Search results for "Insecta"
showing 10 items of 265 documents
Influence of landscape composition and diversity on contaminant flux in terrestrial food webs: a case study of trace metal transfer to European black…
2012
13 pages; International audience; Although understanding the influence of the spatial arrangement of habitats and interacting communities on the processes of pollutant flux and impacts is critical for exposure and risk assessment, to date few studies have been devoted to this emergent topic. We tested the hypothesis that landscape composition and diversity affect the transfer of trace metals to vertebrates. Bioaccumulation of Cd and Pb in blood and feathers of European blackbirds Turdus merula (n=138) was studied over a smelter-impacted area (Northern France). Landscape composition (type and occurrence of the different habitats) and diversity (number of different habitat types and the propo…
Revision of the Shore-fly Genera Parahyadina Tonnoir and Malloch and New Zealand Hyadina Haliday (Diptera: Ephydridae).
2019
Two genera of the shore-fly tribe Hyadinini, Hyadina Haliday and Parahyadina Tonnoir & Malloch, are revised, and all species treated, save P. lacustris Tonnoir & Malloch, are described for the first time. The phylogenetic position of both genera within Hyadinini is presented along with confirming, morphological evidence. The New Zealand fauna of Hyadina is now limited to the single new species H. breva, and Parahyadina is expanded from being a monotypic genus based on P. lacustris to also include the following 9 endemic new species: P. angusta, P. atra, P. bifurcata, P. bulla, P. debilis, P. edmistoni, P. hennigi, P. irwini, and P. latistylis. For both genera, emphasis is given to s…
The genus Tuponia Reuter, 1875 in Romania, with two new synonymies (Heteroptera: Miridae)
2021
Based on recently collected material and on type specimens deposited in the collections of Muzeul de Istorie Naturală “Grigore Antipa”, Bucharest, Romania, and of the Zoologische Museum, Universität Hamburg, Germany, the following new synonymies are proposed: Tuponia (Chlorotuponia) prasina (Fieber, 1864) = Tuponia (Chlorotuponia) linnavuorii Wagner, 1961, syn. n.; Tuponia (Tuponia) montandoni Reuter, 1899 = Tuponia (Tuponia) macedonica Wagner, 1957, syn. n. Lectotype and paralectotype are designated for Tuponia (Tuponia) montandoni Reuter, 1899. Tuponia (Chlorotuponia) hippophaes (Fieber, 1861), Tuponia (Tuponia) arcufera Reuter, 1879 and Tuponia (Tuponia) elegans (Jakovlev, 1867) are reco…
Revision of the genus Prionotropis Fieber, 1853 (Orthoptera: Pamphagidae: Thrinchinae)
2015
The genus Prionotropis Fieber, 1853 is revised. It is distributed in scattered areas of the Mediterranean region from Turkey in the East to Spain in the West. Overall, seven species are listed, namely P. maculinervis (Stål, 1878) (Turkey; P. urfensis Ramme, 1933 is here considered its synonym), P. willemsorum n. sp. (Greece, Epirus; previously considered P. appula), P. appula (O.G. Costa, 1836) (South Italy), P. hystrix (Germar, 1817) (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia, Croatia, North-East Italy; P. hystrix sontiaca is here synonymized), P. rhodanica Uvarov, 1923 resurrected status (France, Crau, Rhone delta; here considered a valid species), P. azami Uvarov, 1923 n. status (France, Var regi…
Remarks on some interesting African Pamphagidae and Acrididae (Insecta: Orthoptera: Acridoidea).
2020
The author reports about the results of a study of Porthetinae (Pamphagidae) and other Acridoidea preserved in some European museums. The taxonomy of African Porthetinae is still poorly known; some genera were established on variable characters (e.g.: the number of the flagellum segments, the shape of the hind femora or the prosternal tubercle) and collections generally hold only few specimens of this group. These insects are characterized by a remarkable sexual dimorphism, the males generally are winged while females are apterous. Because many species were described only from one sex (sometimes the female sex), there are objective difficulties to identify them correctly. The following syno…
New taxonomic twists in shore flies as revealed in discovery of Neozealides, a new genus from New Zealand (Diptera: Ephydridae)
2019
We describe Neozealides to accommodate two endemic species from New Zealand that were previously placed in the shore-fly genus Hyadina Haliday. Although similar to Hyadina, both species are more closely related to the Hyadina and Philygria groups of genera (Zatwarnicki & Ryczko 2014) than they are to species within Hyadina. To document these discoveries, we revise both species, placing them in Neozealides. Emphasis is given to structures of the male terminalia, which are fully illustrated. Detailed locality data and distribution maps for both species are provided. For perspective and to facilitate recognition of genera, the tribe Hyadinini is diagnosed and a key to genera from New Zeala…
Chilocoris capensis n. sp., the first species of the genus Chilocoris Mayr, 1865 (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Cydnidae) recorded in the Republic of South…
2016
Chilocoris capensis n. sp. collected from fallen ripe figs of broom cluster fig Ficus sur Forsskal, 1775, the first burrower bug species of the genus Chilocoris Mayr, 1865 recorded in the Republic of South Africa, is described and compared with Chilocoris laevicollis Horvath, 1919, the morphologically most closely allied Afrotropical species. Additionally, an annotated checklist of burrower bug species recorded in the Republic of South Africa is provided. The known biology of Afrotropical Chilocoris species is briefly summarized.
Parent–offspring conflict and the genetic trade-offs shaping parental investment
2015
The genetic conflict between parents and their offspring is a cornerstone of kin selection theory and the gene-centred view of evolution, but whether it actually occurs in natural systems remains an open question. Conflict operates only if parenting is driven by genetic trade-offs between offspring performance and the parent's ability to raise additional offspring, and its expression critically depends on the shape of these trade-offs. Here we investigate the occurrence and nature of genetic conflict in an insect with maternal care, the earwig Forficula auricularia. Specifically, we test for a direct response to experimental selection on female future reproduction and correlated responses i…
Age, pathogen exposure, but not maternal care shape offspring immunity in an insect with facultative family life.
2016
Background To optimize their resistance against pathogen infection, individuals are expected to find the right balance between investing into the immune system and other life history traits. In vertebrates, several factors were shown to critically affect the direction of this balance, such as the developmental stage of an individual, its current risk of infection and/or its access to external help such as parental care. However, the independent and/or interactive effects of these factors on immunity remain poorly studied in insects. Results Here, we manipulated maternal presence and pathogen exposure in families of the European earwig Forficula auricularia to measure whether and how the sur…
Orthoptera Tettigoniidae as indicators of biodiversity hotspots in the Guinean Forests of Central and West Tropical Africa
2021
The present paper has two aims: 1) to present the results of the study of selected species of Orthoptera Tettigoniidae collected in the Guinean forests of West Africa and in the important hotspot of Dzanga-Ndoki National Park (Central African Republic); 2) to carry out a check-list of six subfamilies of Tettigoniidae (Pseudophyllinae, Conocephalinae, Hexacentrinae, Phaneropterinae, Mecopodinae and Hetrodinae) living in Central-West tropical Africa, in particular in two main tropical forests, in the subregion of upper Guinea, and in the subregion Nigeria-Cameroon plus the biodiversity hotspots of Central African Republic and Gabon. Many new records are reported and the following new species …