The Larvae of the Mesozoic family Aeschnidiidae and their Phylogenetic Implications (Insecta, Odonata, Anisoptera)

Four giant dragonfly larvae are described from the Lower Cretaceous of China. Owing to the preservation of wing tracheal venation on the larval wing sheaths, they can be identified as the first undoubted larvae of the extinct Mesozoic family Aeschnidiidae. They are ultimate or penultimate male and female specimens, and a younger larva. The female larva has a very long ovipositor sheath. These larvae have an anisopteran anal pyramid and a very particular spoon-shaped labial mask, with a very narrow prementum and large palps with numerous teeth, suggesting possible affinities of the Aeschnidiidae with the Anisoptera Cavilabiata. The positions of other larvae formally attributed to the Aeschnidiidae are discussed, i.e. Nothomacromia sensibilis (Carle and Wighton, 1990), Sona nectes Pritykina, 1986, and the alleged larvae of Hemeroscopus baissicus Pritykina, 1977. They differ greatly from the true Chinese larval Aeschnidiidae, in the labial mask and female ovipositor, even if they show some similarities in the anal pyramid.     

A new family of the order Grylloblattida (Insecta) from the Middle Permian of Russia

A new family, Ivapteridae fam. nov. (Insecta; Grylloblattida), is described from the Middle Permian locality of Soyana (Arkhangelsk Region; Kazanian Stage). It is most similar to Sojanoraphidiidae O. Martynova, 1952, differing from it in the subcostal field being traversed in the basal half of the wing by long, curved, and strongly oblique crossveins that form a double row of cells, the base of CuA being free, and CuA₁ thin compared to CuA₂. The new family is represented by a single species, Ivaptera sharovi, gen. et sp. nov. An overview of the modern system of the order Grylloblattida is included.     

New grylloblattids of the family Lemmatophoridae (Insecta: Grylloblattida) from the Permian of Russia

New grylloblattids of the family Lemmatophoridae (Insecta: Grylloblattida), Artinska sojanensis sp. nov., Sylvaprisca colorata sp. nov., and Uraloprisca lisca gen. et sp. nov., from the Soyana locality (Lower Kazanian, Arkhangelsk Region) and Paraprisca solikamskensis sp. nov. from the Tyul’kino locality (Ufimian, Perm Region) are described. Two species are transferred from the genus Paraprisca to Uraloprisca gen. nov.: Uraloprisca uralica (G. Zalessky, 1952), comb. nov. and Uraloprisca causaria (Novokshonov, 2000), comb. nov. (both from the Kungurian of the Perm Region). The evolution of the family is discussed.     

On the phylogeny of Euryteinae (Crustacea,Copepoda, Cyclopoida), with description of one new species from Korea

Euryte koreana sp. nov. is described from the shallow littoral on the East Coast of South Korea, and represents the first record of the subfamily Euryteinae Monchenko, 1974 in the Pacific Ocean north of the tropics. It belongs to a group of species that have the caudal rami length/width ratio of around four, but differs from all congeners by a number of morphological features. Detailed drawings and extensive scanning electron micrographs of many characters of ornamentation provided for this species should serve as a benchmark for distinguishing closely related species in this subfamily with conservative macro-morphology. A morphologically distinct population from anchialine caves in Mallorca, identified previously as Euryte longicauda Philippi, 1843, is described as another new species: Euryte jaumei sp. nov. To test the phylogenetic relationships of its members and previous hypotheses about generic placement of two species associated with scleractinian corals, several cladistic analyses are performed on all 16 currently recognized species of Euryteinae and two outgroups, Neocyclops australiensis Karanovic, 2008 and Troglocyclops janstocki Rocha and Iliffe, 1994, using 25 morphological characters. All resulting trees suggest a close relationship between the two commensal species and them as a sister clade to all other Euryteinae. They are transferred into a newly erected genus Coraleuryte gen. nov., as C. bellatula (Humes, 1991) comb. nov. and C. verecunda (Humes, 1992) comb. nov., and a revised diagnoses is provided for the genus Euryte Philippi, 1843. Obtained cladograms also show that Ancheuryte Herbst, 1989 is nested deeply within the Euryte clade, so the genus is synonymized and its only species is transferred, as E. notabilis (Herbst, 1989) comb. nov. A key to species of Euryteinae is also provided.     

A new libelluloid dragonfly (Insecta: Odonata: Italoansida) from the late Paleocene of Argentina

A new genus and species of “libellulid” dragonfly, Austrolibellula noroestenia nov. gen., nov. sp., of the group Italoansida BECHLY, 1996, is described. The specimen comes from the Maíz Gordo Formation (late Paleocene) that crops out in northwestern Argentina. Its phylogenetic relationships within Cavilabiata BECHLY, 1996 are discussed.     

New and poorly known Cenozoic clown beetle compressions from France (Insecta: Coleoptera: Histeridae)

Summary

Two French fossil Histeridae are described or revised, viz. Hister cerestensis n. sp. from the Oligocene of Céreste (Lubéron) and Plegaderus pitoni (Theobald, 1935), n. comb. from the Pliocene of Chambon Lake (Puy-de-Dôme). Morphometric data are used to compare fossil and extant taxa, with multivariate statistics. A list of the fossil Histeridae is given.     

New Grylloblattids of the family Megakhosaridae (Insecta: Grylloblattida) from the Permian of Russia

New Megakhosaridae (Insecta: Grylloblattida) are described from the Permian of Russia: Ivakhosara pectinimedia gen. et sp. nov., Megakhosarina intricata sp. nov. and M. minuscula sp. nov. from the Lower Kazanian of Soyana (Arkhangelsk Region), M. magna sp. nov. from the Urzhumian of Chepanikha (Udmurtia), Kargalokhosara terraefossa gen. et sp. nov. from the Urzhumian of Kargala (Orenburg Region), and Alekhosara reticulata gen. et sp. nov. from the Severodvinian of Novo-Aleksandrovka (Orenburg Region).     

The first isophlebioid dragonfly (Odonata: Isophlebioptera: Campterophlebiidae) from the Mesozoic of China

Bellabrunetia catherinae gen. et sp. nov., the first Chinese Mesozoic isophlebioid dragonfly, is described. This fossil is the first known Isophlebioptera with well–preserved body structures, demonstrating that the fore– and hindwings are of very different size and shape in Campterophlebiidae, and that the female Campterophlebiidae had an endophytic way of oviposition, unlike the Isophlebiidae.     

Discovery of the genus Crinoedischia in the Middle Permian of France (Insecta: Orthoptera)

New orthopteran Crinoedischia lapeyriei sp. nov. is described and illustrated from the Middle Permian (Guadalupian) of Lodève Basin in southern France. The new species is separated from the Lower Permian (Artinskian) Crinoedischia species by differences in wing venation pattern such as long ScP with anterior branches, RA with prominent distal branches, and MA ending with three branches. The significance and parallels of entomofaunas between Salagou and Wellington formations (Lodève, Elmo, Midco) are briefly discussed.     

Larval development of Aeshna cyanea (Müller, 1764) (Odonata: Aeshnidae) in Central Italy

A three-year investigation was carried out on the life cycle of Aeshna cyanea (Müller, 1764) (Odonata, Aeshnidae) in temporary freshwater pools in Central Italy. The instars were discriminated by size and scatter plot, based on measurements of labium length, head width, metafemur length, forewing-pad length and total larval body length. The prolarvae instar was derived by Dyar's law. The mean increase value index between following and previous instar was between 1.26 and 1.33 for isometric variables, and around 1.96 for the wing-pad allometric variable. A. cyanea entered diapause mainly at the F-2 instar, placing it almost intermediate between the Southern Spain populations, which usually overwintered in the F-3 instar, and those of England and Central Europe, who spent their last winter in F-1. A. cyanea appeared to be a `summer species', as defined by Corbet (1962), and the population we studied had a semivoltine life cycle.     

Dragonflies (Insecta,Odonata) from the Red Sea Hills and the main Nile in Sudan

Twenty-one species of dragonflies are recorded from the Nile and the Red Sea Hills in the Sudan. The majority are species of africotropical origin, but wide-ranging and tolerant of strongly fluctuating environmental conditions. A small but significant fraction is restricted to the Nile Valley, and another fraction, found only in the Red Sea Hills, is composed of Eremian species of Palaearctic origin. Besides adults, the last-instar larvae of Pseudogrion niloticum and of Paragomphus pumilio are described and figured.     

Phylogenetic and biogeographic analysis of the spear lobsters Linuparus (Decapoda: Palinuridae), with the description of a new species

Linuparus White, 1847 comprises three extant species, Linuparus trigonus (Von Siebold, 1824), L. sordidusBruce, 1965, and L. somniosusBerry and George, 1972, as well as 32 fossil species. Most fossil records are from North America and Europe, but the extant species are all confined to the Indo-West Pacific. Different colour forms in L. trigonus and L. sordidus have been noted, with Northern Hemisphere specimens generally darker in colour for both species. The phylogenetic relationships of the extant Linuparus species, including the colour forms, were investigated using mitochondrial 12S rRNA and COI gene sequence analysis. We found no genetic evidence to differentiate the colour morphs of L. sordidus, but the two colour forms of L. trigonus were clearly distinct at the species level. This is supported morphologically by a consistent difference in the shape of the thoracic sternum between the two forms. The paler coloured Southern Hemisphere form is described as a new species, L. meridionalis. Phylogenetic analysis shows that L. trigonus and L. meridionalis sp. nov. are derived sister taxa, while L. somniosus is basal within the genus. Thus the present results support the previous hypothesis that Linuparus was originated in shallow water.     

Three new Verrucidae (Crustacea: Cirripedia) from the Upper Eocene of the Euganean Hills (Northeast Italy)

Marls with pillow lavas of Late Eocene age from Castelnuovo in the Euganean Hills (Padua, NE Italy) have yielded three new verrucid cirripede species, Verruca veneta nov. sp., Costatoverruca? seguenzai nov. sp., and Metaverruca euganea nov. sp. The stratigraphic distribution of these taxa is discussed in light of previous verrucid records and their geologic context is established. They represent the oldest known verrucids from Italy.     

Phylogenetic analysis of some ll-diaminopimelic acid-containing coryneform bacteria from human skin: description of Propionibacterium innocuum sp. nov.

A new species, Propionibacterium innocuum, is proposed to accommodate strains of coryneform bacteria from human skin with phenotypic characters similar to those of the classical propionibacteria but differing in exhibiting primarily aerobic respiration and possessing a unique cell wall composition in which LL-diaminopimelic acid and arabinose occur together. The partial 16S rRNA sequence confirms an affinity with the genus Pro-pionibacterium and indicates that the species represents a distinct line within the genus. The type strain of Propionibacterium innocuum is NCTC 11082.     

福建狭翅蟌属一新种(蜻蜓目:蟌科)

记述采自福建省华安县的狭翅蟌属一新种华安狭翅蟌（Aciagrion huaanensis Xu, sp.nov.）,模式标本存放于福建省漳州教育学院.     

A new species of Drepanocnemis (Diptera,Muscidae) from Andes in Peru,with an updated phylogenetic analysis of species

Drepanocnemis Stein (Diptera, Muscidae) is a small genus of flies that occur in high altitudes in the Colombian Andes, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia. Herein we describe Drepanocnemis aurifronssp. nov. from Cuzco, Peru, which is found from high (2904 m) to lower altitudes (707 m). An updated phylogeny, key to species and map of species’ distributions are provided, together with images and illustrations of the male and the female terminalia.     

Further revision of the genus Megalopsalis (Opiliones,Neopilionidae), with the description of seven new species

The Australian harvestmen genus Megalopsalis (Neopilionidae: Enantiobuninae) is recognised as a senior synonym of the genera Spinicrus and Hypomegalopsalis, and seven new species are described in Megalopsalis: Megalopsalis suffugiens, Megalopsalis walpolensis, Megalopsalis caeruleomontium, Megalopsalis atrocidiana, Megalopsalis coronata, Megalopsalis puerilis and Megalopsalis sublucens. A morphological phylogenetic analysis of the Enantiobuninae is also conducted including the new species. Monophyly of Neopilionidae and Enantiobuninae including ‘Monoscutidae’ is corroborated, with the Australasian taxa as a possible sister clade to the South American Thrasychirus.     

Ceratopteris chunii and Ceratopteris chingii(Pteridaceae),two new diploid species from China,based on morphological,cytological,and molecular dataOA

Understanding how natural hybridization and polyploidizations originate in plants requires identifying potential diploid ancestors.However,cryptic plant species are widespread,particularly in Ceratopteris(Pteridaceae).Identifying Ceratopteris cryptic species with different polyploidy levels is a challenge because Ceratopteris spp.exhibit high degrees of phenotypic plasticity.Here,two new cryptic species of Ceratopteris,Ceratopteris chunii and Ceratopteris chingii,are described and illustrated.Ph...