Notes on the morphology, taxonomy, and natural history of the genus Platycerus Geoffroy from China, with the description of a new species (Coleoptera: Scarabaeoidea: Lucanidae)

Zootaxa ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 2087 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-36
Author(s):  
HAO HUANG ◽  
CHANG-CHIN CHEN

A checklist of the genus Platycerus Geoffroy is updated. A method for the observation of endophallus is introduced and used for the study of four species of Platycerus from China. The morphology of Chinese species of Platycerus is reviewed, and all the useful morphological characters are clarified. A character matrix is made to accumulate all the current information on morphology of Chinese species. Platycerus yingqii sp. nov. is described from the northern slope of Mount Taibaishan, southern Shaanxi, China. This new species is similar to Platycerus rugosus, but can be distinguished by male with a browner dorsal surface, remarkably shorter tarsi, lighter and redder ventrites, shorter gap between incisor teeth and mola, male genitalia with different endophallus, female with shorter metatarsi, and female genitalia with the inner apex of hemisternite not protruding beyond the outer apex. The morphological characters of the other three species from China are also studied. A key to the geographical species groups of Platycerus is presented. Keys to the Chinese species are provided for both males and females. Finally some natural history notes are given for some species of Platycerus from China.

Zootaxa ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 4596 (1) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
CONTRERAS-FÉLIX GERARDO A. ◽  
FRANCKE B. OSCAR F.

Within the scorpion genus Vaejovis C.L. Koch, the “mexicanus” group is composed of species distributed in the mountains of México. This group presents taxonomic problems, because its characterization and the species included in the group have varied through the years. In the present work, we redefine this group based on several morphological characters, and we differentiate it from the other two species groups within the genus: “vorhiesi” and “nit dulus+nigrescens”. Additionally, five new species are described: Vaejovis ceboruco sp. nov., Vaejovis nanchititla sp. nov., Vaejovis santibagnezi sp. nov., Vaejovis talpa sp. nov. and Vaejovis tapalpa sp. nov; the males of three species are described for the first time (V. dugesi, V. nigrofemoratus and V. tesselatus); and the updated diagnosis for all species is included. Keys for the identification of males and females of the 30 species included in this group are given. Lastly, notes on the natural history and distribution of some species are provided, with maps of known distribution for all the species.


Zootaxa ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 2270 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-38 ◽  
Author(s):  
IAN CHRISTOPHER STOCKS

The monophyletic agelenid genus Barronopsis Chamberlin & Ivie is revised to include 6 species. The Cuban species B. campephila Alayón and B. cesari Alayón are synonomized under B. barrowsi (Gertsch) and B. jeffersi (Muma), respectively, and B. stephaniae new species is described. Natural history observations, distribution maps, diagnoses and descriptions, and a species identification key including B. texana (Gertsch), B. arturoi Alayón, and B. floridensis (Muma) are provided. Detailed descriptions of the male palpus and female genitalia, a review and evaluation of historical terminology used to describe agelenid palpal bulbs, and a discussion of the utility of certain male palpal characters in resolving phylogeny within Agelenidae are provided. Based on the morphology of the male and female genitalia and morphometric data, two species groups are recognized: a large-bodied B. texana species group (B. texana, floridensis, arturoi, jeffersi) and a small-bodied B. barrowsi species group (B. barrowsi, B. stephaniae). A cladistic analysis of Barronopsis, using Tortolena glaucopis (F. O. P.-Cambridge), Melpomene singula (Gertsch & Ivie), and species of Agelenopsis Giebel as outgroups identified three most parsimonious trees of 37 steps. The strict consensus tree yielded the following species relationships: (Agelenopsis (((B. texana, B. jeffersi), B. floridensis, B. arturoi), (B. barrowsi, B. stephaniae))))).Key words: Agelenopsis, revision, taxonomy, phylogenetic analysis


PeerJ ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. e7411 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudia Koch ◽  
Angele Martins ◽  
Silke Schweiger

We describe a new species of Epictia based on eight specimens from Nicaragua collected and housed in the collection of the Natural History Museum Vienna for more than a century. The species differs from the congeners by the combination of external morphological characters: midtail scale rows 10; supralabials two, anterior one large and in broad contact with supraocular; infralabials four; subcaudals 14–19; middorsal scale rows 250–267; supraocular scales present; frontal scale distinct; striped dorsal color pattern with more or less triangular dark blotches on each scale; small white blotch in anterior part of dorsal surface of rostral present in five out of six specimens (two further specimens are lacking their heads); terminal spine and adjacent scales white. Eidonomic species separation from other Epictia spp. is also supported by a few qualitative and quantitative differences in vertebrae count and morphology. The new species is putatively assigned to the Epictia phenops species group based on external morphological characters and distribution.


2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 177-187
Author(s):  
Lourdes Y. Echevarría ◽  
Pablo J. Venegas ◽  
Luis A. García-Ayachi ◽  
Pedro M. Sales Nunes

We describe a new species of Selvasaura from the montane forests of the eastern slopes of the Andes in northern Peru, based on external and hemipenial morphological characters and previous phylogenetic analyses. The new species can be differentiated from the other two Selvasaura species in having keeled dorsal scales usually flanked by longitudinal striations, in adults and juveniles; adult males with a yellow vertebral stripe bordered by broad dark brown stripes on each side and a unilobed hemipenis surrounded by the branches of the sulcus spermaticus. The description of the new species contributes information about new states of diagnostic characters of Selvasaura and natural history.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tatiana S. Leite ◽  
Erica A.G. Vidal ◽  
Françoise Dantas Lima ◽  
Sergio M.Q. Lima ◽  
Ricardo M Dias ◽  
...  

Abstract The new species, Paroctopus cthulu sp. nov. Leite, Haimovici, Lima and Lima, was recorded from very shallow coastal waters on sandy/muddy and shelter-poor bottoms with natural and human-origin debris. It is a small octopus, adults are less than 35 mm mantle length (ML) and weigh around 15 g. It has short to medium sized arms, enlarged suckers on the arms of both males and females, large posterior salivary glands (25 %ML), a relatively large beak (9 % ML) and medium to large mature eggs (3.5 to > 9 mm). The characteristics of hatchlings of two brooding females, some of their anatomical features, and in-situ observations of their behaviour are a clue to the life history of it and closely related pygmy octopuses. The Bayesian phylogenetic analysis showed that Paroctopus cthulu sp.nov. specimens grouped in a well-supported clade of Paroctopus species, separate from P.joubini and P. cf mercatoris from the Northwestern Atlantic . The description of this new species, living in a novel habitat of human debris in shallow water off Brazil, offered an opportunity not only to evaluate the relationship among the small octopuses of the western Atlantic, Caribbean and eastern Pacific, but also their adaptation to the Anthropocene period.


The Auk ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 118 (1) ◽  
pp. 56-78 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin J. Zimmer ◽  
Andrew Whittaker ◽  
David C. Oren

AbstractA new species of tyrant flycatcher (Suiriri islerorum) is described from the cerrado region of Brazil and adjacent eastern Bolivia. The species previously had been confused with Suiriri suiriri affinis, with which it is syntopic at multiple sites. The new species was first identified by voice. Although cryptically similar to S. s. affinis in many respects, the new species is readily identified by all vocalizations, bill size, color pattern of the tail, and shape of the central rectrices. Most distinctive are the male–female duets, which are accompanied by dramatic wing-lifting displays not performed by any congeners. Reciprocal playback experiments of tape-recorded vocalizations demonstrated that the new species and S. s. affinis do not respond to one another's vocalizations. We provide information on the natural history of the new flycatcher, along with spectrograms of its various vocalizations. We also provide vocal analysis of all other named taxa in Suiriri, and discuss the various intrageneric relationships. In particular, S. s. affinis and S. s. bahiae, although distinct morphologically, are vocally and behaviorally similar, and respond to one another's vocalizations in playback experiments.


2014 ◽  
Vol 59 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacek Dabert

AbstractNeumannella skorackii, a new species of the feather mite family Dermoglyphidae (Acari, Astigmata) is described from the Red-winged Tinamou Rhynchotus rufescens (Temminck, 1815) (Aves, Tinamiformes) from Paraguay and a key to all known species of the genus is provided. The phylogenetic relationships (MP analysis of 25 morphological characters) between Neumannella species along with the evolutionary history of host-parasite associations revealed by Jungle reconciliation method are reconstructed. Relatively low cospeciation contribution to the recent host-parasite associations is discovered.


Mammalia ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 84 (1) ◽  
pp. 74-89 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kees Rookmaaker

Abstract The French pharmacist and explorer Christoph-Augustin Lamare-Picquot (1785–1873) was in South Asia during 1826–1829 to collect ethnographical, anthropological, zoological and botanical specimens. He made an excursion to the Sundarbans (the Ganges-Brahmaputra delta) of Bangladesh, where on 17 November 1828 his team shot a female rhinoceros and caught her young one the next day, just south of Khulna. Both animals were completely hornless. He returned to France in the spring of 1830, where his zoological specimens were assessed by Georges Cuvier, and his other collections relating to ethnography by other scholars. All recommended purchase by the French Government, but circumstances did not allow this. A few animals were described by scientists connected with the Natural History Museum in Paris. After Lamare-Picquot published an account of the hunting expedition in 1835, the rhinoceros was described as a new species Rhinoceros inermis, by René-Primivère Lesson, first in a supplement to Buffon dated 1836, and not, as accepted until now, in restatements dating from 1838 or later. The main part of the zoological collection was bought by the Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm III in 1836 and integrated in museums in Berlin. Other collections were exhibited as a “Panthéon Indien” in Vienna and Bratislava from 1838, until they were purchased by the Bavarian King Ludwig in 1841, and added to a museum in Munich. The type specimens of R. inermis are still preserved in the Museum für Naturkunde in Berlin. The adult female (ZMB_Mam_1957) was selected as the lectotype.


Zootaxa ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 4263 (1) ◽  
pp. 179 ◽  
Author(s):  
VINH QUANG LUU ◽  
TRUONG QUANG NGUYEN ◽  
MINH DUC LE ◽  
MICHAEL BONKOWSKI ◽  
THOMAS ZIEGLER

A new species of the Gekko japonicus group is described from Khammouane Province, central Laos, based on morphological characters and molecular data. Morphologically, Gekko nadenensis sp. nov. is differentiated from the remaining congeners by a combination of the following characters: size moderate (SVL 61.0–77.1 mm); nares bordered with rostral; internasals absent; postmentals enlarged; interorbital scales between anterior corners of the eyes 28–30; dorsal tubercles absent; ventral scales between mental and cloacal slit 175–185; midbody scale rows 123–140; ventral scale rows 38–40; subdigital lamellae on first toes 13–15, on fourth toes 14–16; finger and toe webbing present at base; tubercles on dorsal surface of fore and hind limbs absent; precloacal pores six (3+3 or 5+1) in a discontinuous row in males, absent in the female; postcloacal tubercles 1 or 2; tubercles absent on dorsal surface of tail base; subcaudals distinctly enlarged; dorsal surface of body with greyish brown blotches. Molecular analyses demonstrated the new species is closely related to G. bonkowskii and G. thakhekensis, but separated from them by approximately 7% in genetic divergence as shown by a fragment of the mitochondrial ND2 gene.


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