Vol 96, No 7 (2016)

Chemical communication of the four-eyed fir bark beetle Polygraphus proximus Blandf., an aggressive invasive pest of the Siberian fir Abies sibirica Ledeb., was experimentally studied using a four-way olfactometer of a modified design, in which the tested insects were allowed to move on their own from a lightproof plastic container onto the lighted arena. Young hibernated adults of P. proximus were offered four variants of odor: fir log segments infested with (1) 10 males, (2) 10 females, (3) 10 couples of P. proximus, and (4) clean air as the control. The pheromone of P. proximus was shown to be produced by females; a similar response of both sexes characterized it as an aggregation pheromone. All the three variants with infested fir logs were much more attractive than the control variant with clean air. Volatiles from fir tissues not only seem to serve as markers facilitating host selection by the first-to-arrive beetles before direct contact with the tree bark, but also to be used as pheromone precursors or synergists. The absence of difference in response to the logs infested with males and couples of the bark beetle indicated that pheromone synthesis was inhibited after couple formation.

The simultaneous influence of the photoperiodic and temperature conditions on pre-diapause and postdiapause larval development of the ringlet Aphantopus hyperantus was studied. At the short day (12 h of light a day) all larvae reached the III instar and entered diapause at all the temperatures tested (18–24°C). At the long day (22 h) the number of diapausing larvae increased with decreasing temperature, and the larvae diapaused at the III and IV instars. The I and II instar larvae (before winter) developed and grew faster under short-day, and the hibernated larvae, under long-day conditions. At the short day the growth rate of the I and II instar larvae did not depend on the temperature, and at the long day it decreased as the temperature increased. After hibernation the growth rate of the IV instar larvae increased with the temperature under long-day conditions, and did not depend on the temperature under short-day ones. Thus, acceleration or deceleration of development, depending on the photoperiodic and temperature conditions, regulated the timing of diapause in the overwintering stage (the III instar larva) and maintained the univoltine seasonal cycle. The males of A. hyperantus developed and grew faster than females while their weight at the larval and pupal stages was smaller. The thermal reaction norms for development (the lower temperature threshold and the coefficient of thermal sensitivity of development) were calculated for the eggs, IV and V instar larvae, and pupae. The coefficient of thermal sensitivity of development for the IV and V instar larvae taken together was lower, and the threshold was higher than the corresponding values for eggs and pupae. The thermal reaction norms for development of the latter stages were the same. The larvae of A. hyperantus retained their sensitivity to the photoperiod after hibernation. Resumption of development after cold reactivation occurred only under long-day conditions, whereas under short-day ones the overwintered larvae entered a repeated diapause. The possibility of photoperiodic reactivation and the absence of spontaneous resumption of development in these larvae were demonstrated.

Comparative analysis of the fauna of phytophagous beetles (Chrysomeloidea, Curculionoidea) on grassy slopes in the east of the Russian Plain and in the Cis-Ural Region was performed. The species richness, taxonomic and chorological structure, and specificity of 22 partial faunas were assessed along the latitudinal gradient from the taiga to the steppe zone. The slope faunas are shown to have extrazonal features and to function as refuges of rare species. The species richness of slope communities of phytophagous beetles increases 2–3-fold (from 105–174 to 283–303 species) from the taiga to the forest-steppe, largely due to an increase in the number and share of representatives of the steppe landscape-geographic complex. The ratio of the number of species of Curculionidae to that of Chrysomelidae changes from 1: 1 to 1.5: 1.

The data on the distribution of Cylindera (s. str.) dokhtourowi (V.E. Jakovlev, 1884) are discussed. Records of this species from Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan are not supported by the material available, while its distribution in China (Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region and Qinghai Province) is confirmed.

Occurrence of malaria among the population of Tomsk Province is overviewed from 1935 till the present time. The results of phenological observations on malarial mosquitoes (Diptera, Culicidae) in the south of Tomsk Province from 2005 to 2014 are analyzed. The timing of crucial events in the mosquito life history is determined, namely, the onset of departure from overwintering sites, emergence of the first preimaginal stages, the flight of the first generation adults, and entry into diapause. The period of potential transmission of malaria in the south of Tomsk Province is calculated retrospectively.

A new species of the genus Cryptocephalus is described from the Malaysary Mountains (Southeastern Kazakhstan). The new species belongs to the subgenus Asionus and is closest to the group of species with a deep impression on the male anal (V) sternite (C. halophilus, C. impressipygus and C. mniczechi). Cryptocephalus malaysaryensis sp. n. clearly differs in the structure of the aedeagus and abdominal sternite V of the male.

Five new species are described: Agonopterix vladimirisp. n. from the Russian Far East, A. kopetdagellasp. n. from Turkmenistan, Exaeretia terskeellasp. n. from Kyrgyzstan, Depressaria pastukhovisp. n. from Southern Kazakhstan, and D. khorogellasp. n. from Tajikistan. Types of the new species are deposited in the collection of the Zoological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg.

New findings of rare and poorly known mite species belonging to the genus Spinturnix von Heyden, 1826 (Gamasina: Spinturnicidae), permanent ectoparasites of bats, are described in the paper.