A key to genera of Iranian lady beetles (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) and species of subfamilies Chilocorinae, Coccinellinae, Epilachinae and Microweiseinae

A key to genera of Iranian Coccinellidae, besides species of subfamilies Chilocorinae, Coccinellinae, Epilachinae and Microweiseinae is given

Ladybirds (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) of Iran: 45 new records from 10 provinces

Forty-five records of 28 species of ladybird beetles (belonging to 15 genera, 8 tribes and 6 subfamilies of Coccinellidae) as new for particular provinces in Iran are presented. The ten provinces with new records are Alborz, Golestan, Hamadan, Hormozgan, Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad, Mazandaran, North Khorasan, Sistan and Baluchistan, Tehran, and Zanjan

New data on some Coccinellidae (Coleoptera) from Iran

A species of ladybird beetles: Coccinella leonina transversalis Fabricius, is newly recorded from Iran. Identification keys to Iranian species of the genera Coccinella Linnaeus,, 1758, Pharoscymnus Bedel, 1906, subgenus Scymnus s.str. Kugelann, 1794 and redescription of Pharoscymnus horni (J. Weise, 1901) are given

Bacterial biofilms on thalli of Laboulbeniales: a community uncovered

Bacterial biofilms have been described on a number of fungal taxa. These microbial communities are of interest both from an ecological and a biotechnological point of view, as they have been shown to play a role in biodegradation and biosynthesis. This study is the first to show the presence of biofilms on thallus surfaces of Laboulbeniales, an order of fungi that have biotrophic associations with arthropod hosts. Scanning electron microscopy micrographs show an abundance of bacterial biofilms on thalli of three species: Laboulbenia collae associated with Paranchus albipes (Carabidae), L. flagellata associated with Limodromus assimilis (Carabidae), and Hesperomyces virescens s.l. associated with Harmonia axyridis (Coccinellidae). These bacterial communities were mainly found on the thalli, and only in small quantities on the arthropod integument. We suggest genetics and metabolomics approaches to investigate possible interactions between Laboulbeniales fungi and the biofilms. Our work has laid a foundation for future research on biofilms on Laboulbeniomycetes.Microbial BiotechnologyNaturali

Development of the European Ladybirds Smartphone Application: A Tool for Citizen Science

Wildlife observations submitted by volunteers through citizen science initiatives are increasingly used within research and policy. Ladybirds are popular and charismatic insects, with most species being relatively easy to identify from photographs. Therefore, they are considered an appropriate taxonomic group for engaging people through citizen science initiatives to contribute long-term and large-scale datasets for use in many different contexts. Building on the strengths of a mass participation citizen science survey on ladybirds in the United Kingdom, we have developed a mobile application for ladybird recording and identification across Europe. The main aims of the application are to: (1) compile distribution data for ladybird species throughout Europe, and use this to assess changes in distribution over time; (2) connect and engage people in nature and increase awareness about the diversity and ecological importance of ladybirds. In developing the application we first constructed a database including ladybird species from the United Kingdom, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Italy, Belgium, and Portugal with associated information on relevant morphological features (e.g., size, main color, pronotum pattern) to inform identification. Additionally, the species were assessed on the basis of probability of occurrence within each country which enables users to reduce the number of species to only those with relevance to the location of the recorder. This is amongst the first collaborative citizen science approaches aimed at involving participants across Europe in recording a group of insects. In the near future, we aim to expand the use of the application to all countries in Europe

Long-Term Cold Acclimation Extends Survival Time at 0°C and Modifies the Metabolomic Profiles of the Larvae of the Fruit Fly Drosophila melanogaster

Drosophila melanogaster is a chill-susceptible insect. Previous studies on this fly focused on acute direct chilling injury during cold shock and showed that lower lethal temperature (LLT, approximately -5°C) exhibits relatively low plasticity and that acclimations, both rapid cold hardening (RCH) and long-term cold acclimation, shift the LLT by only a few degrees at the maximum.We found that long-term cold acclimation considerably improved cold tolerance in fully grown third-instar larvae of D. melanogaster. A comparison of the larvae acclimated at constant 25°C with those acclimated at constant 15°C followed by constant 6°C for 2 d (15°C→6°C) showed that long-term cold acclimation extended the lethal time for 50% of the population (Lt(50)) during exposure to constant 0°C as much as 630-fold (from 0.137 h to 86.658 h). Such marked physiological plasticity in Lt(50) (in contrast to LLT) suggested that chronic indirect chilling injury at 0°C differs from that caused by cold shock. Long-term cold acclimation modified the metabolomic profiles of the larvae. Accumulations of proline (up to 17.7 mM) and trehalose (up to 36.5 mM) were the two most prominent responses. In addition, restructuring of the glycerophospholipid composition of biological membranes was observed. The relative proportion of glycerophosphoethanolamines (especially those with linoleic acid at the sn-2 position) increased at the expense of glycerophosphocholines.Third-instar larvae of D. melanogaster improved their cold tolerance in response to long-term cold acclimation and showed metabolic potential for the accumulation of proline and trehalose and for membrane restructuring