“Lycostrobus” chinleana,an equisetalean cone from the Upper Triassic of the southwestern United States and its phylogenetic implications

Detailed study of the cone Lycostrobus chinleana Daugherty shows that the fossil was incorrectly attributed to the Lycopodiales by the author and to the quillworts by Retallack and that it actually should be assigned to the Equisetales. The cone, which occurs in the Upper Triassic Chinle Formation at several localities in the southwestern United States, is ∼2.5 cm wide and nearly 6 cm long and consists of a stout axis bearing whorls of peltate sporangiophores. Each sporangiophore is composed of a slender stalk and a hexagonal disk, which typically bears a single, generally long, lanceolate, forward-directed leaf-like umbo tip on the outer surface and several recurrent sporangia on the inner surface. Small round to oval trilete spores occur in the sporangia. Since the leaf-like umbo tip is similar to the sterile leaves found in certain calamite cones and the recurrent sporangia are equisetalean-like, it appears that the cone may represent a intermediate stage between Calamites and modern Equisetum. According to this hypothesis, the nonbracteate Equisetum cone could have developed from a bracteate calamite cone, through reduction and fusion of the bracts and the sporangiophores, rather than by the loss of whorls of bracts of the Calamites cone as suggested earlier by others. As a result of this study the cone is assigned to the new Equisetalean genus Equicalastrobus and redescribed under the name E. chinleana (Daugherty) Grauvogel-Stamm and Ash, n. comb.     

ON THE STRUCTURE OF CALAMOSTACHYS BINNEYANA FROM THE LOWER PENNSYLVANIAN OF NORTH AMERICA

The discovery of specimens of Calamostachys binneyana in Lower Pennsylvanan petrifaction material in North America has provided additional information about the structure of this calamitean fructification. The cones consist of regularly spaced alternating whorls of bracts and sporangiophores. Bracts are fused in a disc except at the margin where the individual units become free. Sporangiophores are inserted at right angles to the cone axis and bear four axially directed sporangia. The vascular system of the North American specimens differs from that in other reports of the taxon in the presence of twelve vascular bundles in the cone axis. Each sporangiophore is supplied by a single vascular trace that departs from one axial bundle. There appears to be no constant relationship between the number of vascular bundles and the number of bracts. Spores are spherical, thin-walled, and of the Calamospora type. Relationships with other structurally preserved members in the genus are discussed in light of the diversity in structure demonstrated by the new specimens.     

A new genus of male cones of voltzialean affinity,Uralostrobus voltzioides nov. gen., nov. sp., from the Lower Permian of the Urals (Russia)

A new genus and species of male cones of coniferophyte from the Lower Permian (Artinskian and Kungurian) deposits of the Urals, Russia is described: Uralostrobus voltzioides Naugolnykh nov. gen., nov. sp. The cone shows characters typical of some representatives of conifers belonging to the order Voltziales: more or less isometrical bracts of rhombic shape, prolonged sporangia with attenuate apices, and bisaccate pollen of Illinites-type. General information on the associated female seed scales and vegetative leafy shoots is given as well.     

The pollen cones of Ginkgo from the Early Cretaceous of China, and their bearing on the evolutionary significance

A well-preserved pollen cone of the genus Ginkgo was found in the Yixian Formation (Early Cretaceous) of Liaoning Province, China, and is described as the new species Ginkgo liaoningensis . The pollen cone, catkin-like, consists of a main axis bearing scales at its base and spirally arranged sporophylls bearing 3–4 (−2) oval or elliptical sporangia. The sporangia are pendulous and dehiscent by a longitudinal slit. The mature pollen grains are monocolpate and elongate-elliptical, and the juvenile pollen grains are found in the tetrad stage. The characteristics of G. liaoningensis are very similar to those of the living Ginkgo biloba , but the sporophylls of G. liaoningensis bear 3–4 (−2) sporangia, whereas those of G. biloba bear mostly two sporangia. G. liaoningensis differs from fossil cones of Ginkgo huttoni from the Jurassic of Yorkshire, UK, and an unnamed specimen of Ginkgo from the Upper Cretaceous of Alberta, Canada, in the size and number of sporangia. The comparison between G. liaoningensis (fossil) and G. biloba (living) supports the reduction hypothesis of ovule organs in Ginkgo , with the number of sporangia having experienced the process of reduction from three or four to two since the Early Cretaceous.  © 2006 The Linnean Society of London, Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society , 2006, 152 , 133–144.     

New Discovery of Palaeostachya from Lower Shihhotse Formation of Taiyuan in Shanxi

Ch. E. Weiss established the genus Palaeostachya in 1876, This genus represents the strobilus of Calamites. As a kind of reproductive organ, the Palaeostachya was first proposed to name Volkmannia by Sternberg but later had been renamed to Palaeostachya by Weiss (1876). In this paper two new species of Palaeostachya, Palaeostachya plagiobracteata sp. nov. and Palaeostachya densibrateata sp. nov., were collected from Lower Shihhotse formarion of Taiyuan in Shanxi Province, and they are described here. Palaeostachya plagiobracteata sp. nov. is a very interesting strobilus, of which both basal and upper parts are not preserved. The specimen of the strobilus is about 2.5 cm long and 1.2 cm in the greatest dismeter. Bracts which extend horizontally from the axis and then turn upward are well preserved. Two rows of them are rather conspicuously. Bract is about 4 mm. long, upper part is about 1 mm. Axis is about 2 mm in width. Four rows of sporangia are distinctly around the axis. The sporangia are sessile, rather large, oblong-ovate in shape, and attach directly to the basal part of bract in an axillary position. Horizon and Locality: Lower Shihhotse formation. Tungshan, Taiyuan, Shanxi. Palaeostachya densibracteata sp. nov. is an important strobilus, of which basal and tip parts are very well preserved. The basal part of sterigma of strobilus is preserved. There are many lepidosomes on the sterigma. Lepidosome is about 3 mm in width and its tip is well preserved. Strobilus is similar to ear of corn in shape about 3 cm long, 1.5 cm. in width. Bracts are well preserved. Six rows of them are more conspicuously in the specimen. The bracts extend horizontally from the axis and then turn upward nearly parallel with the axis. The tip part of each bract appears short triangle, but basal part is contiguous. Sporangia are not preserved in the specimen. Horizon and Locality: Lower Shihhotse formation; Tungshan, Taiyuan, Shanxi.     

Dispersed Fern Sporangia from the British Tertiary

Dispersed fern sporangia have been recovered from the BembridgeMarls of the Isle of Wight and from Bracklesham deposits ina borehole West of Poole, Dorset. These fern sporangia confirmthe presence of the family Polypodiaceae s.1. in the BritishTertiary flora. Previously records of this family have beenbased solely on vegetative material, usually fragmentary, forwhich taxonomic assignment is inevitably insecure. The sporangia,containing spores and with adherent paraphyses, are shown tobe most comparable with the Recent genus Acrostichum L. andare described as Acrostichum anglicumsp. nov. The distributionand occurrence of these sporangia suggests the extensive developmentof Acrostichum in the lacustrine environments of Bembridge times.     

A PENNSYLVANIAN CALAMITEAN CONE WITH ELATERITES TRIFERENS SPORES

In 1943 L. R. Wilson described some scattered elater-bearing spores found in a Middle Pennsylvanian coal ball from What Cheer, Iowa, as Elaterites triferens. The spores, averaging 60 μ in diameter, with a trilete scar on the proximal surface and three conspicuous elaters attached to their distal surface, have now been found in a fragment of a cone from the same locality. The cone is similar to Calamostachys in having whorls of sporangiophores, each with four adaxial sporangia, and some secondary xylem at the nodes, but it possibly differs in lacking sterile bracts.     

Yezonia,a new section ofAraucaria (Araucariaceae) based on permineralized vegetative and reproductive organs ofA. vulgaris comb. nov. from the upper cretaceous of Hokkaido,Japan

A new specimen of an araucarian cone,Araucaria nihongii, was found attached to the vegetative organs ofYezonia vulgaris, and is described asAraucaria vulgaris comb. nov. Thick branches show characteristic bark structure with lenticular patches. Secondary wood is usually araucarioid. Leaves are arranged helically on shoots, which are imbricate, appressed and fused to surface of the stem. External and anatomical features of leaves closely resembleBrachyphyllum. The seed cone is spherical with winged bracts and thin ovuliferous scales. One seed is borne per cone-scale complex. The seed coat and nucellus wall show typical araucarian structure. An araucarian plant that boreBrachyphyllum-like foliage and aEutacta-like seed cone was predicted by Harris in 1979. This reconstructed plant,Araucaria vulgaris, supports this theory and proves the presence of an extinct characteristic-form of the genus. A new section of the genus was proposed forAraucaria vulgaris. Structure and Affinities of the Petrified Plants from the Cretaceous of Northern Japan and Saghalien XV, Consecutive number from previous paper (Nishidaet al. 1993).     

On the Megaspores of Four Species of Lepidostrobus

This paper is an account of the megaspores borne by four speciesof Carboniferous Lycopod cones, referred to the genus Lepidostrobus.The megaspores (assigned to the genus Triletes) have been knownisolated for more than twenty years, but the identities of theirparent cone species have not previously been established. Thisstudy suggests the limits of variation that can reasonably beallowed in a ‘spore species’. Three of the conespecies are emended in the light of their spore content, anda new species (Lepidostrobus allantonensis) is described. Usingthe megaspores as a diagnostic cone character, it has provedpossible to correlate a species of isolated cone (Lepidostrobusdudius Binney) with the tree which bore it (Lepidodendron smileKidst.). A cone previously attributed on doubtful evidence toBothrodendron is shown to bear megaspores indistinguishablefrom those of a species reliably attributed to Lepidodendron,suggesting that the attribution to Bothrodendron is incorrect.     

Some More Fossil Woods of Glutoxylon from South-east Asia

1. Four fossil wood specimens from the Tertiary of South-eastAsia are described here. Two are new from India; one is Dipterocarpoxylonburmense from Burma and the other Dipterocarpoxylon annamensefrom Indo-China. All of them resemble Glutoxylon assamicum andare indistinguishable. They have been placed in the genus Glutoxylonand named G. burmense (Holden) n. comb.; Holden' specimen havingpriority is given the specific name. 2. The recent and past distribution of theGluta shows that itscentre has shifted about 1, 000 miles towards the south-east.     

Johanneshowellia (Polygonaceae: Eriogonoideae), a new genus from the Intermountain West

A new genus ofPolygonaceae subfam.Eriogonoideae is established for what has long been known asEriogonum puberulum. NamedJohanneshowellia in honor of the late John Thomas Howell (1903–1994), a new combination,J. puberula, and a new species,J. crateriorum, are established. The common name Howell's-buckwheat is proposed for the group. The new genus differs from other members of the subfamily in having its involucral structure reduced to a spiral of four to seven bracts each of which is associated with a flower-bearing pedicel and a basal bractlet. In bud and early anthesis the outer two (rarely outer three) bracts may be partially connate, but typically become separate at full anthesis. The connate, ternate, foliar bracts at the base of the node act as a traditionalEriogonum-like involucre surrounding the branches of the inflorescence, the involucral bracts, and the flowers. Members of the new genus are found in the arid Intermountain West of the United States from Inyo Co., California, across Nevada to western Utah.     

THE GENUS TRAPANIA (NUDIBRANCHIA: GONIODORIDIDAE) IN THE INDO-WEST PACIFIC

Seven new species of the nudibranch genus Trapania Pruvot-Fol,1931 (Goniodorididae) are described from the Indo-West Pacificand an eighth species, T. japonica (Baba, 1935), originallydescribed from one preserved specimen from Japan, is redescribedfrom specimens collected in Hong Kong and tropical eastern Australia.Three of the new species are from temperate south-eastern Australiaand one from tropical eastern Australia. Two species are knownonly from Hong Kong and a third is recorded from the SudaneseRed Sea as well as Hong Kong. Only ten other species of Trapania have been described, sixof those from Europe, and one each from Brazil, California,Japan and New Zealand. The anatomy and external colour patternof these species is compared with that of the seven new species. (Received 12 December 1986;     

中国聂跳蚜属研究及新种描述(同翅目：斑蚜科)

The present paper deals with the genus Nevskylla Ossiannilsson, 1954 from China. Ntvskeylla tuberculata is new to science. The type specimen are deposited in the Institute of Zoology, Academia Sinica.     

中国食蚜蝇科(双翅目)一新记录属及一新种记述

作者在整理中国管蚜蝇亚科标本时,发现1中国新记录属和1新种,现记述于后。新种的模式标本保存于华南农业大学植保系昆虫标本室。拟墨管蚜蝇属ParamesembriusShiraki,1930,中国新记录ParamesembrlusShlraki,1930：MemtaoAgrlC．la山okuimp．Unly,1（l）：176体中型,颜具中瘤。复眼探,雄性为合眼式,雌性为离眼式。中胸背板长宽相等,具不明显的条纹或无条纹的痕迹。小盾片腹缘无毛,胸部侧板黑色,覆灰白粉被和浅黄色毛。后足腿节腹面基部具刺突或突起,后足第一附节腹面具稀疏和不规则排列的顶端呈球状膨大的毛。翅透明,绿室开…     

北美香柏雌球果的发育

用扫描电镜(SEM)观察了北美香柏 Thuja occidentalis 雌球果的发育过程。在北京,北美香柏的雌球果是在八月初由营养芽转变而来,雌球果一般有4~6对苞片,中间2~3对可育,每一苞片腋部着生两枚胚珠,在可育苞片腋部最先观察到一扁平的隆起,并在其上分化出两个胚珠原基,接着分化出珠被和珠心,最后形成扁平而两侧对称的胚珠。在北美香柏雌球果发育过程中,约一半的雌球果在2~3对可育苞片中位于下面的1~2对的腋部产生3个胚珠原基,中间一个较小,并在以后的发育中逐渐退化。由此推测北美香柏的雌球果可能是由祖先类群中每一苞片具多于2个胚珠的雌球果演化而来。在光镜下对雌球果维管系统的观察发现,传粉前幼小雌球果的苞片内仅有一束维管束,传粉后随着苞片基部的居间生长,有4—8束维管束在苞片内形成,但是新发育的维管束木质部和韧皮部相对位置与正常叶性器官一致,这与在以往报道的柏科植物成熟雌球果的苞片中均有反向维管束的发育不同。北美香柏雌球果早期发育和维管束分析结果支持傅德志和杨亲二提出的解释裸子植物生殖器官形态演化的“苞鳞-种鳞复合体”理论。关键词北美香柏;雌球果的发育;胚珠分化;SEM     

Gumuia gyzzata A New Plant from the Lower Devonian of Yunnan,China

A new genus and species, Gumuia zyzzata is found in the Posonchong Formation of the Lower Devonian (Siegenian) from Wenshan district of Yunnan, China. It has both lateral and terminal sporangia. Successive sporangia develop on alternate sides of short axes near the hases of preceding sporangia, producing a zigzag fertile organization. The author supposes that it is a sympodium Opposite sporangia are suppositionally referred to the result from condensation of the axis between alternate sporangia. The new plant is tentatively referred to a putative zosterophyll.     

单爪螯蜂属一新种(膜翅目：螯蜂科)

单爪螯蜂属一新种＊（膜翅目：螯蜂科）许再福（华南农业大学昆虫生态室广州５１０６４２）何俊华（浙江农业大学植保系杭州３１００２９）祝氏单爪螯蜂Ａｎｔｅｏｎｃｈｕｉ新种（图１）图１祝氏单爪螯蜂Ａｎｔｅｏｎｃｈｕｉｓｐ．ｎｏｖ．,ｈｏｌｏｔｙｐｅ雄外生殖器...     

ANATOMY OF THE REPRODUCTIVE BRACTS IN WELWITSCHIA

Rodin, Robert J. (Calif. State Polytechnic Coll., San Luis Obispo.) Anatomy of the reproductive bracts in Welwitschia . Amer. Jour. Bot. 50 (7): 641–648. Illus. l963.—The anatomy, including venation patterns, of the nodal bracts, sterile cone bracts, and fertile cone bracts of male and female cones is discussed. Two traces which dichotomize are present in each member. Occasional anomalous traces in the perianth have been discovered. Details of sclereids, fibers and gum canals are given. The connate nature of the bracts is described. The homologies of these organs are suggested.     

A NEW GENUS AND SPECIES OF PLANORBIDAE (GASTROPODA: HETEROBRANCHIA: PULMONATA) FROM NORTHERN AUSTRALIA

A new genus and species of Planorbidae, Kessneria papillosa n.gen.and sp. from the Northern Territory, Australia, are described.The new genus is morphologically most similar to Leichhardtia,another genus restricted to Northern Australia, from which itdiffers in a number of important shell and anatomical characters.The shell of the new genus differs from all other planorbidsin having a raised, papillate protoconch, and is also uniqueamongst Australian high-spired genera in being umbilicate and inhaving a sinuate outer lip. (Received 12 May 2000; accepted 25 September 2000)