Sheryl Yap

Flower visitation by orthopterans, particularly by taxa from Southeast Asia, was only recently brought to light in a report on the diversity and network of 41 orthopteran taxa from Southeast Asia visiting flowers of 35 plant taxa. Continued efforts to document flower visitation by orthopterans have led to 104 new incidences of flower visitation by...

Katydids produce sound for signaling and communication by stridulation of the tegmina. Unlike crickets, most katydids are known to sing at ultrasonic frequencies. This has drawn interest in the investigation of the biophysics of ultrasonic sound production, detection, evolution, and ecology (including predator–prey interactions) of these katydids....

Mindanao is home to many unknown weevil species, specifically those remote and unexplored mountain ecosystems. Two new species, Metapocyrtus (Metapocyrtus) mendioi sp. nov. and M. (M.) edmai sp. nov. are described from Mount Natampod, Pantaron Range, San Fernando, Bukidnon, Mindanao, Philippines. Habitat, ecology, and threats are provided. Moreover...

The following new taxa are described from the Philippines: Mioscarta nubisa Crispolon & Soulier-Perkins sp. nov., M. translucida Crispolon & Yap sp. nov. and Trigonoschema Crispolon & Soulier-Perkins gen. nov. with three new species: T. manoborum Crispolon & Soulier-Perkins sp. nov. (as type species), T. negrosensis Crispolon & Yap sp. nov and T. r...

Despite discoveries of new species of Metapocyrtus Heller, 1912 (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), in Mindanao Island, Philippines, over the past few years, there are still many unknown species inhabiting unprotected and unexplored forest and mountain ecosystems. A recent survey of Mount Hamiguitan Range Wildlife Sanctuary revealed two new species of the...

We examined the genetic variation in the sequences of cytochrome c oxidase subunit I gene (DNA barcode region) and some other regions of mitochondrial DNA of sweet potato weevil, Cylas formicarius (Fabricius, 1798) (Coleoptera: Brentidae), and West Indian sweet potato weevil, Euscepes postfasciatus (Fairmaire, 1849) (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), in...

The Lebinthini crickets are distributed in Southeast Asia, Western Pacific and tropical South America. They represent more than half of the described species in the subfamily Eneopterinae. These crickets are morphologically and behaviorally diverse, varying in body size, wing morphology (ranging from brachypterous to fully winged) and acoustic sign...

The genus Lebinthus Stål, 1877 (Orthoptera: Gryllidae: Eneopterinae: Lebinthini) in the Philippines is studied. New locality records are provided for L. bitaeniatus Stål, L. sanchezi Bolívar, L. polillensis Baroga, Yap & Robillard, L. puyos Robillard, and L. luae Robillard & Tan. Six new species are described from Mt. Porras, Sibalom (L. dannybalet...

Recent orthopteran sampling at Laguna in Luzon Island of the Philippines revealed noteworthy crickets from the subfamilies Landrevinae, Phaloriinae and Podoscirtinae. We describe one species new to science from the subfamily Podoscirtinae: Mnesibulus laguna n. sp. We record new locality and complete the genitalia description of Phaloria (Phaloria)...

Rhicnogryllus Chopard, 1925 is a small and relatively unknown group of Sword-tailed Cricket of the subfamily Trigonidiinae. This genus currently comprises 12 species from Asia, Africa (including Madagascar), South America and the Pacific. Species have been recognised by the presence of parallel and elevated veins in both males (which lack stridulat...

Katydids from the subfamily Meconematinae sing at ultrasonic frequencies. Owing that many of them are nocturnal, elusive and low in abundance (since they are predatory), there is a dearth of information on these katydids and their bioacoustics, especially for species in the understudied yet mega-diverse Southeast Asia. Recent orthopteran surveys in...

Most mammalian species have a vomeronasal organ that detects specific chemical substances, such as pheromones. Mucous fluid covering the vomeronasal sensory epithelium is secreted by vomeronasal glands, and the properties of these fluids have been suggested to be involved in chemical detection. Histological studies using periodic acid-Schiff (PAS)...

The genus Cladonotella (Tetrigidae: Cladonotinae) consists of four species of pygmy grasshoppers from Java and New Guinea. A new species of Cladonotella is described from Siargao Island, Philippines: Cladono-tella spinulosa sp. nov. This represents the first record of Cladonotella in the Philippines. To quantify differences between species of Clado...

Siargao Island is located on the southeastern part of the Philippines. We have very little knowledge on the Orthoptera from this island which is covered with forest over limestone, open vegetation, and mangrove, despite being designated as one of the terrestrial Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs) in the Philippines. We conducted surveys in 2018 to searc...

Two new species of Ornebius are described from Siargao Island, Mindanao of the Philippines: O. alvarezi sp. nov. and O. bioculatus sp. nov. These sympatric scaly crickets have diverging genitalia morphology, with O. alvarezi sp. nov. resembling congeners from Borneo whereas O. bioculatus sp. nov. resembling congeners from Sulawesi. With the new fin...

The genus Paranisitra Chopard (Orthoptera: Gryllidae: Eneopterinae: Nisitrini) is reviewed. New records and additional descriptions are provided for P. longipes Chopard, P. leytensis Robillard, and P. septentria Baroga, Yap & Robillard, and a new species is described from Mindanao: Paranisitra flavofacia n. sp. A taxonomic key and updated checklist...

The taxonomy of Old World Trigonidiinae (sword-tailed crickets) is in need of major revision. This includes its type genus Trigonidium. Various authors have different opinions on what constitutes the subgenera and species of Trigonidium s. l. and this has led to considerable confusion and inconsistencies. Recent use of molecular data has helped mak...

Abstract Owing to the cryptic behavior and morphology of many Southeast Asian Landrevinae, new species are still being discovered in unexplored parts of the region. Here, we describe a new species: Endodrelanva siargaoensis sp. nov. We also recorded and describe the calling song of the new species. Owing to the morphological similarities between sp...

The diversity of the Agraeciini spine-headed katydids (Orthoptera: Tettigonioidea: Conocephalinae) in Southeast Asia remains poorly known, with species still awaiting discovery. Recent field collections in the Philippines resulted in the discovery of three novel species and redescription of two known species of Agraeciini, namely, (1) Anthracites f...

The generalization that palms mainly exhibit anemophily has been disregarded and the idea that palm species are serviced by a specific group of pollinating insects has been accepted. The alternative concept that palm pollination is through more than one group of insects was tested by studying the diversity and ecological role of insects visiting th...

Four Pachyrhynchini weevils exhibiting convergent color and body pattern characteristics were studied taxonomically. A new species and a new subspecies of the genus Pachyrhynchus Germar are described from southern Luzon: P. masatoshii Yoshitake et Yap, sp. nov. (Quezon province) and P. rukmaneae paucisignatus Yoshitake, subsp. nov. (Marinduque Is.)...

The polillensis group of Pyrops Spinola, 1839 is defined to include two Philippine species: P. polillensis (Baker, 1925) and P. samaranus (Baker, 1925) and a key to the species groups of Pyrops is given. Pyrops samaranus is reinstated as a good species from status of junior synonym of P. polillensis and P. silighinii Porion & Audibert, 2017 is prop...

This paper constitutes the first ectoparasite faunal survey of bats for Marinduque Island, Philippines. From 1–12 June 2010, 150 bats belonging to 11 species were captured in 11 caves on the island. Each bat was sampled for ectoparasitic arthropods, and a total of 587 individuals representing 21 species, belonging to five families (Acari: Argasidae...

Polyctenidae Westwood, also known as bat bugs, is a haematophagous group of hemipterans exclusively ectoparasitic on bats and is closely related to Cimicidae Latreille. These bugs are dorsoventrally flattened with conspicuous ctenidia, apterous, anophthalmus, possess well-developed legs, and reproduce via pseudoplacental viviparity. They are rare c...

Luzon Island is considered as the largest island in the Philippines and is characterized by a considerable biodiversity encompassing many endemic plant and animal species. In this paper, two new species of Eneopterinae crickets: (1) Lebinthus polillensis n. sp., and (2) Paranisitra septentria n. sp. are described and an updated key to the Philippin...

The genus Ceropupa Emeljanov, 1996 is reported for the first time from the Philippines and a new species, C. adams is added to the Philippine derbid fauna. This new species differs from the other species by the presence of the following characters: basal half of costal vein with three white spots, apical part have 10 red transverse veins, base of t...

Homocystinuria due to cystathionine β‐synthase deficiency is the second most treatable aminoacidopathy. The reported incidence varies from 1 in 344 000 worldwide to 1 in 65 000 in Ireland. Untreated patients with homocystinuria have severe hyperhomocysteinaemia. Amongst its pathological sequelae, which include mental retardation, ectopia lentis and...