Galls are highly specialized plant tissues whose development is induced by another organism. The most complex and diverse galls are those induced on oak trees by gallwasps (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae: Cynipini), each species inducing a characteristic gall structure. Debate continues over the possible adaptive signi¢cance of gall structural traits; some protect the gall inducer from attack by natura...

Revealing the interactions between alien species and native communities is central to understanding the ecological consequences of range expansion. Much has been learned through study of the communities developing around invading herbivorous insects. Much less, however, is known about the significance of such aliens for native vertebrate predators for which invaders may represent a novel food s...

Abstract Ozognathus cornutus (LeConte, 1859) (Coleoptera: Ptinidae: Ernobiinae), species native to North America, is a saproxylophagous and known feed on decaying tissues within conspicuous galls vegetal organic material such as dried fruits or small wood shavings insect excrements in galleries made by other woodboring species. A few years after the first record 2011, its naturalization Italy h...

Many studies have addressed the latitudinal gradients in intraspecific genetic diversity of European taxa generated during postglacial range expansion from southern refugia. Although Asia Minor is known to be a centre of diversity for many taxa, relatively few studies have considered its potential role as a Pleistocene refugium or a potential source for more ancient westward range expansion int...

Mitochondrial DNA barcodes provide a simple taxonomic tool for systematic and ecological research, with particular benefit for poorly studied or species-rich taxa. Barcoding assumes genetic diversity follows species boundaries; however, many processes disrupt species-level monophyly of barcodes leading to incorrect classifications. Spatial population structure, particularly when shared across c...

Boiling water extracts of 66 selected Chinese medicinal herbs were screened for their anticyanobaterial activity against Microcystis aeruginosa by the soft-agar overlayer (SAO) method. Results indicated that extracts from 16 materials could inhibit the growth of this bacterial species. Among these anticyanobacterial samples, eight extracts showed low minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC), inc...

The Afrotropical endemic pollen beetle genera Tarchonanthogethes Audisio & Cline and Xenostrongylogethes Audisio & Cline, of the Anthystrix genus-complex, are revised. Eleven new species of Tarchonanthogethes (T. autumnalis, sp. nov., T. bisignatus, sp. nov., T. fasciatus, sp. nov., T. gratiellae, sp. nov., T. hermani, sp. nov., T. hystrix, sp. nov., T. lilliputianus, sp. nov., T. maasai, sp. n...

A taxonomic review of 23 species of the subgenus Pseudoophonus Motschulsky, 1844, the genus Harpalus Latreille, 1802, occurring in China is given, and a key to these species is provided. The species are divided in three species groups and five subgroups, the distinctive characters of which are listed. The following new synonyms are established: Harpalus calceatus Duftschmid, 1812 = Anisodactylu...