Vol 97, No 6 (2017)

Microstructure and distribution of sensilla were studied in 25 species of caddisflies of the family Rhyacophilidae for the first time. Comparative analysis allowed 13 sensilla types to be identified in members of this family: long grooved trichoid, curved trichoid, chaetoid, mushroom-like pseudoplacoid, forked pseudoplacoid, leaf-like pseudoplacoid, dissected pseudoplacoid, multiforked pseudoplacoid, styloconic, auricillic, coronal, basiconic sensilla, and Böhm’s bristles. The largest variations were found in the pseudoplacoid sensilla. Dissected, leaflike, auricillic, and multiforked sensilla were discovered in the order Trichoptera for the first time. Curved trichoid sensilla can be grouped or assembled into sensory fields. The total number of sensilla per antennal segment decreases towards the antenna apex. Data on the structural diversity of sensilla in groups of fast-evolving species suggest the participation of sensilla structures in the speciation processes.

Karyotypes of Chironomus fraternus Wülker (2n = 8) (cytocomplex thummi) and Ch. beljaninae Wülker (2n = 6) (cytocomplex modified thummi) from the aberratus group are described. Both species are recorded for the first time for the Russian fauna. Their karyotypes are similar in the banding sequences of chromosome arms A, C, D, E, and F, which suggests that Ch. fraternus and Ch. beljaninae are sister species. Besides the chromosome number, the two species differ in some karyotype markers, the amount of heterochromatin in the centromeres, and the chromosome arm combinations (AB, CD, EF, G in Ch. fraternus and GAB, CD, EF in Ch. beljaninae).

Territoriality of three dominant ant species: Formica rufa L., Lasius fuliginosus (Latreille), and Lasius emarginatus (Olivier), was studied in July and August 2013–2015 in the broadleaf forest areas in Kiev, Ukraine. Thirteen species of ants were found on the soil surface, including 4 subdominants and 5 influents. Subordinate species co-occurred in the plots with L. emarginatus 1.5–2.0 times as frequently as with L. fuliginosus, and at least 3.0 times as frequently as with F. rufa. From 2 (within the foraging territory of the nest complex) to 5 ant species (in the territories of single colonies) were found together with F. rufa. Eight ant species co-occurred with L. fuliginosus and L. emarginatus each, and 7 species, i.e., nearly the same number, were found in the areas without dominants. The dominant ant species can be arranged in ascending order of territoriality as follows: L. emarginatus < L. fuliginosus + F. rufa (single colonies) < F. rufa (nest complex).

New records of plant bug species of the subfamilies Orthotylinae and Phylinae are given for selected regions of European Russia based on the extensive collections of the Zoological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences (St. Petersburg). The locality data and general distribution are presented for all the 97 species included in the list.

Based on a complex analysis of both morphological and molecular genetic data, a new subfamily of casebearer moths, Omphalopodinae subfam. n., is allocated. Omphalopoda Falkovitsh, 1987, the type genus of this subfamily, is well distinguished by a set of apomorphic morphological characters and is clearly clustered between two genetically well differentiated groups of the family Coleophoridae: Tolleophorinae and Coleophorinae + Augasminae + Ischnophaninae + Metriotinae.

Morphological features of the species of the genus Adoxomyia Kertész, 1907 with bicolorous antennae in females were studied for the first time. Significant diagnostic characters are discussed, e.g., the structure of the head, the type of pubescence on the frons and face, the shape and coloration of the scutellar spines, and the morphology of the genitalia (the synstemum, the basal part of the epandrium, and the aedeagus). A new species, Adoxomyia subruficornis sp. n., is described from Uzbekistan and Tajikistan; it differs from A. ruficornis (Loew, 1873) in a dense pale pubescence on the frons, pale scutellar spines, elongate median projection of the synstemum, and rounded epandrial processes.