Bumblebees of the subgenus Bombus s. str. dominate (or used to dominate) many north temperate pollinator assemblages and include most of the commercial bumblebee pollinator species. Several species are now in serious decline, so conservationists need to know precisely which ones are involved. The problem is that many Bombus s. str. species are cryptic, so that species identification from morphology may be impossible for some individuals and is frequently misleading according to recent molecular studies. This is the first review of the entire subgenus to: (1) avoid fixed a priori assumptions concerning the limits of the problematic species; and (2) sample multiple sites from across the entire geographic ranges of all of the principal named taxa worldwide; and (3) fit an explicit model for how characters change within an evolutionary framework; and (4) apply explicit and consistent criteria within this evolutionary framework for recognising species. We analyse easily-obtained DNA (COI-barcode) data for 559 sequences from 279 localities in 33 countries using general mixed Yule-coalescent (GMYC) models, assuming only the morphologically distinctive species B. affinis Cresson, B. franklini (Frison), B. ignitus Smith and B. tunicatus Smith, and then recognise other comparable COI-barcode groups as putative species. These species correspond to modified concepts of the taxa B. cryptarum (Fabricius), B. hypocrita Pérez, B. jacobsoni Skorikov, B. lantschouensis Vogt n. stat., B. longipennis Friese, B. lucorum (Linnaeus), B. magnus Vogt, B. minshanensis Bischoff n. stat., B. occidentalis Greene, B. patagiatus Nylander, B. sporadicus Nylander, B. terrestris (Linnaeus) and B. terricola Kirby (a total of 17 species). Seven lectotypes are designated. Our results allow us for the first time to diagnose all of the putative species throughout their global ranges and to map the extent of these geographic ranges.

B. (Sibiricobombus) niveatus and B. (Sibiricobombus) vorticosus are analyzed and compared with selected species of the subgenera Melanobombus and Mendacibombus. Different geometric morphometric methods based on wings landmark data show that there are no morphological differences between B. niveatus and B. vorticosus. These results support the hypothesis that B. niveatus and B. vorticosus should be regarded as conspecific. On the other hand, the wing shapes show significant differences among the bumblebee species and subgenera that are coherent with their specific and subgeneric status. This approach may help future studies not only by contributing towards solving problems in systematics but also in understanding the flight mechanism of bumblebees. It also supports studies on the evolution of crossvein structure and on aerodynamics of different wing shapes in insects.

The two Old World genera, Phlebotomus and Sergentomyia, were both recorded in southern Anatolia in Turkey. Phlebotomus species predominated and comprised about 93% of the entire collection (3, 172 specimens). Out of the sixteen species identified, two belonged to the genus Sergentomyia: S. dentata and S. theodori. The remaining fourteen species in the genus Phlebotomus were grouped under four subgenera including some species that are elsewhere known to act as vectors of human cutaneous leishmaniasis. Most of the Phlebotomus were P. tobbi (32.5%), but P. papatasi, P. transcaucasicus, P. halepensis, P. galilaeus, P. sergenti, P. syriacus, P. neglectus, P. simici, P. alexandri, P. similis, P. jacusieli, P. perfiliewi, and P. brevis were also identified. There were two associations of sand fly fauna with altitudinal gradient; the first one at relatively higher altitudes and the second one at lower altitudes. The transition between these two assemblages was within the range of 800–1, 000 m. It is like...

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