New species of Dolichopoda Bolívar, 1880 (Orthoptera, Rhaphidophoridae) from the Aegean Islands of Andros, Paros and Kinaros (Greece)

In this paper two new species of Dolichopoda Bolívar, 1880 from the Cyclades islands of Andros and Paros and one from the Dodecanissos island of Kinaros, are described, increasing the total number of Greek species to 32. The new species from Paros (D. kikladica Di Russo & Rampini, n. sp.) and Kinaros (D. margiolis Di Russo & Rampini, n. sp.) show strong similarities with D. naxia Boudou-Saltet, 1972 from Naxos forming an homogenous group limited to the central Aegean islands. On the other hand the species D. christos-nifoni Di Russo & Rampini, n. sp. from Andros shows a combination of morphological characters that partly resemble characters found in Evvian Dolichopoda, and partly in species from the Cyclades. Relationships among these three new taxa and the other adjacent Dolichopoda species are discussed on the basis of the paleogeological and paleoclimatic events that shaped the present geography of the Aegean area

A new species of the genus Aiolopus Fieber (Oedipodinae: Acrididae) from Libya

A new species, Aiolopus obariensis sp. n., is described and illustrated from Fezzan Province, Libya. Besides other differentiating characters, the new species is characterized by having a conspicuously short and club-shaped left antenna. A description and a key to Libyan species of Aiolopus Fieber is provided. Some additional characters of male and female genitalia have also been incorporated

From morphology to molecules: A combined source approach to untangle the taxonomy of Clessinia (Gastropoda, Odontostomidae), endemic land snails from the Dry Chaco ecoregion

Background: Land gastropods of the Dry Chaco merit special attention because they comprise a highly diverse but barely studied group. Clessinia Doering, 1875 are typical inhabitants of this ecoregion. The inclusion of their distribution areas into Spixia range, their shell shape similarities, and a former molecular study raised doubts on the monophyly of this genus. The present study review the species of Clessinia, under a morphological, geometric morphometrics, and molecular combined approach. Methods: Adults were collected, photographed, measured, and dissected for anatomical studies. Shell ultrastructure was studied with scanning electron microscope. Geometric morphometric analyses on shells were performed testing if they gave complementary information to anatomy. Two mitochondrial genes, and a nuclear region were studied. Phylogenetic reconstructions to explore the relationships of DNA sequences here obtained to those of Clessinia and Spixia species from GenBank were performed. Results: Species description on shell, periostracal ornamentation and anatomy is provided. We raised former Clessinia cordovana striata to species rank, naming it as Clessinia tulumbensis sp. nov. The periostracum, consisting of hairs and lamellae, has taxonomic importance for species identification. Shell morphometric analyses, inner sculpture of penis and proportion of the epiphallus and penis, were useful tools to species identification. Nuclear markers do not exhibit enough genetic variation to determine species relationships. Based on the mitochondrial markers, genetic distances among Clessinia species were greater than 10%, and while C. cordovana, C. nattkemperi, and C. pagoda were recognized as distinct evolutionary genetic species, the distinction between C. stelzneri and C. tulumbensis sp. nov. was not evident. Clessinia and Spixia were paraphyletic in the molecular phylogenetic analyses. Species of Clessinia here treated have narrow distributional areas and are endemic to the Chaco Serrano subecoregion, restricted to small patches within the Dry Chaco. Clessinia and Spixia are synonymous, and the valid name of the taxon should be Clessinia Doering, 1875 which has priority over Spixia Pilsbry & Vanatta, 1894. Discussion: Our results support the composition of C. cordovana complex by three species, C. cordovana, C. stelzneri, and C. tulumbensis sp. nov. The low genetic divergence between C. stelzneri and C. tulumbensis sp. nov. suggests that they have evolved relatively recently. The former Spixia and Clessinia are externally distinguished because Clessinia has a detached aperture from the body whorl forming a cornet, periostracal microsculpture extended over dorsal portion of the peristome, five inner teeth on the shell aperture instead of three–four found in Spixia. Morphological similarities exists between both genera in shell shape, type of periostracum microsculpture, reproductive anatomy, besides the overlap in geographic ranges.Fil: Cuezzo, Maria Gabriela. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Tucumán. Instituto de Biodiversidad Neotropical. Universidad Nacional de Tucumán. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales e Instituto Miguel Lillo. Instituto de Biodiversidad Neotropical. Instituto de Biodiversidad Neotropical; ArgentinaFil: Miranda, Maria Jose. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Tucumán. Instituto de Biodiversidad Neotropical. Universidad Nacional de Tucumán. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales e Instituto Miguel Lillo. Instituto de Biodiversidad Neotropical. Instituto de Biodiversidad Neotropical; ArgentinaFil: Vogler, Roberto Eugenio. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Nordeste. Instituto de Biología Subtropical. Universidad Nacional de Misiones. Instituto de Biología Subtropical; ArgentinaFil: Beltramino, Ariel Anibal. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Nordeste. Instituto de Biología Subtropical. Universidad Nacional de Misiones. Instituto de Biología Subtropical; Argentin

Phylogenetic analysis of the Camaenidae (Mollusca: Stylommatophora) with special emphasis on the american taxa

The monophyly of the land snail family Camaenidae has been in doubt due to a disjunct bihemispheric distributional pattern and to the lack of morphological synapomorphies. A cladistic analysis is presented using an ingroup composed of representatives of the three subfamilies distributed in Australia and 52 other species with American distribution. Bradybaenidae, Helicidae and Helminthoglyptidae were used as outgroups. Fifty morphological characters were treated as unordered and analysed using Pee-Wee ver. 2.9, a program for parsimony analysis using implied weights. The results of the analysis support Camaenidae as a monophyletic family (synapomorphies: oval genital orifice, absence of penial sheath). Two of the three Australasian subfamilies, Sinumeloninae and Camaeninae, are monophyletic in the strict consensus tree. The American taxa are classified in eight genera and arranged into two main clades. Caracolus is proposed as the sister group of the American Continental Camaenidae. The genus Solaropsis, previously excluded from this family by different authors, is reassigned to Camaenidae. Shell characters proved to be phylogenetically informative in defining Pleurodonte, Caracolus, Solaropsis, Isomeria and Labyrinthus.Fil: Cuezzo, Maria Gabriela. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Tucumán. Instituto de Biodiversidad Neotropical. Universidad Nacional de Tucumán. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales e Instituto Miguel Lillo. Instituto de Biodiversidad Neotropical. Instituto de Biodiversidad Neotropical; Argentin

New and Little-Known Agromyzidae from Michigan (Diptera: Acalyptratae)

The latest major work on North American Agromyzidae, The Agromyzidae of Canada and Alaska (Spencer, 1969), lists 290 regional species. Of that number, half (147) are new species and 23 are previously described species newly recorded for the continent. It is thus evident that the North American Agromyzid fauna is still poorly known. Among material recently determined for the collection of Michigan State University, East Lansing, were the 5 additional new species herein described. A male allotype for Melanagromyza inornata Spencer (1969), described from the female only, is also described, and more detailed figures of the male postabdomen of Melanagromyza lauta Spencer (1969) are presented. Unfortunately all of the material is from random collecting and no host plants for the species are known. Types are retained in the collections of the United States National Museum of Natural History (USNM) and paratypes are returned to the Michigan State University collections (MSC)

Auto-spermatophore extrusion in male crickets

The reproductive cycle of the male cricket consists of the mating stage and the sexually refractory stage. The latter is further divided into the first refractory stage (RS1) from spermatophore extrusion in copulation to spermatophore preparation after copulation, and the second refractory stage (RS2) from spermatophore preparation to recommencement of a calling song. RS2 is time-fixed and unaffected by the female or by stress, hence RS2 is assumed to be controlled by the reproductive timer. Previously, we suggested that the timer is located in the terminal abdominal ganglion (TAG), because functional inactivation of the TAG by local cooling lengthened RS2 in proportion to cooling time. To obtain further evidence of timer localization and to examine the operation of the timer in dissected animals, we investigated the characteristics of auto-spermatophore extrusion, a phenomenon in which males eject the mature spermatophore themselves without any prior courtship. The occurrence of auto-spermatophore extrusion was 100% in dissected males with the TAG separated, compared to 1.7% in intact males. The time interval (SPaSE) between spermatophore preparation and autospermatophore extrusion was comparable to RS2 measured by the calling song. Spike recording from a genital motor neurone in the separated TAG indicated that burst discharge associated with auto-spermatophore extrusion occurred with a SPaSE comparable to RS2. Other efferent neurones, some of which were identified as dorsal unpaired median (DUM) neurones, showed a timedependent spike frequency increase during SPaSE. These results strengthen our previous conclusion that the reproductive timer is located within the TAG, and demonstrate that the timer functions normally even when the TAG is separated from the central nervous system.</p

Reproductive behaviour in the male cricket Gryllus bimaculatus DeGEER: I. Structure and function of the genitalia

We have investigated the morphology and physiology of the genitalia of the male cricket to establish a basis for neuroethological study of its reproductive behaviour. First, the structure of the phallic complex, including the dorsal pouch, guiding rod, epiphallus, ventral lobes and median pouch, are described, as are the muscles, cuticle, membranes and biomechanics of copulation. The innervation and sensory receptors have also been examined. Second, the functional role of the muscle in each genital organ has been determined by direct observation of muscle contraction during spontaneous or evoked movements and by analysis of the changes in movements after the ablation of the muscle. Third, for the flexible membranous organs, the ventral lobes and median pouch, the passages for haemolymph and their dynamic properties have been examined using petroleum jelly. Fourth, the sequence of coordinated motor actions performed by the internal and external genital organs, which were induced in both restrained and dissected males using newly developed techniques, has been analyzed during tethered copulation and spermatophore formation. As a result, the mechanisms of copulation and spermatophore formation are now more fully understood

A new species of Zoniopoda Stål (Orthoptera: Acridoidea: Romaleidae) from Argentina and its phylogenetic position within the genus

A new species of the romaleid grasshopper genus Zoniopoda Stål (Romaleidae: Romaleini) is described and illustrated from the Sierras Chicas of Córdoba Province, central Argentina. A cladistic analysis based on morphological characters indicates that the genus Zoniopoda constitutes a monophyletic group and that Zoniopoda serrana n. sp. must be assigned to Iheringi species group based on synapomorphies of the pronotum and body color. The new species is similar to Z. similis Bruner from Paraguay, Bolivia and Brazil, from which it can be distinguished by the color pattern of the body, shape of the pronotal dorso-median carina and characters of the male terminalia and epiphallus. This paper has been formatted with embedded links to images of the type specimen, maps based on georeferenced specimen data for the genus and an updated key to the species of Zoniopoda available on the Orthoptera Species File (OSF) online (http://orthoptera.speciesfile.org).Fil: Pocco, Martina Eugenia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Centro de Estudios Parasitológicos y de Vectores. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. Centro de Estudios Parasitológicos y de Vectores; ArgentinaFil: Rubio, Gonzalo Daniel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales “Bernardino Rivadavia”; ArgentinaFil: Cigliano, Maria Marta. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Centro de Estudios Parasitológicos y de Vectores. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. Centro de Estudios Parasitológicos y de Vectores; Argentin

Dolichopoda cave crickets from Peloponnese (Orthoptera, Rhaphidophoridae): molecular and morphological investigations reveal four new species for Greece

Three species belonging to the genus Dolichopoda (Orthoptera; Rhaphidopohoridae) are known so far from the Peloponnese, all endemic to the area. In particular, D. matsakisi is known from two mountains in the North, while D. dalensi is present in the east region. The third species, D. unicolor, is distributed in the southern part of the Peloponnese, inhabiting caves on Mt Taygetos and Mani Peninsula. Recently, extensive sampling work in most of the Peloponnese has led to the discovery of new taxa, morphologically differentiated by the above three known species. To investigate the delimitation of the Peloponnesian species of Dolichopoda, we performed both morphological and molecular analyses. Morphological analysis was carried out by considering diagnostic characters generally used to distinguish different taxa, as the shape of epiphallus in males and the subgenital plate in females. Molecular analysis was performed by sequencing three mitochondrial genes, 12S rRNA, 16S rRNA, and COI, and one nuclear gene, 28S rRNA. Results from both morphological and molecular analyses were used to revise the taxonomic arrangement of the Peloponnesian species. On the whole, we were able to distinguish seven lineages of Peloponnesian Dolichopoda species, of which D. kofinasi n.sp., D.epidavrii n.sp., D. poseidonica n.sp., and D. propanti n.sp. are described as new species