Patapius spinosus: First record of Leptopodidae (Heteroptera) from Japan

Patapius spinosus, a remarkable leptopodid bug whose body is covered with spines, was collected for the first time in Japan. This species was found in the supralittoral zone of a sandy beach in Osaka Prefecture, central Japan, in autumn 2002 and in spring 2004. Patapius spinosus is known to be distributed in the Mediterranean and North African regions, and has been introduced into North America and Chile. Its occurrence in Japan could signify either an eastern limit of its native distribution or an exotic origin.     

An extraordinary shift in life habit within a genus of cyclopid copepods in Lake Tanganyika

We here describe a new species of cyclopid copepod, Eucyclops bathanalicola sp. nov. , parasitic on a gastropod endemic to Lake Tanganyika, Bathanalia straeleni (Cerithioidea, Paludomidae). E. bathanalicola is distinguished by the possession of praecoxal claws on the maxillules, by the modified maxillae which lack any trace of an endopod on the powerful distal claw, and by the reduction of the maxillipeds to minute unarmed lobes. In the character states exhibited by the female body, antennules and swimming legs 1–5, the new species closely resembles a typical free living Eucyclops . The impact of the adoption of parasitism as a life habit is expressed primarily in the modification of the postmandibular mouthparts. As a member of the Cyclopidae, this species represents a unique foray into a parasitic lifestyle from an otherwise free-living group of copepods inhabiting Lake Tanganyika. This is the first record of a parasitic copepod on a mollusc host within this ancient lake and only the second family of freshwater gastropods reported to host copepods.  © 2006 The Linnean Society of London, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society , 2006, 146 , 275–285. No claim to original US government works.     

Morphological perspective on the classification and evolution of Recent Pterioidea (Mollusca: Bivalvia)

The evolutionary relationships of the Recent Pterioidea are inferred from a phylogenetic analysis of representatives of all pterioidean genera based on original observations of anatomy and shell morphology, and an extensive survey of bivalve literature. The well-resolved cladogram supports monophyly for the superfamily, but renders all but one family (the monotypic Pulvinitidae) polyphyletic. In addition, these results reveal a considerable level of convergence and parallelisms through the Pterioidea. The branching order of pterioid genera in the morphological analysis is largely corroborated by the sequence of their appearance in the fossil record. The palaeontological evidence provides important information on dating lineage splitting events and transitional taxa. The proposed phylogeny integrates the cladistic analysis of the Recent Pterioidea with the fossil record and suggests that the crown-group pterioideans probably originated in the Triassic from the Bakevelliidae, an extinct paraphyletic stem group from which the Ostreoidea are also ultimately derived.  © 2006 The Linnean Society of London, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society , 2006, 148 , 253–312.     

Home Range of Dobsonia minor (Pteropodidae): A Solitary, Foliage–roosting Fruit Bat in Papua New Guinea

Lesser bare–backed bats (Dobsonia minor [Pteropodidae]) are solitary and roost in foliage of understory and subcanopy trees in lowland rain forest. These 70–90 gram frugivorous bats forage in primary and secondary forest and in abandoned gardens. At the Kau Wildlife Area in Papua New Guinea, movements (N = 1041) of four males and four females fitted with radio transmitters were monitored for 1 to 18 months. Mean home range within 30–day sampling periods was 5.1 ha (N = 12). There were no significant differences in home ranges by sex or by dry–wet season. Females, however, had significandy larger mean core–use areas than males (1.43 ± 0.61 and 0.65 ±0.16 ha, respectively). There was moderate overlap in home range and core–use areas among some simultaneously tracked animals. The long axes of home ranges varied from 150 to 1150 m and the mean was significantly larger in females. Individuals commuted from day roosts to multiple feeding areas, sometimes resulting in disjunct core–use areas and home ranges. Fruits of native Fiats species and the exotic shrub Piper attuncum were staple food items. Piper aduncum grew as dense clusters within early successional habitats, and individual plants ripened 5–20 fruits per night throughout the year. Ficus spp. grew in primary and secondary forest and fruited asynchronously, but individual trees produced tens to thousands of ripe fruits over 7 to 10 days. Three adult female D. minor were tracked over multiple periods spanning 2.5–18 months. Although each female continued to visit a core–use area containing P. aduncum throughout the study, turnover of other core–use areas reflected the ephemeral locations of fruiting fig trees.     

Pilot trophic model for subantarctic water over the Southern Plateau, New Zealand: a low biomass, high transfer efficiency system

The Southern Plateau subantarctic region, southeast of New Zealand, is an important feeding area for birds, seals and fish, and a fishing ground for commercially significant species. The Southern Plateau is a major morphometric feature, covering approximately 433,620 km² with average depth of 615 m. The region is noted for its relatively low levels of phytoplankton biomass and primary production that is iron-limited. In order to evaluate the implications of these attributes for the functioning of this ecosystem a steady-state, 19-compartment model was constructed using Ecopath with Ecosim software of Christensen et al. [www.ecopath.org]. The system is driven by primary production that is primarily governed by the supply of iron and light. The total system biomass of 6.28 g C m⁻² is very low compared with systems so far modelled with a total system throughput of 1136 g C m⁻² year⁻¹. In the model, the Southern Plateau retains 69% of the biomass in the pelagic system and 99% of total production. Although fish are caught demersally, most of their food is part of production in the pelagic system. Top predators represent about 0.3% of total biomass and account for about 0.24 g C m⁻² year⁻¹ of food consumed made up of birds 0.058 g C m⁻² year⁻¹, seals 0.041 g C m⁻² year⁻¹, and toothed 0.094 g C m⁻² year⁻¹ and baleen whales 0.051 g C m⁻² year⁻¹. This amounts to 105,803 tonnes carbon over the whole of the Southern Plateau and is about 17% of the total amount of food eaten by non-mesopelagic fish. Mean transfer efficiencies between trophic levels II and IV of 23% are at the high end of the range reported in the literature. In the model, adult fish production is almost completely accounted for by the fisheries take (32%), consumption by seals (7%), toothed whales (21%), other adult fish (13%), and squid (20%). Fish and squid catches are at the trophic levels of 4.8 and 5.0, respectively. The gross efficiency of the fishery is 0.018% (catch/primary production). Although not all data come from direct knowledge of this system, the model reflects its general characteristics, namely a low primary production system dominated by the microbial loop, low sedimentation to the seafloor, high transfer efficiencies, a long food web and supporting high-level predators.