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1. Five new species of Gloeandromyces (Fungi, Laboulbeniales) from tropical American bat flies (Diptera, Streblidae), revealed by morphology and phylogenetic reconstruction

   https://doi.org/10.1080/00275514.2023.2230114  

   Van_Caenegem, Warre; Blondelle, Aimée; Dumolein, Iris; Santamaria, Brianna; Dick, Carl W; Hiller, Thomas; Liu, Jingyu; Quandt, C Alisha; Villarreal_Saucedo, Rosa V; Verbeken, Annemieke; et al (September 2023, Mycologia)

   This paper describes and illustrates five new species of Gloeandromyces (Ascomycota, Laboulbeniales) associated with tropical American bat flies (Diptera, Streblidae). These are Gloeandromyces cusucoensis sp. nov. from Trichobius uniformis in Costa Rica and Honduras, G. diversiformis sp. nov. from Strebla wiedemanni in Costa Rica, G. plesiosaurus sp. nov. from Trichobius yunkeri in Panama, G. pseudodickii sp. nov. from Trichobius longipes in Ecuador and Panama, and G. verbekeniae sp. nov. from Strebla galindoi in Ecuador and Panama. The description of these five species doubles the number of known species in the genus. Morphological characteristics, host association, and a three-locus (18S nuc rDNA, 28S nuc rDNA, TEF1) phylogenetic reconstruction support placement of these taxa in the genus Gloeandromyces. Three of the new species are polymorphic; they have multiple morphotypes that grow in specific positions on the host integu ment: G. diversiformis f. diversiformis, f. musiformis, and f. vanillicarpiformis; G. plesiosaurus f. asymmetricus and f. plesiosaurus; and G. verbekeniae f. verbekeniae and f. inflexus. Finally, a dichotomous key to all species and morphotypes is presented. 

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2. Orientocardiochiles, a new genus of Cardiochilinae (Hymenoptera, Braconidae), with descriptions of two new species from Malaysia and Vietnam

   https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.971.56571  

   Kang, Ilgoo; Long, Khuat Dang; Sharkey, Michael J.; Whitfield, James B.; Lord, Nathan P. (September 2020, ZooKeys)

   null (Ed.)

   For the first time in 21 years, a new genus of cardiochiline braconid wasp, Orientocardiochiles Kang & Long, gen. nov. (type species Orientocardiochiles joeburrowi Kang, sp. nov. ), is discovered and described. This genus represents the ninth genus in the Oriental region. Two new species ( O. joeburrowi Kang, sp. nov. and O. nigrofasciatus Long, sp. nov. ) are described and illustrated, and a key to species of the genus, with detailed images, is added. Diagnostic characters of the new genus are analyzed and compared with several other cardiochiline genera to allow the genus to key out properly using an existing generic treatment. The scientific names validated by this paper and morphological data obtained from this project will be utilized and tested in the upcoming genus-level revision of the subfamily based on combined morphological and molecular data. 

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3. New records of Swiftia (Cnidaria, Anthozoa, Octocorallia) from off the Pacific Costa Rican margin, including a new species from methane seeps

   https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4671.3.6  

   BREEDY, ODALISCA; ROUSE, GREG W.; STABBINS, APRIL; CORTÉS, JORGE; CORDES, ERIK E. (September 2019, Zootaxa)

   Exploration of the deep sea off the Pacific margin of Costa Rica has resulted in the discovery of a number of new species and reports for the region. Here, we report on the occurrence of the octocoral genus Swiftia, and describe a new species collected by the Alvin submersible off the Pacific coast of Costa Rica. The new species has been observed at around 1000 m depth, growing on authigenic carbonates near methane seeps. Swiftia sahlingi sp. nov. is characterised by having bright red colonies that are with limited branching, with slightly raised polyp-mounds, thin coenenchyme mainly composed of long warty spindles, and conspicuous plates. A molecular phylogenetic analysis supports the differences between this new taxon and the closest Swiftia species. The new species represents the first record of the genus from Costa Rica and in fact for the Eastern Tropical Pacific. 

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4. Species Paraphyly and Social Parasitism: Phylogenomics, Morphology, and Geography Clarify the Evolution of the Pseudomyrmex elongatulus Group (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), a Mesoamerican Ant Clade

   https://doi.org/10.1093/isd/ixab025  

   Ward, Philip S.; Branstetter, Michael G.; Sosa-Calvo, ed., Jeffrey (January 2022, Insect Systematics and Diversity)

   Abstract Using genetic, morphological, and geographical evidence, we investigate the species-level taxonomy and evolutionary history of the Pseudomyrmex elongatulus group, a clade of ants distributed from southwestern United States to Costa Rica. Through targeted enrichment of 2,524 UCE (ultraconserved element) loci we generate a phylogenomic data set and clarify the phylogenetic relationships and biogeographic history of these ants. The crown group is estimated to have originated ~8 Ma, in Mexico and/or northern Central America, and subsequently expanded into southern Central America and the southwestern Nearctic. The P. elongatulus group contains a mix of low- and high-elevation species, and there were apparently multiple transitions between these habitat types. We uncover three examples of one species—of restricted or marginal geographical distribution—being embedded phylogenetically in another species, rendering the latter paraphyletic. One of these cases involves an apparent workerless social parasite that occurs sympatrically with its parent species, with the latter serving as host. This suggests a sympatric origin of the parasite species within the distribution range of its host. Species boundaries are tested using three molecular delimitation approaches (SODA, bPTP, BPP) but these methods generate inflated species estimates (26–46 species), evidently because of a failure to distinguish population structure from species differences. In a formal taxonomic revision of the P. elongatulus group, based on almost 3,000 specimens from ~625 localities, we allow for geographic variation within species and we employ distinctness-in-sympatry criteria for testing hypotheses about species limits. Under these guidelines we recognize 13 species, of which nine are new: P. arcanus, sp. nov. (western Mexico); P. capillatus, sp. nov. (western Mexico); P. cognatus, sp. nov. (Chiapas, Mexico to Nicaragua); P. comitator, sp. nov. (Chiapas, Mexico); P. ereptor, sp. nov. (Veracruz, Mexico); P. exoratus, sp. nov. (southeastern Mexico, Honduras); P. fasciatus, sp. nov. (Chiapas, Mexico to Costa Rica); P. nimbus, sp. nov. (Costa Rica); and P. veracruzensis, sp. nov. (Veracruz, Mexico). Our study highlights the value of combining phylogenomic, phenotypic, and geographical data to resolve taxonomic and evolutionary questions. 

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5. A new Lamellibrachia species and confirmed range extension for Lamellibrachia barhami (Siboglinidae, Annelida) from Costa Rica methane seeps

   https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4504.1.1  

   MCCOWIN, MARINA F.; ROUSE, GREG W. (October 2018, Zootaxa)

   Lamellibrachia Webb, 1969 has eight currently recognized species reported from chemosynthetic environments in the Pacific, Atlantic, and Mediterranean. Of these, Lamellibrachia barhami Webb, 1969 has been reported in the eastern Pacific from Canada to Costa Rica. In this study, phylogenetic analyses of Lamellibrachia tubeworms sampled from the Costa Rica margin confirm the large geographic range of L. barhami and reveal a new Lamellibrachia species from a single methane seep between 999 and 1,040 meters. Lamellibrachia donwalshi sp. nov. differs genetically and morphologically from all congeneric species. Despite its geographic proximity to the eastern Pacific L. barhami, L. donwalshi sp. nov. formed a clade with Atlantic and Mediterranean Lamellibrachia species. This suggests a vicariant event may have occurred after an Atlantic radiation of Lamellibrachia. 

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