Laccaridione C, a Bioactive Polyketide from the Fungus Montagnula sp.

The new polyketide laccaridione C (1) was obtained by bioassay-guided isolation of organic extracts of the fungal strain CF-223743, isolated from dung collected in a forest of Grand Comoros Island. Its structure was established using spectroscopic methods, namely HRMS and 1D and 2D NMR. The new compound was tested against seven cancer cell lines, evidencing effective activity against melanoma (A2058) with an IC50 of 13.2 µM, and an increased activity against breast cancer (MCF-7) with an IC50 of 3.7 µM. The strain CF-223743 was taxonomically identified as Montagnula sp. based on ITS/28S analysis

Shallow-water squat lobsters (Crustacea, Decapoda, Galatheidae) from Mayotte (Comoros Island), La Réunion and Madagascar, with the description of a new genus and two new species

Shallow water species of galatheid crustaceans collected in Mayotte (Comoros Island), La Réunion and Madagascar have been studied. The collection contains one species of Sadayoshia and seven species of the genus Galathea, including a new species (G. denticulata) closely related to G. amamiensis known from the Indian Ocean and western Pacific waters, a new genus (Macrothea) and species (M. bouchardi). The new genus is closely related to the genus Fennerogalathea and it is easily distinguished by the following combination of characters: (1) rostrum with 4 strong lateral teeth on each side, (2) spines present on epigastric and hepatic regions only, (3) telson completely subdivided, (4) pereiopods 2–4 dactyli sharply biunguiculate. The new genus is also close to Lauriea Baba, 1971, from which it can be differentiated, among other characters, by the shape of the endopod of uropods and the number of male gonopods.

Description of fourteen new Tinodes species from East Africa (Trichoptera: Psychomyiidae)

Fourteen new Tinodes species are described from East Africa. Tinodes guttatus sp. n., Tinodes rungweensis sp. n., Tinodes sanjea sp. n., Tinodes amani sp. n., Tinodes robustus sp. n., Tinodes zigzag sp. n., Tinodes uzungwa sp. n. and Tinodes bumbulii sp. n. are described from the Eastern Arc mountains in Tanzania and represent the first described species of this genus from Tanzania. Tinodes harawa sp. n., Tinodes dehadawate sp. n., Tinodes mohelia sp. n., Tinodes irwini, sp. n., and Tinodes schlingeri sp. n. are described from Madagascar and the Comoros Island, and represent the first described species of this genus from these islands. Tinodes giloensis sp. n. is described from Sudan, and is the first record of Tinodes from the country. With this report the number of known Tinodes species from the Afrotropical region is more than doubled, and the Eastern Arc is made the richest area in number of species of Tinodes in that biogeographical region.