A revision of the Neotropical genus Paraberismyia Woodley (Diptera,Stratiomyidae, Beridinae) with three new species

The Neotropical genus Paraberismyia Woodley, 1995, is revised. Three new species, P. chiapassp. n., P. mathisisp. n., and P. triunfosp. n. are described, all having type localities in Chiapas, Mexico. A key to the four known species is provided.     

Foraging Behavior in the Arboreal Boid Corallus grenadensis

Corallus grenadensis is an arboreal boa endemic to the Grenada Bank. Thirty-five encounters with boas resulted in 17.65 hours of observations, including 6.3 hours of video-tape (which included two acts of predation). Boas under 100 cm are largely active foragers that move slowly through bushes and trees and tongue-flick leaf and branch surfaces apparently seeking chemosensory evidence of nocturnally quiescent lizard (Anolis) prey. Significantly more search time was directed to branches below the snake rather than to either the branches supporting the snake or to those above the snake, and tongue-flick rates were significantly higher for moving snakes than for those that were stationary. Smaller snakes prey on nocturnally quiescent lizards and they spent more time moving than did large snakes that feed on nocturnally active rodents and often employ an ambush foraging strategy. Once visual and, presumably, thermal information was received from a sleeping anole, C. grenadensis adopted a lengthy stalking process devoid of tongue-flicks. Snakes approached inactive lizards from adjacent branches with great stealth, moving at a rate of about 1 cm/min. The strike was made from close range (within 3 cm), and the prey was never released once contact was made. We conclude that, if chemosensory cues successfully lead a treeboa to a visual encounter with a sleeping lizard, subsequent behavior ensures a high rate of predation success.     

Subgenera of Charidotella Weise with description of a new subgenus and species from Brazil (Coleoptera,Chrysomelidae, Cassidinae,Cassidini)

A new subgenus and species, Charidotella (Chapadacassis subgen. n.) paradoxa sp. n. is described and figured from the Chapada plateau in Mato Grosso, Brazil. Subgenera of Charidotella Weise, 1896 are listed, supplemented with basic data, diagnostic table, and a key is proposed. Based on a study of respective type material following new combinations are proposed: Charidotella (Philaspis) stulta (Boheman, 1855), comb. n., Charidotella (Xenocassis) amoenula (Boheman, 1855), comb. n., Charidotella (Xenocassis) cyclographa (Boheman, 1855), comb. n., Charidotella (Xenocassis) discoidalis (Boheman, 1855), comb. n., Charidotella (Xenocassis) incerta (Boheman, 1855), comb. n., Charidotella (Xenocassis) purpurea (Linnaeus, 1758), comb. n., Charidotella (Xenocassis) myops (Boheman, 1855), comb. n. (all previously placed in the nominotypical subgenus), and Plagiometriona cingulata (Boheman, 1862), comb. n. (from Charidotella (Xenocassis)).     

Amphibian diversity increases in an heterogeneous agricultural landscape

As a group amphibians are the vertebrates most affected by anthropic activity, particularly by agriculture. The rapid advance of the agricultural frontier makes it important to identify the role of agroecosystems as habitat supply for amphibians. We analyzed the differences in amphibian assemblages and populations between habitats with different plant covers and different degrees of human intervention in northwestern Argentina. For three years we conducted 114 high frequency trap samplings to quantify abundance, specific composition and species richness of amphibian assemblages in three habitat types (lemon and sugarcane crops and secondary forest) of a piedmont agroecosystem of Tucumán province. Crops hosted more species and individuals than secondary forests, but the specific composition of forest was different from that of crops suggesting that they could be complementary. Although the assemblage abundance of every observation responded to climate, the strong effect of sampling year was not related to climatic factors suggesting that there might be long term fluctuations that were not analyzed. We also found that responses to agricultural practices were species specific, so no generalizations about these practices should be done. Our study shows that cultivated areas are not hostile environments for amphibians since they can lodge huge amphibian populations and that the occurrence of disturbances associated to agricultural practices is not necessarily reflected in a decrease in the abundance and richness of amphibians in the short term. However, our results also show that forested lands are necessary to lodge some specialist species which are very rare in the croplands. This suggests that environmental heterogeneity generated by the combination of natural and cultivated patches can increase biodiversity at landscape scale because this allows the coexistence of species related to either kind of environment.     

New species and new records in Cerambycidae (Coleoptera) of the state of Bahia,Brazil

Two new species are described from Bahia (Brazil): Coleoxestia beckeri (Cerambycini), and Oncioderes obliqua (Onciderini). Nine species are recorded for the first time for Bahia (Brazil). Key to species of Oncioderes Martins & Galileo, 1990 is provided. Coleoxestia beckeri is included in a previous key.     

湖北省黑头蜈蚣一新种（唇足纲：蜈蚣目：蜈蚣科）

记述蜈蚣属一新种,黑头蜈蚣,头板和第１有足体节的背板通常呈暗绿色至暗褐色,最大体长约７５ｍｍ。两性的末对步足之前了粗壮,长约为宽的２倍,显然不同于日本内地的日本蜈蚣。     

Interaction network of vascular epiphytes and trees in a subtropical forest

The commensalistic interaction between vascular epiphytes and host trees is a type of biotic interaction that has been recently analysed with a network approach. This approach is useful to describe the network structure with metrics such as nestedness, specialization and interaction evenness, which can be compared with other vascular epiphyte-host tree networks from different forests of the world. However, in several cases these comparisons showed different and inconsistent patterns between these networks, and their possible ecological and evolutionary determinants have been scarcely studied. In this study, the interactions between vascular epiphytes and host trees of a subtropical forest of sierra de San Javier (Tucuman, Argentina) were analysed with a network approach. We calculated metrics to characterize the network and we analysed factors such as the abundance of species, tree size, tree bark texture, and tree wood density in order to predict interaction frequencies and network structure. The interaction network analysed exhibited a nested structure, an even distribution of interactions, and low specialization, properties shared with other obligated vascular epiphyte-host tree networks with a different assemblage structure. Interaction frequencies were predicted by the abundance of species, tree size and tree bark texture. Species abundance and tree size also predicted nestedness. Abundance indicated that abundant species interact more frequently; and tree size was an important predictor, since larger-diameter trees hosted more vascular epiphyte species than small-diameter trees. This is one of the first studies analyzing interactions between vascular epiphytes and host trees using a network approach in a subtropical forest, and taking the whole vascular epiphyte assemblage of the sampled community into account.     

A taxonomic contribution to the genus Dolichomitus Smith (Hymenoptera,Ichneumonidae, Pimplinae) from?Brazil

In the present study, two new species of Pimplinae, Dolichomitus jataisp. n. and Dolichomitus moacyrisp. n. are described, and the distribution range of Dolichomitus annulicornis (Cameron, 1886) is extended. The specimens were collected using Malaise traps in areas of Atlantic forest and Brazilian savannah (cerrado) in southeastern Brazil and are deposited in a Brazilian collection (DCBU).