Shchurov V.I., Makarkin V.N.
Caucasian Entomological Bulletin 2025; 21(2): 327-368
New faunistic and ecological data are provided for 54 species of Neuroptera and three species of Raphidioptera from the North-Western Caucasus (Krasnodar Region, Republic of Adygea, Karachay-Cherkessia Republic of Russia). Chrysopa dubitans McLachlan, 1887, Ch. commata Kis et Ùjhelyi, 1965, Ch. dorsalis Burmeister, 1839 and Myrmeleon immanis Walker, 1853 are recorded for Krasnodar Region for the first time and the presence of Hemerobius handschini Tjeder, 1957 is confirmed. Dendroleon pantherinus (Fabricius, 1787), Myrmeleon inconspicuus Rambur, 1842, Phaeostigma notatum (Fabricius, 1781) and Apertochrysa ventralis (Curtis, 1834) are found in the Republic of Adygea for the first time. Specimens collected and/or reared in the period from 2021 to 2025 add a new information to the data earlier collected since 1996. These include a new data about preimaginal stages and regional phenology of the species. In that five-year period, 26 species of Neuroptera and three ones of Raphidioptera were reared in 175 laboratory experiments under partially controlled conditions (in vitro). This allowed us to trace their seasonal cycles, local phenology, ethology, and trophic preferences, and to understand the morphology of their preimaginal stages much better. Eggs of 16 Neuroptera species were obtained. One species of Coniopterygidae, one species of Hemerobiidae, eight species of Chrysopidae, ten species of Myrmeleontidae and two species of Raphidiidae were reared to adults from eggs or larvae collected in the wild. New data on the distributional ranges of little-known species considered rare in the North Caucasus and listed in regional Red Books are provided: Libelloides macaronius (Scopoli, 1763), Italochrysa italica (Rossi, 1790), Dendroleon pantherinus, Megistopus flavicornis (Rossi, 1790), Acanthaclisis occitanica (Villers, 1789), Synclisis baetica (Rambur, 1842). Seasonal cycles, the phenology of imago and preimaginal stages of 6 Neuroptera species protected in Krasnodar Region and/or Adygea, obtained in nature and grown in vitro, are presented. Considering the new records, 84 Neuroptera species and four Raphidioptera species are known in the North-Western Caucasus fauna. A significant part of our data is related to specially protected nature areas established before 18 December 2025 within the borders of Krasnodar Region - 65, and one the Republic of Adygea. Three of them are federal, 62 regional and one municipal. This increases the sozological significance of these protected nature reserves.
