Blattodea is one of the most common orders particularly in urban centers. The most abundant species in Greece are Blatta orientalis and Periplaneta americana (Blattidae), Blattella germanica and Supella longipalpa (Blattelidae). They are cosmopolitan species occurring in homes, restaurants, hotels, hospitals, offices and libraries. They are omnivores, feeding on a variety of food resources, ranging from manure and feces to organic waste. They prefer dark and humid sites and pose a significant threat for public health as their occurrence is often associated with asthma and allergic rhinitis. As a consequence, mapping of cockroaches’ hot spots in urban areas is a prerequisite for any effective control program. Despite their significance, very little is known regarding the occurrence and distribution of cockroaches in the city of Thessaloniki (Macedonia). The aim of this preliminary study is the spatial mapping of the places where health services carried out disinfestations for cockroaches, in order to identify places with an increased presence of these pests.

Codling moth (CM), Cydia pomonella L., is the most important insect pest of the apple and has a cosmopolitan distribution. Over 70% of insecticide treatments in apple orchards are currently used to control CM populations. The intensive use of chemical-based insecticides to control CM has resulted in resistance to several groups of synthetic insecticides worldwide. Therefore, monitoring resistant CM populations is of great importance for effective management and control. In this study, we aimed to find a reliable pattern of differences in the type of control method using a population genetic and geometric morphometric approach. Three treatments were studied and included populations from integrated and ecological (susceptible) orchards and laboratory reared non-resistant populations. We used single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) markers for detailed whole-genome analysis. Ninety-four CM individuals were genotyped. Individuals were subjected to standard population genetic analyzes to determine the alteration of individual alleles as a possible consequence of mutations and the development of resistance. To confirm the genetic results, the forewing morphology of the same ninety-four CM individuals was examined using geometric morphometric techniques based on the venation patterns of 18 landmarks. The preliminary results showed that there is a reliable pattern of differences related to the type of control practice. The use of these techniques (i.e. SNPs and geometric morphometrics) to detect resistant variants is a completely new approach and provides new insights into a very important area of codling moth control.

The most important pests in the cultivation of greenhouse tomatoes in Europe include stinging and sucking insects, caterpillars of butterflies, predatory bugs and mites. In order to diagnose the species found in Poland and the Netherlands, pests were monitored in the 2018-2020 growing seasons. For this purpose, the Dutch cultivation of red tomatoes of the Merlice variety and the Polish cultivation of raspberry tomatoes of the Tomimaru Muchoo variety were used. The pests were caught on yellow sticky plaques and pheromone traps during weekly monitoring. There were differences in the pest species composition in both countries. Although the vetting was aimed at identifying the presence of the tomato leaf miner Tuta absoluta, it turned out that the Netherlands was dominated by Chrysodeixis chalcites and Nesidiocoris tenuis, which until recently were a biological weapon in the fight against the moth. In Poland, the greatest threat to tomato cultivation turned out to be the tomato leaf miner and the tomato rust mite Aculops lycopersici. The performed task allowed for drawing two main conclusions: the pest species occurring in the Netherlands in 2018, have never been recorded in Poland before. Monitoring from 2020 showed the first occurrence of these species also in this country. The second conclusion was the difference in the colonization of tomato leaf miner on both tomato cultivars.

The clarifying ecogeographical rules (Bergmann's, Rensch' etc.) contributes greatly into evolutionary theory and elucidation of mechanisms in animals adaptation to environmental factors, including climate impact. We have verified the theory about the greater steepness of body size changes in males than in females in geographical gradients (Blanckenhorn et al., 2004; 2006). The advantage of our study was that we sampled and measured beetles ourselves (not complying the data from published papers) using the single methods.

We took the data set which had been used in our earlier paper on intraspecific beetles body size variation in latitude gradient (Sukhodolskaya et al.) and supplemented it with the data from other regions from Russia and abroad. In total 9 samples of ground beetle Pterostichus oblongopunctatus Fabricius, 1787 were studied from regions differing in location at 4 degrees in latitude and 57 degrees in longitude. Sexual size dimorphism (SSD) was estimated in 6 morphometric traits. In total 3847 individuals were measured. We used RMA II additionally to estimate females and males sensitivity to environmental factors.

SSD in different traits changed sometimes significantly in investigated gradients. But its mean values for all 6 traits together had the same values in all regions. In the regions where beetles size was the smallest, males were more sensitive to environment. And vice versa: in the regions with the larger individuals SSD was female-biased and females were more sensitive to environment. Standard deviation in SSD values declines significantly towards the north and towards the east.

Field investigations were conducted in the Saswad-Waghapur region near Pune city to study species composition and the seasonal variation of butterflies as well as the impact of disturbances on them. Species diversity was assessed using “Pollard Walk method” and the seasonal disturbances at every site were quantitively measured. Alpha and Beta diversity indices and correlational tests were used to analyze the data. A total of 1285 individuals representing 53 species and 37 genera from 5 families were observed from August 2020 to May 2021. Contribution of each Lepidoptera family to species richness ranged from 36% (Nymphalidae) to 2% (Hesperiidae). The most species with one single individual (10) were observed in the wild areas of grassland, while only 5 species were observed in agricultural areas. Shannon index (H) values ranged from 2.64 to 2.74 indicating similar diversity within sites, whereas Margalef richness value ranged from 4.95 to 5.98 indicating higher species richness in the wild habitats. Species diversity was maximum during the monsoon with many species such as Eurema hecabe (Common Grass yellow) and Ypthima asterope (Common Threering) showing their abundance peaks during this period. A steady decline was observed from the end of winter until summer with few species (e.g. Lampides boeticus) exhibiting their peaks during winter. Disturbances such as fires, grazing and construction activities played a significant role in determining the species composition at various sites. Thus, the present investigation provided a first insight into the butterflies of Saswad-Waghapur region and the effect of anthropogenic activities on them.

Practice of commercial honey bee breeding and selection for desired traits, intensification of queen importation and migration of once stationary apiaries significantly influences distribution and genetic diversity of local subspecies, populations and ecotypes. Bee colonies worldwide are facing serious declines resulting in colonies loss and reduction of genetic diversity. Thus, reassessing the genetic status of native honey bee populations becomes imperative. The latest reports, which include samples from nine years ago, suggest the presence of both Apis mellifera carnica in north and A. m. macedonica in the south of Serbia and significant hybridization between two subspecies.

To assess genetic diversity of contemporary managed honey bee colonies we used 14 microsatellite loci and analyzed 227 worker bees from 46 apiaries in 8 localities from northern and southern Serbia. RFLP analysis on the COI gene segment of mtDNA was used to distinguish A. m. carnica from A. m. macedonica. Mean number of alleles ranged from 5.14 to 9.00, observed heterozygosity from 0.43 to 0.56 and STRUCTURE analysis showed existence of three distinct genetic clusters. DAPC analysis showed huge overlapping of individuals from different parts of Serbia with weak clustering according to geographical origin of three groups. RFLP analysis showed the presence of A. m. carnica subspecies only.

Absence of A. m. macedonica subspecies from its historic range of distribution in southern Serbia as well as lack of distinctive geographical clusters suggest that selective breeding, queen import and migratory beekeeping practices strongly influenced genetic structure and diversity of honey bees leading to the genetic uniformisation and absence of locally adapted populations.

Use of insects in forensic science needs a correct identification of insects to correlate their decomposition rate with post mortem interval. This study emphasizes on puparia based identification of Chrysomya megacephala with C. rufifacies of a road cadaver of a dog found at Osmanabad district, Maharashtra, India. Scanning electron micrographs of both species were studied to differentiate them. Distinguishing characteristics of both species observed during present study are pattern of folding in frontal field, number of anterior spiracles, posterior spiracles, number of tubercles, and structure of button, spiracular hair and middle sacrum. This study provides a comprehensive key to identify fly species using scanning electron micrographs of puparium.

The variegated mud-loving beetles use an acoustic channel to
communicate each over. They produce sound by scarping hindleg plectrum over
stridulatory file. This study explores, for the first-time difference on these structure
for Augyles and Heterocerus. The research is based on image the sound-producing
structures on scanning electron microscope. We measured next parameters: the size
of stridulatory file on 100 µm, number of ridges on 50 µm and the size of plectrum.
This paper has demonstrated how these parameters depend on each over for 15
species and the stridulatory organ is vary between male and female (Augyles genus).
The size of plectrum for females of A. delutissimus and A. interspidulus is 441.43 µm
and 423.70 µm against 366.99 µm and 408.72 µm for males of these species. The size
of the stridulatory file for species of Augyles are vary from 383.19 µm (A. flavidus) to
434.86 µm (A. interspidulus). But the number of ridges has the inverse
proportionality of the size of stridulatory file. The maximum number is 53
for A. flavidus and 16 for A. interspidulus. The stridulatory file of Heterocerus
genus is varied from 328.91 µm (H. obsoletus) to 475.89 µm (H. fossor). H. fusculus has
the largest number of ridges (30) and the smallest size of plectrum (322.27 µm)