Biogeography of Eocene bryozoans from the St Vincent Basin, South Australia

The first extensive and stratigraphically detailed taxonomic study of the Middle to Late Eocene Bryozoa of the St Vincent Basin has identified more than 200 species of Cheilostomata and 50 species of Cyclostomata. There are three biogeographic groups: basin endemic, Australian and global. Two-thirds (116) of the cheilostome species and seven genera are currently considered endemic to this basin. Most species are endemic to Australia and similar to those found in the Oligo-Miocene of Victoria. The Cellariidae are a common component of most Australian Cainozoic deposits, but the species are highly dissimilar, with 13 of the 17 species here being new. The global component indicates that biogeographic links with regions outside Australia still existed in the Eocene. The cyclostome genus Reticrescis is only known from the Australian and Antarctic Eocene. Ten genera have their first occurrence in the Eocene St Vincent Basin. The Phidoloporidae and Smittinidae represent the most diverse and ubiquitous groups at a geological time close to their time of origination. Contemporaneous sediments in Antarctica, eastern Europe and North America also have a diverse fauna of this family, pointing to a strong Tethyan link. Rhamphosmittina lateralis (MacGillivray) is still extant in New Zealand, having an exceptionally long time range of 40 million years. Overall, the fauna has a distinct Late Cretaceous character. A new genus of Onychocellidae appears similar to genera that were common in Cretaceous Tethyan faunas but rare during the Cainozoic. This similarity ends in the Oligocene, after which the Australian bryozoan became endemic     

Rainforest ants of the Tiwi Islands: a remarkable centre of endemism in Australia’s monsoonal tropics

The small and isolated rainforest patches that are embedded in the predominantly savanna landscape of Australia’s monsoonal tropics support a highly distinctive and biogeographically significant ant fauna. This fauna features shade-tolerant taxa of Indo-Malayan origin, in contrast to the arid-adapted, endemic Australian taxa that dominate the surrounding savanna. The Tiwi Islands north of Darwin in the Northern Territory (NT) receive the highest mean annual rainfall (up to 2,000 mm) in monsoonal Australia, and have a particularly extensive rainforest estate that has been poorly surveyed for invertebrates. Here we describe results from intensive ant surveys at 17 sites representing the full range of Tiwi rainforest types, using subterranean traps, Winkler sacs, pitfall traps and arboreal traps, supplemented by opportunistic hand collections. Our surveys yielded a total of 87 species from 37 genera, with the richest genera being Pheidole (9 species collected), Polyrhachis (8), Camponotus (5), Rhytidoponera (5) and Strumigenys (5). The overall structure and diversity of the Tiwi rainforest fauna is comparable to that of rainforest ant faunas on the Australian mainland. However, the species have exceptional biogeographic significance. At least 21 species across 12 genera have apparently never previously been collected, three species from subcoastal northeastern Australia are recorded for the first time in the NT, and the genera Mesoponera and Onychomyrmex are documented for the first time in the NT. There was a very low incidence of exotic species, which further highlights the conservation values of this remarkable fauna.     

西双版纳热带雨林蚁科昆虫区系分析

在西双版纳热带雨林已鉴定蚊科昆虫９亚科７６属２６７种。西双版纳地区的蚂蚁区系以热带至亚热带分布的东洋界成分最为丰富。在属级水平上,与马来西亚界关系最为密切。与澳洲界关系较密切;与非洲界和马拉加西界的关系知中。与新北界,新热带界和古北界的关系最为疏远。可见西双版纳的蚂蚁区系具有典型的热带亚洲起源特征,同时与澳洲和非洲的热带区系有一定的渊源关系。     

西藏南部白垩纪岗巴群的双壳类及其生物地理意义

描述双壳类化石４２种,建立１０新种：Ｇｒａｍｍａｔｏｄｏｎ（Ｎａｎｏｎａｖｉｓ）ｍｉｎｕｍ ｓｐ．ｎｏｖ．,Ｐｒｏｐｅａｍｕｓｓｉｕｍ（Ｐ．）ｔｉｂｅｔｅｎｓｐ ｅｐ．ｎｏｖ．,Ｐｌｉｃａｔｕｌａ ｈｉｍａｌａｙｅｎｓｉｓ ｓｐ．ｎｏｖ．,Ｐｓｅｕｄｏｌｉｍｅａ ｄｕｏｄｅｃｉｃｏｓｔａｔａ ｓｐ．ｎｏｖ．,Ｐｙｃｎｏｄｏｎｔｅ（Ｐｈｙｇｒａｅａ）ｇａｍｂａｅｎｓｉｓ ｓｐ．ｎｏｖ．,Ｎｏｔｏｔｒ     

Biogeographic patterns in the Australian chondrichthyan fauna

The major biogeographic structure and affinities of the Australian chondrichthyan fauna were investigated at both interregional and intraregional scales and comparisons made with adjacent bioregions. Faunal lists were compiled from six geographical regions with species from these regions assigned to distributional classes and broad habitat categories. Australian species were further classified on provincial and bathomic structure following bioregionalization outputs from regional marine planning. About 40% of the world's chondrichthyan fauna occurs in Indo-Australasia (482 species) of which 323 species are found in Australian seas. The tropical Australian component, of which c. 46% of taxa are regional endemics, is most similar to faunas of Indonesia, New Guinea and New Caledonia. The temperate Australian component is most similar to New Zealand and Antarctica with about half of its species endemic. Highest levels of Australian endemism exist in bathomes of the outer continental shelf and upper slope. A relatively high proportion of regional endemism (57% of species) on the slope in the poorly surveyed but species-rich Solanderian unit is probably due to high levels of large-scale habitat complexity in the Coral Sea. The richness of demersal assemblages on the continental shelf and slope appears to be largely related to the spatial complexity of the region and the level of exploration. Much lower diversity off Antarctica is consistent with the pattern in teleosts. The complex chondrichthyan fauna of Australia is confirmed as being amongst the richest of the mega-diverse Indo-West Pacific Ocean. Species-level compositions of regional faunas across Indo-Australasia differ markedly because of moderate to high levels of intraregional speciation. Faunal assemblages in Australian marine provinces and bathomes differ from each other, supporting a broader pattern for fishes that underpins a marine planning framework for the region.     

Morphometric and molecular characterization of the species of Uncinaria Frölich, 1789 (Nematoda) parasitic in the Australian fur seal Arctocephalus pusillus doriferus (Schreber), with notes on hookworms in three other pinniped hosts

This study presents morphological and molecular data on hookworms from the Australian fur seal Arctocephalus pusillus doriferus (Schreber) currently identified in Australian waters as Uncinaria hamiltoni Baylis, 1933. Additional specimens from the Australian sea lion Neophoca cinerea (Péron) and the New Zealand fur seal Arctocephalus forsteri (Lesson) from Australia, and the Southern elephant seal Mirounga leonina (Linnaeus) from Antarctica, were included. Using the internal transcribed spacer (ITS), hookworms from A. p. doriferus, N. cinerea and A. forsteri were found to be genetically similar but distinct from Uncinaria spp. found in M. leonina from Antarctica, as well as from Zalophus californianus (Lesson) and Callorhinus ursinus (Linnaeus) from California. Few morphological differences were detected between these taxa.     

Biogeographical structure and affinities of the marine demersal ichthyofauna of Australia

Aim To investigate the biogeographical structure and affinities of the Australian marine demersal ichthyofauna at the scale of provinces and bathomes for the purposes of regional marine planning. Location Australia. Methods Patterns of distribution in the Australian fish fauna, at both intra‐regional and global scales, were examined using a science‐based, management framework dividing Australia’s marine biodiversity into 16 province‐level biogeographical units. Occurrences of 3734 species in eight depth‐stratified bathomes (from the coast to the mid‐continental slope) within each province were analysed to determine the structure and local affinities of their assemblages and their association with faunas of nearby regions and oceans basins. Results Strong geographic and depth‐related structure was evident. Fish assemblages in each province, and in each bathome of each province, were distinct, with the shelf‐break bathome more similar to the adjacent continental shelf bathome than to the upper slope bathome. Data based only on endemic species performed well as a surrogate of the entire dataset, yielding comparable patterns of similarity between provinces and bathomes. Tropical and temperate elements were better discriminated than elements of the Pacific and Indian oceans, with the central western province more similar to the tropical provinces (including those in the east), and the eastern province closer to southern temperate provinces. The fauna shares the closest regional affinities with those of the adjacent south‐west Pacific, western Pacific Rim, and elements of wide‐ranging Indo‐Pacific components. Elements unique to the Pacific and Indian oceans are poorly represented. Main conclusions The complex nature of Australia’s marine ichthyofauna is confirmed. A hierarchy of provinces and bathomes, used to ensure that Australia’s developing marine reserve network is both representative and comprehensive, is equally robust when based on all known Australian fish species or on only those species endemic to this continent. Latitude and depth are more important than oceanic influences on the composition of this fauna at these scales.     

Phylogeny and historical biogeography of ancient assassin spiders (Araneae: Archaeidae) in the Australian mesic zone: evidence for Miocene speciation within Tertiary refugia

The rainforests, wet sclerophyll forests and temperate heathlands of the Australian mesic zone are home to a diverse and highly endemic biota, including numerous old endemic lineages restricted to refugial, mesic biomes. A growing number of phylogeographic studies have attempted to explain the origins and diversification of the Australian mesic zone biota, in order to test and better understand the mode and tempo of historical speciation within Australia. Assassin spiders (family Archaeidae) are a lineage of iconic araneomorph spiders, characterised by their antiquity, remarkable morphology and relictual biogeography on the southern continents. The Australian assassin spider fauna is characterised by a high diversity of allopatric species, many of which are restricted to individual mountains or montane systems, and all of which are closely tied to mesic and/or refugial habitats in the east and extreme south-west of mainland Australia. We tested the phylogeny and vicariant biogeography of the Australian Archaeidae (genus Austrarchaea Forster & Platnick), using a multi-locus molecular approach. Fragments from six mitochondrial genes (COI, COII, tRNA-K, tRNA-D, ATP8, ATP6) and one nuclear protein-coding gene (Histone H3) were used to infer phylogenetic relationships and to explore the phylogeographic origins of the diverse Australian fauna. Bayesian analyses of the complete molecular dataset, along with differentially-partitioned Bayesian and parsimony analyses of a smaller concatenated dataset, revealed the presence of three major Australian lineages, each with non-overlapping distributions in north-eastern Queensland, mid-eastern Australia and southern Australia, respectively. Divergence date estimation using mitochondrial data and a rate-calibrated relaxed molecular clock revealed that major lineages diverged in the early Tertiary period, prior to the final rifting of Australia from East Antarctica. Subsequent speciation occurred during the Miocene (23-5.3 million years ago), with tropical and subtropical taxa diverging in the early-mid Miocene, prior to southern and temperate taxa in the mid-late Miocene. Area cladograms reconciled with Bayesian chronograms for all known Archaeidae in southern and south-eastern Australia revealed seven potentially vicariant biogeographic barriers in eastern Queensland, New South Wales and southern Australia, each proposed and discussed in relation to other mesic zone taxa. Five of these barriers were inferred as being of early Miocene age, and implicated in the initial vicariant separation of endemic regional clades. Phylogeographic results for Australian Archaeidae are congruent with a model of sequential allopatric speciation in Tertiary refugia, as driven by the contraction and fragmentation of Australia’s mesic biomes during the Miocene. Assassin spiders clearly offer great potential for further testing historical biogeographic processes in temperate and eastern Australia, and are a useful group for better understanding the biology and biogeography of the Australian mesic zone.     

Diversity and biogeographical relationships of the Australian cestode fauna

The Australian cestode fauna remains poorly documented with a total of 342 species recorded to date. The best-studied host groups are the elasmobranchs and the marsupials, but even in these groups, only 32 and 25% of known host species, respectively, have been examined for parasites. Overall, cestodes have been reported from only 5% of the known vertebrate species. Representatives of virtually all cestode orders and most of the cyclophyllidean families have been recorded from Australia. In spite of these deficiencies, some biogeographical patterns are discernible. In the elasmobranchs, a significant proportion of the known cestodes is endemic while other associations exist with eastern Pacific and Indo-west Pacific faunas. Also identifiable is a group of cosmopolitan species. The nematotaeniids of amphibians suggest Gondwanan affiliations, while the known proteocephalideans, parasitic in reptiles and amphibians, may represent an Asian invasion. Associations of the avian cestodes represent an unexplored but potentially rewarding avenue of biogeographical study. The cestodes of mammals include families with a Gondwanan distribution (Linstowiidae, Hymenolepididae) as well as those (Anoplocephalidae) with an apparent origin in southeast Asia. In addition, a number of genera of cyclophyllidean cestodes (Anoplotaenia, Dasyurotaenia) occurring in marsupials represent biogeographical challenges, not being accommodated within any of the known cestode families. The Australian cestode fauna therefore provides potentially outstanding opportunities for studies of the biogeographical relationships of a number of cestode groups.     

Drosophilidae (Diptera) of Australia's Northern Territory: ecology and biogeography

Abstract   The drosophilid fauna is well documented in eastern Australia but is poorly known in other parts of the continent. This paper summarises what is known of this fauna in the Northern Territory (NT), and includes results from banana trapping in the humid and arid zones. The 42 recorded species include species that breed in fruit, fungi and/or flowers, and a larval predator of scale insects. Drosophilids occur in all three major climate zones (humid, semiarid and arid) but predominate in the humid zone. Banana-attracted species in the humid zone (wet-dry tropics) were common in all sampled habitats: urban, rainforest and open woodland. They included predominantly urban and/or rainforest species. Of the species collected in open woodland, some are likely to be breeding there, whereas others may have been intercepted during movement across the area. The semiarid fauna is a depauperate version of that found in the humid region. Only three species have been recorded in the arid region: an endemic arid specialist, and two cosmopolitan species ( D. simulans and D. melanogaster ) in urban Alice Springs. Overall, the NT drosophilid fauna represents a depauperate version of that found in eastern Australia, probably because of climatic factors and natural barriers to range expansion. There is little evidence of regional endemism, with probably only one (and at most three) species endemic to the NT, and no evidence of independent, natural dispersion from nearby Indonesia.     

Marine Ostracoda from Pitcairn, Oeno and Henderson Islands

All of the samples yielded podocopid ostracods. Most of the faunas from Pitcairn and Oeno were poorly preserved and sparse; those from Henderson were much more abundant, more diverse and better preserved. Only 33 species are recorded from the joint fauna and this may reflect the limited number of environments sampled or the remote geographical situation of the islands. At least 20 species (and a new genus) are restricted to the islands. Other species are known from the Solomon Islands, Australia and Indonesia. Of a considerable number of Indo-Pacific pandemic species, only three Kotoracythere inconspicua (Brady), Tenedocythere transoceanica (Teeter) and Triebelina sertata (Triebel) have been identified to date. The fauna is not, however, nearly so endemic as that of Easter Island on which the two authors are currently working.     

Rotifera from Western Australian wetlands with descriptions of two new species

The rotifer fauna of 100 fresh and saline wetlands of southwest Western Australia is documented. A systematic list of 83 recorded taxa is given, with eleven new records for the continent and two new species (Brachionus pinneenaus n. sp. and Lecane boorali n. sp.) described and figured. Species assemblages are distinct from those of eastern Australia, with predominant taxa halophilous or indicative of ephemeral waters. Evolutionary and biogeographical relationships of the Western Australian rotifers are considered.     

Ecology of helminth communities in tropical Australian amphibians.

Less than 50% of Australian amphibians have been recorded as hosts for helminth parasites. Despite developments in parasite community ecology in amphibians elsewhere, Australia lags behind with only two publications on this subject. Reasons advanced for this are that much of the collecting and taxonomic studies were conducted earlier this century before more recent discoveries of host genera and species as well as species complexes in the amphibian fauna. Consequently, there is a need for re-collection of hosts and parasites, and taxonomic revision of the parasites. In addition, as shown in this study, the parasite fauna in Australian amphibians is depauperate. Composition of the parasite fauna was largely dependent on the ecological associations of the host animal species. Frogs were infected with few helminth species and these occurred at low intensity, indicating, as in Europe and North America, that a depauperate fauna is also characteristic of amphibians in tropical regions.     

Evidence for UV-based sensory exploitation in Australian but not European crab spiders

Some crab spiders reflect UV-light, thereby creating a deceptive signal that attracts prey to the flowers that they sit on. We conducted a survey of several Australian and European species of crab spiders and found that UV-reflection is common in Australian species but absent from European species. Furthermore, honeybees are attracted to UV-reflecting Australian spiders while they are either indifferent to or repelled by European crab spiders. We do not know if UV-reflection evolved once or several times independently in crab spiders endemic to Australia or whether UV-reflective spiders arrived in Australia more recently.     

Notes on the diversity and distribution of Australian Naididae and Phreodrilidae (Oligochaeta: Annelida)

This paper provides a summary of the diversity and distribution of Australian naidid and phreodrilid oligochaetes. As for other continents, the Australian naidid fauna consists mostly of cosmopolitan species, although there are indications of greater endemicity than currently recognised. While some naidids are widespread in Australia, others have a northern or a southern bias to their distribution, but few have been recorded in Tasmania. Many new records and species of Phreodrilidae have been documented since the review by Pinder & Brinkhurst (1997a) and these have allowed notions of phreodrilid zoogeography to be refined. The family is still considered particularly diverse in some temperate areas (Tasmania and the far south-west of Western Australia), but surprisingly few species are known from the temperate south-east mainland. Increasingly, new phreodrilid species are being collected from seasonal habitats on granite outcrops in the south-west and from refugial habitats (caves, groundwater and permanent river pools) in drier regions. A complete picture of oligochaete distributions will require much more work and patterns suggested by current data are presented here as hypotheses.     

中国蛱蝶科昆虫地理分布与区系分析

分析了中国蛱蝶科已知324种昆虫的分布与区系组成,主要由古北区、东洋区、古北一东洋区共有种类组成,共计309种,占总数的95．37％;其种类组成与澳洲区、新北区有明显差异;特有种类较少,占总数的12．65％;广布种很少,仅占1．74％。同时统计分析了324种蛱蝶在我国各省的贫富指数。     

Body size trends in a Holocene island bird assemblage

Despite the robust observation in macroecology that there are many small-bodied species, recent comparative studies have found little evidence for elevated net rates of diversification among small-bodied species within taxa. Here we examine the relationship between body size and species richness using the New Zealand land bird fauna, a well resolved palaeoecological Holocene assemblage. We test whether there is any evidence that net cladogenesis depended on body size in an assemblage prior to the impact of human-induced extinction. We also test whether net cladogenesis depends on the level at which taxa are endemic to New Zealand, to see whether there is evidence for bursts of cladogenesis following taxon establishment, and examine how the body sizes of New Zealand land birds relate to those in Australia, the most likely source pool for colonising taxa. Most New Zealand land bird species are small-bodied. We find no evidence, however, that this is due to higher net cladogenesis in small-bodied taxa. The body mass distributions of endemic and recent colonist species do not differ statistically, but recent colonists tend to be smaller-bodied than their closest endemic relative. This tendency is more marked for small-bodied than large-bodied taxa. More endemic taxa do not tend to be more species rich in New Zealand, although there is a positive relationship between level of endemism and species richness for forest taxa. The body mass distribution of New Zealand birds is very similar to that for Australia. Body mass does not dictate the likelihood that a family has colonised New Zealand from Australia, but the number of species in the family does: it is the species rich Australian families that have successfully colonised. We discuss the implications of these results for the evolution of body size distributions, and for the "island rule" of body size evolution on islands.     

New species of the Australian endemic wasp genus Notosigalphus van Achterberg and Austin (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) from Flinders Island, Tasmania

A new species of the braconid genus Notosigalphus is described from Flinders Island, Tasmania ( N. sophae Iqbal and Austin sp. n). This is the third species recorded of this rare Australian endemic genus, and the first member of the subfamily Sigalphinae to be recorded elsewhere than on the mainland. A key to separate species of Notosigalphus is presented, as is a discussion of relationships, distribution and biology of the subfamily in Australia.     

Species richness and endemism in the Western Australian flora

Aim Estimates of endemic and non‐endemic native vascular plant species in each of the three Western Australian Botanical Provinces were made by East in 1912 and Beard in 1969. The present paper contains an updated assessment of species endemism in the State. Location Western Australia comprises one third of the continental Australian land mass. It extends from 13° to 35° S and 113° to 129° W. Methods Western Australia is recognized as having three Botanical Provinces (Northern, Eremaean and South‐West) each divided into a number of Botanical Districts. Updated statistics for number of species and species endemism in each Province are based on the Census of Western Australian Plants data base at the Western Australian Herbarium ( Western Australian Herbarium, 1998 onwards). Results The number of known species in Western Australia has risen steadily over the years but reputed endemism has declined in the Northern and Eremaean Provinces where cross‐continental floras are common. Only the isolated South‐West Province retains high rates of endemism (79%). Main conclusions With 5710 native species, the South‐West Province contains about the same number as the California Floristic Province which has a similar area. The Italian mediterranean zone also contains about this number but in a smaller area, while the much smaller Cape Floristic Region has almost twice as many native species. The percentage of endemic species is highest at the Cape, somewhat less in south‐western Australia and less again in California. Italy, at 12.5%, has the lowest value. Apart from Italy, it is usual for endemism to reach high values in the largest plant families. In Western Australia, these mainly include woody sclerophyll shrubs and herbaceous perennials with special adaptations to environmental conditions. While those life forms are prominent in the Cape, that region differs in the great importance of herbaceous families and succulents, both of which are virtually absent from Western Australia. In California and Italy, most endemics are in families of annual, herbaceous perennial and soft shrub plants. It is suggested that the dominant factor shaping the South‐West Province flora is the extreme poverty of the area’s soils, a feature that emphasizes sclerophylly, favours habitat specialization and ensures relatively many local endemic species.     

Diversification of New Zealand weta (Orthoptera: Ensifera: Anostostomatidae) and their relationships in Australasia

New Zealand taxa from the Orthopteran family Anostostomatidae have been shown to consist of three broad groups, Hemiandrus (ground weta), Anisoura/Motuweta (tusked weta) and Hemideina-Deinacrida (tree-giant weta). The family is also present in Australia and New Caledonia, the nearest large land masses to New Zealand. All genera are endemic to their respective countries except Hemiandrus that occurs in New Zealand and Australia. We used nuclear and mitochondrial DNA sequence data to study within genera and among species-level genetic diversity within New Zealand and to examine phylogenetic relationships of taxa in Australasia. We found the Anostostomatidae to be monophyletic within Ensifera, and justifiably distinguished from the Stenopelmatidae among which they were formerly placed. However, the New Zealand Anostostomatidae are not monophyletic with respect to Australian and New Caledonian species in our analyses. Two of the New Zealand groups have closer allies in Australia and one in New Caledonia. We carried out maximum-likelihood and Bayesian analyses to reveal several well supported subgroupings. Our analysis included the most extensive sampling to date of Hemiandrus species and indicate that Australian and New Zealand Hemiandrus are not monophyletic. We used molecular dating approaches to test the plausibility of alternative biogeographic hypotheses for the origin of the New Zealand anostostomatid fauna and found support for divergence of the main clades at, or shortly after, Gondwanan break-up, and dispersal across the Tasman much more recently.