Mark Yu. Kalashian

Aphanisticus diabolicus Deyrolle, 1864 species group from the Island of New Guinea and adjacent islands is reviewed. Aphanisticus wau sp. n. from Papua New Guinea, Aphanisticus svatopluki sp. n. from Indonesia: Seram Island, and Aphanisticus papua sp. n. from Indonesia: West Papua are described and illustrated. Lectotypes are designated for A. diabolicus Deyrolle, 1864 and A. cupricornis Kerremans, 1892. A key to the species of the group is provided.

Two species of the genus Kubaniellus Kalashian, 1997 from China, K. pengi Kalashian sp. nov. from Fujian Province and K. nonnae Kalashian sp. nov. from Zhejiang Province, are described, illustrated and compared with related species.

Three new species of Aphanisticus are described from Southern Africa. Aphanisticus fencli sp. nov ., from the Republic of South Africa, belongs to the newly proposed A. gebhardti Obenberger, 1924 species group. Additionally, A. franki sp. nov . from Botswana and Aphanisticus snizeki sp. nov . from Zambia are described and compared to related species. The A. gebhardti species group includes A. lineolatus Obenberger, 1928 and A. planatus Théry, 1930. Lectotypes for A. gebhardti and A. lineolatus are designated and new synonymy, A. lineolatus = A. semicoeruleus , syn. nov ., is established. A key to the species of the group is provided.

This study presents the first comprehensive, country-level checklist of Conopidae (Diptera) from Armenia, based on material collected during 2024–2025 expeditions and specimens deposited in the collections of the Scientific Center of Zoology and Hydroecology (Yerevan). A total of 32 species from 12 genera are recorded, including six species newly reported for Armenia: Physocephala antiqua (Wiedemann, 1830), Myopa buccata (Linnaeus, 1758), Myopa picta Panzer, 1797, Myopa variegata Meigen, 1804, Thecophora atra (Fabricius, 1775), and Thecophora cinerascens (Meigen, 1804). Species’ distributions show clear habitat associations along an elevational gradient, with most taxa occurring in mid-elevation mountain steppes and grasslands (≈ 800–2000 m), while alpine and subalpine meadows (≈ 2000–2600 m) support several high-elevation species. These results identify Armenia as an important area for conopid diversity in the Transcaucasia.

This paper presents the first confirmed observations of the ribbed pine borer Rhagium inquisitor (Linnaeus, 1758) and data on the spread of the quarantine longhorn species, the pine sawyer beetle Monochamus galloprovincialis (Olivier, 1795) in Armenia. These findings mark an addition to the understanding of the pests' geographical distribution and highlight their potential threat to the country's forests.

We present a checklist of the hoverflies (Diptera, Syrphidae) of Armenia. The checklist includes 263 species of hoverflies from current or historic collections, which were seen and identified by the authors, or which were explicitly reported from the territory of Armenia in previous publications. Among these, 38 species are reported from Armenia for the first time. The most species-rich genera of the country’s fauna are Cheilosia Meigen, 1822 (44 spp.), Merodon Meigen, 1803 (24 spp.), Eumerus Meigen, 1822 (22 spp.) and Chrysotoxum Meigen, 1803 (17 spp.). In view of the biogeographical position and the diverse topography of Armenia, the species number is suggestive of underreporting. The principal aim of this updated list is the compilation of data from highly scattered sources and their presentation in accessible form, to encourage the further study of syrphid taxonomy and diversity in the region.

Sphenoptera (Chrysoblemma) kovariki sp. nov. from the Sindh Province of Pakistan is described and compared with closely related species belonging to the same species group, characterised by densely punctured spots and shiny plates (“mirrors”) on the lateral ventral side of the body: S. (Ch.) tamaricis (Klug, 1829), S. (Ch.) scovitzii Faldermann, 1835, S. (Ch.) antoniae Reitter, 1891, S. (Ch.) ignita Reitter, 1895, and S. (Ch.) eddin Jakovlev, 1903. Of these taxa, only one subspecies of the latter, S. (Ch.) eddin pakistana Volkovitsh et Kalashian, 2001, has hitherto been recorded from Pakistan.

A new species of jewel beetle, Endelus (Endelus) angulicollis sp. n. (Coleoptera, Buprestidae, Agrilinae: Aphanisticini) belonging to the E. (E.) marseulii Deyrolle, 1864 species-group, is described from Papua New Guinea. Two species, E. (E.) gratiosus Thery, 1932 and E. (E.) suturalis Thery, 1932 are additionally included in the group. An updated key to the species of the group is provided including also E. (E.) lunatus Fisher, 1921, E. (E.) barclayi Kalashian, 2011, E. (E.) splendens Kalashian, 2011, E. (E.) nairaarum Kalashian, 2011, E. (E.) scintillans Deyrolle, 1864 and E. (E.) barriesi Kalashian, 2023.

The identity of Glaphyrus festivus Ménétriés, 1836, is evaluated in the Turkish and Armenian populations. Two new species, G. neglectus Ghrejan, Kalashian & Sabatinelli, sp. nov . from Armenia and eastern Turkey, and G. ciliciensis Ghrejan, Kalashian & Sabatinelli, sp. nov . from southern Turkey, are described and illustrated. A lectotype for G. festivus Ménétriés, 1836, is designated.

The faunistic list of the thrips genera Frankliniella Karny, 1910 and Odontothrips Amyot & Serville, 1843 is presented based on literature data and the authors' research conducted in eight of the eleven regions of Armenia during 2022–2025. The following four species are reported from Armenia for the first time: including Frankliniella schultzei (Trybom, 1910), F. nigriventris (Uzel, 1895), Odontothrips phaleratus (Haliday, 1836) and O. ramadei Bournier, 1990.