Bulletin published by the Entomological Society

The Entomological Society of Malta has published the fourth volume of the Bulletin of the Entomological Society of Malta edited by David Mifsud.

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This peer-reviewed scientific journal is published annually by the ESM.

This issue contains 14 contributions by 25 different specialists (11 from Malta and 14 foreigners).

Information on ecology, host-plants, local and global distribution, and other information has been provided on 260 different insects that live in Malta.

Of these, 88 are being recorded for the very first time from these islands. Most of the species represent native organisms which were not previously studied or were overlooked.

The journal is divided into three main sections. The main section contains six scientific contributions which represent most of the contents of the journal.

One paper describes the aphid fauna of Malta, where 99 different species were included. Of these, 48 represent new records for Malta and Gozo.

Fifty-eight species are important in agriculture as they are of economic importance and are known to transmit viral diseases in crop plants.

This paper was the result of research work carried out mainly by Mifsud over the past 15 years. Another contribution focuses on the natural enemies of aphids, giving information on six aphid parasitoids of which three were newly recorded in Malta.

Michael Zerafa and Erik van Nieukerken give information on four species of Nepticulidae. These are very small moths, less than 3mm in length with larval stages mining leaves of plants.

Of the studied species, three were recorded as new for Malta and other species are still under investigation.

A total of 54 species were included in this study, with eight species representing new records for Malta.

This paper forms the basis of the PhD studies carried out by Igor Pivotti at the University of Perugia under the supervision of Dr David Mifsud.

In total, seven authors contributed to this work, providing not only detailed information on each species but also keys and photographs of each species so that these could be identified in the field even by the non-specialist.

The journal also focuses on a sub-species of moth previously unreported in Malta, a scale insect of Asian origin and great economic importance and a gall-midge infesting poppy flowers.

The last section is dedicated to ‘The Young Entomologist’ with short articles on Maltese insects accompanied by striking photos.