Journal of Entomological Society of Iran
Year:2008 | Volume:27 | Issue:2 (41 SUPPLEMENT)|Papers Count:31

Dostal & Zettel (1999) described Axonya farsica based on only one male, and the female remained unknown. Here, the female of this species is described. Forty specimens of A.farsica were collected on 29 April 2006 in Tang-e Tizab near Sepidan in Fars province, near the place where the male was captured by Dostal & Zettel (1999), as well as 30 other specimens collected on 3 May 2006 near Yasuj in Kohkiluyeh and Boyerahmad province. All these suggest that A. farsica is locally a common species in the southern part of the Zagros Mountain, Iran. All specimens of A. farsica were found under stones near the water side in the same river system.

All known beetles in the family Bruchidae feed on seeds of about 34 families of plants but about 80% feed on seeds of the family Fabaceae (Johnson, et al., 2001). Data on the European Astragalus-feeding Bruchidius species have been reviewed by Delobel et al., (2004). During the study on bruchid beetles associated with Fabaceae in Wes Azerbaijan, infested seedpods of Astragalus caryolobus Bunge were collected in Gasemloo (Shohada) valley, 35 km south of Urmia, in mid-June 2006 and kept in laboratory conditions in the glass boxes covered by muslin. In early July, the emerged beetles were collected and identified as Bruchidius plagiatus (Reiche & Saulcy). This species, which is newly recorded from Iran, has also been collected on Astragalus caraganae Fisch. & Mey. in Armenia (Karapetjan, 1985) and reared on seedpods of A. macrocarpus L. in Palestine (Calderon, 1962). It is distributed in Eastern Mediterranean region and Little Asia.

Velvet mites of the family Trombidiidae (Acari: Prostigmata) are ectoparasitic in the larval stages and predator in the post-larval stages on several small arthropod groups.Members of this family are parasitic on various insects and arachnids and occur on several phytophagous insect orders including serious pests of many cultivated plants (Eickwort, 1982; Welbourn, 1983; Zhang & Norbakhsh, 1995; Zhang & Saboori, 1996; Zhang, 1998; Goldarezana et al., 2000). Several trombidiid species have been reported as being ectoparasitic on small insects especially on Coleoptera, Orthoptera, Diptera, Lepidoptera, Hemiptera, Homoptera, Hymenoptera (Welbourn, 1983). Allothrombium pulvinum Ewing is an important natural enemy of aphids, spider mites and ectoparasite on the Macrosiphum rosae L., Aphis gossypii Glov. and Hyalopterus amygdali (Blach.) in Iran (Hosseini et al., 2002). Also, A. pulvinum is the predator of Planococcus citri (Risso) and Pulvinaria aurantii Cockerel eggs on citrus leaves (Saboori et al., 2003). It has been reported that the larvae of Allothrombium species were common ectoparasites of many species of aphids and could also attack larvae of Noctuidae, Chrysomelidae and Coccinellidae (Anonymous, 1983).

This note is intended to restore the availability of the name Diglyphus scapus Yefremova in Hesami et al. (2006) by invoking the article 16.4.2 of the International code of zoological nomenclature (ICZN, 1999). Therefore we provide the following locality data including the placement of the type series as the latter was missed in the original description:Holotype: ♀, Mazandaran Prov., Ghaemshahr, 36° 27¢ N, 52° 55¢ E, elev. 90 m, sweeping in pastures, 15 October 2002, leg. H. Ghahhari, (ZISP- Zoological Institution of Russian Academy of Science, S. Petersburg); Paratypes: 2 ♂♂, same data as holotype, (ZISPZoological Institution of Russian Academy of Science, S. Petersburg).

During the study of cicadas in Hayk Mirzayans Insect Museum (HMIM), a male and a female Adeniana longiceps (Putton) were observed. These specimens have been collected by Fassihi and Mirsalavatian from Shamilat, Bandar Abbas in south and Dasht-e Gorgan in north east of Iran in 1948 and 1949, and identified by Dr. Dlabola from Czech. In further studies on unidentified cicada specimens, another female collected from Gonbad Kavous in north east by Safavi and Agah in 1957 was found. Based on the literature review, 11 genera and 33 species of cicadas have been recorded from Iran, of which 9 genera and 23 species deposited in HMIM and listed by Mirzayans (1995), and the others published abroad (Dlabola, 1960, 1970, 1979, 1981; Dlabola & Heller, 1962). However, the mentioned genus and species, A. longiceps, has not been reported from Iran. This species is known to be an eremian element (Linnavuori, 1962) and has been reported from North Africa (Algeria, Egypt, Tunisia) (Nast, 1972), Israel (Linnavuori, 1962) and Azerbaijan (Nast, 1972)…..

Some species of the subfamily Asopinae have already been reported from Iran (Safavi, 1976; Hoberlandt, 1995). In the course of a study on asopine bugs from the south coast of the Caspian Sea (north of Iran), collections were performed from natural and agricultural areas of the region. Besides, asopine specimens of the same region maintained at the Hayk Mirzayans Insect Museum (HMIM) in Iranian Research Institute of Plant Protection (IRIPP), Tehran, Iran, were examined. Taxonomic keys of the related references were used to identify the bugs (eg., Stichel, 1961; Lodos & Önder, 1983; Thomas, 1994). Body measurements were provided using an ocular micrometer (0.1 mm precision). As a result, two species are now newly recorded from Iran….

The Tephritidae (= Trypetidae, Trupaneidae, Euribiidae) is a large family of acalyptrate Diptera with over 4300 species known worldwide. Most species are phytophagous and have prominently patterned wings (White, 1988). So they are economically important because of the damage they may cause in fruit plantations (Merz, 2001). Other species are important agents in biological control programs against weeds (White & Elson-Harris, 1992).

Larvae of the green lacewings (Chrysopidae) feed mainly on Aphidoidea and Pseudococcidae. Eggs of Chrysopidae are shaped like short sausages and carried at the tip of hair-like stalks several time as long as the eggs themselves (Dolling, 1991). A wide range of insect parasites attack the various stages of Chrysopidae. Predominant egg parasites are Hymenoptera of the families Trichogrammatidae and Scelionidae (Alrouechdi et al., 1984).

During the study on cynipid wasps associated with herbaceous plants in West Azerbaijan, two species were collected and identified. For this purpose, matured seed heads of Acroptilon repens (L.) and Cirsium arvense (L.) (Asteraceae) were collected in mid-March 2005 and kept in laboratory conditions in the glass boxes covered by muslin. In late May, two species of Cynipidae, Aulacidea acroptilonica Tyurebaev and Isocolus cirsii Diakontshuk, emerged from the seed heads of A. repens and C. arvense, respectively. These species are newly recorded from Iran. Specimens were deposited in the Systematic Parasitoid Laboratory, Koszeg, Hungary and Natural History Museum of Urmia University.

Several species of Hymenoptera feed on different parts of rose. Most of these species belong to Cynipidae that produce galls. Diplolepis rosae (L.) and D. mayri (Schlechtendal) have been reported as rose gall wasps in Iran (Farahbakhsh, 1961; Shojai 1998). Most gallmakers have a complex of specific natural enemies that help suppress their populations. To identify the parasitoids of rose gall wasp, D. rosae, samples of rose and dog rose (Rosa canina) were collected from different regions of Fars and Tehran provinces during spring and summer of 2005 and 2006.

The Lauxaniidae is a rather large and diverse family of around 1800 described species worldwide (Merz, 2003). They are among the most abundant acalyptrate Diptera in forest ecosystems in the temperate and tropical parts of the world. Their Larvae are saprophagous or mycetophagous and play, therefore, an important role in the decomposition of leaf litter (Miller, 1977; Broadhead, 1984; Papp & Shatalkin, 1988). This family is recognized by the following characters: medium-sized or small flies, costal vein complete, body mostly yellow, vibrissae absent, postvertical bristles convergent or cruciate, dorsal preapical bristles present on tibiae, second antennal joint with a dorsal cleft (Shtakelberg, 1989).

During 1995-1997, a faunistic survey was carried out on spider mites and their predacious mites in Urmieh region, Iran. A total of 15 species belonging to 7 families and 13 genera were collected and identified, of which one genus and species is a new record for Iran (marked by two asterisks), and 6 species are new records for West Azerbaijan province (marked one asterisks).

Peribaea tibialis (Robineau-Desvoidy) and Compsilura concinnata (Meigen), which are reported for the first time from Iran, are solitary parasitoids of rice armyworm larvae, Mythimna unipuncta (Haworth), in the rice fields of western Mazandaran. Our studies during 1999-2001 showed that these parasitoids were active on M. unipuncta larvae of different generations, especially 2nd and 3rd generations, and caused 18.7% of larval parasitism.

During 2004-2005, a faunistic study was carried out on the edaphic mites in Sorche-Hesar forest park of Tehran. A total of 14 species belonging to 10 families were collected and identified, of which four species, viz. Iphidozercon corticalis Evans, Dendrolealaps populi Walker, Holaspina alstoni Evans and Rhodacarellus silesiacus Willmann, are new records for Iran.

A survey was conducted to identify parasitoids of vegetable leafminer, Liriomyza trifolii (Burgess), in Shiraz region from April 2004 to September 2005. A total of eight eulophid species, viz. Baryscapus impeditus Nees, Closterocerus formosus Westwood, Diaulinopsis arenaria Erdos, Diglyphus crassinervis Erdos, Diglyphus isaea Walker, Diglyphus pulchripes Crawford, Hemiptarsenus zilahisebessi Eros and Ratzeburgiola cristatus Ratzeburg were collected, of which the four species marked with an asterisk are new records for Iran.

In the study carried out during the summer of 2005 in Alborz Research Station in Karaj, the damage caused by a xylophagous insect was observed on trunks of poplar trees. Infected trunks and logs were transmitted to the laboratory and adult wasps were collected by banding the trunks with laces. Twenty wasps, which all were female, emerged from the logs from 23.7.2005 to 3.9.2005. These wasps were identified by the third author as Tremex fuscicornis (Fabricius), which is newly recorded from Iran.

In the study of natural enemies of mealybugs (Hem.: Pseudococcidae) in Fars province, Iran, a large number of parasitized mealybugs were collected, and the emerged encyrtid species identified as Leptomastidea alleni Noyes & Hayat, 1994. The identification was confirmed by Zhihong Xu, Institute of Applied Entomology, Zhejiang University of China. The genus and species is a new record for Iran. This is also the first report of L. alleni from Palearctic region. This species was collected from Nipaecoccus viridis (Newstead) on Citrus sinensis (L.), C. aurantium (L.) and Althaea sp., and from Planococcus vovae (Nasonov) on Cupressus sp.

This paper reports the occurrence of the hymenoterous parasitoid of the diamondback moth larvae in Iran. One species of Ichneumonidae, Diadegma anurum (Thomson), was collected from larvae of Plutella xylostella (L.) (Lep.: Plutellidae). This parasitoid, which belongs to the subfamily Campopleginae and tribe Limneriini, is a new record for Iran.

Larvae of Dicrodiplosis manihoti Harris (Dip., Cecidomyiidae) are the predator of mealybug ovisacs (Hem.: Pseudococcidae) in Fars province, Iran. Parasitized larvae of this predator were collected from Nipaecoccus viridis (Newstead) on Citrus sinensis (L.) and reared in the laboratory. Parasitoid wasps belonging to the family Torymidae were consequently collected, and identified as Pseudotorymus stachidis (Mayr) by T. C. Narendran, India. This species is a new record for Iran. The host-parasitoid relationship is also newly recorded.

This paper reports the occurrence of the hymenoterous parasitoid of the diamondback moth larvae in Iran. One species of Braconidae, Cotesia plutellae (Kurdjumov), was collected from larvae of Plutella xylostella (L.) (Lep.: Plutellidae). This parasitoid, which belongs to the subfamily Microgastrinae, is newly recorded from Iran.

During the study of rice pests in Firoozabad, Fars province, Iran in June 2002, leafhopper specimens were collected on rice stems. The specimens were identified as Typhlocyba (Edwardsiana) avellanae (Edwards) by Unal Zeybekuglu, Ondokuz Mayys University, Turkey. This species is a new record for Iran.

During 2005, a survey was conducted on the Miridae fauna of Urmia region and environs and a large number of species belonging to this family were collected. Among them, 19 specimens were identified as Capsus cinctus (Kolenati), which the genus and species is the first report for Iran. The identification was confirmed by R. Linnavuori, Finland. The species was collected on weeds, especially Bromus sp. in June.

A survey was conducted to identify parasitoids of leafminers in Shiraz region during spring 2005. The specimens of the Eulophid parasitoid wasp, Diglyphus poppoea Walker, were reared from wheat leaves infested by Agromyza ambigua Fallén (Dip.: Agromyzidae) larvae in Pole-Fasa, Zarghan and Zafarabad regions. This parasitoid, which is recorded for the first time from Iran, was identified by Gencer, Turkey.

During an investigation on edaphic mite fauna of orchards and parks of Tehran, some species belonging to the superfamily Pygmephoroidea were collected and identified, of which Bakerdania graciloides Sevastianov is considered to be a new record for Iran.

One species of Eulophidae, Oomyzus sokolowskii (Kurdjumov), was collected from larvae of the diamondback moth, Plutella xylostella (L.) (Lep.: Plutellidae). This parasitoid is a major gregarious larval-pupal endoparasitoid of P. xylostella that prefers ovipositing into host larvae but depositing its eggs in host prepupae too. This is the first report of the occurrence of this species from Iran.

During an investigation on edaphic mite fauna of wheat fields in Abarkooh (Yazd province) and citrus orchards in Jahrom (Fars province), some specimens belonging to the family Oplitidae were collected and identified as Oplitis paradoxa (Canestrini & Berlese). This is the first report of this species from Iran.

One species of Tachinidae collected on Lepidium draba in Dasht-e Barm, Dasht-e Arjan, Fars Province in April 2006 were identified as Ectophasia leucoptera (Rondani, 1865). E. leucoptera is a rare species belonging to the subfamily Phasiinae and has been reported as a parasitoid of pentatomid bugs. This tachinid species, which is newly recorded from Iran, has previously been reported from Bulgaria, Spain, France, Italy, Germany, Central Asia and Turkey.

During 2005-2006, a faunistic study was carried out to identify predatory mites associated with citrus trees in the western part of Mazandaran, Iran. Five species, viz. Amblyseius herbicolus Chant, Typhlodromips caspiansis Denmark & Daneshvar, Neoseiulus barkeri (Hughes), Paraseiulus triporus (Chant & Yoshida-Shaul) and Euseius amissibilis Meshkov*, belonging to the family Phytoseiidae were collected, of which the latter species marked with an asterisk is newly recorded from Iran.

Four species of flea beetles (Col.: Chrysomelidae, Alticinae), viz. Altica tsharynensis (Ogloblin), Aphthona pygmaea (Kutschera), Longitarsus pulmonariae Weise and Neocrepidodera interpunctata (Motschulsky), collected from the south of Caspian Sea are newly recorded from Iran. Host plants, localities and diagnostic characters of each species are given.

During a survey conducted on Syrphidae fauna in Guilan province (Masuleh & Lakan) in August 2006, some species of the genus Eristalis Latreille were collected and identified, of which E. similis (Fallen) is newly reported from Iran. The identification was confirmed by Heikki Hippa, Swedish Musem of Natural History.

Trichogramma ingricum Sorokina, 1984, an egg parasitoid, only known from Russia (St. Petersburg), here is newly recorded from northern Iranian provinces including West and East Azarbaijan and Mazandaran. The localities and hosts are as follows: Tabriz, on eggs of Cydia pomonella (L.); Urmia (Chubtarash, Najafabad-e Gharebagh, Tasmalu, Ghulenji), on eggs of C. pomonella and Lobesia botrana Den & Schiff; Urmia (Mahalanzal, Bakshluchai, Nazluchai, Baranduzchai) on eggs of L. botrana; Amol (Binamad), on eggs of Chilo suppressalis Walker. T. ingricum is superficially similar to T. embryophagum (Hartig), except for darker body color, longer setae on male antenna, distinctive male genitalia and lack of thelytoky in females. This species is common in vineyards of Urmia region where it could be considered as a significant control agent of L. botrana.