Sex pheromones of Spilonota ocellana and Spilonota laricana

The sex pheromones of Spilonota ocellana D. & S. and Spilonota laricana Hein. (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) were identified by chemical analysis and field trapping. Female moths of the two species produce (Z)-8-tetradecenyl acetate, (Z)-8-tetradecen-1-ol and dodecyl acetate in almost the same proportions (98:1:1 and 97:3:1). Males of both species were best attracted to a blend of 10:1 to 1:1 Z8-14Ac:Z8-14OH. This indicates that mating barriers other than sex pheromones exist between sympatric populations.     

Insect herbivores associated with the introduced weed Bidens frondosa L. (Asteraceae) in Korea,and their potential role as augmentative biological control agents

The annual herb Bidens frondosa L., native to North America, is an invasive weed. Currently no information is available on the insect herbivores associated with this weed in Korea. A survey was carried out at two‐weekly intervals from May to October 2008 at two sites, and the incidence and abundance of various insect herbivores studied. A total nine species of insects was recorded and among them the defoliating caterpillar Hadjina chinensis (Wallengren) (Lepidoptera) was the only species known to have host plants restricted to genus Bidens. Further host specificity studies are required to evaluate the potential of this insect as a candidate for augmentative biological control agent for B. frondosa in Korea. All other insect species are either polyphagous or known crop pests.     

Screening of Necrotizing Spiders in Korea Using Nonradioactive Sphingomyelinase Assay(II) Web-building Spiders

Spider bites cause a range of symptoms from simple swellings to disfiguring necrotic lesions, and occasionally death. While spider bites are not a major medical problem in Korea, it would be of great value to know which species of spiders pose a threat to human health. A middle molecular weight protein, sphingomyelinase D, has been identified in the venom of the brown recluse spider and strong evidence suggests that they have a major role in spider bite necrosis. For the identification of necrotizing species, we have investigated using recently developed non‐radioactive assay of sphingomyelinase for rapidly screening the necrotizing venoms. Here, we demonstrate the fetal toxicity of total 65 species (24 genera, 9 families) of the web‐building spiders among 622 identified spider species in Korea. It has been revealed that four species of the orb‐weaving spider, Araneus ventricosus (family Araneidae, 0.3509), Dipoena castrata (0.2413, family Theridiidae), Argiope minuta (0.1836, family Araneidae), and Paracoelotes spinivulva (0.1760, family Amaurobiidae) have relatively strong activities among themselves. However, comparing to that of the brown recluse spider, Loxosceles recluse (1.814) in North America, the necrotizing shpingomyelinase activities of these Korean web‐building spiders are still very low. Based on our results, we may thus conclude that there would be little possibilities in South Korea to create serious medical problems caused by necrotizing arachnidism.     

New insights into the phylogeny and biogeography of subfamily Orontioideae (Araceae)

Proto‐Araceae, the earliest diverged lineage within the family Araceae, includes two subfamilies, Gymnostachydoideae (one species) and Orontioideae (eight species). Based on an extensive sampling (a total of 198 accessions) of six chloroplast non‐coding regions (5799 aligned sites), we assessed phylogenetic relationships among the genera and species within subfamily Orontioideae and estimated the timing of intercontinental disjunct events in the Northern Hemisphere. Overall phylogenetic relationships among the genera were consistent with results from previous studies, but several new important findings were discovered, primarily within Symplocarpus Salisb. ex W. P. C. Barton. First, two major lineages within Symplocarpus were identified: one lineage included S. foetidus (L.) Salisb. ex W. Barton, S. nabekuraensis Otsuka & K. Inoue, and S. renifolius Schott ex Tzvelev (Japan), whereas the other included S. nipponicus Makino, S. egorovii N. S. Pavlova & V. A. Nechaev, and S. renifolius (Korea). Symplocarpus renifolius in Japan was tetraploid and closely related to the tetraploid S. foetidus in eastern North America. Populations of S. renifolius in Korea were confirmed to be diploid (2n = 30) and shared the most recent common ancestor with the other diploid species, S. nipponicus. Second, two recently described species, S. nabekuraensis and S. egorovii, were deeply embedded within S. renifolius in Japan and Korea, respectively, and their distinct taxonomic status requires further assessment. Finally, two intercontinental disjunction events in the subfamily, one in Lysichiton Schott between eastern Asia and western North America and the other in Symplocarpus between eastern Asia and eastern North America, were estimated to be between 4.5 and 1.4 million years ago (Pliocene and Pleistocene) and between 1.9 and 0.5 million years ago (Pleistocene), respectively.     

Three species of Phymatodes Mulsant (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) new to South Korea that hosted on Vitis vinifera Linnaeus (Vitaceae)

Two unrecorded Phymatodes species, P. (Phymatodellus) jiangi Wang and Zheng, P. (P.) zemlinae Plavilstshikov and Anufrieva, and a known species from North Korea, P. (P.) murzini Danilevsky, are newly recognized in South Korea, as insect pests of Vitis vinifera Linnaeus (Vitaceae). In the present paper, male genitalia of P. (P.) jiangi Wang and Zheng is presented for the first time. We also provide the diagnoses and illustrations of habitus of three Phymatodes species with a revised key to Korean species.     

First record of the tribe Trigonoderini (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae) from South Korea with descriptions of two new species

The tribe Trigonoderini (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae) contains six genera (Gastracanthus Westwood, Janssoniella Kerrich, Miscogasteriella Girault, Platygerrhus Thomson, Plutothrix Förster and Trigonoderus Westwood). This tribe is recorded from South Korea for the first time. Two new species, Janssoniella albiclava Tselikh & Lee sp. nov. from South Korea and J. magna Tselikh & Lee sp. nov. from South Korea and the South Far East of Russia, are described. Eight species (Gastracanthus acutus (Kamijo), G. nigrescens Kamijo, Janssoniella intermedia Hedqvist, Miscogasteriella sulcate (Kamijo), Plutothrix scrobicula Kamijo, P. trifasciata (Thomson), Trigonoderus fraxini Yang and T. nigrocephalus Kamijo) are recorded from South Korea for the first time. The keys for identification of the Eastern–Palearctic species of Janssoniella and Gastracanthus are given and photos of diagnostic characters of the new species are provided.     

Discovery of the tribe Odontalgini (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae; Pselaphinae) in Japan

A new species of the pselaphine genus Odontalgus is described from Honshu, Japan, under the name of Odontalgus masaoi. Odontalgus coreanus Löbl known from North Korea is recorded for the first time from Kyushu, Japan. These are the first formal records of the tribe Odontalgini from Japan.     

Description of a New Helicopsyche Species from China (Trichoptera: Helicopsychidae)

Helicopsyche zhejiangensis sp. n. from southeastern China is described and figured, representing the first record of this family in China. The species has a general resemblance with Helicopsyche species known from the Oriental Region, and the East Palaearctic species Helicopsyche coreana Mey from North Korea.     

Embryonic development of orchard leafrollers and the forecasting of egg hatch

The development time of eggs of three of the most noxious leafrollers found in Northeuropean orchards, Spilonota ocellana (Denis & Schiffermüller), Archips podana (Scopoli), and Pandemis heparana (Denis & Schiffermüller) (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) was recorded in the laboratory at five constant temperatures between 14 and 25°C. In this range, developmental rates of the three species did not differ significantly. While the flight periods of these species overlap largely, a single algorithm could be used to devise optimal spraying time(s) for the three species.     

Taxonomic Study of Korean Chrysochraontini (Orthoptera: Acrididae: Gomphocerinae)

Five species of Korean Chrysochraontini are recognized through the taxonomic investigation. Among them Chrysochraon dispar major Uvarov, 1925 is newly recorded from North Korea, and Euthystira pavlovskii Bey‐Bienko, 1954 is synonymized under Mongolotettix japonicus (Bolívar, 1898). A key is provided, and morphological variations of M. japonicus are discussed.     

Nebela jiuhuensis nov. sp. (Amoebozoa; Arcellinida; Hyalospheniidae): A New Member of the Nebela saccifera ‐ equicalceus ‐ ansata Group Described from Sphagnum Peatlands in South‐Central China

Hyalospheniids are among the most common and conspicuous testate amoebae in high‐latitude peatlands and forest humus. These testate amoebae were widely studied as bioindicators and are increasingly used as models in microbial biogeography. However, data on their diversity and ecology are still very unevenly distributed geographically: notably, data are lacking for low‐latitude peatlands. We describe here a new species, Nebela jiuhuensis, from peatlands near the Middle Yangtze River reach of south‐central China with characteristic morphology. The test (shell) has hollow horn‐like lateral extensions also found in N. saccifera, N. equicalceus (=N. hippocrepis), and N. ansata, three large species restricted mostly to Sphagnum peatlands of Eastern North America. Mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase (COI) data confirm that N. jiuhuensis is closely related to the morphologically very similar North American species N. saccifera and more distantly to N. ansata within the N. penardiana group. These species are all found in wet mosses growing in poor fens. Earlier reports of morphologically similar specimens found in South Korea peatlands suggest that N. jiuhuensis may be distributed in comparable peatlands in Eastern Asia (China and Korea). The discovery of such a conspicuous new species in Chinese peatlands suggests that many new testate amoebae species are yet to be discovered, including potential regional endemics. Furthermore, human activities (e.g., drainage, agriculture, and pollution) have reduced the known habitat of N. jiuhuensis, which can thus be considered as locally endangered. We, therefore, suggest that this very conspicuous micro‐organism with a probably limited geographical distribution and specific habitat requirement should be considered as a flagship species for microbial biogeography as well as local environmental conservation and management.     

Taxonomy of the Genus Eusphalerum Kraatz (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Omaliinae) from South Korea

The eusphalerine single genus, Eusphalerum Kraatz contains about 230 species distributed in the Holearctic and Oriental regions. In East Asia, 74 species of the genus are studied and Zanetti reported six species from North Korea in 1993. They are known to feed pollen on flowers of shrubs and trees. As a result, they have peculiar molar structure. Members of the Eusphalerum are characterized by the combination of following features: body spindle‐shape and parallel‐side; eyes large and protruded, temple short; mandibles subtriangular and edentate, molar and scissorial area fused, medial surface of molar with grinding cones; maxillary palpomere 4 as wide as palpomere 3; antennae gradually wide apically, antennomere 10 almost as wide as long; tarsomeres 1–4 short and broad, ventral surface setose densely, tarsomere 5 as long as or longer than basal four combined. In this paper, we report four South Korean Eusphalerum species and provide illustrations of the diagnostic characters including first line drawings of spermatheca and accessary sclerite. The specimens studied are deposited in the Chungnam National University Insect Collection (CNUIC), Daejeon, Korea.     

Patterns of genetic diversity of the cryptogenic red alga Polysiphonia morrowii (Ceramiales,Rhodophyta) suggest multiple origins of the Atlantic populations

The red alga Polysiphonia morrowii, native to the North Pacific (Northeast Asia), has recently been reported worldwide. To determine the origin of the French and Argentine populations of this introduced species, we compared samples from these two areas with samples collected in Korea and at Hakodate, Japan, the type locality of the species. Combined analyses of chloroplastic (rbcL) and mitochondrial (cox1) DNA revealed that the French and Argentine populations are closely related and differ substantially from the Korean and Japanese populations. The genetic structure of P. morrowii populations from South Atlantic and North Atlantic, which showed high haplotype diversity compared with populations from the North Pacific, suggested the occurrence of multiple introduction events from areas outside of the so‐called native regions. Although similar, the French and Argentine populations are not genetically identical. Thus, the genetic structure of these two introduced areas may have been modified by cryptic and recurrent introduction events directly from Asia or from other introduced areas that act as introduction relays. In addition, the large number of private cytoplasmic types identified in the two introduced regions strongly suggests that local populations of P. morrowii existed before the recent detection of these invasions. Our results suggest that the most likely scenario is that the source population(s) of the French and Argentine populations was not located only in the North Pacific and/or that P. morrowii is a cryptogenic species.     

A NEW SIBLING SPECIES OF SPILONOTA ALBICANA (MOTSCHULSKY) (LEPIDOPTERA: TORTRICIDAE)

Abstract  Spilonota sp. injurious to pear is described from China for many years but without a species name. Through detailed identification, we come to the conclusion that it is a sibling species of Spilonota albicana Motschulsky. In this paper, it is named Spilonota pyrusicola sp. nov. and described with illustrations of adults, genitalia and immature stages, and the biological notes are also given.     

Taxonomic review of Mycetophagidae Leach (Coleoptera: Tenebrionoidea) in Korea with their host fungi

A taxonomic review of the fungivorous Korean Mycetophagidae is presented. Nine species in four genera belonging to two tribes are presented in Korea. Four species, Eulagius ussuriensis Nikitsky, Litargus japonicus Reitter, Mycetophagus irroratus (Reitter), and Mycetophagus pustulosus (Reitter), are newly recorded in Korea. Most species are associated with the fruiting bodies of higher fungi, fungus‐grown bark, and mold contaminated materials. In addition, we provide information on host‐fungi records of Korean mycetophagid species.     

Genetic diversity and haplotype distribution of Pachymeniopsis gargiuli sp. nov. and P. lanceolata (Halymeniales,Rhodophyta) in Korea,with notes on their non‐native distributions

The red alga Pachymeniopsis lanceolata, formerly known as Grateloupia lanceolata, is a component of the native algal flora of northeast Asia and has been introduced to European and North American waters. It has been confused with a cryptic species collected from Korea and Italy. Our analyses of rbcL, cox3 and ITS from P. lanceolata and this cryptic species has revealed two distinct entities, forming a clade, which were clearly separated from its congeners and positioned with other Asian species. Here, we describe the cryptic species as P. gargiuli sp. nov., a species that differs from others by molecular sequence and subtle anatomical characters. We hypothesize that P. gargiuli may have been recently dispersed by anthropogenic vectors, possibly at or near the same time as was P. lanceolata. Our cox3 data set revealed that one haplotype of P. gargiuli, shared between Korea and Italy, and two haplotypes of P. lanceolata, commonly occurring in Korea and USA, are invasive haplotypes. This is the first report of the utility of the mitochondrial coding cox3 sequences in red algae.     

Discovery of three species of the genus Olethreutes (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) from North Korea

In the present study, three species of the genus Olethreutes: O. aviana Falkovitsh, O. obovata (Walsingham), and O. orthocosma (Meyrick), based on the material deposited in the Hungarian Natural History Museum, are reported for the first time from North Korea. Among them, O. aviana Falkovitsh is newly recorded from the Korean peninsula. Photographs of the adults and genitalia of the species are presented.