The small pseudoscorpion family Pseudochiridiidae Chamberlin, 1923 comprises two genera and 12 extant species recorded from Asia (Burma, Christmas Island, Indonesia, India, Nepal, Malaysia, New Guinea, Philippines, Nicobars and Sumba), eastern, central and southern Africa (Chad, D.R. Congo, Kenya, South Africa, Tanzania), Madagascar, Seychelles (Aldabra), North America (Florida) and the Caribbean Islands of Dominican Republic and Cuba (Harvey 2013, Barba & Barroso 2013); one unidentified species is mentioned for the fauna of Mexico (Ceballos 2004). A fossil species has been described from Dominican amber by Judson (2007), who predicted the presence of this family in South America.
Donald Henry Colless (24 August 1922–16 February 2012) was a taxonomist at the Australian National Insect Collection (ANIC) from 1960 until his retirement in 1987. He continued working in ANIC as an Honorary Fellow until his death in 2012. Don’s main scientific interests were in the taxonomy and biology of true flies, and in the theory of phylogenetic reconstruction and classification. Don was trained in entomology at the University of Sydney, and spent nearly two decades of his early career in Asia studying mosquitoes and disease transmission, first in the Army during the Second World War in New Guinea and Borneo (1942–45), then after the war in North Borneo (1947–1952) and as a lecturer in the Department of Parasitology at the University of Malaya (1952–1960) in Singapore. We list the 127 scientific papers and book chapters that Don published during his scientific career that spanned 64 years. Six of these papers were published in the prestigious international journal Nature, and he was Chief Curator of the ANIC from 1971–1977. Don had extremely broad taxonomic interests, publishing on the taxonomy of 18 families of Diptera that spanned the phylogenetic breadth of the order. He described as new to science the fly families Perissommatidae and Axiniidae, thirteen new genera and over 120 species and, with David McAlpine, authored the Diptera chapters in both editions of The Insects of Australia (Melbourne University Press, 1970 and 1991). He published a number of influential critiques of cladistic theory in the 1960's and 1970's, and advocated a phenetic approach to the discovery of taxonomic groups, and phylogenetic reconstruction.
The Oriental genus Stigmothrips Ananthakrishnan is synonymised with A draneothrips Hood, a genus in which most species have been described from the Neotropics. Problems with descriptions by T.N. Ananthakrishnan of species from India are discussed, but cannot be fully resolved without access to the holotypes. A key is provided to 23 species of Adraneothrips from Asia and Australia, including four new species: darwini sp. n. from Northern Territory, Australia; hani sp. n. from Taiwan, China; yunnanensis sp. n. from Yunnan, China as well as Java, Indonesia; and waui sp. n. from Papua New Guinea. One species from the Philippines, Adraneothrips makilingensis (Reyes) comb. n., is transferred from Apelaunothrips, and the male of Adraneothrips russatus (Haga) is described and illustrated for the first time, from Yunnan, China. Two species are newly recorded from Australia: coloratus (Mound) previously known only from the Solomon Islands, and russatus (Haga) previously known from southern Japan and southern China but with one female recorded here from Fiji. Further new records are, coloratus from Java, and chinensis (Zhang & Tong) from Malaysia. Colonies of species in this genus are commonly found living on dead leaves, as fungus-feeders, and many species are brightly coloured or bicoloured in patterns of yellow and brown.
Pandanothrips gen. n. is described, with three new species inhabiting Pandanus: P. ryukyuensis sp. n. from Japan, P. wangi sp. n. from Malaysia, and P. hallingi sp. n. from Australia. This new genus shows no relationship to Projectothrips Moulton, the only other Thripinae genus known to be associated with Pandanus. Pandanothrips is superficially similar to Danothrips Bhatti, a genus of leaf feeding thrips. The morphological relationships among these genera are discussed, and an illustrated key to the species of Pandanothrips is provided.
This revision completes a taxonomic survey of fireflies (Coleoptera: Lampyridae) in the area encompassed by Australia, the Republic of Palau, Federated States of Micronesia, Papua New Guinea, Indonesia (West Irian/Papua), Solomon Islands, New Caledonia, Vanuatu and Fiji. It finalises the taxonomic issues arising from the 1969–70 voyage of the scientific vessel Alpha Helix to New Guinea. The firefly fauna of this area is exclusively Luciolinae. The scope of the revision was extended to include all known Luciolinae genera and certain species from SE Asia, and a phylogenetic analysis of 436 morphological characters of males, females, and associated larvae includes 142 Luciolinae species (Ballantyne & Lambkin 2009, and Fu et al. 2012a). The phylogenetic analyses infer four major groups within the Luciolinae. The monotypic Missimia Ballantyne is sister to all remaining Luciolinae and forms a grade to Aquatica Fu etBallantyne. The large clade of Curtos Motschulsky, Photuroluciola Pic, Colophotia Motschulsky, Poluninius gen. nov., Pyrophanes Olivier, Pteroptyx s. str. Olivier, Medeopteryx gen. nov., Trisinuata gen. nov., and Australoluciola gen. nov.forms a grade to the clade of Luciola s. str. Laporte (including Bourgeoisia Olivier). The monotypic Emeia Fu et al.forms a grade with a clade of Luciola and Pygoluciola Wittmer, sister to a large clade of Convexa Ballantyne, Pacifica gen. nov., Magnalata Ballantyne, Lloydiella Ballantyne, Asymmetricata Ballantyne, Pygatyphella s. str. Ballantyne, Atyphella Olliff, Aquilonia Ballantyne, and Gilvainsula Ballantyne. Luciola is paraphyletic, found in up to six clades across the tree. Together with Luciola, Magnalata, Aquilonia, and Gilvainsula render Atyphella paraphyletic. The new genera described here are all monophyletic and supported in the phylogenetic analyses that also provide evidence for the inclusion of taxa within them. Twenty-three genera including five new ones, and ten new species, are recognised and keys are presented for the males and females. Certain females are characterised by the nature of their bursa plates. Australoluciola gen. nov. is proposed for ten species from Australia and New Guinea, seven transferred from Luciola and three new, with species keyed from males, all of which have an entire light organ in ventrite 7. Aus. anthracina (Olivier), Aus. aspera (Olivier), Aus. australis (F.), Aus. flavicollis (MacLeay), Aus. foveicollis (Olivier), Aus. nigra (Olivier) and Aus. orapallida (Ballantyne) are transferred from Luciola with males assigned to Aus. aspera(Olivier), and a lectotype designated for Luciola foveicollis Olivier; Aus. baduria sp. nov., Aus. fuscamagna sp. nov.,Aus. fuscaparva sp. nov., Aus. japenensis sp. nov. and Aus. pharusaurea sp. nov. are described. Females of Aus. australis and Aus. flavicollis have two pairs of wide bursa plates. The bent-winged fireflies of New Guinea and Australia are removed from Pteroptyx Olivier and assigned to Medeopteryx gen. nov. and Trisinuata gen. nov. Medeopteryx gen. nov. is erected for 17 species including two new; all have ventrite 7 with an entire light organ, trisinuate posterior margin and short posterolateral projections; the following 14 species in which males have deflexed elytral apices are transferred from Pteroptyx Olivier: M. amilae (Satô), M. antennata (Olivier), M. corusca (Ballantyne), M. cribellata (Olivier), M. effulgens (Ballantyne), M. elucens (Ballantyne), M. flagrans (Ballantyne), M. fulminea (Ballantyne), M. hanedai (Ballantyne), M. platygaster (Lea), M. similisantennata(Ballantyne), M. sublustris (Ballantyne), M. tarsalis (Olivier), and M. torricelliensis (Ballantyne). M. clipeata sp. nov. is described. Two species without deflexed elytral apices include M. pupilla (Olivier) which is transferred from Luciola, and M. similispupillae sp. nov. A Lectotype is designated for Luciola pupilla (Olivier). Females of M. corusca(Ballantyne), M. cribellata (Olivier), M. effulgens (Ballantyne), and M. similispupillae sp. nov. have two pairs of wide bursa plates. The second genus including species in which the males have deflexed elytral apices is Trisinuata gen. nov., where all males have light organ in ventrite 7 bipartite and posterolateral projections expanded; it is proposed for eight New Guinean species: T. microthorax (Olivier), T. minor (Ballantyne), T. papuae (McDermott) and T. similispapuae(Ballantyne) are transferred from Pteroptyx Olivier, T. papuana (Olivier) previously known only from a female, has males associated and is transferred from Luciola, and T. caudabifurca sp. nov., T. dimidiata sp. nov. and T. apicula sp. nov. are described. Females of T. similispapuae (Ballantyne) have two pairs of wide bursa plates. Luciola s. str. is defined by scoring the type species L. italica (L), Bourgeoisia Olivier and Lampyroidea (based on its type species syriaca Costa) both of which are submerged into Luciola; Luciola s. str is addressed here from four Pacific Island species: L. hypocrita Olivier, L. antipodum Bourgeois both transferred from Bourgeoisia; L. aquilaclarasp. nov. and L. oculofissa sp. nov. are described. L. oculofissa sp. nov. is the only Luciolinae male known to lack light organs. Females of L. italica and L. hypocrita lack bursa plates.Pacifica gen. nov. is proposed for five species from the Solomon Islands transferred from Pygatyphella(Ballantyne), and which the phylogenetic analysis shows to be distinctive viz. P. limbatifusca (Ballantyne), P. limbatipennis (Pic), P. plagiata (Blanchard), P. russellia (Ballantyne), and P. salomonis (Olivier). A monotypic genus Poluninius gen. nov. is proposed for Pol. selangoriensis sp. nov. from Selangor, Malaysia. The genera Colophotia, Pteroptyx, Pyrophanes, and Pygoluciola are treated in an abbreviated fashion with generic diagnoses, lists of, and keys to, species. Pteroptyx bearni Olivier and P. tener Olivier are characterised from type specimens and female bursae and P. similis Ballantyne is synonymised with P. bearni. Luciola semilimbata Olivier is transferred to Pyrophanes, and Luciola cowleyi Blackburn to Pygoluciola. The following species are treated as species incertae sedis: L. melancholica Olivier, L. ruficollis Guérin-Ménéville. The New Guinean records of Luciola tenuicornis Olivier, L. timida Olivier and Photinus cinctellus Motschulsky are suspect. Fifteen of the species treated here are recognised by flashing patterns. The functions of the terminal abdominal modifications, origins of the Australopacific firefly fauna, and use of female and larval characters in interpretations of relationships are considered.
Species of Apelaunothrips are fungus-feeders on dead leaves, particularly in leaf-litter, and they are recorded across the Old World tropics from Africa to northern Australia and southern Japan. All species in this genus have the maxillary stylets 4-6 microns in diameter, considerably broader than the 2-3 micron diameter that is typical among Phlaeothripinae. The species are largely uniform in structure, but in four species the larger males have fore femora enlarged with a conspicuous tubercle on the inner margin at the base. In one of these species, the males are dimorphic, with no intermediates between large and small individuals, in contrast to the continuous variation in structure found in many polymorphic Phlaeothripidae. A key is provided to the 37 recognised species of Apelaunothrips, including the following: A. desleyae sp.n. from northern Australia; A. bogor sp.n. from Java; A. gombak sp.n. from Peninsular Malaysia.
The apparently rare chelonine wasp genus Wushenia Zettel was previously known only from a single species Wushenia nana Zettel, collected by Townes at 1150 m from Wushe, Taiwan in 1983. Here we describe a second species, Wushenia australiensis sp. nov. from coastal New South Wales, Australia. This second species extends the known distribution of the genus from the Oriental into the Australasian region, indicating either an extreme disjunct distribution or that Wushenia may also occur on the landmasses inbetween, e.g. the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia and/or Papua New Guinea. In addition to a detailed description of the new species, a re-diagnosis of the genus and type species, and a key to species are presented.
Oxytelus species are widespread over all continents except Antarctica. Southeast Asia is one of the biodiversity hotspots in the world. In this paper, we review the Oxytelus species currently known from Southeast Asia. Seven species are described as new to science: O. castaneus sp. nov. (Vietnam), O. finitimus sp. nov. (Laos), O. grandiculus sp. nov. (Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand), O. insulanus sp. nov. (Malaysia and Indonesia), O. lompobatangensis sp. nov. and O. poecilopterus sp. nov. (Indonesia), and O. sublividus sp. nov. (Vietnam and Laos). Seven new synonymies are proposed: O. ruptus Fauvel = O. sublucidus Cameron, O. lucens Bernhauer = O. malaisei Scheerpeltz, O. puncticeps Kraatz = O. (Anotylus) micantoides Scheerpeltz, O. subferrugineus Cameron = O. kedirianus Cameron, O. megaceros Fauvel = O. kalisi Bernhauer, O. subincisus Cameron = O. fruhstorferi Cameron, O. antennalis Fauvel = O. cheesmani Bernhauer. Lectotypes are designated for the following names: O. armiger Fauvel, O. bellicosus Fauvel, O. discalis Cameron, O. gigantulus Fauvel, O. ginyuenensis Bernhauer, O. javanus Cameron, O. kalisi Bernhauer, O. kedirianus Cameron, O. lucens Bernhauer, O. lucidulus Cameron, O. mandibularis Cameron, O. megaceros Fauvel, O. nilgiriensis Cameron, O. subferrugineus Cameron, O. subincisus Cameron, O. sublucidus Cameron, O. subsculptus Cameron, O. antennalis Fauvel (New Caledonia, New Guinea and Australia), O. cheesmani Bernhauer (New Hebrides), O. cheesmanianus Cameron (Papua New Guinea), O. hingstoni Cameron (India), and O. tibetanus Bernhauer (China). The species O. (Anotylus) transversipennis Scheerpeltz is transferred to the genus Anotylus. Other than the new species, nine previously known species are redescribed, a key to 30 species and line drawings or color photographs of 42 species are provided. Thus, a total of 30 species are recorded from Southeast Asia.
The genus Ceratothoa Dana, 1852, is revised for Australian waters. Ceratothoa is represented in Australia by nine species, including two new species: Ceratothoa barracuda sp. nov. described from Cairns and Ceratothoa globulus sp. nov. described from Lord Howe Island. Ceratothoa imbricata Fabricius, 1775 is redescribed, with Ceratothoa trillesi (Avdeev, 1979) and Ceratothoa huttoni Filhol, 1885 placed into junior synonymy; the preferred hosts are species of the genus Trachurus (Carangidae). Ceratothoa banksii (Leach, 1818) is validated and brought out of synonymy with Ceratothoa imbricata; host species are from the families Kyphosidae, Scombridae, Latridae, Carangidae, Mugilidae, Salmonidae, Scatophagidae, Pomatomidae and Hemiramphidae. Species excluded from the Australian fauna are Ceratothoa trigonocephala (Leach, 1818) with an unknown host identity and type locality; and Ceratothoa lineata Miers, 1876a, that here is transferred to the genus Mothocya Costa, 1851, with Mothocya ihi Bruce, 1986 placed into junior synonymy. Ceratothoa contracta (Miers, 1880), the New Zealand Ceratothoa novaezelandiae Filhol, 1885 and the East Pacific Ceratothoa gaudichaudii (Milne Edwards, 1840) are regarded here as species inquirenda. A key to the Australian species of Ceratothoa is presented.
The Oriental, Australasian and Oceanian genus Caiusa Surcouf, 1920 is revised, species concepts being based on male and female genitalia. A key to males for all known species, and a key to females for all except one are given. All relevant types still in existence have been studied, complete synonymies given and the geographical distribution reconsidered. The eight species included in the genus are: Caiusa borneoensis sp. nov. (Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam); Caiusa coomani Séguy, 1948 (China, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam); Caiusa indica Surcouf, 1920 (Australia, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Singapore, Solomon Islands, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam); Caiusa karrakerae sp. nov. (Malaysia, Thailand); Caiusa kurahashii sp. nov. (Indonesia, Japan, Philippines); Caiusa pooae sp. nov. (Thailand); Caiusa testacea Senior-White, 1923 (India, Nepal, Sri Lanka) and Caiusa violacea Séguy, 1925, stat. rev. (Cambodia, China, Laos, Malaysia, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam). A lectotype is designated for Caiusa indica to fix the interpretation of the name. Caiusa nigronitens Senior-White, 1923, syn. nov. and Caiusa surcoufi Bezzi, 1927, syn. nov. are established as junior synonyms of Caiusa indica. Caiusa violacea is correctly diagnosed and errors in the original description of the female holotype are pointed out. Caiusa dubiosa Villeneuve, 1927 is established as a junior synonym of C. violacea, syn. nov. Seven Caiusa species have been reared from the egg mass of various species of frogs. The reproductive mode of the eighth species, i.e., C. indica, is unknown. Five species, i.e., C. borneoensis, C. coomani, C. karrakerae, C. kurahashii and C. violacea have been reared from one or more of the foam nesting frog species Chiromantis nongkhorensis (Cochran, 1927), Polypedates leucomystax (Gravenhorst, 1927), Polypedates megacephalus Hallowell, 1861, Rhacophorus annamensis Smith, 1924, Rhacophorus dulitensis Boulenger, 1892, Rhacophorus kio Ohler & Delorme, 2005 and Rhacophorus owstoni (Stejneger, 1907) all belonging in the family Rhacophoridae in Anura. These five Caiusa species all have a specialised ovipositor tip, with small spine-like setae on the ST8 and the hypoproct, probably enabling the flies to oviposit on a foam nest with a hardened outer surface. They form a monophyletic group on account of these features of the ovipositor, unique in the Oestroidea. The sixth species, C. testacea, has been reared from a frog egg mass, the frog species being unknown. Its ovipositor structure is also unknown. The seventh species, C. pooae, has been reared once from the jelly-like egg mass of Feihyla hansenae (Cochran, 1927), also in Rhacophoridae. Caiusa pooae females do not have spine-like setae on the ovipositor, a fact correlated with the soft outer surface of the jelly-like egg mass on which a C. pooae female had oviposited. The extreme rarity of C. pooae oviposition on Feihyla hansenae egg masses may indicate that this fly perhaps has another, unknown, regular oviposition substrate. Caiusa pooae and C. indica make up a second monophyletic group within Caiusa. Caiusa indica, the most common and most widespread species of the genus, has an ovipositor structure similar to C. pooae. Its breeding substrate is unknown and it occurs both within and outside the distributional area of Rhacophoridae. Possibly both C. indica and C. pooae share a regular oviposition substrate that has still to be discovered. The holotype female of Plinthomyia emimelania Rondani, 1875 from Sarawak is established as a member of the genus Bengalia Robineau-Desvoidy, 1830, thus Plinthomyia Rondani, 1875 becomes a junior synonym of Bengalia Robineau-Desvoidy, 1830, syn. nov. It is removed from the synonymy of Phumosia Robineau-Desvoidy, 1830.
The adults of Calochromini with male flabellate antennae were studied. Two new Calochromus Guérin-Méneville, 1833 species with flabellate antennae, C. kelantanensis spec. nov. and C. harauensis spec. nov. are described. Dumbrellia Lea, 1909 (Calochromini) is proposed as a new junior synonym of Plateros Bourgeois, 1879 (Lycinae: Platerodini). Flabellochromus Pic, 1925 is transferred to Calochromus from synonymy with Dumbrellia based on the similar shape of the pronotum. Consequently, Calochromus lamellatus Kleine, 1926, comb. nov. from Sarawak and Flabellochromus pallidus Pic, 1925, comb. nov. (=Calochromus (Flabellochromus) pallidus Pic, 1925) from Luzon are returned to Calochromus. New combinations are proposed for three Australian species previously classified in Dumbrellia: Plateros brevicornis (Lea, 1898), comb. nov. (=Calochromus brevicornis Lea, 1898), P. pilosicornis (Lea, 1898), comb. nov. (=C. pilosicornis Lea, 1898) and P. melancholica (Lea, 1921), comb. nov. Plateros barronensis nom. nov. is proposed to replace Plateros pilosicornis (Lea, 1898), a junior secondary homonym of P. pilosicornis (Blanchard, 1853) (=Lycus pilosicornis Blanchard, 1853).
Six species are recognised in the genus Lefroyothrips, including one new species from Australia. The metascutal chaetotaxy of two of these species is unique amongst Thripidae. New distribution records given here indicate that four of the species are widely distributed: L. pictus across tropical Africa, L. lefroyi from northern India to Taiwan, L. fasciatus from Malaysia to northern Australia and New Guinea, and L. varatharajani from southern India to New Caledonia and northern Australia. An illustrated key is provided to the six known species in this genus.
Clidicus Laporte, 1832 currently comprises 27 species distributed in India (Karnataka, Tamil Nadu), Sri Lanka, Indonesia (Java, Kalimantan, Sumatra), Malaysia (Sabah, Sarawak), Laos, Vietnam, the Philippines (Mindanao), China (Hainan) and Australia (Queensland). Some species have conspicuously large adults reaching 8.5 mm, and they represent the largest known Scydmaeninae. Species of Clidicus were relatively poorly known until recently, when Orousset (2014) revised a large portion of this genus and described several new species. Other major studies include Besuchet (1971), who described Sri Lankan species, Jałoszyński et al. (2003) who recorded four new species from Vietnam and Laos, Jałoszyński (2009) with the first description of a Philippine species, and Zhou Li (2015), who discovered the first species in China. Another new species, representing the second Clidicus occurring in the Philippines, is described below.
Bangithrips mei gen. et sp. n. is described from Peninsular Malaysia. The significance is discussed of outstanding structural autapomorphies that are commonly used in classifications of Thysanoptera. Argyrothrips ommatos described recently from northern Australia is recorded from Malaysia.
Rhabdamia spilota Allen Kuiter 1994 (Apogonidae), a poorly known cardinalfish previously known only from the Philippines, Indonesia and the Red Sea, is redescribed on the basis of 70 specimens (20.9-61.2 mm standard length) (including types), from the Indo-West Pacific (Red Sea, Andaman Sea, Japan, South China Sea, the Philippines, Indonesia, New Caledonia, and Australia). Because most reports of the similar species R. gracilis (Bleeker 1856), following its original description, were based on misidentifications, R. gracilis is also redescribed (based on 98 Indo-West Pacific specimens from Seychelles, Maldives, Andaman Sea, Japan, Malaysia, Indonesia, New Caledonia, and Australia, 27.9-59.3 mm standard length); a lectotype is designated for it. Rhabdamia spilota differs from R. gracilis in having 27-33 (mode 30-31) developed gill rakers [vs. 22-27 (mode 24) in the latter], 27-33 (30) gill rakers including rudiments [vs. 23-27 (24-25)], a black stripe from the jaw tips to the anterior margin of the orbit (vs. black pigments only at snout and tip of lower jaw), 3-6 reddish brown to blackish blotches on the opercle and anterior of body (vs. blotches absent), and indistinct black pigment restricted to caudal fin outer margins (vs. pigment scattered over entire fin). Rhabdamia gracilis exhibits sexual dichromatism, female specimens larger than 41.3 mm SL having one or two black stripes on the lateral surface of the body; the stripes are absent in males and smaller females. No evidence of sexual dichromatism was found in R. spilota.
Loeblites Franz, 1986 is a genus of Glandulariini with adults sharing a very similar body form and most taxonomically important structures with Syndicus Motschulsky, 1851. One of the most conspicuous differences between these genera is the antennal structure. In Syndicus, the antennomere XI is strongly reduced, much shorter than X and lacks the basal stalk, so that the two terminal antennomeres are compactly assembled. They either form one oval structure that appears as a single antennomere because the base of subconical antennomere XI is as broad as apex of X (Syndicus s. str.) or the antennomere XI forms a distinct small 'papilla' on top of X (subgen. Semisyndicus Jałoszyński, 2004) because the base of antennomere XI is much narrower than apex of X. Adults of Loeblites have unmodified antennae, with the antennomere XI strongly elongate and with a narrow basal stalk; additionally the antennae are strikingly slender, nearly filiform. Morphological structures of both genera were described and illustrated by Jałoszyński (2004, 2005). While Syndicus is species-rich, often abundant in leaf litter and under bark in subtropical forests (Jałoszyński 2004, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2014; Jałoszyński Nomura 2006; Yin Li 2015; Yin et al. 2014; Yin Zhou 2016; Zhou Yin 2017), and broadly distributed from southeastern Australia, through Southeast Asia, Yunnan (China) and Ryukyus (Japan), up to Sri Lanka, India and the Himalayas, Loeblites comprises merely four species known to occur in Malaysia, Thailand and China (Jałoszyński 2005; Zhou Li 2015). Loeblites mastigicornis Franz, 1986 is known to occur in Chiang Mai (northern Thailand), L. sabahensis Franz, 1992 and L. minor Jałoszyński, 2005 in Sabah (northern Borneo), and L. chinensis Zhou Li, 2015 in Yunnan (southwest China). Two females representing an undescribed species were also recorded from Yunnan by Zhou Li (2015). Specimens of this interesting genus are found rarely, in small numbers and they are typically sifted from leaf litter in subtropical forests.
This paper presents a taxonomic revision of 28 described species of the genus Sirthenea Spinola, 1837 (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Reduviidae: Peiratinae) distributed in the Afrotropical, Oriental, Palearctic, Oceanian and Australian zoogeographical regions. The following new synonymies are proposed: Sirthenea africana Distant, 1903 = S. rapax Horváth, 1909, syn. nov. = S. leonina Horváth, 1909, syn. nov. = S. bequaerti Schouteden, 1913, syn. nov. = S. leontovitchi Schouteden, 1931, syn. nov.; Sirthenea picescens Reuter, 1887 = S. atrocyanea Horváth, 1909, syn. nov.; S. rodhaini Schouteden, 1913 = S. collarti Schouteden, 1931, syn. nov. = S. angolana Villiers, 1958, syn. nov.; S. flavipes (Stål, 1855) = S. clavata Miller, 1948, syn. nov. = S. bharati Sucheta Chopra, 1988, syn. nov. = S. koreana Kerzhner Lee, 1996 syn. nov. = S. melanota Cai Lu, 1990, syn. nov. = S. nigripes Murugan Livingstone, 1990, syn. nov.; S. obscura (Stål, 1866) = S. glabra (Walker, 1873), syn. nov. A neotype is designated for S. picescens Reuter, 1887. Three species, S. erythromelas (Walker 1873), S. fulvipennis (Walker, 1873) and S. sobria (Walker, 1873), are excluded from the genus Sirthenea. Two new species from the Oriental Region, S. kali sp. nov. (India) and S. setosa sp. nov. (Malaysia) are described. Identification keys are provided for the subgenera and species from each zoogeographical region treated. Drawings of dorsal habitus and genitalic structures, drawings and images of selected morphological characters, and distribution maps of all valid species are presented.
Larvae of a gall midge were found feeding on the fungal rust Maravalia pterocarpi (Pucciniomycetes: Pucciniales: Chaconiaceae) infesting the economically important sua tree Dalbergia tonkinensis (Fabaceae) on Hainan Island, China. The adults, pupae and larvae were collected, their morphology was studied and a segment of the Cytochrome Oxidase unit I (COI) mitochondrial gene was sequenced. The gall midge proved to be a species new to science that belongs to the genus Mycodiplosis (Diptera: Cecdiomyiidae). Comparison of the sequence to published Cecdiomyiidae sequences revealed that, despite being undescribed and unnamed, it was previously found in east and south-east Asia to feed on several rust species: Puccinia coronata (Pucciniomycetes: Pucciniales: Pucciniaceae) that develops on Lolium multiflorum (Poaceae), Puccinia sp. on Zea mays (Poaceae), Puccinia arachidis on Arachis hypogaea (Fabaceae) and Puccinia allii on Allium fistulosum (Amaryllidaceae). The new species is described and named here Mycodiplosis puccinivora Jiao, Bu Kolesik. It occurs in China, Japan, Thailand, Bangladesh and possibly Malaysia and Australia. In Hainan it has four to five generations per year.
A key is provided to 13 species of Haplothrips recorded from Malesia, the tropical biogeographic region that extends from Peninsular Malaysia to New Guinea. Three new synonyms are established, and H. aliceae sp.n. is described from Sarawak, Timor-Leste and Thailand. In contrast to recent treatments of Haplothrips, one of the most common members of the genus in Australia, H. angustus Hood is recognised as a syn.n. of H. ganglebaueri Schmutz that is widespread from Iran to Indonesia. Difficulties in distinguishing between three of the most common flower-living, Southeast Asian, species of this genus are discussed: H. anceps Hood from northern Australia, H. chinensis Priesner from Hong Kong, and H. brevitubus (Karny) from Japan.
The 'Cephennomicrus group' of Cephenniini includes nine genera distributed mostly in SE Asia (but with some species known also from other continents, except for the Americas). Four new Oriental species are described: Cephennococcus penangensis sp. n. (W Malaysia), Cephennomicrus matangensis sp. n. (E Malaysia), Cephennomicrus selangorensis sp. n. (E Malaysia), and Trurlia nova sp. n. (E Malaysia). Cephennomicrus selangorensis is unique in having the pronotum in both sexes with broad lateral impressions demarcated from the disc by a sharp ridge, a modification slightly similar to that of only one (Australian) congener.