Amamiclytus wuxingensis: A new species of Longhorn Beetle from Guizhou Province, China.

Longhorn Beetles, Cerambycidae, are a widespread and diverse group, noted for their elongated antennae, which are often longer than their bodies (though some species lack these). Their larvae are wood-boring grubs, which can be destructive to timber, and many species are considered pests, both in the forestry industry and in human dwellings as woodworm. Some of the largest species of Beetle are Longhorns, including the 16 cm Titan Beetle (Titanus giganteus) of South America. Members of the genus Amamiclytus are Small-bodied Longhorn Beetles with black, glossy bodies and white pubescent markings on the elytra (wing cases), found across Asia including India, Sri Lanka, China, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, and the Ryukyu Islands. There are currently nineteen described species in the genus, two of which are known from China.

In a paper published in the journal ZooKeys on 14 November 2019, Shulin Yang and Cha Wang of the School of Life Sciences at Guizhou Normal University, describe a new species of Amamiclytus from Guizhou Province, China.

The species is decribed from two male specimens collected by by net sweeping on a Flowering Bird Cherry, Prunus sp., in the village of Wuxing in Leishan County. The species is named Amamiclytus wuxingensis, meaning 'from Wuxing'. These specimens are 3.5 and 5.0 mm in length, predominantly black and glossy, with brown mouthparts, antenna, abdomen and legs. The body is sparsely covered with long pale hairs.

Amamiclytus wuxingensis, male specimen in dorsal view. Scale bar is 1 mm. Yang & Wang (2019).

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Lasius tapinomoides: A new species of Ant from Crete.

Ants of the genus Lasius are found across Eurasia, with most species being wide-ranging and dominant members of the local Ant community. The genus contains very few endemic species (species with limited distributions), with these mostly found on islands or occasionally mountains. There are currently seven members of the genus reported on Crete, one of the largest islands in the Mediterranean, with a diverse, mountainous, landscape, though the Ant fauna of the island is not well studied.

In a paper published in the journal ZooKeys on 10 October 2018, Sebastian Salata and Lech Borowiec of the Department of Biodiversity and Evolutionary Taxonomy at the University of Wrocław, describe a new species of Lasius from Crete.

The new species is named Lasius tapinomoides, for its similarity to Ants of the genus Tapinoma. These Ants are dark brown in colour, with orange antennae and legs. The head is oval, and slightly longer than wide, the eyes also oval and 25% as long as the head. The species is covered in a dense coat of hairs and is believed to be endemic to Crete.

Lasius tapinomoides, worker in lateral view. Salata and Borowiec (2018). 

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Eneopterine Crickets from Leyte Island.

Leyte is the eighth largest island in the Philippines and is considered a site of high biodiversity and conservational importance, particularly the forested mountainous interior of the island. The island was formed by volcanic activity along the Philippine Trench (a subductive plate margin, where one tectonic plate is being forced below another and melted by the heat of the Earth’s interior, with some of the resultant magma rising through the overlying plate to form volcanoes), during the Pleistocene, when it was attached to Greater Mindanao Island. As such it has rich volcanic soils and a fauna and flora made up entirely of species that have colonized during or since the Pleistocene or evolved in situ since this time. Leyte has a tropical climate wet all year round, with the southern part of the island having a distinctive period of higher rainfall between November and April. Despite being an area of acknowledged biogeographical and conservational importance, much of the interior of Leyte remains unexplored by biologists.

In a paper published in the Raffles Bulletin of Zoology on 14 April 2015, Tony Robillard of the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle in Paris and Sheryl Yap of the College of Agriculture and Museum of Natural History at the University of the Philippines Los Baños, describe two new species of Eneopterine Crickets as part of a study of this group on Leyte Island. Eneopterines are small Crickets with distinctive mating signals, noted for their high diversity on the islands of the Pacific and the Philippines in particular.

The first new species described is placed in the genus Lebinthus, which is known from the Philippines, Indonesia and Singapore, and given the specific name estrellae, in honour of Regene ‘Estrella’ Portillo, who helped with accessing the locality where the species was discovered and with collecting specimens. The species is described from three male, sixteen female and four juvenile specimens collected in secondary rain forest on a slope at Barangay Villa Corazon near Burauen in the interior of Leyte Island, as well as one male captured as a juvenile at the same location and raised in captivity.

Lebinthus estrellae: (A) Female and (B) juvenile specimens in leaf litter secondary forest, Barangay Villa Corazon. Robillard & Yap (2015).

Lebinthus estrellae is smaller than other members of the genus, and dark brown in colour with white and yellow markings and a lighter orangish or pinkish brown band on each eye. It was found living in small bushes and leaf litter in secondary rain forest. The males produced a short trilling song with 83-91 sylables.

The second new species described is placed in the wingless genus Paranisitra, which is known from the Philippines and offshore islands of New Guinea, and given the specific name leytensis, meaning ‘from Leyte’. The species is described from two male, six female and four juvenile specimens collected from secondary rainforest at Barangay Villa Corazon and Buo near Burauen in the interior of Leyte Island.

Paranisitra leytensis, new species: (A) Female and (B) male specimens in natural habitat near Burauen, Leyte. Regene Portillo in Robillard & Yap (2015).

Paranisitra leytensis is considerably smaller than other members of the genus, with the males being notably smaller than the females. The adults are yellow- or grey-brown, with black and white markings, these differing between the sexes. Juveniles are colourful, with green red and yellow patterns, later instars developing the adult colouration.

Paranisitra leytensis, juvenile specimen in dorsal view. Scale bar is 1 mm. Robillard & Yap (2015).

See also…

Three new species of Mud Crickets from Colombia.

Mud Crickets, Ripipterygidae, are small Orthopterans...

Two new species of Katydids from Pakistan.

Katydids (or Buschcrickets), Tettigonioidea, are Members of the Insect Order Orthoptera, which also includes Crickets and Grasshoppers. They are voracious eaters and can consume a...

Three new species of Katydid from China.

Katydids of the genus Xizicusand its close relatives are found across eastern Asia, though the taxonomy of the group is currently somewhat confused, in part due to publications being published in different languages...

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A new species of Bumble Bee Scarab Beetle from the Early Cretaceous of Inner Mongolia.

Bumble Bee Scarab Beetles (Glaphyridae) are small, brightly coloured Scarab Beetles; they are active animals, and frequently resemble Bumble Bees when in flight. There are eight extant genera in the family, two of which have fossil records. Another two genera are known from the fossil record only. The fossil record of the family dates back to the Early Cretaceous.

In a paper published in the journal ZooKeys on 14 November 2012, Zhuo Yan of the Key Laboratory of Insect Evolution and Environmental Changes at the College of Life Sciences at Capital Normal University in Beijing, Georgiy Nikolajev of the Department of Biology and Biotechnology at the Al-Farabi Kazakh National University and Dong Ren, also of the Key Laboratory of Insect Evolution and Environmental Changes, describe a new species of Bumble Bee Scarab Beetle from the Early Cretaceous Yixian Formation at Liutiaogou Village in Ningcheng County, Inner Mongolia.

The new species is considered to be distinctive enough to be placed in a new genus, named Cretohypna, meaning Anthypna, from the Cretaceous; Anthypna being  a modern genus of Glaphyrid Beetle. It is given the specific name Cretohypna cristata, where 'cristata' means crested, a reference to a crest-like structure on the head. The species is described from a single male specimen. Cretohypna cristata is a 16.1 mm Beetle with an elongate oval body. 

Cretohypna cristata; (a) protibia, (b) mesotibia, (c) body in dorsal view, (d) metatibia and metatarsus. Yan, Nikolajev & Ren (2012).

Cretohypna cristata, line drawings of holotype in (a) dorsal view, and (b) ventral view. Yan, Nikolajev & Ren (2012).

The Yixian Formation is probably 129.7-122.1 million years old, making it from the Barremian to early Aptian Age. The deposits are mainly lacustrine (from a lake) with occasional horizons of volcanic ash. The climate at the time of deposition interpreted as cool temperate, with mean air temperatures of 10 ± 4 °C. The formation is noted for its numerous fossil insects.

The approximate location of the site where Cretohypna cristata was found. Google Maps.

See also A new species of Corythoderine Scarab Beetle from Cambodia, Two new species of Ground Beetle from the Pyrenees, Six new species of Jewel Beetle from Southeast Asia, A Rove Beetle from the Late Triassic of Virginia and A new species of Blister Beetle from southeast Iran.

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A new species of Leaf Mining Moth from Brazil.

Moths of the Family Gracillariidae are found throughout the world except on Antarctica and some remote islands. Their larvae are leaf-miners, worm-like caterpillars that live in tunnels inside leaves. Some groups of Gracillarid Moths are specialist miners of the leaves of some of the most ancient groups of Angiosperms (flowering plants) such as Laurels and Magnolias, and fossils leaf mines that resemble those of the Moths have been found in fossilized leaves from the Cretaceous of North America, which also suggests this is an ancient association. However the oldest fossils of the Moths themselves are from (Eocene) Baltic amber, and there is no way to connect these moths to the leaf mines, so it is quite conceivable that the Moths have only recently colonized these plants, and that the burrow shape is coincidental, simply a good shape for a leaf mine in this sort of leaf.

In a paper published in the journal Zootaxa on 12 December 2012 a team of scientists led by Rosângela Brito of Departamento de Zoologia at the Instituto de Biociências at the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, describe a new species of Gracillarid Moth from the Atlantic Rain Forest of southern Brazil.

The new Moth is placed in the genus Phyllocnistis, which has a global distribution and which is known to target a wide range of plants, though the majority are found in North America, where their larvae feed particularly on Laurels, Magnolias and Witch-Hazels. The new species spends its larval stage on the Passion Vine, Passiflora organensis, the first member of the genus found on a plant found on a plant of the Family Passifloraceae, and the first from the Brazilian Atlantic Rainforest.

It is given the specific name Phyllocnistis tethys, after Tethys, a Titan goddess in the Greek mythology; the wife of Oceanus, and the mother of rivers, springs, streams, fountains and clouds, a reference to the cloudy and humid nature of the area of the Brazilian Atlantic Rain Forest where the new species was first found.

Phyllocnistis tethys is a ~2.5 mm feathery whit Moth with yellow markings on the tips of its wings. It is known only from a single site at an altitude of 900 m in the Atlantic Rainforest of Rio Grande do Sul State.

Phyllocnistis tethys. (A) Adult, wings spread, pinned, dorsal view. Scale bar is 0.5 mm. (B) Adult, wings folded, on Passiflora organensis leaf, in dorsal view. (C) Adult, wings folded, on Passiflora organensis leaf, in lateral view. Brito et al. (2012).

The eggs of Phyllocnistis tethys are laid on the underside leaves of Passiflora organensis, a Passion Vine known to horticulturalists as the Organensis Passionflower or Batwing Passionflower. The emergent larvae drill into the leaves of the vine, where they remain for the rest of the larval part of their life cycle, molting three times within the leaf; the final larval stage, typically slightly under 5 mm long, does not breed, but spins a silk cocoon within which it  pupates, emerging as an adult.

The leaves and flower of Passiflora organensis. Ruhr Universität Bochum.

Larval and pupal morphology of Phyllocnistis tethys under light microscopy. (A) First larval (“sap-feeding”) instar, dorsal and ventral views. Scale bar 100 μm. (B) Third larval (“sap feeding”) instar, dorsal and ventral views. Scale bar 400 μm. (C) Fourth larval (“cocoon spinning”) instar, dorsal and ventral views. Scale bar 400 μm. (D–F) pupa, dorsal, ventral and lateral views. Scale bar 300 μm. Brito et al. (2012).

Life history of Phyllocnistis tethys: (A) Passiflora organensis shoot twining around on a fern at the type locality, showing several leaves with leaf mines at different development stages. Scale bar 100 mm. (B) Leaf mine on abaxial leaf surface (open and closed arrows, respectively, indicate empty chorion on leaf surface, and sap-feeding larva seen through transparent mine). Scale bar 1 mm. (C) Egg containing developing embryo. Scale bar 0.2 mm. (D) Freshly hatched larva (indicated by closed arrow; open arrow indicates green frass lines left within the egg chorion. Scale bar 0.3 mm. (E) Third-instar (sap-feeding) larva. Scale bar 1 mm. (F) Detail of frass lines and damage on leaf parenchyma, left by the larva within the mine. Scale bar 1 mm. (G) fourth-instar (spinning) larva. Scale bar 1 mm. (H) Passiflora organensis containing several pupae, seen by transparency (indicated by arrows). Scale bar 20 mm. (I) A pupal chamber in detail, showing a pupa by transparency. Scale bar 5 mm. (J) Pupa, lateral view. Scale bar 0.5 mm. (K) Pupal exuvium protruded (arrow) from mine exit hole, just after the adult emergence. Scale bar 2 mm. Brito et al. (2012).

See also The taxonomic implications of host preference in Large Blue Butterflies, New species of Owlet Moth from Sichuan Province, China, Five new species of Snout Moth from China, New Tiger Moths discovered in east Asia and New species of Leaf-Mining Moth from northern Chile.

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A new species of Encyrtid Wasp from the Western Ghats of India.

Entrycid Wasps are a family of highly specialized parasitoid Wasps, primarily targeting members of the Order Hemiptera (True Bugs), but with members of the group adapted to target other parasitoid Wasps (hyperparasitism) and Ticks. Some species exhibit a trait called polyembryony, in which one egg develops into a number of genetically identical individuals, which are (surprisingly) not all physically identical, with some members of the batch growing more rapidly to form a 'soldier cast' that defend the others against rival Wasp larvae, but which never mature and become adults.

In a paper published in the Journal of Threatened Taxa on 26 August 2012, Sudhir Singh of the Forest Entomology Division at the Forest Research Institute in Uttarakhand and Y.B. Srinivasa of the Institute of Wood Science and Technology in Karnataka describe a new species of Entrycid Wasp from the Western Ghats of India.

The new species is named from a single female, collected by fogging (spraying with insecticide, then collecting everything that falls out an Indian Copal Tree at an altitude of 128 m, near Virajpet in Karnataka State, India. The tree was about 40 m high, with its lowest branch 22 m above the ground; it was fruiting at the time of the study.

The species is placed in the wide-ranging genus Neastymachus, which is known from Asia, Africa, Australia and Central America, and given the specific name punctatiscutellum, due to the punctate reticulate sculpture of the scutellum (network of spots on its back). Neastymachus punctatiscutellum is a   1.65 mm yellowish-white wasp.

(Top) Neastymachus punctatiscutellum in dorsal (above) and lateral (bellow) views. (Bottom) Detail of the scutellum, from which the species takes its name. Singh & Srinivasa (2012).

See also New species of Ichneumon Wasp from Columbia, New species of Ichneumon Wasp from Jalisco State in central Mexico, A Hatchet Wasp preserved in Tertiary amber from Mexico, Three new species of Braconid Wasps from the Late Cretaceous of Magadan Province in the Russian Far East and Three new species of Braconid Wasp from Peru.

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