Some gastropod specimens belonging to the planorbid genus Ferrissia were recently collected in Lebanon and in Iraq, where the autochthonous species Ferrissia clessiniana (Jickeli, 1882) is supposed to occur. The molecular identification of collected specimens proved that they belong to the allochthonous species Ferrissia fragilis (Tryon, 1863), the protagonist of a dramatic cryptic invasion whi...

The fossil record and systematics of murid rodents, reservoirs of zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniasis in the Palaearctic, Oriental, African, Nearctic and Neotropical, strongly support a Palaearctic origin of Leishmania. The fossil record and systematics of phlebotomine sand flies reinforce this idea. Interpretations of molecular data that place the origin of Leishmania in the Neotropical are incon...

Karyotypes are given for Boreonectes emmerichi (Falkenström, 1936) from its type locality at Kangding, China, and for B. alpestris (Dutton & Angus, 2007) from the St Gotthard and San Bernardino passes in the Swiss Alps. A phylogeny based on sequence data from a combination of mitochondrial and nuclear genes recovered western Palaearctic species of Boreonectes as monophyletic with strong support...

Contradictory biogeographic hypotheses for either a Neotropical or a Palaearctic origin of the genus Leishmania have been proposed. Hypotheses constructed on the basis of biogeographic data must be tested against an independent dataset and cannot be supported by biogeographic data alone. In the absence of a fossil record for the Leishmania these two hypotheses were tested against a combined dat...

Palaearctic species of Periclistus Förster has been systematically described, but a new inquiline gall-wasp, Periclistus qinghainensis sp. n., is described from China. This species was obtained from an unknown stem gall induced on Rosa sp. Diagnosis, distribution and biology of the new species are described in this paper. After examining the types of Periclistus idoneus Belizin, 1973 and Pericl...

An unusual new genus (Salwaea burgensisgen. n., sp. n.) of phycine stiletto flies is described from Egypt. A key to Palaearctic genera of Phycinae is presented.

The Oriental and East Palaearctic genus Hartemita Cameron, 1910 (Braconidae: Cardiochilinae) is recorded for the first time from Vietnam. Sixteen species of the genus Hartemita are currently recognized from Oriental and East Palaearctic regions. One species is newly recorded for Vietnam, Hartemita singaporensis (Mao, 1945)and six new species from Vietnam are described and illustrated: Hartemita...

BACKGROUND The small ermine moth genus Yponomeuta (Lepidoptera, Yponomeutidae) contains 76 species that are specialist feeders on hosts from Celastraceae, Rosaceae, Salicaceae, and several other plant families. The genus is a model for studies in the evolution of phytophagous insects and their host-plant associations. Here, we reconstruct the phylogeny to provide a solid framework for these stu...