Wednesday, June 10, 2015

Discoveries of the week #41


New records of water mites (Acari: Hydrachnidia) from streams in South Korea are presented. Two species are described as new to science: Torrenticola neodentifera sp. n. (Torrenticolidae) and Atractides ermilovi sp. n. (Hygrobatidae). Five species are reported as first records for Korea: Wandesia (Wandesia) reducta Tuzovskij, 1987, W. (Wandesia) cf. rara Tuzovskij, 1990, Sperchon (Sperchon) orientalis Tuzovskij, 1990, Feltria (Feltria) kuluensis Tuzovskij, 1988 and Atractides (Atractides) constrictus (Sokolow, 1934). The latter species is redescribed and elevated to species rank based on new material from the Russian Far East.

Water mites (Hydrachnidia) are a group of mites covering more than 40 families and 5 000 species found in freshwater and marine habitats.The first new species was named for its similarity with another species of the genus (T. dentifera), and the second after after Sergey Ermilov for his contribution to the taxonomy of oribatid mites
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Formosiepyris vietnamensis sp. n. (Hymenoptera: Bethylidae) is described based on material collected from Da Lat, southern Vietnam. This is the first record of Formosiepyris Terayama from Vietnam. The new species can be distinguished from other Formosiepyris species by a narrow and rounded clypeus; a mandible with three teeth; a second metasomal tergite having small, sparsely distributed punctures and smooth interspaces, except for anterior 2/5, which is microreticulate; and a head length : width aspect ratio of 10 : 11. A key to the Oriental species of Formosiepyris is provided.

A new species for a family of aculeate wasps with a biology that ranges from parasitism to hunting. The species name refers to the type locality Vietnam.
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A grapevine leafminer found recently in table grape orchards and vineyards in the Paarl region (Western Cape, South Africa) is described as Holocacista capensis sp. n. It has also been found on native Rhoicissus digitata and bred on that species in the laboratory. It is closely related to Holocacista salutans (Meyrick, 1921), comb. n. (from Antispila), described from Durban in KwaZulu-Natal, but widespread in southern Africa and a native leafminer of various Vitaceae: Rhoicissus tomentosa, R. digitata, R. tridentata and Cissus cornifolia. Holocacista capensis has been found on Vitis vinifera both in Gauteng and Western Cape, the earliest record being from 1950 in Pretoria. The initial host shift from native Vitaceae to Vitis must have occurred much earlier. The species is sometimes present in high densities, but hitherto no sizeable damage to the crops has been noted. The genus Holocacista Walsingham & Durrant, 1909, previously known from the single European grapevine leafminer H. rivillei (Stainton, 1855), is expanded and redescribed and for the first time reported from Africa, East and South-East Asia and Australia. It comprises seven named species and at least 15 unnamed species. The following species are also recombined with Holocacista: transferred from Antispilina: South-African H. varii (Mey, 2011), comb. n., feeding on Pelargonium, transferred from Antispila: the Indian species H. micrarcha (Meyrick, 1926), comb. n. and H. pariodelta (Meyrick, 1929), comb. n., both feeding on Lannea coromandelica, and H. selastis (Meyrick, 1926), comb. n. on Psychotria dalzelii. We also remove the following from Antispila: Heliozela anna (Fletcher, 1920), comb. n. and H. argyrozona (Meyrick, 1918), comb. n., whereas the following Indian Vitaceae feeding species are confirmed to belong in Antispila s. str.: Antispila argostoma Meyrick, 1916 and A. aristarcha Meyrick, 1916. Holocacista salutans and H. varii are redescribed and diagnosed against H. capensis and other South African Heliozelidae. DNA barcodes are provided for 13 species of Holocacista.

Although not specifically stated the species name obviously refers to the type locality at the Western Cape in South Africa. 


Four new species of Cerambycidae are described from Paraguay: Eranina tomentilla (Hemilophini); Mimasyngenes concolor (Desmiphorini); Recchia drechseli (Aerenicini); and Microibidion bimaculatum (Neoibidionini). The new species are included in known keys.

Four new longhorn beetle species from Paraguay. The first name refers to the hairy look of the species, the second to the uniform coloration, the third is named  for Ulf Drechsel, collector of the holotype, and number four after two spots on the wings.
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In this study we revise the taxonomy of the genus Prionopelta for the Malagasy region, treating seven species, six of which are newly described (P. laurae sp. n., P. seychelles sp. n., P. subtilis sp. n., P. talos sp. n., P. vampira sp. n., P. xerosilva sp. n.), and one redescribed (P. descarpentriesi Santschi). One species, P. seychelles, is restricted to Seychelles, while the six remaining species treated are endemic to Madagascar.

A small ant genus that used to comprise of 15 species, now there are 21. Siz new species from Magagascar.
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Brevianthus is a distinctive genus of leafy liverwort in its succubously inserted, entire leaves, lack of underleaves, restriction of sexual organs to lateral-intercalary branches, scattered rhizoids and dense leaf-surface ornamentation. The sole species, Brevianthus flavus, is divided into two subspecies, one in Tasmania the other in New Zealand. A second species, Brevianthus hypocanthidium, is described as new and is the first record of the genus for New Caledonia. Among its distinguishing characters are its shallowly bilobed leaves, and triangular underleaves present on small to medium-sized shoot sectors, the lack of a hyaline leaf margin, and the crenulate leaf margin formed by heavily thickened external cell walls. The most unusual features of the new species are the presence of underleaves between lateral leaf insertion lines that reach the ventral stem mid-line, and the absence of underleaves from larger shoots. To explain these features we propose a competitive model of shoot formation wherein the ventral merophyte progressively loses vigor as its relative stature decreases, and its derivative cells become discontinuous and isolated along the ventral stem surface, with intervening areas occupied by derivatives of the more vigorous lateral merophytes.

A new species of liverwort belonging to the monogeneric liverwort family Brevianthaceae which was represented by a single species, Brevianthus flavus. This species was previously thought to be endemic to western Tasmania but was recently collected in New Zealand. 
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