Entomologist's Monthly Magazine - Vol. 156, No. 4, 2020

Published: 10/30/2020

Article Details for this issue

Proposed corrections for some previously identified Madagascan species of Dichaetomyia, and descriptions of six new species for the genus (Diptera: Muscidae)

By: EBERHARD ZIELKE

Page: 209–241

Type: Paper

Synopsis:
Ninety identified Madagascan Dichaetomyia specimens, which are listed in an overview published in 2006, were checked as part of the investigation of a collection of unidentified Malagasy muscids. The results of 43 of the specimens tested were not consistent with the previous findings. In addition, some misleading information was found in the descriptions of new species. The deviations are listed and corrections are proposed. Six new species not recognized are described below.

SHORT NOTE Some records of Curculionoidea (Coleoptera) from North Macedonia

By: M.G. MORRIS

Page: 242–244

Type: Short Notes

Taxonomy and geographic distribution of the ant genus Odontoponera Mayr, 1862 (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in India

By: AIJAZ AHMAD WACHKOO, HIMENDER BHARTI & SHAHID ALI AKBAR

Page: 245–252

Type: Paper

Synopsis:
Taxonomy and distribution of the genus Odontoponera in India is herewith detailed. Only one species, Odontoponera denticulata is recognized. The male of this species is described for the first time, together with a diagnosis for the genus; queen and worker are redescribed, and images of all castes are provided. Information on the distribution and ecology of this species is also given. In spite of being relatively abundant and well represented in collections, this species has a history of taxonomic confusion which is summarized and resolved here. The discovery of a male caste with itssignificant apomorphic expressed characters marks an important discovery relevant to the genus.

Chorebus cyparissa (Nixon) added to, and Chorebus navicularis (Nees) deleted from, the British checklist (Hymenoptera: Braconidae)

By: H. CHARLES J. GODFRAY

Page: 253–256

Type: Paper

Synopsis:
Chorebus cyparissa (Nixon) is added to the British list based on a specimen caught in a Malaise trap in Norfolk, England in 1983. It is also recorded from Bulgaria and, based on DNA sequence data, from Belarus & Turkey. Chorebus navicularis (Nees) is deleted from the British list; its inclusion was probably due to a misidentification and the status of the species itself is uncertain.

In-vivo studies on the motoric activity of the receptacular complex in females of the black field cricket (Orthoptera: Gryllidae)

By: ROBERT STURM

Page: 257–265

Type: Paper

Synopsis:
Motoric activity of the receptacular complex situated in the caudal part of the female abdomen was studied in detail for the black field cricket, Teleogryllus commodus (Walker, 1869). By application of the previously introduced window method the number of peristaltic organ contractions per minute was counted, whereby four experimental series (virgins, mated females, ovipositing females, post-oviposition animals) were defined, with the number of examined crickets amounting to 20, respectively. According to the results obtained from experimental work, highest activity of the receptacular complex can be attested for females standing in the oviposition phase (26.35 ± 4.99 contractions per minute), whereas post-oviposition females are characterized by lowest activity (13.95 ± 3.90 contractions per minute). Except for virgins, where the number of peristaltic contractions increases with age, no significant correlation between motoric activity of the receptacular complex and adult age could be found. It is argued that in-vivo motoric activity of the receptaculum seminis and the ductus receptaculi is associated with the female fecundity cycle reaching its peak at the 10th day of the adult life stage.

SHORT NOTE Capnia vidua subsp. anglica (Aubert) (Plecoptera: Capniidae) in Kirkcudbrightshire

By: ROSS H. ANDREW

Page: 266

Type: Short Notes

Checklist of the Dictyoptera (Orders Blattodea and Mantodea) of the Maltese Islands

By: MARTIN J. EBEJER

Page: 267–270

Type: Paper

A new record of the nocturnal orb-weaving spider Poltys illepidus (Araneae: Araneidae) from northern Thailand

By: TIMOTHY C. HAWES

Page: 271–275

Type: Paper

Synopsis:
The orb-weaving spider Poltys illepidus Koch 1843 is recorded from northern Thailand for the first time. The distribution of the species in Southeast Asia is extended northwest. The morphotype is characterized by an unusual small accessory protuberance on the carapace which is described and illustrated as a median anterior process without apparent function.

A new species of Puliciphora Dahl (Diptera: Phoridae) from Malaysia

By: R. HENRY L. DISNEY

Page: 276–278

Type: Paper

Synopsis:
Puliciphora browni sp. n. is described from Malaysia. Recognition of this new species expands the definition of the genus Puliciphora.

BOOK REVIEWS HIS IMPERIAL MAJESTY: A NATURAL HISTORY OF THE PURPLE EMPEROR, by Matthew Oates

By: ANDREW WAKEHAM-DAWSON

Page: 279–280

Type: Book Review

LADYBIRD BEETLES OF THE AUSTRALO-PACIFIC REGION: COLEO - PTERA: COCCINELLIDAE: COCCINELLINI, by Adam Ślipiński, Jiahui Li and Hong Pang

By: RACHEL FARROW

Page: 280–281

Type: Book Review

NEW NAMES PUBLISHED IN VOLUME 156 (2020)

Page: 282