Bioerosion of siliceous rocks driven by rock-boring freshwater insects

Macrobioerosion of mineral substrates in fresh water is a little-known geological process. Two examples of rock-boring bivalve molluscs were recently described from freshwater environments. To the best of our knowledge, rock-boring freshwater insects were previously unknown. Here, we report on the discovery of insect larvae boring into submerged siltstone (aleurolite) rocks in tropical Asia. These larvae belong to a new mayfly species and perform their borings using enlarged mandibles. Their traces represent a horizontally oriented, tunnel-like macroboring with two apertures. To date, only three rock-boring animals are known to occur in fresh water globally: a mayfly, a piddock, and a shipworm. All the three species originated within primarily wood-boring clades, indicating a simplified evolutionary shift from wood to hardground substrate based on a set of morphological and anatomical preadaptations evolved in wood borers (e.g., massive larval mandibular tusks in mayflies and specific body, shell, and muscle structure in bivalves)

A new genus and species of planthopper from Seychelles endemic palm forest (Hemiptera: Fulgoromorpha: Derbidae)

Bolotov, Ivan N., Kolosova, Yulia S., Chapurina, Yulia E., Spitsyna, Elizaveta A., Spitsyn, Vitaly M. (2021): A new genus and species of planthopper from Seychelles endemic palm forest (Hemiptera: Fulgoromorpha: Derbidae). Journal of Natural History 55 (19-20): 1311-1321, DOI: 10.1080/00222933.2021.1947536, URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00222933.2021.194753

Synthesis of Thrombolytic Sol–Gel Coatings: Toward Drug-Entrapped Vascular Grafts

As is evident from numerous investigations, drug-eluting vascular grafts and stents have not solved the main problems associated with thrombosis and due to drug release only postpone their advance for a longer period. Here we point to a potential solution of this problem by developing thrombolytic sol–gel coatings which potentially could lead to drug-entrapped vascular grafts: urokinase-type plasminogen activator was entrapped within a porous alumina sol–gel film with a subsequent deposition on a polymer graft

New Molecular-Based Phylogeny of Mussel-Associated Mites Reveals a New Subgenus and Three New Species Representing an Example of a Host-Driven Radiation in Indochina and Confirms the Concept of Division of the Genus Unionicola Haldeman, 1842 (Acari: Unionicolidae) into Numerous Subgenera

Here we describe a new subgenus and three new species of parasitic water mites in the genus Unionicola (Acari: Hydrachnidia) from Myanmar: Myanmaratax subgen. nov., Unionicola (Myanmaratax) savadiensis subgen. and sp. nov. (hosts: Lamellidens savadiensis and L. generosus), U. (My.) generosa sp. nov. (the same hosts), and U. (My.) trapezidenssp. nov. (hosts: Trapezidens dolichorhynchus and T. angustior). These taxa were identified based on a two-gene phylogenetic analysis (COI + 28S), which also confirms the division of the genus Unionicola into numerous subgenera. The new species are cryptic species, which are morphologically indistinguishable but strongly resemble U. (Prasadatax) brandti Vidrine, 1985 described from Thailand (hosts: Lens spp. and Ensidens spp.). We also transfer the latter taxon from Prasadatax to Myanmaratax based on a set of morphological evidence and propose U. (My.) brandti comb. nov. The new subgenus contains a total of five species, one of which needs future sampling efforts and will be described elsewhere. Additionally, 56 valid subgenera, which were placed in the synonymy of the genus and in one case raised to the genus level, are restored here until robust phylogenetic evidence on their taxonomic status is available. Our results also confirm that Unionicola mites are narrow host specialists that are associated with either one or a few closely related freshwater mussel species belonging to one or two sister genera

Supplementary material 4 from: Konopleva ES, Bolotov IN, Vikhrev IV, Inkhavilay K, Gofarov MYu, Kondakov AV, Tomilova AA, Chapurina YE, Van Do T, Pfeiffer JM, Lopes-Lima M, Bogan AE (2023) A freshwater mussel species reflects a Miocene stream capture between the Mekong Basin and East Asian rivers. Zoosystematics and Evolution 99(1): 29-43. https://doi.org/10.3897/zse.99.90784

Figure S1. Fossil-calibrated Unionidae tree, including the genus Cristaria, based on the complete data set of mitochondrial and nuclear gene sequences (five partitions: three codons of COI + 16S rRNA + 28S rRNA