New paper!

Wang K. et al.: "Integrative Taxonomy of Pachygrontha (Heteroptera: Pachygronthidae) in East and Southeast Asia Reveals New Insights Into Species and Group Delimitation".

Species discovery and description are fundamental to biodiversity documentation and evolutionary studies. Integrative taxonomy synthesizes morphological, genomic, and ecological evidence to provide a robust framework for testing species hypotheses and delineating boundaries in closely related lineages, thereby not only advancing taxonomic practice but also enabling critical evaluation of species group concepts. Here, we present a comprehensive assessment of the genus Pachygrontha Germar, 1838 in East and Southeast Asia using an integrative approach that combines detailed morphology with complete mitochondrial genomes and genome-wide SNPs. Our study confirms the existence of eight species, including six previously recognized species and two new species described herein as P. chuanxiensis Wang & Bu, sp. nov. and P. ruiliensis Gao, Wang & Bu, sp. nov. Phylogenetic analyses reveal instances of mito-nuclear discordance and provide insights into the utility and limitations of historically defined species groups within Pachygrontha. Through examining differentiation at both the interspecific and closely related species-levels, our integrative analysis provides a foundational assessment of divergence levels within the genus and establishes a basis for future broader surveys and more comprehensive taxonomic revisions.

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New paper!

Chen Z., Li H., & Cai W.: "A review of the Chinese Empicoris (Hemiptera: Reduviidae: Emesinae) with descriptions of five new species and discussion on species-group division in the genus".

The thread-legged bug genus Empicoris Wolff, 1811 (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Reduviidae: Emesinae) is a cosmopolitan group of about 90 species, but only four have been reported in China previously. In the present study, five new species of Empicoris, namely E. bifurcatus sp. nov., E. discaloides sp. nov., E. qianlei sp. nov., E. qinpengi sp. nov., and E. sinicus sp. nov., are described from China; four additional species, E. brachystigma (Horváth, 1914), E. gracilentus (Jakovlev, 1907), E. magnispineus Ishikawa, 2008, and E. tesselatoides Wygodzinsky & Usinger, 1960, are newly recorded in the country; and an identification key to the Chinese species of Empicoris is provided. In addition, the species-group division of Empicoris is discussed based on morphological information of the newly discovered species and a phylogenetic analysis for COI barcode data of selected species, indicating that some previously proposed species-groups (e.g., E. discalis-group and E. salinus-group) may be artificial assemblages and need to be reconsidered.

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New paper!

Polhemus D.A.: "A new species of Rhagovelia (Heteroptera: Veliidae) from Sumba Island, Lesser Sunda Islands with notes on zoogeography".

The new species Rhagovelia sumbana is described from the island of Sumba in the Lesser Sunda Islands. The species possesses character states that place it in the R. sarawakensis group, whose members are otherwise known only from the Sundaland continental platform. The presence of this species on Sumba provides additional supporting evidence for the prevailing tectonic hypothesis that Sumba is a displaced continental fragment rifted from an original position on the southeast margin of Sundaland near Borneo, and the geological evidence for this is briefly reviewed. Photomicrographs of key morphological characters for R. sumbana, a map of its known distribution on Sumba, and a photograph of the type-locality habitat are provided.

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