Search

Abstract Wildfires considerably affect forest ecosystems. However, there is a lack of data on the post-fire status of insect communities in these ecosystems. This paper presents results of a study conducted in 2019 which considered the post-fire status of the insect fauna in a Protected Area, Mordovia State Nature Reserve (Republic of Mordovia, centre of European Russia), considered as regional hotspot of insect diversity in Mordovia. We sampled insects on intact (unburned, control) and fire-damaged (burnt in 2010) sites and compared the alpha-diversity between sites. In total, we sampled and analysed 16,861 specimens belonging to 11 insect orders, 51 families and 190 species. The largest orders represented in the samples were Coleoptera (95 species), Diptera (54 species), Hymenoptera (21 species), and Neuroptera (11 species). Other insect orders were represented by between one and four species. The largest four orders (Coleoptera, Lepidoptera, Diptera and Hymenoptera) represented 96.7% of all studied specimens. We found that in the ninth year after low intensity surface fire damage, the insect diversity had returned to a similar level to that of the control (unburned) sites. Sites damaged by crown wildfire differed considerably from other sites in terms of a negative impact on both species diversity and the number of specimens. This indicates the serious effect of the crown fires on the biodiversity and consequent long-term recovery of the damaged ecosystem.

Lacewings (Neuroptera) normally bear four well-developed wings. There are a few brachypterous, micropterous or apterous species, found in several extant families; this wing reduction is usually associated with flightlessness. The only documented fossil neuropteran with reduced hind wings (modified to small haltere-like structures) is the enigmatic minute genus Mantispidiptera Grimaldi from the Late Cretaceous amber of New Jersey. In this paper, we report a new genus and species from the Early Cretaceous Yixian Formation of China (Dipteromantispa brevisubcosta n. gen. et n. sp.) resembling Mantispidiptera. We place these two genera in the new family Dipteromantispidae, n. fam. They bear well-developed forewings with reduced venation, and hind wings that are extremely modified as small structures resembling the halteres of Diptera. Dipteromantispidae n. fam. might be specialized descendants of some early Berothidae or of stem group Mantispidae + Berothidae. We presume that dipteromantispids were active fliers. This is a remarkable example of parallel evolution of wing structures in this neuropteran family and Diptera.doi:10.1002/mmng.201300002