NEW MARINE ALGAE FROM THE CENTRAL TROPICAL PACIFIC OCEAN

Three new taxa are described: Dolyella hawaiiensis var. clavata var. nov., Cottoniella triseriata sp. nov., and Taenioma dotyi sp. nov. A modified characterization of the genus Cottoniella is given, and certain critical distinctions between the species are presented. Taenioma dotyi is distinctive in the increased width of the determinate branches resulting from division of the flanking cells.     

Revisional notes on the genus Toxopoda Macquart (Diptera,Sepsidae) in the Oriental and Australasian regions

I herein revise the genus Toxopoda Macquart of the Oriental and Australasian regions. A total of 16 species is discussed. Six new species are described: T. cavata sp. nov., T. angulata sp. nov., T. elephantina sp. nov., T. zuskai sp. nov., T. malayana sp. nov., and T. ozerovi sp. nov. The species T. contracta (Walker), T. viduata (Thomson) and T. simplex Iwasa, which can be easily confused with other species, are correctly redescribed and illustrated. Distributional notes and a key to the species of the Oriental and Australasian regions are provided.     

Studies on marine algae of the British Isles. 10. The genus Rhodymenia

Antarcticothamnion polysporum gen. et sp. nov. (Rhodophyceae: Ceramiaceae) is described from the South Shetland Is. and the Antarctic Peninsula. It differs from all previously described Ceramiaceae in vegetative structure: an indeterminate apex, which divides by alternating oblique septa, produces simple alternate-distichous determinate branches, while indeterminate branches are initiated on main axes in a verticillate arrangement. Reproductive structures are borne on modified indeterminate branch systems. Sporangia are polyhedrally divided. Spermatangia are formed in loose heads. Procarps are borne near the apex, but not always on the subapical cell, of a fertile branch. Two auxiliary cells may participate in the formation of a carposporophyte. A fusion cell is lacking and most cells of the gonimoblast develop into carposporangia, which are binucleate.

The suite of morphological characters exhibited by Antarcticothamnion sets this genus sufficiently apart from all previously described Ceramiaceae to warrant placement in its own tribe, Antarcticothamnieae trib. nov. It shares important features, however, with Callithamnieae, Compsothamnieae, and Ptiloteae.

Apical division is reviewed in the various tribes of Ceramiaceae. It is concluded that a pattern of alternating oblique septa is correlated with transitory or chronic structural imbalance resulting from a particular combination of timing and spatial sequence in the initiation and development of branches. The distribution of oblique apical division within Ceramiaceae is strongly correlated with features generally considered to be important at the level of tribe.

Phylogenetic relationships within Ptiloteae, a tribe characterized inter alia by oblique apical division, are suggested from an analysis of branching patterns. The validity of Falklandiella as a genus distinct from Dasyptilon is emphasized. Gymnothamnion and Tokidaea are removed from Ptiloteae, but without being assigned to another tribe. Tanakaella is removed from Sphondylothamnieae to Compsothamnieae, while Mazoyerella is removed from Compsothamnieae to Spermothamnieae.

Spongoclonium orthocladum A. et E. S. Gepp is discussed as a possible species of Antarcticothamnion, while an undescribed alga from the South Orkney Is. is definitely indicated as a second species of the genus.     

Taxonomic notes on three species of Herposiphonia (Ceramiales, Rhodophyta) found in Japan

Three species of the red algal genus Herposiphonia (Ceramiales, Rhodomelaceae) found in Japan are described, and taxonomic features of the genus are discussed. Herposiphonia crassa Hollenberg is reported from Japan for the first time and is characterized by thick axes (200–350 µm in diameter) and determinate branches (100–200 µm in diameter), relatively short determinate laterals (400–1200 µm in length) with a large number of periaxial cells (15–19 per segment) and three (occasionally two or four) vigorously developed (1.8–2.5 mm in length by 50–75 µm in diameter basally) trichoblasts on each determinate lateral. Herposiphonia elongata Masuda et Kogame is also reported from Japan for the first time and is characterized by the conspicuous thickening growth of cystocarp‐bearing branches and spermatangial branches with an elongated sterile tip. Some newly found features of Herposiphonia fissidentoides (Holmes) Okamura are presented: the rhizoid production from the central portion of parental periaxial cells in addition to the distal end, virtual absence of vegetative trichoblasts, production of procarpial trichoblasts and spermatangial branches on fertile determinate branches on short indeterminate laterals, cystocarps sometimes with a short spur, and extremely large tetrasporangia.     

DICROGLOSSUM CRISPATULUM GEN. ET COMB. NOV. FROM WESTERN AUSTRALIA,REPRESENTING A NEW TRIBE WITHIN THE DELESSERIACEAE (RHODOPHYTA)1

Dicroglossum gen. nov. (Delesseriaceae, Ceramiales) is a monotypic genus based on Delesseria crispatula, a species originally described by Harvey for plants collected from southwestern Western Australia. Distinctive features of the new genus include exogenous indeterminate branches; growth by means of a single transversely dividing, apical cell; absence of intercalary divisions in the primary, secondary, and tertiary cell rows; lateral pericentral cells not transversely divided; not all cells of the secondary cell rows producing tertiary cells rows; all tertiary initials reaching the thallus margin; midrib present but lateral nerves absent; determinate lateral bladelets arising endogenously; blades monostromatic, except, at the midrib; carpogonial branches restricted to primary cell rows, on both surfaces of unmodified blades; procarps produced on both blade surfaces, each procarp consisting of a supporting cell that bears two four-celled carpogonial branches and one sterile-cell group of three to four cells; and tetrasporangia borne in two layers, separated by a central row of sterile cells. The combination of exogenous indeterminate branching and bicarpogonial procarps is considered to warrant the recognition of a new tribe, the Dicroglosseae, within the subfamily Delesserioideae.     

STUDIES OF NEW ALBANY SHALE PLANTS. I. STENOKOLEOS SIMPLEX COMB. NOV.

Beck , Charles B. (U. Michigan, Ann Arbor.) Studies of New Albany shale plants. I. Stenokoleos simplex comb, nov. Amer. Jour. Bot. 47(2): 115—124. Illus. 1960.–A specimen of Stenokoleos from the Falling Run member of the Sanderson formation is described and shown to belong to the same species as Mesoneuron simplex (Read and Campbell, 1939). Among the distinctive features of this species are traces of triangular shape bearing 3 mesarch protoxylem areas, metaxylem tracheids with scalariform pitting, and the presence of fibers in the outer phloem. The new specimen indicates that Stenokoleos had a basically cruciform xylem strand which gave rise to pairs of traces, each trace supplying one of a pair of lateral appendages which occurred on opposite sides of the main axis, but at different levels. The fern-like nature of Stenokoleos is emphasized and it is suggested that this genus most closely resembles members of the Zygopteridaceae.     

ACROSYMPHYTON FIRMUM SP. NOV. (RHODOPHYTA,CRYPTONEMIALES), A NEW SUBTIDAL RED ALGA FROM NEW ZEALAND; DEVELOPMENTAL MORPHOLOGY AND DISTRIBUTION OF THE GAMETOPHYTE1

Acrosymphyton firmum sp. nov., is described from the northeastern coast of North 1., New Zealand. Gametophytes are spring–summer annuals which grow subtidally on cobbles. Thalli are uniaxial; each axial cell bears a whorl of four indeterminate and one determinate branchlets. Indeterminate branchlets are alternately arranged giving the thallus a distichous and feather-like appearance. Numerous corticating rhizoidal filaments are produced from the periaxial and lower whorl branchlet cells. These rhizoids entwine and obscure the main axis as the thallus develops until in the mature plant the axes have a firm consistency and lubricous texture. The carpogonial branch bearing short lateral filaments and auxiliary cell branch with terminal auxiliary cell place this new species in the genus Acrosymphyton Sjöstedt. Of the three described species in the genus, A. firmum is most similar to A. taylori. This is the first report of the genus Acrosymphyton and the only confirmed report of the family Dumontiaceae in New Zealand waters.     

<Emphasis Type="Italic">Tamanicella</Emphasis> gen. nov., a new genus of bryozoans forming the Late Miocene bioherms of Cape Panagia in the Taman Peninsula (Russia)

The bryozoans from the Late Miocene bioherms of Cape Panagia (Taman Peninsula) that have previously been attributed to Membranipora lapidosa (Pallas, 1801) are shown to belong to a new genus, Tamanicella gen. nov., which comprises two species: T. lapidosa (Pallas, 1801) and T. panagiensis sp. nov. T. lapidosa is represented by two life forms. One of them is characterized by bilaminate (more rarely unilaminate) sheetlike colonies with meandering lobes, and the other features erect branches. The lateral walls of each autozooecium in colonies of T. lapidosa have two multiporous septulae. T. panagiensis sp. nov. is characterized by massive multilaminate encrusting colonies and by the presence of three or four multiporous septulae in the lateral walls. The genus Tamanicella is placed in the family Membraniporidae. The diagnosis of this genus is provided and its two species are described.     

PERTICA,A NEW GENUS OF DEVONIAN PLANTS FROM NORTHERN MAINE

A new genus of Devonian age fossil plants is described from the Trout Valley Formation of northern Maine. Abundant compression material permits a rather complete understanding of its morphology. Pertica quadrifaria Kasper and Andrews, gen. et sp. nov., was an erect plant, perhaps a meter tall, with a pseudomonopodial main axis and dichotomous side branches. The side branches were arranged in a clockwise spiral (from base to apex) and were tetrastichous. They dichotomized numerous times, with the intervals between dichotomies decreasing distally. The ultimate branchlets bore numerous sporangia in dense clusters. Other side branches were completely sterile. Pertica quadrifaria is classified in the Subdivision Trimerophytina of Banks. Its evolutionary significance rests in the fact that it is a link in the chain of increasingly complex early vascular land plants.     

Eragrostis nilgiriensis sp. nov. (Poaceae) from Nilgiri district,Tamil Nadu,India

A new species of the grass genus Eragrostis Wolf, E. nilgiriensis C. P. Vivek, G. V. S. Murthy & V. J. Nair sp. nov. from Nilgiri district, Tamil Nadu, India is described and illustrated. The species is allied to E. barrelieri, but differs from it mainly by the primary panicle branches not spiculate up to base, leaves not glaucous, lemma shorter and acute and by a much smaller caryopsis. The new species is morphologically similar also to E. minor and E. nigra. A table listing differences between these species is provided.     

A new genus of monstrilloid copepods (Crustacea) with anteriorly pointing ovigerous spines and related adaptations for subthoracic brooding

Maemonstrilla gen. nov. , known exclusively from females, is proposed for Monstrilla longipes A. Scott, 1909, M. turgida A. Scott, 1909, and five new species from coral reef plankton in the Ryukyu Islands, Japan: Maemonstrilla hyottoko sp. nov. (type species), M. polka sp. nov. , M. spinicoxa sp. nov. , M. simplex sp. nov. and M. okame sp. nov. A syntype of M. turgida was examined, but the holotype of M. longipes is lost; the latter species, being similar to several of the new species, is regarded as unidentifiable, and the identity of specimens assigned to it by several authors is put in doubt. Until now, all known female monstrilloids have had posteriorly trailing ovigerous spines, but in Maemonstrilla gen. nov. these spines point anteriorly and hold the egg mass between the legs beneath the thorax. This is the first known instance of subthoracic brooding in a planktonic copepod; its functional significance is discussed, and brooding habits of non‐planktonic copepods are briefly reviewed. The intercoxal sclerites of legs 1–4 in Maemonstrilla gen. nov. are very wide, making room for the eggs. In all species except M. turgida comb. nov. , the inner seta of the proximal segment of each leg ramus is either absent or reduced to a nub; this may lessen interference of the egg mass with leg movement. All species have a uniramous leg 5 with two setae, except M. turgida comb. nov. (biramous with setae on both rami); M. turgida comb. nov. is evidently the sister‐group of its congeners, each sister‐group in the genus being defined by additional autapomorphies. Scanning electron micrographs of all the Ryukyuan species except M. simplex sp. nov. are provided; these constitute a preliminary survey of monstrilloid integumental organs and cuticular ornamentation. Among the unusual features are two lobes at the base of the coxa in legs 1–4 of M. polka sp. nov. and M. spinicoxa sp. nov. and two pairs of posterodorsal spine‐like scales on the first and second free pedigers of M. turgida comb. nov. Newly hatched nauplii of M. okame sp. nov. , examined by scanning electron microscopy, are generally similar to those of Monstrilla hamatapex Grygier & Ohtsuka, 1995, but with a different mandibular structure in which the distal hook and seta clearly represent the endopod, not enditic armament of the basis. © 2008 The Linnean Society of London, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2008, 152 , 459–506.     

Hymenochaete rhododendricola and H. quercicola spp. nov. (Basidiomycota,Hymenochaetales) from Tibet,southwestern China

Hymenochaete rhododendricola sp. nov. and Hymenochaete quercicola sp. nov. are described from Xizang Autonomous Region (Tibet), southwestern China. Hymenochaete rhododendricola is distinct in the genus by its large and heavily enmeshed setae, and growing on dead branches of Rhododendron. Hymenochaete quercicola differs from other species by its smooth or tuberculate hymenophore, presence of a cortex, relatively large and oblong‐ellipsoid basidiospores, and living on dead branches of Quercus.     

New stoneflies (Insecta: Perlida = Plecoptera) from the late Mesozoic locality Khasurty,Transbaikalia

From the Lower Cretaceous locality Khasurty, western Transbaikalia, a new genus and species, Rasnitsyrina culonga, gen. et sp. nov. are described in the family Perlariopseidae. R. desiliens (Sinitshenkova, 1987), originally described in the genus Karanemoura Sinitshenkova, 1987, is transferred to the new genus. Two new species belonging to recent families are described: Dimoula khasurtensis sp. nov. (Nemouridae) and Jurataenionema rohdendorfi sp. nov. (Taeniopterygidae). All new species are described from fossils of adults.     

Pselaphotumulus,a new genus of pselaphine endemic to New Zealand (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Pselaphinae: Pselaphitae)

ABSTRACT

Pselaphotumulus Owens and Carlton, gen. nov., is described as the sixth genus in the tribe Pselaphini known from New Zealand. Three new species are described: Pselaphotumulus aorerei, sp. nov., Pselaphotumulus dubius, sp. nov. and Pselaphotumulus unus, sp. nov.. Three species, Pselaphus cavelli (Broun 1893), Pselaphus oviceps (Broun 1917) and Pselaphus urquharti (Broun 1917) are transferred to Pselaphotumulus, nov. combs. Lectotypes from type series in the New Zealand Broun Collection (Natural History Museum, London) are designated for these three species. Habitus photographs, distributional maps and line drawings of diagnostic characters are provided for each species. A key to species is provided. Searches of museum collections have not yielded representatives outside of New Zealand, suggesting that this is the first endemic genus in the tribe Pselaphini described from the New Zealand’s main islands, specifically, the South Island. Pselaphotumulus species exhibit restricted distribution patterns that approximately coincide with the Pacific/Indo Australian Plate boundary.     

On the Paleozoic bryozoans of the genus <Emphasis Type="Italic">Ascopora</Emphasis> Trautschold

Based on the study of the neotype and the astogeny of the type specimens of the species Ascopora nodosa (Fischer von Waldheim, 1837), the diagnosis and species composition of the genus Ascopora Trautschold, 1876 are emended. The genus Ascopora and three species out of the five included in this genus—A. nodosa (Fischer von Waldheim, 1837); A. sokolovae Schulga-Nesterenko, 1955; and A. latiaxis Schulga-Nesterenko, 1955—are described. A new genus, Tetrasella gen. nov., with the type species T. blanda sp. nov. is described. This genus comprises five species, transferred from the composition of the genus Ascopora. An emended diagnosis of the genus Ascoporella Krutchinina, 1986, is provided. This genus comprises nine species, of which two, A. lecta sp. nov. and A. mera sp. nov., are described as new species.     

DESCRIPTION OF A NEW FOSSIL GENUS AND SPECIES HUAXIASCIOPHILITES JINGXIENSIS (DIPTERA: MESOSCIOPHILIDAE) FROM EARLY CRETACEOUS JINGXI BASIN OF BEIJING,CHINA*

Abstract A new fossil genus and species of the family Mesosciophilidae, Huaxiasciophilites jingxiensis gen. et sp. nov. is described. The fossils of the new genus and species were collected from the Early Cretaceous Lushangfen Formation (K⁴₁ 1) of Jingxi basin of Beijing China. The new genus is established based on the following characters: that Sc short, not exceed the forking of R and Rs, with branches; r‐m longer than basal part of Rs; Rs very thick and undee; and radial cell very short. The phylogenetic tree of Mesosciophilidae superimposed on the geological time scale was also analyzed. The holotype is deposited in the Beijing Forestry University.     

Two new species of Microlicia D.Don (Melastomataceae) from campos rupestres in eastern Brazil

Two new species of Microlicia (Melastomataceae) endemic to campos rupestres in Serra do Cipó, Minas Gerais, Brazil, are described, illustrated and compared with their putative relatives. Microlicia rugosa sp. nov. is similar to M. minutiflora and M. martiana by having fastigiate branches, ascending, lanceolate or oblanceolate leaves with obtuse apex, attenuate base and entire margin, flower with short pedicels (1?2 mm long), magenta petals, and dimorphic stamens. Microlicia rugosa is further characterized by wrinkled surface of hypanthium and sepals, and both leaf surfaces with distinct depressions, which sometimes contain short‐stalked glandular trichomes. Microlicia viscida sp. nov. is similar to M. martiana, M. furnensis and M. rugosa mainly by having fastigiate branches, terete stems without leaves at the base and the bark gradually peeling to reveal the underlying brownish wood and leaves with similar size and shape. Microlicia viscida is characterized by a conspicuous secretion covering branches, leaves, hypanthium and sepals, giving a smooth and bright appearance. The leaf anatomy of both new species is briefly described. Microlicia rugosa and M. viscida are assessed as ‘Endangered’ and ‘Critically Endangered’ respectively, due to its limited extent of occurrence and area of occupancy, according to the IUCN categories and criteria.     

Asiaontsira gen. nov., a new tropical genus of the subfamily Doryctinae (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) from Vietnam and South‐East China

A new genus, Asiaontsira gen. nov., and two new species, A. cucphuongi sp. nov. (type species) and A. cantonica sp. nov., are described from tropical and subtropical areas of South‐East China and North Vietnam. This genus is compared to the closely related Australian Ontsirospathius Belokobylskij, Iqbal and Austin, 2004 as well as the similar and almost cosmopolitan genus Ontsira Cameron, 1900. A key to both species of Asiaontsira gen. nov. is provided.     

Antlered richardiid flies: new species of Richardia (Tephritoidea: Richardiidae) with antler‐like genal processes

Within Richardiidae, Richardia infestans, from Colombia, is the only known species to have genal processes, which are structures formed by the extension of the cuticle on the lateral margin of the gena. In the present work, six new species, with different patterns of antler‐like genal processes, are described. An identification key and illustrations are provided. Richardia bella sp. nov. , R. modesta sp. nov. and R. vitta sp. nov. are recorded from Costa Rica; R. advena sp. nov. is recorded from Costa Rica and Panama; R. simplex sp. nov. is recorded from Panama; and R. ornatella sp. nov. is recorded from Ecuador.