Biodi e si y Da a Jou nal 13: e167767
doi: 10.3897/BDJ.13.e167767
Resea ch A icle
Gas e oce cus dep essi os is dep essi os is
(Fab icius) (Coleop e a, Cu culionidae) – a new
xylophagous pes o Que cus ce is L. and a new
obbe ly (Dip e a, Asilidae) p eda o on i
in Bulga ia
Veselin I ano , Mihail Keche , Ma ga i a Geo gie a , Se dalin Belilo , Plamen Mi che ,
Zd a ko Hubeno , Lyubomi a Geo gie a , Geo gi Geo gie
‡ Fo es Resea ch Ins i u e, Bulga ian Academy o Sciences, So ia, Bulga ia
§ Na ional Museum o Na u al His o y, Bulga ian Academy o Sciences, So ia, Bulga ia
| So ia Uni e si y 'S . Klimen Oh idski', Facul y o Geology and Geog aphy, So ia, Bulga ia
Co esponding au ho : Ma ga i a Geo gie a (ma ga i ageo gie @gmail.com)
Academic edi o : En ico Ruzzie
Recei ed: 04 Aug 2025 | Accep ed: 19 Sep 2025 | Published: 06 Oc 2025
Ci a ion: I ano V, Keche M, Geo gie a M, Belilo S, Mi che P, Hubeno Z, Geo gie a L, Geo gie G (2025)
Gas e oce cus dep essi os is dep essi os is (Fab icius) (Coleop e a, Cu culionidae) – a new xylophagous pes
o Que cus ce is L. and a new obbe ly (Dip e a, Asilidae) p eda o on i in Bulga ia. Biodi e si y Da a Jou nal
13: e167767. h ps://doi.o g/10.3897/BDJ.13.e167767
Abs ac
The insec pes complex o Tu key oak (Que cus ce is L.) was s udied in he ield
p o ec i e o es bel s plan ed on he e i o y o he S a e Fo es En e p ise Dob ich in
sou h Dob udzha, no h-eas e n Bulga ia. S em cu ings a acked by xylophagous insec
pes s we e collec ed on 13 Ma ch 2025 in he land o Pobeda and Me odie o Villages.
The samples we e ea ed in pho oeclec o s a oom empe a u e (18-22°C). Du ing he
pe iod om 24 June o 24 July 2025, he oak wee il Gas e oce cus dep essi os is
dep essi os is (Fab icius, 1792) (Coleop e a, Cu culionidae) was ea ed o he i s ime
om Que cus ce is L. in Bulga ia. Addi ionally, a new species o Bulga ia's asilid auna,
Pogonosoma minus Loew, 1869 (Dip e a, Asilidae), was obse ed de eloping in he
‡ ‡ ‡ ‡ ‡
§ | ‡
© I ano V e al. This is an open access a icle dis ibu ed unde he e ms o he C ea i e Commons A ibu ion License (CC BY
4.0), which pe mi s un es ic ed use, dis ibu ion, and ep oduc ion in any medium, p o ided he o iginal au ho and sou ce a e
c edi ed.
la al galle ies o he pes . The ophic ela ionship be ween he p eda o y obbe ly and
he wee il p ey was p e iously unknown and is eco ded o he i s ime in his s udy.
Keywo ds
Tu key oak, wee il pes , Pogonosoma minus, new eco ds, ophic associa ion, sou h
Dob udzha
In oduc ion
In he 1950s, a sys em o ield p o ec i e o es bel s (FPFBs) was es ablished in Bulga ia
o educe wind e osion, imp o e soil mois u e s o age, inc ease he ag icul u al c op
yields, enhance he en i onmen al mic oclima e and p o ec he biodi e si y in de o es ed
egions (Geo gie 1960, Ma ino e al. 2003, Dode e al. 2023a). The dominan ee
species used o plan ing we e mainly om he gene a Que cus, F axinus, Gledi sia,
Robinia, Juglans and Ulmus (Dode e al. 2023b).
In 2022, he a ea o FPFBs in Bulga ia co e ed 10695.5 ha. The p edominan pa (72%,
o 7668.2 ha) is loca ed in sou h Dob udzha, no h-eas e n Bulga ia, on he e i o ies o
he S a e Hun ing En e p ise (SHE) Balchik and he S a e Fo es En e p ises (SFEs)
Gene al Toshe o and Dob ich (Ma e a and Ki ilo a 2022).
Since 2020, a dieback p ocess o ash ees (F axinus spp.) has been obse ed in he
FPFBs in no h-eas e n Bulga ia (Ma e a and Ki ilo a 2022, Dode e al. 2023c). Du ing
he pe iod 2020–2023, se e e damage caused by singing cicadas (Hemip e a,
Cicadidae) was egis e ed on ash ees in he FPFBs in sou h Dob udza (Geo gie a e al.
2024b). In ensi e damage by insec pes s and ungal pa hogens was also iden i ied on
o he ee species in FPFBs in he egion (Geo gie a e al. 2024a, Geo gie a e al. 2024c
).
The p esen no e epo s a new xylophagous wee il pes , Gas e oce cus dep essi os is
dep essi os is (Fab icius, 1792) (Coleop e a, Cu culionidae) o Que cus ce is L. and a
new asilid p eda o , Pogonosoma minus Loew, 1869 (Dip e a, Asilidae) on i in he
FPFBs in sou h Dob udzha in Bulga ia.
Ma e ial and me hods
The s udies we e ca ied ou in 2025 in he ou ski s o Pobeda and Me odie o Villages
on he e i o y o SFE Dob ich in sou h Dob udzha (Fig. 1). The biological ma e ial was
collec ed in FPFBs o Que cus ce is. The geog aphical coo dina es, al i udes and o he
main cha ac e is ics o he s udied a eas a e p esen ed in Table 1.
The samples o ees wi h symp oms o xylophagous pes in es a ion (s em cu ings wi h a
leng h o 25 o 30 cm and a diame e o 15 o 25 cm) we e aken on 13 Ma ch 2025 and
2I ano V e al
anspo ed o he SFE Gene al Toshe o, whe e each cu ing was kep in a sepa a e
pho oeclec o a a empe a u e o 18-22°C. The samples we e obse ed daily o he
eme gence o insec pes s.
№Locali y Geog aphical
coo dina es
Al i ude,
m
T ee species Age,
yea s
A e age heigh ,
m
A e age D ,
cm
1 Pobeda Village 43.60779°N,
27.93344°E
245 Que cus
ce is
70 18 30
2 Me odie o
Village
43.60583°N,
28.01094°E
200 Que cus
ce is
70 17 28
Gas e oce cus dep essi os is dep essi os is was iden i ied by he key o A noldi e al.
(1965). Taxonomic keys o Rih e (1968) and As akho (2015)we e used o he
iden i ica ion o he species Pogonosoma minus and he genus Pogonosoma .
The biological ma e ial was deposi ed in he en omological collec ion o he Fo es
Resea ch Ins i u e in So ia.
1.30
Table 1.
Main cha ac e is ics o he s udied a eas.
Figu e 1.
S udied a eas in he ield p o ec i e o es bel s on he e i o y o he S a e Fo es En e p ise
Dob ich in sou h Dob udzha.
Gas e oce cus dep essi os is dep essi os is (Fab icius) (Coleop e a, ... 3
Resul s
In labo a o y condi ions, wo axa we e ea ed om he s em samples:
Gas e oce cus
dep essi os is dep essi os is (Fab icius, 1792) (Coleop e a, Cu culionidae) (Pobeda
ill.: 19 ex., 24 June – 04 July 2025; Me odie o ill.: 2 ex., 04 July 2025) and
Pogonosoma minus Loew, 1869 (Dip e a, Asilidae) (Pobeda ill.: 7 ex., 24 June – 24 July
2025; Me odie o ill.: 3 ex., 24 June – 04 July 2025). One o hem, P. minus, is a new
species o he Bulga ian auna.
The adul s o G. dep essi os is dep essi os is (Fig. 2A, B) eme ged om s ems o li ing
Q. ce is ees. The exi holes on he ba k a e ound, wi h a diame e o 6-10 mm (Fig. 2C).
The la al galle ies pene a e deep in o he sapwood (Fig. 2D).
Pogonosoma minus (Fig. 3A) de eloped wi hin he la al galle ies o G. dep essi os is
dep essi os is, whe e he p eda o ’s la ae ed on he wee il. The species’ pupae we e
loca ed unde he ba k (Fig. 3B). The eme gence occu ed h ough holes in he ba k,
du ing which a pa o he pupa eme ged (Fig. 3C). Pa o he exu ia p o uded om he
ba k (Fig. 3D).
The ophic associa ion o P. minus wi h G. dep essi os is dep essi os is was
es ablished o he i s ime in he p esen s udy.
Figu e 2.
Gas e oce cus dep essi os is dep essi os is. A adul (do sal iew); B head ( on al iew); C
exi holes on ba k; D la al galle ies in he wood.
4I ano V e al
Discussion
The genus Gas e oce cus Lapo e & B ullé, 1828 comp ises nine species dis ibu ed in
he Palaea c ic, O ien al and Aus alian ealms, li ing on dead wood o in dying ees
(Alonso-Za azaga e al. 2009). In Eu ope, i was desc ibed as wo species – G.
dep essi os is and G. hispanicus Alonso-Za azaga, Jo e & Micó, 2009 ( Alonso-
Za azaga e al. 2009). Recen ly, hey we e ega ded as subspecies o G. dep essi os is
as ollows: G. dep essi os is dep essi os is, dis ibu ed in Albania, A menia, Aus ia,
Aze baijan, Bulga ia, C oa ia, Czechia, F ance, Geo gia, Ge many, G eece, Hunga y,
I aly, Moldo a, Poland, Romania, Slo akia, Slo enia, Sou h Eu opean Russia, Uk aine
and G. dep essi os is hispanicus in Spain (Alonso-Za azaga 2013, Alonso-Za azaga e
al. 2023). Gas e oce cus dep essi os is was ecen ly epo ed o he auna o
Swi ze land, as well (Ge mann and Sebas ian 2014). In Bulga ia, G. dep essi os is
dep essi os is was no known and i s p esence in he Bulga ian auna is p obably due o
unpublished ma e ials in en omological collec ions.
Gas e oce cus dep essi os is de elops unde he ba k and in li ing wood o oaks and
some imes causes he dea h o he a acked ees (Malyshe a 1960, A noldi e al. 1965).
The species, oge he wi h ep esen a i es o Ag ilus genus (Coleop e a, Bup es idae),
Figu e 3.
Pogonosoma minus: A adul (do sal iew); B pupa (la e al iew); C adul eme gence om a
pupa; D emp y exu ia.
Gas e oce cus dep essi os is dep essi os is (Fab icius) (Coleop e a, ... 5
a e no ed as he leading causes o oak decline (Sallé e al. 2014). Acco ding o
Be na dinelli and Mossen a (2009), G. dep essi os is is ophically connec ed no only
wi h oaks, bu also wi h Fagus syl a ica L. and i s ligh occu s om he end o May o he
end o July. D o enik and V eš (2012) epo ed ha he species is a e and mus be
included in he Red Lis o endange ed bee les o Slo enia.
In his s udy, P. minus was ound as a new species o he Bulga ian asilid auna. Un il
now, only one species o he genus P. ma occanum (Fab icius, 1794) is known o he
coun y (Hubeno 2021). Pogonosoma minus is a Medi e anean species dis ibu ed in
sou he n F ance, I aly, sou he n Ge many and he Caucasus (Lau e bo n 1936). The
p esen inding is he i s eco d o he species on he Balkan Peninsula and sou h-
eas e n Eu ope.
The la ae o he Asilidae amily usually li e in soil and o en wood, eeding on eggs,
la ae and pupae o o he insec s (Rih e 1968, As akho 2015). Pogonosoma minus was
ea ed om old, o ing oak ees in he Uppe Rhine Region (Lau e bo n 1936).
Howe e , he de elopmen o he species in la al galle ies o bo ing insec s in li ing
wood was eco ded o he i s ime in his in es iga ion.
Conclusions
The disco e y o G. dep essi os is dep essi os is and P. minus expands ou knowledge
o he species composi ion and ecology o oak xylophagous insec s in Bulga ia, en iching
he asilid auna o he coun y.
Acknowledgemen s
This s udy was suppo ed by he p ojec 'De e io a ion o he heal h s a us o ield
p o ec i e o es bel s in no h-eas e n Bulga ia and oppo uni ies o imp o emen and
econs uc ion' unded by he Na ional Science Fund, Minis y o Educa ion and Science
o he Republic o Bulga ia, p ojec (Con ac № KP-06-H66/9 - 13.12.2022).
Con lic s o in e es
The au ho s ha e decla ed ha no compe ing in e es s exis .
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