Study on the orthopteran fauna of the southern slopes of Elburz Mountains between Buinzahra and Takestan, Iran

Subject Areas :

Received: 2012-05-02 Accepted : 2012-05-14 Published : 2012-11-21

Keywords: Iran, Taxonomy, fauna, Orthoptera, Ghazvin, Elburz, new report,

Abstract :

A faunistic investigation was conducted within the southern slopes of Elburz Mountains between Buinzahra and Takestan, Iran in 2011. More than 1300 specimens were collected via standard insect sweeping net and other techniques. The material were identified through identification keys by examining their morphological characters such as pronotum and its carina on metazona and prozona, wing venation, colour, shape and decorations of different parts of legs, hearing and stridulatory organs, cerci, sub-genital and supra-anal plates, appendices and punctuation of the male and female genitalia and other major taxonomic specifications. Then, the yielded identification was confirmed via comparing with the type material deposited in the Hayk Mirzayans Insect Museum (HMIM), Iranian Research Institute of Plant Protection, Tehran, Iran. Accordingly, 32 species were listed as below. The asterisk species are recorded from the region for the first time. The species shown with two asterisks is a new report for the insect fauna of Iran: Acrididae: Acrida oxycephala (Pall.), Aiolopus thalassinus F., Calliptamus barbarous (Costa.), *C. coelesyriensis G.-W., C. italicus L., *C. tenuicercis Tarb., C. turanicus Tarb., Chorthippus brunneus (Thunb.), Dociostaurus maroccanus (Thunb.), D. tartarus (Uv.), Heteracris pterosticha (F.-W.), Locusta migratoria L., Oedipoda miniata Pall., O. schochi Sauss., Oedaleus decorus (Germ.), Pyrgodera armata (F.-W.), Ramburiella turcomana (F.-W.), Sphingonotus nebulosus (F.-W.), S. rubescens (Walker.), Truxalis eximia Dirsh, T. robusta (Dirsh); Pyrgomorphidae: Pyrgomorpha conica B.-Bien.; Pamphagidae: **Asiotmethis muricatus (Pall.); Tettigoniidae: Decticus albifrons (F.), Platycleis affinis (Fieb.), P. escalerai Bol., P. intermedia (Serv.), *Tessellana tessellata (Ch.), Tettigonia caudata (Ch.), T. viridissima L. ; Gryllidae: Acheta domesticus L., Mellanogryllus desertus (Pall.).

References:

Afshar J. 1935. Catalogue of Some Acrididae from North of Iran. Ferdowsi Publishing. [In Persian]

Ali-Khan Z, Mehrzad A, Safdar A, Gohardehi F. 2000. Desert locust joint survey in the spring breeding areas of the I.R. Iran and Pakistan. FAO report. Rome. 24pp.

Bei-Bienko G-Ya. 1954. Fauna of the U.S.S.R., Fauna Rossii (New Series), Orthoptera 2, Part 2: Phaneropterinae, Zoological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Moscow. [Translated from Russian].

Bei-Bienko G-Ya. 1958. Records and description of some Orthoptera from U.S.S.R. Boletin de la Sociedad Espanola de Historica Natural 8: 317-314. [Translated from Russian].

Bei-Bienko G-Ya. 1964. Keys to the Insects of the European USSR. Academy of Sciences of the USSR Zoological Institute. Moscow. [Translated from Russian].

Bei-Bienko G-Ya, Mishchenko L. 1963. Locusts and Grasshoppers of the U.S.S.R. and Adjacent Countries. Keys to the Fauna of U.S.S.R. Zool. Inst. U.S.S.R. Academic Science. [Translated from Russian].

Bisby F, Roskov Y, Culham A, Orrell T, Nicolson D, Paglinawan L, Bailly N, Appeltans W, Kirk P, Bourgoin T, Baillargeon G, Ouvrard D. 2012. Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life. www.catalogueoflife.org Species 2000: Reading, UK. [Accessed on 1^st May 2012].

Chopard L. 1951. Orthopteroides. Fauna de France. Chatto and Windus, London. [In French].

Davatchi A. 1954. Insect Pests, Grasshoppers and Other Injurious Insects to Cereals. Tehran University Press. [In Persian].

Hartz K. 1969. The Orthoptera of Europe. Vol. 1. Springer.

Mirzayans H. 1951. Les Orthopteres de l’Iran. Journal of Applied Entomology and Phytopathology
12 &13: 29-34. [In French].

Mirzayans H. 1991. Three genera and one species as new Orthoptera in Iran. Journal of Entomological Society of Iran. Suppl. 6: 36pp. [In Persian].

Mofidi-Neyestanak M. 2000. Taxonomy and classification of Phaneroptera (S. Str.) (Orth., Tettigoniidae: Phaneropterinae). 14^th Iranian Plant Protection Congress, 5-8 September 2000, Isfahan, Iran, Vol.1-Pests, P:.338. [In Persian].

Rentz DCF. 1991. Orthoptera. In: Naumann ID, Carne PB, Lawrence JF, Nielsen ES, Spradberry JP, Taylor RW, Whitten MJ, Littlejohn MJ (eds.) The Insects of Australia: A Textbook for Students and Research Workers. Volume I and II. 2nd ed. Victoria, Melbourne University Press, pp. 369- 393.

Uvarov B. 1929a. North Caucasian species of the genus Paradrymadusa Herm. (Orthoptera, Tettigoniidae) and their zoogeographical importance. Annuair de Musee Zoologique de 1 Acad. Des Sciences de 1 URSS. 31:331-337.

Uvarov B. 1929b. Studies in the Iranian Orthoptera. Some new or less-known Tettigoniidae. Annuair du Musee Zoologique de 1 Acad. Des Science de 1 URSS. 30: 623-639.