Kitakyushu Museum of Natural History and Human History

During the survey, eighty-two specimens of the two species were collected from estuaries and lagoons in central Vietnam, including Moringua microchir Bleeker, 1853 and M. raitaborua (Hamilton, 1822), as new records for marine fish fauna of Vietnam with morphometric and meristic details of the species. M. microchir Bleeker, 1853 is characterized by a body depth of 30–44.5 in TL. Head length of 8.7–10.7 in TL, anus far behind a middle length, distances from the tip of snout to the anus are 1.5–1.6 in TL. The pectoral fin is very small and rudimentary, with a length of 10.6–30.5 in HL, and its vertebrae total 105–108. M. raitaborua (Hamilton, 1822) is distinguished by the vertebrae total of 102–104, body depth of 26.7–40.9 in TL, and head length of 7.4–8.7 in TL. Rictus before the posterior margin of the eye, pectoral fin small, but not rudimentary, its length of 3.3–5.8 in HL. We also found some features of them are morphological variations in the ontogenetic stage. They differ significantly in appearance by length group. This discovery may suggest that these two species have extended distribution to Vietnam.

A new estuarine moray eel, Uropterygiushades sp. nov., is described based on 14 specimens from Japan, Taiwan, the Philippines, southern Indonesia, and Fiji. It is a small-bodied, slender, uniformly dark-brown moray separated from congeners within the U.concolor species complex. The new species can be distinguished from congeners by the anteriorly positioned small eyes (5.0-7.2% of head length), absence of branchial pores, and extended inner rows of teeth which reach the posterior end of the jaws. Uropterygiushades sp. nov. represents a rare species of moray eel that inhabits turbid estuarine environments, preferring soft, muddy substrates, and burrowing and hiding among rocks or in fallen mangrove leaves. Additionally, Uropterygiusmactanensis Huang, Balisco, Evacitas & Liao, another species recently separated from the U.concolor species complex, is reported for the first time from Iriomote Island in the Ryukyu Archipelago based on two specimens; this new record expands the geographic range of U.mactanensis from the central Philippines to southern Japan.

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Insects avoid predation in various ways, and some use multiple ways to avoid predation. However, the effects of comprehensive avoidance methods and the differences in avoidance methods among different life stages of insects have not been sufficiently discussed. The big head stick insect Megacrania tsudai uses background matching as its primary defense and chemical defense as its secondary defense. The aims of this study were to identify and isolate the chemical components of M. tsudai using repeatable methods, determine the amount of the main chemical compound, and reveal the effect of the main chemical compound on its predators. We established a repeatable gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) method to identify the chemical compounds of these secretions, and identified actinidine as the main compound. Actinidine was identified by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), and the amount of actinidine in each instar was calculated by constructing a calibration curve using pure actinidine. Mass ratios did not drastically change among instars. Furthermore, experiments involving dropping an aqueous solution of actinidine demonstrated removal behavior in geckos, frogs, and spiders. These results indicated that M. tsudai conducts secondary defenses using defensive secretions consisting mainly of actinidine.