Abstract
New wave excitations are revealed for a (3+1)-dimensional nonlinear evolution equation to enrich nonlinear wave patterns in nonlinear systems. Based on a new variable separation solution with two arbitrary variable separated functions obtained by means of the multilinear variable separation approach, localized excitations of N dromions, N x M lump lattice and N x M ring soliton lattice are explored. Interestingly, it is observed that soliton molecules can be composed of diverse "atoms" such as the dromions, lumps and ring solitons, respectively. Elastic interactions between solitons and soliton molecules are graphically demonstrated.