The taxonomy of three genera of little-known Phaneropterinae from Malay Peninsula (Singapore and Peninsular Malaysia) is reviewed: Cesasundana Koçak & Kemal, 2009, Elbenia Stål, 1876 and Macedna Karsch, 1891. One new species each from the genera Cesasundana and Elbenia are described from Singapore and Peninsular Malaysia respectively: Cesasundana lorniensis sp. n. and Elbenia fraser sp. n. Keys to species of Cesasundana and Elbenia are also included. The taxonomic position of monotypic genus Macedna is validated, male is redescribed and the female is described for the first time.
Four new species from three genera of Agraeciini from Malay Peninsula are described: Paragraecia temasek sp. n., Peracca mirzai sp. n., Peracca macritchiensis sp. n. from Singapore, and Lichnofugia malaya sp. n. from Peninsular Malaysia. The first records and descriptions of the female of Liara alata Ingrisch, 1998 and the male of Paragraecia gracilis Ingrisch, 1998 are given.
Ten species of the subgenus Cantotrella Gorochov, 2006 belonging to the genus Varitrella Gorochov, 2003 of the tribe Podoscirtini are recorded from Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia. Eight of them are new and described here: V. (C.) orion sp. nov.; V. (C.) trusmadi sp. nov.; V. (C.) striata sp. nov.; V. (C.) robusta sp. nov., V. (C.) sukau sp. nov., V. (C.) tawau sp. nov., V. (C.) amoena sp. nov., V. (C.) manukan sp. nov.
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.
One new species of Gryllotalpa from Bukit Fraser, Pahang of Malay Peninsula is described: Gryllotalpafraser sp. n. Pho tographs of Gryllotalpa hirsuta Burmeister, 1838 were examined and some remarks are made here, including a compari son with Gryllotalpafraser sp. n. and Gyllotalpa nymphicus Tan, 2012.
Catantopinae is a huge subfamily and is in need of a major revision. We contribute to the taxonomy of the subfamily by reviewing one poorly known genus, Willemsella Miller, 1934. This is a monotypic genus so far found only in Peninsular Malaysia.
Here, taxonomic notes on species from three genera of bark crickets are presented. A new locality is recorded for Duolandrevus (Bejorama) parvulus Gorochov, 2016: Singapore. Two new species of Landrevinae are described: one species of Endodrelanva Gorochov, 1999 from Singapore: Endodrelanva jimini sp. nov.; one species of Odontogryllodes Chopard, 1969 from Fraser's Hill, Peninsular Malaysia: Odontogryllodes gratus sp. nov. The male of Odontogryllodes latus Chopard, 1969 is also described for the first time and female is redescribed. Keys to all known species of Endodrelanva and Odontogryllodes is provided.
A new species of Gryllotalpa mole cricket (Orthoptera: Gryllotalpidae) is described from Bukit Larut, Perak, Peninsular Malaysia: Gryllotalpa permai sp. n. Acoustic analysis of the male calling songs were also provided for Gryllotalpa permai sp. n. and the morphologically similar Gryllotalpa fulvipes.
Bukit Larut is a hill station at the southern tip of the Bintang Range, Perak of Peninsular Malaysia. While the biodiversity of Bukit Larut has been previously documented, its entomofauna, including the Orthoptera, remains relatively unknown. A faunistic survey was conducted in 2015 as part of the continuous exploration of the highlands in Malay Peninsula. An annotated species list of 71 (24 Caelifera and 47 Ensifera) species of Orthoptera from ten families (five from each order) is presented here. While the coverage of lineages in the orthopteran phylogeny is well-represented, the diversity in Bukit Larut is dominated by the three main families: Acrididae, Gryllidae and Tettigoniidae. Eight new locality records for Bukit Larut and/or Peninsular Malaysia and potential new species awaiting description highlight that the orthopteran diversity in Bukit Larut is not exhaustive.
The taxonomy of poorly known Mesagraecia Ingrisch, 1998 is reviewed. A new species of Mesagraecia spine-headed katydid (Conocephalinae: Agraeciini) is described from Bukit Larut, Perak, Peninsular Malaysia: Mesagraecia larutensis sp. n. A key to species is also presented.
Suppressing the Leidenfrost effect can significantly improve heat transfer from a heated substrate to a droplet above it. In this work, we demonstrate that by generating high frequency acoustic wave in the droplet, at sufficient vibration displacement amplitudes, the Leidenfrost effect can be suppressed due to the acoustic radiation pressure exerted on the liquid-vapor interface; strong capillary waves are observed at the liquid-vapor interface and subsequently leads to contact between the liquid and the heated substrate. Using this technique, with 10(5)Hz vibration frequency and 10(-6)m displacement amplitude of the acoustic transducer, a maximum of 45% reduction of the initial temperature (T0∼200-300°C) of the heated substrate can be achieved with a single droplet of volume 10(-5)l.
The ability to suppress the Leidenfrost effect is of significant importance in applications that require rapid and efficient cooling of surfaces with temperature higher than the Leidenfrost point TSL. The Leidenfrost effect will result in substantial reduction in cooling efficiency and hence there have been a few different approaches to suppress the Leidenfrost effect. The majority of these approaches relies on fabricating micro/nano-structures on heated surfaces, others rely on inducing an electric field between the droplets and the heated surfaces. In this paper, we present an approach that induces low frequency vibrations (f∼10(2) Hz) on a heated surface to suppress the effect. By mapping the different magnitudes of surface acceleration [greek xi with two dots above]sversus different initial surface temperatures Ts of the substrate, three regimes that represent three distinct impact dynamics are analyzed. Regime-I represents gentle film boiling ([greek xi with two dots above]s∼10(2) m s(-2) and Ts∼TSL), which is associated with the formation of thin spreading lamella around the periphery of the impinged droplet; Regime-II ([greek xi with two dots above]s∼10(2) m s(-2) and Ts>TSL) represents film boiling, which is associated with the rebound of the impinged droplet due to the presence of a thick vapor layer; Regime-III ([greek xi with two dots above]s∼10(3) m s(-2) and Ts∼TSL) represents contact boiling, which is associated with the ejection of tiny droplets due to the direct contact between the droplet and the heated surface. The estimated cooling enhancement for Regime-I is between 10% and 95%, Regime-II is between 5% and 15%, and Regime-III is between 95% and 105%. The improvement in cooling enhancement between Regime-I (strong Leidenfrost effect) and Regime-III (suppressed Leidenfrost effect) is more than 80%, demonstrating the effectiveness of using low frequency vibrations to suppress the Leidenfrost effect.
A total of 52 cases of NPC were found in a five-year survey from 1978 to 1982 in Malaysia. The annual rate of occurrence was 3.4, 3.0, 2.4 and 1.8 for Chinese, Malays, Kadazans and Sarawakians, respectively. The age-specific incidence rates per 100 000 were highest for Kadazans (2.34 to 7.59) in comparison to the other races (0.11 to 1.24). The proportion of NPC in young Malaysians formed 1.2% in Chinese, 7.2% in Malays and 6.9% for others. A sexual bias was present in Chinese (male:female = 2.2) and Sarawakians (1.7) but not in Kadazans and Malays (0.9). In most Chinese, the primary tumour histologically is of the poorly differentiated characteristic and this type is the predominant tumour in the country. The Kadazans presented with well differentiated primary tumour and the Malays with all three histological types i.e. well-, poorly- and undifferentiated. At first examination enlarged lymph nodes were found in 95.7% of the patients and 65.2% had epistaxis and growth in the postnasal space. Antibodies to IgA anti-VCA were present in half of the 6 patients serologically studied.
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.
There are now more than 28,000 described orthopterans globally (Cigliano et al., 2018) and this figure is likely to increase in the future. The same is true for Southeast Asia, where we are still at a stage of discovering species new to science, and this is partly an artefact of incomplete sampling (Tan et al., 2017a). In one of the most popular biodiversity hotspots, i.e., Borneo, is the Kuala Belalong Field Studies Centre. It is located in the primary lowland and ridge dipterocarp forests of the Ulu Temburong National Park, Brunei Darussalam. Recent collection of orthopterans in the area led to the discovery of several new species of katydids (Tan et al., 2017b; Tan Wahab, 2017a) and crickets (Tan et al., 2017c; Tan Wahab, 2017b). Here, we describe another new species of katydid, from the genus Tapiena Bolívar, 1906. Tapiena currently consists of 26 species (Tan et al., 2015) and is distributed around Asia and even Africa. In Borneo, only one species is known: Tapiena incisa Karny, 1923 from Sarawak (see Karny, 1923). The new species Tapiena paraincisa sp. nov. represents the second species described from Borneo.
The Miniaturised Lab-on-a-Disc (miniLOAD) platform, which utilises surface acoustic waves (SAWs) to drive the rotation of thin millimeter-scale discs on which microchannels can be fabricated and hence microfluidic operations can be performed, offers the possibility of miniaturising its larger counterpart, the Lab-on-a-CD, for true portability in point-of-care applications. A significant limitation of the original miniLOAD concept, however, is that it does not allow for flexible control over the disc rotation direction and speed without manual adjustment of the disc's position, or the use of multiple devices to alter the SAW frequency. In this work, we demonstrate the possibility of achieving such control with the use of tapered interdigitated transducers to confine a SAW beam such that the localised acoustic streaming it generates imparts a force, through hydrodynamic shear, at a specific location on the disc. Varying the torque that arises as a consequence by altering the input frequency to the transducers then allows the rotational velocity and direction of the disc to be controlled with ease. We derive a simple predictive model to illustrate the principle by which this occurs, which we find agrees well with the experimental measurements.
Type specimens carry valuable information that can facilitate biodiversity research, especially in an era of mass extinction and unprecedent anthropogenic climate change. For Orthoptera, a few initiatives, including the Orthoptera Species File and digitization of collections by numerous museums, have helped to make images and information about the type specimens available on the World Wide Web. However, many local collections, especially those from the poorly studied regions of Southeast Asia, are still not available to the public. The collection of Grylloidea and Tettigonioidea gathered at the Forest Research Center, Sepilok in Sandakan, Sabah (Borneo) is one such example. We examined, identified, and imaged 12 and 45 species of Grylloidea and Tettigonioidea respectively from the collection (deposited as of October 2019) to facilitate taxonomic research by making the species in the collection accessible for everyone.
Southeast Asia is a highly biodiverse region with many species of grasshoppers described since the 19th century. Historical species descriptions are however often not comprehensive and do not meet the modern criteria of taxonomy. Previously used characters for identification need to be re-examined. Here, we aim to revise the taxonomy of the grasshopper genus Sedulia Stål, 1878. Using morphology and simple morphometry, we compared and investigated interspecific and intraspecific variations among the two species of Sedulia. We also redescribed both species and constructed a key to species and closely related genera.
Pseudopsyra is a genus of Phaneropterinae katydid (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae), currently comprising of four species - two species each from southern China and Peninsular Malaysia (Hebard, 1922; Liu & Kang, 2006; Tan & Kamaruddin, 2013, 2014). The revision of Pseudopsyra by Liu & Kang (2006) provided a redescription of the genus, a new diagnosis and a key to known species. Subsequently, more surveys were conducted in Peninsular Malaysia and yield another species, representing the lowest latitudinal limits of this genus thus far (Tan & Kamaruddin, 2013). Continued surveys between the upper and lower latitudinal limits of the genus yield a new species: Pseudopsyra taksini sp. nov. from the Sakaerat Biosphere Reserve, Thailand. The orthopteran diversity at Sakaerat Biosphere Reserve remains understudied with numerous new species described recently, including other genus of Phaneropterinae (Tan & Artchawakom, 2014; Tan et al., 2015). With emphasis of using sexual parts for evidence of reproductive isolation in species delimitation, the discovery of a new species of Pseudopsyra also represents the first record of the genus from Thailand. It is not surprising that more undescribed species of Pseudopsyra can be found across the Indo-China region.