Omaspides augusta group is revised. Omaspides augusta Boheman, 1856, O. bivittata Baly, 1872, and O. tenuicula Boheman, 1862 are redescribed. Two species are described as new: O. confusa sp. nov. (Ecuador) and O. picaflorensis sp. nov. (Peru). Two genera of Convolvulaceae plants, Merremia Dennst. ex Endl. and Turbina Raf., are recorded as hosts for the genus Omaspides Chevrolat, 1836 for the first time.

This paper is the second in a series designed to cover taxonomically all Australian species of Diomus Mulsant. Nomenclatural history, diagnoses, digital illustrations and distribution maps are provided for each species. Thirty species are treated in this paper, among those 14 are new: D. bunya sp. nov., D. carbine sp. nov., D. circus sp. nov., D. gingera sp. nov., D. gilvus sp. nov., D. hebes sp. nov., D. kioloa sp. nov., D. leai sp. nov., D. lord sp. nov., D. micrus sp. nov., D. pisinus sp. nov., D. prodigialis sp. nov., D. tasmanicus sp. nov. and D. villus sp. nov. Diomus hypocrtus Weise, 1923 is synonymised with Scymnus mareebensis Blackburn, 1895 syn. nov. Lectotypes are designated for the following taxa to stabilize their taxonomic positions: Diomus hypocrtus Weise, 1923; Scymnus cowleyi Blackburn, 1895; S. elutus Lea, 1902; S. flavifrons var. norfolcensis Lea, 1929; S. frater Lea, 1902; S. impictus Blackburn, 1895; S. inaffectatus Blackburn, 1892; S. insidiosus Blackburn, 1889; S. macrops Lea, 1929; S. maestus Lea, 1926; S. mareebensis Blackburn, 1895; S. obumbratus Blackburn, 1895; S. sublatus Blackburn, 1892; S. triangularis Lea, 1902; S. whittonensis Blackburn, 1892; S. victoriensis Blackburn, 1892 and S. yarrensis Blackburn, 1895.

Anthrenus (Nathrenus) maltzi sp. nov. is described from Angola. The habitus, antennae, and aedeagus are illustrated and compared with a related species. Key to the species most similar to A. (N.) maltzi is presented.

A new ichneumonids species from Australia, Phytodietus (Weisia) queenslandicus sp. nov., is described and illustrated. A key to the Australian, Ethiopian and Oriental species of the subgenus Weisia Schmiedeknecht, 1907 is presented.

Two species of Hercostomus absimilis group are described as new to science: Hercostomus gongshanensis sp. nov. and H. mengyangensis sp. nov. A key to the species of the absimilis-group from China is given.

Five new species discovered from the Oriental region: Stegana (Oxyphortica) crassiforcipata sp. nov., S. (O.) curvata sp. nov., S. (O.) monoacantha sp. nov., S. (O.) wanglei sp. nov. and S. (O.) wuliangi sp. nov. are described. All are morphologically similar to S. (O.) subconvergens Okada, 1988 from Sri Lanka and S. (O.) enigma Sidorenko, 1998 from Vietnam. A key to the species that similar to S. (O.) subconvergens is provided.

The new endemic planthopper genus Paid gen. nov. with one new species, P. cassant sp. nov. from the New Caledonia is described and illustrated. An association of Paici with the environmental conditions where it lives is suggested.

A new extinct genus and two new fossil species of the tribe Hallodapini (Miridae: Phylinae) are described from the Baltic amber: Leptomimus jonasdamzeni gen. et sp. nov. and Hallodapomimus krzeminskiorum sp. nov. The species Hallodapomimus elektrinus Herczek is redescribed. New diagnostic characteristics for the genus Hallodapomimus is given.

Willmannella racovitzai (Feider, 1949) is redescribed based on adults. A male, collected in Hungary has been designated as neotype. Willmannella franzi (Willmann, 1950) is regarded the subjective junior synonym of W. racovitzai. The taxonomy and distribution of the genus are discussed and a key to all species known from postlarval instars is provided.

The morphology of juvenile stages of the oribatid mites Metabelba glabriseta Mahunka, 1982 and Damaeus auritus Koch, 1835 (Damaeidae) is described and illustrated. The juveniles of Metabelba glabriseta are characterized by: cuticle smooth, with rare folds and also with slightly developed reticulate ornamentation dorso-laterally; cerotegument of body with conical or strongly oblong granules, that of some body setae cloud-like; rostral and lamellar setae of approximately identical length, with hardly developed barbs; sensilli with long flagellate tips, smooth; gastronotic region rounded posteriorly; almost all gastronotic setae with small flagellate tips, barbed, setae lp longest in larva, setae c₁, c₂, h₁ longest in nymphs; cornicle k of nymphs long, slightly curled, distally slightly swollen and longitudinally split; all legs of juveniles shorter than body; setae d and v” on trochanter III appear in adult; famulus emergent. The juveniles of Damaeus auritus are characterized by: cuticle smooth, with rare folds; cerotegument of body with spherical granules, body setae without cerotegument; prodorsal setae barbed, setae ex and larval setae in short, strong, sensilli thickened, but with thin, bent tips; gastronotic region truncate (in larva) or rounded (in nymphs) posteriorly; some gastronotic setae vane-like; cornicle k of nymphs short, strong, conical; all legs (except II in nymphs) of juveniles longer than body. Famulus sunken. Juveniles are compared among the known species of Metabelba and Damaeus, and also among the genera Metabelba, Damaeus and Epidamaeus.

Two new species of oribatid mites of the subgenus Austrocarabodes (Uluguroides), A. (U.) arboreus sp. nov. and A (U.) aethiopicus sp. nov., are described from Ethiopia. The former species was obtained in mosses on trees from Cholomu Forest (10 km to the south from Ginchi city); the second species was obtained from soil from Harenna Forest (Bale Mountains National Park). Both new species differ from all known species of the subgenus by presence of eight to nine pairs of genital setae (five-six in other species). A diagnostic key to African species of Austrocarabodes (Uluguroides) is presented.

A new species, Asetacus linderae sp. nov., infesting Lindera sp. (Lauraceae) is described and illustrated, and Rhyncaphytoptus acer Chen, Wei et Qin, 2004 is redescribed. A key to the species of Asetacus from China is provided.

Parental care in the centipede Clinopodes flavidus Koch (Chilopoda: Geophilomorpha: Geophilidae) is described for the first time: the female coils round the brood with the sterna outwards, as do the females of most geophilomorphs. Also the variation in body length and major external morphological characters of the early post-embryonic stadia are described. The peripatoid and foetus stadium are easily distinguished by the degree of segmentation of the trunk and the appendages, and by the capability of making ‘writhing’ movements. The variation in the number of leg-bearing segments in mother—offspring broods is analyzed and discussed.

The water frog Pelophylax saharicus is the most widespread anuran in North Africa and thus subjected to widely differing environmental conditions in different parts of its distribution range. In this paper we examined genetic structure of species 15 populations across Tunisia and eastern Algeria. We evaluated a potential role of mountain ranges as significant barriers to gene flow, using a partial sequences of the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I gene (COI). Twenty haplotypes were recorded in a total sample of 38 individuals, whereas, an overall low genetic variation of 0.4% was observed. AMOVA revealed no significant genetic structuring related to the 4 groups across the studied area. Unimodal mismatch distributions and significantly negative values of Fu's Fs and Tajima's D statistics support a recent expansion of populations from a smaller founder population as the most plausible explanation of the observed significant deviations from neutrality in the North-East African green frog populations.

Heterakis spumosa Schneider, 1866 is a typical and widespread parasite of Rattus sp. Recently published reports on its presence in rodents other than rats and house mice (e.g. Apodemus agrarius and A. flavicollis) may suggest acquisition of new host or the existence of two distinct species parasitising within the subfamily Murinae in Europe. The first aim of our study was to examine the taxonomic status of H. spumosa isolated from three host species (Rattus norvegicus, Apodemus agrarius and A. flavicollis) by analysing the partial sequence of small subunit (18S) of ribosomal DNA (rDNA). The second aim was to investigate the pattern of occurrence of H. spumosa within the two species of Apodemus. As a result of partial sequencing of 18S rDNA we obtained three sequences, 977 bp (A. agrarius), 867 bp (A. flavicollis) and 873 bp (Rattus norvegicus) long. Multiple alignment showed that the nucleotide composition of DNA from all the hosts was identical, which may suggest that the nematodes isolated from the three host species are conspecific. Parasitological and statistical analysis of H. spumosa showed a high prevalence of infection and lower degree of nematodes overdispersion in A. agrarius. Comparative analysis of aggregation level in infrapopulations and metapopulations of H. spumosa indicate that A. flavicollis is not typical host for this species. Our results showed that the factor affecting the presence of H. spumosa is the host's age, but we did not observe any influence of the host's sex or collecting season.