Journal of Insect Biodiversity and Systematics
Volume:6 Issue: 4, Oct 2020

Mycterothrips albidicornis as fourteen Mycterothrips species in Iran is recorded from Fars province, south of Iran. This is the first record of this species outside Europe. Morphological characterization of the species, comparison with its close species and its illustrations is provided. The color and structure variation of M. albidicornis in comparison with literature are discussed.

Traditionally, entomologists have used destructive methods especially dissection in order to investigate the important taxonomic characters of specimens. New technologies for imaging and analyzing in taxonomy, offer opportunities to deposit three-dimensional (3D) data to proposed for rare and valuable type materials in museums and collections. Micro-computed tomography, as a non-destructive imaging technique, has become an emerging and progressive technology in insect science. However, this technology is rarely used in entomology compared to in medical and industrial applications. In this study, MicroCT imaging protocols are explained in detail using three species of braconid wasps: Aleiodes arnoldii Tobias, 1976 (Braconidae: Rogadinae), Hormius moniliatus Nee, 1811 (Braconidae: Hormiinae) and Macrocentrus bicolor Curtis, 1833 (Braconidae: Macrocentrinae). MicroCT scan data of three braconid wasp species from Iran, depicted main identification of skeletal body parts. A brief step-by-step is provided on image acquisition, 3D reconstruction and mesh editing to create a virtual model of the species utilized for morphological and morphometric studies. As a result, the use of micro-computed tomography as a non-invasive virtual examination tool was explored. The complete datasets containing the raw TIFF MicroCT data, 3D models and 3D rotation videos available for download at http://www.morphosource.org/Detail/ProjectDetail/Show/project_id/822

Collecting of terphritid fruit flies at four sites in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), resulted in the presence of eleven species. Capparimyia savastani is reported for the first time from UAE fauna. The number of UAE Tephritidae fauna is increased to 34. The first checklist of fruit flies of UAE is also provided.

This study was based on examination of specimens of the family Braconidae (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonoidea) deposited in Hayk Mirzayans Insect Museum. Totally thirteen  species from eleven genera and seven subfamilies, including Braconinae (One genus – One species), Cardiochilinae (1-1), Doryctinae (1-4), Macrocernrinae (1-2) , Opiinae (2-2), Rhyssalinae (1-1), Rogadinae (1-2) were identified, of which six species including Biosteres spinaciaeformis Fischer, 1971, Heterospilus rubicola Fischer,1968, Utetes fulvicollis (Thomson, 1895), Aleiodes arcticus (Thomson, 1892), Macrocentrus turkestanicus (Telenga, 1950) and  Rhyssalus longicaudis (Tobias & Belokobylskij, 1981) are new records for the Iranian braconid founa.

Xoridinae is a rather small subfamily of Ichneumonidae (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonoidea) known as parasitoids of xylophagous insects with most species classified in the genus Xorides Latreille, 1809. During a survey on the diversity of Ichneumonidae in Darab damask rose plain (Fars province, Iran), two species of this subfamily were collected using Malaise traps in 2019, and identified, i.e. Xorides corcyrensis (Kriechbaumer, 1894) and X. annulator (Fabricius, 1804). The second species is newly recorded from Iran. Illustrated taxonomic notes on the newly recorded species as well as an updated checklist and a key to the known species of this subfamily in Iran are provided.

An updated checklist of the scorpiofauna of Iran is presented. The checklist is based on records of scorpion species which their presence have been confirmed in Iran through field expeditions, examination of scorpion collections, literature review, and personal communications with researchers. According to the presented checklist the scorpion fauna of Iran consists of 68 valid species (41 endemic to Iran) belonging to 19 genera and four families and 6 doubtful reports (belong family Buthidae). Hemiscorpius gaillardi (Vachon, 1974) and Compsobuthus jakesi Kovařík, 2003 reported for the first time from Hormozgan province. Odontobuthus tavighiae Navidpour et al., 2013 collected for the first time from Fars province. Kraepelinia palpator (Birula, 1903) and O. tirgari Mirshamsi et al., 2013 were new record for South Khorasan province fauna. The list is dominated by members of the family Buthidae (58 species) with 85.3% of total species. The level of regional endemism exceeds 60.3%. A dichotomic identification key to the Iranian species on the basis of a DELTA database has been provided.

Adult Thysanoptera occur within plant galls for various reasons and use of the term “gall-thrips” without defining the particular relationship is uninformative and misleading. Apart from inducing a gall, a thrips may be found in a gall as a predator feeding on the galler, as a kleptoparasite feeding on plant cells and usurping the protective space induced by the galler, as a phytophagous inquiline breeding in low numbers in a gall without disturbing the galler, or as a casual visitor seeking protection from desiccation. These various relationships are discussed in the light of how little is known about the phylogenetic relationships amongst the Phlaeothripidae, the thrips family that includes most of the galling thrips species. Host associations amongst thrips, including the galling habit, are largely opportunistic, with few examples of a close relationship between thrips and plants above the level of genus in either group.