Wallinia mexicana sp. n. is described from the Mexican tetra, Astyanax mexicanus (De Filippi) (Characidae Weitzman), from two localities in northern Mexico. The new species can be distinguished from the two congeneric species, described from small-bodied characids in South and Central America, mainly by the posterior extent of the vitelline follicles (halfway between the posterior testis and the end of the caeca), by having a larger oesophagus, testes that are always oblique, and eye-spot remnants. The distinct status of the new species was confirmed by molecular data (28S rRNA gene sequences). Phylogenetic analysis suggests the new species is the sister species of W. chavarriae Choudhury, Hartvigsen et Brooks, 2002 described from characids in northwestern Costa Rica. Additionally, genetic divergence between these congeners reached 3.3%, a value higher than that observed for closely related species pairs of allocreadiids for that molecular marker. Based on these new findings, recently published records of this new species as Magnivitellinum simplex Kloss, 1966 and Creptotrematina aguirrepequenoi Jiménez-Guzmán, 1973 in Astyanax mexicanus from Durango and San Luis Potosi states, respectively, are corrected., Gerardo Pérez-Ponce de León, Ulises Razo-Mendivil, Berenit Mendoza-Garfias, Miguel Rubio-Godoy, Anindo Choudhury., and Obsahuje bibliografii
A new species, Gnathia nkulu sp. n. is described from material collected off the South African coast at 80-200m depth. It differs from the intertidal species Gnathia africana Barnard, 1914 in that the mediofrontal process is not deeply divided into two lobes, article 2 of the pylopod is rounded and small wart-like tubercles and long simple setae are present on both the cephalosome and pereon.
A new subgenus Leasphaericus (of Sphaericus) with two new species, S. (L.) flavipennis and S. (L.) diversevillosus, are described from North West Cape and Barrow Island, in Western Australia. With the exception of one anthropophilous and paracosmopolitan species, the genus Sphaericus had been recorded only from the southern Palaearctic area. The discovery of Australian autochthonous Sphaericus suggests that this genus may be more diversified in other areas, namely in Africa.
Combining a biotin-enrichment protocol and 454GS-FLX titanium pyrosequencing technology, we characterised 22 polymorphic microsatellite loci from the parasitic wasp, Habrobracon hebetor (Say) (Hymenoptera: Braconidae), a cosmopolitan species commonly used in biological control against a wide range of both major lepidopterous pests of stored products and field crops in different parts of the world. Three multiplex PCR sets were optimised and characterised across 46 H. hebetor specimens from two samples collected from millet fields in Niger. Two to 11 alleles were found per locus and observed heterozygosity ranged from 0.289 to 0.826. Polymorphism was detected in both samples with a similar level of observed heterozygosity (0.482 vs. 0.502) and number of alleles (4.1 vs. 3.6). Deviation from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium was detected at the same five loci in both samples and five or seven more loci in each sample but was not associated with heterozygote deficiencies. Even though evidence for linkage disequilibrium was found between a few alleles, these new loci segregated independently. The variability of the 22 loci will enable estimates of genetic diversity and structure patterns, as well as gene flow between H. hebetor populations at different spatial scales. Cross-species amplifications were successful among the six Bracon spp. tested and nine loci will be particularly appropriate for population genetic studies in B. brevicornis., Madougou Garba, Anne Loiseau, Laure Benoit, Nathalie Gauthier., and Obsahuje bibliografii
The adult morphology is described and illustrated of Neoplagioporus kajika sp. n. (Digenea: Opecoelidae) found in the Japanese fluvial sculpin Cottus pollux Günther (Osteichthyes: Scorpaeniformes: Cottidae) collected in the Naka River at Terase Bridge, Narutake, Nakagawa Town, Fukuoka Prefecture, Kyushu, Japan. This new species is characterized by that the body shape is oval, that the intestinal caeca end posteriorly at the middle level of the testicular region, that the ovary is trilobed, and that the vitelline follicles are distributed between the pharyngeal level and usually the posterior end of body and fill up the lateral fields of body. The new species is different from three hitherto known Neoplagioporus species, N. zacconis (Yamaguti, 1934) Shimazu, 1990 (type species), N. ayu (Takahashi, 1928) Shimazu, 1990, and N. elongatus (Goto et Ozaki, 1930) Shimazu, 1990, in a combination of these characteristics. The new species is considered mainly infective to C. pollux in the river.
In this paper we introduce a new type of orthogonality for real normed planes which coincides with usual orthogonality in the Euclidean situation. With the help of this type of orthogonality we derive several characterizations of the Euclidean plane among all normed planes, all of them yielding also characteristic properties of inner product spaces among real normed linear spaces of dimensions $d\geq 3$.
The most recent representative of the semi-aquatic insect family Chresmodidae is described from the Lebanese Cenomanian marine lithographic limestone. Its highly specialized legs, with a high number of tarsomeres, never observed in other orders of insects, were probably adapted for water surface skating. We hypothesize the occurrence of a unique, extraordinary "antenna" mutation affecting the distal part of the legs of the Chresmodidae, maybe homeotic or affecting some genes that participate in the leg development and segmentation. The Chresmodidae had a serrate ovipositor adapted to endophytic egg laying in floating or aquatic plants. They were probably predaceous on nektonic small animals. As the Chresmodidae and the aquatic water skaters of the bug families Veliidae and Gerridae were contemporaneous during at least the Lower Cretaceous, these insects probably did not cause the extinction of this curious group.