Nadejda STAHI, Elena BABAN, Irina MIHAILOV, Svetlana GARGALÂC 45 SOME BENEFICIAL INSECTS FROM WOODS OF CENTRAL MOLDAVIAN PLATEAU OF THE REPUBLIC OF MOLDOVA Nadejda STAHI, Elena BABAN, Irina MIHAILOV, Svetlana GARGALÂC Rezumat Unele insecte benefice din pădurile Podişului Central Moldovenesc al Republicii Moldova. În lucrare este prezentat materialul ce ţine de entomofauna utilă (insectele cu regim alimentar omnivor şi polenizatoare) din câteva ordine colectate în pădurile Podişului Central Moldovenesc: Odonata (20 specii), Dictyoptera (2), Dermaptera (1), Orthoptera (24) din familia Staphylinidae (Coleoptera) 70 specii şi 54 specii de insecte din suprafamilia Apoidea (Hymenoptera). Cuvinte cheie: fauna utilă, Podișul Central Moldovenesc, Republica Moldova. INTRODUCTION When it comes to about the most important organisms in the majority of cases insects from forests are forgotten. Nevertheless, they are the main link in the food chain regardless of its type. Also, insects play a leading role in the life of trees, plant breeding, soil fertility, biodiversity and forest health support it. Insects execute many roles within forests as pollinators, herbivores, carnivores, decomposers, and food sources for ot her organisms. As consumers, scavengers, decomposers the insects play a vital role in the biogeochemical cycling of nutrients, soil aeration, redistributing of nutrients within the root zone. Also, an important part in the forest live take the phytophagous, xylophagous, entomophagous and pollinators insects, the last one playing an essential role in being of angiosperms plants. MATERIAL AND METHODS Study area. The Central Moldavian Plateau (in Romanian: Podișul Central Moldovenesc) is located in the central part of Moldova and is a continuation of Moldavian Plateau from the right side of the Prut River. Central Hills (Colina Centrală) – Codrii reaches a height of 350-430 m, the highest point being on the western slopes of the north in the Bălănești locality, Nisporeni district and also is the geographic point that denotes the highest elevation from the Black Sea – 436 m in the Republic of Moldova. Hilly landscape consists of valleys and hollows. The area of Codrii extends in the districts Nisporeni and Calarasi, a part of Orhei, Ungheni, Telenesti, Ialoveni and Straseni districts. Here are two of the oldest scientific reservations from the Republic of Moldova: “Codrii” and “Plaiul Fagului” [25, 26]. Collection of entomological material. The investigation was conducted during of several years by traditional methods of insects collecting: using of Barber traps, sweep netting method, flotation method or the direct collect of insects by hand. The collected material was brought in the Laboratory of Entomology and Apiculture, then it was determined and classified. The collected material has been introduced in small bottles (with etilic alcohol 70% or formol 4%) or different bags, boxes (plastic, paper) which has been labelled. Volumul 22 (35) Buletin Ştiinţific. Revistă de Etnografie, Ştiinţele Naturii şi Muzeologie 46 SOME BENEFICIAL INSECTS FROM WOODS OF CENTRAL MOLDAVIAN PLATEAU OF THE REPUBLIC OF MOLDOVA Nomenclature was established according to “Fauna Europaea” [14]. The identification of species was made according the papers signed by Bey-Bienco for insects from Odonata and Dermaptera orders [18, 36], for Orthoptera insects – Knechtel & Popovici-Bîznoșeanu, Iorgu I. & Iorgu E. [15, 18, 36], for rove beetles – Coiffait [3-10] and for bees according to Iuga, Knechtel, Lalei, Osytshnjuk et al. [2, 16, 17, 27, 39-41]. The collected material was deposited in the Entomological Museum, Institute of Zoology of Academy of Sciences of Moldova. RESULTS Forests are the dominant terrestrial ecosystem on Earth, and are distributed across the globe. Forests account for 75% of the gross primary productivity of the Earth’s biosphere, and contain 80% of the Earth’s plant biomass. If to compare the importance of various groups of organisms in woods from the point of view of the biomass or diversity of species, then the dominance of trees in relation to the biomass is clear but on the other hand the dominance of insects is also clear in terms of the biodiversity. Forest environment by multilateral structures, is a decisive point in the process of development of the majority group of insects. Bioecologycal stability of their action is influenced by actions of various factors: biotic, abiotic (inorganic), and edaphic and other. It is well known that insects with their action above forest biocoenoses are a very important biological factor. The entomocoenoses of the woods of Central Moldavian Plateau of the Republic of Moldova were studied from XX century till present [11, 19-24, 28-35]. In this paper we will give some results which represents the beginning a two-year study regarding useful entomofauna (omnivorous and pollinating insects) from several orders collected from the forests of Central Moldavian Plateau. These insects have statute as predators and omnivores insects from Odonata, Dictyoptera, Dermaptera, Orthoptera and Coleoptera orders which contribute day by day to the reduction of the population of forest pests (Table 1). Also, it can firmly say that, as a result of vital activity of these omnivorous insect species takes place maintaining the appearance and development of outbreaks of forest pests. Also, we paid attention to the most important group of pollinators – of course the bees. Many species of forest trees reproduce using wind pollination. The attracted bees, wasps, flies, beetles drink the nectar and eat the pollen. At the same time they carry the pollen to other plants and pollinate their blooms. The order Odonata contains the dragonflies and damselflies and is one of the most popular insect groups. Odonates are important voracious predators during both their larval and adult stages feeding exclusively on living prey. As adults, odonates usually eat small flying insects [10]. They are often the top predators in freshwater ecosystems. The insects of Polyneoptera: group collected in the searched woods are from Dermaptera, Dictyoptera and Orthoptera orders. The introduced European earwig (Forficula auricularia) is nocturnal and can be found in most gardens, and is an omnivore that eats small insects (especially aphids and small caterpillars) as well as flower petals and leaves. Praying Mantids are among the largest and most recognizable Buletin Ştiinţific. Revistă de Etnografie, Ştiinţele Naturii şi Muzeologie Volumul 22 (35) Nadejda STAHI, Elena BABAN, Irina MIHAILOV, Svetlana GARGALÂC 47 insect’s predators and they’re not fussy about what they catch and eat. They are “sit and wait” predators that pounce on any insect that comes too close, including beneficial insects, like bees and butterflies. Talking about orthoptera insects we imagine the plague caused by the ages and famine arising from their invasions. Generally, the orthoptera species have a vegetarian diet, but some species prefer an omnivorous food regime – combination between vegetables and animal protein like the species of Conocephalus genera, other have an exclusively carnivorous food regime – Meconema thalassinum some species being also cannibalistic (Gryllotalpa sp.). The adults and larvae of rove-beetles feed on a wide range of insects that are smaller than themselves, especially fly maggots, ant larvae, mites, and many other soft-bodied arthropods, etc. Table 1. The diversity and ecology of beneficial insects recorded in the study area No Species Feeding group Ecological data ORDER ODONATA Fabricius 1793 Family Calopterygidae Selys 1850 Calopteryx Leach 1815 1 C. splendens (Harris 1782) Pr. Amph. Family Lestidae Calvert 1901 Lestes Leach 1815 2 L. macrostigma (Eversmann 1836) Pr. Eur. 3 L. sponsa (Hansemann 1823) Pr. Eur. Sympecma Burmeister 1839 4 S. fusca (Vander Linden 1820) Pr. Eur. Family Coenagrionidae Kirby 1890 Coenagrion Kirby 1890 5 C. ornatum (Selys 1850) Pr. Eur. 6 C. puella (Linnaeus 1758) Pr. Eur. 7 C. scitulum (Rambur 1842) Pr. Eur. Erythromma Charpentier 1840 8 E. viridulum (Charpentier 1840) Pr. Eur. Family Platycnemididae Tillyard & Fraser 1938 Platycnemis Burmeister 1839 9 P. pennipes (Pallas 1771) Pr. Eur. Ischnura Charpentier 1840 10 I. elegans (Vander Linden 1820) Pr. Eur. 11 I. pumilio (Charpentier 1825) Pr. Eur. Enallagma Charpentier 1840 12 E. cyathigerum (Charpentier 1840) Pr. Eur. Family Aeshnidae Rambur 1842 Aeshna Fabricius 1775 13 A. affinis Van der Linden 1823 Pr. Eur. Volumul 22 (35) Buletin Ştiinţific. Revistă de Etnografie, Ştiinţele Naturii şi Muzeologie 48 SOME BENEFICIAL INSECTS FROM WOODS OF CENTRAL MOLDAVIAN PLATEAU OF THE REPUBLIC OF MOLDOVA Anax Leach 1815 14 A. imperator Leach 1815 Pr. Eur. 15 A. parthenope (Selys 1839) Pr. Eur. Family Libellulidae Rambur 1842 Libellula Linnaeus 1758 16 L. depressa Linnaeus 1758 Pr. Eur. Orthetrum Newman 1833 17 O. albistylum (Selys 1848) Pr. Eur. Sympetrum Newman 1833 18 S. flaveolum(Linnaeus 1758) Pr. Eur. 19 S. meridionale (Selys 1841) Pr. Eur. 20 S. vulgatum (Linnaeus 1758) Pr. Eur. Order Mantodea Burmeister 1838 Family Mantidae Burmeister 1838 Ameles Burmeister, 1838 21 A. decolor (Charpentier 1825) Cr. A. Mantis Linnaeus 1758 22 M. religiosa (Linnaeus 1758) Cr. A. Order Dermaptera De Geer 1773 Family Forficulidae Latreille 1810 Forficula Linnaeus 1758 23 F. auricularia Linnaeus 1758 O. C. Order Orthoptera Latreille 1793 Family Conocephalidae Burmeister 1838 Conocephalus Thunberg 1815 24 C. dorsalis (Latreille 1804) O. A. 25 C. fuscus (Fabricius 1793) O. A. Ruspolia Schulthess