Search

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]

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]

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]