A new genus and three new species of parasitoid wasp from Papua New Guinea and redescription of Trigonophatnus Cameron (Hymenoptera,Braconidae, Rogadinae)

ABSTRACT

Two new pill millipede species, namely Hyleoglomeris hoanglien sp. nov. and H. fanxipan sp. nov., are described from high elevations (approximately 2,800–2,900 m) of the Hoang Lien National Park, northern Vietnam. A new species, H. hoanglien sp. nov. is clearly distinguished by the telopods being short, stout and incrassate, femora strongly condensed, tibia without modifications, syncoxital lobe bifid trapeziform, and syncoxital horns with an apical seta and a spine. Hyleoglomeris fanxipan sp. nov., is diagnosed by the telopods being long and robust, tibia without modifications, syncoxital lobe roundly trapeziform, and syncoxital horns truncated at tip. COI-based DNA barcodes of the two species are also provided for the first time in the genus Hyleoglomeris. The K2P genetic distance between the two new species is 0.148. In addition, an identification key to the Vietnamese Hyleoglomeris species is also provided.

http://www.zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:6DEFED42-0D65-4F50-9D24-A0923B9D1709     

Zoogeography and evolutionary ecology of the genus Platorchestia (Crustacea,Amphipoda, Talitridae)

ABSTRACT

Species of the genus Platorchestia occur both in the northern hemisphere (18 species) and southern hemisphere (three species plus a synanthropically introduced species in South America and South Africa). The greater number of endemic Platorchestia species in the North Pacific Ocean suggests that it could be the epicentre of evolution for this genus. North-western Pacific Platorchestia includes 15 species which occupy five ecotopes: wrack (seven species), terrestrial leaf litter (five species), freshwater (one species), marsh (one species) and tentatively present in caves (one species). North-eastern Pacific Platorchestia includes only one putative driftwood specialist, with no other species found in North American coastal habitats. This compares with three good endemic Platorchestia species (plus two putative additional species) and only two ecotopes: wrack (three species) and freshwater (two species) from the North Atlantic Ocean, inclusive of the Gulf of Mexico and Mediterranean Sea. Insufficient data is available to consider Platorchestia zoogeography for the Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal. Synanthropic dispersal involving Platorchestia in Polynesian outrigger canoes, or in solid ballast carried in the holds of wooden sailing ships has been identified as a potential complicating factor in the zoogeography of this genus. Platorchestia is proposed to have arisen on Laurasia and is therefore basically a northern hemisphere genus. Questions concerning Platorchestia zoogeography and evolutionary ecology are posed and two methods (more intensive field sampling and molecular genetics) are suggested to be the way to solve them.     

Natural history of the terrestrial amphipod Cerrorchestia hyloraina Lindeman (Crustacea: Amphipoda; Talitridae) in a Costa Rican cloud forest

The field biology of the Costa Rican landhopper (Crustacea: Amphipoda: Talitridae) Cerrorchestia hyloraina Lindeman was investigated in the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve, Costa Rica. On the Pacific (leeward) side of the continental divide, local distribution follows a gradient of moisture, from densities of over 200 m^-2 in the elfin forest at 1600 m, to extremely low densities in drier forest types. Below 1400 m, the leaf litter is apparently too dry to support landhopper populations. On the Caribbean (windward) side of the continental divide, landhoppers occur well below 1400 m. A discussion of geographic distribution is included. Landhoppers prefer aged (microfaunally pre-processed) leaves as food, and move about only at night or in the mornings of heavily overcast days. Average female fecundity is seven eggs, with progressive loss of marsupium contents over time. The sex ratio is biased towards females. In cloud forest, breeding apparently is continuous throughout the year, with some increase after the beginning of the rainy season. There are 9–10 juvenile instars and 5–6 adult instars. The relationship of antennal segment number to total body length is linear.     

Population study of the landhopper Talitroides topitotum (Crustacea: Amphipoda: Talitridae) in central Mexico

A population of Talitroides topitotum discovered in Mexico City in 1992, was studied during a one year cycle. Abundance varied significantly during the study period, high population numbers occurred from June to October with a marked decrease from November to May. Maximum total length was 12.5mm and the size at first reproduction for females was 4.0 mm total length. Talitroides topitotum reproduced all year, with a peak in June. A female biased sex ratio was obtained in every sample with a maximum of 4:1 in May. Fecundity varied from one to nine eggs per female and mean fecundity varied significantly through time. The results show that T. topitotum exhibits little variation among widely separated populations and, 4 years after introduction, a life cycle adjusted to the local weather.     

Notes on the occurrence of Talitrus dorrieni Hunt (Crustacea Amphipoda: Talitridae) in south-west England

Summary

The introduced amphipod crustacean Talitrus dorrieni is abundant in terrestrial localities on the Isles of Scilly, and has been found in three previously unrecorded localities in Cornwall. Although widespread on the islands, it is restricted to gardens and cultivated ground on the mainland. The origin of the colonies and the factors limiting their spread are discussed.     

A new landhopper species of Myanmarorchestia (Crustacea: Amphipoda: Talitridae) from Yunnan,China

A new landhopper talitrid, Myanmarorchestia nunomurai Nakano and Morino, sp. nov., from Yunnan Province, China is described. Since species of Myanmarorchestia were known only from Mt. Victoria of the Arakan Mountains of Myanmar, this is the first record of the genus from China. Myanmarorchestia nunomurai is characterised by its coxal gills on gnathopod 2 to pereopod 6 without filamentous projections while the other congeners from Myanmar possess some/all of the coxal gills with filamentous projections. Additionally, M. nunomurai can be diagnosed by the sexually dimorphic uropod 2, of which the outer ramus bears a robust seta on the midlateral surface and a few rows of small teeth on the middle to distodorsal surface.

http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:3C014FFC-F4D6-4F18-8188-33672367ABB1     

Mosquito (Diptera: Culicidae) fauna of the Iranian islands in the Persian Gulf

Mosquitoes of four Iranian islands (Abu-Musa, Hormuz, Larak and Qeshm), Hormozgan Province of southern Iran, were surveyed between 2005 Madison DR, Madison WP. 2005. MacClade 4.08 [Internet]. Sunderland (MA): Sinauer Associates, Inc. http://macclade.org/index.html  [Google Scholar] and 2007 Tamura, K, Dudley, J, Nei, M and Kumar, S. 2007. MEGA4: Molecular Evolutionary Genetics Analysis (MEGA) software version 4.0. Mol Biol Evol., 24: 1596–1599. [Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]. In 521 specimens collected, 14 species belonging to four genera were identified: Anopheles culicifacies Giles sensu lato (s.l.), An. dthali Patton, An. fluviatilis James s.l., An. stephensi Liston, An. turkhudi Liston, Culex bitaeniorhynchus Giles, Cx. perexiguus Theobald, Cx. pseudovishnui Colless, Cx. quinquefasciatus Say, Cx. sitiens Wiedemann, Cx. theileri Theobald, Cx. tritaeniorhynchus Giles, Culiseta longiareolata (Macquart) and Ochlerotatus (= Aedes) caspius (Pallas) s.l. This is the first record of all of these species on the islands. Cytochrome c oxidase I (COI) barcode sequences were used to confirm the taxonomic identity of An. stephensi, Cx. quinquefasciatus and Oc. caspius s.l. from the islands and mainland of Hormozgan Province, with genetic isolation noted in both Oc. caspius s.l. and Cx. quinquefasciatus samples collected in Abu-Musa Island. Morphological anomalies in island specimens of Cx. quinquefasciatus and Cx. pseudovishnui are discussed.     

Four new earthworm species of the genus Amynthas Kinberg (Oligochaeta: Megascolecidae) from the island of Hainan and Guangdong Province,China

This paper describes four new species of morrisi-group earthworms from Hainan and Guangdong Provinces, China: Amynthas instabilis sp. nov, Amynthas dilatatus sp. nov, Amynthas infuscuatus sp. nov. and Amynthas qiongzhongensis sp. nov. All four species have two pairs of spermathecal pores in 5/6–6/7; male pores in XVIII, 0.33 circumference ventrally apart, each on the top of a slightly raised porophore, surrounded by several tiny genital papillae, in a pulvinate pad with three to six circular folds. Characters of the spermathecae, prostate glands and other anatomical features easily distinguish the new species from earthworms previously reported from the morrisi-group.

http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:545E9152-C826-44A2-949E-402434D8493D.     

Phylogenetic relationships of Mesobuthus eupeus (C.L. Koch, 1839) inferred from COI sequences (Scorpiones: Buthidae)

In this study, the first molecular phylogenetic analysis of Mesobuthus eupeus in Iran is presented based on sequence data of a ～ 700-base-pair fragment of cytochrome C oxidase, subunit I. Phylogenetic relationships were inferred using parsimony, maximum likelihood and Bayesian inference. The results support monophyly of M. eupeus, but there is a clear divergence between northern and southern clades. The northern clade includes four subspecies – M. e. eupeus, M. e. philippovitschi, M. e. afghanus and M. e. thersites; whereas the southern clade is comprised of two others – M. e. phillipsi and M. e. kirmanensis. Accordingly, possible scenarios for the evolution and phylogeographic structure of M. eupeus based on the geological history of the Iranian Plateau were proposed. The observation of two distinct lineages supports the proposal that M. eupeus might be a species complex composed of species with highly similar morphological features.     

Further morphological and molecular studies of driftwood hoppers (Crustacea: Amphipoda: Talitridae) from Mediterranean/north-east Atlantic coastlines

An unknown talitrid was discovered in 2011 in the Swale, UK, living in driftwood. Sequencing of multiple mitochondrial and nuclear genes (cytochrome oxidase I, 18S rDNA and 28S rDNA) confirms that the unknown taxon was close to Orchestia mediterranea A. Costa 1857. The driftwood in which it was found was of Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii), probably imported from North America. Relative growth methods allow us to reject the null hypothesis that the unknown taxon was a juvenile Orchestia mediterranea. This is because the unknown taxon initiates sexual maturation at an earlier moult number (neoteny) and is predicted to reach terminal moult stages at a much smaller size (dwarfism) than its closest relative O. mediterranea. Both molecular and morphological data confirm that the unknown taxon from the Swale, UK, is a new driftwood specialist taxon, distantly related to the driftwood specialist genus Macarorchestia. Additional data for body length and sex ratios are presented for Macarorchestia. In addition, relative growth methods have shown that the driftwood species Orchestia microphtalma Amanieu and Salvat 1964 is closer to the genus Macarorchestia rather than to the wrack generalist one, Orchestia. This evidence is in line with the molecular results that do not cluster morphologically defined species of Orchestia monophyletically.     

Daphniola Radoman, 1973 (Gastropoda: Hydrobiidae): shell biometry,mtDNA, and the Pliocene flooding

Shell biometry and cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 (CO1) mtDNA were studied in Daphniola exigua (Schmidt, 1856), D. graeca Radoman, 1973 Radoman, P. 1973. New classification of fresh and brackish water Prosobranchia from the Balkans and Asia Minor.. Posebna Izdanja, Prirodnjacki Musej u Beogradu, 32: 1–30.  [Google Scholar], and D. louisi Falniowski and Szarowska, 2000 Falniowski, A. and Szarowska, M. 2000. A new species of Daphniola Radoman, 1973 (Gastropoda: Hydrobiidae) from Greece.. Folia Malacologica, 8: 181–188.  [Google Scholar] from Greece. Principal component analysis of shell morphometry confirmed the distinctness of D. louisi along the PC3 axis. Kimura 2‐parameter (K2P) genetic distances within D. graeca and D. exigua were 0.016 and 0.003–0.008, respectively, all D. louisi sequences were identical. The distance between D. exigua and D. graeca was 0.013–0.027. The distances between D. louisi and D. graeca, and D. louisi and D. exigua, were 0.098–0.110 and 0.091–0.096, respectively. The mean distance between D. louisi and the other Daphniola species was 0.098±0.007, while between the eight Daphniola specimens and the so far closest species Grossuana codreanui (Grossu, 1946) was 0.102–0.123. A maximum likelihood tree was constructed for all Daphniola, with Grossuana codreanui and Bythinella austriaca (Frauenfeld, 1856) as an outgroup. This confirmed that D. louisi is a distinct species, and must have diverged after the Pliocene marine transgression.     

Plagiometriona emarcida (Boheman, 1855) and Plagiometriona forcipata (Boheman, 1855) (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae: Cassidinae), a single species differing in larval performance and adult phenotype

Matings frequently observed between the tortoise beetles Plagiometriona forcipata (Boheman, 1855 Boheman, CH. 1855. “Monographia Cassididarum”. In Tomus Tertius, 543Stockholm: Holmiae.  [Google Scholar]) and Plagiometriona emarcida (Boheman, 1855 Boheman, CH. 1855. “Monographia Cassididarum”. In Tomus Tertius, 543Stockholm: Holmiae.  [Google Scholar]), in the State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, led us to compare the ecology, life history and genetics of these two morphologically distinct species. Host plant censuses revealed P. emarcida was about five times more abundant, while populations of both species responded in parallel to climate. Laboratory-reared immature P. forcipata took 2 days longer to complete development and showed higher mortality rates. No differences were detected in ovipositional behaviour, genitalia morphology or in sex ratio of offspring. The adult offspring of field-caught females of both species contained individuals with both species' elytral patterns. Finally, nearly identical cytochrome oxidase I sequences obtained from individuals of each species suggest that they are a single polymorphic species. Based on these observations and the examination of type material we propose the new synonymy: Plagiometriona forcipata?=?P. emarcida, syn. nov.     

Successful identification of the final instar nymph of Quintilia carinata (Thunberg) (Hemiptera: Cicadidae) by DNA extraction from the exuvium

Despite being taxonomically and phylogenetically informative, the morphology of the immature stages of cicadas has received comparatively superficial attention. One reason for this is the difficulty of positively identifying immature stages, particularly as these stages are fossorial. We present a method for identifying cicada exuviae using DNA sequence data and describe a set of characters and character states for the final instar nymph of Quintilia carinata (Thunberg). The identification of immature stages using molecular methods will increase our knowledge of African cicadas, allowing for the initiation of future phylogenetic and ecological comparisons.     

Calanoides natalis Brady, 1914 (Copepoda: Calanoida: Calanidae): identity and distribution in relation to coastal oceanography of the eastern Atlantic and western Indian Oceans

Until recently, Calanoides carinatus s.l. was assumed to be very widespread in the upwelling systems of the Atlantic, Indian and western Pacific Oceans. Molecular data, reported here, show that Calanoides from the eastern Atlantic and Arabian Sea are one species and distinct from C. carinatus s.s. The name Calanoides natalis Brady, 1914 is available for this species, which is fully re-described. The illustration by Brady of the male fifth leg and the currently reported genetic data lead us to conclude that C. natalis is distributed from the Bay of Biscay southwards along the eastern Atlantic, around the Cape of Good Hope, and northwards along the western boundary of the Indian Ocean as far as the Arabian Sea. A by-product of this study is the recognition that Calanoides macrocarinatus is a junior synonym of Calanoides brevicornis. Females of C. natalis are easy to distinguish morphologically from C. carinatus s.s. but are more similar to C. brevicornis, apart from size differences. From physical oceanographic evidence we conclude that the Indian Ocean is currently the upstream part of the distribution of C. natalis. Calanoides philippinensis is known to extend into the eastern Indian Ocean at tropical latitudes. It is not known if it is C. philippinensis that has been recorded along the western coast of Australia. An apparently undescribed species of Calanoides occurs on the eastern Australian coast.     

Biting mechanism of the amphipod Anonyx (Crustacea: Amphipoda: Lysianassoidea)

Anonyx amphipods feed extensively on dead or weakened animals, often of large size. They cut off strips of food using the wide incisor processes of their mandibles like a pair of shears. The mandibles and associated mouthparts are specialized for this shearing action. The strips of food are coiled and packed into their proventriculi.     

The epibionts of beach hoppers (Crustacea: Talitridae) of the North American Pacific coast

The beach hoppers Megalorchestia californiana and M. corniculata (Crustacea: Talitridae) were studied for the interaction of two of their epibionts. Rhabditid nematodes reside under the host's dorsal pereonites where they may be facultative parasites or feed on bacteria and detritus associated with the host. The mite Thinoseius brevisternalis (Canaris, 1962) (Acari: Eviphididae) preys upon the above nematodes. Both nematodes and mites also use the host as transport between patches of beach wrack. Other epibiotic Acari on talitrids are also reported here.     

Identification and characterization of Biomphalaria peregrina (Orbignyi, 1835) from Agua Escondida in northern Patagonia,Argentina

During a general malacological survey for freshwater gastropods in northern Patagonia, a population of Biomphalaria was encountered at Agua Escondida. Biomphalaria spp. are freshwater pulmonates of biomedical importance, uncommon in Mendoza Province, and often act as intermediate hosts for Schistosoma mansoni. By looking at both morphological and molecular characters, we describe a detailed process of identification and characterization of Biomphalaria peregrina from a location towards the extremity of its species range. A reference DNA ‘barcode’ is presented. As B. peregrina has been shown to be a permissive experimental host of S. mansoni, snails were also screened in the field for schistosomiasis and later in the laboratory using a novel polymerase chain reaction-based assay but no infections were found. Considering the transmission potential of this species, increased vigilance for intestinal schistosomiasis is recommended, especially if local environmental conditions become favourable for disease transmission, for example, through future climate change and intensification of irrigation.     

Two new species of Niphargus (Crustacea: Amphipoda) from Iran

Two Niphargus species, Niphargus khayyami sp. nov. and Niphargus khwarizmi sp. nov., are morphologically analysed and described. Both species are found in western Iran, which represents the easternmost border of the distributional area for this subterranean amphipod genus. We were unable to attribute N. khayyami sp. nov. to any of 80 Niphargus species that were analysed for 28S ribosomal DNA sequences; sequencing of N. khwarizmi sp. nov. failed. Niphargid findings from west Asia recorded in 5 years imply that almost one half of the range of this large freshwater amphipod genus is still unexplored. http://www.zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:9E9E7CC9-83E2-419F-A394-57197305E1EF