Taxonomy, Volume 3, Issue 2 (June 2023) – 7 articles

We describe a new species of terrestrial-breeding frog of the genus Pristimantis from the Peruvian Yungas ecoregion of central Peru, Junin Department. The description is based on the observation of morphological features, color patterns of fourteen specimens, bioacoustic traits of the advertisement calls, and a phylogenetic analysis using a sequence fragment of 16S rRNA. The new species is mainly characterized by having a rounded or truncate snout in dorsal view, presence of dorsolateral folds, tympanic membrane and annulus distinct, absence of flash marks on the hidden surfaces of flanks and hindlimbs, and a small size (maximum SVL 15.6 mm in males and 19.3 mm in females). We provide diagnostic traits to differentiate the new species from phylogenetically close relatives, as well as morphologically similar and sympatric species of Pristimantis. Full article

In this paper, the type material of all five Japanese Paracis species (P. ijimai (Kinoshita, 1909), P. miyajimai (Kinoshita, 1909), P. pustulata (Wright and Studer, 1889), P. spinifera (Nutting, 1912), P. squamata (Nutting, 1910)), two Placogorgia species (P. japonica (Nutting, 1912) and P. placoderma (Nutting, 1910)), Pseudothesea foliata Aurivillius, 1931, and the type of the genus Paracis, P. orientalis (Ridley, 1882) are re-examined and re-described. The sclerites of the different species are depicted using scanning electron microscopy. All Japanese Paracis and related species treated here belong to four genera: Paracis, Kükenthal, 1919, Imbricacis Matsumoto and Ofwegen gen. nov., Pseudoparacis Matsumoto and Ofwegen gen. nov., and Pseudothesea Kükenthal, 1919. A replacement name for the genus Paracis as Neoacis is introduced because there is a senior homonym. A total of eight new species are described: Neoacis bayeri sp. nov., N. marianaensis sp. nov., N. ofwegeni sp. nov., Imbricacis foliata sp. nov., I. hawaiiensis sp. nov., Pseudoparacis tanseii sp. nov., Pseudothesea satsumaensis sp. nov., and Pseudothesea tokaraensis sp. nov. Pseudothesea foliata Aurivillius, 1931 is synonymised with Pseudoparacis japonica (Nutting, 1912). We have designated a lectotype for Paracis squamata (Nutting, 1910), which is now revised as Imbricacis squamata. Keys to the genera Neoacis, Imbricacis, Pseudoparacis, and Pseudothesea are presented. Full article

Zamia magnifica (Zamiaceae), a new species endemic to Sierra Norte, Oaxaca, Mexico, is described. Zamia magnifica is characterized by having a rupicolous habit, pendent leaves bearing leaflets that are densely tomentose and pink to caramel in color when emerging, and broad oblong leaflets that are coriaceous in texture with few non-prominent denticulations and ovulate strobili with short (<4 cm) peduncles. It is compared to Z. furfuracea and Z. meermanii, the Mesoamerican Zamia species to which it shares the closest morphological resemblance. Full article

Strumigenys is one of the largest genera of ants, and one of the few which has received relatively recent global taxonomic treatment at the species level. Despite this, many new species continue to be found in most biogeographic regions. Strumigenys flavianae sp. nov. is described based on material collected in Viçosa, in the state of Minas Gerais, among secondary growth remnants of the Brazilian Atlantic Forest. Three workers of this new taxon are known, and the lack of additional specimens in the main ant collections harboring Atlantic Forest ants indicates its rarity. Strumigenys flavianae can be differentiated from all Neotropical Strumigenys for its overall slenderness, flagellate and wire-like pilosity, extremely long head, large and medially notched subpetiolar spongiform tissue and a mostly reticulate pleura. The new species is distinct from all other species found in the Atlantic Forest. It has similarities to some Amazonian species in the hyphata-group (S. cincinnata and S. hyphata) and the probatrix-group (S. doryceps), while still having significant differences relative to both. Therefore, a new species group was created to account for the new species. Full article

The family Elateridae, known as click beetles, is a mega-diverse lineage of Coleoptera. Wireworms are the larval stage of click beetles, which are generalist herbivores and which are recognized as economically important pests of crops. To more effectively control and monitor wireworms, it is crucial to understand the genetics, taxonomy and phylogenetics of Elateridae. Here, we sequenced and characterized three complete mitochondrial genomes (mitogenomes) from the subfamily Elaterinae using a next-generation sequencing approach. In addition, we provided the annotated mitogenomes of the newly sequenced species, namely Parasilesis musculus (Candèze, 1873), Melanotus cribricollis Candèze, 1860 and Glyphonyx sp., and compared their arrangement with other closely related species. The secondary structures of tRNA genes and rRNA genes were predicted. Combined with the published mitogenomes of elaterid species, we reconstructed the phylogenetic framework for Elateridae under maximum likelihood and Bayesian inference methods using nucleotide and amino acid sequence datasets separately. The results from the Bayesian analysis based on the nucleotide dataset PCGRNA including all 37 mitochondrial genes were congruent with previous studies. Within the monophyletic Elateridae, two main clades were recovered. The first clade included Elaterinae and Melanotus. The second clade consisted of the remaining subfamilies. Physodactylinae and Cardiophorinae formed a sister group. Agrypninae was monophyletic. A subclade comprised Negastriinae and Dendrometrinae. Full article

Prospection of the endosphere of the native plant Fragaria chiloensis subsp. chiloensis f. patagonica from the foothills of the Chilean Andes led to the isolation of two strains of the genus Coniochaeta. We addressed the taxonomic placement of these strains based on DNA sequencing data using the ITS and LSU genetic markers, morphological features, and biochemical traits. One of these strains was identified as Coniochaeta hansenii, for which the anamorph and teleomorph states were described. The second strain did not seem to match any of the currently described species of this genus; therefore, we propose the name Coniochaeta fragariicola sp. nov. Full article

A new species of Pareas Wagler, 1830 is described from Dulongjiang Township, Gongshan County, Yunnan Province, China. Phylogenetically, the new species is most closely related to Pareas kaduri Bhosale, Phansalkar, Sawant, Gowande, Patel and Mirza, 2020; however, the genetic divergence (uncorrected p-distance) of the cyt b gene between the new species and P. kaduri reached 9.4%. Morphologically, the new species can be distinguished from P. kaduri by the absence of preoculars, loreal bordering the orbit, the fusion of subocular and postocular, three rows enlarged vertebral scales, five rows keeled mid-dorsal scales at the middle of the body, having more subcaudals, and having a relatively longer tail. In addition, the new species can be distinguished from all other congeners by a combination of morphological characteristics. Our work brings the total number of recognized species of the genus Pareas to 29, of which 23 occur in China. Full article