Two new species and new records of biting midges of the genus Dasyhelea Kieffer (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) from India

Pupa, male and female adults of Dasyhelea (Prokempia) flava Carter, Ingram & Macfie, pupa and male adult of D. (Pseudoculicoides) acuta n. sp., and male adult of D. (Pseudoculicoides) comosa n. sp. are described and illustrated.     

Species level taxonomy of the Neotropical hairstreak genus Porthecla (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae: Theclinae: Eumaeini)

The species level taxonomy of Porthecla is revised. Six previously described species are recognized: P. ravus (Druce 1907); P. barba (Druce 1907); P. dinus (Hewitson 1867); P. porthura (Druce 1907); P. minyia (Hewitson 1867); P. gemma (Druce 1907), and another six new species are proposed: P. forasteira Faynel & Moser n. sp.; P. annette Faynel & Robbins n. sp.; P. johanna Faynel & Robbins n. sp.; P. peruensis Faynel & Moser n. sp.; P. prietoi Faynel & Busby n. sp. and P. willmotti Busby, Faynel & Moser n. sp. For each Porthecla species we present diagnostic characters, images of male and female adults, drawings of male and female genitalia, distribution maps, and notes on habitat and other biological traits. An identification key for males is provided. To stabilize names; lectotypes are designated for Thecla minyia Hewitson 1867, and Thecla gemma Druce 1907. Wing pattern resemblances between Porthecla and other genera are discussed.     

Six new species of the subgenera Alloparadisa and Ashima (Diptera: Drosophilidae: Phortica) from Yunnan,China, with DNA barcoding information

Six new species of the genus Phortica are described from Yunnan, Southwest China: P. (Alloparadisa) kaibangya n. sp., P. (Ashima) semiannulata n. sp., P. (Ashima) dianmianensis n. sp., P. (Ashima) idiasta n. sp., P. (Ashima) menglian n. sp. and P. (Ashima) zhangyuanae n. sp. The 22 new DNA sequences of the mitochondrial COI gene with BOLD Process ID and GenBank accession numbers are provided for the six new species and six related known species from southern China: P. (Ashima) glabra, Chen & Toda, 2005 P. (Ashima) nudiarista Cheng & Chen, 2008, P. (Ashima) saltiaristula Chen & Wen, 2005, P. (Ashima) spinosa, Chen & Toda, 2005 P. (Ashima) symmetria Chen & Toda, 2005 and P. (Ashima) yiqini Zhu & Chen, 2017. The pairwise interspecific K-2P COI distances among all Chinese species of the subgenera Alloparadisa and Ashima are summarized. An identification key to males of all Chinese species of the subgenera Alloparadisa and Ashima is provided.     

Revision of the genus Thermistis Pascoe 1867, with descriptions of three new species (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae: Lamiinae: Saperdini)

The genus Thermistis Pascoe 1867 is revised. T. croceocincta conjunctesignata Rondon & Breuning 1971 is upgraded to a species and newly recorded from China and Myanmar. T. xanthomelas Holzschuh 2007 is newly recorded from Vietnam, Laos and Myanmar. T. sulphureonotata Pu 1984 is newly recorded from Vietnam and Laos. Three new species are described from China: T. hainanensis Lin & Yang n. sp. from Hainan Island, T. kaiyuni Chou & Kurihara n. sp. from Taiwan Island and T. cheni Lin & Chou n. sp. from Yunnan and Sichuan provinces. Photographs of habitus and terminalia and a key to the eleven valid species of Thermistis are presented.     

Family Lasiosynidae n. fam., new palaeoendemic Mesozoic family from the infraorder Elateriformia (Coleoptera: Polyphaga)

Lasiosynidae n. fam. is proposed for the genera Lasiosyne Tan, Ren & Chih 2007 (transferred from Archostemata to Polyphaga), Anacapitis Yan 2009 Tarsomegamerus Zhang 2005 (proposed in the superfamily Chrysomeloidea) and Bupredactyla n. gen. The new family is regarded in composition of the infraorder Elateriformia without a more detailed attribution, because it demonstrates a mixture of characters of different families and superfamilies, i.e. somehow an intermediate position between the superfamilies Dascilloidea, Elateroidea, Buprestoidea and Byrrhoidea with most resemblance to Dascillidae, Schizopodidae, Eulichadidae, Ptilodactylidae and Callirrhipidae and probable more close relationship to the last three families. Four new fossil species of the genus Lasiosyne: L. daohugouensis n. sp., L. fedorenkoi n. sp., L. gratiosa n. sp., L. quadricollis n. sp., and also Bupredactyla magna n. sp. are described from the Middle Jurassic Jiulongshan Formation of eastern Inner Mongolia, China. A probable generic composition of the new family is considered. The synonymy of generic names Anacapitis Yan 2009 and Brachysyne Tan & Ren 2009, n. syn. as well as synonymy of species names Lasiosyne euglyphea Tan, Ren & Chih 2007, Pappisyne eucallus Tan & Ren 2009, n. syn. and Pappisyne spathulata Tan & Ren 2009, n. syn. are proposed.     

The first Praesiricidae (Hymenoptera) from Northeast China

A new subfamily Rudisiricinae Gao, Rasnitsyn, Ren & Shih, n. subfam. and a new genus Rudisiricius Gao, Rasnitsyn, Ren & Shih, n. gen. with three new species R. belli Gao, Rasnitsyn, Ren & Shih n. sp., R. crassinodus Gao, Rasnitsyn, Ren & Shih, n. sp., and R. celsus Gao, Rasnitsyn, Ren & Shih, n. sp. are described and illustrated from the family Praesiricidae. The type specimens were collected from the Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous Yixian Formation, northeastern China. The new subfamily also includes Aulidontes Rasnitsyn from the Upper Jurassic of Karatau in Kazakhstan. This is the first record of Praesiricidae in China. These well-preserved nearly-complete new fossils reported here provide additional material and structure characters about this family, which helps filling some gap in the evolution of Lower Hymenoptera.     

Phylogeny and systematics of the Acrapex apicestriata (Bethune-Baker, 1911) species complex (Lepidoptera,Noctuidae, Noctuinae,Apameini, Sesamiina) with the description of eight new species from the Afrotropics

Twelve morphologically similar species of Acrapex Hampson 1894, (Lepidoptera, Noctuidae, Noctuinae, Apameini, Sesamiina), from Western, Central and Eastern Africa are reviewed. Eight of these species are new to science and are described: Acrapex akunamatata n. sp. and A. incrassata n. sp. from Kenya; A. gracilis n. sp., A. iringa n. sp., A. lukumbura n. sp. and A. rungwe n. sp. from Tanzania; A. soyema n. sp. from Ethiopia; and A. zoutoi n. sp. from Benin. All 12 species belong to a species complex that we hereby define as the Acrapex apicestriata group. Host-plants for three of the new species are recorded: Setaria incrassata (Hochst.) Hack. for Acrapex incrassata; Cymbopogon pospishilii (K. Schum.) C.E. Hubb. for A. rungwe; and Andropogon perligulatus Stapf. for A. zoutoi. We also conducted molecular phylogenetic analyses (using maximum likelihood and Bayesian inference) on a six gene multimarker molecular dataset (four mitochondrial and two nuclear gene fragments; 4581 nucleotides in length) consisting of 15 Acrapex species (including seven species from the apicestriata group) and four outgroups species from the subtribe Sesamiina (from genera Busseola Thurau 1904, Sciomesa Tams & Bowden 1953, Pirateolea Moyal, Le Ru, Conlong, Cugala, Defabachew, Matama-Kauma, Pallangyo & Van den Berg 2010 and Sesamia Boisduval & Guenée 1852). Both maximum likelihood and Bayesian inference analyses yield a similar and well-supported topology, which supports the monophyly of the apicestriata group.     

A new genus and a new subgenus of cavernicolous beetles from Furong Jiang valley,southwestern China (Coleoptera: Carabidae: Trechinae)

A new genus and a new subgenus of semi-aphaenopsian trechine beetles are described from Furong Jiang valley in the bordering areas of Chongqing Shi (Municipality) and Guizhou Province, southwestern China: Deuveaphaenops Tian & Huang, n. gen. (type species: Deuveaphaenops qimenxicus Tian & Huang, n. sp. from Qimenxia Cave II, Wulong Xian, Chongqing) and Furongius Tian & Huang, n. subgen. (type species: Deuveaphaenops (Furongius) gelaophilus Tian & Huang, n. sp. from cave Xianmi Dong, Daozhen Xian, Guizhou). Deuveaphaenops probably belongs to the complex of Cathaiaphaenops, Qianotrechus, Guizhaphaenops and Sinotroglodytes.     

Les Cryptotrogus Kraatz de la faune d’Iran et des régions limitrophes (Coleoptera : Scarabaeoidea : Melolonthidae)

Le genre Cryptotrogus Kraatz, 1888 est étudié. Après étude des spécimens-types des espèces associées et de nouveaux matériels, ce genre est redéfini et Cyphonoxia Reitter, 1889 en est à nouveau considéré comme synonyme. Les nouvelles combinaisons et synonymies suivantes sont établies ou restaurées : Cryptotrogus buettikeri (Sabatinelli & Pontuale, 1998) n. comb., Cryptotrogus delhiensis (Anand, 1988) n. comb., Cryptotrogus haarlovi (Petrovitz, 1955) n. comb., Cryptotrogus kermanensis (Semenov & Medvedev, 1936) n. comb., Cryptotrogus kircheri (Balthasar, 1930) n. comb., Cryptotrogus praestabilis (Reitter, 1889) n. comb., Cryptotrogus tatianae (Semenov & Medvedev, 1936) n. comb., Cryptotrogus zarudnyi (Semenov & Medvedev, 1936) n. comb., Cyphonotus bicoloratus Petrovitz, 1962 n. syn. de Cryptotrogus mesopotamicus (Petrovitz, 1962), Cryptotrogus miksici Petrovitz, 1965, et Cryptotrogus orita (Reitter, 1902) n. syn. de Cryptotrogus niveus (Hampe, 1852), Cyphonoxia glasunowi Semenov, 1897 n. syn. de Cryptotrogus brenskei (Reitter, 1895) comb. rev., Cyphonoxia kermanensis Semenov & Medvedev, 1936 n. syn. de Cryptotrogus zarudnyi (Semenov & Medvedev, 1936) n. comb., Cryptotrogus zemindar (Sharp, 1876) n. comb. Par ailleurs, huit espèces sont décrites et comparées aux espèces proches : sept d’Iran, Cryptotrogus borumandi n. sp., Cryptotrogus ebrahimii n. sp., Cryptotrogus miesseni n. sp., Cryptotrogus mirzayansi n. sp., Cryptotrogus monodi n. sp., Cryptotrogus morgani n. sp. et Cryptotrogus parallelus n. sp., et une, Cryptotrogus irakanus n. sp., d’Irak. Enfin, de nouvelles données sont présentées pour quelques espèces de la faune iranienne appartenant aux genres Melolontha Fabricius, 1775, Anoxia Castelnau, 1832, Polyphylla Harris, 1841 et Microphylla Kraatz, 1890. Une espèce est nouvelle pour la faune d’Iran : Melolontha aceris Faldermann, 1835.     

A revision of the Chinese Catops Paykull 1798 of the Catops fuscus species group (Coleoptera: Leiodidae: Cholevinae)

Five species of the Catops fuscus species group are reported from China. Three species are newly described: C. hlisnikovskyi n. sp. from the Beijing municipality and Jiangsu province, C. schuelkei n. sp. from Sichuan and Yunnan provinces, and C. smetanai n. sp. from Sichuan and Yunnan provinces. Female of C. sasajii Nishikawa 2007 is described and the species is reported from Hubei, Sichuan and Yunnan provinces for the first time. Catops nigricans (Spence 1813) is reported for the first time from China (Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region). Important morphological characters are illustrated and the distribution of all species in China is mapped. Preliminar phylogenetic analysis separates (C. hlisnikovskyi n. sp.+C. fuscus fuscus Panzer 1794) as a sister clade to C. nigricans+(C. sasajii+(C. schuelkei n. sp.+C. smetanai n. sp.)), with C. paramericanus Peck & Cook 2002 as outgroup.     

A review of selected South- and East Asian Tanytarsus v.d. Wulp (Diptera: Chironomidae)

Male and pupa of Tanytarsus calorifontis sp. n. are described. Diagnoses, hypopygium drawings for the examined species and distribution are given for: Tanytarsus akantertiusSasa & Kamimura, T. angulatus Kawai, T. atagoensis Tokunaga,T. bathophilusKieffer, T. boninensis Tokunaga, T. formosae (Kieffer), T. formosanusKieffer, T. infundibulusChaudhuri & Datta, T. kikuchiiSasa, Kawai & Ueno, T. konishii Sasa & Kawai, T. mcmillani Freeman, T. mendax Kieffer, T. miyakobrevis Sasa & Hasegawa, T. monstrosus Chaudhuri et al., T. ogasaquartus Sasa & Suzuki, T. ogasatertius Sasa & Suzuki, T. okuboi Sasa & Kikuchi, T. oscillans Johannsen, T. ovatus Johannsen, T. oyamai Sasa, T. pollexus Chaudhuri & Datta, T. shouautumnalis Sasa, T. shoudigitatus Sasa, T. takahashii Kawai & Sasa, T. tamaundecimus Sasa, T. tonebeceus Sasa & Tanaka, T. tusimatneousSasa & Suzuki, T. unagiseptimus Sasa, T. uraiensis Tokunaga, T. yakuheiusSasa & Suzuki and T. yunosecundus Sasa. Tanytarsus ikiefeus Sasa & Suzuki is a new junior synonym of T. konishii. Tanytarsus ikifegeus Sasa & Suzuki, T. miyakoflavus Sasa & Hasegawa,T. oyabepallidus Sasa, Kawai & Ueno, T. simantoopeus Sasa et al. and T. tusimatheius Sasa & Suzuki are new junior synonyms of T. okuboi. Tanytarsus nippogregarius Sasa & Kamimura is a new junior synonym of T. bathophilus. Tanytarsus cultellus Chaudhuri & Datta and T. sibafegeus Sasa et al. are new junior synonyms of T. oscillans.Tanytarsus insulus (Guha et al., 1985) is a new junior synonym of T. ovatus. Tanytarsus sakishimanus Sasa & Hasegawa, T. vinculus Chaudhuri et al., T. parvistylus Chaudhuri & Datta, T. fusciabdominalis Guha et al. and T. euformosanus Kikuchi & Sasa are new junior synonyms of T. formosanus. Tanytarsus tsutaprimus Sasa, T. tokarajekeus Sasa & Suzuki, T. tusimatlemeus Sasa & Suzuki, T. tusimatopeus Sasa & Suzuki and T. yakugeheuus Sasa & Suzuki are new junior synonyms of T. shouautumnalis. Tanytarsus togasiroidus Sasa & Okazawa is a new junior synonym of T. shoudigitatus. Tanytarsus tusimatjekeus Sasa & Suzuki and T. tusimatkeleus Sasa & Suzuki are new junior synonyms of T. akantertius, and Tanytarsus tusimatpequeus Sasa & Suzuki is a new junior synonym of T. tusimatneous. Virgatanytarsus toganiveus (Sasa & Okazawa), Cladotanytarsus utonaiquartus (Sasa) and Zavrelia tusimatijeus (Sasa & Suzuki), all previously placed in Tanytarsus, are new combinations.     

Revision of the species of the Tychus rufus group (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Pselaphinae)

The species belonging to Tychus rufus group are revised. Eleven species are recognized, described and illustrated and a key to their identification is provided. Nine taxa are new to science: Tychus carpathius n. sp. from Karpathos island (Greece); T. torticornis n. sp. from Lesbos Island (Greece); T. pisidicus n. sp. and T. inermis n. sp. from southwestern Turkey; T. antiocheus n. sp. and T. effeminatus n. sp. from southeastern Turkey; T. artvinensis n. sp. from northeastern Turkey, and T. sidonicus n. sp. and T. libanus n. sp. from Lebanon.     

A new genus of the tribe Acratini from the continental Neotropical region (Coleoptera: Curculionoidea,Brentidae)

A group of 10 species belonging to the Neotropical tribe Acratini Alonso-Zarazaga, Lyal, Bartolozzi & Sforzi 1999, is shown to be monophyletic by a phylogenetic analysis based on 48 morphological characters. A new genus, Pertusius n. gen., is described, based on three derived characters of external and genital morphology: venter of prorostrum of males with fine median longitudinal carina, base of elytra with deep pit at the place of insertion on mesonotum, and proximal sclerite of endophallus more or less horseshoe-shaped. Eight species were previously known and, according to former authors, belonged to the genera Acratus Lacordaire 1865 [Pertusius apicalis (Sharp 1895), n. comb., P. errabundus (Kleine 1927), n. comb., P. extrarius (Kleine 1927), n. comb., P. fidus (Kleine 1927), n. comb. and P. telesi (Soares & Meyer 1959), n. comb.] and Proteramocerus Kleine 1921 [Pertusius chalcites (Perty 1832), n. comb., P. filum (Sharp 1895), n. comb., and P. laevis (Germar 1824), n. comb.]. Four new synonymies are proposed: Proteramocerus disparilis Soares & Dias 1971, n. syn. for Acratus apicalis Sharp 1895; Teramocerus laevigatus Boheman 1840, n. syn. for Arrhenodes chalcites Perty 1832; Acratus extraordinarius Kleine 1927, n. syn. for Acratus errabundus Kleine 1927; Proteramocerus diringshofeni Soares & Dias 1971, n. syn. for Acratus filum Sharp 1895. Two new species are described: Pertusius guyanensis n. sp. from French Guiana, and P. mexicanus n. sp. from Mexico (Yucatán Peninsula). Pertusius apicalis is newly cited from Bolivia and Peru, P. chalcites from Argentina and Paraguay, P. extrarius from Ecuador, P. fidus from Peru and P. telesi from Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela. An identification key to species of the genus is provided.     

A new Veturius (Veturius) of the “cephalotes” group from southern Colombia,Putumayo (Coleoptera: Passalidae)

A new species of Veturius (Veturius) Kaup from southern Colombia, Putumayo, lowland forests, is described and illustrated. V. paya n. sp. belongs to the South American “cephalotes” species group and is sister species of V. cephalotes (Le Peletier & Serville, 1825). Both species are distinguished by few characters of the head and thorax. They seem to be allopatric close to the western distributional limits of V. cephalotes. The endemism of V. paya n. sp. corresponds to a geographic vicariance in the axis of the Amazon Basin. An overview is given on the phylogeny and the chorology of the completed “cephalotes” species group.     

Descriptions of a new species and the pupae of two known species of Culicoides Latreille (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) from India

Pupa, and adult male and female of Culicoides pseudosimilis n. sp., and pupae of two known species, C. selangorensis Wirth & Hubert, and C. dryadeus Wirth & Hubert, are described and illustrated. An identification key to the Indian species of Clavipalpis and Shermani species group of male Culicoides is also provided.     

Folsomia (Collembola: Isotomidae) of China. II. heterocellata group

An annotated list of species of the Folsomia heterocellata group recorded in China is given. Folsomia cephalota n. sp., F. dorsomediaseta n. sp., F. longiseta n. sp., F. manubriopilosa n. sp., F. longdeica n. sp., and F. plenosensilla n. sp. are characterized by having a simple maxillary palp, four prelabral setae and no eyes. They differentiate mainly by characteristics of the furca. We report other species of the group which are recorded for the first time in China: Folsomia tianshanica Martynova, 1969, F. pseudovtorovi Potapov & Gulgenova, 2013, and F. pseudodecemoculata Stebaeva, 1971. This excludes F. wanxianensis Ji, Ding & Chen, 2007, for which we provide morphological remarks based on the type material. The group is mainly distributed in the central part of China (Chongqing, Gansu, southern part of Inner Mongolia, Ningxia and Shaanxi provinces). A key to all blind species with a simple maxillary palp is given.