A new species of Amolops (Anura : Ranidae) from Yunnan, China, with a discussion of karyological diversity in Amolops

We describe a new species, Amolops tuberodepressus, from the mountainous regions of Jingdong County, Yunnan Province, China. This species differs from all other congeners in a combination of both karyological and morphological characteristics. Morphologically, the new species resembles A. mantzorum, A. kangtingensis, A. jinjiangensis, and A. liangshanensis occurring in southern Sichuan and northern Yunnan and may easily be confused with those species. However, Amolops tuberodepressus differs from those species by the presence of a distinct tympanum, flatter supratympanic fold, flatter tubercles on the flanks, and absence of a dorsolateral Fold. Karyological evidence also strongly supports the distinctness of the new species. A consideration of one Karyological character demonstrates that species of Amolops in southwestern China all share secondary constrictions on chromosome pair six. In view of the morphological similarity among species df Amolops in southwestern China, these species may have only recently diverged from a common ancestral species.

Amolops bellulus: A new species of stream-breeding frog from western Yunnan, China (Anura : Ranidae)

We describe a new species of stream-breeding frog of the genus Amolops, Amolops bellulus, from the mountainous region of Lushui County, Yunnan Province, China, near the boundary between Yunnan and Myanmar. This species differs from all its congeners in a combination of morphological characteristics including the absence of a circummarginal groove at the tip of first finger, lack of a supratympanic fold, a white band along the upper jaw extending to shoulder, a black band starting from tip of snout along upper loreal region and extending to anterior flank of body, absence of a vocal sac, tympanum distinct and feebly concave, and the presence of vomerine teeth.

Identification and characterization of a new class of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 recombinants comprised of two circulating recombinant forms, CRF07_BC and CRF08_BC, in China

We identified a new class of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) recombinants (00CN-HH069 and 00CN-HH086) in which further recombination occurred between two established circulating recombinant forms (CRFs). These two isolates were found among 57 HIV-1 samples from a cohort of injecting drug users in eastern Yunnan Province of China. Informative-site analysis in conjunction with bootscanning plots and exploratory tree analysis revealed that these two strains were closely related mosaics comprised of CRF07_BC and CRF08_BC, which are found in China. The genotype screening based on gag-reverse transcriptase sequences if 57 samples from eastern Yunnan identified 47 CRF08_BC specimens (82.5%), 5 CRF07_BC specimens (8.8%), and 3 additional specimens with the novel recombinant structure. These new "second-generation" recombinants thus constitute a substantial proportion (5 of 57; 8.8%) of HIV-1 strains in this population and may belong to a new but yet-undefined class of CRF. This might be the first example of CRFs recombining with each other, leading to the evolution of second-generation inter-CRF recombinants.

Onychostoma virgulatum, a new species of cyprinid fish (Pisces: Teleostei) from southern Anhui Province, South China

Onychostoma virgulatum, new species, is described from the Qiupu River, a tributary on the Southern bank of the lower Yangtze River at Shitai County, southern Anhui Province, South China. It shares with O. fusiforme and O. meridionale the presence of a longitudinal dark brown stripe extending along the lateral line, a character separating them from all other congeners of the moderate-mouth group diagnosed by having a slightly arched or nearly transverse mouth opening (with the extremities slightly curved posteriorly), its width being equal to or slightly less than the width of head at this same point, and a short postlabial groove extending along half of the length of the lateral margin of the lower jaw. Onychostoma virgulatum differs from both in the presence of two pairs of barbels in adults, from O. fusiforme in the body depth, caudal-peduncle depth, and position of pelvic and anal fins, and from O. meridionale in the structure of the last simple dorsal-fin ray.

Three new species of Tubificinae, Oligochaeta, from two plateau lakes in Southwest China

Three new species of Tubificinae (Naididae, Oligochaeta), Varichaetadrilus vestibulatus n. sp., Aulodrilus apeniatus n. sp., and Ilyodrilus mesoprostatus n. sp., are reported from Fuxian Lake and Xingyun Lake of Yunnan Province, Southwest China. V. vestibulatus differs from its allies by possessing modified spermathecal chaetae and thinner cylindrical penial sheaths. A. apeniatus is unique in the genus by having no penis. I. mesoprostatus is distinguishable from congeners by its prostate glands joining middle portion of atria and having concave, cone-shaped cuticular penial sheaths. Twenty-eight species of freshwater oligochaetes have hitherto been recorded from Yunnan Province, including five endemic species from three plateau lakes.

Peridiniopsis niei sp nov (Dinophyceae), a new species of freshwater red tide dinoflagellates from China

A new freshwater phototrophic species of the dinoflagellate genus Peridiniopsis, P. niei sp. nov., is described based on morphology. The new species appeared during spring with densities up to 1.48 x 10(7) cells L-1 in some tributaries and gullies of Three Gorge Reservoir and Lake Donghu, China, forming red tides. Peridiniopsis niei is a cyst-producing freshwater dinoflagellate that belongs to the group Penardii. The plate tabulation is po+x+4 '+0a+6 ''+5c+5s+5 '''+2 '''' and the plate pattern is symmetric. The cells of P. niei are pentagonal in ventral view, the epitheca is larger than the hypotheca, making up about 2/3 the length of the cell. Plate 3 ' is hexangular. The closest species to P. niei is P. penardii (Lemmermann) Bourrelly, but cells of the former are pentagonal, very compressed dorsoventrally, and the hypotheca is truncated with one transparent, robust spine on each antapical plate.

Triplophysa waisihani, a new species of nemacheiline loach from Northwest China (Pisces: Balitoridae)

Triplophysa waisihani, a new species of nemacheiline loach, is described from the Kax River, a tributary of the Ili River drainage in Xinjiang-Uighur Autonomous Region of Northwest China. It can be assigned to the T. labiata species group characterized by having widely separated anterior and posterior nostrils and no breeding tubercles on the sides of the head. Triplophysa waisihani resembles T. labiata and T. herzensteini, but differs from both in cephalic sensory-canal pattern and the structure of the gas bladder; from T. labiata in the structure of the pelvic girdle and absence or presence of the fourth basibranchial; and from T. herzensteini in the shape of the anal fin.

A new species of Allocreadium (Trematoda : Allocreadiidae) from freshwater fishes in the Danjiangkou Reservoir in China

A new species of Allocreadium, Allocreadium danjiangensis n. sp., is described from the intestine of several species of freshwater fish, including Abbottina rivularis (Basilewsky, 1855), Sarcocheilichthys nigripinnis nigripinns (Gunther, 1873), Gnathopogon argentatus (Sauvage et Dabry 1874), Opsariichthys uncirostris bidens (Gunther, 1873), and Erythroculter mongolicus mongolicus (Basilewsky, 1855) (Cyprinidae) from the Danjiangkou Reservoir in central China. The main morphological characters of the new species are as follows: vitelline follicles numerous, extending from the level of acetabulum to posterior extremity, distributed over both sides around the ceca; cirrus sac relatively large, developed, lying obliquely anterior to the acetabulum, extending from the level of the intestinal bifurcation to the central level of acetabulum, and overlapping left or right cecal; and ovary much smaller than testes, generally close to or even overlapping the anterior border of anterior testis. Observation by scanning electron microscopy shows only 2 kinds of tegumental formations, i.e., papillae and tubercles, instead of 3 types of tegumental formations, i.e., papillae, bosses, and minute sensor receptors observed on other species of the Allocreadiidae. The tegumental striations of the present species vary on the different parts of the body. In addition, a new structure, identified as the "groove" with a tonguelike tubercle, was observed on the inner wall of acetabulum.

Description of a new genus and two new species of labeonine fishes from South China (Teleostei : Cyprinidae)

A new genus and two new species are described from the Pearl River drainage in Guangxi Province, South China. Hongshuia, new genus, can be distinguished from all other Asian genera of the Labeonini by having a lower lip with its median lobe modified into a round, fleshy plate peripherally greatly protruded so as to form a ring-like fold that is posteromedially continuous with the mental region, and centrally sunken so as to form a round, flat, fleshy pad. This genus is distinct from all other Asian labeonine genera of the Garrina except for one newly described species of Parasinilabeo ( P. longibarbus), Pseudocrossocheilus, and Sinocrossocheilus, in the presence of well-developed maxillary barbels. Hongshuia differs from the above three genera in the lower lip morphology, and further from both Pseudocrossocheilus and Qianlabeo in the number of pharyngeal tooth rows and from Sinocrossocheilus in the colour pattern. Two new species, H. banmo and H. paoli, differ in the distribution density and degree of development of papillae on the rostral fold, depth of indentations on the distal edge of the rostral fold, presence or absence of papillae on the lower lip, size and shape of tubercles on the tip of the snout and anterior portion of the lachrymal, length, position and colour pattern of the dorsal fin, and snout length.