Vol 97, No 9 (2017)

Females of certain aphidophagous ladybirds in the absence of natural protein food (aphids) enter reproductive diapause. Reactivation of diapausing beetles is possible only after consuming the food which is suitable for oogenesis of females and development of larvae. The influence of diet and photoperiod on the dynamics of weight and on the rate of reproductive maturation of reactivating females of Harmonia axyridis was studied under laboratory conditions. The experiments were conducted at combinations of two day lengths (12 and 18 h) with 6 trophic regimes with the following mean numbers of daily consumed aphids: 0 (aphids were absent over the whole experiment), 0.1 (1 aphid was provided every 10 days), 0.5 (1 aphid every second day), 1 (1 aphid every day), 10 (10 aphids every day), and 50 (about 50 aphids every day). Judging from the state of ovarian development estimated by dissection 20 days after the beginning of the experiment, the threshold of the trophic termination of reproductive diapause under the long day conditions lies between the regimes of 0.1 and 0.5 aphids per day, which is approximately equal to the earlier investigated threshold of the trophic induction of diapause. Short day slowed reactivation and has increased the threshold of the trophic response up to 1-10 aphids per day. Based on these data, we conclude that under natural conditions females which entered reproductive diapause because of the absence of aphids are capable of reactivation in the presence of even a minimal amount of natural protein food. Moreover, in spring and summer (when the probability of the increase in aphid abundance is relatively high) reactivation starts at lower prey population density than in autumn, when the appearance of the stable aphid colony (which is necessary to complete the development of the emerged larvae) is less probable.

Reproductive behavior of Molipteryx fuliginosa (Uhler) was investigated in Primorskii Territory of Russia. From 4 to 18 repeated copulations of one female lasting from 2 to 48 hours were recorded in cages. The behavior of ovipositing females and the stages of oviposition are described for the first time. The number of eggs laid between copulations varied from 1 to 13, the number of oviposition acts, from 4 to 11, and the total female fecundity, from 21 to 38 eggs. Caged females laid eggs on plants and also on dead substrates unsuitable for nymphal feeding, such as cloth, dry branches, and a wooden pole. Copulation of M. fuliginosa was also observed under natural conditions. The preferred mating places of M. fuliginosa in anthropogenically modified habitats and in small-leaved riparian forests were plants of Rubus idaeus L., R. caesius L., and Rubus sp. After mating, females migrated in search of places for oviposition. Single eggs were found on the following plants not known previously as hosts of this bug: Solanum lycopersicum L., Carex sp., Elytrigia repens (L.) Nevski, and Taraxacum officinale Wigg. The females seemed to lack selectivity in the choice of place for oviposition, which was not always associated with host plants, despite their abundance and availability.

The structure of the ovipositor sclerites and musculature was investigated in Timia erythrocephala Wiedemann, 1824 (Ulidiidae), whose larvae are saprophagous. The ovipositor musculature of this species is compared with that of the previously investigated Tephritidae. Based on morphological analysis, characters common to Ulidiidae and primitive Tephritidae and supposedly plesiomorphic for Tephritidae are revealed. Abdominal segment VII in Timia is compact and consists of tergite and stemite VII fused into a syntergostemite with a visible suture. The preserved suture between the stemite and tergite of segment VII should be regarded as an intermediate state in the process of syntergostemite formation in tephritoid flies, which was completed already in Lenitovena.

The fauna of grass flies (Diptera: Chloropidae) of the Crimean Peninsula is reviewed for the first time. The study is based on examination of the collection of the Zoological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences (St. Petersburg), which includes the material collected in Crimea by the authors, the collections of the Zoological Museum of the M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University and V. I. Vernadsky Crimean Federal University (Simferopol). The annotated list includes 92 species in 34 genera and three subfamilies. Most of the species (61) are recorded from Crimea for the first time. Six species, Chlorops horridus Becker, Ch. puncticornis Loew, Dicraeus (Oedesiella) beschovskii Nartshuk, Lasiosina chandleri Ismay, Meromyza meigeni Nartshuk and Oscinimorpha longirostris (Loew) are recorded for the first time from Russia and Eastern Europe. The characters for distinguishing Oscinimorpha arcuata Duda from O. longirostris (Loew), i.e., the structure of head and the male genitalia, are provided. The boreo-montane species Oscinella vastator (Curtis) and Meromyza curvinervis (Zetterstedt) are found on the Chatyrdag Mountain and Yaila (mostly forestless plateau in the Crimean Mountains). Species with southern European, Mediterranean and Macaronesian-Mediterranean ranges were recorded mostly on the South Coast of Crimea. The Crimean fauna of Chloropidae is compared with the faunas of Sardinia and Turkey.

Mexican ants of the genus Dolichoderus are revised. Five species of the genus are recorded: D. bispinosus (Olivier, 1792), D. diversus Emery, 1894, D. lutosus (Smith, 1858), D. mariae Forel, 1885 and D. plagiatus (Mayr, 1870). Dolichoderus tridentanodus Ortega-De Santiago et Vásquez-Bolaños, 2012 is synonymized with Camponotus mucronatus Emery, 1890. Early records of D. germaini Emery, 1894 and D. lugens Emery, 1894 from Mexico are misidentifications and those species are excluded from the list of the Mexican fauna. Dolichoderus mariae Forel, 1885 is newly reported for the fauna of Mexico. Identification key to Mexican Dolichoderus species is given.

The genus Gnezdilovius Meng, Webb et Wang, 2017 is revised. Maculergithus Constant et Pham, 2016, which was described as a subgenus of Gergithus Stål, 1870, is upgraded to a genus. Ishiharanus Hori, 1969 is reinstalled from synonymy with Gergithus and considered a valid name. Two new genera are erected, Ceratogergithus Gnezdilov, gen. n. (type species: Gergithus spinosus Che, Zhang et Wang, 2007) and Ophthalmosphaerius Gnezdilov, gen. n. (type species: Hernisphaerius trilobulus Che, Zhang et Wang, 2006). Hernisphaerius bistriatus Schumacher, 1915, Gergithus carbonarius Melichar, 1906, G. rosticus Chan et Yang, 1994, G. nummarius Chan et Yang, 1994, and G. rotundus Chan et Yang, 1994 are transferred to the genus Epyhemisphaerius Chan et Yang, 1994, Gergithus quinquemaculatus Che, Zhang, Wang, 2007—to the genus Maculergithus, Gergithus chelatus Che, Zhang, Wang, 2007 and G. pseudotessellatus Che, Zhang, Wang, 2007—to the genus Ceratogergithus, Hernisphaerius binocularis Chen, Zhang, Chang, 2014—to the genus Ophthalmosphaerius, and Gergithus robustus hoozanensis Schumacher, 1915—to the genus Gnezdilovius. The male genitalia of Gergithus herbaceus (Kirby, 1891) and Hernisphaerius interclusus Noualhier, 1896 are illustrated for the first time.

The article contains information on the genera Mayridia García Mercet, 1921 and Comones Noyes et Woolley, 1994, keys to females of 32 species of Mayridia and 3 species of Comones of the world fauna, synopses with data on their distribution and hosts, and description of M. lilianellasp. n. from Montenegro. Mayridia arida Prinsloo et Annecke, 1976 from Namibia is transferred to Comones as C. aridus (Prinsloo et Annecke, 1976), comb. n.

A review on the complex of species of eriophyoid mites associated with Rosaceae is given, focused on the phylogeny, biology, and distribution of their host plants and galls induced by these mites. About 200 species of 39 genera from 3 families ofEriophyoidea are known from Rosaceae. Among them, 6 species from 2 genera belong to Phytoptidae, 178 species from 27 genera, to Eriophyidae, and 28 species from 10 genera, to Diptilomiopidae; 7 genera of the latter family are represented on Rosaceae by a single species each. The ability to induce galls is discussed using the example of the most widespread and numerous genera of the family Eriophyidae from Rosaceae. Mites of two large subfamilies, Eriophyinae and Phyllocoptinae, include both vagrant and concealed forms. The types of galls caused by mites are related to the systematic position of mites and the distribution of mites and their host plants. The hypothesis of host shifts of eriophyoid mites from other plant families to Rosaceae is considered. Most of the species which presumably switched to Rosaceae have been described from Southeast Asia. Morphological similarity between vagrant and concealed forms from the paraphyletic tribes Eriophyini and Phyllocoptini, and also Aceriini and Anthocoptini is discussed. Their pairwise similarity might be the result of evolution (Eriophyini → Phyllocoptini and Aceriini → Anthocoptini) connected with change oflife style.