Revision of the polyphyletic genus Hirrius Bolívar, 1887 (Orthoptera: Tetrigidae), with descriptions of three new genera and insights into antennal sensilla morphology.

Discotettiginae were recently synonymized with Scelimeninae, but the polyphyletic genus Hirrius Bolívar, 1887, with five species endemic to the Philippines and Sulawesi, remained an unsolved issue. Besides similarly widened subapical antennomeres, head and pronotum, other traits suggest that Hirrius members belong to different subfamilies. The genus is now split into four genera, with four new species.

Type catalogue of the Orthoptera collection in the Steinhardt Museum of Natural History, Tel Aviv University, Israel.

Types represent the most important specimens in natural history museums as they define a species and should usually be studied within the framework of revisions and new taxon descriptions, hence their documentation is of high importance. Orthoptera is a medium-size order of insects, but its members are important in many food chains as herbivores and as food for other animals. While the documentation of types in Orthoptera is overall very good thanks to the Orthoptera Species File site, there are still many gaps that need to be filled.

Taxonomic review of the grasshopper genus Karsch, 1891 (Orthoptera, Acrididea, Catantopinae) with description of three new species and a preliminary phylogeny of the Cameroonian species.

The Afrotropical grasshopper genus Karsch, 1891, is reviewed. Some species present in Cameroon are described, Donskoff, 1981, is recorded for the first time in the country, and three new species are described from Cameroon, Yetchom & Husemann, , Yetchom & Husemann, and Yetchom & Husemann, , increasing the number of species in Cameroon from eight to 12, and overall to 30 species in Central Africa. An updated key of is provided.

The ongoing range expansion of the invasive oak lace bug across Europe: current occurrence and potential distribution under climate change.

In recent years, the oak lace bug, Corythucha arcuata, has emerged as a significant threat to European oak forests. This species, native to North America, has in the last two decades rapidly extended its range in Europe, raising concerns about its potential impact on the continent's invaluable oak populations. To address this growing concern, we conducted an extensive study to assess the distribution, colonization patterns, and potential ecological niche of the oak lace bug in Europe.

Ice cage: new records and cryptic, isolated lineages in wingless snow flies (Diptera, Limoniidae: Chionea spp.) in German lower mountain ranges.

In Earth's history warm and cold periods have alternated. Especially, during the Pleistocene, the alternation between these different climatic conditions has led to frequent range expansions and retractions of many species: while thermophilic species dispersed during warm periods, cold adapted species retracted to cold refugia and vice versa. After the last Pleistocene cycle many cold adapted taxa found refuges in relict habitats in mountain ranges.

Barcoding Fails to Delimit Species in Mongolian Oedipodinae (Orthoptera, Acrididae).

Mongolia, a country in central Asia, with its vast grassland areas represents a hotspot for Orthoptera diversity, especially for the Acrididae. For Mongolia, 128 Acrididae species have been documented so far, of which 41 belong to the subfamily Oedipodinae (band-winged grasshoppers). Yet, few studies concerning the distribution and diversity of Oedipodinae have been conducted in this country.

The Genomics of Isolated Populations of (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae) in Central and Western Europe.

Habitat destruction and fragmentation are among the major current threats to global biodiversity. Fragmentation may also affect species with good dispersal abilities. We study the heath bushcricket , a specialist of steppe-like habitats across Europe that are highly fragmented, investigating if these isolated populations can be distinguished using population genomics and if there are any traces of admixture or dispersal among them.

Metabarcoding reveals that mixed forests mitigate negative effects of non-native trees on canopy arthropod diversity.

Averting climate change-induced forest diebacks increasingly relies on tree species planted outside of their natural range and on the addition of non-native tree species to mixed-species forests. However, the consequences of such changes for associated biodiversity remain poorly understood, especially for the forest canopy as a largely understudied forest stratum. Here, we used flight interception traps and a metabarcoding approach to study the taxonomic and functional (trophic guilds) composition and taxon richness of canopy arthropods.

An identification key to the genera and species of Afrotropical Tetrigini (genera Paratettix, Leptacrydium, Hedotettix, Rectitettix nov. gen., and Alienitettix nov.gen.) with general remarks on the taxonomy of Tetrigini (Orthoptera, Tetrigidae).

The Afrotropical species hitherto considered to belong to the genera Paratettix Bolivar, 1887, Leptacrydium Chopard, 1950 and Hedotettix Bolivar, 1887 are reviewed, and two new genera, Alienitettix nov. gen. and Rectitettix nov.

Revision of the Metarbelodes Strand, 1909 genus-group(Lepidoptera: Cossoidea: Metarbelidae) with descriptions of two new genera and 33 new species from high elevations of eastern and southern Africa.

The African genus-group Metarbelodes Strand, 1909 of the family Metarbelidae comprises three genera: the monotypic Metarbelodes; Zambezia, gen. nov. with five new species (i.

Afrosystolederus garmsi (Orthoptera, Tetrigidae), a new genus and species from Mount Gibi (Liberia) with remarks on Systolederus, Pseudosystolederus and Teredorus.

A new genus, Afrosystolederus, and a new species, Afrosystolederus garmsi, are described from Mount Gibi in Liberia. This African genus is most similar to Pseudosystolederus Günther, 1939 from Africa and Madagascar and to some members of Systolederus Bolivar, 1887 from Asia. The taxonomic difficulties of genera and species with a narrow fastigium are discussed.

New estimates of genome size in Orthoptera and their evolutionary implications.

Animal genomes vary widely in size, and much of their architecture and content remains poorly understood. Even among related groups, such as orders of insects, genomes may vary in size by orders of magnitude-for reasons unknown. The largest known insect genomes were repeatedly found in Orthoptera, e.

Evolution of mitogenomic gene order in Orthoptera.

Mitochondrial gene order has contributed to the elucidation of evolutionary relationships in several animal groups. It generally has found its application as a phylogenetic marker for deep nodes. Yet, in Orthoptera limited research has been performed on the gene order, although the group represents one of the oldest insect orders.

Phylogeographic inference of Sumatran ranids bearing gastromyzophorous tadpoles with regard to the Pleistocene drainage systems of Sundaland.

Rivers are known to act as biogeographic barriers in several strictly terrestrial taxa, while possibly serving as conduits of dispersal for freshwater-tolerant or -dependent species. However, the influence of river systems on genetic diversity depends on taxa-specific life history traits as well as other geographic factors. In amphibians, several studies have demonstrated that river systems have only minor influence on their divergence.

Genetic Variation and Population Structure of the Old World Bollworm Helicoverpa armigera (Hübner, 1808) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) in Ethiopia.

Helicoverpa armigera is one of the most destructive insect pests of economically valuable crops in the world. Despite its economic importance, the population genetic structure of this insect remains unexplored in Ethiopia. To investigate the genetic diversity and population structure of H.

Taxonomic review of the genus Thalpomena Saussure, 1884 with new synonyms.

The genus Thalpomena Saussure, 1884 is distributed in North Africa, Somalia and Ethiopia. It currently contains nine species, including one species with four subspecies; Seven of them (including one with four subspecies) are distributed in the Atlas Mountains, one in Libya and one (originally described in the genus Vosseleria) in the Somali Highlands. In this study, we propose taxonomic changes based on morphological, genetic, ecological and morphometric data from a previous study.

Transcriptomic data reveals nuclear-mitochondrial discordance in Gomphocerinae grasshoppers (Insecta: Orthoptera: Acrididae).

The phylogeny of many groups of Orthoptera remains poorly understood. Previous phylogenetic studies largely restricted to few mitochondrial markers found many species in the grasshopper subfamily Gomphocerinae to be para- or polyphyletic, presumably because of incomplete lineage sorting and ongoing hybridization between putatively young lineages. Resolving the phylogeny of the Chorthippus biguttulus species complex is important because many morphologically cryptic species occupy overlapping ranges across Eurasia and serve important ecological functions.

A brief history and popularity of methods and tools used to estimate micro-evolutionary forces.

Population genetics is a field of research that predates the current generations of sequencing technology. Those approaches, that were established before massively parallel sequencing methods, have been adapted to these new marker systems (in some cases involving the development of new methods) that allow genome-wide estimates of the four major micro-evolutionary forces-mutation, gene flow, genetic drift, and selection. Nevertheless, classic population genetic markers are still commonly used and a plethora of analysis methods and programs is available for these and high-throughput sequencing (HTS) data.

Global distribution and host range of the endoparasitic mite genus Locustacarus (Acari: Podapolipidae) with description of a new species from Iran parasitizing grasshoppers (Orthoptera: Acrididae).

Mites (Acari) represent important parasites for a diverse range of hosts. Within the Acari, the Prostigmata represent a diverse suborder of the order Trombidiformes with about 20 000 species, including parasitic forms on both vertebrates and invertebrates. Within the Prostigmata, the genus Locustacarus (Heterostigmata: Podapolipidae) is particularly known as an intratracheal parasite of bumblebees and grasshoppers.

Natural history collections recapitulate 200 years of faunal change.

Changing species assemblages represent major challenges to ecosystems around the world. Retracing these changes is limited by our knowledge of past biodiversity. Natural history collections represent archives of biodiversity and are therefore an unparalleled source to study biodiversity changes.

eDNA as a tool for non-invasive monitoring of the fauna of a turbid, well-mixed system, the Elbe estuary in Germany.

The Elbe is one of the longest European rivers and features a large, turbid and well-mixed estuary, which runs through the inner city of Hamburg. The Elbe has been closely monitored using classical catch techniques in the past. Here we tested a COI-based eDNA approach for assessing the biodiversity within the Elbe.

Four new mitochondrial genomes for the basal bee family Melittidae (Hymenoptera: Apoidea).

We present four new complete mitochondrial genomes for , and belonging to the basally branching bee family Melittidae covering four genera in three tribes (Melittini, Hesperaspini, Dasypodaini) and two subfamilies (Melittinae, Dasypodainae). The mitogenomes vary between 15,884 and 20,324 bp in length and consist of the typical set of 13 protein-coding genes, 22 tRNAs, two rRNAs and the control region. These new mitogenomes raise the number of available mitochondrial genomes for the family Melittidae to five and will help to shed light on the phylogenetic relationships within Melittidae and their position within the Anthophila.

Reconstruction of forest dynamics in the Western Palaearctic based on phylogeographic analysis of the ringlet butterfly Erebia aethiops.

Glacial refugia are centers of high biodiversity. Therefore, knowledge on their locations and reactions of associated populations and landscapes to climatic changes is crucial for conservation management. We here investigated the biogeography of a butterfly species linked to open forest habitats.