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A new spleenwort species, Asplenium guodanum, was found and described from Danxia landform region in Guangdong, China. The new species has close resemblance to A. subcrenatum Ching ex S.H.Wu in morphology, but can be distinguished by having plants small, stipes and rachises not covered with fibrous scales, relatively fewer pairs of pinnae, pinnae short, pinna margin weakly biserrate, pinna apex acute and lower pinnae obviously reduced. Phylogenetic analyses, based on six plastid markers (atpB, rbcL, rps4 & rps4-trnS and trnL & trnL-F) of the new species and its relatives, support a close relationship between A. guodanum and A. subcrenatum. Only one population with no more than 50 individuals were found and, therefore, it is recommended to be classified as Critically Endangered (CR) following IUCN Red List Criteria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: The bright red color of Erythraeid mites is conspicuous. The Erythraeid larvae are usually ectoparasitic on arthropods and easily observed. Both the genera Charletonia and Leptus are distributed worldwide. Charletonia has 86 species and Leptus has more than 240 species based on larvae, respectively. To date, two species of the genus Charletonia and 11 species of the genus Leptus have been reported from China. Here, four new species, Charletonia rectangia Xu and Jin sp. nov. collected from tropical rainforests in the Guangxi Province and Yunnan Province, Leptus (Leptus) bomiensis Xu and Jin sp. nov. from the Tibet Autonomous Region, where the altitude ranges from 2673 to 3374 m, Leptus (Leptus) longisolenidionus Xu and Jin sp. nov. from jungles in the Hainan Province (Hainan Island), and Leptus (Leptus) striatus Xu and Jin sp. nov. from Xishuangbanna tropical rainforests in the Yunnan Province. We believe that this study will contribute to further research on the taxonomy and phylogeny of the family. Four new species, Charletonia rectangia Xu and Jin sp. nov., Leptus (Leptus) bomiensis Xu and Jin sp. nov., Leptus (Leptus) longisolenidionus Xu and Jin sp. nov., and Leptus (Leptus) striatus Xu and Jin sp. nov. are described and illustrated based on larvae. All four new species are from biodiversity hotspots, L. (L.) bomiensissp. nov. from the Eastern Himalayas biodiversity hotspot, while the other three species from the Indo–Burma biodiversity hotspot. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Erythraeid mite members are large, larvae usually parasitize other arthropods, whereas the nymphs and adults are free-living predators of a small insect. Free-living adults/nymphs and parasitic larvae vary greatly in morphology, and classification is usually treated independently. To date, more than 850 species of erythraeid mites have been recorded. Among them, more than 580 species were described only as larvae. Eatoniana Cambridge, 1898 is a small genus within Erythraeidae comprising, 10 valid species worldwide, three species of which were only reported based on larvae. Erythraeus Latreille, 1806 includes 123 species distributed worldwide, with 69 species reported based on larvae alone. Here, two new species, Eatoniana nanlingensis Xu and Jin sp. nov. from Guangdong Province and Erythraeus (Erythraeus) kunyuensis Xu and Jin sp. nov. from Shandong Province, are described based on larval stage. We believe that the study will contribute to further studies on the taxonomy and phylogeny of Erythraeidae. The species Eatoniana yangshuonicus (Haitlinger) comb. nov. is transferred from the genus Erythraeus to Eatoniana based on the basifemoral setal formula 2-2-1. Two new species, Eatoniana nanlingensis Xu and Jin sp. nov. and Erythraeus (Erythraeus) kunyuensis Xu and Jin sp. nov. are described and illustrated based on larvae. Eatoniana nanlingensis sp. nov. from the Oriental region (Guangdong Province), Er. (Er.) kunyuensis sp. nov. from the Palaearctic region (Shandong Province). An updated key to larval species of the genus Eatoniana of the world is presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mangroves are typically found in tropical coastal areas, and these ecosystems face deterioration and loss due to threats from climate and human factors. In this study, sediment cores were collected from human-planted mangroves in sub-tropical Ximen Island, China, and were determined for sedimentary phosphorus (P) species. The objective was to investigate the ability of mangroves planted in a zone bordering their temperature limit to preserve and regulate P. Our results showed that bioavailable P (BAP), which includes exchangeable-P (Ex-P), iron-bound P (Fe-P), and organic P (OP), accounted for approximately 64% of total P (TP). Apatite P (Ca-P), which accounted for 24% of TP, most likely originated from aquaculture activities surrounding the island. The vertical distribution of sedimentary P species along the sediment cores showed a rather constant trend along the salt marsh stand but considerable fluctuations for the mangroves and bare mudflat. These results indicate that mangroves accumulated P when there was a high P discharge event, and that this P was eventually released during organic matter decomposition and contributed to Ca-P formation. Nevertheless, old and young mangroves accumulated higher sedimentary P species, OP, and BAP compared to the salt marsh stand and bare mudflat areas. This study showed the potential of mangroves planted outside their suitable climate zone to preserve and regulate P. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Candida parapsilosis complex is one of the most common non- albicans Candida species that cause candidemia, especially invasive candidiasis. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the antifungal susceptibilities of both colonized and invasive clinical C. parapsilosis complex isolates to 10 drugs: amphotericin (AMB), anidulafungin (AFG), caspofungin (CAS), micafungin (MFG), fluconazole (FLZ), voriconazole (VRZ), itraconazole (ITZ), posaconazole (POZ), 5-flucytosine (FCY), and isaconazole (ISA). In total, 884 C. parapsilosis species complex isolates were gathered between January 2005 and December 2020. C. parapsilosis , Candida metapsilosis , and Candida orthopsilosis accounted for 86.3, 8.1, and 5.5% of the cryptic species, respectively. The resistance/non-wild-type rate of bloodstream C. parapsilosis to the drugs was 3.5%, of C. metapsilosis to AFG and CAS was 7.7%, and of C. orthopsilosis to FLZ and VRZ was 15% and to CAS, MFG, and POZ was 5%. The geometric mean (GM) minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of non-bloodstream C. parapsilosis for CAS (0.555 mg/L), MFG (0.853 mg/L), FLZ (0.816 mg/L), VRZ (0.017 mg/L), ITZ (0.076 mg/L), and POZ (0.042 mg/L) were significantly higher than those of bloodstream C. parapsilosis , for which the GM MICs were 0.464, 0.745, 0.704, 0.015, 0.061, and 0.033 mg/L, respectively (P < 0.05). The MIC distribution of the bloodstream C. parapsilosis strains collected from 2019 to 2020 for VRZ, POZ, and ITZ were 0.018, 0.040, and 0.073 mg/L, significantly higher than those from 2005 to 2018, which were 0.013, 0.028, and 0.052 mg/L (P < 0.05). Additionally, MIC distributions of C. parapsilosis with FLZ and the distributions of C. orthopsilosis with ITZ and POZ might be higher than those in Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute studies. Furthermore, a total of 143 C. parapsilosis complex isolates showed great susceptibility to ISA. Overall, antifungal treatment of the non-bloodstream C. parapsilosis complex isolates should be managed and improved. The clinicians are suggested to pay more attention on azoles usage for the C. parapsilosis complex isolates. In addition, establishing the epidemiological cutoff values (ECVs) for azoles used in Eastern China may offer better guidance for clinical treatments. Although ISA acts on the same target as other azoles, it may be used as an alternative therapy for cases caused by FLZ- or VRZ-resistant C. parapsilosis complex strains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Amphipods of the superfamily Lysianassoidea that inhabit the hadal zone (> 6000 m) have large bathymetric ranges and play a key role in deep ocean ecosystems. The endemism of these amphipod species makes them a good model for investigating potent natural selection and restricted dispersal in deep ocean trenches. Here, we describe genetic diversity and intraspecific population differentiation among three amphipod species from four Pacific trenches based on a mtDNA concatenated dataset (CO Ι and 16S rRNA genes) from 150 amphipod individuals. All amphipod populations had low genetic diversity, as indicated by haplotype and nucleotide diversity values. Population geographic relationship analysis of two Alicella gigantea populations revealed no genetic differentiation between these two localities (pairwise genetic differentiation coefficient = 0.00032, gene flow = 784.58), and the major variation (99.97%) was derived from variation within the populations. Historical demographic events were investigated using Tajima's D and Fu's F neutrality tests and analysis of mismatch distribution. Consistent results provided strong evidence to support the premise that demographic expansion occurred only for the Mariana population of Hirondellea gigas, possibly within the last 2.1–3.4 million years. These findings suggest that the formation of amphipod population structure might be the result of multiple factors including high hydrostatic pressure, food distribution, trench topographic forcing and potential ecological interactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]