Due to active tectonic evolution of the Aegean Area during Miocene and Pleistocene, the Balkans and Anatolia have repeatedly connected and disconnected causing isolation and secondary contact of populations along the present Dardanelles – Sea of Marmara – Bosphorus waterway. This has led to an outstandingly rich fauna and a reticulate biogeography in the area. A typical example is Orthoptera having here possibly highest diversity within the Western Palaearctic. With the present study, we concentrate on the bush‐cricket genus Isophya, which is characteristic with a large share of endemics in the Balkans and Anatolia. We aim to understand when and how the isolation of marine or other barriers in the region of the Turkish Straits System influenced the evolution of the morpho‐acoustic groups of species found on both sides of the strait. For this purpose, sequences of two mitochondrial (COI and ND2) and two nuclear (ITS1 and ITS2) markers were obtained and used for phylogenetic reconstructions, time estimations for lineage divergence and automatic species delineation (statistical parsimony, GMYC, ABGD) tests. The phylogenetic analyses did not support all the existing morphogroups and was in favour of a geographical subdivision for the young lineages. Automatic species delineation tests confirmed most of the present morpho‐acoustic species and suggested further cryptic species, at the same time unifying some phenetic species. Time estimation analyses suggested time to most recent common ancestor of the genus as 8.28 Ma corresponding to the Late Tortonian. As a result of the study, we reached to the following conclusions: (i) most of the studied phenetic species are monophyletic, but some earlier suggested morpho‐species groups are not, (ii) three main episodes dominate the evolutionary history of Isophya (7.32–5.84 Myr in the Messinian, 2.2–2.5 Myr in the beginning of the Pleistocene and at around 0.75 Ma corresponding to the end of the Mid‐Pleistocene transition), all of which well correlate with episodes of existing terrestrial connections between Anatolia and the Balkans, and (iii) there are several faunal exchanges in both directions between Anatolia and the Balkans.

The tettigoniid genus Phlesirtes Bolivar and its allies are reviewed. Morphological, ecological and molecular data prompt the erection of the new genus Chortoscirtesgen.n. with type species Xiphidion meruense Sjöstedt. The genera Phlesirtes, Chortoscirtes, Karniella and Naskreckiella are characterized by morphological characters supported by molecular, acoustic, ecological and chromosomal data. Four species, Chortoscirtes pseudomeruensissp.n., C. masaicussp.n., C. puguensissp.n. and C. serengetisp.n., are described from localities in northern and coastal Tanzania and one Karniella, K. crassicercasp.n., is described from Uganda. The following comb n. are proposed: Phlesirtes kibonotensis (Sjöstedt) and Phlesirtes kilimandjaricus (Sjöstedt). Subtribal status is proposed for the four investigated African genera. A key to the Chortoscirtes species is provided.

Analysis of chromosome localization of three molecular markers, 18S-5.8S-28S rDNA, 5S rDNA and a 180 bp satDNA, showed that B chromosomes in the grasshopper Eyprepocnemis plorans originated independently in Eastern (Caucasus) and Western (Spain and Morocco) populations. Eastern B chromosomes are most likely derived from the smallest autosome, which is the only A chromosome carrying the three markers, in coincidence with Caucasian B chromosomes. Western B chromosomes, however, lack 5S rDNA and are most likely derived from the X chromosome, which is the only A chromosome carrying the two remaining markers, always in the same order with respect to the centromere, as the B chromosome.

Review of the Balkan Isophya (Orthoptera: Phaneropteridae) with particular emphasis on the Isophya modesta group and remarks on the systematics of the genus based on morphological and acoustic data (Zootaxa 3658) 81 pp.; 30 cm.

Abstract. We report the karyotype characteristics including chromosome numbers of Saga campbelli campbelli, S. c. gracilis, and S. rammei using the following classical cytogenetic methods: C-banding, silver staining, and fluorochrome staining DAPI and CMA3. We also present FISH data showing the distribution of telomeric repeats and 18S rDNA on the chromosomes of these species and the results of similar studies cited in the literature on S. hellenica, S. natoliae, and S. rhodiensis. The five European Saga species exhibit a high rate of karyotype evolution. In addition to changes in chromosome number and morphology (by chromosomal inversion and/or chromosome fusion), interspecific autosomal differentiation involved changes in the distribution and quantity of constitutive heterochromatin and GC-rich regions, as well as the number and location of NORs. In the present study we focused on testing a hypothetical model of karyotype evolution in Saga, with particular reference to the cytogenetic mapping of rDNA and telomeric sequences. Variation in the distribution of rDNA and location of Ag-NORs are novel phylogenetic markers for the genus Saga.