Background Chile is the second largest avocado producer in the world. However, there have been few studies on interactions between native bees and avocado pollination in a Chilean environment. The flowering period of avocado is very sensitive to temperature fluctuations and so environmental conditions, particularly cool temperatures, can have a strong influence on its floral behaviour. Thus, we aimed to determine whether temperature also influences bee visitation rates to avocado flowers or if this was due to the number of available flowers. Moreover, we proposed to verify the attractiveness of avocado flowers to native bees and compare flower handling time and type of floral resource collected between managed and native bees. Methods An avocado orchard of “Hass” cultivar located in the Mediterranean region of Chile was studied during the flowering season of 2016. The frequency of exotic and native bee species in flowers, floral phenology, and environmental temperature were analysed, and the foraging behaviours of exotic and native bee species in avocado flowers compared. Results Five Chilean native and two exotic species were recorded visiting avocado flowers at the studied orchard. The bees generally sought nectar rather than pollen. The European honeybee (Apis mellifera) was the most frequent flower visitor, followed by the native species Colletes cyanescens and Cadeguala occidentalis. There was a strong positive correlation between temperature and number of visits, but no significant correlation between number of open flowers and number of visits. Conclusions Native Chilean bees visited avocado flowers and some of them were frequent floral visitors. They generally sought for nectar rather than pollen and were as fast as honeybees handling avocado flowers. The environmental temperature plays a key role in the frequency of bees in avocado flowers. The warmer weather is related to the higher number of bees visits to avocado flowers.

Tropical montane organisms are vulnerable to climate change because of elevational specialisation, but little is known of the variability in elevational specialisation across tropical insects. We assessed elevational specialisation across several insect taxa comprising four trophic groups 80–2263 m up an elevational transect in Brazilian Atlantic Rainforest, using community‐based and species‐based approaches. We sampled 697 species, of which 32% were found only in the top and 45% only in the bottom half of the transect. Considering only the 182 species with at least five individuals recorded, the percentage of species found exclusively in the top or bottom half drops to 16% and 24%. Across four vegetation belts (lower montane forest, montane forest, upper montane forest and Campos de Altitude) the Eumolpinae (herbivores) were more specialised than Scarabaeinae (saprotrophs), or Lampyridae (predators). This result was robust to the treatment of rare species, and the difference was most marked at higher elevations. Lampyridae lacked upper montane forest specialists. Using all species sampled, specialisation to the upper or lower half of the transect was greatest among Chrysomelidae, Curculionidae (both herbivores) and Lampyridae, and lowest among Tiphiidae (parasitoids) and Coccinellidae (predators). Considering only better sampled species, however, Lampyridae were the most specialised and Braconidae the least specialised. Trophic groups also varied consistent with these findings. Our findings suggest high elevational specialisation and concomitant extinction risk in Brazilian Atlantic Rainforest insects. Differences in elevational specialisation between taxonomic groups may alter the functioning of insect communities under climate change.

Dolichomitus Smith is a widely distributed pimpline genus with more than seventy known species. There are eight species previously reported from South America: D. annulicornis (Cameron), D. bivittatus Townes, D. hypermeces Townes, D. jatai Loffredo & Penteado-Dias, D. longicauda Smith, D. megalourus (Morley), D. moacyri Loffredo & Penteado-Dias and D. zonatus (Cresson). In this paper, we describe five new species: D. mariajosae Araujo & Pádua, sp. nov., D. menai Araujo & Pádua, sp. nov., D. orejuelai Araujo & Pádua, sp. nov., D. pimmi Araujo & Pádua, sp. nov., and D. rendoni Araujo & Pádua, sp. nov. All have been collected in cloud forests in the Colombian tropical Andes. An illustrated key to the South American species of the genus is also provided.

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Mesochorinae is a relatively small but widely distributed subfamily of Ichneumonidae, with most species occurring in the Neotropical Region. Currently, there are two classifications in use regarding mesochorine genera, causing numerous taxonomic conflicts. To resolve nomenclature conflicts, seven new replacement names and twelve new combinations are proposed for species now recognized as members of Mesochorus Gravenhorst. Herein the synonymy of Plectochorus Uchida and Stictopisthus Thomson with the genus Mesochorus s. lat. is reaffirmed, supported by the following shared character states: transverse subantennal carina partially or completely developed; supraclypeal area evenly convex, without median protrusion; clypeus not separated from supraclypeal area by depression or groove; and hind wing without vein Cu1b. An updated key to the World genera of Mesochorinae is also presented.