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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.

An extensive study of Neuropteroidea and Mecoptera collected in Krasnodar Region and the Republic of Adygea in 2018 allowed the discovery of new species for the regions and for Russia, clarification of the taxonomic affiliation of some dubious specimens, and establish wellfounded conclusions about the ecological preferences of species.Nine species of Neuroptera are recorded for the first time from the North-Western Caucasus (and the Caucasus as a whole); 13 species (mainly Coniopterygidae) are new for Krasnodar Region and 7 for Adygea. Two species of Neuroptera (Coniopteryx haematica McLachlan, 1868 and Chrysoperla mutata (McLachlan, 1898)) are recorded from Russia for the first time. The finding of the thermophilic species Chrysoperla mutata in the north of Krasnodar Region is especially noteworthy. This is northern-most known occurrence of the species. The occurrence of the chrysopid species Peyerimhoffina gracilis (Schneider, 1851) in Russia is reliably confirmed for the first time by specimens from Krasnodar Region and Adygea. A larva of Dendroleon pantherinus (Fabricius, 1787) was found in the fruiting body of a tinder fungus, a previously unknown habitat, expanding our understanding of the ecology of its preimaginal phase. In total, 72 species of Neuroptera are known now from the North-Western Caucasus, 52 from Krasnodar Region and 24 from Adygea. The occurrence of the raphidiopteran species Xanothostigma xanthostigma (Schummel, 1832) in Krasnodar Region is new. In total four species of the order are known now from the North-Western Caucasus. Megaloptera is represented in this region by two species. Sialis zhiltzovae Vshivkova, 1985 is recorded from Krasnodar Region, Adygea and from Russia for the first time. Data on the distribution (including altitudinal) and phenology of three species of the family Panorpidae (Mecoptera) are significantly updated. Panorpa connexa McLachlan, 1869 is recorded for the first time from the North-Western Caucasus, and P. similis Esben-Petersen, 1915 is recorded for the first time from Krasnodar Region