A total of 17 species of the Fannia postica-group Chillcott, 1961 from the Palearctic and Oriental regions are reviewed herein, 2 of which are described from China as new: Fannia ningxiaensis Wang & Zhang, sp. n. and Fannia subaethiops Wang & Zhu, sp. n.. Fannia labidocerca Feng & Xue, 2006, originally placed in Fannia serena-group Chillcott, 1961, is moved to the postica-group and re-described...

The genus Mustilia Walker subgenus Smerkata Zolotuhin 2007 was revised by Zolotuhin (2007) to include seven species from the South-Palearctic to Oriental regions: (Mustilia (Smerkata) phaeopera Hampson (type species), Mustilia (Smerkata) fusca Kishida, Mustilia (Smerkata) craptalis Zolotuhin, Mustilia (Smerkata) soosi Zolotuhin, Mustilia (Smerkata) brechlini Zolotuhin, Mustilia (Smerkata) tzari...

Osphyoplesius is an obscure Palearctic genus tentatively placed in Pythidae, comprising one species from Crimea and one from Greece, each of them collected only once. A third species is here described from Sicily, based on recently collected specimens. Despite the poor sample, statistic analysis of morphometrical data allowed to confirm the differentiation between the new species and its closes...

Based on extensive field collections (2000-2014) in Kazakhstan and a review of the material in the National Institute of Zoology of Kazakhstan, we identified 68 species of aquatic Hemiptera from 11 families. Most species have broad zoogeographic distribution, dominated by West Eurasian fauna (18 species) and West Palearctic fauna (10 species). Details of habitats, feeding types, and life histor...

Dasytesplumbeus (Müller), a dasytine melyrid beetle native to the Palearctic Region, is newly reported from North America. In 2010 and 2011, specimens from three locations were swept from vegetation and flowers in the greater Vancouver area of British Columbia, Canada. This is the first confirmed record of the species in the New World. Our collections, coupled with Internet images of D. plumbeu...

This new species (Phthiria sharafi sp. nov.) represents the first record of the subfamily Phthiriinae (Bombyliidae, Diptera) from Saudi Arabia. The species was collected from Garf Raydah Protected Area, Abha, Asir Province, south-western part of Saudi Arabia, using a Malaise trap erected in a site rich in olive, cactus and Juniper trees. The type locality has an Afrotropical influence, with the...

Because of the differential amplitude of climatic oscillations, species living at northern latitudes are subject to more frequent and more severe range oscillations than species at southern latitudes. As a consequence, northern populations should, on average, be phylogenetically younger and possess less phylogeographical structure than closely related taxa further south. To test these predictio...

Zoogeographical effects on the basal metabolic rate (BMR) of 487 mammal species were analyzed using conventional and phylogenetically independent ANCOVA. Minimal BMR variance occurred at a "constrained body mass" of 358 g, whereas maximum variance occurred at the smallest and largest body masses. Significant differences in BMR were identified for similar-sized mammals from the six terrestrial z...