©Slovenian Entomological Society, download unter www.biologiezentrum.at
LJUBLJANA, JUNE 1999	Vol. 7, No. 1: 53-57
SIX SPECIES OF MIRIDAE NEW TO THE FAUNA OF YUGOSLAVIA
Ljiljana PROTIČ
Natural History Museum, Njegoševa 51, P.O. Box 401, YU-11000 Beograd,
Yugoslavia
Abstract - From October 1997 till July 1998, in the neighbourhood of Belgrade, we identified six species of the Miridae family new to the Heteroptera fauna of Serbia and Yugoslavia. These were: Megacoelum becked Fieber, Orthotylus (Orthotylus) prasinus Fallen, Phytocoris (Phytocoris) populi Linnaeus, Psallus (Apocremnus) ancorifer Fieber, Psallus assimilis Stichel and Pseudoloxops coccinea Meyer-Diir.
Key words: Heteroptera, Miridae, Yugoslavia, Balkan Peninsula
Izvleček ŠEST ZA FAVNO JUGOSLAVIJE NOVIH VRST IZ DRUŽINE MIRIDAE
V obdobju od oktobra 1997 do julija 1998 smo v okolici Beograda našli šest vrst stenic iz družine Miridae, novih v favni Srbije in Jugoslavije. To so Megacoelum beckeri Fieber, Orthotylus (Orthotylus) prasinus Fallen, Phytocoris (Phytocoris) populi Linnaeus, Psallus (Apocremnus) ancorifer Fieber, Psallus assimilis Stichel in Pseudoloxops coccinea Meyer-Diir.
Ključne besede: Heteroptera, Miridae, Jugoslavija, Balkanski polotok
Introduction
The great biodiversity of Yugoslav Heteroptera is a response to the characteristic geologic past and a series of recent factors: climatic, geological, hydrological, orographic, as well as specific flora and vegetation. From 1851, when a bug species was
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©Slovenian Entomological Society, download unter www.bioloc/feefeffitanitaniologica slovenica, 7 (1), 1999
first described from the territory of Serbia, the number of the recorded species has been steadily increasing, so that as much as 700 Heteroptera species has so far been established.
Our paper presents data on the distribution of six species of the Miridae family in the territory of Serbia and Yugoslavia. The following species were treated: Megacoelum beckeri Fieber, Orthotylus (Orthotylus) prasinus Fallen, Phytocoris (Phytocoris) populi Linnaeus, Psallus (Apocremnus) ancorifer Fieber, Psallus assimilis Stichel and Pseudoloxops coccinea Meyer-Diir.
The specimens were collected by eng. Aleksandar Stojanovic, an entomologist of the Natural History Museum in Belgrade. The specimens of all species cited in this paper are kept in the Entomological Collection of the Natural History Museum in Belgrade (600 BEO 0595754).
List of sites
The insects were collected at the following five sites in the wider area of Belgrade [the marks in square brackets indicate UTM codes]:
-	Mt. Kosmaj in Sumadija 52 km S of Belgrade [DQ62];
Lipovacka Suma around 12 km SW from Belgrade in the vicinity of Sremcica [DQ54];
-	Mala Mostanica: Zuto Brdo around 25 km SW from Belgrade, fields with isolated trees [DQ44];
-	Podluzje: Boljevci: Crni Lug at the left bank of the Sava river in the forest community of Fraxino angustifoliae-Quercetum robori [DQ35];
Ritopek village around 20 km SE of Belgrade on the right bank of the Danube [DQ75],
Results
The following six species of Miridae (Heteroptera) have been found in the country surrounding Belgrade.
Megacoelum beckeri Fieber,1870, one female was found at Lipovacka Suma on Quercus cenis, October 10, 1997.
Orthotylus (Orthotylus) prasinus Fallen, 1829, five males and five females were collected at Ritopek, June 20, 1998.
Psallus (Apocremnus) ancorifer Fieber, 1858, one female was caught on Mt. Kosmaj, June 6,1998.
Psallus assimilis Stichel, 1956, two females were collected on Acer campestre on Mt.
Kosmaj, June 6, 1998.
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L. Prolič: Six species of Miridae new lo ihe fauna of Yugoslavia
Phytocoris (Phytocoris) populi (Linnaeus, 1758), one male was taken at Boljevci: Crni Lug, on Fraxinus angustifolia, July 7, 1998.
Pseudoloxops coccinea Meyer-Diir, 1843, ten males and ten females were found on Fraxinus angustifolia at Boljevci: Crni Lug, July 7, 1998, two males and two females were found at Mala Moštanica: Žuto Brdo, July 25, 1998.
Discussion
Megacoelum beckeri is a European species. In ex-Yugoslavia it has been recorded in: Slovenia (Gogala & Moder, 1960; Gogala & Gogala, 1986); Croatia (Novak & Wagner, 1951; Furlan & Gogala, 1995); Macedonia (Wagner, 1960) and, on the Balkan Peninsula, also in Bulgaria and Greece (Josifov, 1986). This is the first record of M. beckeii in Yugoslavia. The species occurs on deciduous trees. In the locality of Lipovačka Suma it was collected on Quercus ceiris.
The specimens of the species Orthotylus (Orthotylus) prasinus are recorded for the fauna of Serbia for the first time. They were collected at Ritopek, in deciduous shrub, field hedges. In ex-Yugoslavia the species was noted only at a small number of sites. According to literature data it was recorded in Slovenia at two sites (Gogala & Gogala, 1986), at one site in Bosnia and Herzegovina (Apfelbeck, 1891), and at Bar in Montenegro (HorvAth, 1918). European species.
According to existing records, the species Phytocoris (Phytocoris) populi has been caught on deciduous trees, mostly on Salix sp. and Populus sp. The specimens we collected at Boljevci: Crni Lug were found on Fraxinus angustifolia. Euromediterranean species. In the Balkans, it has so far been noted in Greece and Bulgaria (Josifov, 1986), and in ex-Yugoslavia in Slovenia (Gogala & Moder, 1960; Gogala & Gogala, 1986), in Croatia only at Fužine (Horvath, 1900).
The species Psallus (Apocremnus) ancorifer has so far been known from Dalmatia (Novak & Wagner, 1951; Balarin, 1975), Herzegovina (Sienkiewicz, 1964) and Macedonia (Kormilev, 1936). On the Balkan Peninsula the species has also been found in Bulgaria and Greece (Josifov, 1986). The first record of P. ancorifer for Serbia, as well as for Yugoslavia, was made on Mt. Kosmaj. A north-Mediterranean species.
The species Psallus assimilis is a European species. In Yugoslavia it was first recorded on Mt. Kosmaj. This is the first datum for its distribution in the Balkan peninsula. Up to now there are no data about the distribution of this species in the Mediterranean basin, and in the Balkans (Josifov, 1986). It is spread in England and Finland (Stichel, 1956-1958), and also in Holland (collection Dr. B. Aukema).
The species Pseudoloxops coccinea is a Euromediterranean species. In the Balkan peninsula, it was found in Bulgaria (Josifov, 1986); in Croatia, a single site in Dalmatia: Sinj: Čitluk (Novak & Wagner, 1951); and we now have two records for Serbia: Boljevci: Crni Lug and Mala Moštanica. It inhabits the genus Fraxinus.
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Conclusions
It is common knowledge that the habitats in the vicinity of large cities are continually undergoing changes, which lead to the disappearance of some species and the appearance of other. A good example for this is the neighbourhood of Belgrade, where we found 15 new Heteroptera species of the Miridae family (Protič, 1997; 1998) during only the past three years. Since 1995, Heteroptera have been continually collected in Belgrade and its vicinity. Continuous work in the field is another factor that enabled us to find such a great number of bug species new to the fauna of Serbia.
One of the six species identified, Psallus assimilis, is new for the Heteroptera fauna of the Balkan peninsula, whereas four of them, Megacoelum beckeri, Orthotylus (Orthotylus) prasinus, Phytocoris (Phytocoris) populi, Psallus (Apocremnus) ancorifer ancorifer, Pseudoloxops coccinea are new to the fauna of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro), and one species identified, Orthotylus (Orthotylus) prasinus is new to Serbia.
With these six species, the number of Miridae species known in Serbia has increased to 244.
Acknowledgements
The author is thankful to Dr. Berend Aukema (Holland), who kindly sent the specimens of two species, Psallus assimilis and Psallus flavellus, for comparison with our specimens. I also thank colleague eng. Aleksandar Stojanovič for the specimens collected.
Sažetak
U ovom prilogu prvi put se objavljuju podaci o rasprostranjenju šest vrsta stenica familije Miridae novih za teritoriju Srbije i Jugoslavije. Obradene vrste su: Megacoelum beckeri Fieber, Orthotylus (Orthotylus) prasinus Fallen, Phytocoris (Phytocoris) populi Linnaeus, Psallus (Apocremnus) ancorifer Fieber, Psallus assimilis Stichel and Pseudoloxops coccinea Meyer-Diir. U Jugoslaviji su do sada nadene 246 vrste ove familije, tako daje podatak o svakoj sledečoj sve značajniji.
Primerci svih navedenih vrsta čuvaju se u Entomološkoj zbirci Prirodnjačkog muzeja u Beogradu (600 BEO 0595754).
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L. Protič: Six species of Miridae new to Ihe fauna of Yugoslavia
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