New World genus Epiphlaeus is redefined and evolutionarily linked to its sister genus Opitzius Barr. Epiphlaeus includes six species as follows: E. adonis sp. nov., E. duodecimmaculatus (Klug), E. fundurufus sp. nov., E. princeps (Gorham), E. pulcherrimus (Gorham), E. quattuordecimmaculatus Chevrolat, and E. tigrinus sp. nov. The monotypic Opitzius is based on O. thoracicus Barr. Specimens of these two genera are variously deposited in 37 institutional and private collections. These checkered beetles frequent the surface of felled tree boles to forage on adults and immatures of lignicolous insects. Their large size and mobility make them very noticeable on the bark of fallen trees. It is postulated that they are participants in a mimetic ring with log-inhabiting mutillids and flies part of the mimetic mix. Hennigian principles were applied to 22 adult morphological characters, which yielded a nearly totally resolved phylogenetic hypothesis between Epiphlaeus and Opitzius, and among Epiphlaeus species groups. The combined geographical range of the inclusive species extends from northwestern Nicaragua to southeastern Brazil. It is hypothesized that ancestral Epiphlaeus —Opitzius evolved in South America with some descendants entering Insular Central America after closure of the Panamanian portals during the Miocene. Pleistocene climatic factors are thought to have influenced species diversity, and perhaps speciation events in conjunction with aspects of dispersal, vicariance, and taxon pulse dynamics.

Hexarhopalus Fairmaire, 1891, a tenebrionid genus from Southeast Asia, is revised. The genus Leprocaulus Fairmaire, 1896 is transferred to Hexarhopalus and demoted to subgenus. The following 20 species are described as new: H. (Leprocaulus) jendeki sp. nov. from India; H. (L.) eva sp. nov., H. (L.) kubani sp. nov., H. (L.) lilligi sp. nov., H. (L.) pacholatkoi sp. nov., H. (s. str.) problematicus sp. nov. and H. (L.) seniori sp. nov. from Thailand; H. (L.) sinjaevi sp. nov. from Vietnam; H. (L.) cameroni sp. nov., H. (s. str.) loebli sp. nov. and H. (L.) merkli sp. nov. from West Malaysia; H. (L.) andoi sp. nov., H. (s. str.) bouchardi sp. nov., H. (s. str.) bremeri sp. nov., H. (L.) crockeri sp. nov., H. (L.) kaszabi sp. nov., H. (L.) masumotoi sp. nov. and H. (L.) tibangi sp. nov. from Borneo; H. (L.) schawalleri sp. nov. from Laos; and H.(L.) grimmi sp. nov. from Sumatra. The following synonyms are proposed (junior synonym first): Laosocryptobates Pic, 1928 and Apteroleprocaulus Kaszab, 1983 = Hexarhopalus Fairmaire, 1891; Pseudocoelophus Pic, 1922 = Leprocaulus Fairmaire, 1896; and Leprocaulus vietnamicus (Kaszab, 1980) = Hexarhopalus difformis (Pic, 1922). The following species are transferred or re-transferred from the genus Leprocaulus to the genus Hexarhopalus (Leprocaulus): Hexarhopalus montanus (Kaszab, 1982) comb. nov., H. difformis (Pic, 1922) comb. nov., H. borneensis (Kaszab, 1982) comb. nov., H. sumatranus (Kaszab, 1982) comb. nov., H. attenuatus (Pic, 1922) comb. nov., H. loeffleri (Kaszab, 1982) comb. nov., H. rotundicollis (Pic, 1922) comb. nov., H. punctithorax (Kaszab, 1982) comb. nov., H. particularis (Pic, 1922) comb. nov. and H. clavipes (Fairmaire, 1896) comb. nov. Derosphaerus granulipennis Blair, 1919 is transferred to the genus Hexarhopalus as H. granulipennis (Blair, 1919) comb. nov. The following species are transferred from the genus Hexarhopalus to the genus Misolampidius Solsky, 1875: Misolampidius foveipennis (Fairmaire, 1894) comb. nov., M. entomogonoides (Allard, 1896) comb. nov. and M. indicus (Allard, 1877) comb. nov. Distributions of and keys to Hexarhopalus species are presented. Taxonomy, relationships and ecology of this genus are discussed. Laosocryptobates tuberculatus

Abstract. Based on study of primary types of some Palaearctic Apogonia Kirby, 1819 species, the following new synonymies are established: Apogonia cupreoviridis Kolbe, 1886 = A. nigroolivacea Heyden, 1886 syn. nov. = A. cupreoviridis miyakona Nomura, 1965 syn. nov. Apogonia cupreoviridis is redescribed and compared with closely related A. bicarinata bicarinata Lewis, 1896. The occurrence of A. cupreoviridis in Japan is confirmed.

Two new species, namely Baetis (Baetis) mirkae sp. nov. (larva, female subimago, and male imago) and Baetis (Rhodobaetis) irenkae sp. nov. (larva and male imago), from Cyprus are described and their critical diagnostic characters illustrated. The former is a representative of the subgenus Baetis s. str. (the B. lutheri species-group) showing close relationships mainly to B. (B.) lutheri Müller-Liebenau, 1967 and B. (B.) vardarensis Ikonomov, 1962; the latter is classified within the subgenus Rhodobaetis Jacob, 2003, being related mainly to B. (R.) ilex Zimmermann, 1978. Affinities of these new species to all representatives of respective related species-group and Rhodobaetis are discussed in detail and brief notes to their biology and distribution are presented. Based on data available so far, a detailed biogeographical analysis directed mainly to chorology and faunistic origin of 8 Palaearctic representatives of the B. lutheri species-group and 26 species of Rhodobaetis (incl. B. irenkae sp. nov. described below) is offered.

The holotype of Baltameletus oligocaenicus Demoulin, 1968 preserved in Eocene Baltic amber and housed in the W. Simon amber collection at the Museum für Naturkunde, Humboldt University, Berlin is redescribed and illustrated. Baltameletus Demoulin, 1968 can be attributed to the family Ameletidae McCafferty, 1991 by a combination of following characteristics: (1) lateroparapsidal suture of mesothorax relatively elongate; (2) epimeron of mesothorax with membranous area between anepimeron and katepimeron; (3) mesonotal suture stretched backward medially and anterior paracoxal suture complete; (4) furcasternal protuberances contiguous; (5) hind wings well developed with RS, MA and MP triads; (6) tarsi 5-segmented with first tarsal segment fused with tibia; (7) forceps with two distal segments; (8) all tarsal claws dissimilar. This fossil genus clearly differs from all other representatives of the family Ameletidae by the following combination of characteristics: (1) unpaired projection of the vertex; (2) dorsally contiguous compound eyes (3); 2–3 mainly simple veins stretching from CuA to basitornal margin of forewing. Additionally, some data on the fossil representatives of Ameletidae are given.

Two new species of the Oriental planthopper genus Varma Distant, 1906 (Hemiptera: Fulgoroidea: Tropiduchidae) are described and illustrated: V. gibbosa Wang et Liang sp. nov. (China: Xizang) and V. bimaculata Wang et Liang sp. nov. (China: Xizang), they represent the first record of the genus Varma Distant from China. A diagnosis of the genus and a key to the species of Varma are provided.

The diversity of the braconide wasps of the subfamily Doryctinae from Ogasawara (Bonin) Islands, Japan, is studied. Twelve new species are described from these islands: Doryctes (Doryctes) boninus sp. nov., D. (Neodoryctes) makiharai sp. nov., Heterospilus micronesianus sp. nov., H. nishijimus sp. nov., H. pacificola sp. nov., H. striatiscutum sp. nov., H. watanabei sp. nov., Ecphylus (Sactopus) hahajimus sp. nov., Spathius asanderoides sp. nov., S. chichijimus sp. nov., S. ogasawarus sp. nov., and S. sugiurai sp. nov. Three species, Rhoptrocentrus piceus Marshall, 1897, Ontsira palliata (Cameron, 1881) and Heterospilus rubrocinctus (Ashmead, 1905), are firstly recorded for this territory. A key for determination of the all doryctine taxa of the Ogasawara Islands is given.

The results of a nine year inventory of jumping spiders in a suburban study-site, a one-hectare garden in Harare, Zimbabwe, are presented. The full list of garden salticids comprises 47 species, among them 12 are described as new: Dendryphantes arboretus, D. hararensis, Evarcha ignea, E. zimbabwensis, Langelurillus ignorabilis, L. orbicularis, Phlegra procera, Pseudicius elegans, P. refulgens, Rhene cancer, Thyenula hortensis and Tularosa arcana. For two species, Evarcha prosimilis (Wesołowska et Russell-Smith, 2000) and Xuriella prima Wesołowska et Russell-Smith, 2000, the previously unknown females are described. Nomen novum, Evarcha prosimilis is proposed for Evarcha similis, Wesołowska et Russell-Smith, 2000, preoccupied by E. similis Caporiacco, 1941. Four specific names are synonymised: Quekettia georgii Peckham et Peckham, 1903 with Hispo inermis (Caporiacco, 1947), Heliophanus clarus Peckham et Peckham, 1903 with Phintella aequipes (Peckham et Peckham, 1903), Thyene magdalenae Lessert, 1927 with Thyene australis Peckham et Peckham, 1903 and Viciria morigera Peckham et Peckham, 1903 with Viciria mustela Simon, 1902. The last species was transferred to the genus Evarcha, new combination E. mustela is proposed. New combination Mexcala natalensis is proposed (ex Cosmophasis natalensis Lawrence, 1942). The generic name Quekettia Peckham et Peckham, 1903 is recognized as a junior synonym of Hispo Simon, 1886 by synonymisation of the only species of Quekettia. Eight species are recorded from Zimbabwe for the first time: Bianor albobimaculatus, Heliophanus pygmaeus, Hispo inermis, Icius insolidus, Mexcala natalensis, Sonoita lightfooti, Thyene thyenoides and Xuriella prima. The natural history (micro-habitat, behaviour and phenology) of each species is presented where available.