Journal of Insect Biodiversity and Systematics
Volume:7 Issue: 1, Mar 2021

The family Meloidae Gyllenhaal‎, 1810 (Coleoptera), commonly known as blister beetles, exist in warm, dry, and vast habitats. This family was studied in Kerman province of Iran during 2018–2019. The specimens were collected using sweeping net and via hand-catch. They were identified by the morphological characters, genitalia, and acceptable identification keys. To improve the knowledge of the Meloidae species of southeastern Iran, faunistic investigations on blister beetles of this region were carried out. Totally, 30 species belonging to 10 genera from two subfamilies (Meloinae and Nemognathinae) were identified. Among the identified specimens, 22 species were new for fauna of Kerman province.

True flies (Insecta: Diptera) are widely distributed and the key components in most ecosystems. The objective of this study was to identify the true flies’ diversity through DNA barcoding technique (658 bp sequence from the 5′-end of cytochromeoxidase I) in Bangladesh. Specimens were collected by a Malaise trap at Chittagong University Campus between April 2014 and March 2015. In this study, we examined 36476 sequences of 38267 true flies, and resulted 105 species, 109 genera, 54 subfamilies and 59 families. Among them 79 species, 69 genera, 12 subfamilies and 23 families are new country records. All the specimen records with the Barcode Index Numbers (BINs) (the species proxies), are available on the Barcode of Life Data System (BOLD).

The Oriental Asian species, Saltella setigera (Diptera: Sepsidae), that previously recorded based on a single male specimen from Shakargarh, Punjab province of Pakistan, is revised. During our recent collection from the Northern parts of Pakistan, both male and female specimens have been collected from Islamabad Capital Territory and Azad Kashmir, shows the wide distribution of this rarely known species and may expect to identify from other areas adjoining to these collection sites in future. The distributional notes, key characters, re-description, and detail photographs of both sexes are provided.

During our studies on the family Diapriidae, two species of the genus Pantolyta Foerster, 1856 were collected and identified for the first time from Iran: Pantolyta pallida Kieffer, 1908 and Pantolyta nixoni Macek, 1993. A key to the Iranian species of the genus Pantolyta and diagnostic characters for both newly recorded species are provided along with illustrations. In addition, distribution map of the two species in the Palaearctic region is presented.

Two species of the family Monophlebidae (Hemiptera: Coccomorpha) are recorded for the first time in Oman. Icerya purchasi and Icerya seychellarum are occurred in northern Oman in Al-Jabel Al Akhdher while Icerya aegyptiaca is occurred in South Oman in Dhofar. Icerya purchasi and I. seychellarum are caused considerable damage on Punica granatum, Juglans regia, Ziziphus spina, Ficus carica, Acacia sp and Nerium oleander. The populations of the I. purchasi and I. seychellarum were considered to be exotic pests rather than aggressive native pest. These new records will be useful in the future as it could establish a solid area for researchers who will be interested to know about this species or the relation between these species with other species either from same species type or different species from other genera that could be reported in the future.

The ladybird Hyperaspis pseudopustulata Mulsant, 1853 was recently reported as the 13th species of the genus Hyperaspis of Iran. Because of the lack of sufficient details in the original description, here we provide more details of morphological features by the help of electron microscope and quantitative morphometric measurements of Iranian H. pseudopustulata. The differential characters of the species in comparison with other close species are presented.

The Indian species of Entedon Dalman (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae: Entedoninae) are reviewed. The review includes seven species, of which E. shivalikensis Majeed & Jamali sp. nov., E. dehradunensis Majeed & Jamali sp. nov. are described and illustrated. Entedon thoubalensis (Chisti & Shafee, 1983), E. gunturensis (Shafee & Rizvi, 1985), and E. longicorpus (Khan & Shafee, 1982) are redescibed and diagnostic characters are presented for two species: E. punctiscapus Thomson, 1878, E. pempheridis Ferrière, 1930. An identification key to Indian species of the genus Entedon is also provided.

Two species, Thrips golili sp. nov. and Thrips silybum sp. nov. are described from flowering plants of northeastern Iran. The color forms of T. golili sp. nov. are discussed. Thrips apicatus Priesner is reported for the first time from Kish Island in the Persian Gulf. Published record as of T. coloratus Schmutz and T. juniperinus Linnaeus from Iran are not confirmed and description of T. alavii Mirab-balou, Tong & Chen is considered doubtful here. The checklist of Iranian Thrips is updated to contain 37 species.