Before this rediscovery, Swiss records for S. eatoniella comprised eight observations made between 1888 and 1944: one in Zürich, one in the gorges de l’Orbe and six in the canton of Valais, including sites in Val d’Illiez, Val d’Hérens, Crans and Binntal. The most recent official record came from around Les Haudères in Val d’Hérens on 27 July 1944. The species had been classified as extinct in Switzerland, designated category RE, and was included in the Swiss List of National Priority Species and Habitats with a high degree of priority. The 2020 observation does not itself document a formal revision of that Red List category, but it demonstrates that the historical designation no longer describes the verified observations available to the authors.

S. eatoniella is a hydroptilid, or micro-caddisfly, within the family Hydroptilidae. These insects measure only 1.5 to 6 millimetres, and Stactobia larvae are approximately 2 millimetres long. Hydroptilidae is the most diverse caddisfly family, with more than 2,000 valid species distributed worldwide, although species richness is highest in warm tropical regions. Switzerland’s fauna includes 302 caddisfly species, 33 of them hydroptilids. At national scale, Hydroptilidae is the second-richest caddisfly family after Limnephilidae when genera and species are considered. The genus Stactobia contains 168 species, including 41 in the Western Palearctic, and three reported from Switzerland: S. eatoniella, S. furcata and S. moselyi.

The rediscovery emerged from a surface-water quality-monitoring program in the Morge catchment. Valais’s Service de l’environnement commissioned the consultancy office biol conseils to sample benthic macroinvertebrates using the Swiss biotic index, or IBCH, method. The biological work was combined with physicochemical analyses, flow measurements and studies of diatoms. Five sites were sampled in spring 2020 at elevations ranging from 480 metres above sea level, where the Morge enters the Rhône River, to 1,480 metres. At each site, investigators collected eight samples from different substrates. Material containing benthic macroinvertebrates, mineral material and organic debris was combined into one composite sample per site and fixed in 100% ethanol.

After sieving the preserved samples, workers sorted the benthic macrofauna and identified organisms to family level under a stereomicroscope following the IBCH method. The S. eatoniella specimen emerged from site MOR 10.2, below the locality called Cernet Dessous, on 18 March 2020. The site lies at 46°17′30.924″ north, 7°19′46.046″ east and 1,125 metres above sea level. The record, made under specimen identifier GBIFCH0082987, provided the basis for reporting the species to info fauna. Because identification followed the monitoring protocol’s routine sorting process, the rediscovery arose as a product of broad catchment surveillance rather than a dedicated search designed specifically for Stactobia.

Hydroptilid larvae undergo a distinctive developmental process called hypermetamorphosis. During the first four larval instars, they are minute, lack a case and differ markedly in form from the fifth instar. In the last stage, the abdomen is enlarged, the larva carries a silken case and most of the food reserves needed for the future adult accumulate in the abdomen. The recovered animal was in this final, case-bearing stage. The case lacks the pronounced lateral flattening found in most other hydroptilid genera. Adults of S. eatoniella are black with white markings, and the species has one generation per year. Its documented cycle includes the laying of about 70 red-orange eggs in empty pupal cases, first-instar larvae appearing in mid-June, final-instar larvae occurring in August and pupation taking place in May and June of the following year.

Stactobia larvae live in hygropetric, or petrimadicolous, environments: rocky places covered by a constant, uninterrupted film of flowing water. Examples include stream margins, spring seepage areas and spray zones around waterfalls or rapids. The larvae graze on films of algae and lichens covering the substrate, while adults remain close to these wet surfaces, generally no more than a metre away. They may run, hop or make short circular flights over the substrate during the hottest part of the day. S. eatoniella is reported from France, Italy, Spain, Austria, Germany and Slovenia. Records are also cited from Slovakia and Hungary, although those observations were not mentioned in recent synthesis works.

The physical conditions at Cernet differed from the microhabitat normally associated with S. eatoniella. The Morge occupies a deeply incised section reached by a logging road, where active erosion destabilizes the stream banks. Its bed contains very large boulders and locally stone slabs, with sand and gravel on the banks. The bed gradient in this section is around 12%, and water seeps into the steep sides. Samples were taken from the wetted bottom, where water depth ranged from 15 to 25 centimetres. Measured flow velocities ranged from 75 centimetres per second to less than 5 centimetres per second in nearly stagnant conditions. The sampled material included mobile blocks, organic litter, pebbles, gravel, sand, silt and the upper surface of one block.

Only one larva was recovered during the March sampling, and a second survey at Cernet on 13 October 2020 found no additional specimen. The authors considered that the individual might have been dislocated from a more typical nearby habitat, such as a lateral seep, a water film on slabs or boulders, or an area wetted by spray from a small waterfall, and then carried into the river bed. They said more specific investigation of lateral wetlands and seepages would be needed to locate a possible established population. Such work would require caution to avoid harming a population that could be very small and fragile. The observation therefore documents presence at the time of collection, not local abundance, an expanded known range or long-term occupancy of the sampled bed.

The rediscovery also highlights how difficult small freshwater invertebrates can be to monitor. Of the 302 Swiss caddisfly species assessed for the national Red List, 51% are listed as threatened; within Hydroptilidae, the corresponding proportion is 67%, and 36% of the family’s Swiss species have a high or very high national priority status. The authors associate these assessments partly with incomplete knowledge of distribution and ecology. Minute size makes the insects difficult to notice, larval identification to species level is demanding, and routine monitoring rarely collects adults. Standardized sampling can also miss hygropetric habitats, whose specialized conditions may divide species into small, isolated populations. More than 30% of red-listed Swiss hydroptilids are closely associated with springs, and S. eatoniella is particularly associated with spring brooks.

Swiss spring-fed ecosystems are themselves in decline, which the authors connect to extensive spring capture and drainage. Cantonal inventories of ecologically valuable springs are therefore presented as an important step toward filling gaps in faunistic knowledge, locating specialized habitats and identifying springs that warrant priority protection. The Morge specimen does not resolve the distribution of S. eatoniella in Switzerland, and no abundance estimate or population trend can be inferred from one animal. It does, however, provide a contemporary verified observation of a species previously considered extinct nationally and show how a species associated with hygropetric spring habitats can be recovered through routine sampling. Further evidence would require targeted surveys of suitable seeps and wet films, conducted with enough care to avoid disturbing any fragile population that may be present.

Subject of Research: A 2020 monitoring-based rediscovery of the hydroptilid caddisfly Stactobia eatoniella in Switzerland

Article Title: Rediscovery of Stactobia eatoniella McLachlan, 1880 ( Trichoptera , Hydroptilidae ) in Switzerland after more than seventy years

Article References: Vuataz, L., Stucki, P., Fauquet, L., & Bernard, R. (2021). Rediscovery of Stactobia eatoniella McLachlan, 1880 (Trichoptera, Hydroptilidae) in Switzerland after more than seventy years. Alpine Entomology, 5, 55-60. https://doi.org/10.3897/alpento.5.67985

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.3897/alpento.5.67985

Keywords: Stactobia eatoniella, caddisflies, Hydroptilidae, Switzerland, Valais, species rediscovery, freshwater monitoring, hygropetric habitats, spring brooks, aquatic biodiversity, Rediscovery, Stactobia

The review covers five families represented in Switzerland: Georissidae, Helophoridae, Hydrochidae, Hydrophilidae and Spercheidae. Epimetopidae is the only Hydrophiloidea family absent from the country. Worldwide, the superfamily includes more than 3,300 species, most belonging to Hydrophilidae, and its members are chiefly associated with freshwater, although the families and species span aquatic, shoreline, soil and terrestrial habitats.

To compile the national inventory, the authors examined Hydrophiloidea material held in 22 Swiss museum collections. They also used material from three foreign institutions in Manchester, Bolzano and Stuttgart, records supplied by 14 named private collectors and the authors’ own collections, and relevant publications. The resulting dataset contains 30,434 occurrences. Specimen records are presented with locality, date, collector, identifier and deposition information where available, while published records retain the locality wording used in the original source.

The authors applied a documented procedure for deciding whether reported species should be included in the Swiss fauna. Records required sufficiently reliable evidence, such as unambiguous labels and traceable collections. For genera in which male genitalia provide the most reliable identification, including Laccobius and Chaetarthria, only dissected males were counted as verified records; records based solely on females were excluded as unverifiable. Doubtful records were flagged according to problems including unverifiable sources, incorrect identifications, uncertain localities, problematic collections and ecological or geographic inconsistencies.

The accepted fauna comprises 76 Hydrophilidae species, 21 Helophoridae, four Hydrochidae, three Georissidae and one Spercheidae species. The 16 taxa placed in square brackets should not yet be regarded as members of the Swiss fauna because their Swiss documentation is insufficient. These include species supported only by old literature without surviving specimens, records from problematic collections and historical entries that proved to concern other species. Several excluded taxa may nevertheless be found in Switzerland if better evidence emerges.

Seven species were reported for the first time in Switzerland: Cercyon alpinus, C. castaneipennis, C. tatricus, Helophorus montenegrinus, Megasternum immaculatum, Pachysternum capense and Paracymus scutellaris. The C. alpinus records came from old museum material found in Alpine localities, where the specimens had been overlooked or confused with other Cercyon species. C. tatricus, previously known from the Carpathian Mountains and the Eastern Palaearctic, was documented in the eastern Swiss Alps, mainly at 1,800–2,200 metres above sea level.

Records of H. montenegrinus came from Ticino, including material collected in 2018, 2021 and 2023; the species is mainly distributed in the Mediterranean region of Europe. P. capense, native to sub-Saharan Africa and now nearly cosmopolitan, was represented by three specimens collected in southern Ticino in 2015. These are the first Swiss records, while earlier records were reported from Greece, Italy, France, Hungary and Romania. P. scutellaris was documented from one specimen collected in mosses in Geneva in 1961. The checklist also resurrects M. immaculatum following its 2014 separation from M. concinnum, although the authors note that not all Swiss specimens were dissected and that taxonomic revision of the group is needed.

Some accepted species have exceptionally restricted documentation. Helophorus tuberculatus is represented by one specimen collected in a Jura peat bog in 1969 and lives in damp moss rather than directly in water. Laccobius thermarius is known globally from only two thermal localities, including its type locality in Baden, Aargau, where the springs now serve thermal baths; its continued presence in Switzerland is uncertain. Georissus substriatus has several collection records but had not been observed in Switzerland for 40 years. The authors also retained all Swiss records in the H. aequalis–H. aquaticus group under an aggregate because the two species are virtually inseparable without karyotype examination.

The checklist documents a fauna interacting with substantial wetland loss: the authors report that 80%–88% of Swiss wetlands were destroyed over the last century and that 90% of wetland habitat types are on the Swiss red list of habitat types. They state that aquatic beetles may have been heavily affected, while noting that several species appear to be declining and that some, including Hydrophilus aterrimus and L. thermarius, may already be extinct. These are presented as conservation concerns rather than demonstrated population outcomes, and no Swiss red list currently exists for Hydrophiloidea. The authors argue that a red list based on the compiled historical data, recent records and prospective observations is needed. Valid records have been made available through GBIF, and updated distribution maps are provided through the Info Fauna cartographic server.

Subject of Research: Annotated national review of Swiss Hydrophiloidea beetle diversity and distribution records

Article Title: Annotated checklist of the Hydrophiloidea of Switzerland ( Coleoptera )

Article References: Cosandey, V., Chittaro, Y., & Sanchez, A. (2023). Annotated checklist of the Hydrophiloidea of Switzerland (Coleoptera). Alpine Entomology, 7, 167-184. https://doi.org/10.3897/alpento.7.111147

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DOI: 10.3897/alpento.7.111147

Keywords: Hydrophiloidea, Swiss fauna, beetle checklist, biodiversity records, museum collections, taxonomic revision, aquatic insects, wetland conservation, GBIF, Annotated, checklist, Switzerland

The study examined Lepidoptera, restricted to butterflies and day-flying moths; Odonata, comprising dragonflies and damselflies; and Orthoptera, comprising crickets and grasshoppers. The researchers used observations held by info fauna, the Swiss biological records centre, for 2003–2022 in the main analysis. They then repeated the optimization for 1983–2022, enabling a comparison between the first and second 20-year periods.

For each taxon, the records were organized by species, year, altitudinal level and calendar week, with the observations of adult individuals distributed among 52 weekly columns. Detectability for a species in a particular week and altitudinal level was modeled as P = 1 − e^(−N), where N was the number of observations of that species during the week. Under this assumption, a more abundant species had a higher probability of being detected during a survey.

The expected number of detectable species was calculated for each week, year and altitudinal level. An optimization algorithm then compared combinations of survey weeks, testing scenarios with one through five surveys per year. The objective was to maximize cumulative detection probability while keeping the number of annual visits as low as possible.

The resulting schedules differed among taxa and elevations. For butterflies in the lowlands, a single survey had its best window between weeks 26 and 30, corresponding to the first half of July. Two surveys were optimized around week 23, in early June, and week 28, in mid-July. For dragonflies at the subalpine level, the median best week for one survey was the last week of July, with annual variability placing the possible window between mid-July and the end of August; the optimized two-visit schedule used mid-July and early August.

Optimal windows generally moved later as elevation increased, with an estimated difference of about two weeks between lowland and subalpine levels. Orthoptera tended to become detectable later in the year than Odonata and Rhopalocera. The authors attributed this pattern to the larger spring and early-summer species pools of the latter two groups, rather than to a uniform seasonal schedule shared by all insects.

When the algorithm was run across 1983–2022, all three groups showed an average advance of 0.9 weeks in their optimal survey windows between the two 20-year periods. Rhopalocera and Orthoptera each advanced by 1.1 weeks, compared with 0.6 weeks for Odonata. The shift also varied by elevation: it was 1.6 weeks at the subalpine level, 0.9 weeks at lowland level and 1.2 weeks at mountain level. The standard deviation around the best windows showed no significant change for any taxon or altitudinal level.

The analysis shows that fixed survey dates may not remain optimal as insect activity periods shift. The authors frame the method as active adaptive monitoring, in which historical observations are used to improve subsequent survey design. They note that climate change can alter both habitat suitability and the phenological periods of insects and other cold-blooded species, making regular revision of existing survey schedules important. The model could also account in future for changes in voltinism or shifts in altitudinal ranges, although those factors were not included in the reported analysis.

The study is an observational analysis and model-based optimization rather than a field experiment. Its schedules are specific to the Swiss records, the three focal taxa, the modeled altitudinal levels and the assumed relationship between abundance and detection probability. It does not directly demonstrate that a particular visit schedule produces a fixed number of species in the field. Its practical result is instead a set of estimated windows intended to improve the likelihood of observing richness while reducing the number of surveys required, potentially strengthening the balance between monitoring costs and conservation work.

Subject of Research: Model-based optimization of seasonal survey timing for alpine insects using Swiss biological records

Article Title: Planning insect surveys in alpine ecosystems

Article References: Pellet, J. (2023). Planning insect surveys in alpine ecosystems. Alpine Entomology, 7, 201-204. https://doi.org/10.3897/alpento.7.110958

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.3897/alpento.7.110958

Keywords: alpine insects, species richness, survey timing, phenology, Lepidoptera, Odonata, Orthoptera, Switzerland, adaptive monitoring, detection probability, Planning, insect

Sixteen additional monitoring plots were established in 2021 near former vineyard sites, while additional traps and a longer sampling period beginning in mid-July were used in 2022 to increase the chances of capturing leafhoppers during their population peak. Investigators analyzed 16 O. ishidae specimens captured in 2021 and 267 captured in 2022. The infected insect was one of three O. ishidae caught in 2021 at an additional plot near Cugnasco on the southern slope of the Swiss Alps.

It had been captured between 1 and 14 October 2021. Four grapevines sampled at the Cugnasco plot in 2021 had no external symptoms associated with Grapevine Yellows and their molecular analyses did not detect phytoplasmas. Each insect was homogenized separately, and nucleic acids were extracted with a CTAB-based protocol.

The investigators used quantitative PCR targeting 16SrV-group phytoplasmas, followed by nested PCR amplification of the map and imp gene loci. Amplicons were checked by agarose-gel electrophoresis, purified, and sequenced in forward and reverse directions by Sanger sequencing. Maximum-likelihood phylogenetic analyses used the General Time Reversible model and 500 bootstrap replicates, and the resulting trees were visualized in iTOL.

The Swiss imp amplicon differed by one nucleotide, a single-nucleotide polymorphism, from German isolate MT668492, corresponding to 99.78% identity. ‘Candidatus Phytoplasma ulmi’ belongs to ribosomal subgroup 16SrV-A and is associated with dieback, shoot proliferation, and yellows on several Ulmus species. It has previously been recorded in European countries including Italy, Germany, and France.

A recent report from northwestern Italy also identified infected Carpinus betulus, Prunus domestica, and Prunus ulmifolius, showing that the phytoplasma can occur in hosts beyond elm. Previously identified competent vectors include Scaphoideus luteolus in the United States, Macropsis glandacea in Italy, and Amplicephalus curtulus in Chile. The study established only that the phytoplasma was present in one captured insect.

The detection rate among the analyzed O. ishidae was 1 in 283, and the positive result came from monitoring designed primarily to investigate Flavescence dorée vectors rather than from a dedicated survey of Ca. O. ishidae is native to Asia and was first recorded in Europe in 1998. It has since spread across most of the continent and occurs in pre-Alpine and Alpine regions.

Reported host plants include Corylus avellana, Acer species, Alnus glutinosa, Salix species, and Carpinus betulus, many of which are common near vineyards. Previous studies documented its ability to acquire Flavescence dorée phytoplasmas and other phytoplasmas from additional ribosomal groups. The insect can also lay eggs on grapevines and gone-wild grapevines, potentially giving newly hatched nymphs direct access to plant material.

The single positive insect also does not establish a transmission pathway or quantify population-level prevalence. The authors describe O. ishidae as a potential “wild-card” in several phytoplasma pathosystems and call for research on its ecology, agricultural relevance, and possible effects on spontaneous woody plants across the Alpine region.

Subject of Research: First Swiss detection of a phytoplasma in Orientus ishidae through molecular surveillance

Article Title: First detection of ‘ Candidatus Phytoplasma ulmi’ in Switzerland and in Orientus ishidae Matsumura, 1902

Article References: Oggier, A., Debonneville, C., Conedera, M., Schumpp, O., & Rizzoli, A. (2024). First detection of ‘Candidatus Phytoplasma ulmi’ in Switzerland and in Orientus ishidae Matsumura, 1902. Alpine Entomology, 8, 29-34. https://doi.org/10.3897/alpento.8.115588

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.3897/alpento.8.115588

Keywords: Candidatus Phytoplasma ulmi, Orientus ishidae, Canton Ticino, molecular surveillance, leafhoppers, phytoplasma, Flavescence dorée, plant pathology, Switzerland, 16SrV-A, First, detection

In a predefined subset of 161 patients who received both the serotype-specific urinary antigen detection assay, or ssUAD, and full conventional testing, conventional methods identified 30 pneumococcal cases, or 18.6% of the subset. Adding ssUAD raised the number to 47, or 29.2%. The abstract reports a p value of 0.036 for this comparison, whereas the full Results section reports that McNemar’s test found no significant difference in paired positivity rates, with p = 0.458. Because the article is internally inconsistent on this point, the increase is supported as a descriptive change in diagnostic yield but not as a statistically significant improvement on the basis of the full results.

The investigation was an observational analysis within the prospective Swiss CAPNETZ cohort. It included all enrolled patients with available urine samples. Adults were eligible if they were at least 18 years old, had a radiologically confirmed pulmonary infiltrate and had at least one compatible clinical finding: cough, purulent sputum, fever or focal chest signs on auscultation. Recruitment took place at University Hospital Basel and Cantonal Hospital St. Gallen, both of which contributed patients with diverse catchment areas.

Urine specimens were collected prospectively and tested in batch at Pfizer’s Vaccines Research and Development Laboratory using a research assay based on Luminex technology. The assay assessed 24 pneumococcal serotypes: the 13 included in PCV13, seven additional serotypes included in PCV20, and four included in PPV23. Conventional microbiological assessment consisted of the pneumococcal urinary antigen test and cultures of blood, sputum or bronchoalveolar lavage. These conventional tests were performed at the discretion of treating physicians rather than uniformly for every participant.

Across the full cohort of 234 adults, conventional diagnostics identified S. pneumoniae in 37 patients, or 15.8%, while ssUAD was positive in 35, or 15.0%. Of the 35 ssUAD-positive patients, 21, or 60.0%, were also identified conventionally, while 14, or 40.0%, were not detected by standard-of-care testing. Agreement between ssUAD and conventional testing in the 161-patient comparison subset was moderate, with Cohen’s kappa of 0.442 and a 95% confidence interval of 0.255 to 0.608. These findings show that the two approaches did not capture identical cases.

Serotype 3 was the most frequently detected, appearing in 12 of the 35 ssUAD-positive patients, or 34.3%. Serotype 8 occurred in six, or 17.1%, and serotype 11A in four, or 11.4%. Based solely on the ssUAD-derived serotypes, 19 cases, or 54.3%, involved serotypes covered by PCV13; 21, or 60.0%, involved serotypes covered by PCV15; 32, or 91.4%, involved serotypes covered by PCV20; and 30, or 85.7%, involved serotypes covered by PCV21. These percentages describe the serotypes observed in this small cohort and do not measure vaccine protection or demonstrate that a particular vaccine would prevent the cases.

When the cohort was divided into 2016–2019 and 2020–2021, ssUAD positivity was 17.8% in the earlier period and 9.1% in the later period, a nonsignificant difference (p = 0.078). Among ssUAD-positive patients, however, the proportion involving serotypes not covered by PCV13 rose from 10 of 28, or 35.7%, to six of seven, or 85.7% (p = 0.018). Serotypes 11A and 9N were the most frequently detected during 2020–2021, with two cases each. The authors cautioned that the apparent serotype shift rested on only seven ssUAD-positive patients in the later period.

Several features limit the findings. The sample was small, came from two hospitals and represented a convenience sample, restricting conclusions about serotype trends, incidence and generalizability. Testing practices differed between centers and may have affected the yield of conventional methods. Requiring informed consent may also have led to underrepresentation of critically ill patients. In addition, the ssUAD covered only 24 serotypes, no serotyping was performed on culture-positive isolates, and the investigators noted that ssUAD and the pneumococcal urinary antigen test may have reduced sensitivity in non-bacteremic pneumonia. Accordingly, pneumococcal community-acquired pneumonia could have been underestimated.

Overall, the study supports ssUAD as a complementary method for detecting pneumococcal pneumonia and for serotype-oriented research. The descriptive increase when ssUAD was combined with conventional testing is the study’s principal diagnostic finding, while its statistical interpretation remains uncertain because of the conflicting p values in the article. The temporal serotype observations likewise require caution because of the small number of positive cases and the study’s observational, hospital-based design.

Subject of Research: Diagnostic yield and serotype distribution of pneumococcal urinary antigen testing in adults with community-acquired pneumonia

Article Title: Pneumococcal serotype distribution and diagnostic yield of serotype-specific urinary antigen detection in adults with CAP in Switzerland, 2016–2021: a prospective cohort study

Article References: Etienne, S., Albrich, W. C., Pletz, M. W., Panning, M., Domenech, V. S., Eberhardt, F., Barten-Neiner, G., & Stolz, D. (2026). Pneumococcal serotype distribution and diagnostic yield of serotype-specific urinary antigen detection in adults with CAP in Switzerland, 2016–2021: a prospective cohort study. BMC Infectious Diseases, 26(1), Article 1696. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12879-026-14493-y

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DOI: 10.1186/s12879-026-14493-y

Keywords: community-acquired pneumonia, Streptococcus pneumoniae, urinary antigen assay, diagnostic yield, pneumococcal serotypes, prospective cohort, Switzerland, antimicrobial resistance, adult pneumonia, Pneumococcal, serotype, distribution

Researchers conducted 11 audio-recorded focus groups using semi-structured interview guides and analyzed the verbatim transcripts through qualitative content analysis. Participants included 11 childhood and adolescent cancer survivors and 18 parents representing 17 survivors. The parents represented children with a mean age of 16.8 years and a mean time since diagnosis of 9.4 years. The qualitative design and non-probability sampling were intended to explore experiences and perspectives rather than estimate how common the reported problems were across all survivors.

According to the abstract, participants described high medical expenses, limited insurance coverage, denied disability benefits and reduced work capacity as contributors to persistent financial insecurity. Some survivors also reported discrimination in employment or educational settings. The study reports that survivors sometimes had to seek information about their rights proactively and advocate for themselves, illustrating how legal, insurance and financial difficulties could reinforce one another in everyday life.

The findings indicate that these forms of hardship remain important dimensions of survivorship for some childhood cancer survivors and their families. The authors concluded that unaddressed legal, insurance and financial concerns may contribute to sustained uncertainty and long-term disadvantage, and that integrated care, counseling and appropriate policy frameworks are needed to support equitable conditions. As a small, non-probability focus-group study based in Switzerland, the research identifies experiences reported by participants but does not establish national prevalence, causation or the effectiveness of any intervention. The supplied evidence is an abstract, so the detailed methods, participant accounts and authors’ stated limitations cannot be assessed here.

Subject of Research: A Swiss qualitative study of insurance, legal and financial hardships among childhood cancer survivors and parents.

Article Title: And then there’s that… Insurance, legal, and financial hardships among childhood cancer survivors: a qualitative study with survivors and parents

Article References: Ospelt, M., Tinner, E. M. E., Mader, L., Hendriks, M., Roser, K., & Kälin, S. (2026). And then there’s that… Insurance, legal, and financial hardships among childhood cancer survivors: a qualitative study with survivors and parents. BMC Health Services Research. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-026-15738-x

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1186/s12913-026-15738-x

Keywords: childhood cancer, cancer survivorship, financial hardship, insurance barriers, disability benefits, employment discrimination, legal concerns, qualitative research, focus groups, Switzerland, then, there

Antispilina ludwigi belongs to Heliozelidae, a small family of moths whose larvae feed within leaves and construct portable protective cases from pieces of mined tissue. It is the only known member of the genus Antispilina that feeds on an herbaceous plant. Its sole confirmed host is common bistort, Bistorta officinalis, a perennial in the buckwheat family Polygonaceae that occurs across Europe and extends into Siberia. The moth is also the only known species to make a blotch mine on this plant, providing a conspicuous field sign that can be used without capturing the adult insect. In French samples, 87% of mines began close to the leaf’s midrib, and the larvae frequently created paired mines on opposite sides of it.

Focused fieldwork transformed the moth’s known distribution. A search on Mont Mézenc in the Massif Central in 2009 produced numerous mines and several larvae. A more intensive survey in Auvergne in 2017 led the researchers to encourage colleagues in Belgium and Switzerland to inspect common bistort for the same signs. Those searches succeeded, yielding the first formally published records for all three countries. French populations were found in the Massif Central, including Ardèche and Puy-de-Dôme, as well as the Jura; Belgian records came from the Ardennes area of Liège; and Swiss populations were documented in the Jura and northern Alps. Many of the new sites were at middle elevations, generally between about 450 and 1,650 metres, although previous Polish records demonstrated that the moth can also occur in lowland meadows.

The study provides the first comprehensive redescription of the species, including characters of the adult moth, larva and genitalia. Adults are minute, with a wingspan of approximately 4.2 to 5.0 millimetres. The forewings are almost black, sometimes reflecting bronze, and bear a narrow silver-white fascia near one-fifth to one-quarter of their length. Two contrasting silver-white spots occur farther toward the tip, one on the dorsal edge and one on the costa. The head, thorax and legs are dark, and the fringe is grey rather than the conspicuous white seen in some superficially similar moths. A key feature is the absence of a tibial epiphysis, a projection on the foreleg present in the related vine leaf miner Holocacista rivillei. Antispilina also has two-segmented labial palps, whereas the larger Antispila species have a distinct pale line along the wing fringe.

Male genitalia provide further diagnostic characters. The species has a long, strongly sclerotized vinculum, a bilobed tegumen and subtriangular valves bearing stalked combs of blunt sensory structures. Its phallus is cylindrical, lacks cornuti and contains a spinose phallocrypt. The female’s ovipositor tip is flattened and equipped with five cusps, while the eighth abdominal segment includes a pair of sclerotized rods in the vestibulum. These structures distinguish the moth from related taxa whose external appearance can be similar. The identification was also tested with DNA barcoding. Nine specimens from Poland, France and Belgium fell into the Barcode of Life cluster BOLD:AAW5935, with an average pairwise distance of 0.36% and a maximum of 0.81%.

The immature stages reveal a distinctive mining strategy. A newly hatched larva makes a small, nearly circular blotch near a major vein, gluing frass between the upper and lower epidermis and producing a reddish-brown mark visible on both sides of the leaf. The mine then expands into an elongated translucent blotch, usually between lateral veins, with darker frass scattered through its interior and irregularly eaten margins. In the final feeding instar, the caterpillar cuts a flat, reinforced case about three millimetres long from both epidermal layers. It carries this shield away from the mine, shelters, and moults into a non-feeding fifth instar before pupating inside the case. Several larvae may feed together where mines merge, while heavily mined leaves can be conspicuous from considerable distances.

Its life cycle appears to include one generation each year, with an extended period of larval activity from June into September. Feeding is most concentrated in July in the mountains, and the flight period varies with elevation, generally extending from April to June. Reared adults emerged the following spring after overwintering at low temperatures; one adult was also collected by sweeping common bistort in Switzerland in May 2020. The moth is difficult to survey as an adult because it is extremely small and inconspicuous, but the mines remain visible after larvae have departed. The researchers therefore recommend that observers inspect host plants and photograph the evidence, which can be done even in poor weather and does not require collecting the moth.

Although the new discoveries show that Antispilina ludwigi is more widespread than historical records implied, the authors warn that it may still be declining. Its habitat consists of nutrient-poor wet meadows, mountain bogs, moorland, wet grassland and montane heath, often with scattered shrubs or trees. These habitats are being lost through drainage, agricultural intensification, abandonment, encroachment by scrub and natural reforestation. The host plant itself becomes less abundant under intensive management because it benefits from low-intensity grazing. The moth has not been recorded in Germany in recent years, and other insect specialists using common bistort are also in retreat, making it difficult to determine whether changes reflect genuine population loss or incomplete monitoring.

Conservation of the moth may nevertheless be strengthened through efforts aimed at more conspicuous butterflies. Lycaena helle, the scarce copper butterfly, and Boloria eunomia, the marsh fritillary, feed on the same host and are among Europe’s most threatened butterflies. The moth was found at every visited site of Lycaena helle in the Swiss Jura and alongside it in Belgian sites and parts of the Massif Central. Other locally restricted insects also depend on common bistort, including Boloria titania and the micromoths Coleophora pratella and Phiaris astrana. A monitoring program for Lycaena helle, whose habitat in Wallonia has been protected since 2001, has encouraged the recovery of host-rich wetlands in the Belgian Ardennes. Such restoration can simultaneously preserve the conditions required by the leaf miner and a wider specialist community.

Researchers therefore recommend low-intensity, rotational management that prevents natural woodland regeneration without disturbing adults, eggs or larvae during sensitive periods from April through July. At higher elevations, they suggest extending the no-intervention period into the first half of August, when larvae may still be present in their mines. Searches should focus on large common bistort plants in suitable wet, nutrient-poor habitats, especially places already known from the butterfly species. Given the moth’s wide European host-plant distribution and the relative ease of recognizing its mines, the authors expect further populations in German mountains, Austria, northern Italy, Slovenia, Romania, Belarus, Ukraine and European Russia. The study demonstrates that focused inspection of host plants can uncover overlooked species, while coordinated monitoring offers a practical route to conserving this obscure moth before its remaining populations become more fragmented.

Subject of Research: Distribution, biology, identification and conservation of the common-bistort leaf-mining moth Antispilina ludwigi

Article Title: Antispilina ludwigi Hering, 1941 ( Lepidoptera , Heliozelidae ) a rare but overlooked European leaf miner of Bistorta officinalis ( Polygonaceae ): new records, redescription, biology and conservation

Article References: van Nieukerken, E. J., Wullaert, S., Lee, B.-W., & Bryner, R. (2021). Antispilina ludwigi Hering, 1941 (Lepidoptera, Heliozelidae) a rare but overlooked European leaf miner of Bistorta officinalis (Polygonaceae): new records, redescription, biology and conservation. Nota Lepidopterologica, 44, 99-121. https://doi.org/10.3897/nl.44.63848

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.3897/nl.44.63848

Keywords: Antispilina ludwigi, leaf mining, common bistort, Heliozelidae, moth distribution, DNA barcoding, insect conservation, wet meadows, European biodiversity, range expansion, Antispilina, ludwigi

The research, led by a team studying shallow groundwater aquifers across Switzerland, set out to determine whether the tiny animals living in groundwater show seasonal patterns of occurrence and abundance, and how reliably they can be detected at all. This matters because groundwater ecosystems remain among the least studied habitats on the planet, despite harboring remarkable endemic species, some descended from ancient adaptive radiations. Without baseline knowledge of temporal dynamics, monitoring programs cannot distinguish genuine population trends from mere sampling noise, and groundwater fauna is notably absent from Switzerland’s national biodiversity monitoring programs.

The study relied on an unusually scalable sampling method built around the country’s drinking water infrastructure. Researchers enlisted drinking water providers through a citizen science project, asking them to attach fine filter nets with a mesh size of 0.8 millimeters to the pipe inlets of spring catchment boxes, where groundwater is passively captured before entering the supply system. After one week of filtering, all captured organisms were collected and preserved in 80 percent ethanol. This passive approach turned hundreds of existing water extraction sites into ready-made biological monitoring stations, requiring no drilling, no expensive equipment, and no specialized expertise from the volunteers who installed the nets.

Two datasets formed the backbone of the analysis. The first covered 17 inlets spread across Switzerland, sampled approximately monthly from May 2021 to April 2022, with organisms identified to major taxonomic groups. The researchers split the catch into three categories: groundwater amphipods of the genera Niphargus and Crangonyx, groundwater isopods including the genus Proasellus, and a residual group of other macroinvertebrates consisting mostly of stygophiles and stygoxenes, organisms that visit groundwater only occasionally or accidentally. The second dataset was far denser spatially: 143 inlets in the catchment of the river Töss, each sampled one to ten times in consecutive weeks during spring 2021, with all amphipods identified to species level by sequencing the Folmer fragment of the mitochondrial COI gene.

The statistical treatment was correspondingly rigorous. The team applied Generalized Additive Models with cyclic cubic regression splines to capture seasonality as day of year, thin plate splines for outflow rate and precipitation, and a random effect for each inlet, fitting models with a negative binomial response distribution using restricted maximum likelihood. Crucially, they ran two versions of the model, one standardizing abundance per volume of water filtered and one per duration of sampling, because the choice of offset can fundamentally alter what a monitoring program concludes. Detection rates in the weekly dataset were calculated from capture histories at each inlet, and the researchers then tested how those estimates changed as the minimum number of sampling occasions per site increased.

The headline result is striking in its simplicity: obligate groundwater amphipods and isopods showed no significant seasonal pattern in abundance, while the other macroinvertebrates peaked sharply in July, a pattern driven largely by larvae of mayflies, stoneflies, and caddisflies, the so-called EPT taxa whose life cycles are tied to surface waters. In other words, the true groundwater specialists are temporally consistent, whereas the surface visitors wax and wane with the seasons. Precipitation showed no significant effect on any group, though the authors caution that its influence may be confounded with seasonality or masked by aquifer-specific time lags determined by local geology. Outflow rate mattered only when abundances were standardized per megaliter, with predicted densities highest at low flows, a possible dilution effect suggesting that organism density is largely independent of discharge.

Temporal autocorrelation added another layer of insight. Presence-absence of groundwater amphipods was significantly correlated across samples up to three months apart, and isopods up to ten months, consistent with the slow life histories and limited mobility of stygobites. For monitoring design, this means that samples clustered within a short window are not independent: a string of false absences in quick succession could badly skew an assessment. The authors recommend spreading sampling occasions evenly throughout the year rather than concentrating them, and they note that extending filter periods from one week to several could raise capture rates, though at the cost of specimen decomposition that hampers both morphological and molecular identification.

The detection rate analysis revealed a sobering picture for anyone hoping to confirm the presence or absence of groundwater amphipods with a quick survey. In the Töss catchment, amphipods appeared at 55 percent of the 143 inlets, but nine species were identified and five of them occurred at only one to three sites each, a pattern typical of groundwater communities dominated by rare, narrowly distributed species. Among the four widespread species, detection rates varied enormously between inlets, ranging from 0.1 to 1.0 for amphipods combined. Niphargus fontanus and N. tonywhitteni stabilized around mean detection rates of roughly 0.37 and 0.3 once six or more samples per inlet were available, but N. auerbachi never stabilized, and Crangonyx cf. subterraneus converged toward the study’s lower detection limit of 0.1, implying its true detectability is even lower.

These numbers translate directly into sampling requirements. Using the lowest mean detection rate for amphipods combined, about 0.38, the researchers calculated that a minimum of 6.3 samples would be needed to infer absence with 95 percent probability at an average site. But because detection varies so much between inlets, a site with a detection rate of 0.1 would demand 29 samples to reach the same confidence. The authors also acknowledge that by analyzing only sites where species were present, without modeling the occurrence process, they likely overestimated true detection rates, meaning the real sampling burden could be heavier still. They stress that these estimates are region-specific and may not transfer to mountainous areas or other regions with different amphipod communities.

The study’s practical recommendations are clear: standardize sampling effort by filtering duration rather than discharge volume, space sampling occasions evenly across the year, and design region-specific strategies that account for the heterogeneity in detection among species and sites. Scaling such monitoring to national levels remains a challenge, but the authors see promise in combining approaches, pairing citizen science filternet sampling with environmental DNA metabarcoding, which integrates biodiversity over larger spatial and temporal scales even though it has so far proven less effective than direct filtration at detecting groundwater amphipods. As biodiversity decline extends into the planet’s hidden aquifers, this research makes the case that conserving subterranean life begins with knowing when, where, and how hard to look.

Subject of Research: Temporal consistency and spatial variability in the detection of macroinvertebrates from shallow groundwater aquifers

Article Title: Temporal consistency and spatial variability in detection: implications for monitoring of macroinvertebrates from shallow groundwater aquifers

Article References: Knüsel, M., Alther, R., Couton, M., & Altermatt, F. (2024). Temporal consistency and spatial variability in detection: implications for monitoring of macroinvertebrates from shallow groundwater aquifers. Subterranean Biology, 49, 139-161. https://doi.org/10.3897/subtbiol.49.132515

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.3897/subtbiol.49.132515

Keywords: groundwater, stygobites, amphipods, biodiversity monitoring, detection probability, citizen science, aquifers, seasonality, Niphargus, macroinvertebrates, Switzerland, Subterranean Biology

Bagworm moths are among the most unusual families of Lepidoptera. Their caterpillars construct portable cases, or sacks, from silk and incorporated fragments of plant material, sand or other particles, and many species are notable for wingless, even legless females that never leave their cases. This peculiar biology makes the family notoriously difficult to study: females are rarely seen, males are short-lived, and species identification often depends on the architecture of the larval sacks as much as on adult morphology. Hättenschwiler mastered all of these approaches, combining classical genital dissection with careful observation of sack construction, a dual competence reflected in the identification keys he produced for both genera and sacks.

His professional career lay outside entomology. After school, he began an apprenticeship as a precision mechanic at the former Zellweger AG in Uster, the town with which he remained associated for his entire life. He worked on the development of machines for testing yarns, especially silk, and on the establishment of quality standards that remain relevant today as the Uster Statistics. Rising to become the company’s chief technology officer, he travelled widely as a customer consultant, visiting many countries and seizing every opportunity to collect bagworm moths on his journeys. His travels eventually took him to the USA, China and New Zealand, among other destinations, and his fieldwork on several continents enriched his taxonomic revisions with material few European specialists could access.

The origin of his lifelong passion for Psychidae is closely tied to his decades-long friendship with Professor Willi Sauter, who received his doctorate in 1956 at ETH Zurich with a thesis on the morphology and systematics of the Swiss species of the genus Solenobia, now Dahlica, under Professor Jakob Seiler. Sauter was later regarded as one of the best European psychid experts, and it was he who encouraged and supported Hättenschwiler in 1977 to describe his first three new taxa, based on knowledge the two had gained together. Many more descriptions followed, and one species, Dahlica sauteri, was dedicated to his friend. Their collaboration culminated in the series of papers on the system of the Palaearctic Psychidae published in Nota Lepidopterologica in 1991, 1999 and 2004, which remain of tremendous importance for bagworm research, providing a species list, keys to the genera and keys to the sacks of the Palaearctic fauna.

Over a publishing career spanning 50 years, Hättenschwiler produced more than 50 papers dealing exclusively with the Psychidae, 20 of them in Nota Lepidopterologica. He introduced the family group names Placodominae, together with Sauter in 1991, and Scoriodytinae in 1989, and described 31 taxa in total, ranging from the Alps to the West Himalaya, the Peloponnese, Tunisia, the Altai, southern Spain, China, Iran, the Caribbean, the Maldives and Papua New Guinea. His faunistic treatment of the Psychidae in the Swiss volume Schmetterlinge und ihre Lebensräume, published in 1997, stands as a model of profound research on the family, equipped with aids for species determination and excellent photographs. His 1989 revision of the New Zealand genus Scoriodyta established a new subfamily and described numerous new species and forms.

His taxonomic breadth defied any single focus. Because of his enormous notoriety as a leading bagworm specialist, entomologists worldwide turned to him with their questions, resulting in a very broad spectrum of publication themes, with descriptive taxonomy accounting for the largest proportion. He described a parthenogenetic bagworm from China, Acanthopsyche muralis, and provided an overview of the known parthenogenetic species of the family. He documented new bagworms from oil palm plantations in Papua New Guinea, published on the biology of Psychidae larvae and the details of their sacks, and investigated questions as varied as the size variation of adults within a species and the defensive behaviour of psychid caterpillars. His type specimens and other material are deposited in numerous museums and private collections.

Hättenschwiler was equally renowned for his warmth and generosity. Colleagues recall packages from him as small works of art, with accurately placed stamps, and small jars filled with a special mix of alcohol and formalin containing the wingless females of the Psychidae, individually wrapped in pink tissue paper and packed in absorbent cotton. He freely shared literature, precisely pinned specimens and expertise without reservation, and acknowledgements in countless publications testify to the support he gave to other lepidopterists. One colleague, meeting him in 1974 as a young entomologist after publishing a first small essay on bagworm moths, was bound to the psychids by Hättenschwiler’s extensive experience, knowledge and generously exchanged specimens, and has remained faithful to the family ever since.

His empathy extended beyond science. One of his mentors, the well-known Austrian psychid expert Leo Sieder, gave his large psychid collection to the Karlsruhe Natural History Museum in the 1960s for health reasons, then fell into a deep psychological crisis because he missed his work with his beloved bagworms. Hättenschwiler convinced the old man to start collecting again, and the result was several more boxes of valuable material and a marked improvement in Sieder’s health over the years. Similarly, after the death of a colleague’s son in 2000, Hättenschwiler persuaded the grieving entomologist to resume his activities, accompanied by an extensive package of literature and Psychidae. He was, by all accounts, a devoted family man, married to his wife Ruth for 65 years, with three children, seven grandchildren and two great-grandchildren, whose annual Christmas summaries, written jointly with Ruth, were eagerly awaited by friends.

His institutional contributions were substantial. He was the soul of the Entomological Society of Zurich, its president from 1968 to 1974 and an honorary member from 1979. He joined the Societas Entomologica Europaea as an ordinary member in 1977 and became an honorary member in 2007. He maintained close contact with all important Psychidae specialists worldwide, including Wolfgang Dierl in Munich, Jean Bourgogne in Paris, Leo Sieder in Klagenfurt, Donald R. Davis in Washington, Gaden Robinson in London and Toyohei Saigusa in Japan, as well as specialists of other Lepidoptera families such as Chunsheng Wu in China, Ole Karsholt in Copenhagen and Erik van Nieukerken in Leiden.

After his move to the Tertianum Residenz Brunnehof in Uster in 2017, Hättenschwiler transferred his entire collection of about 40,000 specimens, mainly Psychidae, together with associated archival materials, to the Entomological Collection of ETH Zurich, ensuring that his life’s work remains accessible to future generations of researchers. With his passing, lepidopterology has lost an outstanding specialist, and all who knew him will miss his friendly manner, his helpfulness and his competent professional advice. His legacy endures in the taxonomy of the bagworm moths, in the identification tools he left behind, and in the many scientists he inspired and supported throughout his long career.

Subject of Research: Obituary: Peter Hättenschwiler, bagworm moth specialist

Article Title: In Memoriam: Peter Hättenschwiler 26.09.1927–17.08.2021

Article References: Sobczyk, T., Arnscheid, W., & Greeff, M. (2021). In Memoriam: Peter Hättenschwiler 26.09.1927–17.08.2021. Nota Lepidopterologica, 44, 249-256. https://doi.org/10.3897/nl.44.76454

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.3897/nl.44.76454

Keywords: entomology, lepidoptera, Psychidae, bagworm moths, taxonomy, obituary, Switzerland, Nota Lepidopterologica, Memoriam, Peter, ttenschwiler, scientific research

The study, led by Christoph Germann and colleagues, combined a critical re-reading of nineteenth and twentieth century literature with the examination of old museum specimens and recent field material from national institutions such as the Natural History Museum Geneva, the Natural History Museum Basel and the Natural History Museum Bern, alongside numerous private collections. The central European members of Stichoptera form a notoriously difficult species complex. Species bearing a red margin on the elytra were repeatedly confused or misinterpreted, and the nineteenth century literature even treated Chrysolina marginalis Duftschmid, 1825 and Ch. sanguinolenta (Linnaeus, 1758) as separate species, although they are now considered synonyms and both names likely referred to a mixture of species.

The first thorough revision of these morphologically similar beetles was provided by Helliesen in 1912, based on a study of type material including that of Ch. sanguinolenta held at the Linnaean Society in London. His identification key, used together with illustrations of the male genitalia, remains usable today. A more recent key by Winkelman and Debreuil (2008) also proved useful. Kippenberg (2020) then revised the predominantly alpine Ch. latecincta and its subspecies, synonymising the Swiss-endemic Ch. latecincta vallesiaca with the nominate subspecies and recording Ch. latecincta norica from Switzerland for the first time.

The impetus for the new Swiss review came in October 2020, when Chrysolina kuesteri, a species only confirmed for the Swiss fauna in 2012, was observed in surprisingly high abundance near Sion in Valais by Annette Geiser-Barkhausen and Urs Lemmenmeier. Germann revisited the locality and collected adults and larvae, and the team also analysed pitfall trap samples from vineyards around Salgesch and Varen. In total, 86 voucher specimens of Ch. kuesteri were examined. Only 21 were collected before 2000, spread over a range of 120 years, but 65 have been collected since 2000, suggesting the species has markedly increased in abundance during the last two decades.

The rearing experiments delivered some of the study’s most striking biological insights. Six couples of Ch. kuesteri from Mont d’Orge near Sion were kept in small plastic boxes and fed on the garden plant Linaria purpurea. Oviposition was observed from November until January, the first larvae appeared in early February 2021, and the larvae passed through five moults between mid-February and mid-April. The first pale yellowish pupa was found on 30 April, buried in quartz sand at the bottom of the boxes, and the first adult hatched on 29 May. Remarkably, some of the adults from autumn 2020 were still alive at that time. In the field, fifth instar larvae were found near Sion on 22 March 2021, feeding on Veronica hederifolia, a host plant record that matches an earlier observation by Peter Sprick in Lower Saxony, Germany.

Larvae of the alpine Ch. latecincta latecincta were also reared, from adults collected at Griespass in Valais at around 2400 metres altitude. Fifteen adults were kept alive in couples on Linaria purpurea. Eggs were laid from mid-September 2021, and one larva survived to moult twice before entering a quiescent phase from mid-December to February, during which it neither fed nor moved. It died in early March of unknown reasons. Three females then laid more than 20 eggs in mid to late March 2022, and the resulting larvae hatched in early April, moulting repeatedly through May and likely a fifth time by early June, when the first pupa appeared. This developmental schedule suggests that at high altitudes, where thick snow cover persists until early summer and slows plant growth, a larval development from spring to summer is likely the rule.

The review also settled the status of Chrysolina gypsophilae in Switzerland. Blanc et al. (2012) had recorded this species from Geneva, but the new examination traced the record to three female specimens from the collection of Charles Maerky, a collection with a reputation for frequent labelling errors. The specimens supposedly came from montane localities such as Le Grammont, Chandolin and Kippel in Valais, which seems odd for a species otherwise known from lowland areas. Because of this unreliability and the absence of any other material in collections, the authors consider the occurrence of Ch. gypsophilae in Switzerland dubious and advise against adding it to faunistic lists unless new data become available.

Ch. kuesteri is now confirmed to be locally common around Sion and Leuk in central Valais, with several previously unknown populations discovered between late 2020 and 2021. Most beetles were observed within vineyards, with smaller numbers on south-facing rocky steppe sites. Valais is a particularly well sampled area for Coleoptera, yet most collections made during recent decades did not contain the species, and the authors speculate that a warming climate or changes in insecticide use in vineyards may have contributed to the apparent increase. Similar observations of rising numbers have been made in the Kaiserstuhl area of southwest Germany. Ch. rossia, restricted to Ticino in Switzerland, appears stable, with a fair number of recent observations, and its recognisability even on photographs makes citizen science data usually trustworthy.

The picture for the alpine taxa is more mixed. Ch. latecincta latecincta is a high-altitude species potentially threatened by anthropogenic climate change in the long term, although no drastic population decline was apparent from the data. Ch. latecincta norica seems to have similar habits but with more widely scattered populations. A remarkable isolated locality is Passo Campolungo near Fusio in Ticino, separated from the nearest known populations by some 70 kilometres and several mountain ranges. Seven specimens collected before 1927 by G.C. Champion are held in the Natural History Museum London, and four more from 1912 to 1936 are in the Fontana collection in Lugano. A targeted field trip in September 2021 confirmed the presence of the host plant Linaria alpina but yielded no beetles, and the authors warn that this interesting isolated population may already have gone extinct in the 87 years since its last sighting. Intensive searches at Bergalga in Avers in 2012 and 2017 also failed to find the species.

The fate of Ch. sanguinolenta is the study’s most alarming finding. Arguably the most widespread species of the subgenus, found across the Palaearctic from Great Britain to eastern Siberia, it was once locally common in Switzerland, with records from Geneva, Vaud, Valais and Graubünden. The most recent Swiss records date back to the early 1970s, when Carlo Poluzzi found the species in abundance at Begnins in Vaud and even reared it on Linaria vulgaris, documenting his results in a drawing now kept in Geneva alongside his collection. His observations revealed pale brownish larvae, in contrast to the dark brown or black larvae of Ch. kuesteri and Ch. latecincta. Given the amount of collecting activity in many former localities in recent decades, the sudden decline cannot be attributed to a lack of sampling, and a September 2022 search in the vineyards around Begnins proved unsuccessful. The authors note that historical confusion with Ch. kuesteri and other relatives obscured the species’ true decline, and they urgently call for targeted surveys to find surviving populations and for a better understanding of the causes of its disappearance. From a conservation standpoint, current knowledge remains too poor to evaluate the Swiss Stichoptera taxa using IUCN criteria, but the review provides the foundation for future assessments, and the authors caution biological recorders and conservationists working on similarly complicated taxa against uncritically downloading data from online databases, including museum collections, unless the records have been recently verified by a specialist.

Subject of Research: Entomology

Article Title: A review of the Chrysolina species – subgenus Stichoptera Motschulsky, 1860 – in Switzerland, with notes on distribution, conservation and preimaginal stages ( Coleoptera , Chrysomelidae )

Article References: Germann, C., Geiser, M., & Borer, M. (2023). A review of the Chrysolina species – subgenus Stichoptera Motschulsky, 1860 – in Switzerland, with notes on distribution, conservation and preimaginal stages (Coleoptera, Chrysomelidae). Alpine Entomology, 7, 69-82. https://doi.org/10.3897/alpento.7.105937

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.3897/alpento.7.105937

Keywords: Chrysolina, Stichoptera, leaf beetles, Chrysomelidae, Switzerland, Alpine Entomology, conservation, larval biology, review, species, subgenus, Motschulsky