Different factors affect the local distribution,persistence and spread of alien tree species in floodplain forests

Floodplain forests are characterized by high and increasing levels of invasions by plant species, but the factors that drive their spread are insufficiently understood. Using data from 708 plots surveyed twice (1998, 2008) supplemented with further data (management, stand age, distance to dispersal corridors, type of ecosystems invaded) we analyzed the factors which shape the local distribution, growth, persistence and spread of three invasive alien tree species (Acer negundo, Ailanthus altissima, Robinia pseudoacacia) in the National Park Donau-Auen in Austria. Using Generalized Linear Models (GLMs), we found that the distribution of the study species per plot is contingent on stand age (R. pseudoacacia), type of floodplain forest (A. negundo, A. altissima) and distance to the next water body (A. negundo). For all study species, colonization of new plots between both surveys is driven by short distance spread from already established invasion foci. Moreover, recipient habitats (softwood vs. hardwood floodplain forests) modify invasion success in species-specific ways. The probability of occurrence and colonization of plots located in softwood floodplain forests is higher for A. negundo, whereas A. altissima more frequently colonizes hardwood floodplain forests. Persistence of R. pseudoacacia decreases with stand age, whereas its growth rate is significantly higher in plots located in zones where management is allowed than in those which are not managed. Persistence and growth of the other two study species were not related to any explanatory variables analyzed. The on-going spread of the study species in the National Park Donau-Auen suggests that their local distribution is in disequilibrium, i.e. not all suitable habitat patches have yet been colonized. This implies that increased management efforts are necessary to reverse the spread of alien tree species in the study area and to maintain the high conservation value of this iconic area which protects one of the largest floodplain forests in Europe.     

New data on the systematics of leaf-beetle genus Chrysolina (Coleoptera, Chrysomelinae) from the Palaearctic region

Chrysolina przewalskii (Jacobson, 1895) and Ch. lucidula Chen, 1934 are redescribed based on the type specimens. Neotype of Ch. przewalskii is designated. Ch. daccordii Lopatin, 2000 is a new junior synonym of Ch. juldusana (Lopatin, 1962); Ch. daosana Lopatin, 2007 is a new junior synonym of Ch. tani Lopatin, 1998; Ch. burchana Lopatin, 1998 is a new junior synonym of Ch. przewalskii (Jacobson, 1895). Ch. lucidula Chen, 1934 described from a mislabeled specimen is a new junior synonym of the South European Ch. lucida (Olivier, 1807). Ch. hyrcana var. cyanescens (Jacobson, 1894) is synonymized with Ch. circumducta (Ménétriés, 1848) and is merely a color form of the latter species.     

Taxonomic revision of the genus Callimerus Gorham s. l. (Coleoptera,Cleridae). Part I. latifrons species-group

The latifrons species-group (=Brachycallimerus sensu Chapin 1924, Corporaal 1950; = flavofasciatus-group sensu Kolibáč 1998) of Callimerus Gorham is redefined and revised. Five species are recognized including one new species Callimerus cacuminis Yang & Yang sp. n. (type locality: Yunnan, China). Callimerus flavofasciatus Schenkling, 1902 is newly synonymized with Callimerus latifrons Gorham, 1876. Callimerus trifasciatus Schenkling, 1899a is transferred to the genus Corynommadius Schenkling, 1899a. Callimerus gorhami Corporaal, 1949 and Callimerus pallidus Gorham, 1892 are excluded from the latifrons species-group (their assignment to a species-group will be dealt with in a subsequent paper). A key to species of the latifrons species-group is given and habitus of each type specimen, male terminalia, and other diagnostic characters are illustrated.     

New bryozoans from the Devonian of Afghanistan and the Carboniferous of Iran

A new family, Vidronovellidae, with a new genus, Vidronovella, and its type species V. fastigata sp. nov., and a new species, Europora gerirudensis, are described from the Famennian of Afghanistan, and the new species Primorella iranica, Heloclema magnificum, and Worthenopora elbursensis are described from the Viséan of Iran.     

A contribution to the revision of the genus Fenestella (Bryozoa) from the lower carboniferous of the east European platform

About 50 species of the genus Fenestella from the Lower Carboniferous of the East European platform are revised. They are shown to belong to the following seven genera: Fenestella, Rectifenestella, Laxifenestella, Exfenestella, Fabifenestella, Alternifenestella, and Ignotifenestella. Diagnoses of the three latter genera are given and 11 species are described, including type species, one of which, A. substricta sp. nov., is new. Lectotypes are selected for the three known species A. major (Nikiforova, 1933), A. minor (Nikiforova, 1933), and A. media (Nikiforova, 1927).     

Thecamoeba cosmophorea n. sp. (Amoebozoa,Discosea, Thecamoebida) — An example of sibling species within the genus Thecamoeba

A new species Thecamoeba cosmophorea n. sp. (Amoebozoa, Discosea, Thecamoebida) was isolated from leaf litter collected in the surroundings of Saint-Petersburg (Russia). This species resembles T. quadrilineata in light-microscopic morphology, but has certain morphological differences and significantly differs in 18S rRNA gene sequence. We performed a direct comparison of this newly isolated species with the Thecamoeba strain isolated from leaf litter in East Siberia (Russia) and identified as T. quadrilineata both at the morphological and the molecular level. There is no type strain of T. quadrilineata, and the type material on this species is represented with the stained slide by F.C. Page that he designated as neotype in 1977. The sequence of the 18S rRNA gene of this species deposited in the GenBank belongs to the isolate identified as T. quadrilineata by Rolf Michel in 1998 and deposited as CCAP 1583/10 strain. Hence we cannot be entirely sure that morphological and molecular data on T. quadrilineata belong to the same amoebae species. The use of molecular data for reliable species differentiation is getting obligate even within the amoebae genus Thecamoeba, which until recently was believed to be among few genera of naked lobose amoebae allowing morphological identification of species.     

Late Permian Discordichthyiformes (Osteichthyes) from European Russia

New Late Permian fishes combining features characteristic of several classes are analyzed and redescribed. They were assigned to the family Discordichthyidae of the order Discordichthyiformes comprising three genera and four species: Mutovinia stella Minich, Geryonichthys longus A. Minich, G. burchardi A. Minich, and Discordichthys spinifer A. Minich (Minikh, 1998). A new species, Mutovinia sennikovi sp. nov., is described. Due to rapid evolutionary replacement, discordichthyids are rather useful stratigraphically. The photographs of the skeleton and membrane bones of these fishes are published for the first time.     

Cladonia singhii and other new reports of Cladonia from the Eastern Himalayan Region of India

Abstract:A new species, Cladonia singhii Ahti & Dixit (type from the state of Arunachal Pradesh), is described. A further seven Cladonia species, C. corniculata, C. kanewskii, C. laii, C. luteoalba, C. mauritiana, C. mongolica and C. rei, are reported as new to the recent checklist of lichens of the Indian subcontinent. The presence of C. cartilaginea in India is confirmed.     

Buellia laurocanariensis,a new species from the Canary Islands

Abstract:A new corticolous species of Buellia is described from La Palma and La Gomera (Canary Islands). It is mainly characterized by its strongly ornamented, (1–2)–3-septate ascospores with apical and septa thickenings, which follow an ascospore-ontogeny of type B, and its chemistry. The new species is compared with the relatedBuellia lauricassiae (Fée) Müll. Arg. and B. lauricassiaeoides Aptroot. Illustrations of the ascospores of B. laurocanariensis and B. lauricassiaeoides are presented. A habit photograph of the new species is also provided.     

A new species of Amblyodus Westwood, 1878 (Coleoptera, Melolonthidae, Dynastinae) from South America

A second species of Amblyodus Westwood, 1878, Amblyodus castroi sp. n., is described from the northern South America based on 12 specimens from Brazil and Peru (Amazonian subregion). The new species is here compared with the type species of the genus, Amblyodus taurus Westwood, 1878 and both species and their male genitalia are illustrated. Diagnostic characters for the genus are discussed, especially the metatibial teeth. A distribution map including the type species and the new species is provided. The genus Amblyodus is recorded for the first time from Peru and from Brazil states of Pará and Rondônia.     

Species of the genus Nikanoria related to Nikanoria mongolica (Hymenoptera, Eurytomidae)

A complex of the species related to Nikanoria mongolica Zerova is discussed. This complex includes a new subspecies (N. mongolica punctulata subsp. n.) and two new species (N. kazakhstanica sp. n. and N. sugonjaevi sp. n.). Data on the distribution and trophic associations of these species are provided. The type material is deposited in the collection of the Schmalhauzen Institute of Zoology, National Ukrainian Academy of Sciences, Kiev.     

Contributions to the study of fossil snipe flies (Diptera: Rhagionidae): The genus Protorhagio

Three new species of the snipe fly genus Protorhagio, viz. P. karataviensis sp. nov., P. ponomarenkoi sp. nov., and P. ruptus sp. nov., are described from the Middle-Upper Jurassic Karabastau Formation in Kazakhstan. The type species of the genus, P. capitatus, is redescribed. A key is provided to all known species of Protorhagio.     

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. chiapas sp. n., P. mathisi sp. n., and P. triunfo sp. n. are described, all having type localities in Chiapas, Mexico. A key to the four known species is provided.     

A review of the microgastropod genus Systenostoma Bavay & Dautzenberg, 1908 and a new subterranean species from China (Gastropoda,Pulmonata, Hypselostomatidae)

A review of the microgastropod genus Systenostoma is provided. Thai and Malaysian species are transferred to a new genus, Angustopila (type species: Systenostoma tamlod Panha & Burch, 1999). A new subterranean Angustopila species is described here. Conchologically, the new species is most similar to the cave-dwelling, Thai A. tamlod (Panha & Burch, 1999). One Thai species (Systenostoma edentata) is transferred to the genus Hypselostoma. Vietnamese members remain in the genus Tonkinospira (nomen novum) for Systenostoma Bavay & Dautzenberg, 1908 (non Systenostoma Marsson, 1887). A comprehensive map of former Systenostoma species is presented. SEM and NanoCT images, including a video of A. huoyani sp. n. internal shell morphology, provide novel perspectives of the shells of Angustopila and of the scarcely known Vietnamese Tonkinospira species. The biology of these snails is not yet known but collection localities suggest a troglophilic ecology.     

The genus <Emphasis Type="Italic">Keppleritiana</Emphasis> gen. nov. (Stephanoceratidae,Ammonoidea) from the Upper Bajocian of the Northern Caucasus

A new ammonite genus of the subfamily Garantianinae, family Stephanoceratidae, from the Upper Bajocian Strenoceras niortense Zone in the Bolshoi Zelenchuk River basin (Karachay-Cherkessia), with two new species from two different localities, is established. The type species Keppleritiana rostovtsevi gen. et sp. nov. is homeomorphic to some species of the Upper Bathonian–Lower Callovian genus Kepplerites (Fam. Kosmoceratidae) but is distinguished by the presence of a ventral furrow in adults. An isolated valve of an aptychus possibly belonging to this species is illustrated. Keppleritiana graebensteini sp. nov. has a more archaic morphology and is apparently ancestral to the type species. The macroconchs and microconchs of both species are described.     

Species included in the Chrysopilus amurensis species-group (Diptera, Rhagionidae)

Based on examination of the type series of Chrysopilus amurensis Soboleva and an additional material from Amur Province and the south of the Russian Far East, eight new species are described. Specimens from the southern part of the Russian Far East previously misidentified as Ch. ugensis Nagatomi have proved to belong to a new species. A key to males of the above-mentioned species-group is given. Genitalia of all the species examined are figured.     

Two new genera of the family Derbidae from the new world,with description of recent and an extinct miocene new species (Homoptera,Fulgoroidea)

Two new species of the family Derbidae are described. Anticedusa gen. n. (tribe Cedusini) includes the recent A. loisae sp. n. (type species) from Costa Rica and A. dominicana sp. n. from the Miocene Dominican amber. Cedochrusa gen. n. (type species Cedusa quixoa Kramer from Panama) of the tribe Cedochreini also contains a new species, Cedochrusa luculenta sp. n. from Costa Rica. A new subtribe Eocenchreina subtrib. n. comprising genera Eocenchrea Muir, Melusa Em., and Anticedusa gen. n. is erected for Cedusini with the achilid venation of the clavus.