A species of scaly cricket is described here: Ornebius lupus sp. nov. from the mangrove forests in Singapore. Ornebius pullus Ingrisch, 2006 is recorded in eastern Sabah for the first time. The calling songs of Cycloptiloides bimaculatus Tan et al., 2021 and Ornebius pullus from Sabah are described. We also revise the diagnosis of Ectatoderus nigrofasciatus Tan et al., 2021 from Brunei Darussalam.
The genus Proinalactis Meyrick, 1908 is reviewed in Southeast Asia. Twenty-seven new species are described based on the specimens collected in Malaysia, Thailand, Brunei, Burma, Philippines. The new species include P. alveiformis sp. nov., P. angusta sp. nov., P. bruneiensis sp. nov., P. conicispinalis sp. nov., P. ellipsoidea sp. nov., P. exiliprocessa sp. nov., P. extumida sp. nov., P. fascisetacea sp. nov., P. flagellaris sp. nov., P. foraininulata sp. nov., P. fortijuxtalis sp. nov., P. lancea sp. nov., P. latuncata sp. nov., P. longisaccata sp. nov., P. lophacantha sp. nov., P. medispinata sp. nov., P. palmifolia sp. nov., P. pectinifera sp. nov., P.sectoralis sp. nov., P. semiovata sp. nov., P. sinualis sp. nov., P. spinosicostalis sp. nov., P. strena sp. nov., P. superimposita sp. nov., P. truncatapicalis sp. nov., P. undulata sp. nov. and P. vulvida sp. nov. Promalactis parasuzukiella Wang, 2006 and P. simniliflora Wang, 2006 are recorded from Southeast Asia for the first time. Three species described by Lvovsky are fully redescribed. Images of adults and genitalia are provided, along with a check list of 71 species from Southeast Asia.
The genus Utivarachna Kishida, 1940 currently comprises 23 species, with eight described from Borneo. We examined the type materials of the Bornean species, except for U. fukasawana Kishida, 1940, as well as newly collected specimens. As a result, we describe a new species, Utivarachna itiokai sp. nov., which belongs to the dusun-group. We also provide the first description of the female of Utivarachna ichneumon and redescribe the known Utivarachna species of Borneo.
Up to three nominal species of the cyprinid fish genus Poropuntius (i.e. P. deauratus [Valenciennes in Cuvier Valenciennes 1842], P. normani [Smith 1931], and P. smedleyi [de Beaufort 1933]) have been reported to occur in Peninsular Malaysian freshwater ecosystems. However, low morphological differentiation among species of Poropuntius causes confusion and it is still unknown how many valid species of Poropuntius occur in this region. The goal of this study is to review the taxonomic status of Poropuntius in Peninsular Malaysia by using morphological and molecular characters. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) on a morphometric dataset including 281 specimens of Poropuntius from Peninsular Malaysia and P. normani from Thailand (type locality) failed to identify non-overlapping clusters within sampled specimens. A phylogenetic tree based on cytochrome oxidase subunit I (COI) showed intraspecific levels of genetic differentiation within Poropuntius of Peninsular Malaysia and the specimens of P. normani from Thailand form a monophyletic group. Our results strongly support the presence of only one species of Poropuntius in Peninsular Malaysia, P. normani. We demonstrate that P. smedleyi described from Johor, southern Peninsular Malaysia, is a junior synonym of P. normani. The previous reports of the presence of P. deauratus in Peninsular Malaysia are doubtful because this species was described from Vietnam where, in all evidence, it is endemic.
The genus Paraheligmonelloides Fukumoto, Kamiya and Suzuki, 1980 (Nippostrongylinae) is revised and split into four genera, mainly based on characters of the synlophe not previously considered at the supraspecific level. These characters mainly include the homology of the left ridge with ridge 1', the relative size of the right ridge to the left ridge and to ridge 1' and the distribution of the largest ridges. Paraheligmonelloides sensu stricto, characterized by the homology of the left ridge with ridge 1', contains only the type species, Paraheligmonelloides kenyensis Fukumoto, Kamiya and Suzuki, 1980, parasitic in a lagomorph from Kenya. Krishnasamyos n. gen., characterized by ridge 1' forming a comarete, two minute left ventral ridges and ridge 1 larger than other dorsal ridges, only includes the species Krishnasamyos triangulus n. comb., parasitic in Malaysian murids. Hughjonestrongylus n. gen., characterized by numerous ridges markedly unequal in size, with the largest ridges grouped in relation to the lateral fields, includes Hughjonestrongylus ennisae n. comb., Hughjonestrongylus amplicaudae n. comb., Hughjonestrongylus mirzai n. comb., and Hughjonestrongylus singauwaensis n. comb., all parasitic in murids from Papua Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. Syafruddinema n. gen., characterized by ridge 1 as long as other dorsal ridges and a gap associated with the left lateral field, between ridges 2' and 3', includes Syafruddinema paruromyos n. comb., Syafruddinema annandalei n. comb., and Syafruddinema eropeplios n. comb., parasitic in murids from Malaysia and Indonesia. A key to the proposed genera is provided.
The leafhopper subfamily Idiocerinae is revised for Malaysia. Thirteen genera and 17 species are recognized including 1 new genus, Serridiocerus n. gen., 2 new species, Serridiocerus membranaceus n. sp. and Burmascopus longidens n. sp., 3 newly recorded genera and 2 newly recorded species: Burmascopus n. rec., Chunra n. rec., Philipposcopus n. rec., Chunra australis n. rec., Philipposcopus maquilingensis n. rec.. A checklist and a key to species of Malaysian Idiocerinae are also provided.
The fauna of plant bug subfamily Isometopinae in Taiwan and Japanese Southwest (Nansei) Islands is reviewed. Twenty-five species are recognized, including two new species of Myiomma Puton, M. austroccidens sp. nov. and M. kentingense sp. nov., which are herein diagnosed and described. In addition, Isometopus yehi Lin, 2004 is synonymized with I. bipunctatus Lin; Isometopidea yangi Lin is transferred to Kohnometopus; and a substitute name, Alcecoris linyangorum, is proposed for A. formosanus (Lin Yang) (= a junior secondary homonym of Alcecoris formosanus Lin). An annotated checklist, with updated distributional record and biological information, is provided for all treated taxa. A new tribe Sophianini is proposed for two genera, Alcecoris and Sophianus, characterized principally by the conspicuously modified antennal structures. An additional new species, Alcecoris cochlearatus sp. nov., found during examination of related Oriental specimens, is described from the Malay Peninsula.
Six new species of the genus Sicciaemorpha van Eecke, 1920 which was previously considered to be monotypic are described: S. yumun sp. n. (Malaysia: northern Borneo Island), S. langgona sp. n. (the Philippines: Mindanao Island), S. nebulibia sp. n. (the Philippines: Luzon Island), S. pleiadina sp. n. (the Philippines: Mindanao Island), S. danepan sp. n. (the Philippines: Mindanao Island), and S. reducta sp. n. (the Philippines: Mindanao Island). Lectotype is designated for the type species of the genus, Sicciaemorpha ivyalba van Eecke, 1920. Adults, male and female genitalia are illustrated.
Material based on a taxonomic collection in Bukit Fraser, Pahang of Malay Peninsula enables the review of two genera of bush katydid (Phaneropterinae). The female of Elimaea (Rhaebelimaea) pseudochloris Ingrisch, 1998 is described and recorded for the first time outside its type locality, Thailand. One new species of Pseudopsyra from Bukit Fraser is described: Pseudopsyra bispina sp. n.
The genus Pseudoligota Cameron, 1920 is discovered in Japan for the first time, resulting in two taxonomic changes: a new combination P. antennata (Bernhauer, 1907), comb. nov., and a new species P. nozakii Hashizume, Yamamoto & Maruyama, sp. nov. from Okinawa Prefecture, southwestern Japan. The former species has long been placed in the genus Oligota Mannerheim, 1830. This is the fourth genus in the subtribe Gyrophaenina known from Japan. The species P. affinis Cameron, 1939 from India and Peninsular Malaysia is placed as a junior synonym of P. antennata.
The male of Indolestes anomalus Fraser, 1946 is described and the holotype female is depicted. Its occurrence in Vietnam, Thailand and Malaysia is discussed, and the type locality is clarified (South Vietnam, Đồng Nai River basin).
The combtooth blenny (Blenniidae) genus Omobranchus contains small, cryptobenthic fishes common to nearshore habitats throughout the Indo-West Pacific. Recent molecular systematic studies have resolved Omobranchus as monophyletic but little research has been done to resolve species-level relationships. Herein, phylogenetic analyses of one mitochondrial (CO1) and four nuclear (ENC1, myh6, sreb2, and tbr1) genes provide evidence for the monophyly of Omobranchus and support for the elongatus and banditus species group. Sampling of multiple individuals from widespread species (O. ferox, O. punctatus, and O. elongatus) suggested that the Thai-Malay Peninsula is a phylogeographic break that may be a historic barrier to gene flow. Additionally, common meristics and other morphological characters are used to describe an early life history stage of O. ferox and O. punctatus.
Eutropis rugifera has long been identified as a widespread species complex distributed in Nicobar, Peninsular Malaysia, Greater Sundaic Islands, Bali, Sulawesi and the Philippines. This skink was described by Stoliczka in 1870 from Nicobar Island based on a single specimen (holotype by monotypy). Later, Peters (1871), Bartlett (1895) and Werner (1896) described three more species which were morphologically similar to Euprepes percarinatus (from Java), Mabuia rubricollis (Borneo) and M. quinquecarinata (Sumatra) respectively, which are currently considered junior objective synonyms of Eutropis rugifera. We examined all the available synonym types and voucher specimens of Eutropis rugifera deposited at several museums. A morphological examination of the types of this species and mtDNA analysis (584 bp of 16S rRNA) of the samples from different biogeographic regions revealed that Eutropis rugifera from Nicobar Island, Bali Island, and Bawean Island are composed of a monophyletic species. However, the taxonomic status of the above population requires further clarification, and the population in Bawean Island may represent a cryptic species. Finally, we provide a complete redescription of E. rugifera based on its holotype.
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.
A well-supported and well-resolved phylogeny based on a concatenated data set from one mitochondrial and two nuclear genes, six morphological characters, and nine color pattern characters for 44 of the 50 species of the Southeast Asian Rock Geckos (genus Cnemaspis Strauch, 1887) is consistent with the previous taxonomy of Cnemaspis based solely on morphology and color pattern. Cnemaspis is partitioned into four major clades that collectively contain six species groups. The monophyly of all clades and species groups is strongly supported and they are parapatrically distributed across well-established, biogeographical regions ranging from southern Vietnam westward through southern Indochina, southward through the Thai-Malay Peninsula, then eastward to Borneo. Eight new species (Cnemaspis omari sp. nov. from the Thai-Malaysian border; C. temiah sp. nov. from Cameron Highlands, Pahang, Malaysia; C. stongensis sp. nov. from Gunung Stong, Kelantan, Malaysia; C. hangus sp. nov. from Bukit Hangus, Pahang, Malaysia; C. sundagekko sp. nov. from Pulau Siantan, Indonesia; C. peninsularis sp. nov. from southern Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore, and C. mumpuniae sp. nov. and C. sundainsula sp. nov. from Pulau Natuna Besar, Indonesia) are described based on morphology and color pattern and all but C. sundagekko sp. nov. are included in the phylogenetic analyses. Cnemaspis kendallii is polyphyletic and a composite of six species. An updated taxonomy consistent with the phylogeny is proposed for all 50 species and is based on 25 morphological and 53 color pattern characters scored across 594 specimens. Cladogenetic events and biogeographical relationships within Cnemaspis were likely influenced by this group's low vagility and the cyclical patterns of geographical and environmental changes in Sundaland over the last 25 million years and especially within the last 2.5 million years. The phylogeny indicates that nocturnality, diurnality, substrate preferences, and the presence of ocelli in the shoulder regions have evolved independently multiple times.
The genus Cryptopsocus Li, 2002 is synonymized with Trichadenotecnum Enderlein, 1909. The type species of Crypto-psocus, T. cynostigmus (Li, 2002) n. comb., is considered to be a close relative of T. marginatum New & Thornton, 1976. These species cannot be assigned to any species group previously established in Trichadenotecnum so that the marginatum species group is here proposed for them. Three new species belonging to this species group are described: T. tigrinum and T. sharkeyi from Thailand and T. sabahense from Sabah, Malaysia. The phylogenetic position of the marginatum group is discussed using morphological data.
Asian herminiine moths of the Herminia decipiens complex are revised and five allopatric species are recognized, i.e. Herminia decipiens (Hampson, 1898) in Nilgiri Hills, Khasi Hills, South China, Indochina, Malay Peninsula, H. terminalis (Wileman, 1915) in Taiwan, H. yuksam sp. nov. in East Nepal, Sikkim, H. borneo sp. nov. in Borneo and H. amamioshima sp. nov. in Amami-oshima Is., Shimo-Koshikijima Is. and South Kyushu (Kagoshima). Key to all species is given.
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.
The phasmid genus Ramulus Saussure, 1862 belongs to the nominotypical tribe of subfamily Clitumninae of the Phasmatidae. This genus consists of 159 species distributed in India (21 species), Sri Lanka (6 species), Bhutan (1 species), Myanmar (6 species), Thailand (1 species), Vietnam (12 species), Malaysia (4 species from Peninsular part and Borneo), Indonesia (18 species from Java, Sumatra, Borneo, Sulawesi, and Key islands), the Philippines (3 species), China including Taiwan (74 species), Japan (1 species), Korea (1 species), and Russia (1 species) (Brock et al., 2021). Three phasmid species have been described in the genus Baculum Saussure, 1861 from the Russian Far East, Korea and North-East China respectively (Bey-Bienko, 1960; Kwon et al., 1992; Chen He, 1994) and later transferred to the genus Ramulus (Otte Brock, 2005). As a result of detailed examination of the type specimens of Ramulus ussurianus (Bey-Bienko, 1960), additional material and descriptions of these species, it became clear that specimens from Russia, Korea and North-East China are conspecific.
A new species of freshwater crab is described from southern Thailand, near the border with Peninsular Malaysia. Species of Stoliczia are characterised by their relatively flat carapace, a third maxilliped exopod that possesses no or a very short flagellum, and a conical male gonopod terminal segment that lacks or only has a very low dorsal fold. Stoliczia setoiyenica, new species, most closely resembles S. perlensis and S. kedahensis from northern Peninsula Malaysia but can be easily distinguished from congeners by differences in carapace and male gonopod morphology. Comparisons to the two known Thai Stoliczia species, S. panhai and S. ekavibhathai, are also provided for completeness.