Book Reviews

Book reviewed in this article:
ARCHEOLOGY: Papers of the New World Archaeological Foundation
No. 6. The Carved Human Femurs from Tomb 1, Chiapa de Corzo, Chiapas, Mexico . P ierre A grinier
No. 7. Archaeological Explorations in the Region of the Frailesca, Chiapas, Mexico . C arlos N avarrete
Nos. 8–11. Excavations at Chiapa de Corzo, Chiapas, Mexico . G areth W. L owe
No. 12. Mound 5 and Minor Excavations, Chiapa de Corzo, Chiapas, Mexico . G areth W. L owe
No. 13. Ceramic Stratigraphy at Santa Cruz, Chiapas, Mexico . W illiam T. S anders
No. 14. The Santa Marta Rock Shelter, Ocozocoautla, Chiapas, Mexico . R ichard S. M ac N eish and F redrick A. P eterson     

Another new species of Ceratozamia (Zamiaceae) from Chiapas, Mexico

Ceratozamia mirandai sp. nov. from the Sepultura Biosphere reserve of Chiapas, Mexico, is described and illustrated. Its closest affinities are with C. kuesteriana Regel from Tamaulipas of north-east Mexico, but differs in male and female cone and trunk morphology.     

Three new species of Spigelia (Strychnaceae) from Mexico

During a revisionary study ofSpigelia, three new species from Mexico were discovered. Two of these new species appear to be narrow endemics, one in the state of Chiapas and one in the state of Guerrero, and the third is more widespread in Mexico and Guatemala. These new species are described, illustrated, and distinguished from other North AmericanSpigelias.     

Histories and Stories from Chiapas: Border Identities in Southern Mexico.

Histories and Stories from Chiapas: Border Identities in Southern Mexico. R. Aída Hernández Castillo. Texas: University of Texas Press, 2001. 317 pp.     

PASSIFLORA INSOLITI

A new species of Passiflora L. in subgenus Decaloba (DC.) Rchb. from Montebello Lake, Chiapas, Mexico is described; its history, taxonomy, distribution and cultivation are discussed.     

A new species of Tzeltalia (Solanaceae) from Mexico

A new species of Tzeltalia (Solanaceae) from Chiapas, Mexico is described and illustrated: Tzeltalia esenbeckii. A key and a table, distinguishing the members of the genus, are included.     

Cheilanthes mickelii (Adiantaceae), a new species from southern Mexico

Cheilanthes mickelii from Oaxaca and Chiapas, Mexico is described, illustrated and compared with an apparent near relative,C. tryonii T. Reeves nom. nov.     

A new Planthopper (Insecta: Hemiptera: Nogodinidae) from Chiapas amber, middle Miocene of Mexico

A new species of Planthopper, Nogodina chiapaneca sp. nov. from the Mexican Chiapas amber (southeast Mexico) is described. The new species belongs to Nogodinidae: Nogodinini: Nogodinina. This is the second nogodinid species described from Mexican amber. Both species belong to Nogodinina, a taxon with a Neotropical distribution. The only recent species of Nogodina, N. reticulata, ranges from Honduras to Brazil and is unknown from Mexico yet.     

A new fossil species of Phlebotominae sand fly from Miocene amber of Chiapas,Mexico (Diptera: Psychodidae)

The male of Pintomyia (Pifanomyia) bolontikui sp. nov., from the Miocene Mexican amber deposits of Simojovel, Chiapas, is described. This is the second fossil phlebotomine sand fly described from Mexico. Morphological differences between fossil and extant species of American phlebotomine sand flies are discussed.     

A new species of Ceratozamia (Zamiaceae) from Chiapas, Mexico

Ceratozamia zoquorum sp. nov. from the northern mountains of Chiapas, Mexico, is described and illustrated. It has affinities with C. miqueliana Wendl. from Veracruz, but differs in leaf, male female cone and trunk morphology.     

A new species of winged fruits of Podopterus (Caryophyllales,Polygonaceae) from the Miocene amber,Chiapas, Mexico

In Chiapas, southern Mexico, there are Miocene amber deposits containing high diversity of biological inclusions of plants, fungi, crustaceans, and vertebrates. Here I describe a new species of Podopterus (Polygonaceae), P. mijangosae n. sp. based on well-preserved fruit fossils collected from the Los Pocitos mine, Chiapas. The fruit specimens are characterized by obovate shape, emarginate apex, cuneate base with three thin wings, and the endocarp being pubescent or tomentose. The wings are thin and translucent with entire to undulate margin, pubescent hairs, and fine fusiform-reticulate venation. This new record of Podopterus represents the second fossil record to the southernmost in North America, and further supports the idea that several genera that grow in Mexico today were present in the area since the Miocene.     

Assessing occupancy and habitat connectivity for Baird’s tapir to establish conservation priorities in the Sierra Madre de Chiapas,Mexico

Baird’s tapir (Tapirus bairdii) is the largest native mammal that inhabits the Neotropics, and it is enlisted as Endangered by the IUCN Red List. The historic distribution of this species included the area from southern Mexico to northern Colombia. However, its distribution and populations have been reduced drastically during the past 30 years. The main threats for Baird’s tapir are the direct persecution for subsistence hunting, habitat destruction, and habitat fragmentation. In this study, we used camera traps and occupancy models to identify the landscape characteristics that were associated with the occurrence of tapirs in the Sierra Madre de Chiapas, which is one of the most important populations of the species in Mexico, with the aim to identify areas with habitat suitability for the species. We used our best occupancy model to generate a resistance matrix to develop a model of habitat connectivity using Circuit Theory. According to the best occupancy model, the most suitable areas for this species were the forested areas located at the highest elevations of the mountain ranges that provided rugged terrain. We identified three critical corridors to allow for the connectivity of tapir populations in the Sierra Madre de Chiapas, and one of these corridors provides connectivity between this population and the population in the Ocote Biosphere Reserve. With this approach, we propose a conservation strategy for the species that incorporates a more realistic and detailed scheme of Baird’s tapir occurrence in the Sierra Madre de Chiapas region. Priority actions to conserve tapirs in the Sierra Madre de Chiapas over the long term include ensuring the complete protection of prime habitat for the species, improved connectivity by protecting forest cover, implementation mitigation measures in areas where paved roads interrupt connectivity of populations, and eradicating poaching of the species in the region completely.     

A new species and subgenus of Desmanthodium (Compositae,Helianheae) from southern Mexico

Desmanthodium congestum, a new species from Chiapas, Mexico, is described and illustrated. Its morphological features are clearly distinguishable from other species of the genus, so much so that this taxon forms a new subgenus withinDesmanthodium, subgenusMultiaggregata.     

Length–weight relationships for 24 fish species in a coastal lagoon of the Mexican South Pacific

Length–weight relationships were estimated for 24 species belonging to 16 families of fishes, representing a total of 15 312 measured fish, from the Carretas-Pereyra lagoon, Chiapas, Mexico. Significant length–weight relationships were found for all species. For 13 species, length–weight relationships are published for the first time.     

A new species of Ceratozamia (Zamiaceae) from the Sierra Madre of Chiapas, Mexico, with comments on species relationships

The new species Ceratozamia vovidesii from a Pleistocene floristic refuge in southern Mexico is described and illustrated. It show an affinity with C. matudae Lundell and C. mirandae Vovides, Pérez-Farrera & Iglesias from Chiapas, but it differs from them in leaf, male and female cones, and trunk morphology.  © 2007 The Linnean Society of London, Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society , 2007, 153 , 393–400.     

Randia retroflexa (Rubiaceae), a new species from southern Mexico

A new species of Rubiaceae,Randia retroflexa, is described and illustrated from Veracruz, Oaxaca, and Chiapas in southern Mexico. An armed canopy vine of lowland and lower montane tropical evergreen forest, it is distinguished by its paired reflexed spines and hirsute pubescence. Its distribution, habitat, and specimen citations are given and affinities are discussed.     

Spring and winter flowering bulbs of the Cape By Barbara Jeppe, with additional text by Graham Duncan Oxford University Press, Capetown. Available from Oxford University Press, 200 Madison Ave., New York, NY 10016. ISBN 0-19-570535-1. 1989. 143 pp., 62 full page color-plates. $65 (cloth)

Dalea acracarpica, from Chiapas, Mexico is described, illustrated, and referred to sect. Parosela ser. Lasiostomae: the var. chilensis is a yellow-flowered Chilean counterpart of purple Peruvian D. pennellii var. pennellii.     

A new species of Govenia (Orchidaceae) from Chiapas, Mexico

Govenia rubellilabia, a new terrestrial orchid from Sierra Madre de Chiapas, Mexico, is described and illustrated. Diagnostic characters of this new species are compared with other species ofGovenia. Govenia rubellilabia is similar in appearance toG. matudae, but it can be distinguished from this species by a shorter inflorescence with fewer flowers, green-yellowish tepals, a reddish lip lacking spots in the margin of the apex, and by a shorter anther beak.