Vol 99, No 1 (2019)

The paper presents the results of analysis of long-term (1994–2017) data on the population dynamics of the local bivoltine European corn borer population developing on maize in the east of Krasnodar Territory. The studied factors, namely the season, the generation within a season, and the development stage (eggs, newly hatched and III–V instar larvae, pupae, adults, and egg-laying females), had highly significant effects on population dynamics. The time analysis of normalized deviations of logarithm densities of III–V instar larvae from the mean values using wavelet decomposition revealed significant periodicity in the abundance fluctuations. Thus, our data radically differ from the commonly assumed sporadic nature of the population dynamics of Ostrinia nubilalis. Since the European corn borer has occurred on maize in Krasnodar Territory for at least 100 years, certain biocenotic control mechanisms significantly changing its population dynamics must have appeared during this time.

Resistance of Harmonia axyridis (Pallas) (Coleoptera, Coccinellidae) larvae to long-term (up to 8 days) starvation was studied under laboratory conditions. The experiments were conducted with individuals from the native population originating from Irkutsk (Siberia) and the invasive population originating from Sochi (the Caucasus). Before and after starvation, larvae fed either on the green peach aphid Myzus persicae (Sulz.) (Homoptera, Aphididae) or on eggs of the grain moth Sitotroga cerealella Oliv. (Lepidoptera, Gelechiidae). Starvation resistance of H. axyridis larvae increased with their weight. Larvae that fed on the grain moth eggs were significantly more resistant than those of the same weight fed on aphids. The lethal weight loss of larvae of different ages was about 50%. The 1st instar larvae survived without food for 2 days; the survival of the larvae of the late 3rd-early 4th instars after 8 days of starvation varied, depending on pre-test diet, from 50 to 100%. Most of the surviving larvae were able to continue feeding and produce adults, although the size and weight of emerging adults decreased with the starvation period. Male and female larvae were equally resistant to starvation. Larvae of the native and invasive populations did not differ in starvation resistance.

It is experimentally shown that intergranular air in the wheat stock infested by insect pests has a substantially higher concentration of carbon dioxide with significantly less heavy ¹³C isotope than that in atmospheric carbon dioxide.

Polygraphus proximus Blandford, 1894 is recorded for the first time for Irkutsk Province of Russia. The species was collected in the vicinity of Utulik Village in Slyudyansky District.

New data are presented on the fauna and ecology of mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae) of the Pechora-Ilych Nature Reserve in the Komi Republic, based on collections performed in 2016–2017 in Yaksha region (4604 specimens) and material from the science museum of the Institute of Biology, the Komi Science Center (2195 specimens collected in 1964). Four species from 3 genera of mosquitoes are reported as new to the reserve: Aedes behningi Martini, 1926, A. mercurator Dyar, 1920, Culiseta bergrothi (Edwards, 1921), and Culex torrentium Martini, 1925; the latter species is also recorded for the first time from the Komi Republic. The current list of mosquitoes of the Pechora-Ilych Nature Reserve comprises 27 species.

Body-size dimorphism in the antlion Myrmeleon hyalinus hyalinus Olivier, 1811 is described; it is manifested in the existence of two size forms resulting from different larval development rates in the subpopulations. One more type of variation, namely infrasubspecific color polymorphism, is described in the owlfly Ptyngidricerus venustus Tjeder et Waterston, 1977; it is manifested in the existence of a bright-colored morph with obsidian-brown wing membranes, typical of most congeners, and morphs with cloudy or hyaline wings with apical bands. These color morphs occur in both sexes. A new synonymy is established: Ptyngidricerus Weele, 1908 = Omanoidricerus Ábrahám et Mészáros, 2002, syn. n.

A review of phylogenetic relationships of species of the genus Charimachilis based on comparative analysis of zoogeographic distribution and plesiomorphic and apomorphic states of their main morphological features is performed for the first time. The II and III instar larvae of Charimachilis caucasica are described. The genus Charimachilis belongs to the subfamily Machilinae (Machilidae) where, together with the genus Turkimachilis, it forms the Charimachilis group of genera occupying an isolated position within Machilidae close to the subfamily Petrobiinae. The genus Charimachilis probably originated in the mountainous areas of the east and northeast Mediterranean coasts in the zone of evergreen forests and shrubs. The patterns of dispersal of its species deep into the European continent along the south and west Black Sea coast, as far northwards as 50°N, are traced. Reduction of body size and transition to parthenogenesis in the genus Charimachilis were probably determined by the increasing aridity of climate and deterioration of living conditions; bisexual species remained only in the humid environments of relict communities in the Caucasus. The new species Charimachilis morozovi sp. n. most closely resembles Ch. palaestinensis in the absence of lateral digging teeth on the anterior gonapophyses but differs from the latter in the structure of the ovipositor and urosternites.

A catalog of the type specimens of Conopidae (Diptera) described by Th. Becker and L.V. Zimina and deposited in the Zoological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg is given. Lectotypes of Physocephala laeta Becker, 1913, Ph. persica Becker, 1913, and Ph. pugioniformis Becker, 1913 are designated. Photographs of the type specimens and their original labels are provided.

One specimen of the coffee bean weevil, Araecerus fasciculatus (DeGeer), was found in the region of Sochi on the Black Sea Coast of Krasnodar Territory. In the recent decade this species, new to the Russian fauna, was repeatedly found in natural habitats of Kunashir Island. Araecerus fasciculatus is polyphagous and, in addition to causing harm to stored plant products, may also damage citrus and sunflower plantations. Examples of recent expansion of the ranges of other invaders in Europe are given.

The figure on p. 1381 should be as follows: