• Kilgore Lerche posted an update 6 hours, 50 minutes ago

    2016).Scydmoraphes yunnanensis Jałoszyński shows several unusual characters as for a member of this broadly distributed Palaearctic genus. Discovery of this species in a new locality and several newly available specimens allowed for detailed morphological study. As a result, a new genus, Sinonichnus gen. n., is established to accommodate Sinonichnus yunnanensis comb. n., and another species, showing unusual modifications of the male antennae, Sinonichnus leiodicornutus sp. n. Both species are known to occur in Yunnan, China. Sinonichnus is the first known Stenichnini genus that combines the presence of the pre-tentorial gular sutures with the prosternum laterally fused with inner regions of hypomera; all remaining world genera that show the gular sutures between posterior tentorial pits and the posteromesal margins of cardines have the prosterna demarcated laterally by notosternal sutures. An updated identification key to Eurasian Stenichnini genera whose adults have the pre-tentorial gular sutures is given.The knowledge about the monotypic genera Steleocoris Mayr and Theloris Thunberg is restricted to their original descriptions and subsequent nomenclatural acts. These genera are primarily distributed in South Africa and are two of the few genera of Carpocorini (Pentatomidae Pentatominae) occurring in Africa. Here, we redescribe Steleocoris comma (Thunberg) and Theloris costata (Thunberg) and illustrate the genitalia of both sexes for the first time. Also, an occurrence map is provided based on collection labels from analyzed specimens and records available on GBIF and the web repository iNaturalist.org.Three new earthworm species are described from South China, namely Amynthas rusticanus sp. nov., Amynthas scaberulus sp. nov., and Amynthas yuanjiangensis sp. nov. They are widely distributed in South China, and be polymorphic in reproductive organs. Of three new species, A. Paeoniflorin cost rusticanus sp. nov. is a small species with three pairs of spermathecal pores in 5/6-7/8 or two pairs of spermathecal pores in 5/6-6/7; it has developed prostate glands in XVI-XX. A. scaberulus sp. nov. is a medium-sized species with two pairs of spermathecal pores in 7/8-8/9; the lower edge of each spermathecal pore forms a tiny papilla, and the prostate glands are either degenerated or developed. A. yuanjiangensis sp. nov. is a medium-sized species with four pairs of spermathecal pores in 5/6-8/9 and has degenerated or developed prostate glands. Barcode data for each species (partial sequence of mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I) are provided as well.The octocoral associated species Paraclimenes gorgonicola is a deep-sea palaemonid shrimp briefly described in Bruce (1969) without illustrations. Paraclimenes franklini, the type species of the genus Paraclimenes, has been considered as a valid species and distinguished from P. gorgonicola by the presence of articulated postrostral teeth on the carapace. Paraclimenes gorgonicola is herein fully redescribed and illustrated on the basis of the type series which is deposited in Naturalis Biodiversity Center, Leiden, The Netherlands and recently collected specimens from shallow waters around Jejudo Island, Korea, and compared with P. franklini. It is demonstrated that both taxa are conspecific and thus P. franklini is considered to be a junior synonym of P. gorgonicola.The Dutch ichthyologist Pieter Bleeker described 34 species, including a new genus and five new species from a collection of fishes sent to him from the Cape of Good Hope by the French explorer, naturalist and diplomat, F.L. de Castelnau in 1858. A careful search of the Naturalis collection in Leiden found almost all the specimens received by Bleeker from Castelnau, including hitherto unrecognised types. Based on examination of this collection and a critical translation of Bleeker’s 1859 paper on the fishes of the Cape of Good Hope it has been possible to resolve the taxonomic status of Bleeker’s genus Pagrichthys (Pagrichthys castelnaui Bleeker, 1859, type by monotypy), previously considered a synonym of Sparus Linnaeus, 1758 but here regarded as a synonym of Lithognathus Swainson, 1839. The identity of the various species described by Bleeker, and type status of his new species are clarified Cantharus castelnaui Bleeker, 1859 is a synonym of Pachymetopon blochii (Valenciennes, 1830); Pagrichthys castelnaui Bleeker, 1859 is a synonym of Lithognathus lithognathus (Cuvier, 1829); Seriola capensis Bleeker, 1859 (not previously recognised as a valid species) is a synonym of Seriola lalandi Valenciennes, 1833; Clinus dubuis Bleeker, 1859 (based on a misspelling of Castelnau’s ms name dubius) is a valid name, and a synonym of Clinus superciliosus (Linnaeus, 1758); and Clinus dorsalis Bleeker, 1859 is valid as Muraenoclinus dorsalis (Bleeker, 1859).The genus Scaphiophryne (Anura Microhylidae) contains at least nine species that, together with their probable sister genus Paradoxophyla, form the Madagascar-endemic subfamily Scaphiophryninae. Scaphiophryne are robust burrowing frogs with explosive breeding behavior and are characterized by a unique larval morphology, being intermediate between that of filter-feeding and generalized tadpole types. Based on tadpole morphology, the nominal subgenus Scaphiophryne can be distinguished from the subgenus Pseudohemisus, a clade occurring in arid biomes with a largely unsolved taxonomy and nomenclature. Here we combine a comprehensive molecular phylogeny of all scaphiophrynines based on five mitochondrial and two nuclear genes with a re-examination of the name-bearing type specimens of the seven species-level nomina assignable to the subgenus Pseudohemisus. Our molecular phylogeny supports monophyly of the two subgenera and assigns the enigmatic S. matsoko to the subgenus Scaphiophryne. In this subgenus, our analys896) as a well-defined species; restrict S. calcarata (Mocquard, 1995) to the southern lineage of the S. calcarata complex; resurrect Hemisus obscurus Grandidier, 1872 (previously considered to be a dubious name or nomen inquirendum) as Scaphiophryne obscura to refer to the western and north-western lineage of the S. calcarata complex; consider Pseudohemisus verrucosus Angel, 1930 as junior synonym of Scaphiophryne brevis; and consider Pseudohemisus longimanus Angel, 1930 and Pseudohemisus longimanus var. melanopleura Angel, 1934 as junior synonyms of Scaphiophryne obscura. Finally, to accelerate taxonomic progress, we (i) outline a set of criteria by which such old and ambiguous nomina can be applied to known lineages, (ii) suggest that the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature should slightly broaden the conditions under which neotypes are to be designated, and (iii) propose to redouble discussions on the introduction of the concept of the epitype to zoology.