New paper!

Xian C et al.: "Serial amber fossils unveiling the innovation process of mouthparts in water boatmen (Hemiptera: Corixoidea) in the phylogenetic context of total evidence"

Insects are the most species-rich group of animals, and the high morphological complexity and spectacular diversification of mouthparts among insects are crucial to their prosperity. Currently, the knowledge on insect mouthpart types remains largely stationary, yet little evidence has been documented to illustrate the transitional forms. In this study, we report for the first time a series of fossil specimens which reveal the successive process between two types of insect mouthparts. Correspondingly, three new families including six new species are established based on such mid-Cretaceous Kachin amber to place these new fossil records. Starting from the morphological differences in the mouthparts of the newly defined families and the extant water boatmen families, we further deduce the structural homology between different mouthpart types and find the coevolution between the mouthparts and the forelegs in the phylogenetic context of total evidence. Our discovery provides direct evidence of the transformation process of the water boatmen’s mouthparts from a sucking to a triangular type. This study provides new evidence and perspectives for in-depth understanding of the evolutionary process of insect mouthparts.

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New paper!

Oh M., Cho S., Lee S.: "First record of the Heterotoma planicornis (Hemiptera, Heteroptera, Miridae), an introduced species in the Korean Peninsula, with characterization of its complete mitochondrial genome"

The West Palearctic genus Heterotoma Lepeletier & Serville, 1825, and its included species H. planicornis (Pallas, 1772) (Hemiptera, Heteroptera, Miridae, Orthotylinae) are reported from the Korean Peninsula. Heterotoma planicornis is diagnosed, and its dorsal habitus and the genitalia of both sexes are illustrated. The possible introduction of this European species into the Korean Peninsula is discussed. The complete mitochondrial genome of the species is provided. The circular mitogenome of H. planicornis is 16,179 bp long, comprising 13 protein-coding genes, two ribosomal RNA genes, and 22 transfer RNAs, and shows the same gene order as the closely allied species Mecomma ambulans (Fallén, 1807). The A–T content of the total sequence was 71.54%. An analysis using a cytochrome oxidase I (COI) neighbor-joining (NJ) tree revealed that the Korean H. planicornis population formed two distinctive groups, with a 1.8% sequence difference between them.

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