Taxonomy and genetic variation in the Australian lizards of the genus Pseudemoia (Scincidae: Lygosominae)

This study reviews the taxonomy of the southern Australian scincid lizards previously referred to Leiolopisma entrecasteauxii (Duméril and Bibron, 1839) and L. baudini Greer, 1982; here placed along with L. spenceri and the recently described L. rawlinsoni in the genus Pseudemoia. Electrophoretic, karyotypic and morphological data show that populations assigned to P. entrecasteauxii belong to three species. The name Pseudemoia entrecasteauxii is restricted here to a morphologically variable species which occurs in woodlands, forests and heathlands from the Blue Mountains, NSW, through the southeastern mainland, Bass Strait islands and Tasmania, to the islands of Spencer Gulf, SA. Populations designated as L. entrecasteauxii Form B by recent authors are mostly referrable to P. entrecasteauxii (s.s.). Pseudemoia pagenstecheri (Lindholm, 1901) is resurrected to apply to strongly striped populations disjunctly distributed in open grassland habitats from Tasmania, south-central Victoria, the southeast Australian highlands, Blue Mountains and New England Tableland. This species largely encompasses those populations referred to by several workers as L. entrecasteauxii Form A. A neotype for Lygosoma (Liolepisma) pagenstecheri is designated. A new species, P. cryodroma, is restricted to alpine and subalpine habitats on the high plains of Victoria. Pseudemoia cryodroma may have had a hybrid origin from P. entrecasteauxii and P. pagenstecheri. Pseudemoia baudini, hitherto known only from the unique holotype, is redescribed. This species extends eastward along the coast of the Great Australian Bight as far as the Eyre Peninsula, South Australia. A key to the species of Pseudemoia is provided.     

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.     

Key to the Holarctic species of Anagrus Haliday (Hymenoptera: Mymaridae) with a review of the Nearctic and Palaearctic (other than European) species and descriptions of new taxa

The Holarctic species of the genus Anagrus Haliday are keyed. The Palaearctic species, other than the European ones revised earlier by Chiappini (1989), and 10 out of 11 valid species described from the Nearctic region are reviewed, based on a study of their type material. Two new species, A. rilensis Donev sp. n. and A. longitibialis Donev sp. n., are described from Bulgaria. A new specific synonymy is proposed: A. giraulti Crawford, 1913 with A. nigriventris Girault, 1911 (described as A. armatus var. nigriventris). New replacement name: A. oregonensis S. Triapitsyn nom. n. pro A. nigriceps Girault, 1915 (A. armatus var. nigriceps) nec Smits van Burgst, 1914. A. spiritus Girault, 1911 and A. columbi Perkins, 1905 are reinstated as valid species. A checklist of 68 presently recognized species of Anagrus is given in accordance with their distribution in different biogeographic regions.     

Phylogenetic analysis of extreme morphologies: deep-sea holasteroid echinoids

Because of their ‘bizarre’ features, some echinoids can be considered laboratories in which to analyse the origin of extreme morphologies. The holasteroid family Urechinidae Duncan, 1889 is such a group. It is composed of 18 previously named living species in three genera: Urechinus A. Agassiz, 1879, Plexechinus A. Agassiz, 1898, and Pilematechinus A. Agassiz, 1904. With Stereopneustes, the most closely related living taxon, and the calymnid-plus-pourtalesiid clade as outgroups, a phylogenetic analysis on 35 binary characters is produced. We focus on two major aspects of morphology: test features (apical system, basicoronals, interambulacrum 5, test shape, ambulacra) and external appendages (pedicellariae, spines, sphaeridia). New data on plate architecture, morphology, and appendages are illustrated, and the position of the fossil, Chelonechinus, is discussed. We show that the Urechinidae is paraphyletic: the genus Plexechinus shares more recent common ancestry with the calymnids and pourtalesiids than with other urechinids. In order to retain the well-circumscribed clade, Pilematechinus A. Agassiz, 1904, the phylogenetic classification also recognizes two additional genera: Cystechinus A. Agassiz, 1879, and Antrechinus new genus. A key to the species is provided. The production of extreme morphologies, such as internal parental care, is explored by mapping test size, the occurrence of fascioles, and periproct position onto the phylogeny. By adding plates early in ontogeny, Pilematechinus develops radically different plate architectures from another genus of large forms, Cystechinus. In contrast, the latter gets large by exaggerating allometric trends seen in other holasteroids. Paedomorphosis and miniaturization have evolved independently in Antrechinus and some Plexechinus, but always by truncation of allometric trajectories.     

New ascothoracid crustacean endoparasites of Scleractinia

The ascothoracid crustacean genus Petrarca, endoparasites of scleractinian corals, is reviewed and revised. Petrarca bathyactidis, the type-species, is partly redescribed. The range of P. okadai is extended to East Africa. Three new species of Petrarca are described: P. indica in Flabellum deludens from the Indian Ocean near Ceylon; P. morula from Turbinaria sp. in the Banda Sea; P. azorica in Enallopsammia rostrata from the North Atlantic. Zibrowia auriculata gen. et sp. nov. infests Balanophyllia carinata off East Africa, and the same species appears to live in Tubastraea micranthus off East Africa and Dendrophyllia sp. at Réunion and in the Comoros. Unlike other ascothoracids, eggs and larvae are not brooded within the carapace valves, though they may be attached to them externally. Nauplii of P. okadai and Z. auriculata are described; they are generalized with familially distinct features. Adults of both genera have an overall neotenic appearance. They always occur in galls in groups of two or more, suggesting simultaneous infestation. Ahermatypic corals or their close hermatypic relatives seem to be preferred hosts, and Petrarca has a wider geographic and depth range than confamilial genera.     

New World legume-feeding psyllids of the genus Aphalaroida Crawford (Insecta: Homoptera: Psylloidea)

Aphalaroida comprises a compact group of nine species feeding on mimosoid legume host plants in the southern USA and Central America. The species, acaciae Crawford, californica Tuthill, inermis Crawford, lysilomae sp. n., masonici (Caldwell), pithecolobia Crawford, prosopis Crawford, rauca sp. n. and spinifera Crawford, are keyed out and data are given on host plants and distributions. Characters previously used to separate species are unreliable, and there is strong evidence to suggest that some species are polymorphic with respect to fore wing pattern. This had led to much confusion, with type series often containing mixtures of species. Fore wing shape, the form of male and female terminalia, the shape of the genae and the presence/distribution of glandular hairs are the most reliable diagnostic characters.     

Nine new species of the subgenus Stegana (Oxyphortica) from the Oriental region,with morphological and molecular evidence based on Chinese species (Diptera: Drosophilidae)

Nine new species of the subgenus Stegana (Oxyphortica) have been discovered from the Oriental Region: S. (O.) chuanjiangi Zhang and Chen, sp. nov., S (O.) dainuo Wang and Chen, sp. nov., S. (O.) dawa Zhang and Chen, sp. nov., S. (O.) laohlie Zhang and Chen, sp. nov., S. (O.) luchun Wang and Chen, sp. nov., S. (O.) mengwan Wang and Chen, sp. nov., S. (O.) triodonta Cheng and Chen, sp. nov. from southern China; S. (O.) dehiscens Cheng and Chen, sp. nov. and S. (O.) spinosa Cheng and Chen, sp. nov. from eastern Malaysia. One newly recorded species from China: S. (O.) maichouensis Sidorenko is re-described. The DNA sequences of the mitochondrial COI gene with BOLD Process ID and GenBank accession numbers are provided for the above seven new species and five known species from China: S. (O.) acutipenis Xu, Gao and Chen, S. (O.) adentata Toda and Peng, S. (O.) hirtipenis Xu, Gao and Chen, S. (O.) latipenis Xu, Gao and Chen, and S. (O.) maichouensis Sidorenko. Intra- and interspecific pairwise K-2P distances among these species are summarized and the phylogenetic relationships are reconstructed based on the neighbour-joining (NJ) analyses.

www.zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:2FA403F6-5535-40A4-9FD0-ADB9913EDE83.     

A taxonomic review of the genus Exochus Gravenhorst (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae: Metopiinae) from South Korea with descriptions of ten new species

The South Korean species of the genus Exochus are revised. Ten new species, Exochus acostulatus Lee & Choi, sp. nov., Exochus adentatus Lee & Choi, sp. nov., Exochus areolaris Lee & Choi, sp. nov., Exochus carinalis Lee & Choi, sp. nov., Exochus dentisternum Lee & Choi, sp. nov., Exochus depressus Lee & Choi, sp. nov., Exochus nigritulus Lee & Choi sp. nov., Exochus occipitalis Lee & Choi, sp. nov., Exochus orbitalis Lee & Choi, sp. nov. and Exochus propodealis Lee & Choi, sp. nov., are described. Also, 21 species of this genus are reviewed and newly recorded from South Korea, with diagnoses provided. A key to the South Korean species of Exochus and illustrations of external characters are provided.

http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:B28700A7-9CA7-4AE7-9816-9C8F4CD46160     

Butterflies (Lepidoptera: Papilionoidea) of Mount Kilimanjaro: Nymphalidae subfamilies Libytheinae,Danainae, Satyrinae and Charaxinae

This paper, which presents an annotated checklist of the ‘lower Nymphalidae’ (Libytheinae, Danainae, Satyrinae, Charaxinae), is the fourth in a series on the butterfly fauna of Mount Kilimanjaro. Four genera of lower Nymphalidae (Danaus, Amauris, Bicyclus, Charaxes), with a total of 11 included species, are known or believed to occur within the main forest zone, from c. 1800 to 2800 m. Of these, only three species of Charaxes (Charaxes berkeleyi, Charaxes ansorgei, Charaxes xiphares) may be restricted locally to this primary forest. The lower slopes fauna, below 1800 m, is considerably richer, with a total of 11 genera and 41 species listed (8 species of which extend into the forest zone). Possible additional species, dubious earlier records, problems with African subspecies of Danaus chrysippus, a need for more work on certain Satyrinae, and classification of the genus Charaxes are discussed. An identification key to the subfamilies of Nymphalidae, and the 19 genera of Libytheinae, Danainae, Satyrinae, Charaxinae that occur in Tanzania, together with a key to the adults of all the species of these four subfamilies considered to occur or have occurred on Kilimanjaro, with 206 colour images, are included as online Supplementary Information.