Differential Influences of Wind-Blown Sand Burial on Bacterial and Fungal Communities Inhabiting Biological Soil Crusts in a Temperate Desert, China.

Biological soil crusts (BSCs) are an integration of external photoautotrophs and internal heterotrophic communities. Sand burial is a ubiquitous disturbance that affects the biodiversity and ecological function of BSCs, but little is known about the influence of sand burial on microbial communities in arid sandy deserts. Here, based on a long-term field experiment and utilizing high-throughput sequencing, we assessed the influence of sand burial on bacterial and fungal communities inhabiting two typical successional stages of BSCs (cyanobacterial crusts for early successional stage and mixed crusts for late successional stage) at the three-sand buried depth (0, 0.5, and 10 mm) in the Tengger Desert, Northern China. We found that the diversity, abundance, and composition of the bacterial and fungal communities were all altered by the sand burial treatment. Different indicator taxa were identified in unburied and buried (shallow and deep) BSCs. Changes in soil properties caused by sand burial have been suggested as a possible cause of changes in the bacterial and fungal community composition in BSCs.

Taxonomic study of the genus Eretmocera Zeller, 1852 (Lepidoptera: Scythrididae) from China, with descriptions of three new species.

Four species of the genus Eretmocera Zeller, 1852 from China are reviewed. Three species are described as new: Eretmocera yingjiangensis Li, sp. nov., E. octopunctata Li, sp. nov. and E. artemisiae Li, sp. nov. Eretmocera impactella (Walker, 1864) is redescribed based on specimens founded on Yunnan, China. Photographs of adults and genitalia are provided, and a key to the Eretmocra species that occur in China is given.

Notes on scythridid moths in Habahu National Nature Reserves, with description of one new species (Lepidoptera: Scythrididae).

In a faunal study of insects in the Habahu National Nature Reserves of Ningxia, seven species of the genus Scythris of Scythrididae are recognized. One species, S. fustivalva Li, sp. nov., is described as new; five species are newly recorded in China: S. caballoides Nupponen, 2009, S. mikkolai Sinev, 1993, S. orientella Sinev, 2001, S. pallidella Passerin d'Entrèves et Roggero, 2006 and S. sinevi Nupponen, 2003. Photos of adults and genitalia are provided, and a list of Scythrididae in China is given.