Based on material deposited in museum collections, twelve species within Mansonella sensu lato were examined and their descriptions amended. Based on additional morphological details, the erection of the new monotypic subgenus Filyamagutia Bain & Uni for M. (F.) akitensis (Uni, 1983), and the new combination M. (Pseudolitomosa) musasabi (Yamaguti, 1941) Bain & Uni are proposed. A new subspecies, M. (Tetrapetalonema) atelensis amazonae Bain & Guerrero is described and a key to the seven subgenera of Mansonella is provided. Furthermore, the elevation of Sandnema to full genus rank comprising the two species S. digitatum (Chandler, 1929) n. comb. and S. sunci (Sandground, 1933) n. comb., is proposed. Host and geographic records for the species of Mansonella and Sandnema are included.
Nine species of Thripinae that inhabit bamboo are recorded from Malaysia. Clypeothrips idrisi sp.n. is described as a second species in the genus, and Trichromothrips bruncurrum Reyes is considered a syn.n. of Neocorynothrips asiaticus Ramakrishna & Margabandhu. Six species are newly recorded from Malaysia: N. asiaticus, Okajimaella tubercula, Simulothrips banpoti, Stenchaetothrips bambusicola, S. bambusae and S. spinalis. Seven species of Stenchaetothrips are now known from Malaysia. Illustrations and descriptions of each species are provided.
Motschulsky (1859), a Russian Imperial Army Colonel and entomologist, established the genus Exopholis, described E. birmannica and transferred Melolontha hypoleuca Wiedemann, 1819 to it. Brenske (1896) described Exopholis philippinica from the "Philippinen" from a single female specimen. Dalla Torre (1912), listed eight species under the genus Exopholis Motschulsky, 1859 from South East Asia: E. hypoleuca (Weidemann, 1819) (Myanmar, Malaysia, Borneo, Java, Sumatra, Nias, Ambon), E. costata (Burmeister, 1855) (Java, Nias), E. birmanica Motschulsky, 1859 (Myanmar), E. lacordairei Waterhouse, 1867 (Borneo), E. pinguis Lansberge, 1879 (Sumatra), E. brenskei Nonfried, 1891, E. borneensis Brenske, 1894 (both from Borneo) and E. philippinica Brenske, 1896 (Philippines). This paper aims to review the taxonomy of Exopholis from the Philippines. Specifically, to focus on the diagnosis of Exopholis philippinica and its geographic distribution.
Liopeltis is a genus of poorly known, infrequently sampled species of colubrid snakes in tropical Asia. We collected a specimen of Liopeltis from Pulau Tioman, Peninsular Malaysia, that superficially resembled L. philippina, a rare species that is endemic to the Palawan Pleistocene Aggregate Island Complex, western Philippines. We analyzed morphological and mitochondrial DNA sequence data from the Pulau Tioman specimen and found distinct differences to L. philippina and all other congeners. On the basis of these corroborated lines of evidence, the Pulau Tioman specimen is described as a new species, L. tiomanica sp. nov. The new species occurs in sympatry with L. tricolor on Pulau Tioman, and our description of L. tiomanica sp. nov. brings the number of endemic amphibians and reptiles on Pulau Tioman to 12.
The gamasine genus Berlesia Canestrini, 1884, is revived and further diagnosed, based on descriptions of adult females, males and nymphs of three new species (B. hospitabilis sp. nov., B. multisetosa sp. nov., B. vorontsovi sp. nov.) ectoparasitic on raspy crickets of three genera of Gryllacrididae (Ensifera) from Australia and the Philippines. A tight sister relationship of Berlesia with the monobasic genus Katydiseius Fain Lukoschus, 1983, known only from a pseudophylline katydid in Malaysia, is proposed. The subfamily Katydiseiinae Fain Lukoschus, 1983 (previously included in the family Otopheidomenidae in the superfamily Phytoseioidea) is redefined to include only those two genera, and moved to the dermanyssoid family Laelapidae, while its previously other monobasic genus, Eickwortius Zhang, 1995, is retained tentatively in the family Otopheidomenidae. Among other taxa relevant to Katydiseiinae reviewed here, Berlesia cultrigera Berlese, 1910a is transferred to the genus Orthopteroseius Mo, 1996, at present Otopheidomenidae, as Orthopteroseius cultrigerum (Berlese) comb. nov., and Berlesia nuda Berlese, 1910b is transferred to the genus Prasadiseius Wainstein, 1972, at present Otopheidomenidae, as Prasadiseius nudum (Berlese) comb. nov. A key to the two genera and five species recognized as belonging in Katydiseiinae is presented. Notable morphological traits of Berlesia, including only deutonymphs equipped with well-developed claws and males with dimorphically more elongated salivary stylets, are discussed. The one known life cycle of a species of Berlesia, B. hospitabilis sp. nov., includes protonymphipary, followed by a fully functioning deutonymph, and male copulation with pharate females-traits, rarely or not known among gamasine mite associates of invertebrates. The possible significance of elongate spermatodactyls and male reduced feeding are explored.
The Miltochrista obliquilinea (Swinhoe, 1901) species-group is revised. Four new species are described: M. konta Volynkin, Černý N. Singh, sp. n. (Thailand, Laos and Vietnam), M. adelfika Volynkin, N. Singh, Černý, Kirti Datta, sp. n. (India, Myanmar, China, Thailand, Laos and Vietnam), M. stenovalva Volynkin, N. Singh, Černý, Kirti Datta, sp. n. (India and Thailand) and M. lavides Volynkin, Černý N. Singh, sp. n. (Malaysia, Thailand, Myanmar, Laos and Vietnam). The lectotype for Lyclene obliquilinea Swinhoe, 1901 is designated. Adults, male and female genitalia are illustrated.
The genus Savarna Huber, 2005 comprises only five species, from southern Thailand, Peninsular Malaysia and Sumatra. In this study, five new species are described from Thailand: Savarna bannang sp. nov. (Yala), S. chiangmai sp. nov. (Chiangmai), S. huahin sp. nov. (Prachuap Kiri Khan), S. satun sp. nov. (Satun), S. thungsong sp. nov. (Nakhon Srithammarat). All new species are described from males and females. The distribution of S. chiangmai sp. nov. represent the northernmost record of the genus.
The genus Telostholus Haupt, 1929 is newly reported from Malaysia, with four species that are newly described and illustrated: T. bifasciatus Loktionov, sp. nov. (Pahang), T. clypeatus Loktionov, sp. nov. (Pahang), T. malayensis Loktionov, sp. nov. (Pahang), and T. tomentosus Loktionov, sp. nov. (Pahang). A key to the Malaysian species is given.
Betta nuluhon, new species, is described from a hill stream habitat in western Sabah. This species is allied to both B. chini and B. balunga, and differs from rest of its congeners in the B. akarensis group in having the following combination of characters: yellow iris when live; mature males with greenish-blue iridescence on opercle when live; mature fish with distinct transverse bars on caudal fin; slender body (body depth 22.1-25.2 % SL); belly area with faint reticulate pattern (scales posteriorly rimmed with black); absence of tiny black spots on anal fin; lateral scales 29-31 (mode 30); predorsal scales 20-21 (mode 20). Notes on a fresh series of B. chini are also provided.
The spider genus Glenognatha Simon, 1887 (Tetragnathidae) currently has 34 nominal species distributed in Afrotropical region, Indo-Malaya, Nearctic, Neotropics, Oceania and Palearctic regions (Cabra-García Brescovit 2016; World Spider Catalog 2020). It has one representative in India: Glenognatha dentata (Zhu Wen, 1978) (World Spider Catalog 2020). The genus Pachygnatha Sundevall, 1823 currently comprises 46 nominal species distributed in Africa, Holarctic, South and South-East Asia (World Spider Catalog 2020). Biswas and Roy (2004) recorded this genus in India, while they described Pachygnatha silentvalliensis Biswas Roy, 2004. The species is known from its original verbal description only since the genitalic illustrations were apparently not published along with the description (Biswas Roy 2004), thus leaving its identity obscured. To redescribe and illustrate this species, we examined its type material and found that Biswas and Roy (2004) had misidentified the species and in fact it belongs to Tylorida Simon, 1894. In this paper, we describe a new Glenognatha species from the southern Western Ghats of India, transfer Dyschiriognatha ganeshi Bodkhe, Manthen Tanikawa, 2014 to Glenognatha and synonymise P. silentvalliensis with Tylorida marmorea (Pocock, 1901).
Three new Indo-West Pacific species of pinnotherid crabs are described, one each of Arcotheres, Buergeres and Nepinnotheres. Arcotheres pollus, described from Paway Island, Mergui Archipelago, is most similar to A. boninensis (Stimpson, 1858), A. pernicola (Bürger, 1895) and A. purpureus (Alcock, 1900), sharing a transversely ovate carapace and long, slender, almost styliform dactyli of P4 and 5 that are about twice the length of those of P2 and 3. Buergeres choprai, described from Papua New Guinea, is most similar to B. deccanesis (Chopra, 1931) from eastern India but differentiated by segment proportions and setation of the walking legs. Buergeres tenuipes (Bürger, 1895) is synonymised with B. ortmanni (Bürger, 1895), which is also reported for the first time from Indonesia. A male of an undetermined species of Buergeres from the Philippines, possibly B. ortmanni, is figured and described, documenting the gonopod morphology in Buergeres for the first time. A key to the species of Buergeres based on females is provided. Nepinnotheres fulvia sp. nov. is also described from Papua New Guinea, and resembles N. cardii (Bürger, 1895) from the Philippines and Malaysia but can be distinguished by features of the chelipeds and maxilliped 3.
Marphysa sanguinea Montagu, 1813, the type species of genus Marphysa, was described with few characteristics and subsequently reported in tropical and temperate waters as a cosmopolitan species. Recent comparative studies have shown that M. sanguinea has a limited distribution to the Northeast Atlantic. As a result, species from the tropical and subtropical zones are now being redescribed as new species. However, this issue is not completely resolved because of the taxonomic status of seven nominal species, considered as junior synonymies of M. sanguinea. Herein, we examined the type and additional materials from five species in synonymy M. sanguinea and performed a compared analysis with the neotype of M. sanguinea. Additionally, we reviewed specimens from two localities in the mid-Pacific Ocean and the Adriatic Sea, where M. sanguinea was previously reported. As a result of this study, three species were reinstated (M. californica Moore, 1909, M. leidii de Quatrefages, 1866, and M. parishii Baird, 1869) and two subspecies, are now raised to species level (M. americana n. status and M. brevibranchiata n. status). In addition, two new species from Hawaii and Croatia are described: M. baileybrockae n. sp. and M. birgeri n. sp., respectively. Morphological comparisons with most species currently assigned to the M. sanguinea complex are presented. This work provides more support for rejecting the hypothesis that M. sanguinea is a cosmopolitan species and we encourage the use of novel and traditional morphological characters to differentiate species within the complex.
Nipponophloeostiba thayeri Shavrin, sp.n. from Borneo Island, Sabah (Malaysia) is described, illustrated and compared with Japanese N. verrucifera Watanabe, 1962.
The phygadeuontine genus Apophysius (Ichneumonidae) is reviewed for the first time. Six new species are described, A. baolocensis Pham, Matsumoto Broad sp. nov., A. constrictus Pham, Matsumoto Broad sp. nov. and A. taynguyenensis Pham, Matsumoto Broad sp. nov. from the Central Highlands of Vietnam, A. latus Pham, Matsumoto, Konishi, Sheng Broad sp. nov. from China and Vietnam, A. takasukai Pham, Konishi Broad sp. nov. from the Cameron Highlands, Malaysia, and A. pentaceratops Broad sp. nov. from Sarawak, Malaysia. A key to the nine known species of the genus Apophysius is included.
The first representative of the genus Cerapus in Malaysian waters, Cerapus bumbumiensis sp. nov. is described from specimens sampled from Pulau Bum Bum, Sabah (east Malaysia). The main identifying characteristics of this new amphipod species are: pereonites 1, 2 with constriction; male gnathopod 2 carpochelate, carpus large with long defining posterior tooth and well-developed anterodistal tooth; pereopod 6 coxa with fine hair/fringe setae ventrally; and telson with deep cleft. An updated identification key for the 23 known species in the genus is also presented.
A new species of Clidicini ant-like stone beetles, Clidicus mawarensis sp. n., is described and illustrated. The holotype male was collected in East Malaysia (Borneo: Sabah); the new species belongs to a group of large-bodied Clidicus, and shows similarities to C. ganglbaueri Reitter; the male has unusually complex structures of the aedeagal apical region.
The genus Eleazara Distant is reported from Malaysia for the first time based on one new species, E. viraktamathi sp. nov. This new species is described and illustrated. A checklist and key to the known species of Eleazara are provided.
The genus Orientalicesa has six species, and all of them have been recorded in the Oriental region (including Indonesia, Malaysia, Phillippines, Laos, China). In this paper, the genus Orientalicesa is newly recorded from Vietnam, represented by one species O. confasciatus Tan and Carpenter. This species was mistakenly redescribed as Stenodyneriellus rangpocus Kumar, Carpenter Kishore, 2017. A new synonym of O. confasciatus is proposed, and that species is a new record for India.
Chigger mites (Acariformes: Trombiculidae) of Southeast Asia, including Myanmar, Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, and the Philippines have been revised based on reference data and examination of type materials in European collections of chiggers. For 450 species of 49 genera synonymy, collection data on types, lists of known host species and lists of countries are given. The lists of hosts include in total 649 valid species and subspecies of mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and arthropods. Two new synonyms were established: Doloisia (Doloisia) Oudemans, 1910 (= Doloisia (Trisetoisia) Vercammen-Grandjean, 1968, syn. nov.) and Gahrliepia lui Chen and Hsu, 1955 (= Gahrliepia (Gateria) octosetosa Chen, Hsu and Wang, 1956, syn. nov.). Twenty-seven new combinations were proposed: Walchia (Ripiaspichia) biliranensis (Brown, 1997), comb. nov., Walchia (Ripiaspichia) huberti (Upham and Nadchatram, 1968), comb. nov., Walchia (Ripiaspichia) parmulaseta (Brown, 1997), comb. nov., and Walchia (Ripiaspichia) serrata (Brown and Goff, 1988), comb. nov., transferred from Gahrliepia Oudemans, 1912; Farrellioides consuetum (Womersley, 1952), comb. nov. (originally in Trombicula Berlese, 1905), Farrellioides nakatae (Nadchatram and Traub, 1964), comb. nov. (originally in Leptotrombidium Nagayo, Miyagawa, Mitamura and Imamura, 1916), and Farrellioides striatum (Nadchatram and Traub, 1964), comb. nov. (originally in Leptotrombidium), transferred from Euschoengastia Ewing, 1938; Guntheria (Phyllacarus) bushlandi (Philip, 1947), comb. nov. (originally in Ascoschoengastia Ewing, 1946), transferred from Guntherana Womersley and Heaslip, 1943 (syn. of Guntheria Womersley, 1939); Kayella masta (Traub and Sundermeyer, 1950), comb. nov. (originally in Ascoschoengastia), transferred from Cordiseta Hoffmann, 1954; Neoschoengastia stekolnikovi (Kalúz, 2016), comb. nov., transferred from Hypogastia Vercammen-Grandjean, 1967; Susa chiropteraphilus (Brown, 1997), comb. nov., Susa masawanensis (Brown, 1998), comb. nov., and Susa palawanensis (Brown and Goff, 1988), comb. nov., transferred from Cheladonta Lipovsky, Crossley and Loomis, 1955; Ericotrombidium cosmetopode (Vercammen-Grandjean and Langston, 1971), comb. nov., transferred from Leptotrombidium; Eutrombicula gigarara (Brown, 1997), comb. nov., transferred from Siseca Audy, 1956; Microtrombicula eltoni (Audy, 1956), comb. nov., transferred from Eltonella Audy, 1956; Trombiculindus alethrix (Traub and Nadchatram, 1967), comb. nov., Trombiculindus cuteanum (Vercammen-Grandjean and Langston, 1976), comb. nov., Trombiculindus frondosum (Traub and Nadchatram, 1967), comb. nov., Trombiculindus hastatum (Gater, 1932), comb. nov., Trombiculindus lepismatum (Traub and Nadchatram, 1967), comb. nov., Trombiculindus limi (Traub and Nadchatram, 1967), comb. nov., Trombiculindus maxwelli (Traub and Nadchatram, 1967), comb. nov., Trombiculindus roseannleilaniae (Brown, 1992), comb. nov., Trombiculindus sarisatum (Traub and Nadchatram, 1967), comb. nov., Trombiculindus vanpeeneni (Hadi and Carney, 1977), comb. nov., and Trombiculindus yooni (Traub and Nadchatram, 1967), comb. nov., transferred from Leptotrombidium.
The taxonomy of the little-known cricket genus Changiola from the subfamily Pteroplistinae is reviewed here. This genus consisted of three species, two from Malay Peninsula and one from Indochina. Here, we describe a new species from Borneo, the first from the island: Changiola sarawakensis n. sp. We also provide a key to the species, although it is likely that more species will be added to this genus with more sampling in the region.