The sequence diversity in the mitochondrial cytochrome-c oxidase I (COI) gene was evaluated as a tool for resolving differences among species of European adelgids collected from several localities across the Czech Republic. Members of 7 genera and 16 species were examined, and as outgroups, two species of Phylloxeridae were used. Sequence divergences within species were on average less than 0.15%, whereas divergences between species ranged from 0.0 to 4.12% for congeneric and to 13.24% for intergeneric comparisons. It is concluded that DNA barcoding of Adelgidae is a powerful tool for identifying genera, but at the species level it works only in those cases where there are no species complexes. Nevertheless, it can be used as a complement to traditional, morphological taxonomy.
Members of the clade Trichophora (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Pentatomomorpha) have trichobothria on their abdominal sterna. There is no comparative study of the fine structure of abdominal trichobothria in the group and until now the trichobothria of their immatures were virtually unknown. The fine structure of the abdominal trichobothrial complex (= the trichobothrium and its associated structures) of adults of 98 species belonging to 25 families in 5 superfamilies and larvae of 7 species belonging to 7 families in 2 superfamilies of Trichophora were examined using scanning electron microscopy. This study indicates that the fine structure of the abdominal trichobothria is very variable and useful for determining evolutionary lineages within the clade. Six types of bothria, three of trichomes and three of microtrichia are recognized and their evolutionary transformations discussed. Changes in the size of trichomes, and density and size of the microtrichia during the postembryonic development of selected species are discussed.
The chromosome complements of thirteen species of the planthopper family Dictyopharidae are described and illustrated. For each species, the structure of testes and, on occasion, ovaries is additionally outlined in terms of the number of seminal follicles and ovarioles. The data presented cover the tribes Nersiini, Scoloptini and Dictyopharini of the subfamily Dictyopharinae and the tribes Ranissini, Almanini, and Orgeriini of the Orgeriinae. The data on the tribes Nersiini and Orgeriini are provided for the first time. Males of Hyalodictyon taurinum and Trimedia cf. viridata (Nersiini) have 2n = 26 + X; Scolops viridis, S. sulcipes, and S. abnormis (Scoloptini) 2n = 36 + X; Callodictya krueperi (Dictyopharini) 2n = 26 + X; Ranissus edirneus and Schizorgerius scytha (Ranissini) 2n = 26 + X. Males of Almana longipes and Bursinia cf. genei (Almanini) have 2n = 26 + X and 2n = 24 + XY, respectively. The latter chromosome complement was not recorded previously for the tribe Almanini. Males of Orgerius ventosus and Deserta cf. bipunctata (Orgeriini) have 2n = 26 + X. The testes of males of A. longipes and B. cf. genei each have 4 seminal follicles, which is characteristic of the tribe Almanini. Males of all other species have 6 follicles per testis. When the ovaries of a species were also studied, the number of ovarioles was coincident with that of seminal follicles. For comparison, Capocles podlipaevi (2n = 24 + X and 6 follicles per testis in males) from the Fulgoridae, the sister family to Dictyopharidae, was also studied. We supplemented all the data obtained with our earlier observations on Dictyopharidae. The chromosomal complement of 2n = 28 + X or that of 2n = 26 + X and 6 follicles per testis are suggested to be the ancestral condition among Dictyopharidae, from which taxa with various chromosome numbers and testes each with 4 follicles have differentiated.
A new feather mite species, Dolichodectes hispanicus sp. n. (Astigmata: Proctophyllodidae), is described from the Melodious Warbler Hippolais polyglotta (Vieillot) (Passeriformes: Acrocephalidae) in Spain. The new species is closest to the type species of the genus, D. edwardsi (Trouessart, 1885) from the Grear Reed-Warbler Acrocephalus arundinaceus (Linnaeus) (Acrocephalidae). Adults of D. hispanicus differ from those of D. edwardsi by dimensional characteristics, in particular, by having shorter aedeagus that does not extend to the anal suckers in males and shorter hysteronotal shield in females. Tritonymphs of D. hispanicus are much more distinctive and differ from those of D. edwardsi by having the prodorsal shield covering all the prodorsum, the hysteronotal shield occupying about three quarters of the hysterosoma, and idiosomal setae h3 being filiform. The morphological description of the new species is augmented by sequence data from the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I gene fragment (COI)., Sergey V. Mironov, Jorge Doña, Roger Jovani., and Obsahuje bibliografii
Achorovermis testisinuosus gen. et sp. n. (Digenea: Aporocotylidae) infects the heart of the smalltooth sawfish, Pristis pectinata Latham (Rhinopristiformes: Pristidae), in the eastern Gulf of Mexico. Specimens of the new genus, along with the other blood flukes that infect batoids are similar by having an inverse U-shaped intestine and a curving testis as well as by lacking tegumental spines. The new genus differs from all of the other blood flukes infecting batoids by having an elongate body (>50 × longer than wide), a testis having >100 curves, and an ovary wholly anterior to the uterus. It differs from Ogawaia glaucostegi Cutmore, Cribb et Yong, 2018, the only other blood fluke infecting a rhinopristiform, by having a body that is >50 × (vs <30 ×) longer than wide, a testis that is >75 × (vs <40 ×) longer than wide and has >100 (vs <70) curves, an ovary wholly anterior to (vs lateral and dorsal to) the seminal vesicle, a uterus wholly posterior to (vs overlapping and lateral to both) the testis and ovary, and a sinuous (vs convoluted) uterus. The new species joins a small group of chondrichthyan blood flukes that lack tegumental spines: O. glaucostegi, Orchispirium heterovitellatum Madhavi et Rao, 1970, Myliobaticola richardheardi Bullard et Jensen, 2008, Electrovermis zappum Warren et Bullard, 2019. Blood flukes infecting batoids are further unique by having a curving testis. That is, the blood flukes infecting species within Selachii are morphologically distinct from those infecting species within the Batoidea (excluding Gymnurahemecus bulbosus Warren et Bullard, 2019). Based on the morphological similarity, we suspect that the new species shares a recent common ancestor with O. glaucostegi. The discovery of the new species brings the total number of chondrichthyan blood flukes to 11 species assigned to nine genera., Micah B. Warren, Micah D. Bakenhaster, Rachel M. Scharer, Gregg R. Poulakis and Stephen A. Bullard., and Obsahuje bibliografii
A new mite species Schizocoptes daberti sp. n. (Acariformes: Chirodiscidae) from Chrysochloris stuhlmanni Matsche (Afrosoricida: Chrysochloridae) from the Democratic Republic of the Congo is described. It differs from the closely related species S. conjugatus Lawrence, 1944 in both sexes by distance si-si at least twice longer than si-se (vs these distances are subequal in S. conjugatus); in females by setae cp 30-40 µm long (vs about 65 µm long), and in males by the very weakly sclerotised posterior parts of the hysteronotal shield (vs strongly sclerotised), setae d1 situated anterior to the hysteronotal shield (vs at the hysteronotal shield), and by opened coxal fields III (vs closed). An amended generic diagnosis, including description of immature stages, and a key to named species of Schizocoptes Lawrence, 1944 are provided., Andre V. Bochkov., and Obsahuje bibliografii
A new species of Acanthochondria Oakley, 1927 (Copepoda, Poecilostomatoida, Chondracanthidae), parasitic on Serranus auriga (Cuvier) from the Argentinean coastal zone, is described and illustrated. The new species differs from its congeners by the relative length of the neck and the protopod of leg 2. This is the second record of this genus for the South-eastern Atlantic and the first one from a serranid host.
Based on the study of type material, two new genera of cestodes (Cyclophyllidea: Anoplocephalidae) are proposed for Paranoplocephala Lühe, 1910 sensu lato species from African rodents. Afrojoyeuxia gen. n., proposed for A. gundii (Joyeux, 1923) comb. n. from Ctenodactylus gundi (Rothmann) (Hystricomorpha: Ctenodactylidae), is characterized by a high length/width ratio of mature proglottids, longitudinally extensive testicular field positioned anterior to the female glands, an ovoid or subspherical cirrus-sac and a thick, conical cirrus. Hunkeleriella gen. n., proposed for H. dasymidis (Hunkeler, 1972) comb. n. from Dasymys incomtus (Sundevall) (Myomorpha: Muridae), differs from related genera mainly by its short (10-20 mm) and wide strobila and neck, unilateral genital pores (exceptionally with a few changes per strobila), the position of the genital pores (slightly anterior to the middle of proglottid margin) and initially tube-like early uterus (later reticulated). Parandrya Gulyaev et Chechulin, 1996, earlier suggested to be a junior synonym of Paranoplocephala, is considered to be a valid, independent genus. Evidence of non-monophyly and need for a taxonomic revision of Paranoplocephala sensu lato, as well as the phylogenetic position of A. gundii and H. dasymidis are discussed.
The species of the Poecilimon heroicus-group occur around the Caucasus (from north-eastern Turkey to south-eastern Ukraine). We describe the diagnostic morphological characters of all these species and the male calling song of three of the four species. Based on this data the following phylogenetic relationship is derived (P. tschorochensis (P. tricuspis (P. heroicus, P. bifenestratus))). Within the genus Poecilimon, the species can be recognised by a relatively wide pronotum and large tegmina. In one species, Poecilimon tschorochensis Adelung, 1907 (type species of the monotypic genus Artvinia Karabag, 1962, syn. n.; P. rammei Miram, 1938, syn. n.), the tegmina are very large and the song has unusually low spectral components. This species produced di-syllabic echemes at intervals of about 10 s. In two other species of the group, P. heroicus and P. bifenestratus, the calling song of males consists of an uninterrupted dense sequence of long syllables (syllable duration around 0.5 s; ca. 1 syllable/s at 20°C). In these species the auditory spiracles are reduced in size in both sexes, and the females have extremely small tegmina and are unable to respond to the male song acoustically, which would be typical for Phaneropteridae. The change in communication from acoustically responding to mute females has not been previously documented within a group of closely related species.
Over the last two decades my colleagues and I have assembled the literature on a good percentage of most of the coccidians (Conoidasida) known, to date, to parasitise: Amphibia, four major lineages of Reptilia (Amphisbaenia, Chelonia, Crocodylia, Serpentes), and seven major orders in the Mammalia (Carnivora, Chiroptera, Lagomorpha, Insectivora, Marsupialia, Primates, Scandentia). These vertebrates, combined, comprise about 15,225 species; only about 899 (5.8%) of them have been surveyed for coccidia and 1,946 apicomplexan valid species names or other forms are recorded in the literature. Based on these compilations and other factors, I extrapolated that there yet may be an additional 31,381 new apicomplexans still to be discovered in just these 12 vertebrate groups. Extending the concept to all of the other extant vertebrates on Earth; i.e. lizards (6,300 spp.), rodents plus 12 minor orders of mammals (3,180 spp.), birds (10,000 spp.), and fishes (33,000 spp.) and, conservatively assuming only two unique apicomplexan species per each vertebrate host species, I extrapolate and extend my prediction that we may eventually find 135,000 new apicomplexans that still need discovery and to be described in and from those vertebrates that have not yet been examined for them! Even doubling that number is a significant underestimation in my opinion.