The jumping plant-lice of Iran (Homoptera, Psylloidea). -The Iranian psyllid fauna is reviewed, based on literature records and extensive collections. The bulk of the material comes from 3 expeditions by the National Museum, Prague to Iran in 1970Iran in , 1973Iran in and 1977 Remaudière who collected in Iran from the 1950's to 1970's. Of the 33 previously recorded species, 28 are substantiated by material, 3 are probably correct but no specimens were available, and 2 records concern a possible misidentification and a wrong citation. The studied material also contains 45 Species previously unrecorded from Iran, 11 new species and 8 species which remain unidentified as the material is incomplete. The new species described and illustrated are: Aphalara loginovae, Colposcenia agnata, Colposcenia cavillosa, Colposcenia paula, Craspedolepta remaudierei, Cacopsylla iranica, Spanioneura persica, Homotoma caroliquarti, Egeirotrioza corporosa, Egeirotrioza gemina, and Egeirotrioza justa. The following synonymies are established: Diaphorina zygophylli (= D. kopetdaghi, =D. halimiphylli, = D. media), and Cyamophila glycyrrhizae (= C. eremita). Three new combinations are proposed: Egeirotrioza gardneri (Laing) comb. nov., stat. rev. (from Phylloplecta), E. bifurcata (Mathur) comb. n. and E. longiantennata (Mathur) comb. n. (both from Trioza). The biogeographical relationships of nine areas of endemism in Iran are analysed using the method of PAE (with PAUP). The relationships derived from psyllid distributions are compared to mammal data; some methodological aspects are briefly discussed.

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Problem Statement: Psyllids as a small group of insects with plant feeding adult and nymphal stages, not only could have direct feeding damages but they could also transmit plant diseases especially viruses. Bactericera tremblayi had recently increased to high densities in onion fields in East Azarbaijan province in Iran and the pest had become widespread. This was the first study of the biology of the pest in Iran and probably in the world. Approach: After collection of the adult insects from infested onion fields, they were then reared in laboratory under controlled conditions (at 21±3°C, 60±10% RH and under a 14:10 (L: D) light regime) and different life stages of the pest were studied. Results: The lifespan of adult male and female psyllids was 33.63±2.36 and 39.94±2.64 days respectively. The preoviposition period was 3.75±0.14 days. The total number of eggs laid per female was 625.5±53.9. Egg incubation took 7.44±0.15 days and a mean of 90.3% eggs hatched. The nymphs passed through five instars before reaching the adult stage and the development time for the nymphal stage was 17.71±0.61 days. The sex ratio was estimated as 1:1. Conclusions: The results of the present study could successfully be applied to future IPM strategies in order to effectively control this pest with relatively unknown biological characteristics and decrease the damages observed in onion fields.

Hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna Jacquin) is one of the natural hosts of Cacopsylla melanoneura (Förster), the acknowledged vector of "Candidatus Phytoplasma mali", the causal agent of Apple Proliferation (AP) disease, a serious and growing problem for apple production in Europe, particularly in Northern Italy. Wild plants could be important sources of both insects and phytoplasmas, but their role in the epidemiology of phytoplasma diseases and their insect vectors has never been thoroughly examined. C. melanoneura's primary host is hawthorn, a plant closely related to apple which often grows wild near orchards. Other psyllid species feed on hawthorn, but no data are available on their possible role as phytoplasma vectors. We investigated the hawthorn's psyllid fauna in northwestern Italy using yellow sticky traps, beat trays, and molecular analyses from [2003][2004][2005], to study the relationship between hawthorn, the phytoplasma and the insect vector.Population dynamics were monitored, and insects and hawthorn samples were analysed by PCR, RFLP, and DNA sequencing for the presence of phytoplasmas. C. melanoneura was the dominant psyllid species, followed by C. peregrina, C. affinis and C. crataegi. PCR and RFLP analyses revealed the presence of different fruit tree phytoplasmas in hawthorn plants, and in all four psyllid species .