Volume 34, Number 1, 2025, pp. 3-

A new scuttle fly species, Microselia rossica sp. nov. (Diptera: Phoridae), a parasitoid of the ant species Camponotus vagus (Scopoli, 1763), is described from the floodplain habitats of the Rostov Province in southern European Russia. This is the first confirmed case of parasitisation by scuttle flies of worker ants in Russia. The behaviour of the females of the new species attacking the ants is described.

An annotated checklist of Lonchaeidae (Diptera) of the Republic of Mordovia (European Russia) is provided based on the materials collected from 2019 to 2021 mainly in beer traps at fixed heights in the forest canopy and with a Malaise trap. In total, 3254 specimens were examined, of which 2004 were identifiable to species level providing the records of 29 species in five genera. We have found 18 species of Lonchaeidae new to the fauna of Mordovia. Lonchaea cervisiae sp. nov. is described as new to science and L. fraxina MacGowan et Rotheray, 2000 is recorded as new to Russia. Earomyia mordovia MacGowan et Ruchin, 2022, syn. nov., is synonymised with E. schistopyga Collin, 1953.

Pleurobrachia Fleming, 1822 is the native taxon of ctenophores in the Black Sea. Until now, its species affiliation has not been resolved: the Black Sea Pleurobrachia is referred to either P. pileus (O.F. Müller, 1776) or P. rhodopis (Chun, 1879). In the taxonomic reviews, both species are recognised as occurring in the Black Sea. The experts on zooplankton identified the Black Sea Pleurobrachia based solely on its definitive body size, but size cannot be a sufficient diagnostic feature. To clarify the species identity of the Black Sea Pleurobrachia, we carried out a phylogenetic analysis using the nucleotide sequences of the mitochondrial COI and the nuclear 18S rRNA gene fragments. As a result, we have established that the Black Sea Pleurobrachia is P. pileus and its identification as P. rhodopis in the global taxonomic databases is erroneous.

Cylichna inflata sp. nov. is described based on nine specimens collected in 1931 in the Tatar Strait (northern part of the Sea of Japan) at a depth of 69 m. The new species differs from other species of the genus in the morphology of the shell, radula, gizzard plates, and in the presence of a seminal vesicle in the copulatory apparatus. The shell proportions of C. inflata sp. nov. are similar to those of some species of the genus Cylichnoides Minichev, 1977. The emended diagnoses of Cylichna Lovén, 1846 and Cylichnoides (Eoscaphandridae) are provided.