Monika Pramatarova

Cuticular microsculpture is an important morphological feature in insects, but it has not been systematically investigated in psyllids (Hemiptera: Psylloidea). Here, we examine the microsculpture of the vertex and thoracic dorsum in two subfamilies of Aphalaridae, focusing mainly on European taxa and using scanning electron microscopy to evaluate its taxonomic and phylogenetic significance. In Aphalarinae, imbricate microsculpture was observed in Aphalara , Eumetoecus and Rhodochlanis ; rugose microsculpture in most species of Colposcenia ; and several microsculptural types in Craspedolepta , including imbricate, smooth–imbricate, areolate–rugose, and alveolate patterns. A unique tuberculate microsculpture was found in Rhinocola aceris (Linnaeus, 1758), whereas other Rhinocolinae exhibited an imbricate pattern. Ancestral state reconstruction indicates that imbricate microsculpture represents the plesiomorphic condition in Aphalaridae and remains expressed to varying degrees in most extant representatives of the family. Multiple transitions among sculptural types within Craspedolepta and partly also Colposcenia indicate that microsculpture can evolve relatively rapidly, although the distribution of character states across the phylogeny shows that it still retains phylogenetic signal at shallow to intermediate taxonomic levels, despite a moderate level of homoplasy. Overall, these results demonstrate that head and dorsal thoracic microsculpture constitute diagnostic and phylogenetically informative characters that can be more widely applied in taxonomy, systematics and evolutionary research on psyllids.

The temperate Palaearctic genus Camarotoscena (Liviidae, Liviinae) is revised to contain 10 species confirming previous morphology-based species concepts. The results of the molecular analyses were only partly conclusive, as the barcoding genes used ( COI and cytb ) did not provide sufficient resolution to recognise all species. Both markers showed no differences between the taxa in two species pairs: C. fulgidipennis – C. hoberlandti and C. speciosa – C. subrubescens , while cytb also failed to distinguish C. trjapitzini from C. fulgidipennis – C. hoberlandti . Morphological characters of fifth instar immatures, available for half of the species, supported the species diagnosed by adult characters. Five new synonymies are proposed: Camarotoscena subrubescens (Flor 1861b) = C. ujenci Klimaszewski (1982), syn. nov. ; Camarotoscena bianchii Loginova (1975b) = C. pamirica Baeva (1983a), syn. nov. , = C. wulingshanica Li (2011), syn. nov. , = C. wutaishanica Li (2011), syn. nov. , = C. xinjiangica Li (2011), syn. nov. The previously unknown female of C. lauta is diagnosed and its terminalia are illustrated. Illustrated identification keys are provided for the adults and, where known, for the fifth instar immatures. New country records are provided for C. fulgidipennis (India: Ladakh), C. hoberlandti (India: Ladakh), C. lauta (Turkey: Ankara) and C. trjapitzini (Iran: Tehran, Yazd; Spain). The record of C. hoberlandti from Jordan is a misidentification of C. trjapitzini . All species are, as far as known, narrowly oligophagous on Populus spp. (Salicaceae), and the immatures induce leaf roll galls.

Despite ongoing efforts to catalogue European ant species, studies focusing on the genetic diversity of Balkan ants remain limited. An integrative approach combining morphology, genetics, ecology and biogeography is preferable for accurately identifying species and resolving taxonomic uncertainties, particularly amongst challenging insect taxa, such as the ants in the genus Messor (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). In this study, we analyse ants of the genus Messor using DNA barcode sequences, with a particular focus on the Bulgarian fauna. A total of 85 COI sequences were examined, including 84 from Messor specimens and one from Aphaenogaster , which was used as an outgroup. Of these, 81 sequences were newly generated, while four were retrieved from GenBank. The majority of specimens were collected in Bulgaria (61), with additional samples from Greece (13), Türkiye (4), Albania (1) and North Macedonia (2), providing broader genetic and geographic representation. Althogether, 11 Messor morphospecies were identified, based on specimens used for molecular analysis. To assess the degree of congruence between morphological and molecular data, six species delimitation analyses were conducted: RESL, GMYC, ASAP, ABGD, bPTP and mPTP. In addition, haplotype network analysis of all sequences identified 35 distinct and coherently clustered haplotypes, providing insights into genetic diversity. The COI barcode region successfully distinguished Messor wasmanni Krausse, 1910, M. oertzeni Forel, 1910 and M. ibericus Santschi, 1931. In contrast, species pairs, such as M. atanassovii Atanassov, 1982 and M. creticus Salata & Borowiec, 2019, as well as M. ponticus Steiner et al., 2018 and M. hellenius Agosti & Collingwood, 1987, could not be reliably differentiated using COI data. Furthermore, Messor structor (Latreille, 1798) showed high intraspecific genetic diversity. Finally, the structor and instabilis species groups were recovered with moderate to high support in both Maximum Likelihood and Bayesian Inference analyses, confirming that M. oertzeni and M. hellenius belong to the structor group. Our results provide a reference for future research and underscore the value of integrative taxonomic approaches in ant biodiversity studies.

Knowledge of the fauna of jumping plant lice or psyllids in Bulgaria is rather scattered. So far, 113 species of psyllids have been recorded from Bulgaria in 51 publications. The aim of this study is to provide an up-to-date checklist of the Psylloidea species from Bulgaria, based on extensive fieldwork by the authors and examination of specimens mainly from the Zoological Collection of Sofia University (BFUS) and the Moravian Museum in Brno (MMBC). In addition, a thorough review of all relevant literature was undertaken to consolidate the existing records. Twenty-five species of jumping plant lice are recorded here from Bulgaria for the first time. Of these, two species represent new records for Europe: Dyspersa kantshavelii (Gegechkori, 1977) and Heterotrioza kochiae (Gegechkori, 1975); and three additional species represent new records for the Balkan Peninsula: Arytainilla spartiicola (Šulc, 1912), Craspedolepta araneosa Loginova, 1962 and Eryngiofaga babugani (Loginova, 1964). A new synonymy is proposed: Colposcenia osmanica Vondráček, 1953 = Colposcenia kiritshenkoi Loginova, 1960, syn. nov. A lectotype is designated for C. osmanica to stabilise the nomenclature. Original drawings or photographs of diagnostic characters on male and female terminalia are provided for C. osmanica, D. kantshavelii, Heterotrioza eurotiae (Loginova, 1960) and H. kochiae. Distributional maps summarising all known records from Bulgaria are provided for each species. Where available, photographs of live or mounted specimens and information on host plants are also provided, including new host plant records for 10 species. The previously published records of Aphalara sauteri Burckhardt, 1983, Bactericera acutipennis (Zetterstedt, 1828), B. reuteri (Šulc, 1913), Dyspersa apicalis (Foerster, 1848), D. viridula (Zetterstedt, 1828), Eryngiofaga mesomela (Flor, 1861) and Trioza dispar Löw, 1878 from Bulgaria are considered doubtful and these species are deleted from the list of the Bulgarian fauna, which now comprises 130 species from 33 genera and six families of jumping plant lice. This diversity is compared with the known data on Psylloidea in other countries of the Balkan Peninsula and Turkey and the Bulgarian psyllid fauna is discussed from the perspective of biogeography.

With the advancement of high-throughput, cost-effective sequencing, the application of genomic approaches to biodiversity research is becoming increasingly accessible and inclusive. As the availability of a reference genomes database is indispensable for genomics research, a recent pan-European effort - the European Reference Genome Atlas (ERGA) - was established to scale up the generation of high-quality reference genomes for European eukaryotic biodiversity. Here, we report the results from the GENBUL project, funded by the EU Horizon Europe BGE-ERGA Consortium to support the sampling of reference genomes from biodiversity hotspots in Bulgaria. Focusing on two key biodiversity areas, Slavyanka and Southern Pirin mountains (including the Nature Reserve "Alibotush") and the Strandzha Nature Park, we successfully sampled 190 plant and insect species, including several Bulgarian and Balkan endemics. This effort represents the first major effort for broader-scale genome referencing from Bulgaria and makes an important contribution towards local capacity-building in biodiversity genomics. However, considering the complexity of the genome sampling workflows, standards and metadata management, the GENBUL project also enabled to pinpoint major challenges, currently hindering the deployment of large-scale reference genome sampling in Bulgaria. Based on this experience, we outline key capacity, knowledge and research culture barriers faced by Bulgarian scientists and make recommendations to the international genomics research community for mitigation actions, also applicable to other Southeast European countries.

This study presents a new design of sensor tool to record substrate-borne vibrations produced by insects. We applied a piezo element acting as a contact microphone connected to a digital recorder to detect the signals emitted by insects. A suitable 3D printed microphone box with a mechanism of connection to the substrate or to soft tweezers holding the insect is created. We found that the recordings of the low-frequency signals (up to 20 кHz) were sufficiently good for analysis and, at the same time, a much faster and easier method than the common ones of detecting micro-vibrations using a piezoelectric sensor and, importantly, is incomparably cheaper than using a laser vibrometer. This setup is suitable for the detection and structural description of signals emitted by insects and other arthropods. Oscillograms, spectrograms and audio files of the recorded signals of selected ants (Manica rubida, Latreille, 1802, Messor wasmanni Krausse, 1910, Myrmica ravasinii Finzi, 1923) and Ponera coarctata (Latreille, 1802)), an ant nest beetle (Paussus turcicus I. Frivaldszky von Frivald, 1835), a planthopper (Orosanga japonica (Melichar, 1898)) and a jumping plant louse (Bactericera perrisii Puton, 1876) are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the created equipment. The recordings from stridulation in Myrmica ravasinii, Manica rubida, Ponera coarctata and Paussus turcicus and the male call song of Orosanga japonica represent the very first documented signal production for these species. A scheme of the contact microphone and its mode of connection is shown. The research presented will democratise biotremological methods for the needs of integrative taxonomy and behavioural ecology, providing a broader understanding of vibrational signals through an efficient, accessible and operational method for both professional and citizen scientists.

Psyllids (Hemiptera: Psylloidea) are plant sap-sucking insects whose identification is often difficult for non-experts. Despite the rapid development of DNA barcoding techniques and their widespread use, only a limited number of sequences of psyllids are available in the public databases, and those that are available are often misidentified. Here, we provide 80 sequences of two mitochondrial genes, cytochrome c oxidase I (COI) and cytochrome b (Cytb), for 25 species of Aphalaridae, mainly from Bulgaria. The DNA barcodes for 15 of these species are published for the first time. In cases where standard primers failed to amplify the target gene fragment, we designed new primers that can be used in future studies. The distance-based thresholds for the analysed species were between 0.0015 and 0.3415 for COI and 0.0771 and 0.4721 for Cytb, indicating that the Cytb gene has a higher interspecific divergence, compared to COI, and therefore allows for more accurate species identification. The species delimitation based on DNA barcodes is largely consistent with the differences resulting from morphological and host plant data, demonstrating that the use of DNA barcodes is suitable for successful identification of most aphalarid species studied. The phylogenetic reconstruction based on maximum likelihood and Bayesian inference analyses, while showing similar results at high taxonomic levels to previously published phylogenies, provides additional information on the placement of aphalarids at the species level. The following five species represent new records for Bulgaria: Agonoscena targionii, Aphalara affinis, Colposcenia aliena, Co. bidentata, and Craspedolepta malachitica. Craspedolepta conspersa is reported for the first time from the Czech Republic, while Agonoscena cisti is reported for the first time from Albania.

Agonoscena cisti (Puton, 1882) (Psylloidea, Aphalaridae) is reported for the first time from the Maltese Islands. The species is oligophagous on pistachio plants (Pistacia L.) and is restricted to the Mediterranean area. Until now, only Agonoscena targionii (Lichtenstein, 1874) had been known from the Maltese archipelago, although the presence of A. cisti was predicted.

Historia naturalis bulgarica -- Volume 45 (2023) -- Psyllids (Hemiptera: Psylloidea) in the entomological collection of the National Museum of Natural History, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences -- Article synopsis