Measurements of cortisol levels in hair are a non-invasive method to study potential chronic stress that may affect carnivores' welfare. Using hair from 15 frozen and 18 taxidermied road-kill individuals, we aimed to provide information on the long-term physiological response of European wildcats (Felis silvestris silvestris) to habitat fragmentation and potential interspecific competition with golden jackals and red foxes. Our findings revealed that wildcats seemed to be unaffected by habitat fragmentation, suggesting that the facultative specialist behaviour of the species may lead to better toleration of human-altered environments. Red fox presence did not affect cortisol levels. However, significantly higher cortisol levels were measured in hairs of wildcats exposed to golden jackals, suggesting that the potential competition between the two species may lead to an increase in allostatic load in wildcats.

Reoccupation of European landscapes by native species causes changes in their population densities and home ranges. To test whether an increase in population density affects home range sizes, we studied the strictly territorial herbivore Eurasian beaver (Castor fiber). Twenty-four beavers were radio-tracked to reveal their home ranges under varying population densities. The mean length of occupied shorelines was 2648.0 ± 1530.6 m. We did not find any linkage between home range sizes and population densities. Our results showed that the availability of resources was significantly associated with the duration of site occupation. Thus, the space use was primarily determined by the availability of food resources, rather than by rising population density.

A new species, Thienemanniella convexa Fu, is described and illustrated based on an adult male collected from Hunan Province, China. The new species differs from other related species by having a typical broadly triangular inferior volsella which is in caudal position, and bulbous gonostylus. A key to known adult males of Thienemanniella from the Oriental Region is provided.

Understanding the effects of interspecific competition on genetic diversity will deepen our knowledge on species evolution. In the case of Calopteryx splendens and C. virgo, sympatric damselfly species, interspecific interference competition by C. virgo has remarkable effects on territoriality of C. splendens resulting in reproductive character displacement. Since territoriality is correlated with phenotype and mating success, we investigated the effects of interspecific interference competition on genetic diversity of C. splendens populations. Using amplified fragment length polymorphisms (AFLP), we determined the population genetic structure of 12 C. splendens populations and used the genetic diversity information to relate heterozygosity of C. splendens to abundance of C. virgo in sympatric populations. We found that heterozygosity of C. splendens males decreased with increasing abundance of C. virgo males. This result most likely reflects changes in effective population size due to interspecific interference competition and shows an effect on genetic structure in damselfly populations.

A new genus in Gelechiidae, Parateleiopsis with the type species P. feregrisea sp. nov., are described and illustrated from Borneo. The taxonomic position of the new genus within the tribe Litini of the family Gelechiidae is discussed.

Three new species, Torodora pakiaensis Park, T. puiana Park and Abrachmia kerasista Park are described and illustrated from Thailand.

Termite nests act as shelters for a wide variety of invertebrates. We studied the Corotocini termitophile fauna (Staphylinidae, Aleocharinae) in nine Nasutitermes corniger nests and nine N. ephratae nests to test the resource size (larger nests should host more social-parasite species than smaller ones) and resource concentration (nests occurring closer to each other should host a greater richness and variety of social parasites) hypotheses. In total, we found 358 Corotocini individuals. Regression analysis did not reveal a relationship between species richness or population size of termitophiles and nest volume. Thus, we rejected the resource size hypotheses as a driver of termitophile diversity. Neither did distance between nests explain the richness of their fauna; thus, the resource concentration hypothesis was also rejected. In conclusion, we suggest that biological aspects, such as dispersal dynamics and species traits likely explain the diversity of termitophiles.

Heydenia kashmirensis Sureshan & Khanday (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea: Pteromalidae) from Kashmir (India) is described and illustrated. This is the second record of Heydenia in Kashmir and it is the fourth known species of the genus from South Asia. An updated key to the species of Heydenia from the Indian subcontinent is also provided.

In this study, we examined the morphology, genetics and distribution of the members of the Merodon chalybeus subgroup (M. aureus species group): M. chalybeus Wiedemann in Meigen, 1822, M. minutus Strobl, 1893 and M. robustus Veselić, Vujić & Radenković, 2017. Two of the species, M. chalybeus and M. minutus, are morphologically very similar and often misidentified in the literature. Here, by employing an integrative taxonomic approach we provide strong evidence for the separation of M. chalybeus and M. minutus. Our results show their clear allopatric distribution: M. minutus on the Balkan Peninsula, Sicily, Sardinia and Corsica, while M. chalybeus is a western Mediterranean species distributed on the Iberian Peninsula and northwest Africa. Data on the distribution of M. robustus were updated, with new records from Cyprus, Israel and Turkey, besides its type locality (Samos in Greece). We provide evidence for M. chalybeus and M. minutus representing a species complex, named the M. chalybeus complex, which together with M. robustus constitute the M. chalybeus subgroup.

Chironomus novosibiricus Kiknadze, Siirin & Kerkis, 1993 is reported from the Oriental Region based on recent material collected from northern China. The record was confirmed by morphology and the DNA barcode sequence. Detailed redescription of the adult male, and the data on the DNA sequences confirmed that C. novosibiricus is not related to any member of the camptochironomus cytocomplex, but to a modified form of the thummi cytocomplex with relationships to known species from Siberia.

We studied the formation of ant communities on rock dumps at coal mine dump sites of different ages and in natural environments in southwestern Siberia. The species composition and diversity were studied by means of plot sampling and line-transect surveys, while the nest density of ants was determined using pitfall traps. Soil pH, turf extent, and vegetation cover were measured and their effects on the formation of ant communities were evaluated. Our results revealed that ants' density and species diversity increased with progressing recovery of the dumps. In the first succession phase, the soil at the dumps was alkaline and sites were inhabited primarily by Tetramorium caespitum. The density and the number of Myrmica sp. and Formica sp. nests increased with here was an increase in with increasing soil acidity. Lasius sp. ants were the first to form significant clusters of nests and to become numerically dominant at all the studied sites.

We studied the defensive pygidial gland secretions in the adults of three ground beetle species of the genus Bembidion. We detected 46 chemical compounds, of which we successfully identified 37, while nine remained unidentified. There were 4, 45 and 42 compounds in the pygidial gland secretions of Bembidion (Peryphanes) dalmatinum, B. (P.) deletum, and B. (Peryphus) subcostatum, respectively. n-Undecane, methacrylic acid and tiglic acid were common in all the studied species. Methacrylic acid was most abundant in the secretions of B. (P.) dalmatinum and B. (P.) deletum, while isovaleric acid in the secretion of B. (P.) subcostatum. We identified 30 compounds new to the tribe Bembidiini, 12 of which were recorded for the first time in the family Carabidae. In addition, we also analyzed the morphology of the pygidial glands in B. (P.) dalmatinum using both bright-field and nonlinear microscopy.

Two new species within the Rheotanytarsus aquilus species group, R. baihualingensis Yao & Lin and R. diaoluoensis Yao & Lin, are described and illustrated based on adult males collected from Oriental China. An updated key to known adult males of the Rheotanytarsus aquilus species-group is also provided.

Temperate-climate insects vary in overwintering life stages even within local communities, but factors driving this variation are not well understood. We studied the density and overwintering stages of insects in an alpine meadow on the eastern Tibetan Plateau, and generated a phylogenetic tree of the insects based on DNA barcoding. The total number of studied individuals (of all four stages) was 2211; they belonged to 88 species, 36 families and 6 orders. Insect overwintering stages were phylogenetically conserved across species, primarily because particular stages dominated in related orders or families. In addition, immobile egg and pupal stages were common in the topsoil layer, whereas larvae and adults occurred generally in the top and deep soil layers; and larvae were often larger in the lower than in the upper soil layers. Thus, the stages of overwintering insects are evolutionally conserved despite their associations with physical parameters (e.g., soil temperature) or species traits (e.g., body size).

We conducted a nonlethal feeding experiment to measure diet/hair and diet/faeces trophic discrimination factors (TDFs) in two rodent species fed two diet types. The mean TDFs between diet and hair (expressed as δ¹³C/δ¹⁵N) were 2.14‰/3.44‰ for C3 plant-based fodder and 2.65‰/3.25‰ for fodder with 30% animal (insect) matter in yellow-necked mice (Apodemus flavicollis) and 1.66‰/4.67‰ for C3 plant-based fodder and 1.94‰/4.49‰ for fodder with 30% animal (insect) matter in bank voles (Myodes glareolus). As compared with the diet, faeces were depleted in ¹³C by about 0.75‰ and enriched in ¹⁵N by about 2‰. All bank voles and only half of yellow-necked mice had regrown hair at the end of the study (day 95). We analysed archived skins of those species and confirmed, that moult in bank voles is more intensive. Our results can be used for trophic studies of temperate-forest rodents and for meta-analyses on trophic discrimination.

Clear correlations between human and bird visual assessments of color have been documented, and are often assumed, despite fundamental differences in human and avian visual physiology and morphology. Analyses of plumage colors with avian perceptual models have shown widespread hidden inter-sexual and inter-specific color variation among passerines perceived as monochromatic to humans, highlighting the uncertainty of human vision to predict potentially relevant variation in color. Herein, we use reflectance data from 13 Larus gull species as an exemplar data set to study concordance between human vision and avian visual modeling of feather colors near, or below, the human threshold for discrimination. We found little evidence among gulls for sexual dichromatism hidden from human vision, but did find inter-specific color variation among gulls that is not seen by humans. Neither of these results were predictable a priori, and we reassert that reflectance measurements of actual feather colors, analyzed with avian relevant visual models, represent best practice when studying bird coloration.

In laboratory conditions, ants can combat a pathogen infection by means of the medicinal use of reactive oxygen species (ROS). However, it is still unknown where they obtain medicinal compounds in the wild and how they use them. Due to an upregulation of ROS in response to herbivory, aphid-infested plants have been suggested to be a potential source of ROS for ants in the wild. We investigated whether infection would cause Lasius platythorax ants to change their foraging on extrafloral nectar on aphid-infested plants. We found no clear evidence for the ants significantly changing their foraging behaviour in response to the pathogen, nor for the extrafloral nectar to contain ROS. The aphids in our experiment had a relatively high concentration of ROS and future research should determine whether predation on aphids could be a potential source of both protein and ROS needed to combat a disease.

A new species Duvalius djokovici Ćurčić, Pavićević & Vesović is described, illustrated and compared with its closest relatives. It is tentatively placed in the subgenus Neoduvalius Müller, 1913. The new species is weakly pigmented, mid-sized, with no traces of eyes, with deep and complete frontal furrows, two pairs of elytral discal setae, and a distinctive form of aedeagus. It inhabits a subterranean site on Mt. Povlen (western Serbia), and is endemic to this mountain. We provide data on the distribution and biology of this new species. Additionally, we discuss the relations among other species of the subgenus Neoduvalius from western and southwestern Serbia, and provide a provisional key for their identification and an annotated list of Serbian Neoduvalius taxa.