20-Hydroxyecdysone (20E) plays a vital role in a series of biological processes, via the nuclear receptors, EcR/USP by activating the ecdysone regulatory cascade. To clarify the role of EcR during the development of Grapholita molesta, the complementary DNA of ecdysone receptor isoform B1 (GmEcR-B1) was obtained from the transcriptome of G. molesta and verified by PCR. Alignment analysis revealed that the deduced protein sequence of GmEcR-B1 was highly homologous to EcR proteins identified in other lepidopteran species, especially the EcR-B1 isoform in Spodoptera litura. Quantitative real-time PCR showed that GmEcRs was expressed at all test developmental stages, and the expression level of GmEcRs was relatively higher during the period of the 3rd day of fifth instar larvae to 2nd of pupa than those in other stages. Moreover, the messenger RNA of GmEcRs was much more strongly expressed in the Malpighian tubule and epidermis than those in other tissues, which suggests that this gene may function in a tissue-specific manner during larval development. Silencing of GmEcRs could significantly downregulate the transcriptional level of ecdysone-inducible genes and result in increased mortality during metamorphosis and prolonged prepupal duration. Taken together, the present results indicate that GmEcRs may directly or indirectly affect the development of G. molesta.
Moths , Receptors, Steroid , Animals , Moths/metabolism , Ecdysone , Fruit/metabolism , Receptors, Steroid/genetics , Receptors, Steroid/metabolism , Protein Isoforms/genetics
The complete mitochondrial genome (mitogenome) of Neoperla bimaculata was sequenced and annotated in this study. We found that the mitogenome of N. bimaculata is 15,774 bp in length with an A + T content of 64.3%. It exhibits the classic structure of a mitogenome. Most protein-coding genes (PCGs) of the mitogenome initiate with the standard start codon ATN. Ten PCGs use the standard stop codon TAA/TAG, while the COI, COII, and ND5 genes terminate with a single T nucleotide. Phylogenetic analyses suggested that N. bimaculata, along with two unpublished Neoperla species, formed a cluster within the phylogenetic tree. Our results indicated that the genus Neoperla and Neoperlops were sister groups. Meanwhile, the monophyly of Perlinae and Acroneuriinae was supported in the mitochondrial phylogeny.
A new species of the genus Suwallia Ricker, 1943, S. rostrata sp. nov., from Xizang of southwestern China is described, illustrated and compared with similar species. Alloperla kurentzovi Zhiltzova & Zapekina-Dulkeit, 1977, A. kurilensis Zhiltzova, 1978, A. teleckojensis mal, 1939 are reported for the first time from China. The diagnostic features of these species are illustrated with color images.
Insecta , Neoptera , Animals , Animal Distribution , China
A new species of the genus Neoperla, N. donglaii sp. nov., is described from Yunnan Province of southwestern China. The new species is assigned to the N. lushana-complex of the N. (Formosita) subgenus due to the presence of paired, ventral spiny lobes of the aedeagus. The new species was compared with related species in the subgenus. Neoperla hamata Jewett, 1975 and N. idella Stark & Sivec, 2008 are newly recorded for China and N. quadrata Wu & Claassen, 1934 specifically from Yunnan Province, China. Neoperla quadrata had not been collected for 90 years.
Insecta , Neoptera , Animals , China , Animal Distribution
Filchneria heteroptera (Wu, 1938) is rediscovered from Heilongjiang Province of northeastern China. A supplementary description and illustrations including aedeagal structures based on newly collected specimens are provided. Filchneria dongruihangi Chen, 2020 is considered here as a junior synonym of F. heteroptera (Wu, 1938). Paraleuctra cercia (Okamoto, 1922) is reported from Liaoning and Heilongjiang provinces, China for the first time.
Heteroptera , Animals , Insecta , Neoptera , China , Animal Distribution
BACKGROUND: Euholognatha is a monophyletic group within stoneflies comprised by a superfamily Nemouroidea and a family Scopuridae. Based on morphological data, the family-level phylogenetic relationships within Euholognatha are widely accepted, but there is still controversy among different molecular studies. To better understand the phylogeny of all six extant euholognathan families, we sequenced and analyzed seven euholognathan mitogenomes. RESULTS: The sequence heterogeneity analysis observed a low degree of compositional heterogeneity in euholognathan mitogenomes. Meanwhile, leuctrid mitogenomes were more heterogeneous than other euholognathan families, which may affect the phylogenetic reconstruction. Phylogenetic analyses with various datasets generated three topologies. The Leuctridae was recovered as the earliest branching lineage, and the sister relationship of Capniidae and Taeniopterygidae was supported by most tree topologies and FcLM analyses. When separately excluding sparsely sampled Scopuridae or high heterogeneity leuctrid taxa, phylogenetic analyses under the same methods generated more stable and consistent tree topologies. Finally, based on the results of this study, we reconstructed the relationships within Euholognatha as: Leuctridae + (Scopuridae + ((Taeniopterygidae + Capniidae) + (Nemouridae + Notonemouridae))). CONCLUSION: Our research shows the potential of data optimizing strategies in reconstructing phylogeny within Euholognatha and provides new insight into the phylogeny of this group.
Genome, Mitochondrial , Insecta , Humans , Animals , Insecta/genetics , Genome, Mitochondrial/genetics , Phylogeny , Base Sequence , Neoptera
The beta-1,3-glucan recognition protein (BGRP) is an important pattern recognition protein (PRP), which plays an important role in immune recognition and signaling pathway of insect innate immunity. Herein, a BGRP gene was obtained from the transcriptome of Grapholita molesta and its expression was verified by PCR. The full cDNA of the GmBGRP gene was 1691 bp encoding 486 amino acid residues. The calculated molecular mass of the mature protein was 54.83 kDa with an estimated pI of 6.14. The amino acid sequence of GmBGRP was highly homologous to BGRPs of other lepidopterans including Leguminivora glycinivorella BGRP-3. Expression profile of GmBGRP at different developmental stages and different tissues of 5th instar larvae showed that the expression level of this gene tends to slightly increase and then decrease at the adult stage, with the highest at the pupa stage; and mainly expressed in the epidermis, fat body and hemocytes compared with other tissues. In addition, we investigated the transcription levels of other immune-related genes, such as Serine-1, Serine-2, Serine-3, Serpin, SRCB (scavenger receptor gene), Toll, PPO (prophenoloxidase) upon GmBGRP gene silencing, indicating that GmBGRP expression is associated with immune responses of G. molesta. This was further supported by the upregulation of the mRNA level of GmBGRP following fungal infection. Taken together, these results provide experimental evidence for the role of GmBGRP gene in immune defense in G. molesta larvae.
Moths , beta-Glucans , Animals , Moths/metabolism , Fruit , Larva/genetics , Serine
We examined Chinese stonefly specimens of the Rhopalopsolevietnamica 'western assemblage' group. A new species from Hainan Province, R.bawanglinga Li, Li & Yang, sp. nov. is described and illustrated from male and female adults, and it is compared to closely related taxa. The hitherto unknown female of R.hainana Li & Yang, 2010 is described. Morphological evidence is presented for the identity of R.dentiloba Wu, 1973, on the basis of topotypes from Yunnan Province, southwestern China.
Two new species of nemourid stonefly, Amphinemura kondratieffi sp. nov. and A. setosa sp. nov., are described from Yunnan Province of southwestern China. The relationships between the new species and their related species within the genus or species group are discussed.
Insecta , Neoptera , Animals , China , Animal Distribution
Two species of the genus Sweltsa Ricker, 1943 from China are described and figured as new to science. The morphological distinction between the new species and their similar relatives is discussed.
Insecta , Neoptera , Animals , Animal Distribution , China
Two poorly known species of Kamimuria Klaplek, 1907 originally known from southern China, K. melli Wu, 1935 and K. taoi Wu, 1936, are rediscovered and amended with supplementary descriptions of the aedeagi. Kamimuria atra Sivec & Stark, 2008 is recorded for the first time from China. Kamimuria liui (Wu, 1940) is newly recorded from southern China, amended with descriptions of the aedeagus and noted morphological variability, and compared to related congeners. Digital micrographs of the adult male, including the fully extruded aedeagi, are presented for the first time for the above four species.
Insecta , Neoptera , Male , Animals , Animal Distribution , China , Microscopy
Two new species of the genus Rhopalopsole (Plecoptera: Leuctridae) are described from China: Rhopalopsole liui Chen, Wang Li, sp. nov. from from Municipality of Chongqing (former Sichuan Province) and Rhopalopsole yadonga Chen, Wang Li, sp. nov. from from the Tibet Autonomous Region. The new species are compared to similar congeners in the R. shaanxiensis and R. magnicerca groups, respectively.
Neoptera/classification , Animals , China , Neoptera/anatomy & histology , Tibet
Two species of the genus Chinoperla Zwick, 1980 are reported with color images from Yunnan Province of southwestern China, including one described as new to science: C. longispina Yan Li, sp. nov., and a new provincial record: C. gorohovi Sivec Stark, 2010.
Insecta , Neoptera , Animal Distribution , Animals , China
A new species of forest stonefly, Nemoura jixiangwangi Yang Li, sp. nov., is described and compared with related taxa, based on specimens from the Qilian Mountain National Park, Qinghai Province, northwestern China. Nemoura geei Wu, 1929, Nemoura papilla Okamoto, 1922 and Nemoura securigera Klaplek, 1907 are recorded from the province and the mountain range for the first time.
Insecta , Neoptera , Animal Distribution , Animals , China , Forests
Three new species of the genus Nemoura Latreille, 1796: Nemoura alticalcaneum Mo, Wang Li, sp. n., Nemoura ganeum Mo, Yang Li, sp. n. and Nemoura tauripitis Mo, Li Murnyi, sp. n., are described from Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region of China. Eight new province records from Guangxi, two new province records from Guangdong and one new province record from Hunan are given, among them one new for China as well. The newly recorded species are depicted and complementary descriptions provided, including the first female description of seven species and first egg description of two species. The paper is completed with an updated checklist of Guangxi stoneflies, distribution of species richness across prefectural cities in Guangxi, with distribution maps for each species.
Insecta , Neoptera , Animal Distribution , Animals , China , Female
Rhopalosole magnispina sp. nov., a new species of R. shaanxiensis Yang Yang, 1994 species Group of stonefly family Leuctridae is described, illustrated, and compared with related taxa. The female of R. horvati Sivec Harper, 2008 is associated based on mating pairs collected in the Qinling Mountains of Shaanxi Province. The original female of R. horvati was erroneously associated and considered herein as an unidentified Rhopalosole female of the R. shaanxiensis Group.
Insecta , Neoptera , Animals , China , Female
Taeniopterygidae is a medium-sized family of stoneflies. The phylogeny of Taeniopterygidae was widely accepted based on the morphological analyses. However, there are different opinions based on molecular data. To date, only two taeniopterygid mitochondrial genomes (mitogenomes) were available, and more sampling is needed to obtain precise phylogenetic relationships. In this research, the Strophopteryx fasciata mitogenome was sequenced and analyzed. The complete mitogenome of S. fasciata was 15,527 bp in length and contained 37 genes and a non-coding control region. Among taeniopterygid mitogenomes, the length variation was minimal in protein-coding genes (PCGs), transfer RNA genes (tRNAs) and ribosomal RNA genes (rRNAs), but very different in the control region. Similar to mitogenomes of other taeniopterygid species, the S. fasciata mitogenome was consistently AT biased and displayed positive AT- and negative GC-skews of the whole mitogenome. Most PCGs used ATN as the start codon and TAA/TAG as the stop codon. The stop codons were far less variable than the start codons in taeniopterygid mitogenomes. All Ka/Ks ratios were less than 1, indicating the presence of purifying selection in these genes. The secondary structures of transfer and ribosomal RNA genes of S. fasciata mitogenome are highly conserved with other taeniopterygid species. In the control region of the S. fasciata mitogenome, some essential elements (tandem repeats, stem-loop structures, and poly-N stretch, etc.) were observed. Two phylogenetic trees were inferred from Bayesian inference (BI) and Maximum Likelihood (ML) methods generated the identical topology across the PCGR dataset. The relationships of five families in Nemouroidea were recovered as Leuctridae + ((Capniidae + Taeniopterygidae) + (Nemouridae + Notonemouridae)). These results will help us understand the mitogenome structure of taeniopterygid species and the evolutionary relationship within Plecoptera.
Genome, Mitochondrial , Animals , Bayes Theorem , Genome, Mitochondrial/genetics , Insecta/genetics , Phylogeny , RNA, Ribosomal/genetics , RNA, Transfer/genetics
Two new species of the stonefly genus Neoperla, N.gaoligongshana sp. nov. and N.hajeki sp. nov. are described from Yunnan Province of southwestern China based on the morphological and distributional data, and the new species are compared with two congeners, N.wuzhishana Chen & Du, 2016 and N.orissa Stark & Sivec, 2015. Neoperlahubleyi Stark & Sivec, 2008 is recorded from Yunnan Province for the first time.
