Samples were collected from benthic and subaerophytic habitats of fresh and brackish water in Korea from April 2017 to April 2018. Accordingly, three genera and seven species were newly recorded in Korea. Three unrecorded genera were Cephalothrix, Cyanophanon and Toxifilum, and seven species were Anagnostidinema pseudacutissimum, Calothrix elenkinii, Cephalothrix komarekiana, Cyanophanon mirabile, Cyanosarcina chroococcoides, Leptolyngbya ectocarpi and Toxifilum mysidocida. Anagnostidinema pseudacutissimum and Cephalothrix komarekiana had been previously reported to inhabit freshwater, but these were found to be present in brackish water during the period of the present study. Also, Cyanosarcina chroococcoides previously reported to inhabit moorland waters and swamps, were found to be present in subaerophytic habitat.

Six taxa of unrecorded Korean species of charophytes are described. Freshwater and aerial charophytes were collected from the bark of trees, reservoirs, small ponds and swamps from April 2017 to September 2017. The newly recorded species of Korea were Cosmarium quadrifarium f. octastichum, Euastrum turneri, Spondylosium nitens var. triangulare, Staurastrum kouwetsii, Staurodesmus dickiei var. latus, and Klebsormidium subtile. K. subtile was transferred from Stichococcus subtilis.

In 2017, the freshwater algae were collected from reservoirs, small ponds, soil, and rocks in Korea. Eight taxa of Chlorophyta (Chlorophyceae and Trebouxiophyceae) have been newly reported in Korea. The unrecorded indigenous species were Chlorolobion braunii, Coelastrum pseudomicroporum, Coelastrum reticulatum var. cubanum, Monoraphidium nanum, Tetrachlorella incerta, Ecdysichlamys obliqua, Gloeotila scopulina, and Stichococcus jenerensis.

Phytoplanktons were collected from various environments including small marshes, small ponds, reservoirs and brackish water from March 2017 to November 2017. In this study, five species of family Scenedesmaceae were newly recorded in Korea. The genus Desmodesmus was newly reported in Korea. The newly recorded species are Scenedesmus nanus, S. praetervisus, Desmodesmus costato-granulatus, D. lunatus and D. spinulatus. S. nanus and S. praetervisus are known to occur in freshwater, but they were found in the brackish water in this study.

We have determined the complete mitochondrial genome of the yellow-spotted long horned beetle, Psacothea hilaris (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae), an endangered insect species in Korea. The 15,856-bp long P. hilaris mitogenome harbors gene content typical of the animal mitogenome and a gene arrangement identical to the most common type found in insect mitogenomes. As with all other sequenced coleopteran species, the 5-bp long TAGTA motif was also detected in the intergenic space sequence located between tRNASer (UCN) and ND1 of P. hilaris. The 1,190-bp long non-coding A+T-rich region harbors an unusual series of seven identical repeat sequences of 57-bp in length and several stretches of sequences with the potential to form stem-and-loop structures. Furthermore, it contains one tRNAArg-like sequence and one tRNALys-likes equence. Phylogenetic analysis among available coleopteran mitogenomes using the concatenated amino acid sequences of PCGs appear to support the sister group relationship of the suborder Polyphaga to all remaining suborders, including Adephaga, Myxophaga, and Archostemata. Among the two available infraorders in Polyphaga, a monophyletic Cucujiformia was confirmed, with the placement of Cleroidea as the basal lineage for Cucujiformia. On the other hand, the infraorder Elateriformia was not identified as monophyletic, thereby indicating that Scirtoidea and Buprestoidea are the basal lineages for Cucujiformia and the remaining Elateriformia.