Using a large sample of museum and newly collected specimens of the cryptic butterfly species Leptidea sinapis and L. reali, identified/confirmed based on genital characters, the patterns in their geographical distributions, historical changes in range and briefly also their habitat associations in Poland, were investigated. Leptidea sinapis occurs mainly in the lowland and upland parts of the country and is rarer than L. reali, which is widespread throughout Poland, including the mountains. In the first half of the 20th century, the range of L. sinapis included the whole of Poland, whereas currently it is confined to eastern and southern regions. Historical records of the distribution of L. reali are concentrated in southern and central Poland. Currently it is recorded from localities throughout Poland. Leptidea reali is recorded most frequently in meadows and shows no clear preference for a particular level of humidity, while L. sinapis is found mainly in woodland and xerothermic habitats. The two species are syntopic within the present range of L. sinapis, which is now a declining and local species, whereas L. reali is now common and widespread. and Konrad Sachanowicz, Agnieszka Wower, Jaroslaw Buszko.
In this study we analyzed the inter-specific relationships in assemblages of syrphids at a site in northern Italy in order to determine whether there are patterns in diurnal co-occurrence. We adopted a null model approach and calculated two co-occurrence metrics, the C-score and variance ratio (V-ratio), both for the total catch and of the morning (8:00–13:00) and afternoon (13:00–18:00) catches separately, and for males and females. We recorded discordant species richness, abundance and co-occurrence patterns in the samples collected. Higher species richness and abundance were recorded in the morning, when the assemblage had an aggregated structure, which agrees with previous findings on communities of invertebrate primary consumers. A segregated pattern of co-occurrence was recorded in the afternoon, when fewer species and individuals were collected. The pattern recorded is likely to be caused by a number of factors, such as a greater availability of food in the morning, prevalence of hot and dry conditions in the early afternoon, which are unfavourable for hoverflies, and possibly competition with other pollinators. Our results indicate that restricting community studies to a particular time of day will result in certain species and/or species interactions not being recorded., Manuela D´Amen ... [et al.]., and Obsahuje seznam literatury
1_Urbanisation is an important cause of species extinctions. Although urban water systems are also highly modified, studies on aquatic or semi-aquatic organisms are rare. The aim of this study is to identify the factors that determine species richness of Odonata in 22 Central European cities and along an urban-rural gradient within six of them. With 64 indigenous species in total and an average of 33 species per city, the species richness of Odonata in Central European cities is comparatively high. A generalised linear model indicates that species richness is positively related to city area. Additional predictors are climatic variables (temperature amplitude, sunshine duration and July temperature) and the year last studied. Since most cities are usually located in areas with naturally high habitat heterogeneity, we assume that cities should be naturally rich in dragonflies. The role of city area as a surrogate for habitat and structural richness most likely explains why it is strongly associated with Odonata species richness. The relationship between species richness and the climatic variables probably reflects that Odonata species richness in Central Europe is limited by warm and sunny conditions more than by availability of water. The temporal effect (the year last studied) on species richness is likely to be a consequence of the recent increase in Mediterranean species associated with global warming. Urbanisation clearly has an adverse effect on the species diversity of Odonata. Species richness increases along a gradient from the centre of a city to the rural area and is significantly highest in rural areas. This pattern probably reflects a gradient of increasing habitat quality from the centre of cities to rural areas. Moreover, the number of water bodies is generally very low in the city centres., 2_Based on our results, we make recommendations for increasing the abundance and number of species of dragonflies in cities., Christoph Willigalla, Thomas Farmann., and Obsahuje seznam literatury
We conducted a molecular phylogenetic analysis based on mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit I and nuclear 28S rRNA gene sequences of species of Japanese elmids (23 species from 12 genera) and examined the hind-wings of 24 species in order to determine the incidence of hind-wing degeneration among species and the presence of dimorphic species with respect to hind-wing degeneration. Based on the molecular phylogenetic analysis, we determined that the previously separated winged and wingless species, Stenelmis vulgaris and S. miyamotoi, and Leptelmis gracilis and L. parallela, are two forms of the same species. Of the 24 species whose hind wings were studied, we found apterous (3 species of Zaitzeviaria), brachypterous (2 species of each of Optioservus and Paramacronychus) and dimorphic species (2 species as above) in separate clades of the phylogeny. These were the smallest or medium-sized species. Dimorphic species occurred in mid- to downstream areas and used reeds and wood as substrates. The percentage of species with hind-wing degeneration (wingless or dimorphic) was high among the species (29%) studied compared to the perceived percentage for temperate beetles (<10%). Thus, we found that the degeneration of hind wings has occurred repeatedly in these elmid species. However, we identified only ambiguous habitat and life history correlates of hind-wing degeneration, and the adaptive significance of hind-wing degeneration in these species of elmids remains unclear., Masakazu Hayashi, Simon D. Song, Teiji Sota., and Obsahuje seznam literatury
Five albinotic individuals of the Common Newts (Lissotriton vulgaris), including two paedomorphic females, were caught on 15th April 2013 in a water reservoir in the village Stará Lysá. this is the first record of paedomorphic albinos of newts in the Czech Republic. The behaviour of albinotic individuals was observed in a laboratory for a period of one month. and Oldřich Kopecký, Petr Hataš, Tomáš Holer.
The effects of photoperiod on pre-imaginal development and reproductive maturation of adult females of the multicolored Asian lady beetle, Harmonia axyridis (Pallas) (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae), were investigated at 20°C and at photoperiods from 10L : 14D to 18L : 6D. Experiments were conducted on a laboratory strain that originated from the Russian Far East. Larvae and adults were fed on the green peach aphid Myzus persicae. Under short day conditions the pre-imaginal development was faster than under long day conditions. The acceleration of pre-imaginal development occurred when day length was shorter than 16 h and the threshold day length was ca 14 h. The rate of reproductive maturation of adult females, in contrast, was twice as high under long day conditions, with the threshold between 14L : 10D and 12L : 12D, although even under short day conditions ca 10% of the females show a tendency to mature more quickly. This difference between the thresholds of these two photoperiodic reactions indicates they are relatively independent of one another. and Sergey Ya. Reznik, Nina P. Vaghina.
The extensive genus Erebia is divided into several groups of species according to phylogenetic relatedness. The species Erebia medusa was assigned to the medusa group and E. epipsodea to the alberganus group. A detailed study of the morphology of their copulatory organs indicated that these species are closely related and based on this E. epipsodea was transferred to the medusa group. Phylogenetic analyses of the gene sequences of mitochondrial cytochrome C oxidase subunit I (COI) and mitochondrial NADH dehydrogenase subunit 1 (ND1) confirm that E. medusa and E. epipsodea are closely related. A possible scenario is that the North American species, E. episodea, evolved after exclusion/isolation from E. medusa, whose current centre of distribution is in Europe., Martina Šemeláková, Peter Pristaš, Lubomír Panigaj., and Obsahuje seznam literatury
This study reports the results of a molecular phylogenetic analysis of thirty three species of Ennominae (Lepidoptera: Geometridae). The aim of this analysis was to determine the phylogenetic affinities of 13 European species not previously studied using these methods. Fragments of seven nuclear genes, elongation factor 1 alpha (EF-1α), wingless (wgl), isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH), glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH), ribosomal protein S5 (RpS5) and expansion segments D1 and D2 of the 28S rRNA gene and fragment of one mitochondrial gene, cytochrome oxidase subunit I (COI), were used. In the analysis using Bayesian phylogenetic inference, original gene sequences of the target species were combined with a larger data matrix of 20 species of Ennominae, used in a previous study (Wahlberg et al., 2010, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol. 55: 929-938). Most notably, the results indicate that the representatives of the genera Cepphis, Plagodis, Pseudopanthera and Selenia form a well-supported monophyletic group which appeared as the sister clade to the rest of the "ennomine" group of tribes. On the other hand, Crocallis and Opisthograptis group together with Ennomos. These results conflict with previous tribal subdivisions of the subfamily pointing to the need to reconsider the concepts of Ennomini and Ourapterygini. Within the tribe Macariini, the genus Macaria appears to be more closely related to Itame (= Speranza) than to Chiasmia clathrata. The emerging phylogenetic tree of Ennominae suggests only a limited phylogenetic inertia in body size making this group a promising target for comparative studies on this central life history trait and its correlates. and Erki Õunap, Juhan Javoiš, Jaan Viidalepp, Toomas Tammaru.