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Two new species of Rhagovelia are described from southern New Guinea: R. kiunga from the Fly River basin of Papua New Guinea, and R. timikana from the Iweka River basin of Indonesian New Guinea. These species are placed in a newly defined R. kiunga species group on the basis of shared distinctive morphological character states. Photographic figures of the dorsal habitus in both sexes and other key morphological characters are provided for both species, along with line drawings of the male parameres and a distribution map.

Thirty-four new species of Rhagovelia are described from the East Papua Composite Terrane of far eastern New Guinea. The new taxa described from this area are as follows: R. yela, R. woa, and R. mbo from Rossel Island; R. tagula, R. kolukolu, and R. riu from Tagula Island; R. bwagabwaga from Misima Island; R. suloga from Woodlark Island; R. torrenticola and R. elongata from Goodenough Island; R. awaetowa from Fergusson Island; R. dibuwa from Normanby Island; R. basima from Fergusson and Normanby islands; R. kalawai from Sideia and Basilaki islands; R. guiagoila from Basilaki, Sideia and Sariba islands; R. tufi, R. bowutu, R. obscura, R. upalai, R. antap, R. goilala, R. udabe, R. watuti, R. peninsularis, R. auga, R. aviavi, R. tekadu, R. sapoi, R. mimani, R. dinga, R. ivimkana, R. loriae, R. grisea, and R. cheesmanae from the Owen Stanley Range of eastern New Guinea. Redescriptions are also provided for five previously described species occurring in this portion of New Guinea: R. peggiae Kirkaldy, R. hirsuta Lansbury, R. priori Lansbury, R. caesius Lansbury and R. aureospicata Lansbury. A regional key is provided for these 39 species of Rhagovelia occurring in the Papuan Peninsula and adjacent island groups, accompanied by figures of the male parameres and other diagnostic morphological structures, and distribution maps for all species.

Studies of the Papuan region have provided fundamental insights into the evolutionary processes generating its exceptional biodiversity, but the influence of geological processes merits further study. Lying at the junction of five tectonic plates, this region has experienced a turbulent geological history that has not only produced towering mountains allowing elevational specialization and island archipelagos with varying degrees of isolation promoting vicariance, but also active margins where land masses have collided and been subsequently rifted apart creating a mosaic of intermixed terranes with vastly different geological histories. Asterophryine frogs are a hyperdiverse clade representing half the world's microhylid diversity (over 360 species) centered on New Guinea and its satellite islands. We show that vicariance facilitated by geological history explains this far and wide distribution of a clade that should have poor dispersal abilities. We recovered a mainland tectonic unit, the East Papua Composite Terrane (EPCT), as the center of origin for Asterophryinae and no fewer than 71 instances of what appear to be long-distance dispersal events, 29 of which are between mainland regions, with 42 from the mainland to the islands, some presently as far as 200 km away from source populations over open ocean. Furthermore, we find strong support for a "Slow and Steady" hypothesis for the formation of the northern margin of New Guinea by many separate accretion events during the Miocene, over other major geological alternatives, consistent with the 20 M year age of the clade and arrival via the EPCT. In addition, the historical biogeography of our frogs strongly supports an affiliation of the Louisiade Archipelago and Woodlark Island with the Owen Stanley Range on the EPCT, and the recent proximity of the large New Britain Island. Our results show that Asterophryinae did not have to repeatedly and independently disperse across large ocean barriers to the offshore islands, against the predictions of island biogeography theory, but that the current distribution can be explained through vicariance and short-distance oceanic dispersal as historical land connections disappeared and islands slowly became separated from each other. We show that islands have a life history, changing in distance from other land masses, with consequent opportunities for dispersal, isolation, and cladogenesis of their biotas. More broadly, we can begin to see how the geological history of the Papuan region can result in the rapid accumulation and staggering number of extant species., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest., (© The Author(s) 2023. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology.)

We examined the morphology, colour patterns and genetic relationships of Nososticta populations allied to N. salomonis (Selys) from across Melanesia. Seven species-level taxa are recognised in the N. salomonis 'complex': N. africana (Schmidt), N. boonei sp. nov., N. chrismulleri Theischinger & Richards, N. hedigeri sp. nov., N. salomonis (Selys), N. stueberi sp. nov., and N. tagula sp. nov. All of these species are black damselflies with blue markings, and they differ from all other Nososticta by having: 1) a prominent spike on the male superior appendage, 2) a prominent angular base of the male inferior appendage, and 3) a complex posterior lobe on the female pronotum bearing two pairs of processes in the rough shape of a chair when viewed laterally. A molecular phylogeny based on the DNA barcode fragment of the COI gene plus two nuclear genes indicates that these seven species are closely related, but more extensive sampling of Nososticta species is required to confirm that they form a monophyletic group.

The aim of this study was to analyze morphological types and arrangement of the leg sensilla of Corixidae, Ochteridae and Gelastocoridae, in relation to their various habitats. The leg sensilla of four species of Corixidae, six of Gelastocoridae and two of Ochteridae were studied. Eight main types of sensilla with six subtypes of sensilla trichodea and four subtypes of sensilla chaetica were found and described. The greatest variability was observed among mechanoreceptive sensilla. The study showed differences in the shape of the legs between strictly aquatic and terrestrial taxa. It is the first attempt to describe leg sensilla among nepomorphan taxa.

Two species of the genus Valleriola Distant, 1904 (Heteroptera: Leptopodomorpha: Leptopodidae: Leptopodinae: Leptopodini) are described as new: Valleriola asiatica sp. nov. from Laos and Hainan Island of China, and Valleriola bui sp. nov. from Laos and Thailand. In addition, Leptopus riparius Hsiao, 1964 is newly recorded for Vietnam, Valleriola javanica Drake & Hottes, 1951 is newly recorded for Laos, and additional records are provided for Leptopus riparius, Valleriola javanica and Valleriola buenoi (Usinger, 1942). Photographs of the dorsal habitus, heads, hemelytra, fore femora, male parameres and live specimens are provided, accompanied by a distribution map for the species of Leptopodini occurring in East and Southeast Asia.

Key innovations enable access to new adaptive zones and are often linked to increased species diversification. As such, innovations have attracted much attention, yet their concrete consequences on the subsequent evolutionary trajectory and diversification of the bearing lineages remain unclear. Water striders and relatives (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Gerromorpha) represent a monophyletic lineage of insects that transitioned to live on the water-air interface and that diversified to occupy ponds, puddles, streams, mangroves and even oceans. This lineage offers an excellent model to study the patterns and processes underlying species diversification following the conquest of new adaptive zones. However, such studies require a reliable and comprehensive phylogeny of the infraorder. Based on whole transcriptomic datasets of 97 species and fossil records, we reconstructed a new phylogeny of the Gerromorpha that resolved inconsistencies and uncovered strong support for previously unknown relationships between some important taxa. We then used this phylogeny to reconstruct the ancestral state of a set of adaptations associated with water surface invasion (fluid locomotion, dispersal and transition to saline waters) and sexual dimorphism. Our results uncovered important patterns and dynamics of phenotypic evolution, revealing how the initial event of water surface invasion enabled multiple subsequent transitions to new adaptive zones on the water surfaces. This phylogeny and the associated transcriptomic datasets constitute highly valuable resources, making Gerromorpha an attractive model lineage to study phenotypic evolution., (© The Author(s) 2022. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution.)

The family Hydrometridae (Hemiptera: Heteroptera) has been previously recorded from French Polynesia based on three species in three genera: Chaetometra robusta (Hungerford, 1939) and Dolichocephalometra pacifica (Van Duzee, 1934) from the Marquesas Islands, and Hydrometra gagnei J. Polhemus & D. Polhemus, 1995 from Tahiti in the Society Islands. Based on recent surveys from montane cloud forest habitats, two new genera and and six new species of Hydrometridae are described from the Marquesas and Society Islands as follows: Marquesametra n. gen. from the Marquesas Islands, containing M. hivaoa n. sp. from Hiva Oa (Mt. Temetiu); and Prohydrometra n. gen. from the Society Islands, containing the previously described P. gagnei n. comb. from Tahiti (Tahiti Nui), and the five new species P. johnpolhemi n. sp. and P. englundi n. sp. from Raiatea (Trois Cascade and Mt. Toomaru respectively); P. tohiea n. sp. and P. moorea n. sp. from Moorea (both from Mt. Tohiea); and P. teatara n. sp. from Tahiti (Mts. Teatara). All of these new species are terrestrial, and with the exception of P. johnpolhemi, which inhabits rheocrenes, represent specialized inhabitants of upland wet forest habitats. This indicates that terrestrial ecologies have evolved multiple times within the Hydrometridae, and are the typical mode of life for species of this family occurring in the insular eastern Pacific.