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Ecosystems away from human disturbance provide an ideal paradigm for microbial ecology research. The Burqin glacier No. 18 in the Chinese Altay Mountains is such an ecosystem; however, there are no prior studies on the microbiology in the area. Here, we isolated 902 bacterial strains on the Burqin glacier No. 18 to determine the diversity and distribution characteristics of microorganisms. Isolated strains belonged to six phyla (in the order of dominance: Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Cyanobacteria, Firmicutes, and Deinococcus-Thermus) and 90 genera. Our results also demonstrated the presence of a high proportion of potential new species (43%) in the Burqin glacier No. 18, and 67% of the potential new species were isolated at 25 °C. Species diversity varied among habitats, with the lowest diversity in surface ice and the highest diversity in the soil farthest from the glacier terminus. The pigmented colonies made up 52.7% of all isolates, with yellow-colored colonies being the most abundant (18.8%). This study indicates that the Burqin glacier No. 18 hosts rich bacterial strain diversity, and may represent a significant potential source of new functional and pigmented bacteria for the development of critical pharmaceuticals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A very common and early named mayfly species from China, Heptagenia ngi Hsu, 1936, has no exact descriptions of its imago nor nymph, so its generic status is not clear. Based on detailed re-descriptions and pictures of all its stages from fresh materials, it is transferred into a new genus Maculogenia Zhou, gen. nov. Its nymph has conspicuous pale-dark colored body, slightly concave posterior margin of head, scattered simple setae on ventral maxillae, spines and very fine hair-like setae on caudal filaments. Similarly, its imago also has remarkable dark stripes and dots on the pale body, small median titillators and short first segment of foretarsi, apically expanded penes without any spines. It is similar to the genera Electrogena, Thamnodontus, and Parafronurus but they can be differentiated easily by above selected key structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]