Checklist of tortoise beetles (Coleoptera,Chrysomelidae, Cassidinae) from Colombia with new data and description of a new species

A new tortoise beetle species, Cyrtonota abrili, is described from the Antioquia and Caldas departments in Colombia. New faunistic data are provided for 87 species, including 16 new additions to the country’s fauna. A checklist of the known 238 species of tortoise beetles recorded from Colombia is given.     

Male secondary sexual structures and the systematics of the Thereus oppia species group (Lepidoptera,Lycaenidae, Eumaeini)

The Thereus oppia species group includes species with and without a scent pad, which is a histologically and morphologically characterized male secondary sexual structure on the dorsal surface of the forewing. To assess the hypothesis that these structures are lost evolutionarily, but not regained (Dollo’s Law), the taxonomy of this species group is revised. Thereus lomalarga sp. n., and Thereus brocki sp. n., are described. Diagnostic traits, especially male secondary structures, within the Thereus oppia species group are illustrated. Distributional and biological information is summarized for each species. Three species have been reared, and the caterpillars eat Loranthaceae. An inferred phylogeny is consistent with the hypothesis that scent pads in the Thereus oppia species group have been lost evolutionarily twice (in allopatry), and not re-gained.     

Factors governing flower visitation patterns and quality of pollination services delivered by social and solitary bee species to coffee in central Uganda

In Uganda, information on visitation frequency of pollinator species visiting coffee flowers is absent, although such information is critical for the stability of coffee yield through the enhancement of pollination services. This study was conducted to understand the role played by local and environmental factors on the visitation intensity of coffee flowers by different bee species. Stepwise multiple regressions were used to investigate the effects of light intensity, distance to forest, foraging time of the day, coffee blooming season and abundance of coffee floral resources on the flower visitation frequency of different bee species. Results indicated contrasting responses of different bee species. The most important factors for social bees included forest distance, light intensity and the time of the day, whereas most determinant factors for solitary bee species were the length of the flowering season and the abundance of coffee floral resources. There is a need for developing habitat and landscape management strategies for the conservation of frequent native species in the vicinity of coffee fields to increase the delivery of pollination services to coffee. It is recommended to farmers to grow their coffee farms in the adjacent of forest habitats and related semi‐natural habitats to receive high bee visitations.     

Corophiine amphipods of the genera Chelicorophium and Paracorophium from the lower Gulf of Thailand (Crustacea,Amphipoda, Corophiidae,Corophiinae)

Two species of corophiine amphipods from Songkhla Lake, in the lower Gulf of Thailand, are described and illustrated. Chelicorophium madrasensis (Nayar, 1950), found in the mangrove forest, has not previously been observed in Thai waters. Paracorophium angsupanichae sp. n. is characterized by its chelate male gnathopod 2, obtuse palm with subrectangular distomedial elevation, and urosomites 1-3 free. This is the first record of the genus Chelicorophium and Paracorophium in Thai waters. All specimens are deposited in the Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn Natural History Museum, Prince of Songkla University, Thailand and the Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin.     

The Vermetidae of the Gulf of Kachchh,western coast of India (Mollusca,Gastropoda)

Coral reefs are often termed underwater wonderlands due to the presence of an incredible biodiversity including numerous invertebrates and vertebrates. Among the dense population of benthic and bottom-dwelling inhabitants of the reef, many significant species remain hidden or neglected by researchers. One such example is the vermetids, a unique group of marine gastropods. The present study attempts for the first time to assess the density and identify preferred reef substrates in the Gulf of Kachchh, state of Gujarat, on the western coast of India. A total of three species of the family Vermetidae were recorded during the study and their substrate preferences identified.     

Checklist of the infraorder Tipulomorpha (Trichoceridae,Tipuloidea) (Diptera) of Finland

A checklist of the infraorder Tipulomorpha: families Trichoceridae, Pediciidae, Limoniidae, Cylindrotomidae and Tipulidae (Diptera) recorded from Finland.     

Biological diversity of the Minnesota caddisflies (Insecta, Trichoptera)

The caddisfly fauna of Minnesota contains at least 277 species within 21 families and 75 genera. These species are based on examination of 312,884 specimens from 2,166 collections of 937 Minnesota aquatic habitats from 1890 to 2007. Included in these totals is my own quantitative sampling of 4 representative habitat types: small streams, medium rivers, large rivers, and lakes, from each of the 58 major Minnesota watersheds from June through September during 1999-2001. All species are illustrated herein, and their known Minnesota abundances, distributions, adult flight periodicities, and habitat affinities presented. Four species: Lepidostoma griseum (Lepidostomatidae), Psilotreta indecisa (Odontoceridae), and Phryganea sayi and Ptilostomis angustipennis (Phryganeidae) are added to the known fauna. An additional 31 dubious species records are removed for various reasons. Of the 5 determined caddisfly regions of the state, species richness per watershed was highest in the Lake Superior and Northern Regions, intermediate in the Southeastern, and lowest in the Northwestern and Southern. Of the 48 individual collections that yielded >40 species, all but 1 were from the Northern Region. Many species, especially within the families Limnephilidae and Phryganeidae, have appeared to decrease in distribution and abundance during the past 75 years, particularly those once common within the Northwestern and Southern Regions. Many species now appear regionally extirpated, and a few have disappeared from the entire state. The loss of species in the Northwestern and Southern Regions, and probably elsewhere, is almost certainly related to the conversion of many habitats to large-scale agriculture during the mid-20th century.     

Dubinectes infirmus, a new species of deep-water Munnopsidae (Crustacea, Isopoda, Asellota) from the Argentine Basin, South Atlantic Ocean

Dubinectes infirmussp. n., Munnopsidae, is described from the Argentine Basin, southwest Atlantic, at depths between 4586-4607 m. The new species is distinguished by a narrow rim of the pleotelson posterior margin which is not raising over its dorsal surface; article 3 of the antennula is subequal in length to article 2; distomedial lobes of male pleopod 1 are of same size as distolateral lobes; stylet of male pleopod 2 is subequal in length to protopod; uropod exopod is more than a half of endopod length. Some generic characters which are weakly pronounced in the new species or have different state are defined more precisely in the revised diagnosis of Dubinectes. The modified diagnosis of the genus, a key to the species of Dubinectes as well as the distribution of the genus are presented.