() sp. nov. and other Sphaeroceridae (Diptera) from peat bogs in the North Caucasus (Russia).

The first data about Sphaeroceridae occurring on eight montane and foothill peat bogs of various types in the North Caucasus (Russia) are presented. A total of 38 species has been recorded and their affinity to peat-bog habitats is discussed. A single species is classified as a tyrphobiont, viz.

The pseudoscorpions of the Caucasian bogs: part I. Description of Neobisium (Neobisium) adjaricum sp. nov. and redescription of the holotype of N. (N.) vilcekii Krumpál, 1983 (Arachnida, Pseudoscorpiones, Neobisiidae).

A new species of pseudoscorpions, Neobisium (Neobisium) adjaricum, is described and diagnosed. It was collected in the habitats of Ispani lowland mires in Transcaucasia (Republic of Adjara, Georgia). The habitat of N.

A Drosophila heat shock response represents an exception rather than a rule amongst Diptera species.

Heat shock protein 70 (Hsp70) is the major player that underlies adaptive response to hyperthermia in all organisms studied to date. We investigated patterns of Hsp70 expression in larvae of dipteran species collected from natural populations of species belonging to four families from different evolutionary lineages of the order Diptera: Stratiomyidae, Tabanidae, Chironomidae and Ceratopogonidae. All investigated species showed a Hsp70 expression pattern that was different from the pattern in Drosophila.

Novel arrangement and comparative analysis of hsp90 family genes in three thermotolerant species of Stratiomyidae (Diptera).

The heat shock proteins belonging to the Hsp90 family (Hsp83 in Diptera) play a crucial role in the protection of cells due to their chaperoning functions. We sequenced hsp90 genes from three species of the family Stratiomyidae (Diptera) living in thermally different habitats and characterized by extraordinarily high thermotolerance. The sequence variation and structure of the hsp90 family genes were compared with previously described features of hsp70 copies isolated from the same species.

Widespread and persistent invasions of terrestrial habitats coincident with larval feeding behavior transitions during snail-killing fly evolution (Diptera: Sciomyzidae).

Background: Transitions in habitats and feeding behaviors were fundamental to the diversification of life on Earth. There is ongoing debate regarding the typical directionality of transitions between aquatic and terrestrial habitats and the mechanisms responsible for the preponderance of terrestrial to aquatic transitions. Snail-killing flies (Diptera: Sciomyzidae) represent an excellent model system to study such transitions because their larvae display a range of feeding behaviors, being predators, parasitoids or saprophages of a variety of mollusks in freshwater, shoreline and dry terrestrial habitats.

New Chironomidae (Diptera) with elongate proboscises from the Late Jurassic of Mongolia.

Four new species of Chironomidae with well-developed elongate proboscises are described from a Late Jurassic site Shar Teg in SW Mongolia. These are named Cretaenne rasnicynisp. n.

Organization and evolution of hsp70 clusters strikingly differ in two species of Stratiomyidae (Diptera) inhabiting thermally contrasting environments.

Background: Previously, we described the heat shock response in dipteran species belonging to the family Stratiomyidae that develop in thermally and chemically contrasting habitats including highly aggressive ones. Although all species studied exhibit high constitutive levels of Hsp70 accompanied by exceptionally high thermotolerance, we also detected characteristic interspecies differences in heat shock protein (Hsp) expression and survival after severe heat shock. Here, we analyzed genomic libraries from two Stratiomyidae species from thermally and chemically contrasting habitats and determined the structure and organization of their hsp70 clusters.

Larvae of related Diptera species from thermally contrasting habitats exhibit continuous up-regulation of heat shock proteins and high thermotolerance.

A population of Stratiomys japonica, a species belonging to the family Stratiomyidae (Diptera), common name 'soldier flies', occurs in a hot volcanic spring, which is apparently among the most inhospitable environments for animals because of chemical and thermal conditions. Larvae of this species, which naturally often experience temperatures more than 40 degrees C, have constitutively high concentrations of the normally inducible heat-shock protein Hsp70, but very low level of corresponding mRNA. Larvae of three other species of the same family, Stratiomys singularior, Nemotelus bipunctatus and Oxycera pardalina, are confined to different type semi-aquatic habitats with contrasting thermal regime.

[The mass development of biting midges (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) on the littoral of the White Sea].

The biting midges larvae fauna of the intertidal and supralittoral zones in Sel'dianaia small bay (Kandalaksha Bay of the White Sea) is studied. It is represented by Stilobezzia sp., Dasyhelea sp.