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Stingless bees (Meliponini) are a ubiquitous and diverse element of the pantropical melittofauna, and have significant cultural and economic importance. This review outlines their diversity, and provides identification keys based on external morphology, brief accounts for each of the recognized genera, and an updated checklist of all living and fossil species. In total there are currently 605 described extant species in 45 extant genera, and a further 18 extinct species in nine genera, seven of which are extinct. A new fossil genus, Adactylurina Engel, gen. nov. , is also described for a species in Miocene amber from Ethiopia. In addition to the systematic review, the biology of stingless bees is summarized with an emphasis on aspects related to their nesting biology and architecture.

This study presents a checklist of 13 species of thorny bamboos native to Asia and documents them to contribute to a broader understanding of their morphology. To support this list and facilitate species recognition, a morphological database was compiled from a wide range of published sources and paired with an interactive identification key. This key incorporates diagnostic illustrations, descriptive characters, and precise definitions, thereby enabling more accurate identification. In addition to morphological traits, the database includes general notes, taxonomic synonymy, and bibliographic references for each species. Initial testing was conducted with specimens housed at the MNHN Herbarium in Paris, representing a first step toward validation. The current version provides a useful reference for both field and herbarium studies, and the framework has been designed for continuous updating as new data become available. Detailed results of the identification key are available at https://thornybamboo_asia.identificationkey.org.

Among mayflies, Baetidae are often considered as easy to recognise at the family level, but difficult to identify at lower level. In several faunistic or ecological studies, the identification remains at the family level; Baetidae are generally considered as widespread and ubiquitous, therefore as poorly informative for ecological studies or bioassessments. Here, a straightforward identification key is offered to larvae of the ten genera of Baetidae reported from Maghreb based on easily observable and understandable characters. The diversity, ecology, and distribution of each taxonomic unit (genera or subgenera) are discussed and the main difficulties for deeper identification are pointed out. Future challenges and remaining taxonomic riddles for Maghrebian Baetidae are detailed.

Species of Trissolcus Ashmead are potent natural enemies of stink bugs (Pentatomidae). Research on biological agents to control the brown marmorated stink bug, Halyomorpha halys (Stål) (BMSB), in Western Europe requires reliable taxonomic resources for identification of Trissolcus wasps. To aid this research endeavor, we present a species identification key to females of Palearctic Trissolcus . Morphological characters and concepts of the genus and species groups are discussed. We discovered a number of nomenclatural and identification issues that we here rectify.

Phylum Annelida are ubiquitous metazoans found in almost every terrestrial and aquatic habitat on Earth. Historically, taxonomic studies on the phylum have been focused largely on its majorgroups, polychaetes, oligochaetes and leeches, so that while family-level keys for each group are available, no single-source identification guide exists to the world’s annelid families. Here, the first illustrated linear key to annelid families is provided and family-level descriptions and diagnoses that distinguish individuals of each family from those of other families in the phylum are updated. This information is generated from an annelid DELTA database of 334 characters and 166 mostly family-level taxa. A link is provided to downloadable software (ANNiKEY Interactive) allowing the same data to be interrogated using the open-source DELTA program Intkey, which enables both interactive identification and taxonomic query functionality. For each family-level taxon, a diagnosis, full description, links to taxonomic data at the World Register of Marine Species, illustrations of diagnostic features, and a summary of the recent literature, including a list of published keys to genera and species are provided.

Two new species of the genus Trilacuna Tong & Li, 2007, T. manhao Tong & Li, sp. nov. (♂♀) and T. mopanshan Tong & Li, sp. nov. (♂♀), are described from Yunnan, China. Descriptions, diagnoses, photomicroscopy images and a key to species of Yunnan Province are provided.

Capsicum L. (tribe Capsiceae, Solanaceae) is an American genus distributed ranging from the southern United States of America to central Argentina and Brazil. The genus includes chili peppers, bell peppers, ajíes, habaneros, jalapeños, ulupicas and pimientos, well known for their economic importance around the globe. Within the Solanaceae, the genus can be recognised by its shrubby habit, actinomorphic flowers, distinctive truncate calyx with or without appendages, anthers opening by longitudinal slits, nectaries at the base of the ovary and the variously coloured and usually pungent fruits. The highest diversity of this genus is located along the northern and central Andes. Although Capsicum has been extensively studied and great advances have been made in the understanding of its taxonomy and the relationships amongst species, there is no monographic treatment of the genus as a whole. Based on morphological and molecular evidence studied from field and herbarium specimens, we present here a comprehensive taxonomic treatment for the genus, including updated information about morphology, anatomy, karyology, phylogeny and distribution. We recognise 43 species and five varieties, including C. mirum Barboza, sp. nov. from São Paulo State, Brazil and a new combination C. muticum (Sendtn.) Barboza, comb. nov. ; five of these taxa are cultivated worldwide (C. annuum L. var. annuum, C. baccatum L. var. pendulum (Willd.) Eshbaugh, C. baccatum L. var. umbilicatum (Vell.) Hunz. & Barboza, C. chinense Jacq. and C. frutescens L.). Nomenclatural revision of the 265 names attributed to chili peppers resulted in 89 new lectotypifications and five new neotypifications. Identification keys and detailed descriptions, maps and illustrations for all taxa are provided.

Four new species of the genus Andes Stål, 1866 (Hemiptera, Auchenorrhyncha, Fulgoromorpha, Cixiidae, Cixiinae, Andini) are described from China: A. cuneatus Lv, Zhi & Chen, sp. nov ., A. luchunensis Lv, Zhi & Chen, sp. nov ., A. scalpratus Lv, Zhi & Chen, sp. nov . from Yunnan Province, and A. orbiculatus Lv, Zhi & Chen, sp. nov . from Fujian Province. Detailed morphological descriptions, illustrations including female terminalia, and diagnostic comparisons are provided for all new species, with a particular emphasis on the male genital structures that distinguish them from congeners. An updated identification key to all known Chinese species of Andes is also presented.

Two new dasytid species of the genus Danaceothrix Majer, 1989 are discovered from Xizang, China and described under the names of D. medogense sp. nov. and D. xizangense sp. nov. They are illustrated with habitus, ultimate abdominal tergite and sternite, and genitalia of both sexes. The generic diagnosis is updated. A key for identification and a distribution map of all Danaceothrix species are provided.

Eight new species and one known species of the oonopid spider genus Orchestina Simon, 1882 are described or recorded based on material collected from forest canopy of Xishuangbanna, Yunnan Province, southwestern China: O. alata sp. nov. (♂♀), O. aureola Tong & Li, 2011 (♂♀), O. caixiaae Tong & Li, sp. nov. (♂♀), O. longituba Tong & Li, sp. nov. (♂♀), O. qingyuani Tong & Li, sp. nov. (♂♀), O. subconcava Tong & Li, sp. nov. (♂♀), O. sublongituba Tong & Li, sp. nov. (♂♀), O. tentoria Tong & Li, sp. nov. (♂♀) and O. xuexing Tong & Li, sp. nov. (♂♀). An identification key to these nine species is provided.