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This paper revises the taxonomy and phylogeny of Ropalopus (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae: Callidiini) species belonging to the taxonomically intricate Ropalopus ungaricus/insubricus group from the western Palaearctic. Specimens from all taxa were studied and compared. The key characters, including the male terminalia, were examined by means of scanning electron microscopy. High-quality stacked photographs of the habitus of the specimens (dorsal, ventral) are presented. The phylogenetic analyses were based on 34 adult morphological characters. Both the strict and majority consensus trees revealed the monophyly of the revised group. Identification keys are provided for every taxon from this group, and their geographical distributions are also mapped. All European populations are reduced to subspecies of Ropalopus ungaricus. Additionally, a new subspecies from Greece, Ropalopus ungaricus ossae subsp. nov., is described and illustrated. A new synonymy for Ropalopus insubricus fischeri is proposed: Callidium insubricum = Callidium fischeri. Ropalopus nataliyae, which was described based on only a single female, is herein redescribed owing to the collection of abundant new material. Apart from geographical barriers, the main differentiating factor in this group is proved to be the elevation above sea level. Taxa of the R. ungaricus/insubricus group are therefore allopatric or, when parapatric, are isolated by elevation.

The Eurasian field vole (Microtus agrestis) comprises three evolutionarily significant units (ESUs). The northern ESU is found at higher latitudes across the western Palaearctic region and includes six, largely allopatric, mitochondrial DNA lineages that were derived from population bottlenecks. One of these lineages is found in southern Britain and nearby areas of continental Europe. A prominent sub-lineage is nested within, and therefore derived from, the part of this lineage occupying southern Britain. The sub-lineage consists of an abundant central haplotype together with a series of closely related haplotypes, a distribution that would result from either a recent population bottleneck or a selective sweep. To distinguish between these, we sequenced a Y-chromosome marker in 167 field voles from Britain and Europe, and analysed a panel of 13 autosomal microsatellite loci in 144 field voles from eight populations in Britain. The Y-chromosome marker showed a continental-scale pattern of variation that was not aligned with that of the mitochondrial marker, while microsatellite variation did not show any evidence for a bottleneck, tentatively favouring selection instead. This implies a role for both stochastic and selective processes in generating phylogeographical patterns at different scales in the field vole.

Intercontinental disjunct distributions are a main issue in current biogeography. Bryophytes usually have broad distribution ranges and therefore constitute an interesting subject of study in this context. During recent fieldwork in western North America and eastern Africa, we found new populations of a moss morphologically similar to Orthotrichum acuminatum. So far this species has been considered to be one of the most typical epiphytic mosses of the Mediterranean Basin. The new findings raise some puzzling questions. Do these new populations belong to cryptic species or do they belong to O. acuminatum, a species which then has a multiple-continent disjunct range? In the latter case, how could such an intercontinental disjunction be explained? To answer these questions, an integrative study involving morphological and molecular approaches was conducted. Morphological results reveal that Californian and Ethiopian samples fall within the variability of those from the Mediterranean Basin. Similarly, phylogenetic analyses confirm the monophyly of these populations, showing that O. acuminatum is one of the few moss species with a distribution comprising the western Nearctic, the western Palaearctic and Palaeotropical eastern Africa. Pending a further genetic and phylogeographical study to support or reject the hypothesis, a process of long-distance dispersal (LDD) is hypothesized to explain this distribution and the origin of the species is suggested to be the Mediterranean Basin, from where diaspores of the species may have migrated to California and Ethiopia. The spore release process in O. acuminatum is revisited to support the LDD hypothesis, 2015, 180, 30–49.

The Mediterranean Basin is typified by a high degree of species rarity and endemicity that reflects its position, geomorphology, and history. Although the composition and cryptic variation of the bat faunas from the Iberian and Balkan Peninsulas are relatively well studied, data from the Apennine Peninsula are still incomplete. This is a significant shortfall, given the presumed refugial role of this region in the context of Europe's Pleistocene phylogeography. It was thus our aim to supplement the phylogeographical information from the region, generating mitochondrial sequences and reviewing published data, with a focus on the dispersal and diversification patterns characterizing taxa with different life strategies. Site-specific lineages were ascertained, especially in the genera Myotis and Plecotus and amongst the pipistrelloid bats, representing speciose radiations. It was possible to observe disjunct ranges with patches isolated south of the Alps in several species, corresponding with evolution of elevated genetic distance. The genetic subdivision within the continuous Italian range into northern and southern lineages in several taxa indicated the possible past substructure of the refugium. Several shared lineages between the Apennine and Ibero-Maghrebian regions were observed, indicating connectivity between the Adriatic and Atlantic−Mediterranean refuges, and raising questions as to which region these clades originated from and what was the direction of faunal exchange between them. In contrast to Europe's other two main refugia, the Apennine Peninsula is a smaller region with simpler phylogeographical patterns. Nevertheless, our results support the idea that the region generated novel lineages. Whereas diversification in sedentary bats may have been driven through the generation of in situ adaptations, specialization, and niche differentiation, the emergence of species with a tramp strategy could have entailed the utilization of faunal drift and the taxon cycle. © 2015 The Linnean Society of London

In this study we investigated the phylogenetics of the Eurasian treecreeper (Certhia familiaris), a forest passerine with a wide Palaearctic range including Corsica, using three mitochondrial genes and three nuclear introns, and its phylogeographic history using the COI gene. Our phylogenetic results, including eight of the ten sub-species currently recognized, support the monophyly of C. familiaris with respect to its Indo-Asian sister species C. hodgsoni. C. familiaris comprises two lineages that diverged during the mid-Pleistocene (c. 1 Myr): one palaeoendemic lineage has an allopatric range nowadays restricted to the Corsica island and the Caucasus region whereas the second one, more recent and widespread, is distributed over most of Eurasia and in northern China. The most likely scenario that may explain such a pattern is a double colonization of the western Palaearctic from the eastern range of the species. During the middle Pleistocene period, a first lineage expanded its range up into Europe but did not persist through glacial cycles except in Corsica and the Caucasus region. Later, during the upper Pleistocene, a second lineage began to diversify around 0.09 Myr, spreading towards the western Palaearctic from a unique refuge likely located in the eastern Palaearctic [correction added on 6 March 2015 after first online publication: 0.9 Myr amended to 0.09 Myr]. Apart from C. f. corsa, our results do not suggest any distinct evolutionary history for other sub-species previously described on morphological grounds in Europe. Our study highlights the important conservation value of the Corsican treecreeper and emphasizes the major role of mature pine forests in the evolution of endemic bird taxa in Corsica. © 2015 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2015, 115, 134–153.

Helix is a genus of large Western Palaearctic land snails, particularly diverse in the Mediterranean region. Despite the large size and attractiveness of its members, it has an unsettled taxonomy, and no data are available on its intrageneric phylogenetic relationships. One of the problematic Helix taxa is the widely distributed, economically important, and conchologically very variable H. lucorum. Two distinct forms may be encountered under this name in the Apennine Peninsula: a typical one in the north, and a form originally described as Helix straminea in central and southern Italy. To evaluate the status of H. straminea and its relationships to Italian and Balkan Helix fauna, we combined shell morphology, geometric morphometrics, and phylogenetic analysis based on two mitochondrial genes. Distribution data were improved by drawing information from unambiguously identifiable photographs posted online. Based on our results, Helix straminea is redescribed as a separate species, and we find it to have a disjunctive trans-Adriatic range with closest relatives in the western Balkans. We provide insight into relationships and intraspecific variability within Helix, a first step towards a comprehensive revision of the genus. On the example of Italian Helix fauna, we demonstrate how understanding of snail zoogeography may change with improving taxonomy. © 2014 The Linnean Society of London

The main aim of this study was to understand the faunistic composition, ecological properties, and zoogeographical composition of the family Elateridae (Coleoptera) of the Western Black Sea region of Turkey. As a result, 44 species belonging to 5 subfamilies and 19 genera were identified. After adding species reported in the literature to the analysis, the fauna in the research area consists of 6 subfamilies, 23 genera and 72 species. Most of the Elateridae fauna of the Western Black Sea region were classified in the subfamilies Elaterinae and Dendrometrinae. The genus Athous was the most species-rich genus. The species composition of the Elateridae fauna of the Western Black Sea region partially overlaps with the known Elateridae fauna of Turkey. The Western Black Sea region shares the most species with the European part of the Western Palaearctic region, including many of those in the Elateridae family, compared to other regions. Comparisons of the three geographical regions of Turkey show that fauna composition, ecological properties, and zoogeographical compositions of the Middle and Western Black Sea regions are more similar to each other than to those of the Central Anatolian region.

Although Odonata are a key component of many freshwater ecosystems, their taxonomy and evolutionary history is still far from being well resolved. In the present study, we report the first molecular phylogeny for the Western Palaearctic Cordulegaster genus (Odonata: Anisoptera: Cordulegastridae). We sequenced fragments of both mitochondrial and nuclear genes [cytochrome c oxidase I (COI) and Internal Transcribed Spacer-1 (ITS-1)] from eight species and 13 subspecies, from western, southern and central Europe, Turkey, and Morocco. Our data support the existence of two major groups corresponding to the traditional boltonii- and bidentata-groups. Both groups are monophyletic based on COI sequences and the distinctiveness of Cordulegaster princeps, Cordulegaster trinacriae, Cordulegaster picta and Cordulegaster heros relative to Cordulegaster boltonii, and Cordulegaster helladica and Cordulegaster insignis relative to Cordulegaster bidentata, is confirmed. All species are also monophyletic for ITS-1, with the exception of Cordulegaster helladica buchholzi, which shares the haplotype with C. insignis. Although moderate levels of genetic diversity were found within C. boltonii, there was no clear separation among the four subspecies, with the exception of the populations of Cordulegaster boltonii algirica from North Africa. Similarly, no genetic differentiation was found between the two subspecies of C. bidentata, Cordulegaster bidentata bidentata and Cordulegaster bidenta sicilica. © 2013 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2013, , –. ADDITIONAL KEYWORDS: Cordulegaster bidentata – Cordulegaster boltonii – Europe – mitochondrial DNA – Morocco – nuclear DNA – Turkey.

During the years after the invasion of Western Palaearctic tomato crops by the South American tomato leafminer, Tuta absoluta (Meyrick) (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae), several indigenous generalist parasitoids have been recorded on this new host. Among these, Bracon nigricans Szepligeti (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) is widely distributed in the Palaearctic region, and has been frequently recovered from South American tomato leafminer. However, most of the available data on this species deal with taxonomic aspects and its recovery in faunistic surveys. The current study documents the biology of B. nigricans on South American tomato leafminer, and provides a scientific basis for its inclusion in South American tomato leafminer management programs in Afro-Eurasia. We studied several B. nigricans life-history traits relevant to juvenile development and reproduction by females. B. nigricans proved to be an idiobiont and a synovigenic ectoparasitoid of mature South American tomato leafminer larvae. Several B. nigricans reproductive traits were influenced by the age of the mothers; on average, the progeny had a slightly male-biased sex ratio (60% males) and a low rate of successful development (≈37%). Adult females lived 42.8 d and produced an average of 29.8 offspring. These biological parameters yielded an intrinsic rate of increase of 0.052. Females showed behavioral plasticity in host use, as initial host paralysis was followed by host-feeding, oviposition, or host rejection, with a consequent high mortality rate among hosts exposed to parasitism. Although further field studies are needed, these data, obtained in laboratory conditions, suggest that B. nigricans should be considered as a potential biological control agent of in newly invaded areas of the Palaearctic region.

The land snail faunas of 26 forest sites and two open rocky sites in the Crimean Mountains were sampled in 2011. Of the 40 species found within the forests (about half the known fauna of Crimea as a whole), 28 were species with wide western Palaearctic distributions, and only eight were endemic to Crimea. While there were significant differences in the faunas of different sampling areas, these seemed to be a consequence of ecological differences among them rather than a product of geographical isolation and differentiation. Endemic species were large, and not entirely restricted to forest; known endemics not found in these forests are mainly typical of more open habitats. There is no local radiation of small species living in damp forest litter, as with Leiostyla species in the Transcaucasian forest refugium, and families such as the Clausiliidae with many endemic forest species in both Transcaucasia and the Carpathians are sparsely represented. The one endemic clausiliid genus, Mentissa, occurs in open as well as in wooded habitats. The present faunas are rather poor considering the soil conditions and climate, and the forests hold widespread species often associated with open habitats elsewhere. While there is evidence that these mountains provided a refuge for many animals and plants during glacial episodes further north, the forest snail fauna suggests that full forest cover did not survive throughout the Pleistocene. Rather, the present fauna contains endemics that survived in other habitats and widespread species with good powers of passive dispersal.

The taxonomic status of bent-winged bats (Miniopterus) in the Western Palaearctic and adjacent regions is unclear, particularly in some areas of the eastern Mediterranean, Middle East and Arabia. To address this, we analysed an extensive collection of museum materials from all principal parts of this distribution range, i.e. North Africa, Europe and southwest Asia, using morphological (skull) and genetic approaches (mitochondrial DNA). Linear and geometric morphometric analysis of cranial and dental characteristics, together with molecular phylogeny, suggested that Miniopterus populations comprise four separate species: (1) M. schreibersii sensu strictissimo (s.str.) – occurring in Europe, coastal Anatolia, Levant, Cyprus, western Transcaucasia, and North Africa; (2) M. pallidus – occurring in inland Anatolia, Jordan, eastern Transcaucasia, Turkmenistan, Iran and southern Afghanistan (Kandahar); (3) a Miniopterus sp. – recorded from Nangarhar province in eastern Afghanistan, which we tentatively assign to M. cf. fuliginosus; and (4) a Miniopterus sp. with Afro-tropic affinities confirmed from south-western Arabia and Ethiopia, which we tentatively name M. cf. arenarius. The latter two species are well differentiated by skull morphology, while M. pallidus possesses very similar skull morphology to M. schreibersii. The results also suggest the existence of a possible new taxon (subspecies) within M. schreibersii s.str. inhabiting the Atlas Mountains of Morocco. © 2012 The Linnean Society of London

Morphology has traditionally been used to diagnose the taxa of various taxonomic ranks. However, there is growing evidence that morphology is not always able to reveal cryptic taxa, and that pronounced morphological variation could reflect phenotypic plasticity rather than evolutionary divergence. Spur-thighed tortoises (the Testudo graeca complex), distributed in the western Palaearctic region, are characterized by high morphological variability and complicated taxonomy, which are under debate. Previous molecular studies using mainly mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequences have revealed incongruence between genetic differentiation and morphology-based taxonomy, suggesting that morphological variability is the result of phenotypic plasticity and stabilizing selection, which masks the true genealogies. In the present study, we used a range-wide sampling and nuclear Amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) markers to investigate genetic differentiation within the T. graeca complex. We found that spur-thighed tortoises are differentiated into four geographically well-defined AFLP groups: Balkans–Middle Eastern, western Mediterranean, Caucasian and central-eastern Iranian. Compared with the distribution of mtDNA lineages, the groups are largely concordant, although the AFLP markers are less sensitive and distinguish fewer groups than do mtDNA sequences. The AFLP groups show an allopatric or parapatric distribution. The AFLP differentiation conflicts with the previously proposed morphology-based taxonomy of the complex, suggesting that local adaptation to different environmental conditions may have led to the great extent of morphological variation within the same lineages. We propose a re-evaluation of the taxa that were confirmed genetically using a thorough morphological analysis corrected for phenotypic plasticity. © 2012 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2012, ●●, ●●–●●.

Despite their status as economically important pests on apple, species boundaries in the four native Nearctic species of Pandemis Hübner have remained uncertain for a century. We use a total evidence approach to test their genomic integrity using DNA (cytochrome oxidase I and ITS2), morphological (greyness of various wing areas), and geographic evidence. No single source of characters is sufficient, but combined evidence successfully separates the four species. We also examine the generic boundaries of Pandemis, using all Nearctic species, most western Palaearctic species, and a species of Archepandemis. DNA data place Archepandemis within Pandemis indicating that its members have lost the secondary sexual characters found in other Pandemis species.

Many studies have found that species richness in the Western Palaearctic follows a latitudinal trend, yet the importance of geographical and ecological factors in shaping species ranges remains obscure. In this article, we present geographical patterns of darkling beetles (Tenebrionidae), a species-rich group of arthropods. We relate the spatial distributions of species, instead of simply species richness, to spatial and climatic gradients, and test the effects of area (by species–area relationships), latitude (by various climatic gradients) and environmental diversity (by elevation) using simultaneous autoregressive models to identify major correlates of species richness. We then use nestedness and co-occurrence analyses to identify glacial refugial centres and postglacial dispersal trajectories responsible for current species ranges. Our results indicate the presence of two refugial centres (in the Iberian and Balkan peninsulas) that appear to have been particularly important in shaping extant tenebrionid ranges. Northern countries were selectively colonized by more tolerant and, possibly, more mobile species, which survived in southern refugia during the Pleistocene glacial maxima, whereas the low dispersal capabilities of many species that evolved in these southern isolated areas prevented their spread northwards. High levels of endemism recorded in Spain and Sardinia suggest that the faunas of these regions originated during the Tertiary period and have remained substantially isolated. © 2011 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2012, 105, 318–329. ADDITIONAL KEYWORDS: endemics – latitudinal gradient – Pleistocene refugia – spatial autoregression – species–area relationship.

In the western Palaearctic, the Mediterranean zone is an important region where taxa and genes of thermophilous organisms are preserved during glacial stages and new clades are generated. This is achieved through the existence of refugia over Mediterranean Europe and North Africa, where organisms persisted and continued to evolve during the cold phases. However, it is not clear in detail how these refugia function for the maintenance of ancestral taxa, the evolution of new taxa, and as launching pads during postglacial colonizations of northern Europe. One outstanding issue is the incongruence of findings from different marker systems. For the butterfly Maniola jurtina, morphometry and allozyme data analyzed for populations scattered over Europe and North Africa show congruent patterns for Sicily and the Maghreb but produce discrepant results for the Italian mainland. This discrepancy between allozyme and morphological data can be explained by recent gene flow in the wake of postglacial range expansions and shifts. It is evident that colonization histories are far more complex than originally considered. We highlight different aspects of colonization and evolutionary history emerging from the joint use of different marker systems and advocate multiple uses of different markers in paleobiogeographic reconstructions to explore evolutionary events and colonization pathways. © 2011 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2011, 103, 571–577.

The focus of this study was to understand the faunistic composition, ecological properties and zoogeographical composition of Elateridae (Coleoptera) of the Central Anatolian region. 72 species belonging to seven subfamilies and 25 genera were identified. The major part of the Elateridae fauna of the Central Anatolian region is formed by the subfamilies Elaterinae and Cardiophorinae. The genus Cardiophorus was the most species-rich genus. The species composition of the Elateridae fauna of the Central Anatolian region is partially consistent with known Elateridae fauna of Turkey. The Central Anatolian region shares most species with the European part of the Western Palaearctic as does the Elateridae fauna of Turkey. Detailed localities of nine species are given for the first time for Turkey, with emphasis on the Central Anatolian region.

Insect-induced galls on plants comprise species-rich but self-contained communities of herbivores and natural enemies. In the present study, we focus on galls induced by cynipid gall wasps on oaks, and on the least-known trophic level that these galls contain: inquilines. These insects, also cynipids, feed on gall tissue and are an abundant but taxonomically poorly understood part of an otherwise well-studied system. We used DNA sequence data to examine spatial patterns in the genetic diversity of Synergus umbraculus Olivier 1791 (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae: Synergini), a widespread species attacking many host galls across the Western Palaearctic. Analysis of 239 cytochrome b sequences revealed eight haplogroups showing significant phylogeographic pattern across the Western Palaearctic, corresponding to putative glacial refugia in Iberia, Central Europe, Turkey, and Iran. There were significant genetic discontinuities across the Pyrenees and the Anatolian diagonal but no impact of the Alps, suggesting that significant discontinuities have biotic rather than physical causes. Detailed analysis of sites in the Carpathian Basin reveal a high diversity and low spatial structure, and identify Central Europe as the source of colonists for Quaternary colonization of Germany, France, and Britain. We found no evidence for host-associated differentiation of S. umbraculus lineages associated with the most common cynipid host galls, suggesting frequent shifts within the host gall assemblage by inquiline lineages. © 2011 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2011, 102, 750–764.

A molecular phylogeny and lineage age estimates are presented for the Macaronesian representatives of the weevil subfamily Cryptorhynchinae, using two mitochondrial genes (cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 and 16S). The Bayesian reconstruction is supplemented by observations on morphology, ecology, and reproductive biology. The present study often corroborates the groups previously outlined in higher-level informal taxonomies. These and further groups are now assigned new taxonomic status. The following genera and subgenera are described (formerly Acalles): Aeoniacallesgen. nov., Canariacallesgen. nov., Ficusacallesgen. nov., Madeiracallesgen. nov., Silvacalles gen. nov. (with Tolpiacallessubgen. nov., Tagasastacallessubgen. nov.), Sonchiacallesgen. nov., Echiumacallesgen. nov. (monotypic), Lauriacallesgen. nov. (monotypic), and Pseudodichromacallesgen. nov. (monotypic; formerly Dichromacalles). For the western Palaearctic genus Acalles Schoenherr, 1825 the first subgenus Origoacallessubgen. nov. is described and for the genus Onyxacalles Stuben, 1999 the first subgenus Araneacallessubgen. nov.; Paratorneuma Roudier 1956 resyn. Except for one species of Acalles (Origoacalles), all of these new higher taxa are endemic to the Macaronesian Islands. All new taxa are presented, together with their host plants and further data, in a synoptic tabular overview. Based on the results of our phylogenetic analysis, we advocate the hypothesis that the evolution of the species in the new genera (of which most group into a ‘Macaronesian clade’) began in the comparatively arid succulent bush zone and that the shady and humid laurel forest of the thermo-Canarian and thermo-Madeiran zone was entered much later. Our reconstruction implies that the Canarian and Madeiran archipelagos were colonized by Cryptorhynchinae at least seven times from the continent but saw only one considerable adaptive radiation. It also becomes apparent that it is the ancestor species of the genus Canariacalles– and not Pseudodichromacalles– that features a close connection to the south-western European and north-western African species of Dichromacalles s.s. Finally, a key is presented for all genera and subgenera of the Macaronesian Cryptorhynchinae. © 2010 The Linnean Society of London, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2010, 160, 40–87.

Phylogeographic studies from western Palaearctic have generally focused on species able to disperse and track their emerging suitable habitats after the last ice age. However, data on species whose biogeographical histories differ from this bulk of Palaearctic fauna are scarce. This is clearly the case of some specialized organisms inhabiting inland hypersaline environments, which are likely to have had a wider distribution range during the late Tertiary and may have persisted through the Pleistocene to the present day only constituting relict populations. In this study, we use partial sequences from two mitochondrial genes [16S rRNA (16S) and cytochrome oxidase subunit II (COII)] to investigate the phylogeography of the Iberian populations of Mioscirtus wagneri (Orthoptera: Acrididae), a specialized grasshopper exclusively inhabiting hypersaline low grounds. Our results show that M. wagneri exhibits a marked phylogeographical structure, forming three main clades which correspond with populations located in north-east, central–south-east and south-west Iberia. These geographical areas did not share any haplotype, indicating that gene flow between them is absent. Nested clade analyses revealed that these lineages have probably evolved in allopatry and data on sequence divergence suggest population fragmentation from the Early Pleistocene. Overall, these results provide a broader perspective on the contribution of historical climate/geological events to biogeographical patterns of organisms currently forming relict populations of great conservation concern. © 2009 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2009, 97, 623–633.

The Western Palaearctic taxa of the Neocrepidodera impressa (F.) and Neocrepidodera ferruginea (Scopoli) species groups are reviewed. Twelve species are recognized, two of them newly described,N.carolinae sp. nov. from High Atlas, Morocco, andN.precaria sp. nov. from southern Spain and northern Morocco. Two other species are raised from the subspeciÞc status, N. hispanica (J. Daniel) stat. nov. and N. peregrina (Harold) stat. rev., taking into account their constant marked external and genital differences with N. crassicornis (Falderman) and N. impressa (F.), respectively. A key for the Western Palaearctic region is provided, including external, male and female genital features for each taxon. Special effort was devoted to the identiÞcation of females, Þnding that vaginal palpi show useful diagnostic characters. Figures of pronotum, aedeagus, vaginal palpi, and spermatheca are presented for all species. RESUMEN Se revisan los taxones presentes en la region paleartica occidental de los grupos de especies de Neocrepidodera impressa (F.) y N. ferruginea (Scopoli). Se identiÞcan 12 especies, dos de ellas descritas por primera vez, N. carolinae sp. nov. del Gran Atlas, Marruecos y N. precaria sp. nov. del sur de Espana y norte de Marruecos. Otras dos especies han sido elevadas desde el estatus subespeco´Þco, N. hispanica (J. Daniel) stat. nov. y N. peregrina (Harold) stat. rev., teniendo en cuenta sus constantes marcadas diferencias con N. crassicornis (Falderman) y N. impressa (F.), respectiva- mente. Se ofrece una clave para la region paleartica occidental, incluyendo caracteres externos, genitales masculinos y femeninos para cada especie. Se ha puesto especial interes en la identiÞcacion de las hembras, hallando que los palpos vaginales muestran caracteres diagnosticos utiles. Se presentan Þguras del pronoto, edeago, palpos vaginales y espermateca para todas las especies.

The great tit (Parus major) has been considered to be the most typical example of an avian ring species. The terminal taxa of the ring (major and minor sectors) are supposed to be reproductively isolated in a zone of secondary contact in the middle Amur valley, Siberia. Our study combines molecular markers (cytochrome-b), bioacoustic analyses and morphological characters to judge the ring species status of the great tit complex. Despite a notable percentage of intermediately coloured birds in the mixed population of middle Amur, a lack of mitochondrial introgression between the major and minor sectors and a small number of true hybrids among voucher specimens from this area suggest at least a partial reproductive barrier between both sectors. In contrast, variation of morphological and especially acoustic characters along the ring-shaped area and the phylogenetic structure of the P. major group do not match the ring species concept. Bioacoustic and molecular data (cytochrome-b sequences) reveal two large and closely related subspecies blocks, the sectors major and bokharensis in the Western Palaearctic and central Asia, and the sectors minor and cinereus in the Eastern Palaearctic and South-east Asia, respectively. The two western sectors diverged only recently (0.5 Mya) and they were separated from the eastern group by Pleistocene events about 1.5 Mya. Songs from allopatric regions of the two subspecies blocks differ distinctly in frequency parameters and element composition. In the area of secondary contact, males of all phenotypes share the same frequency range of song, close to the range of the typical minor song. Hybrids and major males sing mixed repertoires of typical major and minor strophe types as well as mixed strophes. In contrast, phenotypic minor males display only pure minor strophes. Differences in mate choice and mating success based on repertoire size are believed to uphold the reproductive barrier between major and minor birds in the area of sympatry. Taxonomic consequences suggest three separate species in the Parus major complex: Parus major s.s. (including the very closely related bokharensis sector), Parus minor and Parus cinereus. © 2005 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2005, 86, 153–174.

Genetic variation was studied using protein electrophoresis of 28–38 gene loci in 1347 specimens of Apodemus agrar-ius, A. peninsulae, A. flavicollis, A. sylvaticus, A. alpicola, A. uralensis, A. cf. hyrcanicus, A. hermonensis, A. m. mystacinus and A. m. epimelas, representing 121 populations from Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa. Mean values of heterozygosity per locus for each species ranged from 0.02 to 0.04. Mean values of Nel's genetic distance (D) between the taxa ranged from 0.06 (between A. flavicollis and A. alpicola) to 1.34 (between A. uralensis and A. agrarius). The highest values of D were found between A. agrarius and other Apodemus species (0.62-1.34). These values correspond to those generally observed between genera in small mammals. Our data show that A. agrarius and A. peninsulae are sister species, well-differentiated from other taxa. High genetic distance between A. m. mystacinus and A. m. epimelas leads us to consider them distinct species and sister taxa to other Western Palaearctic species of the subgenus Sylvaemus. The data also suggest a recent separation of members of the latter group from a common ancestor, and subsequent rapid radiation, making it difficult to infer phylogenetic relationships. Some taxonomic implications of the results are discussed further.© 2002 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2002, 75, 395–419.

We have described the morphological variation of five Western Palaearctic species of Monochamus Dejean, 1821. The variation was assessed using wing measurements. Special emphasis was placed on the differences between Monochamus sartor (F., 1787) and Monochamus urussovii (Fischer-Waldheim, 1805). There was an interesting pattern of variation between the two species. Individuals of M. sartor from the Carpathians differed markedly from individuals of M. urussovii from Siberia, but individuals from north-eastern Poland were intermediate between those two populations. The intermediate individuals were more similar to the Siberian M. urussovii than to the Carpathian M. sartor despite the relatively large geographic distance between north-eastern Poland and Siberia. The occurrence of the intermediate individuals in north-eastern Poland may be the effect of hybridization between M. urussovii and M. sartor, which might have occurred after secondary contact between the two species in the Holocene.

To assess the Zoogeographie and phylogenetic relationships of C. dsinezumi , its systematic position has been investigated through electrophoretic comparisons. These comparisons comprise typical Indomalayan and Palaearctic species, including C mssula , the supposed sister taxon of the Japanese white-toothed shrew. The range of measured genetic distances that separate dsinezumi from the other shrews (Nei's D = 0.232–0.406) is typical for interspecific comparisons among Crocidura taxa. Our results reinforce morphologic considerations that suggest C. dsinezumi be treated as a valid species. Phylogenetic relationships deduced from a cladistic treatment of allozyme data refute the possibility that the western Palaearctic C mssula is the sister taxon of C. dsinezumi . Zoogeographie interpretation of the genetic results indicates that the Southeast Asian representatives constitute a clade distinct from one that includes the Palaearctic species. However, C dsinezumi is difficult to assign to either clade due to many intermediate or plesiomorphic electrophoretic characters. Unlike the major karyologic and biochemical separation that divides Afrotropical and Palaearctic species, the subdivision between Palaearctic and Indomalayan Crocidura is not correlated with any trend in karyotypic evolution. It also is shown that the Eurasiatic species of Crocidura possessing 2n = 40 chromosomes (including C. dsinezumi ) do not represent a particular clade, but probably share a plesiomorphic character. Further analysis of other Indian or Asiatic species is needed to test whether the Palaearctic versus Indomalayan separation is due to real Zoogeographie barriers or whether it is the result of limited samples.