Redeskription vonOpius scaevolae (Cameron) [Hymenoptera,Braconidae, Opiinae]

Summary Opius scaevolae (Cameron) was originally described asTolbia and placed amongAlysiinae. The species is now redescribed and transferred toOpius. The taxonomical separation fromOpius caesus Haliday andOpius niloticus Schmiedeknecht is discussed.      

The genusTaraxacum in the Caucasus 1. Introduction, 2. The sectionPorphyrantha

An introduction is presented to a taxonomic evaluation of rich cultivated and herbarium material of the genusTaraxacum from the Caucasus. Sources of the material, a survey of localities, and a preliminary account of the sections and species groups ofTaraxacum described from the Caucasus are given. The introduction is followed by a monograph ofT. sect.Porphyrantha, a section shown (contrary to the original conception and some literature data) to be endemic to the Caucasus. Six new species are described belonging to the section divided in two subsections, subsect.Porphyrantha and subsect.Haemantha, viz.T. pseudoporphyranthum, T. vepallidum, T. haemanthum, T. ignivomum, T. exstinctum andT. deminutum. Lectotypes are selected forT. porphyranthum Boiss. andT. pseudoroseum ?i?kin.     

Comparative studies into two isolates of Alternaria affecting umbelliferae

Summary 1. A new species ofAlternaria isolated from the diseased plants ofCarum copticum L.Peucedanum graveolens Benth. &Hook f. andFoeniculum vulgare Mill. is described and compared with other species affecting Umbelliferae.2. TheCoriandrum isolate described by the writer asAlternaria poonensis Raghunath is a shy sporulator in artificial culture with long beaked muriform spores formed singly at the end of comparatively short conidiophores.3. The isolate from the other three host plantsCarum copticum L.,Peucedanum graveolens Benth. &Hook f. andFoeniculum vulgare Mill. is named asAlternaria umbellifericola sp. nov. and is a profusely sporulating species, forming long chains of spores with rudimentary beak.4. TheCoriandrum isolate (Alternaria poonensis) has a narrower temperature range (25–30° C) than theCarum isolate (20–35° C) for optimum sporulation.5. TheCoriandrum isolate is pathogenic toCarum but not toDaucus carota L.6. TheCarum isolate is pathogenic toDaucus carota but does not infectCoriandrum sativum L.7. TheCoriandrum isolate has a wider host range among the Umbelliferae than theCarum isolate.Part of the M.Sc. thesis submitted to the Poona University, 1964.     

Cytotaxonomische Beiträge zurTaraxacum-Flora der Türkei

A new triploid microspecies ofTaraxacum from sect.Erythrocarpa is described:Taraxacum erzincanense Doll. In addition, 2x 3x, and 4x chromosome numbers, pollen conditions and chorological facts are reported for serveral other rare Oriental microspecies.

     

Permophricodothyris Pavlova, 1965 (Brachiopoda, Spiriferida) from the Permian of South China: its morphology, biostratigraphy and distribution

A study of both silicified and nonsilicified specimens of Permian reticularioid brachiopods from South China suggests thatPermophricodothyris, a genus previously rarely reported from China, is actually very common and abundant in the Middle and especially Upper Permian of South China. This study also clarifies, for the first time, that many of the reticularioid brachiopod species previously described asSquamularia in fact belong toPermophricodothyris. The new data presented in this paper also allows a critical evaluation ofPermophricodothyris in relation to its closest allies:Phricodothyris, Squamularia, Bullarina andNeophricodothyris. The revision reveals that a total of 18Permophricodothyris species are present in the Middle and Upper Permian of South China, with only one species,P. squamularioides, having survived the Permian-Triassic mass extinction. Two species,P. grandis (Chao) andP. guangxiensis Han, Zhou & Wang, are redescribed here, providing critical new information on the morphology and taxonomy of these species.     

Taraxacum siphonanthum, a new species from Nei Mongol, Ne China

A new species,Taraxacum siphonanthum X.D.Sun, Ge Xuejun, Kirschner & Štěpánek is described from Nei Mongol, NE China. The species is intermediate between sectionsMongolica andBorealia, although in most characters it is closer to the former. It is an apomictic species with tubular florets; these and other similar characters inTaraxacum are discussed.     

The genus Gymnoascus Baranetzky

Summary The genusGymnoascus Baranetzky is monographed and found to include five valid species including one previously recognized species,G. reessii, one new combination,G. johnstoni, two new species,G. longitrichus andG. corniculatus, and a species originally described as aGymnoascus but included inMyxotrichum since 1893,G. uncinatus. Twenty species previously described as belonging toGymnoascus are excluded from the genus or are considered as doubtful representatives.Supported in part by Botany Department Research Grant # 1344, University of California, Los Angeles, California.     

Twelve new native Taraxacum species from the Nordic countries

Eleven native Taraxacum species from Norden are described as new: T. acutilimbatum, T. frondatum, T. latulum, T. thorvaldii, T. wendtii and T. wessbergii (all in T. sect. Erythrosperma), T. danicum (sect. Palustria), T. conspersum and T. lentiginosum (sect. Naevosa), T. pietii‐oosterveldii (sect. Celtica) and T. ovillum (sect. Spectabilia). They are compared with morphologically similar species, and their ecological preferences are outlined. Known distribution areas and lists of paratypes are given. Taraxacum polyschistum Dahlst. forma oelandicum G. E. Haglund (sect. Erythrosperma) is given status of species.     

Ueber die AscomycetengattungenCeratostomella Sacc.,Ophiostoma Syd. undRostrella Zimmermann

Summary Ceratostomella Sacc. is a member of theDiaporthaceae (sensuMiller 1949) and is closely related toPhomatospora Sacc., ifCeratostomella vestita Sacc. [=C. cirrhosa (Pers.) Sacc.] is regarded as type of the genus. This species has perithecia with a rather thick membrane, consisting of several layers of slightly compressed, dark cells. The neck is long cylindrical, lined with periphyses. The asci are cylindrical, with an refractive ring in the thickened tip. When young, the spores are continuous, hyaline, with two or four oildrops, when old they often develop one or three pseudosepta. A list of synonyms of this species is given. Some species, which have been described asCeratostomella belong toOphiostoma Sydow (1919); this genus belongs to thePlectascales (Nannfeldt 1932, 1934).Rostrella coffeae Zimmerm. is also anOphiostoma and must be namedO. coffeae (Zimmerm.) comb. nov. The nameRostrella Zimmermann (1900) is older thanOphiostoma, but must be rejected, as an ascomycetous genusRostrella Fabre exists, described in 1878. Several other species, described asCeratostomella, Endoconidiophora andGrosmannia are transferred toOphiostoma. A list of synonyms of the genus is given.      

The trilobite generaEocryphops andPlagiolaria (Phacopidae)

Eocryphops andPlagiolaria are revised and a new species,E. albertii, is described from the Eifelian of Morocco.“Trimerocephalus” cyclophthalmus Walther, 1907, a species long assigned toEocryphops, is regarded as a junior subjective synonym of the type species ofPlagiolaria, Pl, plagiophthalma. Eocryphops originated in the evolutionary lineage leading toPhacops (s.str.), whereasPlagiolaria was probably derived fromLochkovella. Although they have been linked with the Late Devonian group of small-eyed and blind phacopids includingCryphops and its relatives. neitherEocryphops norPlagiolaria is ancestral to these forms. Confirmed occurrences ofEocryphops andPlagiolaria are from regions that were situated on the North Gondwana margin or on plates associated with this margin.     

Tsuga shimokawaensis,a new species of permineralized conifer leaves from the Middle Miocene Shimokawa Group,Hokkaido, Japan

Silicified pinaceous leaves from the late Middle Miocene bed of Shimokawa Town, central Hokkaido, Japan are described asTsuga shimokawaensis sp. nov. Comparisons with leaves of extant species ofTsuga show that the new species is assigned to sect.Tsuga, resembling the extant speciesT. heterophylla in having usually one-cell-layered hypodermis, andT. sieboldii in having mesophyll cells between the resin canal and the hypodermis. From cladistic analyses we infer thatTsuga shimokawaensis is positioned the basal in sect.Tsuga and that sect.Tsuga comprises four species groups.     

Taxonomic status of the hominid mandible KNM-ER TI 13150 from the middle pliocene of tabarin,in Kenya

A partial mandible with two molars intact was recovered between 1981 and 1984 from deposits of the Middle Pliocene at Tabarin, in Kenya. It has been described and assigned toAustralopithecus cf.afarensis Johanson, White, andCoppens, 1978, with the condition that if ‘A. afarensis’ is revised, then the attribution may change. The taxon ‘A. afarensis’ was found to be invalid and was revised. The smaller specimens of ‘A. afarensis,’ to which the Tabarin mandible was said to be similar, were redescribed asHomo antiquus Ferguson, 1984. Since the Tabarin mandible andH. antiquus are successive transients of the same gens and are allopatric, the Tabarin hominid population is described as an earlier chronosubspecies,Homo antiquus praegens ssp. n.     

Monocentric fungi on species of rhizosolenia from saline habitats

Summary Eight monocentric fungi are reported in two provisionally identified species ofRhizosolenia from sea-water. Only two species are assigned specific names. These areRhizophydium planktonicum Canter andR. fragilariae Canter. A fungus with depressed-globose sporangia is included as a form ofR. fragilariae. Two unidentified species ofChytridium are reported. A fungus tentatively assigned toZygorhizidium and a form provisionally assigned toPetersenia are also reported and described insofar as their characteristics are known.     

Nuclear DNA content variation within the genusTaraxacum (Asteraceae)

Nuclear DNA content was estimated using flow cytometry in 13 sections represented by 18 species of the genusTaraxacum using propidium iodide as the DNA stain. Investigated plants represented diploid, triploid and tetraploid species from sections considered both primitive and advanced, i.e.,T. sect.Dioszegia, Piesis, Glacialia, Mongolica, Scariosa, Obovata, T. pyrenaicum group,T. sect.Coronata, Palustria, Taraxacum (=Crocea),Kashmirana, Ruderalia andErythrosperma. Estimated nuclear 2C DNA content ranged from 1.74 pg in diploidT. linearisquameum (T. sect.Ruderalia) to 6.91 pg in tetraploidT. albidum (T. sect.Mongolica), demonstrating 3.97-fold variation. The lowest monoploid genome size 1C_x=0.87 pg was recorded inT. linearisquameum (T. sect.Ruderalia) together withT. brachyglossum (T. sect.Erythrosperma), and the highest one (1.73 pg) was recorded inT. albidum (T. sect.Mongolica), giving a 1.99-fold difference in the genus. No significant differences in genome size were observed withinT. sect.Ruderalia, similarly no intraspecific variation was observed inT. paludosum (T. sect.Palustria) andT. serotinum (T. sect.Dioszegia). These results indicate a high intraspecific stability of the trait. Preliminary comparisons of genome size in species/sections considered to be close relatives were made. These data give tentative additional evidence for the close phylogenetic relationship between sectionsPalustria andPiesis and against the close relationship between sectionsPiesis andDioszegia.     

Two new fossil woods ofAcer and a new combination ofPrunus from the Tertiary of Japan

Two new species ofAcer fossil woods,A. momijiyamense andA. Watarianum, are described and a short review of fossil wood of this genus from the Tertiary of Japan is given. In the course of a study on three fossil wood species which have been described asAcer andAcernium from Japan, it is noticed thatAcernium iwatense Watari does not belong toAcer but toPrunus of the Rosaceae, and is therafore transferred intoPrunus asPrunus iwatense comb. nov.     

A newFerulago (Apiaceae) species from Turkey

Ferulago antiochia Saya & Miski is newly described: it is known only from the type locality in Hatay province and has affinities toF. trachycarpa Boiss. of sect.Anisotaenia.