Journal of Insect Biodiversity and Systematics
Volume:8 Issue: 4, Oct 2022

Three genera are recorded for the first time in Saudi Arabia: Alaptus Westwood, Anagrus Haliday, and Polynema Haliday. A new species, Erythmelus (Erythmelus) irba sp. nov. Zeya & Anwar & Ahmad is described. Four known species are recorded for the first time: Erythmelus (E.) flavovarius (Walker), Erythmelus (Parallelaptera) rex (Girault), Polynema (Polynema) brevicarinae Annecke & Doutt and Stephanodes reduvioli (Perkins).

Two species of the genus Foenatopus Smith, 1846 (Hym.: Stephanidae), were collected from West-Azarbaijan province, the northwest Iran; Foenatopus prousti Aguiar & Turrisi, 2010 and F. turcomanorum (Semenov, 1891). These species belong to the bimaculate group of this genus. Foenatopus turcomanorum is a new record for Iran. Their morphological characters and distribution are provided. The Iranian species of the bimaculate group of Foenatopus are summarized and tabulated.

Thaumasura Westwood is one of the unique genera of Cleonyminae (Hymenoptera, Pteromalidae) represented from the Oriental region by only three species. The only known representative of the genus from India was described as Thaumasura indica Sureshan & Binoy, which was already preoccupied by Thaumasura indica Mani & Kaul (currently in Balcha Walker). Thus, the replacement name Thaumasura keralica Binoy nom. nov. is hereby proposed to resolve this homonymy. Furthermore, Thaumasura femoralis (Westwood) is redescribed and its morphological characters are illustrated. A key to the Oriental species of the genus is also provided.

Seed-eater eurytomids of the genus Bruchophagus Ashmead, 1988 were collected from Ardabil and Qazvin provinces in northwest Iran. Various host plants were collected and their seeds were kept in laboratory conditions from 2007 to 2012. Scope of this paper focused on the Bruchophagus species reared from seeds of Astragalus brachydontus Boiss (Fabaceae). We obtained six species of Bruchophagus including B. astragali Fedoseeva. They were B. saxatilis Zerova; B. mutabilis Nikolaskaya; B. nikolskayae (Zerova); B. turkestanicus Zerova, and B. robiniae Zerova. Of which, Bruchophagus saxatilis Zerova, is a new record for the Iranian fauna. New host associations were found for all collected species and it seems a complex biological association that was recorded for the first time. Currently, 11 species of Bruchophagus are occurred inassociated with seeds of A. brachydontus. All previously known species of the genus Bruchophagus in Iran are also tabulated.

The gall midges, Janetiella convolvuli Mirumyan & Skuhravá, 2017 and Orseolia cynodontis Kieffer & Massalongo, 1902 are discovered in Iran for the first time based on adult specimens reared from galls on Convolvulus arvensis L. (Convolvulaceae) and Cynodon dactylon (L.) Persoon (Poaceae), respectively. The galls of J. convolvuli and O. cynodontis were previously recorded only in Armenia and European/African sections of the western part of the Palaearctic region, respectively. Some relevant diagnostic characters, photographs, ecological and biological notes, and distributional data for the newly recorded species are provided.

To expand study of Iranian Collembola fauna, the present study was conducted to investigate springtails fauna of different ecosystems such as forests, grasslands and gardens in the vicinity of Behshahr in the east of Mazandaran province, during 2020−2021. Several samples of soil and leaf litter were collected and specimens were extracted by Berlese funnel. Collected materials were identified by relevant taxonomic keys. The results indicated 29 species from 21 genera belonging to 10 families. Two species including Sminthurides inaequalis Börner, 1903 (Sminthurididae) and Hypogastrura neglecta Börner, 1901 (Hypogastruridae) were recorded for the first time from Iran. Despite numerous studies to identify Collembola fauna in Iran, many species are still unknown.

Insect caste development and their morphological divergence are not yet studied well, especially in ants. However, the role of developmental and genetic integration in evolution is contentious. In our study, we tried to reveal the quantitative genetics selection responses, phylogenetic signal, and evolutionary origin of weaver ant female castes (queen, major and minor). The widening and lengthening of the head region, as well as the well-developed mandibular process, are the major heritable characteristics found in the major worker ants. We hypothesized that these conserved and heritable characteristics may help the major worker ants for defense, foraging purposes and other nest-building function aspects. However, in the case of minor worker, small heads and the reduced mandibular process are the more heritable characteristics. Compared to worker ants, in queen, the highly heritable and conserved morphological character is well-developed thoracic regions and large-sized abdomen. It is interesting to note that there is no detectable phylogenetic signal across the female cast of the Asian weaver ants, which suggests that the caste development and morphological divergence are environmentally modulated not evolutionary conserved. From this study, we concluded that caste-specific morphological shape and size are highly conserved traits and these traits are modulated by their niche preferences.

Species of four chrysidoid families, Bethylidae, Dryinidae, Embolemidae, and Sclerogibbidae that occurred in Iran are reviewed. A total of 54 species within 27 genera from Iran are listed. The family Bethylidae with 34 species belonging to 16 genera was the largest group followed by Dryinidae with 17 species belonging to eight genera. The known Bethylidae species from Iran certainly represent a very small piece of the world fauna, distributed mainly in the Palaearctic region. Of the seventeen species of Dryinidae, the known distribution of ten species is known yet limited to the Palaearctic region, but five species are distributed in the north of the Afrotropical region (Arabian peninsula). The families, Embolemidae and Sclerogibbidae each represented by two and a single species in Iran, respectively. Embolemus huberi Olmi is here recorded from Kirghizstan, Turkey and Turkmenistan for the first time. Until now, no species of the families Plumariidae and Scolebythidae have been recorded from Iran. Despite the importance and diversity of both bethylids and dryinids, it seems that the least attempts have been done to study their fauna in Iran.

The oribatid mite of the family Oppiidae, Graptoppia (Stenoppia) italica (Bernini, 1973) (syn.: Oppia heterotricha Bernini, 1969) is redescribed based on females collected from soil in Sistan-o Baluchestan (Southeastern Iran) and South Khorasan (Central-Eastern Iran) provinces. Detailed descriptions of the gnathosoma and legs are also provided for the first time. The original description does not reflect the characters of the pubescence of the setae (cilia), characters on the lateral side of the ano-adanal region, as well as the true length of anal and adanal setae. Through the new finding of Graptoppia italica in Iran, the number of Oribatids in the family Opiidae raised to 81 species.

The tribe Orthosiini Guenée, 1837, one of the six tribes of Hadeninae subfamily is represented by 17 genera worldwide. Of those, three genera including Orthosia Ochsenheimer, 1816, Perigrapha Lederer, 1857 and Egira Duponchel, 1845 have recorded in Iran. Here, we present a Catalogue of Orthosiini of Iran including 15 species of this tribe with their provincial distribution in Iran. Identification keys for the Iranian species are provided as well. Perigrapha cilissa Püngeler, 1917 is recorded for the first time from Iran. The external and genital characteristics of the newly recorded species are given, beside the illustrations of the adults and their genitalia.