A new ankylosaurid from the Upper Cretaceous Nemegt Formation of Mongolia and implications for paleoecology of armoured dinosaurs

A new ankylosaurid dinosaur, Tarchia tumanovae sp. nov., has been recovered from the Upper Cretaceous Nemegt Formation of Mongolia. It includes a well-preserved skull, dorsal, sacral, caudal vertebrae, sixteen dorsal ribs, ilia, a partial ischium, free osteoderms, and a tail club. The squamosal horns of T. tumanovae are divided into two layers, the external dermal layer and the underlying squamosal horn proper. The irregular ventral margin of the base of the upper dermal layer may represent a resorption surface, suggesting that the squamosal horns of some ankylosaurids underwent extreme ontogenetic remodeling. Localized pathologies on the dorsosacral ribs and the tail provide evidence of agonistic behaviour. The tail club knob asymmetry of T. tumanovae resulted from restricted bone growth due to tail club strikes. Furthermore, T. tumanovae had an anteriorly protruded shovel-shaped beak, which is a morphological character of selective feeders. Ankylosaurid diets shifted from low-level bulk feeding to selective feeding during the Baruungoyot and the Nemegt “age” (middle Campanian-lower Maastrichtian). This ankylosaurid niche shifting might have been a response to habitat change and competition with other bulk-feeding herbivores.

Description of the larva of Argia cuprea (Hagen, 1861) with notes on its phylogenetic affinities (Odonata: Coenagrionidae)

The larva of Argia cuprea (Hagen, 1861) is described and figured. It falls into the group of Argia larvae with prominent ligula and one palpal seta, but it differs from its closest relatives by a combination of features such as male gonapophyses reaching posterior ventral margin of S10; dorsal and ventral margin of paraproct with long, abundant, white, delicate setae on distal 0.40; tip of paraproct 20% its total length; lateral surface of paraproct with abundant spiniform setae restricted to the triangular, yellowish-brown, slightly sclerotized area along the inflated area. It appears closely related to A. oenea Hagen in Selys, 1865 and A. orichalcea Hagen in Selys, 1865 larvae.

Longitudinal gradient in the Camptocercus lilljeborgi Schoedler, 1862 species group (Cladocera: Anomopoda: Chydoridae)

A detailed study of morphology of the rare phytophilous cladoceran Camptocercus lilljeborgi Schoedler, 1862 revealed that populations from Eastern Siberia and Far East of Russia belong to a new species. C. smirnovi sp. nov. differs from C. lilljeborgi in body shape, morphology of ventral margin of valves, morphology of postabdomen, and length of IDL seta 1 of the thoracic limb I. C. lilljeborgi s. str. is distributed in Europe and Western Siberia, therefore, the lilljeborgi-group provides an example of the western-eastern differentiation in Northern Eurasia. Some characters of taxa from the lilljeborgi-group are convergently similar to the characters of the species of genus Graptoleberis Sars, 1862; both groups are adapted to a snail-like crawling on the surface of water macrophytes.

First record of the tribe Adelungiini Baker (Hemiptera: Auchenorrhyncha: Cicadellidae: Megophthalminae) from the United Arab Emirates, with description of a new species

The tribe Adelungiini Baker, with Platyproctus agraphopteron Bergevin, 1932, P. melichari (Kusnezov, 1929), and P. emir sp. nov., collected on Calligonum crinitum Boiss. arabicum Sosk., is recorded for the first time from the United Arab Emirates. Symphypyga omani Kameswara Rao et Ramakrishnan, 1983 and Assiuta camena Linnavuori, 1969 are transferred to the genus Platyproctus Lindberg, 1925 based on male genitalia structure, with new combinations proposed – Platyproctus omani (Kameswara Rao et Ramakrishnan, 1983), comb. nov. and P. camena (Linnavuori, 1969), comb. nov. Platyproctus emir sp. nov. is closely related to P. camena and P. omani in general male genitalia structure, but well differs by the aedeagus with denticles on dorsal surface of the shaft and wider pygofer lobes. The genus Assiuta Linnavuori 1969 is treated as monotypic Canarian endemic, monophage on Traganum moquini Webb ex Moq. Assiuta salina is close to Emelyanogramma proxima (Dlabola, 1960) by strongly dentate ventral margin of aedeagal shaft. The lectotype is designated for Symphypyga melichari Kusnezov, 1929. Platyproctus flavidus Dubovsky, 1966 is placed in synonymy under P. marmoratus (Horváth, 1894) while P. maculatus (Pruthi, 1930) and Symphypyga melichari fuscopunctata Kusnezov, 1929 are placed in synonymy under P. melichari (Kusnezov, 1929). Illustrations of male genitalia structure for E. proxima and the photos of external views for A. salina and P. camena are given for the first time.

A new cockroach (Blattodea, Corydiidae) with pectinate antennae from mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber

A new species of fossil cockroach, Fragosublatta pectinatagen. et sp. nov., is described from mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber. The new species is assigned to the family Corydiidae based on the following combination of characters: pronotum with tubercles, tegmina obovate with smallish anal region and spinules on the antero-ventral margin of the front femur (type C1). The new species is the second reported cockroach with ramified antennae. This finding broadens the diversity of Blattodea in mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber and provides further evidence of convergent evolution for antennal structures among different insect lineages.

A new styracosternan hadrosauroid (Dinosauria: Ornithischia) from the Early Cretaceous of Portell, Spain

A new styracosternan ornithopod genus and species is described based on the right dentary of a single specimen from the Mirambell Formation (Early Cretaceous, early Barremian) at the locality of Portell, (Castellón, Spain). Portellsaurus sosbaynati gen. et sp. nov. is diagnosed by two autapomorphic features as well as a unique combination of characters. The autapomorphies include: the absence of a bulge along the ventral margin directly ventral to the base of the coronoid process and the presence of a deep oval cavity on the medial surface of the mandibular adductor fossa below the eleventh-twelfth tooth position. Phylogenetic analyses reveal that the new Iberian form is more closely related to the African taxon Ouranosaurus nigeriensis than to its synchronic Iberian taxa Magnamanus soriaensis and Iguanodon galvensis. In addition, Portellsaurus sosbaynati is less related to other Iberian taxa such as Iguanodon bernissartensis and Proa valdearinnoensis than to the other Early Cretaceous Iberian styracosternans Mantellisaurus atherfieldensis and Morelladon beltrani. A new phylogenetic hypothesis is proposed that resolves Iguanodon (I. bernissartensis, I. galvensis) with the Valanginian Barilium dawsoni into a monophyletic clade (Iguanodontoidea). The recognition of Portellsaurus sosbaynati gen. et sp. nov. as the first styracosternan dinosaur species identified from the Margas de Mirambell Formation (early Barremian–early late Barremian) in the Morella sub-basin (Maestrat Basin, eastern Spain) indicates that the Iberian Peninsula was home to a highly diverse assemblage of medium-to-large bodied styracosternan hadrosauriforms during the Early Cretaceous.

Microcomputed tomography of the holotype of the early tetrapod Ichthyerpeton bradleyae (Huxley in Wright and Huxley, 1866) from the Pennsylvanian of Ireland

Ichthyerpeton bradleyae (Huxley in Wright and Huxley, 1866) is one of the seven tetrapods originally described by Huxley from the Jarrow Assemblage (Pennsylvanian, Langsettian Regional Substage equated with the Bashkirian International Stage) in south-eastern Ireland. The holotype, one of only two specimens considered to represent the taxon, consists of the postcranial skeleton, which has been highly compressed and has undergone extensive replacement of bone by carbonaceous material. The holotype is studied using microcomputed tomography, which reveals that the vertebral column has at least 25 diplospondylous vertebrae with cylindrical centra. Neural arches and a haemal arch are described for the first time. Neural arches in the caudal region are paired and neural spines only contact one another dorsally. The hemal arch is fused and wraps around the ventral margin of the centrum. A stout femur and tibia are described. The morphology of the femur is unique for early tetrapods, with fibular and tibial condyles of similar length and lacking an adductor crest. The morphology of the femur, and its length relative to the tibia, suggests that the holotype of I. bradleyae preserves an immature individual. The tibia is a flat bone characteristic of stem tetrapods. Phalanges from the right and left pes are present. Because the phalanges are disarticulated, a phalangeal count cannot be determined. Despite the new anatomical information, the systematic position of I. bradleyae is still difficult to establish; however, it does not belong within the colosteids, temnospondyls, or embolomeres, to which it has previously been assigned.

Description of Paraxiopsis kensleyi n. sp., a new axiid lobster from the Gulf of Mexico (Crustacea: Decapoda: Axiidea)

A new species of axiid was discovered during sampling offshore deep banks on the middle continental shelf off Louisiana. Paraxiopsis kensleyi n. sp. appears to inhabit interstices and cavities of coralline algal rubble, rhodoliths, coral rubble, and other eroded calcareous substrates. Weakly separated from Eutrichocheles Wood-Mason, 1876 on the basis of morphology, present assignments of western Atlantic species to Paraxiopsis de Man, 1905 are regarded as provisional. The new species is described morphologically, and the coloration of freshly captured specimens is documented and compared to related species where possible. Coloration readily distinguishes mature specimens of the new species from Paraxiopsis spinipleura Kensley, 1996, with which it was initially confused. The diagnosis includes GenBank accession numbers for COI sequences to allow future molecular phylogenetic comparisons. Compared to regional species that share a similar dentation or spination on the submedian carina, the pleon of the new species is distinctive in the truncate ventral margin on pleura 2–4, as opposed to being broadly rounded or directed ventrally in an acutely triangular tip. The new species is the eighteenth species of Paraxiopsis worldwide and the ninth from western Atlantic waters, seven of which are now known to range into the Gulf of Mexico. An updated key to western Atlantic members of the genus is provided.

Two species of Talitridae (Crustacea, Amphipoda) from Kenya

Two species of the family Talitridae Rafinesque, 1815 are described from English Point Beach, Mkomani, Mombasa, Kenya. One new species Floresorchestia mkomani Bichang’a & Hou, sp. nov. is reported and Gazia gazi Lowry & Springthorpe, 2019 is redescribed. The new species is characterized by the five dentate lacinia mobilis on the left mandible in male and only four in female, pereopod IV dactylus thickened proximally and having a small protrusion towards the mid of its posterior margin, a sexually dimorphic pereopod VII, and the presence of vertical slits just above the ventral margin of epimera II and III. Detailed morphological characteristics, as well as comparisons with closely related species are provided. To ascertain the species delimitation, molecular evidence is availed in this paper. Type material is deposited in National Museums of Kenya (NMK).

On a new species of Macrobrachium Spence Bate (Decapoda: Palaemonidae) from Ayeyarwady River, Myanmnar

Macrobrachium myanmarum sp. nov. was found from near Min Kun (local name Min Gon) at Mandalay, Ayeyarwady (Irrawaddy) River (22.043N & 96.043E), Myanmar. It is a small-sized prawn showing close relation with Arachnochium kulsiense (Jayachandran et al. 2007) and A. mirabile (Kemp 1917). This species can at once be identified from both the species by the characters: medium-sized and highly-elevated and arched rostrum, extending as far as distal segment of antennular peduncle or behind, upper margin with 11–15 teeth of which three (rarely 4) teeth post-orbital; ventral margin without teeth (rarely one); second chelate legs unequal, right leg larger (sometimes left); major leg in which carpus with proximal part narrow and distal end broadened, subequal to merus, palm and fingers; propodus slightly more than the combined length of merus and carpus; fingers very slender, almost equal to palm, fixed finger a bit shorter than movable finger, cutting edges with 2–6 weak denticles at proximal cutting edges, distal denticle situated at about 1/3rd distance from base; ischium, merus, carpus, propodus, palm and dactylus in the ratio 9.62 : 19.25 : 24.06: 47.06 : 23.53 : 23.53, respectively (related to the total length of pereopod); minor leg with minute tubercles in larger specimens; ischium, merus, carpus, propodus, palm and fingers in the ratio 13.1 : 23.68 : 22.37 : 40.8 : 15.8 : 25.0, respectively (related to total length of pereopod); palm slightly swollen and shorter than fingers, fingers slender and curved with a wide gap when closed. Maximum size recorded for the species is 56mm male and 44mm female.