On Afromantispa and Mantispa (Insecta,Neuroptera, Mantispidae): elucidating generic boundaries

The genus Afromantispa Snyman & Ohl, 2012 was recently synonymised with Mantispa Illiger, 1798 by Monserrat (2014). Here morphological evidence is presented in support of restoring the genus Afromantispa stat. rev. to its previous status as a valid and morphologically distinct genus. Twelve new combinations (comb. n.) are proposed as species of Afromantispa including three new synonyms.     

Discovery of an unknown diversity of Leucinodes species damaging Solanaceae fruits in sub-Saharan Africa and moving in trade (Insecta,Lepidoptera, Pyraloidea)

The larvae of the Old World genera Leucinodes Guenée, 1854 and Sceliodes Guenée, 1854 are internal feeders in the fruits of Solanaceae, causing economic damage to cultivated plants like Solanum melongena and Solanum aethiopicum. In sub-Saharan Africa five nominal species of Leucinodes and one of Sceliodes occur. One of these species, the eggplant fruit and shoot borer Leucinodes orbonalis Guenée, 1854, is regarded as regularly intercepted from Africa and Asia in Europe, North and South America and is therefore a quarantine pest on these continents. We investigate the taxonomy of African Leucinodes and Sceliodes based on morphological characters in wing pattern, genitalia and larvae, as well as mitochondrial DNA, providing these data for identification of all life stages. The results suggest that both genera are congeneric, with Sceliodes syn. n. established as junior subjective synonym of Leucinodes. Leucinodes orbonalis is described from Asia and none of the samples investigated from Africa belong to this species. Instead, sub-Saharan Africa harbours a complex of eight endemic Leucinodes species. Among the former nominal species of Leucinodes (and Sceliodes) from Africa, only Leucinodes laisalis (Walker, 1859), comb. n. (Sceliodes) is confirmed, with Leucinodes translucidalis Gaede, 1917, syn. n. as a junior subjective synonym. The other African Leucinodes species were unknown to science and are described as new: Leucinodes africensis sp. n., Leucinodes ethiopica sp. n., Leucinodes kenyensis sp. n., Leucinodes malawiensis sp. n., Leucinodes pseudorbonalis sp. n., Leucinodes rimavallis sp. n. and Leucinodes ugandensis sp. n. An identification key based on male genitalia is provided for the African Leucinodes species. Most imports of Leucinodes specimens from Africa into Europe refer to Leucinodes africensis, which has been frequently imported with fruits during the last 50 years. In contrast, Leucinodes laisalis has been much less frequently recorded, and Leucinodes pseudorbonalis as well as Leucinodes rimavallis only very recently in fruit imports from Uganda. Accordingly, interceptions of Leucinodes from Africa into other continents will need to be re-investigated for their species identity and will likely require, at least in parts, revisions of the quarantine regulations. The following African taxa are excluded from Leucinodes: Hyperanalyta Strand, 1918, syn. rev. as revised synonym of Analyta Lederer, 1863; Analyta apicalis (Hampson, 1896), comb. n. (Leucinodes); Lygropia aureomarginalis (Gaede, 1916), comb. n. (Leucinodes); Syllepte hemichionalis Mabille, 1900, comb. rev., Syllepte hemichionalis idalis Viette, 1958, comb. rev. and Syllepte vagans (Tutt, 1890), comb. n. (Aphytoceros). Deanolis iriocapna (Meyrick, 1938), comb. n. from Indonesia is originally described and misplaced in Sceliodes, and Leucinodes cordalis (Doubleday, 1843), comb. n. (Margaritia) from New Zealand, Leucinodes raondry (Viette, 1981), comb. n. (Daraba) from Madagascar as well as Leucinodes grisealis (Kenrick, 1912), comb. n. (Sceliodes) from New Guinea are transferred from Sceliodes to Leucinodes. While Leucinodes is now revised from Africa, it still needs further revision in Asia.     

Three new species of Epicephala Meyrick (Lepidoptera,Gracillariidae) associated with Phyllanthus microcarpus (Benth.) (Phyllanthaceae)

Three new species of Epicephala Meyrick, 1880 are described based on specimens reared from fruits of Phyllanthus microcarpus (Benth.): Epicephala microcarpa sp. n. and Epicephala laeviclada sp. n. from Guangxi and Hainan, and Epicephala tertiaria sp. n. from Guangdong and Guangxi. Photographs of adults and illustrations of genital structures are provided.     

Four new species of Epicephala Meyrick, 1880 (Lepidoptera,Gracillariidae) associated with two species of Glochidion (Phyllanthaceae) from Hainan Island in China

Four new Epicephala species that feed on the seeds of Glochidion sphaerogynum (Phyllanthaceae) from Yinggeling Mountain Nature Reserves in Hainan Province of China are described: Epicephala domina sp. n., Epicephala impolliniferens sp. n., Epicephala angustisaccula sp. n. and Epicephala camurella sp. n. The latter two species are also associated with Glochidion wrightii. Photographs of adults and genital structures are provided.     

A new species of Chaetaglaea (Lepidoptera,Noctuidae, Noctuinae,Xylenini), from eastern North America

Chaetaglaea tremula (Harvey) occurs through the Gulf States, from southern Florida, west to eastern Texas. Coastal populations, previously referred to Chaetaglaea tremula occurring from the Carolinas, at least as far north as Massachusetts and shoreline dunes in southwestern Ontario are recognized as distinct and described here as Chaetaglaea rhonda. Adults and genitalia are illustrated for Chaetaglaea rhonda and Chaetaglaea tremula.     

Review of the genus Hieromantis Meyrick from China,with descriptions of three new species (Lepidoptera,Stathmopodidae)

Six species of the genus Hieromantis occurring in China are reviewed. Hieromantis rectangula sp. n., Hieromantis arcuata sp. n. and Hieromantis puerensis sp. n. are described as new, and Hieromantis phaeodora Meyrick, 1929 is newly recorded in China. Photographs of adults and illustrations of genitalia are provided, along with an identification key and a distribution map.     

A new Antaeotricha species from Florida sandhills and scrub (Lepidoptera,Depressariidae, Stenomatinae)

Antaeotricha floridella sp. n. is described and diagnosed from the closely similar Antaeotricha albulella (Walker). The species is distributed in xeric sandhill and scrub habitats in peninsular Florida, USA, and larvae feed on Quercus species. Keys are given for pale-winged Stenomatinae and similar Gelechioidea based on external characters and genitalia.     

A new parasitoid of Bazaria turensis (Lepidoptera,Pyralidae): Campoplex bazariae sp. n. (Hymenoptera,Ichneumonidae)

A new solitary endoparasitoid of the larva of Bazaria turensis Ragonot, 1887 (Lepidoptera, Pyralidae) in Qinghai province, China, Campoplex bazariae Sheng, sp. n., belonging to the subfamily Campopleginae (Hymenoptera, Ichneumonidae), is reported. Illustrations of the new species are provided.     

A key to the genera and species of the transversely-dividing Flabellidae (Anthozoa,Scleractinia, Flabellidae), with a guide to the literature,and the description of two new species

The transversely-dividing flabellids consist of five genera (Truncatoflabellum, Placotrochides, Blastotrochus, Placotrochus, and Falcatoflabellum) and 45 species. A dichotomous key is provided for these five genera as well as the species of the genus Truncatoflabellum and Placotrochides, the other three genera being monotypic. A tabular key is also provided for the 38 species of Truncatoflabellum. Two new combinations are suggested (Truncatoflabellum gambierense and Truncatoflabellum sphenodeum) and two new species are described (Truncatoflabellum duncani and Truncatoflabellum mozambiquensis). All but one species are illustrated and accompanied by their known distribution and a guide to the pertinent literature for the species. New records of 19 of the 45 species are listed. The transversely-dividing flabellids range from the Middle Eocene to the Recent at depths of 2–3010 m, and constitute 60% of the 65 known extant species of transversely-dividing Scleractinia.     

A new genus and nine new species of Eugnomini (Coleoptera,Curculionidae) from New Caledonia

The genus Rasilinus gen. n. is described (type species Rasilinus tchambicus sp. n.). Nine new species: Rasilinus bicolor sp. n., Rasilinus bifurcatus sp. n., Rasilinus bimaculatus sp. n., Rasilinus grandidens sp. n., Rasilinus longulus sp. n., Rasilinus subgemellus sp. n., Rasilinus subnodulus sp. n., Rasilinus tchambicus sp. n., Rasilinus virgatus sp. n. are described from New Caledonia. Illustrations of the external morphology, male and female terminalia, dorsal habitus colour photographs of the adults, key to species and distribution map of the new genus Rasilinus are provided.     

A new genus and species of dalodesmid millipede from New South Wales,Australia (Diplopoda,Polydesmida, Dalodesmidae)

Cernethia inopinata gen. n., sp. n. is described from highland New South Wales. Like other dalodesmids the new species has numerous sphaerotrichomes on the legs of adult males, but Cernethia inopinata sp. n. shares several character states with Tasmanian species in the genera Noteremus Mesibov, 2009, Paredrodesmus Mesibov, 2003 and Procophorella Mesibov, 2003, which lack sphaerotrichomes and have not yet been assigned to family within the suborder Dalodesmoidea.     

A new genus of soft coral (Cnidaria,Octocorallia) from the Republic of Congo (Pointe-Noire Region)

A new genus of soft coral from the Republic of Congo is described, Complexum gen. n. Nine West African octocoral species previously described in the genus Alcyonium by Tixier-Durivault (1955) are referred to this new genus, and a new species is described and figured, Complexum pusillum sp. n. The new species is characterized by having encrusting growth form and abundant spiny clubs in the surface of the polyparium. It colonizes shallow calcareous rocky banks (5 to 20 m depth) existing in coastal water of the region of Pointe-Noire. Based on molecular phylogeny this new genus is well separated from Alcyonium species.     

A new species of Hemichela Stock, 1954 from the South China Sea (Arthropoda,Pycnogonida, Ammotheidae)

A new species of pycnogonid collected by the Chinese research vessel, R/V HY IV, during deep sea cruises to the South China Sea in 2013, is described. The new species, Hemichela nanhaiensis, obtained from more than 1300 m depth, is distinguished from the other two species in the genus by the characters of the chela dactylus with 12 denticulations on the inner margin and by the presence of taller tubercles on the lateral processes.     

Alpha taxonomy of the genus Kessleria Nowicki, 1864, revisited in light of DNA-barcoding (Lepidoptera,Yponomeutidae)

The taxonomy of Kessleria, a highly specialized montane genus of Yponomeutidae with larval host restriction to Saxifragaceae and Celastraceae (Saxifraga spp. – subgenus Kessleria; Saxifraga spp. and Parnassia spp. – subgenus Hofmannia), is revised based on external morphology, genitalia and DNA barcodes. An integrative taxonomic approach supports the existence of 29 species in Europe (the two known species from Asia and North America are not treated herein). A full 658 bp fragment of COI was obtained from 135 specimens representing 24 species, a further seven sequences are >560 bp. Five new species are described: Kessleria cottiensis sp. n. (Prov. Torino, Italy; Dep. Hautes Alpes, France), Kessleria dimorpha sp. n. (Dep. Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, France), Kessleria alpmaritimae sp. n. (Dep. Alpes-Maritimes, France), Kessleria apenninica sp. n. (Prov. Rieti, Prov. L´Aquila, Italy), and Kessleria orobiae sp. n. (Prov. Bergamo, Italy).     

Checklist of the superfamilies Oestroidea and Hippoboscoidea of Finland (Insecta,Diptera)

An updated checklist of the superfamilies Oestroidea and Hippoboscoidea recorded from Finland is presented. The checklist covers the following families: Calliphoridae, Rhiniidae, Sarcophagidae, Rhinophoridae, Tachinidae, Oestridae and Hippoboscidae.     

A new species of Metaeuchromius (Lepidoptera,Crambidae) from the Tibetan glacier area of China

Metaeuchromius glacialis Li, sp. n. is described from the Tibetan glacier area of China. The new species is similar to Metaeuchromius circe Bleszynski by the distal projection of costa exceeding the apex of valva, and the phallus with strong spine-like cornuti in the male genitalia. Images of male adult, tympanal and scent organs as well as genitalia of the new species are provided.