Diversity of sandflies (Psychodidae: Phlebotominae) captured in sandstone caves from Central Amazonia, Brazil

In the present paper we describe the diversity of phlebotomine sandflies collected in three sandstone caves in the municipality of Presidente Figueiredo, state of Amazonas, Brazil. The phlebotomines were captured during 2006 with CDC light traps. Guano samples from inside the Gruta Refúgio do Maruaga were collected to investigate the presence of immature specimens. A total of 2,160 adult phlebotomines representing 15 species were captured. Pintomyia pacae was the dominant species in Gruta dos Animais (1,723 specimens) and Gruta dos Lages (50 specimens) and Deanemyia maruaga new comb (280 specimens) was the dominant species in Gruta Refúgio do Maruaga. A total of 18 guano samples were collected and seven of these samples included immature specimens. A total of 507 immature specimens were captured; 495 of these specimens were larvae and 12 were pupae. The presence of paca (Agouti paca) footprints near Gruta dos Animais and Gruta dos Lages suggests the association of Pi. pacae with this rodent. This finding may explain the abundance of Pi. pacae in these locations, while the species is relatively rare in the forest. Deanemyia maruaga is a cave species that uses guano to breed during its immature stages. Adult specimens of this species are apparently parthenogenetic and autogenous and represent the second record of parthenogenesis for the subfamily Phlebotominae.     

The utility of wing morphometrics for assigning type specimens to cryptic bumblebee species

Since the beginning of taxonomy, species have been described based on morphology, but the advent of using semio-chemicals and genetics has led to the discovery of cryptic species (i.e. morphologically similar species). When a new cryptic species is described, earlier type specimens have to be re-evaluated, although this process can be challenging as only nondestructive methods ought to be used in order to preserve the integrity of the type specimens. Methods should allow comparison with recently collected specimens clustered based on chemical, ethological and/or genetic traits with old specimens (i.e. type specimens) where only morphological traits are available. Here we develop a method based on geometric morphometric analyses of wing shape for a taxonomically challenging group of bumblebees, the subgenus Alpinobombus Skorikov. We consider nine monophyletic taxa (including several cryptic species) to assess the accuracy of this method to discriminate the taxa based on their wing shape and then to attribute type specimens using a leave-one-out cross-validation procedure. We show that, for these bees, wing shape is taxon-specific, except for two sister taxa for which the species status is still debated. Moreover, for most of the taxa, type specimens were correctly attributed with high posterior probabilities of attribution, except for a few type specimens corresponding to the same two sister taxa where taxa delimitation based on wing shape was previously the subject of discussion. Our study highlights the potential of geometric morphometric analyses to help in the re-attribution of type specimens when the existence of cryptic species is revealed.     

Museum collections, species distributions, and rarefaction

Biological specimens in museums and herbaria are sometimes used to compare the geographical distribution of different species. In doing so, it is necessary to account for differences in the numbers of specimens. We show how rarefaction can be used for this purpose. Rarefaction is a simple mathematical method originally designed to compare species richness in communities that differed in the number of sampled individuals. We present an example involving two Phragmipedium orchid species. In this case, rarefaction suggests that the apparent difference in range can be explained by the difference in the numbers of specimens.     

印尼新几内亚巴布亚省豕蛙属4新种(两栖纲:姬蛙科)(英文)

姬蛙科豕蛙属(Choerophryne)已知5种,几乎都分布于新几内亚岛东部地区,已有物种的描述多基于较少数量的标本,由于标本贫乏,迄今无 后续研究.本文针对采集于1998-2003年的50号标本,对该属进行了再研究,并描述了分布 于新几内亚岛的巴布亚西北地区鲜为人知的4新种.与同属已知物种比较,新种的有效性得 到来自形态、声谱以及分子数据的综合分析结果的支持.在新几内亚岛西部地区豕蛙属4新 种中,至少有3种的种群密度很高,从而极大增加了对该属的了解     

Age and growth in Peale's dolphin (Lagenorhynchus australis) in subantarctic waters off southern South America

The Peale's dolphin, Lagenorhynchus australis, is a mainly coastal and one of the most often seen species off southernmost South America from 33°S off Chile and 38°S off Argentina to south of Cape Horn. Although a common species, its IUCN status is “Data Defficient”, so any information on this species is relevant. Age, growth and physical maturity were examined in skeletons of 57 specimens of this species, mostly from the coasts of Tierra del Fuego, Argentina; this represents most of the known specimens of this species available in museum and private collections. Most specimens were by-catch in shore-set gillnets or had been harpooned for crab bait. Age was determined for 23 specimens, all from Tierra del Fuego. The maximum age was 13 years for a 199 cm female. The largest female in this survey was 210 cm, the largest male 205 cm in total length (12 years), but this probably does not represent the maximum length for this species. Only two animals, of 12 and 13 years, were physically mature. Animals reach asymptotic length (188 cm) with less than the 30% of the vertebral epiphyses fused. The animals in this study were mainly subadults, as has been found for other southern by-caught dolphins. Growth was studied for total length using 18 osteological characters with the Gompertz model. We propose that zygomatic width can be used to estimate total length for incomplete beach-cast specimens.     

贵州黏菌初报

通过对作者2005年采自贵州的119份黏菌标本和从湿室培养10份树皮基物获得的19份黏菌标本进行的鉴定分类研究,以及对保存在中国科学院微生物研究所真菌标本馆和中国科学院昆明植物研究所隐花植物标本馆的共21份黏菌标本的鉴定复核,报告了目前已明确了的贵州黏菌51种,分隶属于6目9科21属,其中44种为贵州新记录种,白鳞钙丝菌和红柄发菌为中国新记录种。     

Sexual size dimorphism, sex ratio and the relationship between seasonality and water quality in four species of Gordiida (Nematomorpha) from Catamarca, Argentina

A total of 687 adult nematomorphs of four species of Gordiida: Chordodes brasiliensis (393 specimens), Noteochorododes cymatium (47 specimens), N. talensis (162 specimens) and Pseudochordodes dugesi (85 specimens) were collected during a period of 1 year from El Simbolar stream, Argentina. Free-living worms were abundant during autumn and spring, but their number decreased during winter and summer. Males were shorter and significantly more abundant than females. The presence of N. cymatium, N. talensis and P. dugesi was correlated with water temperature and these species were most abundant in winter and spring. The presence of C. brasiliensis was correlated with flow rate and pH; this species was more abundant in autumn and winter. These four species are sympatric.     

New Distribution Records for Sphenomorphus tonkinensis(Lacertilia: Scincidae) with Notes on Its Variation and Diagnostic Characters

Sphenomorphus tonkinensis is a recently described new species based on specimens collected from northern Vietnam and Hainan, China. Herein, we report 13 additional specimens of S. tonkinensis from five new localities in Guangxi, Guangdong and Jiangxi, southern China. These specimens were compared with the type specimens of S. tonkinensis, which allows us to revise the diagnostic characteristics of this newly described species. Additional information on morphological variation, distribution and reproductive biology are provided, which extends our understanding of the natural history of S. tonkinensis.     

Which specimens from a museum collection will yield DNA barcodes? A time series study of spiders in alcohol

We report initial results from an ongoing effort to build a library of DNA barcode sequences for Dutch spiders and investigate the utility of museum collections as a source of specimens for barcoding spiders. Source material for the library comes from a combination of specimens freshly collected in the field specifically for this project and museum specimens collected in the past. For the museum specimens, we focus on 31 species that have been frequently collected over the past several decades. A series of progressively older specimens representing these 31 species were selected for DNA barcoding. Based on the pattern of sequencing successes and failures, we find that smaller-bodied species expire before larger-bodied species as tissue sources for single-PCR standard DNA barcoding. Body size and age of oldest successful DNA barcode are significantly correlated after factoring out phylogenetic effects using independent contrasts analysis. We found some evidence that extracted DNA concentration is correlated with body size and inversely correlated with time since collection, but these relationships are neither strong nor consistent. DNA was extracted from all specimens using standard destructive techniques involving the removal and grinding of tissue. A subset of specimens was selected to evaluate nondestructive extraction. Nondestructive extractions significantly extended the DNA barcoding shelf life of museum specimens, especially small-bodied species, and yielded higher DNA concentrations compared to destructive extractions. All primary data are publically available through a Dryad archive and the Barcode of Life database.     

A morphometric analysis of extant and early miocene fossil hominoid maxillo-dental specimens

It is demonstrated in this paper that before we can hope to formulate phylogenetic relationships between and amongst fossil hominoid material it is first necessary to sex the material accurately. In order to determine whether the morphological and morphometrical variability seen in fossil specimens is due to sexual or inter species dimorphism, it is necessary to calibrate fossil specimens against extant hominoid species' morphologies. Only after fossil specimens have been sexed is it possible to differentiate between morphologies that are related to sex and those that are species specific. This will help reduce fossil misallocation. A morphometric analysis of extant and fossilProconsul hominoid material is presented. Each fossil specimen has been sexed according to symplesiomorphic sex morphologies as defined in this paper. After the fossil specimens have been sexed they are analyzed using multivariate statistics. The identification of differing sex patterns within the specimens examined here suggests that a new species ofProconsul may have to be considered.     

Statistical approaches to assess intraspecific variations of morphological continuous characters: the case study of the family Phytoseiidae (Acari: Mesostigmata)

Statistical methods for delimiting species with morphological data remain woefully understudied. The present study presents statistical approaches to study the intraspecific variations of continuous characters used in species diagnosis. For this, the data set comprised 14 species of the mite family Phytoseiidae (Acari: Mesostigmata) and 23 continuous characters (seta lengths). The statistical approaches aim to determine (i) how intraspecific variations differ depending on the characters and species considered, and (ii) how to choose the number of specimens to be considered for characterizing intraspecific boundaries. The means of the related confident limits at 95% (rCL₉₅) of the 14 species and the 23 setae are around 20%, suggesting that 95% of the specimens of a same species are included in the interval μ ± 0.2μ. No relationship was found between seta variations and the number of specimens considered for each species, nor for seta variations and their position on the mite body. However, a correlation between seta lengths and rCL₉₅ means was observed. An abacus was proposed to determine the coefficient that must be applied to mean seta length to calculate the lower and upper limits of the interval that will include 95% of the specimens of a same species. The higher the precision around the mean, the higher the number of specimens considered. Furthermore, this number varies considerably depending on the characters and species considered for high precisions. However, for a priori error around the mean of 15%, the number of specimens needed to characterize the intraspecific variation is quite homogeneous and ten specimens would be required. I discuss the utility of such results to resolve some persistent problems in the alpha‐taxonomy of the family Phytoseiidae but also of other taxa. © The Willi Hennig Society 2012.     

辽宁淡水鱼类寄生艾美虫属二新种（真球虫目：艾美科）

本文记述艾美虫属Ｅｉｍｅｒｉａ Ｓｃｈｎｅｉｄｅｒ,１８７５二新种：寄生于鲢、鳙肾脏的柳壕艾美虫,新种Ｅｉｍｅｒｉａ ｌｉｕｈａｏｅｎｓｉｓ ｓｐ．ｎｏｖ．。寄生于草鱼肾脏的草鱼艾美虫,新种Ｅｉｍｅｒｉａ ｃｔｅｎｏｐｈａｒｙｎｇｏｄｏｎｉ ｓｐ．ｎｏｖ．。     

重庆发现云南小狭口蛙及其系统发育关系

2021年5月在重庆武隆仙女山国家森林公园采集到3号小狭口蛙标本,经形态学及分子生物学鉴定为云南小狭口蛙（Glyphoglossus yunnanensis）,属重庆市两栖动物分布新记录种。本文给出了这3号标本的17项外形特征测量值,并描述了其生境特征。对10个不同地理种群的云南小狭口蛙种群相关16S rRNA基因片段构建最大似然树表明,重庆武隆标本与云南小狭口蛙产地标本序列聚在一起,且其间的遗传距离为0.6%,远远小于小狭口蛙属物种之间的遗传距离。重庆武隆的这一分布点,使得对云南小狭口蛙在我国分布的认知往东北延伸了超过350 km。云南小狭口蛙在重庆武隆的分布新记录能帮助理解该物种潜在分布区以及谱系地理。     

The herpetofauna of Timor-Leste: a first report

Fieldwork conducted throughout Timor-Leste in September 2004 and July 2009 resulted in a collection or recording of 263 herpetological specimens (100 amphibians, 163 reptiles), comprising at least seven species of frogs and toads, 20 species of lizards, seven species of snakes, two species of turtles, and one species of crocodile. Among the amphibians, the most frequently encountered species were toads (Duttaphrynus melanostictus), rice paddy frogs (genus Fejervarya), and rhacophorid treefrogs (Polypedates cf. leucomystax). All three variants of rice paddy frogs encountered represent undescribed species similar to Fejervarya verruculosa from neighboring Wetar Island. Records of Fejervarya cancrivora and Fejervarya limnocharis for Timor Island are apparently errors based on misidentification. We obtained voucher specimens for a total of 147 lizards and voucher photographs only for four specimens of Varanus timorensis. Aside from geckos frequently associated with human habitations (e.g., Gehyra mutilata, Gekko gecko, Hemidactylus frenatus, Hemidactylus platyurus), we discovered an as yet undescribed species of bent-toed gecko, genus Cyrtodactylus, in the Same valley. Our specimens of Hemidactylus platyurus are the first record of this species from Timor-Leste. Commonly encountered skinks included four-fingered skinks (genus Carlia), wedge skinks (genus Sphenomorphus), and night skinks (genus Eremiascincus). Notable among the 15 snakes collected was the frequency of pitvipers (Cryptelytrops insularis), which amounted to over 25% of all snakes. Our specimen of the wolfsnake Lycodon subcinctus is the first record of this species for Timor-Leste. Based on these findings, it appears that the biodiversity of amphibians and reptiles in this remote corner of Wallacea is much greater than previously thought, particularly with respect to scincid lizards. The detail we provide in the species accounts is designed to allow the use of this report as a preliminary field guide to the amphibians and reptiles of Timor-Leste. However, survey work is ongoing.     

Three new phylogenetic lineages are the closest relatives of the widespread species Albugo candida

White blister rust caused by the obligate biotroph Albugo candida (Albuginaceae; Oomycota) is one of the most notorious and common diseases of Brassicaceae. During the past 5 y, A. candida specimens collected from about 30 host genera were phylogenetically and morphologically investigated in several studies. These not only revealed that A. candida s.str. has a broad host range, encompassing a large number of host plants belonging to Brassicales, but also the presence of previously overlooked species of Albugo with hosts in this order. In this study, we examined specimens from Alyssum, Barbarea, and Rorippa, of which many species were commonly recorded as host plants of A. candida but could not be included in previous works due to the paucity of specimens available. It was revealed that Albugo specimens from Alyssum montanum, Barbarea vulgaris, and various Rorippa species, were placed in three phylogenetically distinct clades, but closer to A. candida s.str. than any previously reported species. Oospores were observed from Albugo specimens parasitic to Rorippa and could be distinguished morphologically from A. candida. Therefore, Albugo rorippae sp. nov. is described and illustrated here. In addition, a key of Albugo species described previously from Brassicales is given. The present study reveals that a large number of Albugo species remain still undiscovered, and that species close to A. candida exist. This could help elucidating the basis of the broad host range of A. candida as opposed to the narrow specialisation that is seemingly present in other species of Albugo on the Brassicaceae.     

子囊菌黑陷球壳属的种

黑陷球壳属是单囊壁子囊菌,属内许多种的定义一直不明确,该属应该归于哪一科等问题一直存在争议。文中通过对资料的搜集整理和模式标本的重新鉴定研究,确认了黑陷球壳属9个种;49个种归并到其他属;12个种由于不符合该属的特征,应予排除,但尚需确定名称;44个种由于模式标本材料太差或无法搜寻到模式标本,作为可疑种;另有11个种尚需搜寻模式标本重新研究。     

Accelerating plant DNA barcode reference library construction using herbarium specimens: improved experimental techniques

A well‐covered reference library is crucial for successful identification of species by DNA barcoding. The biggest difficulty in building such a reference library is the lack of materials of organisms. Herbarium collections are potentially an enormous resource of materials. In this study, we demonstrate that it is likely to build such reference libraries using the reconstructed (self‐primed PCR amplified) DNA from the herbarium specimens. We used 179 rosaceous specimens to test the effects of DNA reconstruction, 420 randomly sampled specimens to estimate the usable percentage and another 223 specimens of true cherries (Cerasus, Rosaceae) to test the coverage of usable specimens to the species. The barcode rbcLb (the central four‐sevenths of rbcL gene) and matK was each amplified in two halves and sequenced on Roche GS 454 FLX+. DNA from the herbarium specimens was typically shorter than 300 bp. DNA reconstruction enabled amplification fragments of 400–500 bp without bringing or inducing any sequence errors. About one‐third of specimens in the national herbarium of China (PE) were proven usable after DNA reconstruction. The specimens in PE cover all Chinese true cherry species and 91.5% of vascular species listed in Flora of China. It is very possible to build well‐covered reference libraries for DNA barcoding of vascular species in China. As exemplified in this study, DNA reconstruction and DNA‐labelled next‐generation sequencing can accelerate the construction of local reference libraries. By putting the local reference libraries together, a global library for DNA barcoding becomes closer to reality.     

Phylogeography reveals a North Island range extension for New Zealand's only sexually wing-dimorphic stonefly (Stenoperla helsoni)

Stenoperla helsoni is an endemic New Zealand stonefly characterised by distinctive sexually dimorphic wing loss. Previous distribution records indicated that this species was restricted to the South Island's Southern Alps, although our recent collections of wing-reduced specimens from a site in the Tararua Ranges suggest that this species may extend into the lower North Island. We amplified the mitochondrial COI gene to confirm the identity of North Island specimens, and to assess phylogeographic structuring within the species and genus. North Island specimens were confirmed as S. helsoni, indicating that this species has a much wider geographic range than previously thought. This broad distribution, combined with low levels of intraspecific divergence, suggests that female S. helsoni may be strong fliers, despite males being flightless. Distinct North Island and South Island populations were identified, with a 1.5% divergence between the two populations.     

青藏高原绿绒蒿属的研究

本文是根据中国科学院西北高原生物研究所的标本,对青藏高原绿绒蒿属分类方面作了初步研究。此文主要包括17种、2变种和1变型,其中描述了2个新组、1个新种、1个新变型和3个在青海、西藏首次发现。模式标本保存在中国科学院西北高原生物研究所标本室内。在这篇报告中论述了绿绒蒿属的演化、地理分布,研究了它们所生长的土壤概况,此外,叙述了一些种在药用方面的重要性。     

PERMIAN OSTRACODS FROM THE CHIHSIA LIMESTONE OF LUNGTAN, NANKING

The specimens described in this paper were collected in the spring of 1955 by the writer andher friends from the Lower Permian Chihsia limestone at Kwanshan, Lungtan, about 20 kmsoutheast of Nanking. The ostracods described and illustrated here comprise 37 species in 11genera, of which 29 species are new. The majority of the specimens were found in the middlepart (ca. 138 m. in thickness) of the Chihsia formation. The specimens are more or less