Two new species attributed to the genus Sigmaboilus Fang, Zhang & Wang, 2007 are described from the Middle Jurassic Jiulongshan Formation of Daohugou Village, Inner Mongolia, China: Sigmaboilus fuscus sp. nov., S. peregrinus sp. nov. The diagnosis of the genus is revised.
17 November 2021 in Journal of Systematic Palaeontology
Prophalangopsidae was a diverse family during the Late Mesozoic, but the variation and sexual dimorphism in their forewing morphologies are rarely discussed. Based on 43 specimens – of both sexes – from eight species, an investigation into wing venation variation among/within species of Prophalangopsidae was performed using geometric morphometrics and morphological comparisons. The results indicate that wing characters are reliable for taxonomy in fossil Prophalangopsidae and that variation in wing shape and venation is common within species. The structures of the forewings are analogous between sexes within species, and it is possible to pair males and females for a fossil species. Due to the potential existence of synonyms arising from the lack of knowledge on wing venation variation within species and sexes, the species richness of fossil prophalangopsids is probably over-estimated. The role of wing venation characters in systematics and phylogenetic analysis needs to be further analysed. In addition, two new species of Prophalangopsidae from the Middle Jurassic are described. http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:BD2D00D6-9E55-46F9-AEB3-122FBBF99A06
Blueberry leaf spots and stem cankers caused by Pestalotiopsis spp. have become a serious threat for the production of blueberry in Sichuan Province. To characterize the etiology of the diseases connected with these fungi, samples showing leaf spot and stem canker symptoms were collected from the 12 main blueberry-growing areas of Sichuan Province from 2015 to 2020 and used for pathogen isolation. In total, 91 fungal isolates were obtained with preliminary morphological identification and 48 representative strains were selected for further pathogenicity test and molecular identification. Four species, including Pestalotiopsis clavispora (Neopestalotiopsis clavispora) (57.14%), P. trachicarpicola (28.57%), P. chamaeropis (13.19%), and P. adusta (1.10%), were identified based on conidial morphology, cultural characteristics, and phylogenetic analysis of the internal transcribed spacer region, partial sequence of the β-tubulin gene, and the translation elongation factor 1-α. Pathogenicity tests showed that four species were pathogenic to leaves and stems of blueberry. Among them, P. clavispora (N. clavispora) was the most aggressive as the predominant species to cause both leaf spot and stem canker. P. trachicarpicola and P. chamaeropis were mainly isolated from leaves but also pathogenic to stems. P. adusta was only isolated from stems but also pathogenic to leaves. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of P. chamaeropis and P. adusta as pathogens causing leaf spots and stem canker on blueberry. The results provide helpful information in disease diagnosis and management of blueberry.
The abundance of insects in Burmese amber illustrates a highly diverse orthoptera community of the mid-Cretaceous, but the records of ripipterygids are relatively rare. Here, we reviewed the genus of Magnidactylus (Xu, Fang and Jarzembowski, 2020) and transfered it from Tridactylidae to Ripipterygidae. Based on four ambers specimens collected from northern Myanmar, two new species, Magnidactylusmirus sp. nov. and Magnidactylusgracilis sp. nov., wereerected. M.mirus sp. nov. can be characterized by its basal segment and apical segment of paraproctal lobes, which are equally thick and clavate. M.gracilis sp. nov. can be characterized by its apical segment of paraproctal lobes, which are distinctly swollen. Additionally, in order to facilitate the classification of amber specimens of Tridactyloidea, a key to the genera ofambers in this superfamily is provided.
The abundance of insects in Burmese amber illustrates a highly diverse insect community of the mid-Cretaceous, but the records of crickets are relatively rare. Here, we erect two new genera with two new species, Birmanioecanthus haplostichus gen. et sp. nov. and Apiculatus cretaceus gen. et sp. nov., based on two new specimens from northern Myanmar amber. These new species can be assigned to the subfamily Oecanthinae (Orthoptera: Gryllidae) by their prognathous head, slender body and metatibiae, and protibiae with large tympana. These new findings are the first and earliest fossil record of tree crickets and shed light on the evolution of Oecanithinae.