Annotated list of soldier flies (Diptera, Stratiomyidae) of the Crimean Peninsula is presented. It comprises 42 species from 14 genera of 6 subfamilies. Nine species are recorded for the first time in the Crimea. The fauna of Stratiomyidae of the Crimean Peninsula is compared with the faunas of countries situated around the Black Sea (Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey).
Natural geographic range of the predatory bug Orius laevigatus which is widely used for biological control of various insect pests in greenhouses includes Western, Central, and Southern Europe, Mediterranean, Northern Africa, and South Asia. In the former USSR it was recorded in the southern Ukraine, Crimea, Abkhazia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Turkmenistan. In 2020 we found O. laevigatus in a sunflower field in Stavropol Territory of Russia. To estimate the biocontrol potential of the Stavropol population, the process of its adaptation to mass rearing conditions was investigated over 17 sequential generations. The experiments have shown that individuals of the Stavropol population did not differ significantly in several important parameters of reproduction and development (female fecundity, survival of preimaginal stages, etc.) under the mass rearing conditions from individuals of the laboratory population reared at these conditions over many tens of generations. These results suggest that the Stavropol population of O. laevigatus originates from bugs sporadically escaped from local greenhouses and mass rearing facilities rather than represents the result of the natural spread from the Black Sea coast caused by global warming.
The biography, scientific and pedagogical careers of a well-known entomologist Anatoly Mikhailovich Lobanov are briefly described. List of his publications and a set of photographs in different periods of his life are given.
Cisurgus ferulae Pfeffer, 1983 is recorded for the first time in Northern and Southern Kazakhstan. Original photographs of adult external structures, male genitalia, spermatheca, biotopes, and host plants are provided as well as an amended description of the species.
Although the potential of the use of the semiochemicals (pheromones, allomones, kairomones, and synomones) and the semiophysicals (physical stimuli) to control insect behaviour for plant protection from harmful insects is beyond doubt, the characteristics of the interactions between their attractive properties have been extremely poorly studied. Therefore, despite the fact that the cotton bollworm, Helicoverpa armigera, is one of the most harmful insects on the planet, there is no information in the literature on the effect of a combination of light stimuli and a synthetic sex attractant (SSA) on the behaviour of this species. In July–August 2021–2023, we conducted a study in two locations in Krasnodar Territory of Russia to test attraction of cotton bollworm adults with traps placed on corn sowings and equipped with four baits: (1) ultraviolet light emitting diodes (UV LEDs), (2) SSA, (3) SSA + UV LEDs, and control (4). The results obtained showed significant differences between the baits in capturing moths: not a single adult was captured in the control trap at all; traps with UV LEDs captured about 8%; with SSA, capturing a little more than 30%, and traps that attracted insects with both SPA and UV LEDs captured almost 60% of the total number of moths captured. The small catch of moths to the light is clearly explained by the situation of the traps in rows of tall hybrid corn at a height of 1.5 metres above the ground and no closer than 30 metеrs to the edge of the field. This means that the light, unlike SSA signals, was faded rapidly by the surrounding vegetation. However, a positive aspect of the technique used is the absence of significant numbers of non-target insect species capture in traps. The only exceptions are green grasshoppers, Tettigonia caudata (Ch.) and T. viridissima (L.), in traps with LEDs or other baits. Using two-factor ANOVA of both the original and transformed (x + 0.5)½ capture data, we found a synergy effect in the interaction of SSA and LED signals with respect to attractiveness for pest adults at pa = 0.05 only in one out of the five tests conducted. This result shows that the interaction of the semiochemicals and semiophysicals has rather additive than synergistic nature. Nevertheless, the results of the tests suggest that the combined use of SSA and LED may be a promising means for controlling the behaviour of the pest since retrofitting pheromone traps with UV LEDs can result in an approximately twofold increase in catch rates of the cotton bollworm adults.
The paper summarizes data on the true bugs (Heteroptera) of the North of Krasnoyarsk Territory, including the earliest records by the Swedish expedition of Nils Nordenskiöld in 1875–1878. The faunal list comprises 158 species from 18 families, of which 92 species from 16 families were documented by our team in 1986–2021. Lopus decolor (Fallén, 1807), formerly known from Europe only, is first recorded for Siberia based on our data. Eight species (8.7%) are recorded for the first time for Krasnoyarsk Territory, and 43 species (46.7%) are for the first time recorded for the northern part of Krasnoyarsk Territory.
For all examined species of butterflies and moths (Lepidoptera), common peculiarities of larval molts are revealed, which distinguish them from all other insects: with the molt from one larval instar to another, living tissues of head and thoracic legs undergo significant destruction; the remaining tissues of the head shift backward and are partly impressed into the prothorax, and the remained tissues of the legs are shortened; with the ecdysis, the old head capsule is not broken by the Y-shaped suture, but is shed as a whole. In contrast to the larval molts, the molt from larva to pupa in most lepidopterans (except Gracillarioidea) passes without shifting of the head and legs tissues, and the cuticle of head capsule breaks by the Y-shaped suture. Peculiar adaptations allow lepidopteran larvae to live through long-term immobility of the head and the legs during each molt which separates two active larval instars. The set of species examined by us allows to express a statement that the peculiar mode of larval molt is inherent to all lepidopterans and differentiates them from all other insects, i. e. is an autapomorphy of the order Lepidoptera.
Two new species of the genus Mikluchomaklaia Gorochov, 1986 are described in the nominotypical subgenus: M. (M.) chuрini sp. n. from Waigeo and Gam islands near the western coast of New Guinea, and M. (M.) glupovi sp. n. from the southern part of New Guinea. These species differ from other representatives of this subgenus in shorter male tegmina and some features of the male genitalia, and from each other, mainly in the male genitalia characters.
Data on the distribution, landscape and biotopical, and also trophic associations of Sitona onerosus Faust, 1890 (Curculionidae) in European Russia are reported. This Central Palaearctic steppe species is for the first time reliably recorded in the centre of the European part of the country (Voronezh Prov.) and in the eastern part of the Russian Plain (Samara and Orenburg provinces, Tatarstan and Bashkortostan). Lectotype and paralectotypes of Sitona uralensis L. Arn. are designated in the collection of the Zoological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences.
Longevity of adult males and females of mosquitoes Aedes (Ochlerotatus) communis (De Geer) and A. (O.) cantans (Meigen), emerged and reared in laboratory conditions, was estimated. Imagines were reared in groups in specially constructed containers with free access to sucrose and water, with mean environmental temperature of 21–22 °С, 50% air humidity inside containers, and natural light regimen. A separate group of A. cantans was reared from eggs (embryos), collected with fallen leaves from under snow. It was recognized that adult males of both species live shorter than their conspecific females. Longevity in A. cantans, in general, is greater than in A. communis; the statistically significant interspecific differences were revealed when survival curves of males were compared. Maximum recorded longevity was 42.5 and 74 days for adult females of A. communis and A. cantans, respectively. Adult females of A. cantans, reared from embryos under laboratory conditions at mean water temperature of 19°C, had the mean life expectancy similar to that obtained for conspecific adult females reared from larvae and pupae collected in nature (40 and 34 days, respectively). Two groups of their male counterparts had identical mean life expectancy values (15 days). The results mean that A. cantans adults are more convenient than adults of A. communis for prolonged experiments under laboratory conditions. Probably, adults of A. cantans reared from embryos are, in general, not less viable than their conspecifics hatched and developed at pre-imaginal stages in natural conditions.
Comparison of the morphological evolution of the two biogeographic groups of the subtribe Polyommatina, the Old World and the New World ones, is carried out for the first time. Muscles of the male genitalia of the South American species Nabokovia cuzquenha Bálint et Lamas, 1997; Hemiargus hanno (Stoll, [1790]); Hemiargus ramon (Dognin, 1887); Itylos nodo (Bálint et Johnson, 1995); I. pelorias (Weymer, 1890) and I. pacis (Draudt 1921) are described in detail. On the background of the profound similarity of the male genitalia muscles of the subtribe Polyommatina between the faunas of the Old World and New World, a clear autapomorphy of the species of the genus Hemiargus is found—shift of the attachment of the secondary retractors of aedeagus, m7(6)b, from the alulae on the sagum, a unique skeletal structure near the aedeagus in South American Polyommatina. A parallel appearance of this character within the South American clade is speculated. An independent and simultaneous splitting of the intravalvar muscles m5(7) in the Neotropical and Holarctic lineages of the subtribe Polyommatina after their divergence is described.
An annotated list of crane flies (Tipuloidea) collected in the vicinity of Pevek City (Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, northwest of Chaun Bay) was compiled based on the surveys carried out in 2011 and 2021, as well as on the collection material of the Zoological Institute RAS (St. Petersburg). The list contains 10 species of Tipulidae (120 specimens in total) and three species of Limoniidae (7 specimens), of which Tipula (Odonatisca) subarctica Alexander, 1919 and Symplecta (Symplecta) scotica (Edwards, 1938) are recorded for the first time for the Chukotka AO. The bulk of the fauna consists of the species with the Arctic/Arcto-montane ranges, some of which are restricted to the extreme northeast of Asia; one third of the species have Hypoarcto-montane ranges. The peculiar feature of the ecological composition of the fauna is the small number of hygrophilous taxa (only one species in the family Tipulidae). The Hypoarcto-montane Tipula (Vestiplex) montana excisoides Alexander, 1934 is the commonest species in the studied area. Most of the other species found around Pevek are rare there, and some are found in very small numbers, which is particularly characteristic of limoniids.
Genus Anatolodus Dlabola, 1982 (Issidae) is recorded for the Russian fauna for the first time. New data on the distribution of Cixidia polias Emeljanov, 2005 (Achilidae), Metcalfa pruinosa (Say, 1830) (Flatidae) and Trypetymorpha occidentalis Huang et Bourgoin, 1993 (Tropiduchidae) are reported.
A new genus with a new species in the family Caliscelidae, Prosopaspis dingo gen. et sp. n., is described from Australia. It is the second representative of Caliscelidae in Australia and in Notogea as a whole. The new genus belonging to the tribe Caliscelini may be related to the African genus Rhinoploeus Gnezdilov et Bourgoin. A peculiar construction of the metope in the new genus is considered.
Two abundant acridid species (Chorthippus apricarius and Locusta migratoria) are widely distributed over South Siberia. Estimations of suitability conditions on the basis of the MaxEnt algorithm well correspond to the known localities of each species for the contemporary period. The main bioclimatic variables explaining these species distribution are associated with temperatures, especially those of the cold season. Predicted distribution patterns for 2021–2040 and 2041–2060 and for the scenarios of the high levels of the greenhouse gas emission show serious significant differences between the two model species. These forecasts demonstrate the explicit worsening of conditions for Chorthippus apricarius in South Siberia, and the significant expansion of territories applicable for Locusta migratoria in the southern parts of West Siberia and in Northern Kazakhstan. This trend looks like enhancing in the second half of the 21st century. The optimal areas for the migratory locust may cover the huge territories between 50° and 62° N and between the Ural Mts. and the north-western parts of the Altai-Sayan Mts. where a new area of possible outbreaks of L. migratoria may emerge. In the adjacent regions, the areas with suitable conditions for this species can expand significantly as well, including Primorskii Territory. Hence, the general continuation of global warming will most likely lead to some significant shifts in the distribution of some possible acridid pests across South Siberia.
New data are provided on 62 species from four tribes of megachilids in the Central Russian Upland. The findings of Stelis odontopyga, Heriades crenulata, Osmia brevicornis and Megachile pilicrus in the Kursk, Voronezh and Lipetsk provinces shift northeastward their known distribution boundaries. Megachile pyrenaea was previously recorded in Russia only from Leningrad Province and the Republic of Karelia. The second location of Anthidium oblongatum in the center of European Russia has been found. With an addition of the literature data, the total number of species known for the studied area is 70.
An analysis of the distribution and ecological features in European Russia of the weevil Ptochus porcellus Boheman, 1834 (Curculionidae), an Eastern Euro-Caucasian — Kazakhstan southern steppe species, is provided. The northern boundary of its range has been established, on the Russian Plain it mainly passes through the very south of the forest-steppe zone, and in the Urals, — along the middle part of the steppe zone. It is shown that in the north of the range the species is associated with the most xerothermic extrazonal habitats with sparse vegetation cover. Information on the host plants of this species has been supplemented.
We studied the setae and scales located on the lateral sclerites of the thorax in 27 blackfly species (Diptera, Simuliidae) by scanning electron and optical microscopy. For the first time, it was shown that some thoracic setae are modified and have serrations. The size and number of serrations in the modified setae vary between blackfly species. The antepronotal setae of Gymnopais trifistulatus have a few small serrations, those of Simulium erythrocephalum are larger, and in S. maculatum and S. pusillum, have many well-developed serrations; Prosimulium macropyga has serrate setae on the postpronotum, while Simulium maculatum and S. pusillum have narrow scales. We proposed a terminology for the setae and scales on the thoracic pleurites of the blackflies (antepronotal setae, postpronotal setae and scales, etc.). The body chaetome of evolutionarily advanced groups (species of the genus Simulium) is formed by both scales and setae of various types, while in archaic groups (Prosimulium, Helodon) setae with varyingly developed serrations predominate.
Preference for, and suitability of three plant species: Kalanchoe blossfeldiana, K. daigremontiana, and K. laciniata for oviposition by females of a predatory bug Orius laevigatus were investigated under laboratory conditions. The study was aimed at the improvement of the methods for laboratory and mass rearing of this entomophage widely used for biological control of greenhouse pests. The evaluated parameters were the number of eggs laid per leaf by O. laevigatus females within 24 h and the proportion of hatched larvae. The experiments showed that all three Kalanchoe species are more or less equally suitable as substrates for egg-laying by O. laevigatus females, although when possible it is preferable to use K. blossfeldiana.
