Том 102, № 2 (2023)

Female mosquitoes possess a complex auditory system, the biological function of which has not yet been fully understood. Male and female mosquitoes are known to mutually adjust the frequencies of their wingbeats when approaching each other. To make such interaction possible, they need to hear each other and to be able to discriminate frequencies. Some recent data indicate that biting female mosquitoes can also use acoustic channel to detect their hosts. One can expect that the parameters of mosquito’s hearing re ect the acoustic properties of noises or other sounds emitted by the host animals. In this regard, it is worth asking whether mosquitoes are able to detect humans by their voices. We studied female mosquitoes of Aedes ( Ochlerotatus ) excrucians Walker. They are abundant in the biotopes where people are likely to be found, for example, along the river banks and in the village parks. In electrophysiological experiments, we measured the frequency-threshold characteristics of auditory receptors. The highest sensitivity of most receptors was found in the frequency range from 40 to 140 Hz, with minimum threshold values of 32-40 dB SPVL (Sound Particle Velocity Level). A comparison of the frequency-threshold characteristics of female mosquitoes with the averaged spectra of human speech indicates that, in most cases, mosquitoes can hear human voices and can use them as a cue for nding and attacking humans.

Results of the long term research have shown that the cabbage moth causes a serious threat to spring rape plantings in Leningrad Province. During the last decade, there were several cases of mass reproduction of this species when high population density of the insect and heavy injury to the rape leaves and buds were recorded. Mass reproduction of the moth was observed in the early and warm spring, when the plantings were infested by the butter ies earlier and simultaneously, and the caterpillars were feeding on rape plants at the initial stages of their development that strongly reduced the crop yield. The situation was getting worse on rape that was sown late and was also damaged earlier by Phyllotreta ea beetles, and in the hot, dry weather. The crop yield of spring rape was decreased from damage caused by caterpillars according to the data averaged over the entire period of research by 4.7% (0.65 centner∙ha^-1), in the years of mass reproduction, by 84%, and in the years of low population, by 2.5%. The harmfulness of cabbage moth caterpillars increased by 2.3 and 4.5 times when leaf area was damaged by 26-50% and more than 50%, respectively, as compared to when damage was low and not exceeding 25%. Application of full dose of mineral fertilizers decreased injury to the leaves and buds by cabbage moth caterpillars and harm caused to spring rape due to a higher plant potential to recover from the damage in icted.

The e ect of VOCs of six entomopathogenic fungal strains from genus Lecanicillium on the behavioral responses of the western ower thrips females Frankliniella occidentalis on vegetative bean plants and in a Y-shaped olfactometer was studied. The signi cant repellent reactions of thrips females and a decrease in a number of o spring by 33-34% were revealed after treatment the beans by conidial suspensions of L. lecanii strains F2 and Vl 29 in the concentration of 1 × 10⁷ spores/ml. Strains Vl 21 ( L. muscarium ) and Vit 71 ( L. attenuatum ), which showed a repellent tendency towards thrips females, also caused a signi cant decrease of o spring number. The strains isolated from aphids (ARSEF 2332 of L. dimorphum and Vl 13 of L. longisporum ) showed a tendency towards attractiveness. In the Y-shaped olfactometer the repellency of the F2 strain and the attractiveness of the ARSEF 2332 strain were con rmed. The in uence of the other studied strains on the thrips behavioral reactions was unreliable. Acetic acid, tested in the olfactometer at doses corresponding to its content in the fungal VOCs over growing mycelium, caused di erent reactions of thrips females depending on the acid concentration: attractive reactions at the dose of 0.17 ppm; neutral - at the dose of 0.34 ppm; and weak repellent - at 0.85 ppm. The obtained data indicate that acetic acid, contained in the fungal VOCs, e ect on the behavioral responses of thrips females. The repellant e ect of the fungal spores of the genus Lecanicillium on thrips females and the negative impact on o spring number increase the e ectiveness of entomopathogenic fungi.

The male genital and pregenital skeleton and musculature were studied in males of the following species of the Muscidae subfamily Phaoniinae: Helina luteisquama (Zetterstedt, 1845), H. bohemani (Ringdahl, 1916), Phaonia meigeni Pont, 1986, Ph . hybrida (Schnabl, 1888) and Ph . lugubris (Meigen, 1826). The examined species are very similar in the structure of the sclerites and muscles of their terminal segments. The structure of the pregenital muscles in Phaoniinae is similar to that in the subfamily Azeliinae, which occupies the basal position within the Muscidae. The fewer number of phallapodeme muscles, surstylus muscles, and muscles of the subepandrial sclerites in Phaoniinae demonstrates the apomorphic character states and does not allow placing this subfamily at the base of the Muscidae branch. In general, the structure of the male pregenital musculature of the Phaoniinae is most similar to that in the Mydaeinae, and both the Phaoniinae and the Mydaeinae occupy an intermediate position between the basal Azeliinae and the progressive Muscinae.

Ropalopus femoratus (Linnaeus, 1758) found in the Chuvash Republic is reliably recorded for the rst time for the Russian fauna. The species lives in an old oak forest with maple.

A new species Pityophthorus kataevi sp. n. (Coleoptera, Curculionidae: Scolytinae) is described from Peru based on the material from Junin Region.

A new species of ichneumonids, Leptacoenites tarbagataicus sp. n., is described from Eastern Kazakhstan and Mongolia. Its similarity with the closely related genus Cumatocinetus Sheng, 2002 from China is discussed.

Catalog of types (holotypes, paratypes, lectotypes, paralectotypes) of species of the family Scathophagidae (Diptera) described by Th. Becker, I. A. Porchinsky, A. A. Stakelberg, K. B. Gorodkov, A. L. Ozerov, M. G. Krivosheina, which are stored in the collection of the Zoological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg, is presented. Photographs of specimens and labels of holotypes and lectotypes are given.