Morphology and Molecules in Animal Systematics

Our studies concentrate mainly on solving the problems of the phylogenetic relationships among insects at various taxonomic levels in Hemiptera and Lepidoptera using morphological and molecular characters. A prediction of the secondary structures of mitochondrial and nuclear ribosomal DNA sequences is also used in the phylogenetic analyses. Next year, our team will get another science lab (the Bioinformatic Methods of Agrocenoses Analysis Laboratory) in a new building of the University of Opole. The laboratory equipment will broaden our interest in molecular genetic studies of non-model organisms, i.e., insect crop-pests and invasive species. Moreover, it will also allow starting the resear…

Systematic Position of the Fossil Burrower Bug Eocenocydnus lisi Popov, 2019 (Hemiptera, Heteroptera, Cydnidae) Revealed by a Parallel/Cross-Eyed Vie…

2022

The fossil burrower bug Eocenocydnus lisi described from the Late Eocene of the Isle of Wight, UK, is analysed using a parallel, cross-eyed viewing method. The species, tentatively placed in the subfamily Sehirinae, is redescribed and its systematic position is discussed. Newly recovered morphological characteristics allow it to be placed in the tribe Cydnini of the subfamily Cydninae.

Ecological niche modelling and first records from Namibia and Zimbabwe validate the amphi‐equatorial distribution of Byrsinus pseudosyriacus (Hemipte…

2021

One Species, Hundreds of Subspecies? New Insight into the Intraspecific Classification of the Old World Swallowtail (Papilio machaon Linnaeus , 1758)…

2022

The Old World swallowtail Papilio machaon Linnaeus, 1758 is one of the most well-known and most characteristic members of the family Papilionidae. Over the past two centuries, the butterfly has been the subject of many studies. P. machaon is characterised by a tendency to change the wing colour pattern. In turn, due to the great interest of collectors and amateur entomologists, these studies have been converted into the description of over 100 colour forms, aberrations and subspecies. In this study, mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), 16S rDNA and cytochrome b sequences were used to examine the correlation between the intraspecific classification and genetic structure of P. machaon. The study used 8…

The King’s Lace Bug Recaredus rex Distant, 1909 (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Tingidae): Systematic Position, First Palaearctic and Afrotropical Rec…

2022

The systematic position and actual distribution of Recaredus rex, for a long time one of the most enigmatic lace bug genus and species, is very obscure because only the type specimen and three other individuals from India are known to date. In the present paper, we report the first records of R. rex from the Palaearctic region (Iran) and tropical Africa (Ghana). Based on the occurrence localities and climatic variables, we predict potentially useful ecological niches for this species using Maxent software. The areas with the best environmental conditions for R. rex indicated in our studies suggest its possible Palaeotropical distribution. Moreover, we regard these results as a good starting…

Geotomus granulosus, a peculiar sehirine-like new species of the subfamily Cydninae (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Cydnidae) from Burundi

2022

Geotomus granulosus sp. n. is described from Burundi, and is the third burrower bug species recorded hitherto from this country. This burrower bug resembles species of two Sehirinae genera, i.e. Ochetostethus Fieber, 1860 and Ochetostethomorpha Schumacher, 1913, in its dorsal body habitus. However, all its crucial diagnostic characters (the body chaetotaxy, the shape of evaporatoria and the peritreme, the meso- and metathoracic wings venation, and the shape of spermatheca) demonstrate it represents the genus Geotomus Mulsant et Rey, 1866 (subfamily Cydninae, tribe Geotomini sensu lato).