Leonidas-Romanos Davranoglou

• DPhil
• Leverhulme Early Career Fellow at Oxford University Museum of Natural History

Enicocephalomorpha, also known as unique-headed bugs, are a seldom-collected infraorder of hetero-pteran insects whose evolutionary relationships have puzzled entomologists for more than a century. Unique-headed bugs are exceptionally rare in the fossil record, which hinders our understanding of the morphological transformations of the lineage acro...

Three new species of the genus Afropselaphus Jeannel, 1950, Afropselaphus taygetensis sp. n., Afropselaphus tymficus sp. n. and Afropselaphus euboicus sp. n. are described and illustrated. Pselaphogenius treskanus (Karaman, 1940) is redescribed and new data of its distribution are provided.

Acoustic and substrate-borne vibrations are among themost 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 arth...

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...

Mammalian hearing operates on three basic steps: 1) sound capturing, 2) impedance conversion, and 3) frequency analysis. While these canonical steps are vital for acoustic communication and survival in mammals, they are not unique to them. An equivalent mechanism has been described for katydids (Insecta), and it is unique to this group among invert...

The fundamental value of universal nomenclatural systems in biology is that they enable unambiguous scientific communication. However, the stability of these systems is threatened by recent discussions asking for a fairer nomenclature, raising the possibility of bulk revision processes for "inappropriate" names. It is evident that such proposals co...

List of the 1543 additional coauthors. Co-authors who contributed revising translations are listed first. Then, the rest of the coauthors are listed according alphabetic order of countries/territories.

Archaeological evidence supports sporadic seafaring visits to the Eastern Mediterranean island of Cyprus by Epipaleolithic hunter-gatherers over 12,000 years ago, followed by permanent settlements during the early Neolithic. The geographical origins of these early seafarers have so far remained elusive. By systematically analysing all available gen...

Vibroacoustic signalling is one of the dominant strategies of animal communication, especially in small invertebrates. Among insects, the order Hemiptera displays a staggering diversity of vibroacoustic organs and is renowned for possessing biomechanically complex elastic recoil devices such as tymbals and snapping organs that enable robust vibrati...

Thaumastocoris peregrinus Carpintero and Dellapé, 2006, originally from Australia, has become a cosmopolitan alien species associated with Eucalyptus spp. (Myrtaceae). In this study, the species is recorded for the first time in Cyprus from the Limassol district and the Akrotiri UK Sovereign Base Area. The adverse socioeconomic impacts of the speci...

The origins of the Albanian people have vexed linguists and historians for centuries, as Albanians first appear in the historical record in the 11 th century CE, while their language is one of the most enigmatic branches of the Indo-European family. To identify the populations that contributed to the ancestry of Albanians, we undertake a genomic tr...

The common toad (Bufo bufo) has been the subject of many folk tales and superstitions in Western Europe, and as a result, it is characterised by numerous common names (zoonyms). However, the zoonyms of the toad and its associated traditions have remained unexplored in the Balkans, one of Europe’s linguistic hotspots. In the present study, it was at...

Micro-CT has revolutionized functional morphology by enabling volumetric reconstruction of biological specimens at micrometre scales, but its accuracy is compromised by fixation artefacts. State-of-the-art in vivo imaging avoids this, but still requires subjects to be tethered, anaesthetized, or stained. Here we use ultra-fast synchrotron-based mic...

Insects are the most diverse multicellular organisms on Earth. With estimates of total insect species scaling to the order of several millions, it might be challenging for beginners to grasp the vastness of their diversity. This second edition of Essential Entomology offers the most comprehensive and up-to-date overview of insect orders available o...

Insects are the most diverse multicellular organisms on Earth. With estimates of total insect species scaling to the order of several millions, it might be challenging for beginners to grasp the vastness of their diversity. This second edition of Essential Entomology offers the most comprehensive and up-to-date overview of insect orders available o...

Insects are the most diverse multicellular organisms on Earth. With estimates of total insect species scaling to the order of several millions, it might be challenging for beginners to grasp the vastness of their diversity. This second edition of Essential Entomology offers the most comprehensive and up-to-date overview of insect orders available o...

Insects are the most diverse multicellular organisms on Earth. With estimates of total insect species scaling to the order of several millions, it might be challenging for beginners to grasp the vastness of their diversity. This second edition of Essential Entomology offers the most comprehensive and up-to-date overview of insect orders available o...

Insects are the most diverse multicellular organisms on Earth. With estimates of total insect species scaling to the order of several millions, it might be challenging for beginners to grasp the vastness of their diversity. This second edition of Essential Entomology offers the most comprehensive and up-to-date overview of insect orders available o...

Insects are the most diverse multicellular organisms on Earth. With estimates of total insect species scaling to the order of several millions, it might be challenging for beginners to grasp the vastness of their diversity. This second edition of Essential Entomology offers the most comprehensive and up-to-date overview of insect orders available o...

Insects are the most diverse multicellular organisms on Earth. With estimates of total insect species scaling to the order of several millions, it might be challenging for beginners to grasp the vastness of their diversity. This second edition of Essential Entomology offers the most comprehensive and up-to-date overview of insect orders available o...

Insects are the most diverse multicellular organisms on Earth. With estimates of total insect species scaling to the order of several millions, it might be challenging for beginners to grasp the vastness of their diversity. This second edition of Essential Entomology offers the most comprehensive and up-to-date overview of insect orders available o...

In the present study, Collartida eowilsoni sp. nov. is described from Guadalcanal (Solomon Islands), which extends the distribution of the genus and the tribe Collartidini as a whole to the Oceanian biogeographic realm. The highly aberrant morphology of the new species required a reassessment of the diagnostic characters and generic limits of Colla...

Bursinia genei (Dufour, 1849) is the most widespread species of the planthopper subfamily Orgeriinae (Hemiptera: Fulgoromorpha: Dictyopharidae) in Europe, found from the Iberian Peninsula to the Western Balkans. However, its diagnostically important genitalia and biology have been insufficiently described. We employ state-of-the-art synchrotron X-r...

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 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. fro...

Detailed distribution records of the remarkable Eared Leafhopper Ledra aurita from Greece are presented for the first time. All available records from museum and personal collections, as well as online arthropod identification groups were assembled and mapped. The distribution and ecology of the species in the country are briefly discussed.

We record Dolichopoda lustriae Rampini & Di Russo, 2008 (Orthoptera: Ensifera: Rhaphidophoridae) from the Pindus mountain range in Epirus, Greece, more than 200 km to the north of the type locality in Aetolia-Acarnania. We show that this species has an unusually broad distribution for a Balkan cave cricket, and can also live independently of caves,...

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. Περίληψη: Στην παρούσα έρευνα, περιγράφουμε και φωτογραφίζουμε ένα νέο είδος σκαθαριού της υπο-οικογένειας Pselaphinae, το Par...

Although the Indo-Eastern Mediterranean giant water bug Lethocerus patruelis (Stål, 1854) is Europe's largest hemipteran and aquatic insect, its distribution in Greece has remained poorly understood. Only a handful of records exists from the Ionian Islands, Macedonia, Thrace, and isolated observations in Preveza (Epirus), Achaia (north-western Pelo...

The broad-headed bug Nemausus sordidatus (Stål, 1858), distributed across Africa, the Near East, southern Iberian Peninsula and Sicily, is recorded from Greece and Cyprus for the first time. Habitus photographs of the recorded specimens are presented, and the status of the species as invasive in the two countries is discussed .

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3000155.].

Cicadas and many of their relatives (Hemiptera: Cicadomorpha) generate vibroacoustic signals using tymbal organs located on their first two abdominal segments. Although tymbals are well-studied in Cicadidae, their systematic distribution in other Cicadomorpha and their possible homologies to the vibroacoustic mechanisms of other Hemiptera have been...

The Turkestan cockroach Shelfordella lateralis is a peridomestic species originally from the Middle East and Central Asia, which has recently become an invasive species in the USA, Mexico, Japan and Sardinia, where it is considered as a pest. We provide the first records of this species from Cyprus and turkey, making these the second records of est...

Vibrational communication is ubiquitous in planthoppers (Hemiptera: Fulgoromorpha), but its mechanism remained unknown until a recent paper by Davranoglou et al. (2019) describing the functional morphology, behavioural biomechanics, and systematic distribution of a widespread vibrational mechanism that they termed a “snapping organ”. The mechanism...

A mechanism involving interaction of the metathoracic wing and third abdominal segment of derbid plan-thoppers was first discovered over a century ago, and interpreted as a stridulatory organ for sound production. Although referred to occasionally in later taxonomic works, the detailed morphology, systematic distribution, and behavioural significan...

Three tabs show (i) vibrometry data from the midabdomen during loading and unloading (three measurements from individual 1), along with calculations of peak coordinates, time since x-axis crossing, and attenuation of peak motions from midabdomen to plant substrate and prothorax to plant substrate; (ii) vibrometry data from the laser focussed on pla...

Vibrometry recordings of vibration generation in a male A. bilobum, in which black, grey, and light grey represent recordings from the midabdomen, prothorax, and plant stem, respectively. Three repeats are plotted on each panel. (A) Time–velocity plots of recordings across multiple cycles, labelling the location of L and U phases over time. (B) Dat...

Species list of examined taxa, along with data on individual type of preservation, observation method, and depository. Examination of dry mounted specimens using microscopy only allowed documentation of exoskeletal morphology, while musculature was also studied in ethanol-preserved specimens. Use of SR-μCT permitted examination of the exoskeleton,...

Muscles operating the snapping organ of Fulgoromorpha, based on dissection of ethanol-preserved specimens and SR-μCT scans. Function of muscles was inferred by high-speed videography, power calculations of laser Doppler vibrometry recordings of A. bilobum, and artificial contraction of the respective muscles using a pair of forceps in ethanol-prese...

Dissected snapping organ of a male A. bilobum. (A) Bug viewed under light microscopy; (B) bug excited by UV light, the externally visible fluorescence indicating the presence of rs on the membrane between the arms of the lb (arrowed). Dashed arrow indicates other areas of fluorescence on the abdomen that are not consistent between specimens. rs who...

Mathematical model of snapping organ. Two rigid bars articulate at points 0, B, and C, as dictated by torsion springs k3 and k4. The first rigid bar is attached to a fixed surface at 0, and a lumped mass (m) is attached to the second rigid bar at B. A system of linear springs and dampers connects to the mass at B. All parameters are measured from t...

List of previous names for planthopper muscles (all delphacids), homologised with the terminology applied in the present study for the snapping organ musculature. Inferences of homology and segmental identity were based on muscle innervation and location from SR-μCT and ethanol-preserved specimens. En-dash (–) denotes that the character is either a...

Character states representing major transformations of the snapping organ in Fulgoromorpha. Characters of delphacids largely based on the meta-analysis of Asche, 1990 [34] and our own observations of ethanol-preserved and SR-μCT specimens. Order of character states does not imply evolutionary sequence. SR-μCT, synchrotron radiation microcomputed to...

High-speed camera recordings (100 frames per second) of the snapping organ of a male A. bilobum in action. 0–10 s, lateral view; 10–15 s, caudal view; 15–20 s, dorsal view. (MP4)

Gives additional detail for the methods employed, including detail on the insects, morphological analysis, power calculations, and mathematical model. (DOCX)

Abdominal nervous system of a generalised planthopper. Nervous system reconstructed from SR-μCT of A. bilobum and an unidentified nogodinid and fulgorid (S1 Table), whose gross morphology of the nervous system was similar. The muscles of the second abdominal segment (top right) are innervated from the second abdominal nerve. Muscles from the first...

Drumming organ of a generalized non-asiracine male delphacid, S. minutus. (A) Dorsal view of drumming organ in relaxed conformation in an ethanol-preserved specimen. (B) False-colour SR-μCT volume rendered image of the drumming organ. The top part of the organ is virtually sliced off, revealing the attachments of muscle Idlm1. (C) Lateral view of t...

Gives an extended description of the snapping organ in our model species A. bilobum (Issidae), outlines the evidence of the presence of the snapping organ in other planthopper species, and gives an in-depth description of the delphacid ‘drumming organ’. (DOCX)

The presence of Ploiaria domestica scopoli, 1786 (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: re-du viidae: emesinae) in Cyprus was considered doubtful. Hereby we report the first con firmed occurrence of this species in the island. Images of a living spe­ ci men and dia gnostic characters for recognition of this species are provided. Whether this spe cies has a nativ...

Mangabea troglodytes sp. nov. (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Reduviidae: Emesinae) is described based on four specimens collected in a cave of the Namoroka Karstic System, Madagascar, and deposited in the Collection of the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris. The dorsal habitus as well as diagnostic characters of male and female genitalia are ext...

The paper gives the first record of the Nearctic sycamore seed bug Belonochilus numenius (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Lygaeidae) from Greece.

This paper gives records of three assassin bug species (Heteroptera: Reduviiidae) new for the Balkan Peninsula.

The internal and external anatomy of the posterior metathoracic region, pregenital abdomen, and associated nervous system of the heteropteran infraorder Enicocephalomorpha are thoroughly described, using an array of state-of-the art techniques. Based on morphology, it is hypothesised which modes of communication these insects use. This study is bas...

Redeicephala taylori gen. & sp. nov. (Hemiptera. Heteroptera: Reduvii-dae: Tribelocephalinae: Opistoplatyini) is described from Torricelli Mountains, New Guinea. The phylogenetic affi nities of the new genus are discussed. Morphological characters which could be useful in a systematic analysis of Tribelo-cephalinae are also noted.

Henicocephaloides raunoi sp. nov. (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Reduviidae: Physoderinae) is described based on a single male specimen from Eastern Madagascar, which is deposited in the collection of the Moravian Museum, Brno. The newly described species is illustrated and compared to Henicocephaloides fulvescens Villiers, 1962. A revised generic diagno...

The female of Symploce digitifera Rehn, 1922 and its ootheca are described and figured for the first time.

The small reduviid subfamily Physoderinae has the greatest species diversity in the Oriental region and Madagascar. Only the two monotypic genera Cryptophysoderes Wygodzinsky and Maldonado and Leptophysoderes Weirauch are currently known from the Neotropical region. We here describe and document a new, sexually dimorphic species of Physoderinae, Le...

Physoderes manni sp. nov. (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Reduviidae: Physoderinae) is described from Viti Levu, Fiji and represents the first record of microptery in the subfamily. The relationship of Ph.manni sp. nov. with its congeners, as well as the evolutionary and ecological significance of the micropterous wing condition are discussed.

A new synonymy of Graptocleptes bicolor (Burmeister), with taxonomical notes (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Reduviidae: Harpactorinae: Harpactorini) Abstract 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 illu...

The first two confirmed records of Metapterus caspicus Dohrn, 1863 from Greece are presented. The possibility of the occurrence of the related M. linearis A. Costa, 1862 in Greece is discussed, but, due to the lack of voucher specimens it should be excluded from the Greek fauna for the time being.

Zelus renardii (Kolenati, 1856) (Reduviidae: Harpactorinae) is recorded for the first time in Europe. Observations on the biology and distribution of the species are presented.