New and unusual abyssal gammaridean Amphipoda from the north-east Pacific

Seventeen species of gammaridean amphipods were identified from sediment trap collections in the north-east Pacific, off the central California coast from depths of 3450–4050 m. Four new monotypic genera, Anisocallisoma (Family Scopelocheiridae), Triquetramana (Family Eusiridae), Octomana and Macroarthrus (Family Pardaliscidae) and eight new species, Cyphocaris latirama, Schisturella spinirama, Paracallisoma spinipoda, Anisocallisoma armigera, Triquetramana brevipalpa, Octomana hadromischa, Macroarthrus victoriae, Oedicerina denticulata are described. A number of new and unusual morphological characteristics were discovered, most notably in the family Pardaliscidae, where two of the new genera belong. In addition, new distributional and/or depth records are established for the following species: Procyphocaris indurata (K. H. Barnard, 1925), Scopelocheiropsis abyssalis Schellenberg, 1926a, Rhachotropis distincta (Holmes, 1908), Cleonardo biscayensis Chevreux, 1908b, Cleonardo macrocephala Birstein and Vinogradov, 1955, Pardaliscopsis tenuipalpa Chevreux, 1911, Halice aculeata Chevreux, 1912 and the genus Oedicerina Stephensen, 1931. In order to assist future identification, the new species are fully diagnosed and illustrated. Three tables for comparing characters and a key to the species of Oedicerina are also provided. Additional morphological information and figures are given for existing species that hitherto were poorly described and illustrated. Sediment traps normally employed in studying organic matter fluxes are herewith used for the first time as a source of deep-sea amphipods, and this potentially exciting method is discussed. The high proportion of new taxa illustrates the deficiencies in our knowledge of the abyssal fauna in this area, emphasizes the importance of continued collecting in the deep-sea, and demonstrates the need for increased taxonomic effort to document this diversity.     

Synopsis of the deep-sea groups of Triphoroidea (Gastropoda)

The marine gastropod superfamily Triphoroidea is composed of three families: Triphoridae and Cerithiopsidae are usually associated with shallow waters, and Newtoniellidae is historically associated with the deep sea. We provide an extensive review of the literature and delineate the groups within the three families that are truly linked to the deep sea, with reference to their developmental mode. Two genera of Triphoridae, Strobiligera and Inella, are commonly found in deep waters, and Metaxia presents some species with apparently wide depth ranges. Some deep-sea genera currently placed in Cerithiopsidae, such as Ektonos and Krachia, are very similar to Newtoniellidae; a phylogeny of the superfamily is needed to clarify the distinction of the two families. The majority of Triphoroidea species from the deep sea undergo non-planktotrophic development, although planktotrophy is not uncommon.     

Seasonality in some British intertidal Acari

The life cycles of halacarid and non-halacarid littoral Acari are examined, and the results compared with those of other workers. All species can carry out one life cycle in approximately 12 months, with the exception of the genus Isobactrus (Halacaridae) which may have two or more generations per annum. Species exposed to heavy wave action have mechanisms to reduce juvenile mortality, including larval retention, and/or larviparity, extended periods of oviposition to optimize losses as a result of wave action, and niche protection of juveniles. However, these adaptations are preadaptations, because similar mechanisms exist among related species in less stressful environments. The sex ratios of some species follow an annual cycle with females dominant before and during oviposition, suggesting that they live longer than males and die after oviposition. Sex ratios among small groups of Hydrogamasus salinus (Laboulbene) (Cyrtolaelapidae: Mesostigmata) are variable, though these are relatively constant in larger aggregations.     

On Liljeborgia fissicornis (M. Sars, 1858) and three related new species from Scandinavia,with a hypothesis on the origin of the group fissicornis

The large and common Scandinavian amphipod Liljeborgia fissicornis (M. Sars) is split into four species: the deep-water L. caliginis sp. nov. and L. charybdis sp. nov., and the shallow-water L. fissicornis and L. ossiani sp. nov. The poorly known species L. polosi Barnard and Karaman, recorded from the deep Canadian Basin of the Arctic Ocean, is considered as belonging to the same group. All those northern species are completely devoid of eyes, while similar species from the Antarctic and sub-Antarctic continental shelf do have eyes. It is hypothesized that the group fissicornis, which is specific to cold waters, derives from ancestors living on the continental shelf of the Southern Ocean. These ancestors would have adapted to deep-sea environments, losing their eyes completely. Then they would have migrated northwards through the cold abyss, and reached the cold but shallow waters of the Arctic/sub-Arctic continental shelf, without redeveloping visual organs.     

A new genus of Atlantic octocorals (Octocorallia: Gorgoniidae): systematics of gorgoniids with asymmetric sclerites

Gorgonian corals from the families Gorgoniidae and Plexauridae are among the most abundant and diverse shallow‐water cnidarians found along tropical and temperate Atlantic coasts and reefs. Some morphological traits in the Gorgoniidae comprise a taxonomic challenge due to their morphological plasticity as well as a lack of discrete character states among most genera. Some gorgoniids have asymmetrical sclerites in the surface coenenchyme, a character trait that consists of a continuum among several genera and can cause confusion with members of the family Plexauridae. The collection of a unique gorgoniid in Tobago (Trinidad and Tobago), which contains this trait but also maintains affinities to many different genera, stimulated a wider morphological comparison of gorgoniids using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Using the morphology of asymmetrical sclerites, gorgoniids could be grouped in four monophyletic clades that were compatible with recent molecular phylogenies and provide a provisional subfamilial classification: (1) a derived clade including gorgoniids with scaphoid sclerites, comprising the reef fauna from the western Atlantic (e.g. Gorgonia, Pseudopterogorgia [ = Antillogorgia], Pterogorgia, and Phyllogorgia); (2) a related group with taxa containing capstan sclerites including genera with short capstans and/or disk‐spindles sclerites such as Pacifogorgia and Leptogorgia ( = Lophogorgia); (3) a clade of gorgoniids with asymmetrical spiny sclerites including the Atlantic genus Muriceopsis and the Indopacific Pinnigorgia together with the distant single species from the new genus and species Tobagogorgia hardyi (it is worth noting that Muriceopsis was previously classified in the Plexauridae, but there is overwhelming molecular support that groups it with the Gorgoniidae and morphological evidence that suggests affinity with Pinnigorgia); and finally (4) a basal clade with long and spiny spindles, which includes some African species such as Filigorgia angolana and F. schoutedeni as well as other new combinations (all species previously classified as Leptogorgia but not phylogenetically related). The combined set of sclerites of Tobagogorgia (e.g. both asymmetrical and irregularly bent spindles) separates it from the diagnostic characters of related genera such as Muriceopsis and Pinnigorgia. The latter two genera are also profusely branched, including pinnate patterns, whereas T. hardyi has only one or two branches. Externally, T. hardyi looks like some Leptogorgia colonies that branch minimally but it is clear that the sclerites are very different and thus also their phylogenetic divergence.     

A taxonomic review of the Rhinotermitidae (Isoptera) of Thailand

Ninety series of rhinotermitid termites were collected from 19 localities distributed across much of Thailand, and compared with specimens deposited in the NHML. Eleven species belonging to five genera of Rhinotermitidae are recorded from Thailand. Three species of two genera, Reticulitermes (Reticulitermes assamensis) and Parrhinotermes (Parrhinotermes microdentiformisoides and Parrhinotermes buttelreepeni), are new records from Thailand. Keys to the genera and species based on the soldier caste are given. Soldiers of all species are illustrated and morphological measurements are given.     

Taxonomy and biology of final-instar larvae of some Eurytomidae (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea) associated with grasses in the UK

A comparative morphological study was made of the final-instar larval stage of 33 species of grass-inhabiting Eurytomidae belonging to four genera: Eurytoma Illiger, Tetramesa Walker, Sycophila Walker and Ahtola Claridge. Emphasis was placed upon chaetotaxy and mandibular structure. The final-instar larvae of the species are described, those of 26 species for the first time, and diagnostic characters and keys to genera and species are provided. Information, including new rearing records, is given on the larval biology of each eurytomid species, together with comments on the adult taxonomy of certain species.     

Three new genera of Banchinae (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae) from Central and South America

Three new genera and four new species of Banchinae are described from Central and South America: Terrylee gen. n., is described from Peru and Honduras to accommodate Terrylee olearius sp. n. and Terrylee peruensis sp. n. (type species: Terrylee peruensis sp. n.); Valdiviglypta gen. n. and Pristiboea gen. n. are described from Chile (type species: Valdiviglypta nimbus sp. n. and Pristiboea leiomano sp. n.). Terrylee and Pristiboea are placed in the tribe Atrophini, Valdiviglypta tentatively in the tribe Glyptini. All the three new genera are morphologically very distinctive and two have such character suites that they may not immediately be recognizable as banchines. By describing these three Neotropical genera from Chile, Honduras and Peru we aim to draw further attention to the considerable morphological variation within the ichneumonid subfamily Banchinae.     

Two new Geoplaninae species (Platyhelminthes: Continenticola) from Southern Brazil based on an integrative taxonomic approach

The genera Cratera Carbayo et al., 2013 and Obama Carbayo et al., 2013, belonging to the subfamily Geoplaninae, were recently proposed to encompass some of the species that belonged to the genus Geoplana Stimpson, 1857. Herein we describe two new species of Geoplaninae, occurring in areas of ombrophilous forest which belong to the southern portion of the Brazilian Atlantic Rain Forest. The species are sympatric in their type-locality. In general, both new species herein described match the diagnostic characteristics of their genera. However, some of these features are noteworthy when characters of the new species are taken into consideration, especially the pattern of the sensory pits and the morphology of the prostatic vesicle. Both species are differentiated from their congeners by a combination of morphological characteristics, corroborated by phylogenetic analyses of the cytochrome c oxidase subunit I gene, using maximum likelihood and Bayesian inference, as well as the Automatic Barcode Gap tool.     

Synopsis of ‘onychocellid’ cheilostome bryozoan genera

Genera assigned to the cheilostome bryozoan family Onychocellidae are revised based on the skeletal morphology of the type species and, when possible, the type material of these species. All genera are illustrated using scanning electron micrographs, some for the first time. Onychocellidae, which ranges from the Cenomanian stage of the Cretaceous to the Recent, has been a particularly troublesome family because of poorly defined generic concepts correlating at least in part with a paucity of morphological characters. Thirty-five genera are described in this review. Of these, two are recognised as subjective synonyms of other onychocellid genera (Rhebasia and Semieschara), one cannot be sufficiently characterised from the type material (Collura), and two are new: Aechmellina gen. nov. (type species Aechmella falcifera) and Kamilocella gen. nov. (type species Eschara latilabris). A neotype is chosen for Rhagasostoma hexagonum, the type species of Rhagasostoma. A key is provided to assist in the identification of onychocellid genera. Phylogenetic relationships between genera remain obscure and are unlikely to be fully resolved based on skeletal morphology alone. The family as an entity is loosely circumscribed and almost certainly paraphyletic, containing stem genera of other anascan familes such as Lunulitidae, Coscinopleuridae and Aspidostomatidae.

www.zoobank.org/urn:lsid:org:pub:63A31AD2-F049-42CB-A45B-557014DC286E     

The generic affiliation of Japanese species of the subfamily Psyllinae (Hemiptera: Psyllidae) with a revised checklist

The generic affiliations of all the Japanese species of the psyllid subfamily Psyllinae are re-examined under the current generic recognition of the subfamily based mainly on adult morphological characters. Twenty-two species of the genus Psylla Geoffroy are newly combined with the genus Cacopsylla Ossiannilsson. Psylla wulinensis Yang and Aphalara akebiae Shinji are newly synonymized with Psylla multipunctata Miyatake and Cacopsylla hakonensis (Kuwayama), respectively. In addition, Cacopsylla toddaliae (Yang) is newly recorded from Japan. In all, 62 species of the Japanese Psyllinae are recognized and classified into three genera Psylla, Cacopsylla and Chamaepsylla Ossiannilsson, which include 11, 50 and one species, respectively. A key to Japanese psylline genera and a revised checklist of all the Japanese species of Psyllinae are presented with their distribution and host plant information and also with their synonymies.     

Re-establishment of the Family Eumedonidae Dana, 1853 (Crustacea: Brachyura)

On the basis of a re-examination of all available data concerning the systematic position and status of the genus Eumedonus and allied genera it is concluded that these taxa form a separate family within the superfamily Xanthoidea (sensu Guinot, 1978). The family is characterized not only by particular morphological features but by the symbiotic mode of life of its members.     

Phylogenetic evaluation of the tropical Camptotypus genus-group (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae), with a key to the world genera

The phylogeny of the disjunct pantropical Camptotypus genus-group (Hymenoptera, Ichneumonidae, Pimplinae) was reconstructed using 40 morphological characters.The monophyly of many established genera (Parvipimpla, Clydonium, Odontopimpla) was found to be supported, but Hemipimpla was found to nest within Camptotypus and has thus been treated as a junior synonym of it (syn. n.). A group of undescribed Neotropical species were found to form a separate monophyletic group, herein referred to as Genus A. Species of the Neotropical genus Zonopimpla formed a basal paraphyletic grade which could not satisfactorily be resolved into discrete monophyletic units. Rather than subsuming all the more derived genera within one large group, or attempting to erect numerous new and probably ephemeral genera (for isolated species of Zonopimpla), we propose the retention of this grade-group as a separate genus at present. The host utilization patterns of the genus-group, and the biogeography of the genus-group are discussed. The group is hypothesized as having originated and radiated in the Neotropics, as ectoparasitoids of weakly concealed lepidopterous hosts. One lineage, Clydonium, has become specialized at attacking hosts in woody galls where it utilizes coleopterous as well as lepidopterous hosts. The Old World genera (Camptotypus and Parvipimpla) comprise a monophyletic group and are suggested to have originated from a single dispersal event across the widening Atlantic. No evidence for either a southern or northern circum-polar dispersal was observed in this entirely tropical genus-group. One lineage in the Afrotropical region has switched from attacking lepidopterous hosts, to attacking pre-pupal and pupal polistine vespids.     

New species of Australian arid zone chelonine wasps from the genera Phanerotoma and Ascogaster (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) informed by the ‘Bush Blitz’ surveys of national reserves

Here we focus on the poorly studied braconid wasp subfamily Cheloninae for the arid zone of the Australian continent, using material, in part, resulting from comprehensive surveys of three arid zone reserves. The Bush Blitz programme is a multi-institutional project with the aim of documenting the diversity of the flora and fauna in Australia’s National Reserve System, with describing new species being a key focus of the programme. In total, 11 species from the genera Ascogaster and Phanerotoma are treated, with species’ delimitation based on both molecular and morphological data. Two species are redescribed (Phanerotoma behriae Zettel, 1988a and P. decticauda Zettel, 1988a) and nine species are described as new (Ascogaster brevivena sp. nov., A. ferruginegaster sp. nov., A. prolixogaster sp. nov., A. rubriscapa sp. nov., Phanerotoma bonbonensis sp. nov., P. bushblitz sp. nov., P. lutea sp. nov., P. nigriscapulata sp. nov. and P. witchelinaensis sp. nov.). Keys to the arid zone species of these two genera are provided, along with a species richness estimation of Australian chelonine wasps.     

Ascidians collected during the Spanish Antarctic expedition CIEMAR 99/00 in the Bransfield and Gerlache Straits

During the Spanish expedition CIEMAR 99/00, on board the BIO‐Hespérides, 30 species of ascidians (distributed in 13 genera and eight families) were collected using a rock dredge in the Bransfield and Gerlache straits. Most of them were already known, but one species, Tetrazona ciemari sp. nov., is new for science. Additional morphological data are provided for six species. Five are reported for only the second time and the known distributions of five species are extended.     

A re-assessment of the genera Holorusia Loew (=Ctenacroscelis Enderlein), Ischnotoma Skuse and Zelandotipula Alexander (Diptera: Tipulidae), with notes on their phylogeny and zoogeography

Summary

A short historical background to the genera considered is given. A review is made of a number of characters which had previously only been treated inconsistently, or not at all. As a result, the old-world genus Ctenacroscelis is merged with Holorusia sensu stricto, as represented by the isolated Californian type-species. All other species previously referred to Holorusia sensu lato are redistributed to two genera; the tropical South American and New Zealand forms are united into Zelandotipula; the Chilean element and the Australian species are united into Ischnotoma, the name Icriomastax Enderlein being resurrected as a subgenus to receive most of the Chilean species.

Tentative phylogenetic and zoogeographic observations are made. Holorusia and Ischnotoma are considered and discussed as sister-groups, whilst Zelandotipula is believed to be only distantly related. Zoogeographically Holorusia is seen as a successful Asiatic genus; Ischnotoma as a receding group, with extreme southern-continental distribution, having had a much wider distribution as indicated by the European Oligocene fossil Holorusia vasifera, transferred here to Ischnotoma. Zelandotipula is viewed as an essentially Neotropical genus, which has made one ‘invasion’ of New Zealand, probably in the geologically recent past.

Résumés of the principal features of the re-defined genera are given, together with systematic notes on certain species, and species catalogues giving distributions and all new name combinations.     

Cohabitation of males and juvenile females: a prevalent mating tactic of spiders

Cohabitation, a mating tactic in which males remain with juvenile females until they moult and mature, is shown to be common among spiders. Records are given for 161 species in 74 genera and 15 families. Records were obtained for 100 species of cursorial spiders (45 genera, eight families) and 71 species of web-builders (33 genera, 11 families). Cursorial species cohabit in nests, whereas web-builders cohabit either in the open on their webs or in nests in or near their webs. Duration of cohabitation in nature and in the laboratory was recorded for 12 species. An apparent tendency for web-builders to cohabit longer than cursorial species is discussed. The longest cohabitation occurred in three web-building species (Inola amicabilis, Inola subtilis: Pisauridae; Portia fimbriata: Salticidae) in which males remained with females two moults from maturity, and juvenile, as well as adult, males cohabited with juvenile females. The prevalence of cohabitation in the Salticidae, the family that provided the largest number of examples (72 species: 33 genera), is discussed in relation to current hypotheses about salticid phylogeny.