A new Stelis (Dolichostelis) from northern Colombia (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae): first records for South America and a synopsis of the bee fauna from the Caribbean region of Colombia

The cleptoparasitic anthidiine bee genus Stelis Panzer is primarily Holarctic in distribution, extending as far south as Costa Rica. A new species of Stelis subgenus Dolichostelis Parker and Bohart is described and illustrated based on females collected in dry forests of the Caribbean region of Colombia. Stelis (Dolichostelis) costaricensis Friese is also recorded from dry forests but in western Colombia. These are the first records of the genus, as currently recognized, for South America. An updated key to the species of Dolichostelis and a synopsis of the diversity and biogeography of the bee fauna from the Caribbean region of Colombia are provided. Based on reports from the literature and data from collections, we provide a checklist consisting of 125 species in 48 genera of five families. The complex composition of this bee fauna parallels that of the flora, with taxa having the following origins or distributions: West Indian, North or Central American, Andean, xeric or temperate South American, and Neotropical widespread. A brief account on the contribution of George Salt to the knowledge of the biology of this Colombian bee fauna is also provided.     

Considerations about the genus Pentoniscus Richardson, 1913 (Crustacea: Isopoda: Oniscidea) with description of a new species

The status of the neotropical genus Pentoniscus Richardson, 1913 is reconsidered and a diagnosis of this genus is given. It is shown that Pentoniscus Richardson, 1913 is a valid genus and not a synonym of Philoscia Latreille, 1804 as discussed by Schultz (1968). The type species, Pentoniscus pruinosus Richardson, 1913 is redescribed and for the first time figured in detail. A new species of Pentoniscus Richardson, 1913 is described from Costa Rica, Central America, which differs remarkably from its congeners in being unpigmented and blind.     

Taxonomy and cladistic analysis of the subgenus Xenomorellia Malloch (Diptera: Muscidae: Morellia Robineau-Desvoidy) with description of two new species

Xenomorellia Malloch, a subgenus of Morellia Robineau-Desvoidy, is revised to include two new species, Morellia (Xenomorellia) inca Nihei and Carvalho sp. nov. from South America, and M. (X.) maia Carvalho and Nihei sp. nov. from Costa Rica and Mexico. Diagnoses for M. (X.) holti (Malloch) and M. (X.) montanhesa (Albuquerque) are provided, as well as an identification key to the four species of the subgenus. A cladistic analysis was performed to test the monophyly of Xenomorellia and to recover the phylogenetic relationships among its species. Tree searches resulted in one single most-parsimonious cladogram, wherein the monophyly of Xenomorellia is supported, as well as a sister-group relationship with the Neotropical subgenus Trichomorellia Stein. Xenomorellia was divided into two clades: one with Caribbean–Andean species (maia?+?inca), and another with species from southeastern South America (holti?+?montanhesa).     

Taxonomy of the Cecropia-inhabiting Azteca ants

Cecropia trees and several species of the ant genus Azteca form the most conspicuous ant-plant association in the Neotropics. The taxonomy and biology of the Cecropia-associated Azteca are reviewed. A key to queens is provided for the 13 species known to be obligate inhabitants of Cecropia trees, and a key to workers for the five species known from Costa Rica. Taxonomic changes include four new species and extensive synonymy. Individual species accounts contain taxonomic, behavioural, and ecological information. Evolutionary relationships among the species, and the community ecology of the Cecropia-Azteca association, are discussed.     

Helminth biodiversity of Costa Rican Anurans (Amphibia: Anura)

One hundred and sixty-three frogs representing 21 species collected in Costa Rica were examined for helminths. Those found were: one species of Digenea (Mesocoelium monas), one species of Cestoda (Cylindrotaenia americana), 15 species of Nematoda, 11 species represented by gravid individuals (Aplectana hylambatis, Aplectana incerta, Aplectana itzocanensis, Capillaria recondita, Cosmocerca parva, Cosmocerca podicipinus, Falcaustra costaricae, Hedruris heyeri, Oswaldocruzia costaricensis, Oswaldocruzia nicaraguensis, Rhabdias savagei) and four species represented by larvae (Physaloptera sp., Porrocaecum sp., Spirocamallanus sp., Ascarididae gen. sp.) and three species of Acanthocephala, one species represented by gravid individuals (Anuracanthorhynchus lutzi) and two species by cystacanths (Centrorhynchidae gen. sp. and Oligacanthorhynchidae gen. sp.). Mean helminth diversity (number of helminth species) per frog species was 2.4 ± 0.3 SE, range: 1–6. Forty-nine new host records are reported. Costa Rican frogs are infected by generalist helminths, which infect other species of frogs from Central and South America.     

Revision of the American Pupisoma species (Gastropoda: Pupilloidea)

The American species of Pupisoma Stoliczka (Gastropoda: Pupilloidea) are revised. Five species are recognized. Pupisoma puella Hylton Scott has been synonymized with P. dioscoricola (C. B. Adams). This species occurs from southern USA through the Caribbean and Central America to the Galapagos Islands and to southern Brazil and northern Argentina. Pupisoma galapagorum Pilsbry, P. bailyi Pilsbry, and P. latens Hylton Scott have been synonymized with P. comicolense H. B. Baker. This species is distributed from Mexico to the Galapagos Islands, southern Brazil, and northern Argentina. Pupisoma costulata sp. n. from Andean forests in Colombia is described as new. The range of P. macneilli (Clapp) extends from southern USA through the Caribbean and Central America to southern Brazil and northern Argentina. A neotype has been designated for P. mediamericanum Pilsbry. Pupisoma michoacanense Pilsbry is a synonym of this species. This species occurs from Mexico to Colombia and on Jamaica.     

New species and records of earthworms from Jamaica with notes on the genus Eutrigaster Cognetti, 1904 (Octochaetidae: Oligochaeta)

Details are presented of earthworm collections from Jamaica. Eleven species are reported, eight being new records of which two are new species, to bring the total number of species known from the island to 16 and the number of families represented to six. The geographical affinities of each species and its faunal status are summarized. The new species are members of the genus Eutrigaster Cognetti (Octochaetidae) whose validity is reviewed; a table is provided for the identification of the 11 Central American and Caribbean species currently included in the genus.     

New species of Orasema (Hymenoptera: Eucharitidae) from Central and South America

ABSTRACT

Six new species of Orasema are described. Four species are placed into a newly recognised lasallei species group: Orasema lasallei sp. nov. (Costa Rica, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua), O. janzeni sp. nov. (Costa Rica), O. peckorum sp. nov. (Brazil) and O. vasquezi sp. nov. (Colombia). One species is placed in the wayqecha group, Orasema masneri sp. nov. (Ecuador). One other species is currently unplaced to species group, O. longinoi sp. nov. (Costa Rica). Orasema lasallei was taken from a nest of Pheidole vorax (Fabr.) and an undescribed species near O. longinoi from a nest of Pheidole dossena Wilson (Myrmicinae). The morphology of the digitate labrum is discussed with respect to other Eucharitidae.     

New American bark beetles (Coleoptera: Scolytidae), with two recently introduced species

Species named as new to science include: Conophthorus michoacanae, C. teocotum, Hylesinus aztecus (Mexico), Phloeocleptus punctatus (Costa Rica), Pseudothysanoes atomus (Venezuela), P. leechi (California), Pityogenes mexicanus, Araptus speciosus, Amphicranus spectus (Mexico), and Xyleborus praestans (Panama). Also reported are the first records of the notorious Xylosandrus compactus (Eichhoff) from South America (Brazil), and the first American records of Xyleborus fornicatus Eichhoff (Panama) and X. validus Eichhoff (New York and Pennsylvania).     

A revision of Astyanax (Characiformes: Characidae) in Central and North America,with the description of nine new species

Since the restriction of Astyanax fasciatus to Brazil, most authors have assigned Central American and southern Mexican forms of Astyanax to A. aeneus. However, molecular studies support the hypothesis that more than one taxon is involved. With the aim of clarifying the number and status of species hidden behind the name ‘A. aeneus’, this revision comprises 80 populations of Astyanax (and ‘Bramocharax’) from Panama to Texas, with comparative material from South America, based on morphological characters (mostly osteological). Astyanax aeneus is hereby restricted to the Pacific slope, from Río Papagayo, Guerrero, to Honduras. Several species are resurrected from synonymy or redescribed: A. altior (restricted to north-western Yucatán), A. argentatus (Texas and northern Mexico), A. belizianus (central-southern Belize, Izabal, Caribbean Honduras), A. brevimanus (upper Usumacinta and Grijalva, Chiapas, Quiché, Alta Verapaz), A. finitimus (Veracruz, Tabasco, northern Chiapas), A. mexicanus (restricted to Colima and the Balsas River basin), A. nicaraguensis (Caribbean Nicaragua to Sixaola, Panama), A. orstedii (south-eastern Nicaragua, Costa Rica and westernmost Panama), A. panamensis (Pacific Panama), and A. petenensis (Campeche, Petén). Nine species are newly described: A. acatlanensis sp. nov. (inland Oaxaca and Puebla), A. bacalarensis sp. nov. (Quintana Roo, northern Belize, Petén), A. cubilhuitz sp. nov. (Alta Verapaz), A. macal sp. nov. (Maya Mountains, Belize), A. ocotal sp. nov. (Lake Ocotal, highland Chiapas), A. rioverde sp. nov. (San Luis Potosí), A. salvatoris sp. nov. (Tamazulapan, Oaxaca), A. tamiahua sp. nov. (northern Veracruz) and A. tehuacanensis sp. nov. (Papaloapan, Oaxaca). Others were already recognised as different from A. aeneus, among these A. cocibolca and A. nasutus, as well as species included before in the genus Bramocharax.

http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:ABC57223-DF66-49B6-8FE0-87CFF5D3EA03     

Pycnogonida of the Galápagos Islands

Summary

Eleven species from the shallow water of the Gálapagos are recognized. Of these, two are also found on the Pacific coast of Central America and one occurs in the Caribbean region. Eight species appear to be endemic, of which five are described as new: Anoplodactylus torus, Ammothella dawsoni, Eurycyde encantada, Rhynchothorax barnardi, Tanystylum distinctum. A deepwater species, Ascorhynchus laterospinum Hilton, is redescribed. The pycnogonid fauna shows close relationship to that of mainland Central America, but does not suggest insular speciation on the basis of the collections studied. Indo-Pacific representation is lacking in the material studied.     

Ultrastructural redescription of Chordodes moraisi (Carvalho, 1942) and Chordodes straviarskii Carvalho and Feio, 1950, and re‐interpretation of Chordodes gestri Camerano, 1904 and Pseudochordodes griffinii (Camerano, 1898) (Gordiida,Nematomorpha)

The Gordiida species Chordodes moraisi (Carvalho, ) and C. staviarskii Carvalho and Feio, are re‐described using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Chordodes moraisi is characterized by four areole types, two of which correspond to tubercle areoles, the crown areoles appear as single structures and occur on both sides along the ventral midline. Chordodes staviarskii is characterized by a polymorphism of crowned areoles which appear as two types with distinct distribution patterns. Two species, Chordodes gestri Camerano, and Pseudochordodes griffinii (Camerano, ), are synonymized with Neochordodes occidentalis (Montgomery, 1898) and Chordodes peraccae (Camerano, 1894).     

Global species diversity

Sixteen species from the following six orders of insects have been recorded as breeding on pteridophytes of the Lycopsida: Homoptera, Thysanoptera, Mecoptera, Diptera, Hymenoptera and Lepidoptera. All but one of these is from Selaginella, the exception being a pyralid moth from Lycopodium in Hawaii. Three new species are described from Selaginella eurynota in Costa Rica: Aleurotulus pteridophytae Martin sp. nov. (Homoptera, Aleyrodidae), Encarsia sueloderi Polaszek sp. nov. (Hymenoptera, Chalcidoidea), a parasitoid which was reared from the whitefly, and Echinothrips selaginellae Mound sp. nov. (Thysanoptera, Thripidae).     

New Neotropical Haplothripini (Thysanoptera: Phlaeothripidae) with a key to Central and South American genera

The tribe Haplothripini includes a large diversity of Thysanoptera–Phlaeothripinae, comprising more than 550 species in about 35 genera. They are characterised by having a maxillary bridge in the head, prosternal basantra well developed and fore wings with a median constriction. Members of this group are present in all geographical regions, but are particularly poorly studied in Central and South America. In this study, we describe a new genus and species, Myrciathrips variabilis gen. et. sp. nov., and a new Haplothrips species; and propose two new combinations: Karnyothrips grassoi (De Santis), and Mirothrips vespicola (De Santis). A key to the nine Haplothripini genera now recognised from Central and South America is provided, together with an updated key to Haplothrips and Mirothrips species. A total of 45 species of Haplothripini are now recognised from Central and South America, and a list of these and their distributions is given. The genera Karnyothrips, Haplothrips and Leptothrips are the most commonly encountered, and some exotic species such as Androthrips ramachandrai and Dolichothrips indicus are now widespread in the Americas.     

A new species of Sarcofahrtiopsis Hall (Diptera: Sarcophagidae) living in roosts of Spix's disk-winged bat Thyroptera tricolor Spix (Chiroptera) in Costa Rica

Sarcofahrtiopsis thyropteronthos sp. n. is described from Costa Rica. All specimens were bred from faeces taken from young, tubular leaves of musoid plants (genera Heliconia and Calathea) used as roosts by Spix's disk-winged bat Thyroptera tricolor Spix. Larvae were observed in practically all roosts suggesting a highly specialized association.     

Systematics and fossil evidence of host-parasitoid relationships of Calamiscus Borgmeier (Diptera: Phoridae)

The life history and hitherto unknown males of Calamiscus cryptopalpis are described. A second species of this genus, C. inflativenis n. sp. is described from Costa Rica. The species C. cryptopalpis is a gregarious parasitoid of injured stingless bees in Costa Rica. The co-occurrence of a specimen of the genus Calamiscus in a piece of amber with the oldest known fossil bee is hypothesized to be the most ancient host-parasitoid relationship between a pair of insect species documented thus far. The otherwise rarely-seen fly was probably lured to the amber site by the alarm pheromones of the bee, and then trapped in the sticky tree resins.     

Two new Mastigodiaptomus (Copepoda,Diaptomidae) from southeastern Mexico,with a key for the identification of the known species of the genus

Two new species of the freshwater planktonic copepod genusMastigodiaptomus—M. maya and M. reidae—are described from material collected in southeastern Mexico. This neotropical genus is known to be distributed mainly in the southern part of the United States, Mexico and Central America, and now embraces eight species. Of these, six occur in Mexico. Both new species seem to be closely related to M. texensis and M. albuquerquensis. It is probable that this group of Mexican species represents a northwards radiation from the Proto-Antilles-Central America region into the continent, eventually reaching North America. A key for the identification of the known species of the genus is provided.     

Two new species of Clinocentrus Haliday (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) from Argentina,with notes on South American species

The Argentine species of the genus Clinocentrus Haliday are revised. Two new species are described, Clinocentrus mamull sp. nov. and Clinocentrus roigi sp. nov., which represent the southernmost records of the genus in South America. Additionally Clinocentrus nigripectus Enderlein is redescribed and a key to known South American species is provided.     

New species of American Corthylini (Coleoptera: Scolytidae)

The following species are described as new to science: Monarthrum cordicticum, M. tetradontium, M. conversum, M. bidentatum (Mexico), M. subgranulatum (Honduras), M. morsum, M. carinatum, M. adustum, M. insignatum, M. fastigiorum, M. limulum, M. carinulum, M. infradentatum, M. corculum, M. posticum, M. proximum (Costa Rica), M. proprium, M. notatum (Costa Rica, Panama). M. bifoveatum (Costa Rica, Venezuela), Corthycyclon caliginis, C. furvus, C. morulas (Costa Rica), C. tardus (Costa Rica, Panama), Corthylocurus debilis (Costa Rica, Panama). &;nbsp;     

Notes on the family Macrodinychidae (Acari: Uropodina) with description of two new species

The published records of the already known Macrodinychid species are summarized and a key to the known species of the family is given. New records of the different Macrodinychus species are presented from Saint Lucia, Dominican Republic, Cuba, Costa Rica, Suriname, Fiji, New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Thailand. Two new species (Macrodinychus malayicus sp. nov. and Macrodinychus extremicus sp. nov.) are described and illustrated. The species Macrodinychus paraguayensis Hirschmann, 1975 is proved to be the junior synonym of Macrodinychus parallelepipedus (Berlese, 1916 Berlese, A. 1916. Centuria seconda di Acari nuovi. Redia., 12: 125–177.  [Google Scholar]).