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The Bombyliidae family with around 5382 described species is one of the most important families in order Diptera considering their remarkable roles in biological pest control. Species of the family Bombyliidae were monitored in Guilan province in 2019 and 2020. We aimed to evaluate their biodiversity in the grasslands along with the determining Simpson and Margalef indexes. Totally 20 species from 11 genera in 2019 and 17 species from 10 genera in 2020 were identified in eight selected stations. The highest numbers of Bombyliids individuals were observed in Heiran pass station in 2019. Surprisingly the lowest number of individuals also was present in Heiran pass station in 2020. The results of ecological indices also showed the highest Margalef index in Darestan station (2.18) in 2019 and the lowest observed in Bivazen station (0) and Rudbar- Loockhee (0) in 2019 and 2020 respectively. Also, the highest values for the Simpson index were recorded in Bivazen (1) in 2019 and Rudbar- Loockhee (1) in 2020. The lowest values of the Simpson index have been recorded for Amlash (0.13) stations as well. It seems that climate and ecological condition changes in different years clearly affect the insect biodiversity indexes via making changes in their population dynamics.

Agroecosystems containing edaphic Mesostigmata mites are considered important predators of nematodes, collembola, and insects, and those living on plants may be effective at controlling pests like spider mites. In the present research study, we provide new information about the Edaphic Mesostigmata mites known from the Isfahan metropolis in the central Iran based on the new field collection in 2019. In totally, thirty-two edaphic species belong to 13 families, and 25 genera collected and identified from Isfahan province (central Iran), of which four species are new records for the fauna of Iran (indicated by an asterisk). Twelve new provincial distribution records viz., Asca aphidioides (Linnaeus, 1758), Blattisocius tarsalis (Berlese, 1918), Cosmolaelaps claviger (Berlese, 1883), Gaeolaelaps neoaculeifer (Hrischmann, 1966)*, Gymnolaelaps obscuroides (Costa, 1968), Hypoaspis quadridentatus (Allred, 1970)*, Hypoaspisella asperatus (Berlese, 1904)*, H. patagoniensis (Sheals, 1962)*, Neoseiulus bicaudus (Wainstein, 1962), Parasitus mycophilus (Karg, 1971), Pogonolaelaps canestrinii (Berlese, 1903) and Polyaspis berlesei (Camin, 1954) are presented.

Abstract The most dominant pest of date stored in Khuzestan Province is Ephestia kuehniella Zeller (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae). In this study, the effects of Bacillus thuringiensis Kurstaki bacteria and Beauveria bassiana pathogenic fungi on the population dynamics of E. kuehniella date stock pest were investigated. To fulfill this, insectariums were kept in vitro at an average temperature of 27 ± 5 °C and a RH of 40 ± 5% for a duration of 6 months, equivalent to the maximum permitted shelf life of date. For sampling from 3 heights in 3 rows, one hole was randomly selected and a sample equal to 20 g of date was taken. Three samples were taken from each insectarium. During 25-week storage period of date treated with B. bassiana and Btk, 6 outbreaks occurred in the population of E. kuehniella. The mechanism of the epidemic is in the way that, once the population has increased to a certain threshold, the incidence of the pathogenic epidemic will be mass-dependent, leading to a decreasing trend in the pest population. Therefore, population reduction was estimated to be at 6 to 32 times that of the control. The highest disease mortality rate occurred at the egg and larval developmental stages, so the pathogens caused the highest mortality before the population entered the reproductive stage. Gradually, from the egg growth stage to the complete insect stage, a reduction was observed in the number of individuals which entered the subsequent growth stage. At all stages, the reduction in the treatment population group was faster than the control population. The highest reduction in the number of individuals entering the next developmental stage was associated with the larval developmental stage, followed by developmental stages of the adult, pupal, and egg. Regarding the highest potential of B. bassiana and BtK in reducing the stock pest population, it is very possible to exploit this interaction for biocontrol. Graphical abstract

The current paper presents new data on the distribution of 51 species of crabronid wasp (Hymenoptera: Spheciformes: Crabronidae) from the subfamilies Crabroninae (42 species of 15 genera and 5 tribes) and Pemphredoninae (9 species of 6 genera and two tribes) collected at 21 sampling sites in the Fars Province of Iran. Three species, Tachysphex nitidus (Spinola, 1806), Liris memnonius (F. Smith, 1856), and Spilomena mocsaryi Kohl, 1898 are newly added to the Iranian insect fauna. General distribution and Iranian localities are given for each species. The biogeographic affinities of the collected species are also discussed.

A catalogue of burrower bugs (Heteroptera: Pentatomoidea: Cydnidae) of Iran is provided. A total of 58 species from 5 subfamilies, 6 tribes and 22 genera is listed in this paper. Of these, 14 species are newly recorded from Iran: Byrsinus fossor (Mulsant & Rey, 1866), Byrsinus nigroscutellatus (Montandon, 1900), Byrsinus penicillatus Wagner, 1964, Canthophorus wagneri Asanova, 1964, Crocistethus waltlianus (Fieber, 1837), Geotomus antennatus Signoret, 1883, Sehirus cypriacus Dohrn, 1860, Sehirus dissimilis Horváth, 1919, Sehirus luctuosus Mulsant & Rey, 1866, Sehirus ovatus (Herrich-Schaeffer, 1840), Sehirus parens Mulsant & Rey, 1866, Sehirus planiceps Horváth, 1895, Stibaropus henkei (Jakovlev, 1874) and Tritomegas delagrangei (Puton, 1888). Additional Iranian records are provided for Byrsinus laeviceps (Kerzhner, 1972), Exosehirus marginatus (Signoret, 1881b), Fromundus pygmaeus (Dallas, 1851), Geotomus elongatus (Herrich-Schaeffer, 1840), Geotomus punctulatus (Costa, 1847), Ochetostethus sahlbergi Wagner, 1952 and Tritomegas bicolor (Linnaeus, 1758).