Morphology is the most direct approach biologists have to recognize uniqueness of insect species as compared to close relatives. Ants of the genus Procryptocerus possess important morphologic characters yet have not been explored for use in a taxonomic revision. The genus is characterized by the protrusion of the clypeus forming a broad nasus and antennal scrobes over the eyes. The toruli are l...

Toddalia aculeata (Syn. T. asiatica, T. rubicaulis, T. nitida and Scopolia aculeata) is a climbing shrub of natural order Rutacea. Vernacular, Sanskrit, kauchana; Hindi, kanj; dahan lalian (Rajputana); meinkara (Nepal); saphijirik (Lepclia); melkaranai kandvi (Tamil); konda-kathinda (Telegu); janglikali-mirchi (Bombay); kudur-7niris (Ceylon). It grows in sub-tropical climates of India, Java, Su...

The structures, names, bioactivities, and references of 124 briarane-type natural products, including 66 new metabolites, isolated between 2014 and 2016 are summarized in this review article. All of the briarane diterpenoids mentioned in this review were isolated from octocorals, mainly from Briareum violacea, Dichotella gemmacea, Ellisella dollfusi, Junceella fragilis, Junceella gemmacea, and ...

Twenty species of the subgenus Pedionis occurring in the Chinese fauna are recognized, including two new species, P. aculeata sp. nov., P. papillata sp. nov. from Guizhou Prov., China. And, P. nankunshanensis Li, Dai & Li, 2011 is here considered as a junior synonym of P. yunnana Zhang & Viraktamath, 2010. A key to Chinese species of subgenus Pedionis is also provided as well as a checklist.

The genus Decaphora Franganillo, 1931 is revised. Pseudosparianthis variabilis F.O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1900, Pseudosparianthis cubana Banks, 1909 and Thelcticopis pestai (Reimoser, 1939) are transferred to the genus; and P. cubana is considered a senior synonym of the type species, Decaphora trabiformis Franganillo, 1931. In addition, the female of T. pestai and the male of P. variabilis are de...

In several Hymenoptera, sexual fate is determined by the allelic composition at the complementary sex-determiner locus, a sex-determination mechanism that can strongly affect population dynamics. To date, the molecular identification of complementary sex determiner has only been achieved in the honeybee, where the complementary sex-determiner gene was reported to have arisen from duplication of...

Guilds of Aculeate solitary wasps and bees that nest in preexisting cavities in wood are important components of terrestrial ecosystems because they engage in several ecological interactions (e.g. predation and pollination) with other species of plants and animals. Spatial and temporal variations in richness and abundance of solitary wasps and bees can be related to changes in environmental str...

Chalinidae is a family of haplosclerid sponges with a delicate reticulated chaonosomal skeleton of uni-, paucior multispicular primary lines which are connected by unispicular secondary lines, and with an ectosomal skeleton, if present, formed by a regular hexagonal, unispicular, tangential reticulation (Weerdt 2002). Currently, the family harbors only five valid genera (Chalinula, Cladocroce, ...