فهرست مطالب mohsen mofidi-neyestanak

The order Orthoptera, including locusts, grasshoppers, mole crickets, crickets and bushcrickets, are generally herbivores. With large-scale and single-crop agriculture development, some locusts and grasshoppers appeared as pests and sometimes caused famine and crisis. The plateau of Iran is the origin of many cereal cultivars. Since some morphological characters, particularly the male internal genitalia in nymphs do not differentiate enough for confident diagnosis; the classical morphological identification of grasshoppers is largely based on the characteristics of adults. However, identifying the nymphs is very important in the field from the economic point of view, because most crop loss is due to the nymphal damage. Although accurate molecular determination is possible even in the egg stage, this technique is costly and specialized. Thus, providing cheaper and simpler approaches have rational perspectives. Our studies showed that some morphological features in nymphs could be practised at a genus-level field identification, none of the important grasshoppers related to wheat cultivation in Iran has apterism, and only the macroscopic characteristics of nymphs of two ages before maturity provide the necessary accuracy for field identification. Therefore, from 2019 through 2021, morphological characteristics of developing organs that could be informative for taxonomy in the late-stage nymphs were investigated in 362 nymphs belonging to 22 genera of 8 subfamilies out of 2 families. As a result, some 35 most conservative characters and 79 character-states were extracted. Afterwards, an illustrated key for field genus identification was prepared based on a sort of data. Education and extension of these filed identification outputs can avoid wasting time and money and lessen pollution of the environment with hazardous chemical agricultural pesticides before any control operation.

Mid of September 2022 and the near sandy bank of Neka River in the north of Iran, a cricket was collected on prickly lettuce bushes (Lactuca serriola L.) amongst wild bushes of rubus (Lactuca serriola L.) and trees of pomegranate (Punica granatum L.). Identification through morphological taxonomic keys and comparison with previously named specimens in the Hayk Mirzayans Insect Museum (HMIM) confirmed a new record. This is the first report of the genus and species of cricket Arachnocephalus vestidos Costa, 1855 from Iran. This insect has been reported from west to southwest Palearctic so far. The specimen is deposited in HMIM of the Iranian Research Institute of Plant Protection (IRIPP). The detailed morphological characteristics of the family, genus and species, as well as a key to identify the genera and species of scaly crickets in Iran is provided. So far, three species of three genera belonging to Mogoplistidae are reported from Iran.

The insect fauna of Ilam province is largely unknown. The orthopterans (Insecta: Orthoptera) are usually herbivores and some of them are considered as pests of crops. During 2015-2017, short-horned grasshoppers of Ilam province were collected using standard insect sweeping nets. Species identity determinations were performed using the morphological features of the collected materials through valid identification keys and comparison with type specimens already deposited in the Hayk Mirzayans Insect Museum. Consequently, 35 species belonging to 23 genera, from 10 subfamilies and 3 families were listed, of which 34 species were new reports for Ilam province insect fauna: ACRIDIDAE: Acridinae: Acrida bicolor, A. oxycephala, Cyrtacanthacridinae: Anacridium aegyptium, Schistocerca gregaria, Calliptaminae: Calliptamus barbarus, C. coelesyriensis, C. italicus, C. turanicus, Dericorythinae: Dericorys albidula, Eyprepocnemidinae: Heteracris pterosticha, Gomphocerinae: Chorthippus brunneus, Dociostaurus hauensteini, D. maroccanus, Ochrilidia tibialis, Stenohippus xanthus, Oedipodinae: Acrotylus insubricus, Aiolopus thalassinus, Locusta migratoria, Mioscirtus wagneri, Oedipoda miniata, O. caerulescens, Oedaleus senegalensis, Pyrgodera armata, Sphingonotus caerulans, S. savignyi, S. satrapes, S. octofasciatus, S. rubescens, Truxalinae: Truxalis nasuta. PAMPHAGIDAE: Thrinchinae: Asiotmethis limbatus, A. tauricus, Eremopeza reducta, E. soltanii. PYRGOMORPHIDAE: Pyrgomorphinae: Chrotogonus trachypterus, Pyrgomorpha conica. The number of species and genera reported indicates the species richness in the studied area and thus the need for more research to investigate the fauna.

The material belonging to the genus Asiotmethis (Pamphagidae: Thrinchinae) housed in the Hayk Mirzayans Insect Museum, Iranian Research Institute of Plant Protection as well as the specimens that collected in 2018, were examined based on morphological characters. As a result, three species were identified, i.e., A. artemisianus Shumakov, A. turritus (Fischer von Waldheim) and A. Limbatus (Charpentier). The first species was previously reported from Golestan province (North of Iran) and Khorasan-e-Razavi province (North East of Iran). The second species was previously reported from Golestan province and Azarbaijan-e-Sharghi (North West of Iran). A. limbatus that was collected and identified in Ilam province, South West of Iran is new to the Iranian fauna. Morphological identification key to the Iranian species belonging to the genus ‌Asiotmethis, measurements data and major morphological characteristics of the three species are given along with original photographs and distribution map for the new record.