Description of the first Oriental species of the ant genus Xymmer (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Amblyoponinae).

The monotypic ant genus Xymmer Santschi, 1914 was established for X. muticus (Santschi, 1914) which has so far been known only from the West African subregion. The genus is easily distinguishable from the other amblyoponine genera by the anteromedian part of clypeus which is produced as a short rectangular lobe. Additional undescribed species had been found exclusively from Madagascar and Africa until recently. However, in March, 2015, a Xymmer colony was found in northern Central Vietnam. In the present paper Xymmer phungi sp. nov. is described as the first Oriental species of the genus. Although the worker of X. phungi is morphologically quite similar to that of X. muticus, the former is distinguishable from the latter by the following two characteristics of the worker: clypeal lobe 1/6 times as long as broad (vs. 1/3 times as long as broad in X. muticus); anterior margin of the lobe weakly concave (vs. almost straight in X. muticus). Xymmer phungi is well distinguished from Ethiopian Xymmer spp. for which 28S sequences are available from GenBank. Our observations suggest that the species feeds on geophilids (Chilopoda: Geophilomorpha). An updated key to Vietnamese genera of the subfamily Amblyoponinae is also provided.

Redefinition of the genus Bannapone and description of B. cryptica sp. nov. (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Amblyoponinae).

The ant genus Bannapone was established by Xu in 2000 and has been recognized as one of the rarest ant genera in the world. In the course of our careful examination of Asian species of Stigmatomma, we have found that the following Stigmatomma species share a unique morphological characteristic in mandibular dentition with Bannapone mulanae and B. scrobiceps: Stigmatomma caliginosum (Onoyama, 1999), Stigmatomma fulvida (Terayama, 1987), S. pertinax (Baroni Urbani, 1978), S. zwaluwenburgi Williams, 1946 and an unnamed species "Stigmatomma sp. eg-3". In the present paper, we redefine Bannapone, describe "Stigmatomma sp. eg-3" as a new species of Bannapone, and transfer S. caliginosum, S. fulvida, S. pertinax and S. zwaluwenburgi Williams, 1946 to Bannapone.

Phylogeny of epilachna, henosepilachna, and some minor genera of phytophagous ladybird beetles (coleoptera: coccinellidae: coccinellinae: epilachnini), with an analysis of ancestral biogeography and host-plant utilization.

Ladybird beetles in the tribe Epilachnini include notorious crop pests and model species studied intensively in various fields of evolutionary biology. From a combined dataset of mitochondrial (ND2) and nuclear (28S) DNA sequences, we reconstructed the phylogeny of 46 species of Epilachnini from Asia, Africa, America, and the Australian region: 16 species in Epilachna, 24 species in Henosepilachna, and one species each in Adira, Afidenta, Afidentula, Afissula, Chnootriba, and Epiverta. In our phylogenetic trees, both Epilachna and Henosepilachna were reciprocally polyphyletic. Asian Epilachna species were monophyletic, except for the inclusion of Afissula sp. Asian and Australian Henosepilachna species likewise formed a monophyletic group, excluding H. boisduvali. African Epilachna and Henosepilachna species did not group with their respective Asian and American congeners, but were paraphyletic to other clades (Epilachna species) or formed a separate monophyletic group (Henosepilachna species) together with Chnootriba similis. The American Epilachna species were monophyletic and formed a clade with American Adira clarkii and Asian Afidentula manderstjernae bielawskii; this clade was the sister group to Asian and Australian Henosepilachna, but was distant from Asian Epilachna. Chnootriba was embedded in the African Henosepilachna clade, and Afissula in the Asian Epilachna clade. Epiverta, which is morphologically unique, was the sister group to Asian Epilachna, although with weak support. From reconstructions of biogeographical distribution and host-plant utilization at ancestral nodes, we inferred an African origin for the common ancestor of the species studied, and found the frequency of host shifts to differ greatly between the two major lineages of Epilachnini examined.

Generic Synopsis of the Formicidae of Vietnam (Insecta: Hymenoptera), Part II--Cerapachyinae, Aenictinae, Dorylinae, Leptanillinae, Amblyoponinae, Ponerinae, Ectatomminae and Proceratiinae.

Of the subfamilies and genera known from Vietnam, the following taxa are treated in this second part of the series entitled "Generic Synopsis of the Formicidae of Vietnam": Cerapachyinae: Cerapachys, Simopone; Aenictinae: Aenictus; Dorylinae: Dorylus; Leptanillinae: Leptanilla, Protanilla; Amblyoponinae: Myopopone, Mystrium, Opamyrma, Prionopelta, Stigmatomma; Ponerinae: Anochetus, Brachyponera, Buniapone, Centromyrmex, Cryptopone, Diacamma, Ectomomyrmex, Euponera, Harpegnathos, Hypoponera, Leptogenys, Mesoponera, Odontomachus, Odontoponera, Parvaponera, Platythyrea, Ponera, Pseudoneoponera; Ectatomminae: Gnamptogenys; Proceratiinae: Discothyrea, Probolomyrmex, Proceratium. For each of these subfamilies we provide keys to genera (when there is more than one genus) known from Vietnam. For each genus we provide a synopsis and a list of Vietnamese species.