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In Iran, a total of 12 species of Coccomorpha from five scale insect families have been recorded on Artemisia spp. (Asteraceae): Acanthococcidae (1), Coccidae (3), Diaspididae (4), Ortheziidae (1) and Pseudococcidae (3). In this study Peliococcus chersonensis (Kiritshenko), Pelionella grassiana (Goux) (Pseudococcidae) are redescribed and illustrated based on adult females to show their morphology in Iran, and also Rhizococcus borchsenii (Danzig) (Acanthococcidae) are newly recorded for the first time from Iran. Species that have been previously collected or recorded on Artemisia in Iran are listed and information is given about host plants and global distribution for each species.

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This study was conducted to collect and identify ichneumonid parasitoids of tephritid fruit flies (Diptera: Tephritidae) feeding on the plants of the family Asteraceae in the northwest of Iran during 2013-2015. Five species of ichneumon wasps on five species of fruit flies were reared. They were as follows: Cremastus lineatus on Urophora terebrans; Diadegma maculatum on Hypenidium robrowskii; Scambus brevicornis on Sphenella marginata, Scambus rufator on Terellia gynacochroma and Urophora sp. and Tranosema sp. on Tephritis sp. dioscurea group. Of them, Cremastus lineatus, S. rufator and Tranosema sp. are new records for ichneumonid fauna of Iran. All host-parasitoid-plant associations were newly established to the science. General distribution of these parasitoids and their biological associations were discussed.

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The fauna of the subfamily Diplazontinae (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae) in the north central parts of Iran was studied during 2010-2011. A total of 933 specimens were collected in 30 localities at different altitudes using Malaise traps. Sixteen species belonging to 7 genera were identified of which twelve species indicated by asterisk, are new records for Iran: Diplazon annulatus (Gravenhorst)*, Diplazon laetatorius (Fabricius),D. pectoratorius (Gravenhorst)*, D. tibiatorius (Thunberg)*, Enizemum ornatum (Gravenhorst), Homotropus nigritarsus (Gravenhorst)*, Homotropus pictus (Gravenhorst)*, Promethes sulcator (Gravenhorst), Sussaba flavipes (Lucas)*, Sussaba pulchella (Holmgren)*, Syrphoctonus tarsatorius (Panzer)*, Syrphophilus bizonarius (Gravenhorst)*, Tymmophorus obscuripes (Holmgren)*, Woldstedtius biguttatus (Gravenhorst), Woldstedtius citropectoralis (Schmiedeknecht)* and Xestopelta gracilima (Schmiedeknekht)*. Detailed morphological characters and a key to the genera and species are provided. Flight periods and distribution in relation to altitude on two slopes of the Alborz mountains are discussed.

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This study has been carried out to collect and identify Ichneumonidae species from northwestern Iran using Malaise traps during 2014. In total, fifteen species into 6 subfamilies are identified. Four species are recorded for the first time from Iran, i.e. Hoplocryptus melanocephalus (Gravenhorst, 1829), Zoophthorus palpator (Müller, 1776), Exochus erythronotus (Gravenhorst, 1820) and Enicospilus cerebrator Aubert, 1966. The geographical distribution data of the recorded species are provided.

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This study is carried out to present new species records and new distributional data of the genera Casinaria Holmgren and Dusona Cameron (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae, Campopleginae) from Iran and also to provide the illustrated taxonomic notes on their diagnostic morphological characters. Specimens were collected using Malaise traps during 2013, 2015 and 2016 from Fars, Kerman and Mazandaran provinces. Four species present here as Casinaria kriechbaumeri (Costa, 1884); Casinaria trochanterator Aubert, 1960; Dusona cultrator (Gravenhorst, 1829) and Dusona erythrogaster (Förster, 1868). Two species i.e. D. cultrator and D. erythrogaster are newly reported from Iran. Data about distribution of D. rugifer and D. stygia in Iran as part of eastern Palaearctic fauna is updated to the western Palaearctic realm, based on collecting sites in Iran (D. rugifer from Golestan province and D. stygia from West Azerbaijan province). Available data on adult flight period of Iranian species of Casinaria and Dusona may indicate that five species are univoltine and the others are bivoltine.

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Xoridinae is a rather small subfamily of Ichneumonidae (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonoidea) known as parasitoids of xylophagous insects with most species classified in the genus Xorides Latreille, 1809. During a survey on the diversity of Ichneumonidae in Darab damask rose plain (Fars province, Iran), two species of this subfamily were collected using Malaise traps in 2019, and identified, i.e. Xorides corcyrensis (Kriechbaumer, 1894) and X. annulator (Fabricius, 1804). The second species is newly recorded from Iran. Illustrated taxonomic notes on the newly recorded species as well as an updated checklist and a key to the known species of this subfamily in Iran are provided.

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This paper provides new information on the distribution of 32 species of Ichneumonidae (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonoidea) in Iran. Two genera i.e. Isadelphus Forster, 1869 and Linycus Cameron, 1903 as well as 13 species i.e. Casinaria mesozosta (Gravenhorst, 1829), Cymodusa antennator Holmgren, 1860, Gambrus tricolor (Gravenhorst, 1829), Ichneumon inops Holmgren, 1880, Idiolispa grossa (Gravenhorst, 1829), Isadelphus gallicola (Bridgman, 1880), Linycus exhortator (Fabricius, 1787), Lissonota buccator (Thunberg, 1822), L. carbonaria Holmgren, 1860, L. coracina (Gmelin, 1790), L. folii Thomson, 1877, L. saturator (Thunberg, 1822), Theroscopus esenbackii (Gravenhorst, 1829) are newly added to the Iranian wasp fauna.

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Sawflies (Hymenoptera, Symphyta) are one of the important pest groups on damask rose, Rosa damascena P. Mill. (Plantae: Rosaceae). This study has been carried out to identify and investigate species diversity of sawflies in Darab rain-fed damask rose plain, Fars province which with 5290 hectares is the largest organic, rain-fed damask rose plain in the world in 2019. Sampling was done using four Malaise traps which were installed in different areas of the plain, from spring to summer. Collecting pots were emptied at an interval of two weeks and sawfly individuals were then isolated, mounted, or pinned and finally identified. To predict species richness of sawflies, the rarefaction method was applied to abundance-based and sample-based data. Totally, 133 individuals were collected representing 5 species from two families, Argidae: a single species, Arge cingulata Jakowlew, 1891 and Tenthredinidae: four species, Allantus (Allantus) viennensis (Schrank, 1781), Cladius pectinicornis (Geoffroy, 1785), Macrophya diaphenia Benson, 1968 and Tenthredo marginella Fabricius, 1793. Allantus viennensis was dominant with 63.9% of collected individuals. Tenthredo marginella and M. diaphenia had the following abundance rankings of 26.3% and 8.27% collected individuals respectively. Two species, A. cingulata and C. pectinicornis, were the singletons. The adult flight period of the dominant species, A. viennensis, was registered in two distinct periods and the others in one. Rarefaction showed that more sampling will yield 6-8 sawfly species in this region. The differences between the sawfly community of Darab damask rose plain and other regions of Iran and the world were discussed.

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The fauna of the Ophioniformes group (Hym.: Ichneumonidae) was studied in the southern part of Kerman province, Iran during 2014–2015. Four localities (Faryab, Jiroft, Maskoon and Sarbijan) have been surveyed using eight Malaise traps. Two traps were operated in each location. A total of 135 specimens of the Ophioniformes group have been collected and identified representing 27 species into seven subfamilies and 17 genera. One genus (i.e. Meloboris Holmgren, 1859) and six species are reported from Iran for the first time: Diadegma kyffhusanae Horstmann, 1973, Hyposoter barretti (Bridgman, 1881), Hyposoter caudator Horstmann, 2008, Meloboris collector (Thunberg, 1822), Sinophorus pleuralis (Thomson, 1887) and Mesochorus arenarius (Haliday, 1838). Fifteen species are newly recorded from Kerman province. The biographical and altitudinal range distribution, as well as adult flight period of the identified species, are also discussed.

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Two species of the genus Foenatopus Smith, 1846 (Hym.: Stephanidae), were collected from West-Azarbaijan province, the northwest Iran; Foenatopus prousti Aguiar & Turrisi, 2010 and F. turcomanorum (Semenov, 1891). These species belong to the bimaculate group of this genus. Foenatopus turcomanorum is a new record for Iran. Their morphological characters and distribution are provided. The Iranian species of the bimaculate group of Foenatopus are summarized and tabulated.


 

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Here, the species richness of Campopleginae, a diverse subfamily of the Darwin wasps was studied in an almost organic damask rose plain located at 2600 m a.s.l., the south of Iran. Sampling was done using four Malaise traps for six months from April–October 2019. The total sampling efforts were 18 trap months. The integrated approach was used to assess the sample completeness profile, to infer true diversities of entire assemblages via asymptotic diversity estimates, to standardize the sample coverage via rarefaction and extrapolation, and to infer diversity via an evenness profile. I also used Homogenous, Homogenous (MLE), Chao1, Chao1-bc, iChao1, ACE, ACE-1, 1st order jackknife, and 2nd order jackknife to estimate the species richness of the studied Campopleginae community. Malaise traps yielded 491 individuals belonging to 24 morphospecies. Diadegma majale (Gravenhorst, 1829) included 64.7% of the total individuals collected, representing the highly dominated species. The estimated sample completeness profile showed that our data covers 59% of the total species in this community and thus 41% of species are undetected. The values for Shannon and Simpson diversity indices are 4.53 and 2.29, respectively. The models and non-parametric estimators estimated the species richness of Campoplegines from 24 – 50 species. This study provides a wealth of baseline data for the subfamily Campopleginae in the south of Iran in terms of biological control and conservation.

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Species of the subfamily Diplazontinae (Hym.: Ichneumonidae) were studied in West Azarbaijan province (Northwest of Iran). The specimens were collected using Malaise traps, during 2019–2020. Five species belonging to three genera were collected and identified. One species, Homotropus riedeli Johansson, 2020 was a new record for Iran as well as Asia. The distribution range of this species extends from Sweden to the north-west of Iran. A checklist is being compiled for 27 known Iranian species of this subfamily. In addition, a distribution map based on the recorded areas for each species within the Iranian provinces has been provided. We proposed a new direction for future biodiversity inventories of this subfamily in Iran.

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Data was collected from 45 monthly samples at three vegetation layers spanning from 1950 to 2500 meters above sea level in the Arjan Plain Biosphere Reserve, Fars Province, Iran. A total of 12,648 individuals were collected, leading to the identification of 89 species of oribatid mites from 39 families and 53 genera The data for the Shannon diversity index was analyzed using the permutation one-way analysis of variance (PERMANOVA) to understand the distribution of mites across the elevation gradients. Significant variations were observed in the distribution of oribatid mites at different elevational strata. Layer 2 exhibited the highest species richness and total abundance of oribatid mites, with 67 species and 6162 individuals, followed by layer 3 with 62 species and 4359 individuals, and layer 1 harbouring 59 species and 2140 individuals. Dominant species included Jacotella frondeus (Kulijev) and Oribatula pallida Banks in layer 1, Pilogalumna tenuiclava (Berlese), Aleurodamaeus sp.3, and J. frondeus in Layer 2, and Aleurodamaeus sp.3 and J. frondeus in layer 3. The Shannon index also revealed that species diversity of oribatid mites significantly increased with elevation increase. Furthermore, the analysis indicated a notable seasonal effect on oribatid mite biodiversity, demonstrating the lowest species richness and abundance observed in July and September.