth, Lymantria dispar (L.) in Central and Eastern Europe revealed the existence of a microsporidium (Fungi: Microsporidia) of the genus Vairimorpha. The parasite produced three spore morphotypes. Internally infective spores are formed in the gut and adjacent muscle and connective tissue; single diplokaryotic spores and monokaryotic spores grouped by eight in sporophorous vesicles develop in the fat body tissues. The small subunit rDNA gene sequences of various isolates of the Vairimorpha microsporidia, obtained from L. dispar in various habitats in the investigated region, revealed their mutual identity. In phylogenetic analyses, the organism clustered with other L. dispar microsporidia that form only diplokaryotic spores in the sporogony cycle. The octospores of certain microsporidia infecting Lepidoptera that were previously described as Thelohania spp., have recently been shown to be one of the several spore morphotypes produced by species in the genus Vairimorpha. Because the description and drawings of a parasite described as Thelohania disparis by Timofejeva fit the characteristics of Vairimorpha, and all octospore-producing microsporidia collected from L. dispar since 1985 are genetically identical Vairimorpha species, it is believed that the parasite characterized here is identical to T. disparis Timofejeva 1956, and is herein redescribed, characterized, and transferred to the genus Vairimorpha as the new combination Vairimorpha disparis n. comb.