State Museum of Natural History of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine

The paper provides insight into the archiving of data retained during the digitisation of herbarium materials. It shares practical experience and guidance on best practices for long-term data storage, with particular discussion on storage media and backup strategies. It is aimed at small herbaria that have limited or no dedicated archiving infrastructure and a low budget.

Abstract Colombellinidae is an extinct family of marine gastropods occurring in carbonate facies from the Middle Jurassic to the lowermost Upper Cretaceous, primarily in Europe and rarely in Asia. Members of the family are characterized by thick, oval shells with a narrow aperture bearing anterior and posterior canals, a thickened peristome and a denticulate outer lip. Colombellinids share several shell characters with representatives of Cypraeoidea, including a narrow, elongated aperture, but unlike cypraeids, their shells are not convolute. Based on a comprehensive revision of all described species, the taxonomy of Colombellinidae is clarified, and the family is restricted to only two genera: Colombellina d’Orbigny, 1842, and Zittelia Gemmellaro, 1869. One new species, Colombellina crassigranulata sp. nov., from the Upper Jurassic of Bulgaria, and one new genus, Wadeina gen. nov., from the Upper Cretaceous (Campanian) of Tennessee, USA – with a type species previously included in Colombellinidae but here assigned to the family Personidae (Tonnoidea) – are described. The distribution of the family and associated facies indicates a preference for shallow marine carbonate environments, while their low abundance may indicate a carnivorous mode of life. A comparison of Colombellinidae with Tonnoidea, Cypraeoidea and Purpurinidae sheds a new light on the phylogenetic relationships of these groups and supports the interpretation of Colombellinidae as a stem or sister group of Cypraeoidea. This study contributes to a refined systematics of Jurassic–Cretaceous gastropods and provides new evidence for the early diversification of higher caenogastropods.

This chapter discusses the diversification of catfishes in the fossil record of Europe and the evolution of siluriforms within this region. Catfishes first appeared at the K/T boundary, and their remains have been recovered from both marine and continental deposits of different ages. The analysis of all available data revealed the presence of 24 fossil catfish species of seven genera representing four families (Ariidae, Bagridae, Clariidae, and Siluridae) and a group of unclear identity. The genera Arius s.l. and Silurus are the best represented in terms of the number of species. In addition to extinct taxa, there are fossil remains of extant species that still live either in Europe or outside this continent. These and most other valid taxa are known by the findings of skeletal elements, while ariids and bagrids have been described based on otoliths. The obtained results shed new light on the complicated biogeographic history of European catfishes.

Research aim. To describe all known copies of Abraham Westerfeld's drawing “Meeting of Bohdan Khmelnytsky's Ambassadors with Janusz Radziwill” and, combining the plot with descriptions of the depicted event in written sources, to evaluate it as a historical source. Research methodology. The research is based on the principles of objectivity and historicism, and includes methods of analysis and synthesis, comparative and art historical analysis. Scientific novelty. For the first time, the original drawing by A. Westerfeld, which is kept in the National Art Museum of Ukraine (Kyiv), is analysed in detail – the technique of execution, the depicted persons and the room. Conclusions. Reproduced in copies of the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries, A. Westerfeld's 1653 drawing “Meeting of Ambassadors Bohdan Khmelnytsky and Janusz Radziwill” is an important reliable source on the history of Eastern Europe in the mid-seventeenth century. It reflects a meeting of Cossack centurions Stepan Podobaylo, Opanas Predrymyrskyi and Klanivskyi with the Lithuanian army leadership on 14 June 1651 in Horval. Having unquestionable confirmation in the written records of the time, the drawing visualises them, gives an idea of the appearance and clothing of the representatives of the Cossack officers of the Zaporozhian Army, Janusz Radziwil and his immediate entourage, led by the army (including German mercenaries) as of June 1651. It also depicts details of the interior of the room of Jan Mezhynskyi's Volkovyn subdean and the oldest surviving detailed depiction of the construction of the walls and ceiling of a room in the Naddniprianshchyna. According to the authors, the copy of the drawing in the collection of the National Art Museum of Ukraine is an original work by Westerfeld. At least, it fully corresponds to the Baroque style of European drawing and engraving of the middle – second half of the seventeenth century.

Extant representatives of the mayfly family Ameletopsidae Edmunds, 1957 as well as other three small families (Nesameletidae Riek, 1973, Oniscigastridae Lameere, 1917 and Rallidentidae Penniket, 1966) traditionally have been classified within the paraphyletic superfamily Siphlonuroidea. Except for Rallidentidae, which are endemic to New Zealand, they have an amphinotic distribution. Ameletopsidae are present with two genera in South America, one genus in Australia, and one genus in New Zealand. The fossil record of Ameletopsidae is scarce. The Mesozoic monospecific genus Promirara Jell & Duncan, 1986 was described from a larva of the Early Cretaceous Koonwarra Fossil Bed in Australia. Also associated with Ameletopsidae is the Cenozoic genus Balticophlebia Demoulin, 1968, which was recorded from Eocene Baltic amber based on a female adult. While the systematic position of the Eocene Balticophlebia seems to be still unclear and in need of clarification, we are able to confirm the presence of Ameletopsidae in the Eocene of Europe by describing Nebesna sotniagen. & sp. nov. based on a relatively well-preserved male imago from Baltic amber. The fossil record thus indeed supports an ancient Pangean history of this family.

The hyperdiverse wood-inhabiting fungi play a crucial role in the global carbon cycle, but often are threatened by deadwood removal, particularly in temperate forests dominated by European beech (Fagus sylvatica) and Oriental beech (Fagus orientalis). To study the impact of abiotic drivers, deadwood factors, forest management and biogeographical patterns in forests of both beech species on fungal composition and diversity, we collected 215 deadwood-drilling samples in 18 forests from France to Armenia and identified fungi by meta-barcoding. In our analyses, we distinguished the patterns driven by rare, common, and dominant species using Hill numbers. Despite a broad overlap in species, the fungal composition with focus on rare species was determined by Fagus species, deadwood type, deadwood diameter, precipitation, temperature, and management status in decreasing order. Shifting the focus on common and dominant species, only Fagus species, both climate variables and deadwood type remained. The richness of species within the deadwood objects increased significantly only with decay stage. Gamma diversity in European beech forests was higher than in Oriental beech forests. We revealed the highest gamma diversity for old-growth forests of European beech when focusing on dominant species. Our results implicate that deadwood retention efforts, focusing on dominant fungi species, critical for the decay process, should be distributed across precipitation and temperature gradients and both Fagus species. Strategies focusing on rare species should additionally focus on different diameters and on the conservation of old-growth forests.

Insects play a crucial role in all ecosystems, and are increasingly exposed to higher in temperature extremes under climate change, which can have substantial effects on their abundances. However, the effects of temperature on changes in abundances or population fitness are filtered through differential responses of life-history components, such as survival, reproduction, and development, to their environment. Such differential responses, or trade-offs, have been widely studied in birds and mammals, but comparative studies on insects are largely lacking, limiting our understanding of key mechanisms that may buffer or exacerbate climate-change effects across insect species. Here, we performed a systematic literature review of the ecological studies of lacewings (Neuroptera), predatory insects that play a crucial role in ecosystem pest regulation, to investigate the impact of temperature on life cycle dynamics across species. We found quantitative information, linking stage-specific survival, development, and reproduction to temperature variation, for 62 species from 39 locations. We then performed a metanalysis calculating sensitives to temperature across life-history processes for all publications. We found that developmental times consistently decreased with temperature for all species. Survival and reproduction however showed a weaker response to temperature, and temperature sensitivities varied substantially among species. After controlling for the effect of temperature on life-history processes, the latter covaried consistently across two main axes of variation related to instar and pupae development, suggesting the presence of life-history trade-offs. Our work provides new information that can help generalize life-history responses of insects to temperature, which can then expand comparative demographic and climate-change research. We also discuss important remaining knowledge gaps, such as a better assessment of adult survival and diapause.

In September 2023, a large population of the Caucasian snail Harmozica ravergiensis was discovered in a newly built residential complex in Lviv. This is its second record in Western Ukraine, with an interval of almost 20 years, as well as the westernmost known locality of the species. Adults of H. ravergiensis from Lviv had larger shells compared to samples from other introduced Eastern European populations of this species, measured by us personally or described in the literature. Another 16 species of land molluscs, mostly alien to Ukraine or its western part, were found in Lviv together with H. ravergiensis. The latter includes a snail of Crimean origin, Monacha fruticola, which is still rarely recorded north of the steppe zone of Ukraine. In the studied area of Lviv, H. ravergiensis and M. fruticola often formed joint aggregations, which had never been observed before in Ukraine. Possible ways of penetration of H. ravergiensis and some other introduced molluscs into the studied area are discussed. Now H. ravergiensis is most often found in Eastern Ukraine, especially in the Donetsk region (the earliest known record dates back to 1990). There are also a few reliable finds in Western (since 2006) and Central (since 2015) Ukraine. In general, in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, the range of H. ravergiensis expanded significantly, reaching the Tver region of Russia in the north, the southern Ural in the northeast, Central Asia in the southeast, and Western Ukraine in the west. Here, we analyse for the first time the extent of this expansion based on personally studied material, published data, and images in two citizen science databases.

The detailed analysis of origin of the Asplenium septentrionale (L.) Hoffm. specimens, deposited in the main collection of vascular plants’ herbarium in the SMNH NASU, has been carried out. Asplenium septentrionale (L.) Hoffm. – northern spleenwort – is a perennial fern of the genus Asplenium, the family Aspleniaceae, a Holarctic petrophilous species with a disjunctive Eurasian-North American natural range (Europe, the Caucasus, Central Asia, Western Siberia, Mongolia, Himalayas, Far East, North America). Its localities are confined to petrophilic communities, mainly on granite outcrops devoid of calcium (rock crevices, rocky slopes, landslides, boulders, shady spruce forests, etc.), and the species rises to the upper mountain belt. In Ukraine, this species occurs within the Carpathians, the Crimea, Steppe (Prydniprovska and Azov uplands, Donetsk Ridge) and Forest-Steppe (Volynska and Prydniprovska uplands) zones, Polissya (occasionally in Volynske and Zhytomyrske Polissya). Asplenium septentrionale (L.) Hoffm. has been included into the official lists of regionally rare plants in many regions of Ukraine (Dnipropetrovska, Donetska, Zhytomyrska, Zaporizka, Ivano-Frankivska, Kyivska, Kirovohradska, Luhanska, Rivnenska, Chernivetska provinces and the Autonomous Republic of the Crimea). The main collection of the Herbarium of Vascular Plants in the SMNH NASU contains 26 herbarium specimens of A. septentrionale (L.) Hoffm., all being included into the electronic database "Biodiversity of Ukraine" (http://dc.smnh.org/) and digitized. The geography of the herbarium collections of A. septentrionale (L.) Hoffm., besides the modern territory of Ukraine (Dnipropetrovska (1901), Donetska (1939, 1947, 1965, 1966), Zhytomyrska (1949), Zakarpatska (1948, 1957, 1961, 1969), Ivano-Frankivska (1967), Kirovohradska (1900), Rivnenska (1948) provinces and the Autonomous Republic of the Crimea (1900)), has been represented also by the territories of Poland (1905), Czech Republic, Slovakia, Austria, Romania (1905), Finland (1898) and the Russian Federation (North Ossetia, 1898). In descending order of the number of collected herbarium specimens with the participation of 16 collectors, the following series has been formed: Slobodian M. (3 herbarium specimens), Vainagii I. (2), Voloshchak E. (2), Hanieshyn S. (2), Lazebna A. (2), Malynovskyi K. (2), Zinger M. (2), Berko J. (1), Golde K. (1), Kotov M, Karnaukh E. (1), Markovych V. (1), Melnychuk V. (1), Rheman A. (1), Stoyko S. (1), Finn V. (1), Khrzhyzhanovskyi V., Lazebna A. (1), Shokhin V. (1). The chronology of the herbarium collections covers the period from 1898 to 1969. The earliest specimens (second half of the 19th century) were collected in Finland (V. Shokhin collection) and North Ossetia (V. Markovych collection). This article was written with the support of the National Research Foundation of Ukraine, call 2022.01 «Science for the Recovery of Ukraine in the War and Post-War Periods» the project 2022.01/0013 «Digitization of natural history collections damaged as a result of hostilities and related factors: development of protocols and implementation on the basis of the State Museum of Natural History of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine». The contents of this article do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Research Foundation of Ukraine and are the sole responsibility of the State Museum of Natural History, NAS of Ukraine.