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1. Descriptions of six new species of slender-bodied chewing lice of the Resartor-group (Phthiraptera: Ischnocera: Brueelia-complex)

   https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5104.4.2  

   GUSTAFSSON, DANIEL R. ; ZOU, FASHENG ; BUSH, SARAH E. ( March 2022 , Zootaxa)

   Six new species of chewing lice in the Resartor-group (Brueelia-complex) are described and illustrated. They are: Aratricerca cerata n. sp. ex Zosterops capensis Sundevall, 1850; Aratricerca macki n. sp. ex Melidectes princeps Mayr & Gilliard, 1951 and Ptiloprora perstriata perstriata (de Vis, 1898); Aratricerca madagascariensis n. sp. ex Randia pseudozosterops Delacour & Berlioz, 1931; Turdinirmoides janigai n. sp. ex Prunella collaris nipalensis (Blyth, 1843) and P. collaris fennelli Deignan, 1964; Turdinirmoides rozsai n. sp. ex Carpodacus subhimachala (Hodgson, 1836); and Timalinirmus curvus n. sp. ex Yuhina castaniceps plumbeiceps (Godwin-Austen, 1877). A key to the species of Aratricerca, Turdinirmoides and Timalinirmus is provided. 

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2. New species of Philopterus Nitzsch, 1818 (Ischnocera: Philopteridae), with notes on Cypseloecus Conci, 1941

   https://doi.org/10.5852/ejt.2022.790.1641  

   Gustafsson, Daniel R. ; Najer, Tomas ; Zou, Fasheng ; Bush, Sarah E. ( February 2022 , European Journal of Taxonomy)

   We describe and illustrate eight new species of chewing lice in the genus Philopterus Nitzsch, 1818, parasitic on hosts in the bird families Cardinalidae, Chloropseidae, Hirundinidae, Icteridae, Motacillidae, Paridae, and Vangidae from China, Peru, South Africa, Thailand, and the USA. They are: Philopterus coriaceus sp. nov. from Molothrus oryzivorus oryzivorus (Gmelin, 1788); P. hebes sp. nov. from Chloropsis aurifrons inornata Kloss, 1918 and C. cochinchinensis kinneari Hall & Deignan, 1956; P. micropunctatus sp. nov. from Anthus hodgsoni Richmond, 1907; P. afropari sp. nov. from Melaniparus cinerascens cinerascens (Vieillot, 1818); P. pseudhirundo sp. nov. from Pseudhirundo griseopyga Sundevall, 1850; P. sinensis sp. nov. from Hemipus picatus capitalis (Horsfield, 1840); P. stansburyensis sp. nov. from Pheucticus melanocephalus melanocephalus (Swainson, 1827); and P. trepostephanus sp. nov. from Tephrodornis virgatus fretensis Robinson & Kloss, 1920 and T. v. mekongensis Meyer de Schauensee, 1946. Philopterus hebes sp. nov. constitutes the first record of the genus Philopterus from the Chloropseidae. We also provide some notes on the morphology and status of Cypseloecus Conci, 1941. 

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3. Three new species of Duplicibothrium (Cestoda: ‘Tetraphyllidea’) from cownose rays in Senegal with a phylogenetic analysis of the genus

   https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022149X21000766  

   Stephan, Douglas ; Caira, Janine N. ( January 2022 , Journal of Helminthology)

   Abstract Three new species of ‘tetraphyllideans’ in the family Serendipeidae are described from cownose rays off Senegal. Duplicibothrium jeannettae n. sp. and Duplicibothrium collosum n. sp. parasitize both Rhinoptera marginata and Rhinoptera peli . Duplicibothrium jillae n. sp. parasitizes R. marginata . Duplicibothrium jeannettae n. sp. and D. jillae n. sp. differ from one another and their described congeners in size, number of proglottids, and locular configuration. The generic assignment of D. collosum n. sp. was initially unclear because its scolex more closely resembles that of Serendip than Duplicibothrium . To help inform generic placement, sequence data were generated for the 28S rDNA gene (D1–D3 region) for the three new species as well as for Duplicibothrium minutum and Duplicibothrium n. sp. 2 from Rhinoptera bonasus off North Carolina, Duplicibothrium n. sp. 3 from Rhinoptera brasiliensis off Belize, Duplicibothrium n. sp. 4 and Duplicibothrium n. sp. 5 from Rhinoptera jayakari off Mozambique, and Duplicibothrium n. sp. 6 from Rhinoptera neglecta off Australia. Comparable data were obtained from GenBank for adults and larvae of Duplicibothrium collected from the Gulf of Mexico. The tree resulting from a maximum likelihood analysis (MLA) placed D. collosum n. sp. robustly within Duplicibothrium ; the generic diagnosis is emended accordingly. This raises a question regarding the independence, and thus also validity, of the three genera of the Serendipeidae – a question that must await a molecular analysis that includes Serendip and Glyphobothrium . These results extend the hosts of Duplicibothrium to include R . brasiliensis , R . jayakari , R . marginata , R . neglecta and R . peli , and the distribution to include the western Pacific Ocean, eastern Atlantic Ocean, and western Indian Ocean (Zoobank Registration: 97BB5020-BFFF-4FEA-AE07-B4711D1110FC). 

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4. Taxonomic revision of Madagascan species of the Pheidole fervens species-group (Hymenoptera, Formicidae)

   https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0244195  

   Salata, Sebastian ; Fisher, Brian L. ( January 2021 , PLOS ONE)

   ZHANG, Feng (Ed.)

   Madagascar, one of the top megadiversity regions, hosts one of the highest numbers of endemic and threatened organisms on earth. One of the most spectacular examples of ant radiation on the island has occurred in the hyperdiverse genus Pheidole . To this date, there are 117 described Madagascan Pheidole divided into 16 species-groups, and 97% of them are endemic to the island. Only two of these species-groups contain widely distributed invasive species in addition to native, endemic taxa: megacephala , and fervens species-groups. Here we revise the fervens species-group and discuss updated distribution records of its introduced members on Madagascar. We recognize six species belonging to this group, including five new to science: Pheidole ampangabe sp. nov., P . arivo sp. nov., P . comosa sp. nov., P . indica Mayr, P . mamirapiratra sp. nov., and P . mena sp. nov. Detailed descriptions are supplemented with measurements, diagnoses, identification key, high-resolution images for major and minor worker, and comments on distribution and biology. 

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5. Taxonomic revision of the Malagasy Aphaenogaster swammerdami group (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)

   https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.10900  

   Csősz, Sandor ; Loss, Ana C. ; Fisher, Brian L. ( January 2021 , PeerJ)

   null (Ed.)

   Background Madagascar is famous for its extremely rich biodiversity; the island harbors predominantly endemic and threatened communities meriting special attention from biodiversity scientists. Continuing ongoing efforts to inventory the Malagasy ant fauna, we revise the species currently placed in the myrmicine genus Aphaenogaster Mayr. One species described from Madagascar, Aphaenogaster friederichsi Forel, is synonymized with the Palearctic A. subterranea Latreille syn. nov. This species is considered neither native to Madagascar nor established in the region. This revision focuses on the balance of species in the A. swammerdami group which are all endemic to Madagascar. Methods The diversity of the Malagasy Aphaenogaster fauna was assessed via application of multiple lines of evidence involving quantitative morphometric, qualitative morphological, and DNA sequence data. (1) Morphometric investigation was based on hypothesis-free Nest Centroid clustering (NC-clustering) combined with PArtitioning based on Recursive Thresholding (PART) to estimate the number of morphological clusters and determine the most probable boundaries between them. This protocol provides a repeatable and testable approach to find patterns in continuous morphometric data. Species boundaries and the reliability of morphological clusters recognized by these exploratory analyses were tested via confirmatory Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA). (2) Qualitative, external morphological characteristics (e.g., shape, coloration patterns, setae number) were subjectively evaluated in order to create a priori grouping hypotheses, and confirm and improve species delimitation. (3) Species delimitation analyses based on mitochondrial DNA sequences from cytochrome oxidase I (COI) gene fragments were carried out to test the putative species previously delimited by morphological and morphometric analyses. Results Five species can be inferred based on the integrated evaluation of multiple lines of evidence; of these, three are new to science: Aphaenogaster bressleri sp. n ., A. gonacantha (Emery, 1899), A. makay sp. n. , A. sahafina sp. n. , and A. swammerdami Forel, 1886. In addition, three new synonymies were found for A. swammerdami Forel, 1886 ( A. swammerdami clara Santschi, 1915 syn. n. , A. swammerdami curta Forel, 1891 syn. n. and A. swammerdami spinipes Santschi, 1911 syn. n. ). Descriptions and redefinitions for each taxon and an identification key for their worker castes using qualitative traits and morphometric data are given. Geographic maps depicting species distributions and biological information regarding nesting habits for the species are also provided. 

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