Common myna or Indian myna - Acridotheres tristis (Linnaeus, 1766) - Κοινή Μάινα, Σκoυρoμάϊvα, Μάινα - 1rd Cyprus record.

 The common myna or Indian myna (Acridotheres tristis), sometimes spelled mynah, is a bird in the family Sturnidae, native to Asia. An omnivorous open woodland bird with a strong territorial instinct, the common myna has adapted extremely well to urban environments.

The range of the common myna is increasing at such a rapid rate that in 2000 the IUCN Species Survival Commission declared it one of the world's most invasive species and one of only three birds listed among "100 of the World's Worst Invasive Species" that pose a threat to biodiversity, agriculture and human interests. In particular, the species poses a serious threat to the ecosystems of Australia, where it was named "The Most Important Pest/Problem" in 2008

Invasive species

The IUCN declared the common myna as one of only three birds among the world's 100 worst invasive species (the other two being the red-vented bulbul and the common starling). The French introduced it in the 18th century from Pondicherry to Mauritius with the aim of controlling insects, even levying a fine on anyone persecuting the bird. It has since been introduced widely elsewhere, including adjacent areas in Southeast Asia, Madagascar, the Middle East, South Africa, the United States, Argentina, Germany, Spain and Portugal, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and various oceanic islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans, including prominent populations in Fiji and Hawaii.

The common myna is regarded as a pest in South Africa, North America, the Middle East, Australia, New Zealand and many Pacific islands. It is particularly problematic in Australia. Several methods have been tried to control the bird's numbers and protect native species. .From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Νέο ξένο εισβλητικό είδος στην Κύπρο

Η ινδική Μάινα, ένα πουλί ιθαγενές στη νότια Ασία, έχει κάνει από τον Ιανουάριο του 2022 την εμφάνισή του στην Κύπρο. Πρόκειται για ένα από τα 100 κορυφαία ξένα εισβλητικά είδη παγκοσμίως και το οποίο αποτελεί σοβαρή απειλή για την τοπική ορνιθοπανίδα και τα οικοσυστήματα, καθώς ανταγωνίζεται τα ιθαγενή είδη. 

Ο αντίκτυπος των ξένων εισβλητικών ειδών παγκοσμίως δεν πρέπει να υποτιμάται. Τέτοιοι εισβολείς αποτελούν τη δεύτερη μεγαλύτερη αιτία απώλειας ειδών μετά από την απώλεια βιοτόπων. 

Photos Limassol 17/2/2022 by George Konstantinou

Red-flanked bluetail or orange-flanked bush-robin (Tarsiger cyanurus) (Pallas, 1773) - Κυάνουρος - 3rd Cyprus record.

 The red-flanked bluetail (Tarsiger cyanurus), also known as the orange-flanked bush-robin, is a small passerine bird that was formerly classed as a member of the thrush family Turdidae, but is now more generally considered to be an Old World flycatcher, Muscicapidae. It, and related species, are often called chats.

Habitat

It is a migratory insectivorous species breeding in mixed coniferous forest with undergrowth in northern Asia and northeastern Europe, from Finland east across Siberia to Kamchatka and south to Japan. It winters mainly in southeastern Asia, in the Indian Subcontinent, the Himalayas, Taiwan, and northern Indochina. The breeding range is slowly expanding westwards through Finland (where up to 500 pairs now breed), and it is a rare but increasing vagrant to western Europe, mainly to Great Britain. There have also been a few records in westernmost North America, mostly in western Alaska, but one on San Clemente Island off the southern California coast. And one overwintering on the Central California coast in Santa Cruz, California 2023

Description

At 13–14 cm long and 10–18 g weight, the red-flanked bluetail is similar in size and weight to the common redstart and slightly smaller (particularly with a slimmer build) than the European robin. As the name implies, both sexes have a blue tail and rump, and orange-red flanks; they also have a white throat and greyish-white underparts, and a small, thin black bill and slender black legs. The adult male additionally has dark blue upperparts, while females and immature males are plain brown above apart from the blue rump and tail, and have a dusky breast. In behaviour, it is similar to a common redstart, frequently flicking its tail in the same manner, and regularly flying from a perch to catch insects in the air or on the ground. The male sings its melancholy trill from treetops. Its call is a typical chat "tacc" noise. The nest is built on or near the ground, with 3–5 eggs which are incubated by the female.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Photos Achna dam 15 - 20/11/2021 by George Konstantinou

3rd Cyprus record.

Southern white admiral - Limenitis reducta (Staudinger, 1901) - Cyprus

 See also - List of butterflys of Cyprus - Λίστα των πεταλούδων της Κύπρου

 Limenitis reducta, the southern white admiral, is a butterfly of the family Nymphalidae.

Distribution and habitat

This species can be found in central and southern Europe (northern Iberia, southern and eastern France, Italy, the Balkans, and the Alps), in Western Asia, in Syria, the Caucasus and Iran. These butterflies live in light woodland, in woodland glades and in forest edge, at an elevation of 0–1,650 metres (0–5,413 ft) above sea level.

Description

Limenitis reducta has a wingspan of 46–54 mm. The upperside of the wings is brown black with metallic blue shine, large transversal band of white markings and a submarginal line of small blue dots. The blue sheen varies with the angle of light. The ground colour of underside of the hindwings is red, with a silvery basal area, a row of white markings and a row of black spots. A few white cell spots are also present on the underside of the forewings.The caterpillars can reach a length of 27 millimetres (1.1 in). They are light green to dull green on the back, red brown on the underside. On the back there are numerous brown thorns.

This species is rather similar to Limenitis camilla, Neptis rivularis and Araschnia levana f. prorsa.

Biology

This species may have one or more generations, depending on the location. The butterfly flies from May to August depending on the location. Larvae feed on honeysuckle (Lonicera periclymenum, Lonicera etrusca, Lonicera implexa, Lonicera xylosteum, Lonicera alpigena, Lonicera nummulariifolia and Lonicera caprifolium). Adults usually feed on nectar of a wide range of herbaceous and arboreal flowers, but also visit fallen fruits, dung, aphid secretions and mineralised moisture from damp ground. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Photos 11/6/2020 by George Konstantinou

Oriental meadow brown or branded meadowbrown - Hyponephele lupina (O. Costa, 1836) - Cyprus

  See also - List of butterflys of Cyprus - Λίστα των πεταλούδων της Κύπρου

Hyponephele lupina, the Oriental meadow brown or branded meadowbrown, is a butterfly of the family Nymphalidae. It is found in North Africa, Cyprus, south western Europe, southern Russia, Asia Minor, southern Siberia, Middle Asia, Iran and from Baluchistan to Nepal.Seitz describes it thus- lupinus Costa (47 e) is rather considerably larger than the forms [of Epinepele] so far named; the rusty yellow on the underside of the forewing is brighter, the underside of the hindwing strongly speckled. Southern Italy, Greece

Photos Prodromos 6/7/2020 by George Konstantinou

Lattice brown - Kirinia roxelana (Cramer, 1777) - Cyprus

 See also - List of butterflys of Cyprus - Λίστα των πεταλούδων της Κύπρου

Photos Lysos 1/6/2020 by George Konstantinou

Kirinia roxelana, the lattice brown, is a butterfly of the family Nymphalidae. It is found in southeastern Europe and the Near East. The butterfly is on wing between May and July. The larvae feed on various grasses.

Description

The length of the forewings is 29 to 31 mm (1.1 to 1.2 in). Seitz describes it thus- P. roxelana Cr. (45 c). The largest Pararge, with the margin of the hindwing strongly dentate, especially in the female. Male black-brown. Female grey-brown, with the disc of the forewing reddish yellow. Underside of forewing fiery yellowish red with the margins grey-brown; hindwing beneath with dark dentate lines and a curved row of unequal ocelli beyond the centre. From South-East Hungary to the Black Sea, on the Balcan Peninsula, Cyprus, in Asia Minor and Mesopotamia, in the plains as well as the mountains, in June and July, not rare. It can be confused with the lesser lattice brown (Kirinia climene) with which it shares part of its range.

Distribution and habitat

The lattice brown is found in southeastern Europe and the Near East. Its range extends from Bulgaria and southern Croatia through the Balkans to northern Iran, Turkey and Israel, including many of the islands in the Aegean Sea. It is found in a variety of habitats such as warm, dry grassland and scrubland with rocks near woodland, forest verges, vineyards and olive groves with stone walls.

Ecology

There is one generation of this butterfly which is on the wing between April and September, and is most commonly seen from May to July. The eggs are laid on broad-leaved grasses, often at the foot of walls or rocks. The caterpillars are fusiform, green with longitudinal yellowish and pale green stripes. Having overwintered as caterpillars, they pupate in the spring among the vegetation before emerging as adults..From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Synonyms

Pararge roxelana (Cramer, 1777)

Papilio roxelana Cramer, 1777

Has Papilio demoleus Linnaeus, 1758 (Lepidoptera: Papilionidae) succeeded in becoming established in Cyprus? Evidence from citizen science reports in 2022

Entomologist’s Monthly Magazine 159: 87–95

doi: 10.31184/M00138908.1592.4178

© Pemberley Books

 

Has Papilio demoleus Linnaeus, 1758 (Lepidoptera:

Papilionidae) succeeded in becoming established in Cyprus?

Evidence from citizen science reports in 2022

BY EDDIE JOHN, HASAN BAĞLAR & GEORGE KONSTANTINOU

EJ: Coach House, Church Street, Cowbridge, Vale of Glamorgan CF71 7BB, U.K.;

email: eddiejohn100@gmail.com

HB: P.O. Box 22365, 1520 Nicosia, Cyprus; email:baglar@hotmail.com

GK: Society for the Protection of Natural Heritage and the Biodiversity of Cyprus, Keryneias 6,

Geri 2200, Cyprus; email: fanigeorge@hotmail.com

                    Article history: Received: 30 January 2023; Accepted: 27 March 2023; Published: 26 May 2023

ABSTRACT

Overwintering success of Papilio demoleus Linnaeus, 1758, a recently arrived Swallowtail to

the Mediterranean basin, has been such that we are able to report on dispersal of the species into

50×5km2 -UTM squares in Cyprus. Citizen science reports, appropriately verifified, have been

invaluable in assessing the spread of a papilionid that was fifirst reported from Cyprus in August

2021. These observations, supplemented by others from members of the Cyprus Butterflfly Study

Group, point to a known area of occupation representing ca. 11% of the island in just one year.

However, the distances separating observations from the main concentration in central/eastern

areas of the island with those reported from coasts around the island, strongly support a belief that

the species has a far greater distribution in Cyprus. In turn, as the species has survived throughout

an unusually cold winter during 2021/2022, this leads us to hypothesize that a successful,

potentially permanent, range expansion has been achieved. Until more is known about the

adaptation of P. demoleus to pertaining environmental conditions in Cyprus, where fifive annual

generations appear achievable, we urge caution before the tag of ‘pest species’, as applied in other

parts of the world, is attached to P. demoleus in Mediterranean regions.

Keywords: Lepidoptera, Papilionidae, Papilio demoleus, Lime Swallowtail, Phenology,

Mediterranean Turkey, Syria, Cyprus

 

INTRODUCTION

Readers of the erstwhile sister journal Entomologist’s Gazette have perhaps become familiar with reports of the arrival in 2021 of Papilio demoleus Linnaeus, 1758 (Lime or Chequered Swallowtail) (Figs 1 & 2) in areas of the eastern Mediterranean. In Başbay, Salimeh & John (2020a & b) we commented on the recent discovery of the species at Mediterranean coastal regions of Turkey and Syria, and in John et al. (2021b), confirmed the presence (in Syria) to be that of nominotypical P. demoleus demoleus. The last-mentioned paper also confirmed the species’ dispersal into Lebanon and predicted further territory expansion by this vigorous swallowtail into Israel and Cyprus. Hecht (2021) reported arrival in northern Israel in the autumn of 2021, prior to which the anticipated arrival in Cyprus had been realised, with the discovery of P. demoleus on 11 August 2021 (John et al. 2021a). The species was first seen on the outskirts of Lysi (WD68SW), ca. 28km south-east of Nicosia, in a garden owned by the parents of the second author. Molecular analysis showed this to be P. demoleus demoleus (GenBank accession number OL742425), identical to the haplotype of the specimen from Syria (GenBank accession number MW390816), thus indicating a 

Armadillo konstantinoui Campos-Filho, Dimitriou & Sfenthourakis sp. nov. - The new species is named after Giorgos Konstantinou who, with his wife Fani, has contributed significantly to our knowledge on Cyprus biodiversity, and gave us important guidance during field work.

 Αφιερώσεις στους George Konstantinou και Emmanouela Karameta που έχουν συνεισφέρει σημαντικά στη συλλογή ισοπόδων από την Κύπρο..

Accepted by T. Riehl: 28 Feb. 2023; published: 19 Apr. 2023

Abstract

The present work aims to morphologically characterize the species of Armadillo from Cyprus. Moreover, two new species of the genus are described, A. konstantinoui sp. nov. from several places along the island, and A. karametae sp. nov. from Pafos region. The circum-Mediterranean species A. officinalis is also redescribed.

Key words:

terrestrial isopods, cryptic species, endogean species, oceanic island, Mediterranean region

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Φίδια, αλλεργίες και προφύλαξη, με τον Γιώργο Κωνσταντίνου - Μέρα Μεσημέρι - ANT1 NEWS - 30/5/2023

Mylabris madoni Marseul, 1883 – Endemic species of Cyprus

 Endemic species of Cyprus

Photos Pentadaktylos mountain 31/5/2023 by George Konstantinou

Mylabris is a genus of beetles in the family Meloidae. It is endemic to the Palearctic realm. The species-rich genus Hycleus (c. 430 spp.) was historically confused with Mylabris and have their greatest diversity in the Afrotropics