We describe and illustrate a new species of pselaphine beetles, Paramaurops zagoricus sp. n., from the Zagori region of Epirus, Greece. A list summarising the distribution of Amauropini known from Greece is also provided.

Hiranetis coleopteroides (Walker, 1873) is here found to be conspecific with Graptocleptes bicolor (Burmeister, 1838). Graptocleptes bicolor is redescribed and the male genitalia characters are illustrated for the first time. Intraspecific morphological, color and male genitalia variability are discussed. Furthermore, the species is recorded from Paraguay for the first time.

Vibrations through substrates are an important source of information for diverse organisms, from nematodes to elephants. The fundamental challenge for small animals using vibrational communication is to move their limited mass fast enough to provide sufficient kinetic energy for effective information transfer through the substrate whilst optimising energy efficiency over repeated cycles. Here, we describe a vibratory organ found across a commercially important group of plant-feeding insects, the planthoppers (Hemiptera: Fulgoromorpha). This elastic recoil snapping organ generates substrate-borne broadband vibrations using fast, cyclical abdominal motion that transfers kinetic energy to the substrate through the legs. Elastic potential energy is stored and released twice using two different latched energy-storage mechanisms, each utilising a different form of elastic recoil to increase the speed of motion. Comparison to the acoustic tymbal organ of cicadas (Hemiptera: Cicadomorpha) reveals functional convergence in their use of elastic mechanisms to increase the efficacy of mechanical communication. Animals use substrate-borne vibrations for eavesdropping and communication over an immense range of body size—from elephants to nematodes. Vibrational communication is especially challenging for small animals because of the high mechanical power that is needed to transmit information effectively over extended distances through a substrate. Here, we show that planthoppers, a commercially important group of insects, produce vibrations for communication using a reciprocal elastic recoil mechanism that proves remarkably effective at small body size. By combining morphological and biomechanical analyses of a previously overlooked vibratory organ on the abdomen, we show that planthoppers use fast, cyclical abdominal motions to generate substrate-borne vibrations. This novel, to our knowledge, mechanism, which we term the snapping organ, makes use of slow energy storage and fast elastic recoil twice during each cycle of motion, involving two distinct elastic elements. This cyclical mechanism allows planthoppers to transmit signal pulses containing a broad range of frequencies to the substrate. The mechanism is efficient, achieving fast cyclical motion without relying on high muscle power and mass, both of which are limited for animals of small size. The snapping organ is ubiquitous across planthoppers and presents an interesting example of how elastic mechanisms can be used to enable nonacoustic vibrational communication between animals.

Acoustic and substrate‐borne vibrations are among the most widely used signalling modalities in animals. Arthropods display a staggering diversity of vibroacoustic organs generating acoustic sound and/or substrate‐borne vibrations, and are fundamental to our broader understanding of the evolution of animal signalling. The primary mechanism that arthropods use to generate vibroacoustic signals is stridulation, which involves the rubbing together of opposing body parts. Although stridulation is common, its behavioural context and evolutionary drivers are often hard to pinpoint, owing to limited synthesis of empirical observations on stridulatory species. This is exacerbated by the diversity of mechanisms involved and the sparsity of their description in the literature, which renders their documentation a challenging task. Here, we present the most comprehensive review to date on the systematic distribution and behavioural context of stridulation. We use the megadiverse heteropteran insects as a model, together with multiple arthropod outgroups (arachnids, myriapods, and selected pancrustaceans). We find that stridulatory vibroacoustic signalling has evolved independently at least 84 times and is present in roughly 20% of Heteroptera, representing a remarkable case of convergent evolution. By studying the behavioural context of stridulation across Heteroptera and 189 outgroup lineages, we find that predation pressure and sexual selection are the main behaviours associated with stridulation across arthropods, adding further evidence for their role as drivers of large‐scale signalling and morphological innovation in animals. Remarkably, the absence of tympanal ears in most Heteroptera suggests that they typically cannot detect the acoustic component of their stridulatory signals. This demonstrates that the adoption of new signalling modalities is not always correlated with the ability to perceive those signals, especially when these signals are directed towards interspecific receivers in defensive contexts. Furthermore, by mapping their morphology and systematic distribution, we show that stridulatory organs tend to evolve in specific body parts, likely originating from cleaning motions and pre‐copulatory displays that are common to most arthropods. By synthesising our understanding of stridulation and stridulatory organs across major arthropod groups, we create the necessary framework for future studies to explore their systematic and behavioural significance, their potential role in sensory evolution and innovation, and the biomechanics of this mode of signalling.

The psyllids Platyobria biemani Burckhardt, Queiroz & Malenovský, 2014 and Blastopsylla occidentalis Taylor, 1985 (Hemiptera: Psylloidea: Aphalaridae) originally native to Australia, have now spread to the Eastern Mediterranean as pests of Eucalyptus spp. In the present study, we provide the first records of these species from Cyprus and we expand the range of P. biemani within continental Greece. The specimens were collected from ornamental Eucalyptus trees in Paphos and Limassol districts. In addition, material surveys in Greece revealed the presence of P. biemani in Attica (Salamis Island and Nea Peramos). Given the number of sampled sites, both species should be classified as established pests responsible for small-scale, local infestations of Eucalyptus spp. The Australian Glycaspis brimblecombei Moore, 1964, already known from Cyprus, is widespread on the island and its effects undermine the aesthetics of natural and urban landscapes. The socioeconomic impacts of alien Eucalyptus psyllids in Cyprus are discussed.

The Canary Archipelago is home to two species of obligately cavernicolous assassin bugs of the genus Collartida Villiers, 1949 (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Reduviidae: Emesinae: Collartidini). These species are highly adapted for cave life, being blind and wingless. In the present study, we describe a new species of the genus, C. phantasma sp. nov. from the Federica mine in Gran Canaria. C. phantasma sp. nov. differs from the other two Collartida species found in the Canary Archipelago in that the male is fully winged, the female is wingless, and both sexes have well-developed eyes. We provide information regarding the new species’ habitat, its taxonomic affinities, and its ability to fly.