NEW DATA ON PERILLUS BIOCULATUS (HETEROPTERA: PENTATOMIDAE) IN SERBIA: DO CLIMATE CHANGE AND A NEW FOOD SOURCE CONTRIBUTE TO THE TRUE BUG EXPANSION?

Perillus bioculatus (Fabricius, 1775) originates from North America, and was introduced to Europe at the beginning of the 20th century. The first findings of the species from nature in Serbia date back to 1996, after which the bug was not registered until 2018. After detecting one individual from 2018, we assumed that Perillus bioculatus would continue to spread throughout Serbia, and recent data have confirmed our suspicions. The paper presents literature and new findings from 2021 and 2022, as well as the conditioning of the spread of the species by the expansion of the range of new prey Ophraella communa LeSage, 1986 - also a non-native insect species in Europe, which was recorded in Serbia for the first time in 2020. In almost all localities from 2022, P. bioculatus was recorded on ragweed together with O. communa

TRUE BUGS (HETEROPTERA) OF PČINJA VALLEY (SERBIA)

During the summer season in July  2006, 2007 and 2008 expeditions in the valley of the Pčinja River were carried out. During these expeditions 339 specimens of true bugs (Heteroptera) were collected from 7 different localities: Vogance, Jablanica, Budovija, Gornji Starac, Delinovica, Kozjak and Čivcije. 80 species from 22 families were identified. The majority of these species present two biomes: Mediterranean mountain pastures and forests of rocky grounds and European steppes with diverse grasses. The true bug’s mixed continental-Mediterranean fauna structure in the valley of the Pčinja River is a result of the specific climate conditions of that area. Paraparomius leptopoides (Bärensprung, 1859) is a new species for Serbian fauna

True bugs (Heteroptera) of the Stara Planina mountain: Serbia

During summer 2011 and spring 2012 true bug specimens (Heteroptera, Insecta) were collected in the Stara planina Mountain area, at the sites of Jabučko ravnište and the surroundings of Temska village. Nine hundred and ninety-seven specimens were collected and the presence of 176 species from 25 families was confirmed. The most significant discovery was the finding of the species Velia (Plesiovelia) serbica Tamanini, 1951 in Temska village, which is the first record for Serbia of this species endemic to the Balkans. New species found for the fauna of Serbia are Heterocordylus (Heterocordylus) parvulus Reuter, 1881, Berytinus (Lizinus) crassipes (Herrich-Schäffer, 1835), Tropidophlebia costalis (Herrich-Schäffer, 1850) and Drymus (Drymus) pilicornis (Mulsant & Rey, 1852). Also highly significant are the findings of the rare species Closterotomus reuteri (Horvath, 1882) and Elasmucha fieberi (Jakovlev, 1865), as well as a dozen relict species. Analysis of the bug fauna of Stara planina Mt. shows that 9% of fauna are classified as species of high conservation priority

HALYOMORPHA HALYS (STÅL, 1855) (HETEROPTERA: PENTATOMIDAE) A NEW INVASIVE SPECIES IN SERBIA

Halyomorpha halys (Stål, 1855) or the Brown Marmorated Stink Bug (BMSB) is an invasive species native to East Asia which was initially noted outside its native range about twenty years ago in the United States (Hoebeke & Carter, 2003). This species is present in Europe for more than a decade (Haye et al., 2014b), but the first published record on H. halys is from 2004 in Liechtenstein (Arnold, 2009). Since then, the species was recorded in 8 other European countries: Switzerland, Germany, France, Italy, Hungary, Greece, Austria and Romania (Haye et al., 2015; Lee, 2015; Macavei et al., 2015; Rabistch & Friebe, 2015) and first specimens were intercepted in England during border inspections (Malumphy, 2014). Worldwide, H. halys is recognized as pest of dozens of agricultural and ornamental plants, and a serious household nuisance. Damages caused by the species are mostly documented in the mid-Atlantic region of the USA (Leskey et al., 2012), but for the last few years it became a problem in a few European regions as well (Haye et al., 2014b, 2015). Aforementioned reasons rapidly accelerated researches and publishing of papers on species biology, distribution and management, which are briefly reviewed by Haye et al. (2014a, 2015) and Lee (2015)

ACROSTERNUM HEEGERI (HETEROPTERA: PENTATOMIDAE) IN SERBIA

The species Acrosternum heegeri Fieber, 1861 is a well-known member of the Mediterranean fauna in Europe and until recently was not recorded outside its natural range. In recent years, the presence of stable populations of the species in Budapest has been confirmed, and the first findings on the territory of Serbia are from 2013, when several overwintering adults were found under the bark of deciduous trees in Novi Sad. Since 2017, active individuals have been recorded throughout the season, for now mainly from the area of ​​Vojvodina. This bug is probably conquering new territories by transporting people and goods, but we assume that climate change is also responsible for establishing stable populations in new environments. The paper presents the findings of the species A. heegeri in Serbia, which were taken from the Alciphron database on insects in Serbia. A. heegeri is a polyphagous herbivore and has the status of an economically significant species in the Middle East because it causes damage in pistachio plantations

FIRST RECORDS OF THE ALIEN SYCAMORE SEED BUG BELONOCHILUS NUMENIUS IN SERBIA (HETEROPTERA: LYGAEIDAE)

The North American species Belonochilus numenius (Say, 1832) (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Lygaeidae: Orsillinae) was first recorded in Europe in 2008, and is now present in most of the countries of Southern and Central Europe. The first specimen of B. numenius in Serbia was found in 2011 in Sremska Kamenica; it was later recorded in Zasavica, Mokrin and Novi Sad

NEW FAUNAL DATA ON TRUE BUGS (HETEROPTERA) IN SERBIA

Three new true bugs were recorded in Serbia and species are listed with notes on records. Anisops sardeus Herrich-Schäffer, 1849; Henestaris laticeps (Curtis, 1836); Caenocoris nerii (Germar, 1847)

Providing a base for conservation of true bugs (Insecta, Heteroptera) and their saline habitats in Vojvodina (northern Serbia)

Saline habitats of the Pannonian region are recognised as conservation priorities by EU legislation, and represent rare semi-natural habitats in mostly agricultural lowland of northern Serbia. Saline habitats have a key role in conservation of numerous plant and animal species in Vojvodina, as well as characteristic communities of true bugs. These insects belong to one of the most diverse insect groups in saline habitats. Species Henestaris halophilus (BURMEISTER, 1835), Conostethus hungaricus WAGNER, 1941 and Solenoxyphus fuscovenosus (FIEBER, 1864) are saline specialists and can be found only in these habitat types. True bugs have great qualities for future biomonitoring projects concerning habitats such as saline grasslands and wetlands. During the study, species Hydrometra gracilenta HORVÁTH, 1899 and Solenoxyphus fuscovenosus (FIEBER, 1864) are recorded for the first time in Serbia

New findings of Theophilea subcylindricollis (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) in Serbia

Theophilea subcylindricollis Hladil, 1988 has been recorded in eastern parts of central Europe, namely Kazakhstan, Russia, Ukraine, Moldova, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania (Hoskovec & Rejzek 2009; Löbl & Smetana 2010). It is interesting that neither Serbia (Pil & Stojanović, 2009) nor the Czech Republic (Holomčik, 2013) are listed in Fauna Europaea (Audisio, 2013) although, admittedly, the species was discovered in those two countries only recently

Road verges are important secondary habitats for grassland arthropods

Semi-natural linear landscape elements such as road verges, hedgerows and feld margins are important in maintaining the connectivity between habitat fragments of highly modifed landscapes. Preservation of habitat specialist fauna requires conservation of the remaining natural habitat patches and connectivity of fragments. Our study focuses on the spider, ant and true bug fauna and functional diversity (FD) of fragmented forest steppe patches, moderately grazed pastures and road verges embedded in a matrix of forest plantations in Hungary, Central Europe. We established total 30 sampling sites, 10 in each, the grassland component of forest-steppes (F), pastures (P) and road verges (R) near pine forests. We collected arthropods with pitfall and sweep-net techniques. We calculated FD and species composition of arthropods using linear mixed models. We observed higher species richness in road verges for spiders and ants. We also found higher FD values for spiders and diferent trait composition for all taxa in road verges when compared with forest steppes and pastures. Species composition suggests that road verges do not serve as habitat for several forest-steppe and grassland species, in spite of the fact that numerous specialist species were found in the road verges. We show that forest steppes have higher species richness of spiders than pastures, and there are diferences in species assemblage composition of the two habitat types for all taxa. Our results indicate that road verges should be considered as an important refuge for grassland specialist arthropods, as road verges provide secondary linear habitats for many arthropod species, and we would suggest the maintenance of these grassy strips in order to preserve arthropod biodiversity