We report the first know case of male hind-wing aptery among the net-winged beetles (Lycidae). Five male specimens of Cautires apterus sp. nov. were discovered by sifting forest litter in a very small (approximately 300 meters by 50 meters) Kamwala Forest within the North Pare Mountains, Tanzania. Besides being wingless, males of C. apterus sp. nov. have remarkably small body, shortened elytra and reduced pronotal and elytral costae. Generic assignment of this externally unusual new species is based on the molecular phylogenetic analysis, the structure of the male genitalia and the shape of the pronotum. We discuss biological and evolutionary significance of the discovery and suggest that the winglessness of male lycid beetles correlates with the female neoteny.

A new genus and species, Koghicola karolinae, is described from New Caledonia. Illustrations of main structures of new species, colour dorsal habitus photograph of the adult and checklist to the worldwide genera are given.

Thirteen species in six genera of Coccinellidae belonging to Serangiini and Sticholotidini are recorded from Tibet. Among them ten species are described as new: Microserangium rhapidophorum, Microserangium lonchiatum, Serangium bimaculatum, Serangium bomicum, Nesolotis obtusa, Nesolotis tibetana, Sticholotis brahmaputrensis, Sticholotis jiangboi, Sticholotis motuo, Sticholotis tricolor. One species, Sticholotis kumatai Miyatake, 1985 is newly recorded from China. Illustrations, keys and distribution maps to the known species of Serangiini and Sticholotidini from Tibet are given.

Cyclotoma parvimaculata sp. nov. from Hainan, China is described and illustrated.

Schizonycha kadleci sp. nov. from Jabal Bura' (western Yemen) is described and its diagnostic characters are illustrated. The new species is compared with similar and probably closely related subspecies yemenensis Arrow, 1944 of Schizonycha angustata Kolbe, 1895. Moreover, S. angustata yemenensis is recorded from Oman for the first time.

A new species, Capissa alba sp. nov., of family Erebidae (tribe: Lithosiini), is described from Jammu and Kashmir region of Indian Himalayas.

First descriptions of fundatrix morphs of Pterocomma tremulae Börner, 1940 and P. pilosum Buckton, 1879 are presented with some taxonomical comments on their morphological traits. The key to the known fundatrices of European representatives of the genus Pterocomma is provided.

Two new species of the genus Hymenaphorura are described from the Maoershan National Forest Park, northeast China: H. maoerensis sp. nov. and H. minuta sp. nov. The former seems to be especially similar to H. granulata, H. sensitiva, H. superba and H. nearctica, but differs by a combination of the following characters: 1 submedial chaeta on Th. I tergum, second external papilla in AIIIO simple, inner tooth on unguis absent, chaeta C3 of proximal whorl of tibiotarsi absent, chaetae p2 and p3 on Abd. I—III of roughly subequal in length while S-chaeta weakly developed. H. minuta sp. nov. belongs to a group of species showing 9 chaetae in the distal whorl of the tibiotarsi, but it can easily be distinguished from the other members of the group by the dorsal pso formula.

Following eight species of dendryphantine jumping spiders are described as new to science: Dendryphantes elgonensis (♂), D. holmi (♂ ♀), D. luridus (♂ ♀), D. minutus (♂), D. serratus (♂), D. subtilis (♂), Rhene kenyaensis (♂) and R. mombasa (♀). D. hewitti is recorded in Kenya for the first time.

Four new species of the genus Notophthiracarus, N. andasibensis sp. nov., N. pandanensis sp. nov., N. quasisomalicus sp. nov., and N. reticularis sp. nov. are described and figured from forest soils in various parts of Madagascar. A comparison of morphological similarities with the most related species of the subgenus Notophthiracarus is performed.

The morphology of juvenile instars of two species of lohmanniid oribatid mites, Lohmannia turcmenica Bulanova-Zachvatkina, 1960 and L. paradoxa (Haller, 1884), is described and illustrated. Known juvenile instars of this genus are compared. A new generic diagnosis of juvenile instars of Lohmannia is given.

The Embolemidae of Russia and Ukraine are revised. Five species of Embolemus Westwood and one species of Ampulicormorpha Ashmead are recognized in these countries. A new species Embolemus tauricus sp. nov. is described from Ukraine (Crimea Peninsula). Two species of Embolemus, E. pecki Olmi and E. sensitivus Xu, Olmi et Guglielmino, are recorded for the first time in the fauna of Russia (Primorskiy Territory), and E. ruddii Westwood is only known from the European part of Russia and Eastern Siberia (Irkutsk Province). A key to species of Russia and Ukraine is presented.

The Crimean Peninsula holds a large number of hypersaline water bodies. Our studies focused on these poorly investigated habitats, and included few brackish and freshwater ponds. Seventeen species were identified, of which only 4(5) were collected from hypersaline waters sometimes with extremely high salinities (Acanthocyclops sp. copepodid, 210 ppt; Eucyclops sp. copepodid, 150 ppt; Diacyclops bisetosus and Cyclops furcifer, 140–150 ppt). We also report on the occurrence of three alien thermophilic species (Eucyclops roseus Ishida, 1997, Mesocyclops isabellae Dussart et Fernando, 1988, and Mesocyclops pehpeiensis Hu, 1943) from the brackish and fresh waters of Crimea. Morphological descriptions, illustrations of the diagnostic characters and comments on relevant taxonomic issues are supplemented with discussion of the putative ways of dispersal of the alien copepods to Crimea. We provisionally reinstate Eucyclops roseus, regarded by others as a subspecies of E. agiloides (G. O. Sars, 1909), and retain the name Acanthocyclops trajani Mirabdullayev et Defaye, 2002 which was recently synonymized with A. americanus (Marsh, 1893) here considered a nomen dubium. Species accumulation curves based on our and literature data showed that significantly larger sampling efforts could yield a total of 6–8 species in the hypersaline waters and 47–50 species in all types of continental waters of Crimea.