Czech Arachnological Society

Většinou lidé při návštěvě přírody o hmyzu a jeho úloze v ekosystémech vědí jen velmi málo. Poznatky a názory obvykle vycházejí z informací často nevalné kvality, které proběhnou médii, z lidových mýtů a u některých možná z toho, co si pamatují ze školních lavic. Často také slýcháme, že především mladí o studium hmyzu dnes již nemají ani moc zájem. Je to pravda jen částečně. Je mnoho takových, kteří opravdu o přírodu zájem ztratili, avšak i hodně těch, kteří by se o ní rádi dozvěděli více. Na sociálních sítích existuje poměrně početná komunita, která hmyz sbírá nebo fotografuje, a hledá možnosti získání dalších informací. Na tuto společenskou poptávku by měly reagovat akce jako přírodovědné vycházky, které plní nejen roli vzdělávací, ale i popularizační. Kdo jiný než odborné společnosti by měl podobná setkání pořádat. Je to také jedinečná příležitost, jak přivést mladé lidi ke krásnému koníčku, kterým entomologie bezesporu je.

The Na Hupech meadow in Prague-Modřany is an important site for both biodiversity and well-being of local people. A survey conducted by the authors there in 2018–2020 revealed 90 spider, three harvestman, three false scorpion, eight millipede, two centipede, seven woodlice, 47 leaf- and planthopper, 66 true bug, 37 beetle, three amphibian, three reptilian and 88 vascular plant species. Among them, the silvaniid beetle Airaphilus elongatus is considered Critically Endangered according to the Czech Red List; true bug Ceraleptus gracilicornis, beetle Agyrtes bicolor and frog Bufotes viridis are Endangered; spider Nematogmus sanguinolentus, true bug Galeatus maculatus, beetle Tropinota hirta, frog Bufo bufo and lizard Lacerta agilis are vulnerable species. Beetles Oxythyrea funesta and Tropinota hirta, frogs Bufo bufo, Bufotes
viridis and Rana dalmatina, lizards Anguis fragilis and Lacerta agilis and snake Natrix natrix are specially protected species according to the Czech law. In addition, Thyreocoris fulvipennis (Heteroptera: Thyreocoridae) has been recorded there for the first time in Bohemia. Due to its rich biodiversity and occurrence of protected and threatened species, the site should be maintained in its current state and protected against construction activities.

The whip spider (Amblypygi) genus Paraphrynus Moreno, 1940 is distributed from the southern U.S.A. to the Greater Antilles and northern South America. Mexico is the diversity hotspot of the genus where many morphologically similar species occur, often in close geographical proximity. The present contribution aimed to resolve the diversity and phylogenetic relationships within the aztecus group of species, which includes the type species, Paraphrynus mexicanus (Bilimek, 1867), resulting in the description of a new species from Mexico, Paraphrynus pseudomexicanus sp.n. This is the first study to integrate morphology, karyotype, and DNA for species delimitation in whip spiders. Karyotype data have not been previously used for the taxonomy of these arachnids. Sequence analysis included seven species of the aztecus group, two other species of Paraphrynus, and an outgroup species of the putative sister genus, Phrynus Lamarck, 1801. Two nuclear genes (18S rDNA and 28S rDNA) and three mitochondrial genes (12S rDNA, 16S rDNA, and Cytochrome c Oxidase Subunit I) were analyzed phylogenetically. Hypotheses of karyotype evolution of Paraphrynus are consistent with conclusions based on the morphological and molecular data. The ancestral karyotype of the aztecus group probably consisted of a relatively low number of bi-armed chromosomes. Diploid numbers decreased by cycles consisting of inversion and consequent centric fusion during the evolution of the clade comprising P. mexicanus and P. pseudomexicanus.

We examined the distribution of genes for major ribosomal RNAs (rDNA) on holokinetic chromosomes of 74 species belonging to 19 genera of scorpions from the family Buthidae using fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH). Our analysis revealed differences between the two main evolutionary lineages within the family. The genera belonging to the ‘Buthus group’, with a proposed Laurasian origin, possess one pair of rDNA mainly in an interstitial position, with the only exceptions being the terminal location found in some Hottentotta and Buthacus species, possibly as a result of chromosome fissions. All the remaining buthid ‘groups’ possess rDNA found strictly in a terminal position. However, the number of signals may increase from an ancestral state of one pair of rDNA loci to up to seven signals in Reddyanus ceylonensis Kovařík et al., 2016. Despite the differences in evolutionary dynamics of the rDNA clusters between the ‘Buthus group’ and other lineages investigated, we found a high incidence of reciprocal translocations and presence of multivalent associations during meiosis in the majority of the genera studied. These phenomena seem to be typical for the whole family Buthidae.