A new genus of Cyrtoscydmini (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Scydmaeninae) from Japan

Rutaraphes shikokuensis gen. et sp. nov. is described from Shikoku, Japan. The new taxon belongs to a group of genera characterized by the lateral sutures demarcating the submentum and is most similar to Neuraphes and Scydmoraphes. Morphological structures of Rutaraphes are illustrated and possible affinities with other genera of Cyrtoscydmini are discussed. Keys to identification of Palearctic and Japanese genera of Cyrtoscydmini are given. Including Rutaraphes, 14 genera of Scydmaeninae are currently known to occur in Japan.     

Rhizoferrin: A complexone type siderophore of the mocorales and entomophthorales (Zygomycetes)

The present investigation presents evidence that rhizoferrin, a novel polycarboxylate or complexone-type siderophore, originally isolated from Rhizopus microsporus, represents the common siderophore within the Zygomycetes. Thus, rhizoferrin could be detected by HPLC analysis in various families of the Mucorales, e.g., Rhizopus microsporus var. rhizopodiformis, Mucor mucedo and Phycomyces nitens (Mucoraceae), Chaetostylum fresenii and Cokeromyces recurvatus (Thamnidiaceae), Cunninghamella elegans and Mycotypha africana (Choanephoraceae) and Mortierella vinacea (Mortierellaceae) and in Basidiobolus microsporus (Entomophthorales). The function of rhizoferrin as a siderophore in the fungus R. microsporus var. rhizopodiformis was demonstrated by time- and concentration-dependent uptake of [55Fe]-labelled rhizoferrin, yielding saturation kinetics with values of Km = 8 microM and V(max) = 1.2 nmol min-1 (mg dry wt)-1.     

A new genus of Syllidae (Polychaeta) from Western Australia

During a study carried out on the subfamily Exogoninae (Syllidae) from Australia, several specimens of a new genus and species were found in samples of dead coral substrate from Western Australia. They have long palps, fused except for a terminal notch, long median and two short lateral antennae, a single pair of short tentacular cirri, and short dorsal cirri, somewhat longer than the parapodial lobes. These characters resemble those of the genus Exogone Örsted, 1845. However, all these appendages are articulated. The chaetae are very similar to those of several species of Syllis Lamarck, 1818, having coarse spines on the margin of compound chaetal blades and truncated dorsal simple chaetae. Furthermore, the pharynx begins in chaetiger 3, posterior to the peristomium, as in many species of the genus Syllis; this condition does not occur in any described species of Exogone. The new genus is provisionally proposed to belong to the subfamily Syllinae, although it has some characters typical of the Exogoninae. Examination under the SEM shows another peculiar feature, the nuchal organs are distinctly laterally located. Within the Syllinae, only Paratyposyllis Hartmann-Schröder, 1962 has a single pair of tentacular cirri, but in that genus, the palps are only basally fused.     

A new stem-borer of the genus Bucculatrix (Lepidoptera: Bucculatricidae) from Japan, with description of the life history

A new species of bucculaticid moth, Bucculatrix hamaboella sp. nov. (Host plant: Hibiscus hamabo , Malvaceae) is described from Wakayama Prefecture, Japan. The feeding habit of the new species is unique in that: (i) the young larva is a leaf miner forming a long red linear mine but in the later instars the larva becomes a stem borer; (ii) later instar larvae undergo double molts within a cocoonet (molting cocoon); and (iii) penultimate and final instars appear on the surface of the leaf as non-feeding stages. The external non-feeding larvae of B. hamaboella undergoing double molts within one cocoonet are considered to be an abbreviated form of the external feeding instars of other bucculatricids typically making first and second cocoonets, undergoing a single molt within each cocoonet. On the basis of morphological characters, this species is related to the species of Sections I and II (Host: Asteraceae) of Braun (1963), rather than to the species of Section VIII (Host: Malvaceae).     

Verrucocephalum,a new nematophagous genus in the Helicocephalidaceae (Zoopagales)

A new genus Verrucocephalum is proposed for a fungus which was found from bat dung collected in a limestone cave. The type species, V. latericorvinisporum has darkly pigmented spores and aseptic hyphae that branch and capture nematodes by means of appressoria. These morphological characteristics match the definition for the family Helicocephalidaceae (Zoopagales, Zoopagomycotina). The genus can be distinguished from three previously known genera in the family by its broad-based tapering sporophores with darkly pigmented verrucose spores born on short lateral branchlets. The branchlets may be homologous to the papillae seen in genus Rhopalomyces.     

A new species of the Brazilian genus Chresta (Asteraceae, Vernonieae) from Bahia

A new species of the genus Chresta Vell. ex DC. (Vernonieae, Asteraceae) from the Brazilian state of Bahia is described and illustrated. The new species resembles Chresta pinnatifida (Philipson) H.Rob. but differs in having solitary glomerules, leaf bases clasping the stem and 35–40 capitula per glomerule. It can be distinguished from Chresta harleyii and Chresta martii , the other two species of the genus with pinnately lobed leaves, by the type of pubescence, leaf blade bases and florets number. In addition, a key to distinguish all the species of the genus is presented. © 2008 The Linnean Society of London, Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society , 2008, 157 , 587–590.     

Two new species of the genus Rhynchonema (Nematoda,Xyalidae) from Amakusa,south Japan

During the ecological studies on marine nematodes in the intertidal zone and an adjacent seagrass Zostera marina Linne bed in Amakusa, south Japan, two new species of the genus Rhynchonema Cobb, 1920 were found. They are described as R. kikuchii and R. amakusanum. Up to now, Rhynchonema species were unknown from Japan.     

A new species of the genus Helcogramma (Blenniiformes, Tripterygiidae) from Taiwan

A new species of triplefin fish (Blenniiformes: Tripterygiidae), Helcogramma williamsi, is described from six specimens collected from southern Taiwan. This species is well distinguished from its congeners by possessing 13 second dorsal-fin spines; third dorsal-fin rays modally 11; anal-fin rays modally 19; pored scales in lateral line 22-24; dentary pore pattern modally 5+1+5; lobate supraorbital cirrus; broad, serrated or palmate nasal cirrus; first dorsal fin lower in height than second; males with yellow mark extending from anterior tip of upper lip to anterior margin of eye and a whitish blue line extending from corner of mouth onto preopercle. Comparisons and a diagnostic key are provided for the species of Helcogramma now known from Taiwan: Helcogramma fuscipectoris, Helcogramma inclinata, Helcogramma striata, Helcogramma trigloides, and the newly recorded, Helcogramma rhinoceros.     

A new genus and species of octocoral with aragonite calcium-carbonate skeleton (Octocorallia,Helioporacea) from Okinawa,Japan

A new genus and species of octocoral with a calcium-carbonate skeleton, Nanipora kamurai sp. n., is described from a shallow coral reef in Okinawa, Japan. Contrary to most octocorals, the skeleton is composed of crystalline aragonite as in blue coral Heliopora. The results of molecular phylogenetic analyses of sequences of mtMutS, COI, and ITS1-5.8s-ITS2-28S region suggest Nanipora gen. n. specimens should be included in order Helioporacea. Based on morphological results compared with other Helioporacea including the genus Epiphaxum (family Lithotelestidae), we establish the new genus Nanipora within Lithotelestidae. This is the first time that a close molecular phylogenetic relationship between Heliopora and a related genus within Helioporacea has been revealed.     

First record of the genus Buchananiella Reuter (Heteroptera: Anthocoridae) from Japan, with description of a new species

Two species of the anthocorid genus Buchananiella Reuter are recorded from Japan for the first time. Buchananiella leptocephala sp. nov. is described here based on specimens from Honshu and the Ryukyus. Buchananiella crassicornis Carayon, hitherto known from the Ivory Coast and India, was found in the Ryukyus.     

A new species and new record of the leafhopper genus Seriana Dworakowska (Hemiptera, Cicadellidae, Typhlocybinae) from China

Seriana menglaensissp. n. (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae: Typhlocybinae: Erythroneurini) is described and illustrated from Southwest China. Seriana equata (Singh, 1969) is recorded for the first time from China.     

A new species of the genus Torilis Adanson (Apiaceae)

JURY, S. L., 1987. A new species of the genus Torilis Adanson (Apiaceae). The name Torilis nodosa (L.) Gaertner has been shown to have been used to include two very distinct variants. Torilis nodosa is therefore typified, and the other variant described as a new species.