Scientiae biologicae

The true bugs of the Bukovské vrchy Hills (Eastern Carpathians, Slovakia), the most valuable parts of which are protected as the Poloniny National Park, have hitherto been very poorly known. Here we provide a comprehensive faunistic survey of Heteroptera based on both published and unpublished data. Altogether we document the occurrence of 193 species of Heteroptera (22.6 % of the Slovak fauna) in Bukovské vrchy hills. Two species, Macrolophus rubi Woodroffe, 1957 (Miridae) and Panaorus adspersus (Mulsant et Rey, 1852) (Rhyparochromidae), are known to occur in Slovakia only in the Poloniny National Park. The first reliable record of Psallus (Apocremnus) montanus Josifov, 1973 (Miridae), a new species for Slovakia, is included. Centaurea jacea L. (Asteraceae) is confirmed as host plant for Oncotylus viridiflavus viridiflavus (Goeze, 1778) (Miridae), and Aruncus vulgaris Rafin. (Rosaceae) is reported as host plant of Odontoplatys bidentulus (Herrich-Schäffer, 1842) (Miridae) for the first time.

New records of the hyaline grass bug Liorhyssus hyalinus (Fabricius, 1794) (Heteroptera: Rhopalidae: Rhopalinae) in the Czech Republic are presented (both from Bohemia and Moravia), including the first record of a breeding population. Additional faunistic records from 42 countries are also presented, including first records of L. hyalinus from Thailand, the United Arab Emirates, and Bolivia. Information about the worldwide distribution, host plants, ecology, bionomics, harmfulness, and natural enemies of the species is reviewed. Liorhyssus hyalinus is a cosmopolitan, euryecous, polyphagous species, recorded in association with at least 172 plant taxa from 38 families, being able to develop on at least 22 taxa from 9 plant families. Its recent northward expansion in western and central Europe is discussed in connection with possible global warming.

Brancucciana Ahmad et Zaidi, 1986 is the oldest available for preoccupied Ascopus Hsiao, 1964, having priority over Ascopocoris Stehlík et Kerzhner, 1999. The following new combinations are established: Brancucciana (Brancucciana) gestroi (Distant,1964) comb.nov., B. (B.) constanti (Stehlík et Jindra, 2006) comb.nov., B. (B.) rufa (Hsiao, 1964) comb.nov., B. (B.) sinuaticollis (Liu, 1987) comb.nov., and B. (Rubriascopus) pygmaea (Distant, 1903) comb.nov.

Rosaphe Kirkaldy et Edwards, 1902 is the valid name for Astemma auct., nec Le Peletier et Serville, 1825. The following new combinations for species assigned to date to Astemma are established: Rosaphe amazonica (Brailovsky et Barrera, 1993) comb.nov., R. cornuta (Le Peletier et Serville, 1825) comb.nov., R. nigerrima (Breddin, 1898) comb.nov., R. nigrocapitata (Brailovsky et Barrera, 1993) comb.nov., R. pallidula (Brailovsky et Barrera, 1993) comb.nov., R. sanmartini (Coscarón et Dellapé, 2006) comb.nov., and R. stylophthalma (St?l, 1870) comb.nov.

A collation of Pyrrhocoroidea of Meghalaya state (northern India) is given, including 29 species. Ectatops dembickyi sp.nov. is described, and Euscopus fletcheri Ahmad et Abbas, 1985, syn.nov., is placed as a junior synonym of E. vittiventris (Walker, 1872). The allometry of Macrocheraia grandis (Grey, 1832) and species of the genus Physopelta Amyot et Serville, 1843, as well as their sexual dimorphism, are described and discussed.

Dindymus (Dindymus) fasciatus sp.nov. and Euscopus elongatus sp.nov. from Laos are decribed. A further four species are recorded for the first time from Laos.

Forty-two species and two varieties originally described by Leopold Melichar in the family Tropiduchidae are listed and details given of the specimen depositories. Many are syntypes but lectotype designations have not been made in this paper. A separate list of Tropiduchidae species described by other authors and contained in Melichar's personal collection is also given.

Fourteen species of the family Ripiphoridae (Coleoptera) are recorded from Greece, Turkey and some adjacent countries in the Eastern Mediterranean, the Balkan Peninsula and the Middle East (Albania, Armenia, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Iran, Jordan, Romania and Yugoslavia). Ripiphorus creticus sp.nov. from Crete is described and illustrated. Lectotypes are designated for Ripiphorus syriacus (Pic, 1904) and Ripiphorus turcicus (Pic, 1914) and based on their study, both the names are removed from synonymy with R. subdipterus Bosc, 1792, and recognized as belonging to two distinct species. The genus Pterydrias Reitter, 1895 is transferred from the subfamily Karumiinae (Drilidae/Dascillidae) to Ripiphoridae: Ripidiinae: Eorhipidiini and its systematic position is discussed. Keys are provided for determination of the genera of Ripiphoridae and species of Macrosiagon Hentz, 1830 and Ripiphorus Bosc, 1791 in the Eastern Mediterranean.

Nosodendron (Nosodendron) laosense sp.nov. is described, illustrated and compared with related species. The following species are newly recorded: Nosodendron (N.) disjectum Champion, 1923 (India: Kerala), Nosodendron (N.) hispidum Champion, 1923 (Philippines), and Nosodendron (Nosoglobulus) loebli Háva, 2003 (China: Yunnan).

Social wasps (Hymenoptera, Vespidae) were trapped using beer baits in European forest ecosystems in 2006. In the course of this study, 3583 wasps of 8 species were trapped at 131 locations. The following species fell to the bait: Polistes dominulus (Christ, 1791), Vespa crabro Linnaeus, 1758, V. velutina Lepeletier, 1836, Vespula germanica (Fabricius, 1793), V. rufa (Linnaeus, 1758), V. vulgaris (Linnaeus, 1758), Dolichovespula media (Retzius, 1783), and D. saxonica (Fabricius, 1793). V. vulgaris and V. crabro were the eudominant species, with more than 40% of individuals. The third most common species was D. media, a species considered rare or uncommon by many authors. One very interesting result of the study was a specimen of V. velutina, an Asian species established in southern France within the last two years.

Odontocrabro reticulatus sp.nov., a new species of the genus Odontocrabro Tsuneki, 1971, is described from Malaysia and Thailand. An identification key to the Asian species of the genus is given.

The taxon known as Boletus crataegi Smotl., an invalidly published name, is discussed. On the basis of their studies, the authors consider it only a xanthoid form of Boletus satanas, here described as B. satanas f. crataegi (Smotl.) ex Antonín et V. Janda f. nov. Macro- and microscopic descriptions based on new collections from the vicinity of Mokrá-Horákov (Czech Republic, Moravia) are given.

The first record of Gymnopus oreadoides (Pass.) Antonín et Noordel. in the Czech Republic with detailed macroscopic and microscopic descriptions of collected basidiocarps is published. The species was collected on soil under Quercus robur close to Pustý rybník pond near Dymokury (Bohemia).

Orthotrichum pulchellum is reported as new for the bryoflora of the Czech Republic. The species was discovered in the České Švýcarsko National Park, the Lužické hory Protected Landscape Area and the Děčínsko region. The localities are described in detail. The species is illustrated by a photograph. Its ecology and diagnostic characters are briefly discussed.

Fifty six Salzmann's specimens of type character deposited in BRNM are listed. Three of them are vouchers of unpublished names (in schedis).