Vangelis Mizerakis

• Master of Science
• PhD Student at State Museum of Natural History Stuttgart

A new species, Bryaxis phiaoaci sp. nov. from Phia Oac National Park in northern Vietnam, is described. This is the first species of this genus described from Vietnam.

Negotiations are underway on the new European Union (EU) Water Directive (1), which will regulate the protection and sustainable use of Europe’s water resources. However, the proposal foregoes environmental quality standards specifically tailored to sensitive groundwater species and fails to require biomonitoring for groundwater ecosystems. Despite...

The investigation, preparation, and photography of small natural history samples in liquids require reliable methods to ensure the object remains still, thus maximizing results and minimizing potential damage. Here, we present a method for fixing specimens or specimen parts, designed to enhance stability and immobility during their study and docume...

In the present study morphological and molecular data from specimens of the troglobitic genus Speoplanes have been examined. The two subspecies Speoplanes giganteus giganteus Müller, 1911 and Speoplanes giganteus biocovensis Müller, 1934 are changed in rank from subspecies to species level and discrete identification characters for the separation o...

The freshwater biodiversity decline affects all trophic levels, prompting restoration efforts. While habitat restoration for fish is well‐studied, habitat restoration to benefit other sensitive taxa such as Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, and Trichoptera (EPT) remains poor. Consequently, this study investigated the habitat function of a man‐made nature‐...

The genus Pygopleurus includes some of the most important beetle pollinators of the Eastern Mediterranean islands, showing a particular affinity to red-guild flowers. Focussing on the Aegean Archipelago, 75 individuals belonging to five Pygopleurus species were sampled and screened for two mtDNA loci (COI and 16S). The phylogenetic analysis impleme...

Fighting is a powerful social experience that can affect male reproductive behavior, including ejaculatory strategies. Whereas winners may monopolize females, losers may instead perceive high sperm competition and limited future mating opportuni‐ ties, and accordingly enhance ejaculate quality to maximize their reproductive suc‐ cess. In male field...

Fire, a frequent disturbance in the Mediterranean, affects pollinator communities. We explored the response of major pollinator guilds to fire severity, across a fire‐severity gradient at different spatial scales. We show that the abundance of all pollinator groups responded to fire severity, and that bees and beetles showed in addition a significa...

Fire affects diversity and structure of flower-visitor communities. We explored the effect of fire history on the diversity patterns and structure of the flower-visitor guilds (bees, beetles, flies, sawflies, and wasps), across a post-fire regeneration sequence of pine forests in Rhodes Island, Greece. Fire history was defined by fire frequency and...