Refine
Year of publication
Document Type
- Part of Periodical (23) (remove)
Language
- English (23) (remove)
Has Fulltext
- yes (23)
Is part of the Bibliography
- no (23)
Keywords
- identification key (23) (remove)
The Asian species of the subfamily Thaumastodinae Champion, 1924 are reviewed. Seven new species are described: Acontosceles borneensis sp. nov., Pseudeucinetus papuanus sp. nov., Mexico ogasawaraensis sp. nov., M. baliensis sp. nov., M. papuanus sp. nov., M. palauensis sp. nov. and M. borneensis sp. nov. The genus Babalimnichus Satô, 1994 is treated as a junior synonym of the genus Mexico Spilman, 1972, and three known species of the genus Babalimnichus are transferred to Mexico, viz. M. taiwanus (Satô, 1994) comb. nov., M. masamii (Satô, 1994) comb. nov. and M. splendens (Hernando & Ribera, 2003) comb. nov. Additional specimen data are shown, and new distributional records are as follows: Acontosceles chujoi Yoshitomi & Satô, 2005 from Vietnam; A. zetteli Pütz, 2008 from Laos; Pseudeucinetus javanicus Yoshitomi & Putra, 2010 from Lombok Island; Mexico taiwanus (Satô, 1994) comb. nov. from Lutao, Lanhsu and the Yonaguni-jima Islands; and M. masamii (Satô, 1994) comb. nov. from Kume-jima. A species list of the subfamily Thaumastodinae is given, with ZooBank LSIDs. The phylogenetic relationships of the thaumastodine genera are discussed.
Muscid species of the 'Spilogona contractifrons species-group' (Spilogona alticola (Malloch, 1920), S. arctica (Zetterstedt, 1838), S. contractifrons (Zetterstedt, 1838), S. orthosurstyla Xue & Tian, 1988) and of the 'Spilogona nitidicauda species-group' (S. nitidicauda (Schnabl, 1911), S. hissarensis Hennig, 1959, S. imitatrix (Malloch, 1921), S. platyfrons Sorokina, 2018) are notoriously difficult to distinguish. In this paper, their morphological features are analysed, images of the male head, frons and abdomen of all the species are given, and the male terminalia are figured. The study of extensive material has shown that all the morphologically recognised species in each of these groups are valid species. An identification key is provided for both groups of species. To confirm the morphological differences, genetic differences in the cytochrome oxidase I gene of flies of the 'Spilogona contractifrons speciesgroup' and of the 'Spilogona nitidicauda species-group' were analysed. It is shown that members of both groups of species have not only distinguishing morphological characters but also fixed substitutions in the DNA sequences. Since a low interspecific polymorphism is known in the Muscidae Latreille, 1802, the revealed genetic distances confirm the existence of separate species or subspecies in each of the groups studied.
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.
Three new species of aulacid wasps, Aulacus pascali sp. nov., Pristaulacus elveni sp. nov. and Pristaulacus villemantae sp. nov., and a new species of gasteruptiid wasp, Gasteruption jenningsi sp. nov., are described and figured. Additionally, we update identification keys to New Caledonia species of aulacids and gasteruptiids. We also provide new data on New Caledonian Evaniidae, Gasteruptiidae and Stephanidae.
Ampharete oculicirrata sp. nov. (Annelida: Ampharetidae) is described from samples collected by the Joint Nature Conservation Committee and Marine Scotland Science, in the West Shetland Shelf NCMPA in the NE Atlantic. This species is characterised by a very small body size, thin and slender paleae, twelve thoracic and eleven abdominal uncinigers, presence of eyes both in the prostomium and the pygidium, the latter provided with a pair of long lateral cirri. The external micro-morphology of the new taxon was studied using scanning electron microscopy and compared with species described or reported from the North Atlantic. Two complementary keys to all species of Ampharete in the area are also provided.
The genus Dasydorylas Skevington, 2001 is recorded from two provinces in Iran (Sistan-o Baluchestan and Kermanshah Provinces). Dasydorylas derafshani sp. nov. and D. zardouei sp. nov. are characterized morphologically by DNA barcoding of the mitochondrial COI gene. Eudorylas antennalis Kapoor, Grewal & Sharma, 1987 is transferred to Dasydorlyas (comb. nov.). An existing identification key to the males of the western Palaearctic species of Dasydorylas is complemented to include the newly described species.
The flower fly genus Afrosyrphus Curran, 1927 (Diptera, Syrphidae) is revised and a new species, Afrosyrphus schmuttereri sp. nov., from Kenya and Uganda is described. Diagnoses, illustrations, DNA barcodes and known distributional data are provided for the two species of this genus, as well as an identification key. A critical review of the published literature is also provided.
Ants of the Tetramorium solidum group occur in Africa, with the vast majority of species endemic to the arid regions of southern Africa. The first revision of the genus was published more than 30 years ago and ant surveys have since considerably expanded the number of specimens available for study. The revision of this group reveals five new species, expanding the total number to 19. Almost all the species in this group occur in the southern parts of the Afrotropical region, with the exception of T. setuliferum Emery, 1895 and T. rothschildi (Forel, 1907). These two species have broad distributions within African grasslands and savannas, with T. setuliferum occurring in southern Africa and T. rothschildi in East Africa and the Sahel. Five new species are described in this revision: T. aisha sp. nov., T. brigitteae sp. nov., T. duncani sp. nov., T. lerouxi sp. nov. and T. margueriteae sp. nov. An illustrated key is presented and descriptions of new species are provided, supported by montage images and distribution maps.
Cyrioctea (Araneae, Zodariidae) in Africa: temperate Gondwanaland relict, recent radiation, or both?
(2013)
Two new species of the zodariid genus Cyrioctea Simon, 1889 are described: C. sawadee sp. nov. and C. lotzi sp. nov., both only known from males. The genus now contains seven Afrotropical species and this abundance is discussed in the context of its basal situation in the family and its apparent temperate Gondwanaland distribution, which implies a much greater age of the Zodariidae than presently accepted. Unlike most taxa with a temperate Gondwana distribution, Cyrioctea boasts a high number of species with small distribution areas. This points in the direction of a recent radiation initiated after a long period of stasis.