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A revision of the known African species of Psammoecus is given, including redescriptions and illustrations of diagnostic characters. Extensive material from the Musée royal de l’Afrique centrale (Tervuren) is studied. Two new species are described: Psammoecus leleupi sp. nov., and Ps. luchti sp. nov. Four specific names are synonymized: Psammoecus excellens Grouvelle, 1908 = Ps. trimaculatus Motschulsky, 1858; Ps. alluaudi Grouvelle, 1912 = Ps. trimaculatus Motschulsky, 1858; Ps. longulus Grouvelle, 1878 = Ps. longicornis Schaufuss, 1872; Ps. nitescens Grouvelle, 1914 = Ps. laetulus Grouvelle, 1914. A key to the African species is provided.
The genus Dadagulella gen. nov. is described to include 16 species of small, dentate, ovateacuminate Afrotropical snails. An identification key is provided and biogeography, anatomy and systematics are discussed. The type species is the Kenyan D. radius (Preston, 1910) comb. nov., whose name has informally been used for part of the group in the past. Substantial intraspecific variation occurs in three species: D. radius itself, D. browni (van Bruggen, 1969) comb. nov. and D. minuscula (Morelet, 1877) comb. nov. (= Ennea fi scheriana Morelet, 1881) (non Gulella minuscula Emberton & Pearce, 2000) . We recognise subspecies within each of these: D.radius radius (Preston, 1910) comb. nov., D. r. calva (Connolly, 1922) comb. et stat. nov., D. browni browni (van Bruggen, 1969) comb. nov., D. b. mafi ensis subsp. nov., D. b. semulikiensis subsp. nov., D. minuscula minuscula (Morelet, 1877) comb. nov., D. m. mahorana subsp. nov. Six new Tanzanian species are described: D. cresswelli sp. nov., D. delta sp. nov., D. ecclesiola sp. nov., D. frontierarum sp. nov., D. minareta sp. nov., and D. pembensis sp. nov. The genus includes seven other previously described species: D. cuspidata (Verdcourt, 1962) comb. nov.; D. rondoensis (Verdcourt, 1994) comb. nov.; D. conoidea (Verdcourt, 1996) comb. nov.; D. selene (van Bruggen & Van Goethem, 1999) comb. nov.; D. meredithae (van Bruggen, 2000) comb. nov.; D. nictitans (Rowson & Lange, 2007) comb. nov.; and D. delgada (Muratov, 2010) comb. nov.
The Afrotropical Rhyssinae are reviewed. A total of 12 species are reported from the region, including five new species: Epirhyssa brianfisheri sp. nov., E. gavinbroadi sp. nov., E. shaka sp. nov., E. villemantae sp. nov. and E. tombeaodiba sp. nov. The generic status of E. brianfisheri sp. nov. is discussed since this species could also be considered to be an extra-limital Triancyra species, emphasizing the putative paraphyletic status of Epirhyssa. Epirhyssa ghesquierei Seyrig, 1937, E. overlaeti Seyrig, 1937 and E. uelensis Benoit, 1951 are newly reported from Cameroon. We provide illustrated diagnoses and identification notes. Finally, we discuss the apparent scarcity of African rhyssines compared to other regions.
We revised the species of the genus Pristomerus Curtis, 1836 in the Afrotropical Region. Fortynine species are recognized, of which 31 are newly described. The following new species are described: P. afrikaner, P. aka, P. babinga, P. bemba, P. dikidiki, P. herero, P. hutu, P. kagga, P. khoikhoi, P. kuku, P. masai, P. mbaka, P. mbama, P. mboum, P. nzakara, P. protea, P. restio, P. san, P. sara, P. sotho, P. swahili, P. teke, P. tutsi, P. venda, P. wolof, P. xhosa, P. yakoma, P. yangere, P. yoccolo, P. zande and P. zulu spp. nov. New synonyms: P. africator, P. cunctator and P. luteolus are new junior synonyms of P. pallidus. New records: new host records are reported for the widespread P. pallidus; new country-level distribution records are added for P. bullis, P. keyka, P. kelikely and P. pallidus; and reports of Trathala concolor and P. veloma in South Africa are shown to have been erroneous. An illustrated dichotomous key to females is provided; an online Lucid interactive matrix key is also available at www.waspweb.org. Finally, the ecological and geographical correlates of colour patterns exhibited by Pristomerus in the Afrotropical region are discussed.
The new ctenid genus Afroneutria is proposed to include five species: Afroneutria velox (Blackwall, 1865) comb. nov. (type species), A. immortalis (Arts, 1912) comb. nov., A. erythrochelis (Simon, 1876) comb. nov., A. quadrimaculata sp. nov. and A. hybrida sp. nov., all collected in central to southeast Africa. Afroneutria species can be distinguished from the remaining Ctenidae by the presence of a synapomorphic laminar projection on the embolus tip. The genus can also be distinguished by the presence of the following set of characters: elongated cup-shaped median apophysis and elongated and laminar embolus on the male palp; large lateral projections on the epigynum and the spermathecae divided into two parts, dorsal and ventral, in the vulva.
Two new forest species, Eugenia sapoensis sp. nov. and Eugenia breteleri sp. nov., from Liberia and Gabon respectively, are described and illustrated here. Both are shrubs with comparatively large red fruits. They resemble each other, but E. breteleri differs from E. sapoensis in having twigs with conspicuously peeling bark, 6–8 pairs of main lateral nerves, versus 4–6 pairs, and fruits with a peduncle of 3–5 mm rather than 1– 2 mm long. Eugenia breteleri grows up to 3 m high while E. sapoensis does not grow higher than 1.4 m.
New and interesting Surirella taxa (Surirellaceae, Bacillariophyta) from the Congo Basin (DR Congo)
(2015)
Two new diatom taxa belonging to the genus Surirella, S. ebalensis and S. congolensis, are described from material of the Congo Basin, downstream Kisangani, DR Congo. The first taxon is a small, rather common species in the studied material; the second a somewhat larger diatom that was only sporadically observed. The morphology of both taxa is examined with light and scanning electron microscopy. The differences between the new and other closely related taxa such as S. agonaensis and S. bonsaensis, and S. takoradiensis, S. tenuissima and S. pseudotenuissima, respectively, are discussed.
This paper revises the genus Ganelius Benesh, which is endemic to Madagascar, in the stag beetle tribe Figulini Burmeister (Coleoptera: Lucanidae: Lucaninae). Species in the genus are striking in their highly sexually dimorphic mandibles, a character that rarely occurs in the tribe. The genus was previously comprised of four species, but three of these names were problematic or questionably applied. A lectotype is designated for G. madagascariensis Laporte, a neotype is designated for Ganelius oberndorferi Nonfried, and Nigidius passaliformis Benesh is newly synonymized with G. oberndorferi. Two new species, G. gnamptus Paulsen and G. zombi Paulsen, are described from western Madagascar. The identity of the overlooked Ganelius nageli (Kriesche) is fixed through a neotype designation, and the species is moved to the new genus Agnelius, which is distinguished from Ganelius by a lack of sexual dimorphism, serrate protibiae, and a more flattened body.