Aspects of the biology of the Japanese snipe Gallinago hardwickii

The Japanese snipe Gallinago hardwickii breeds in Japan and migrates south, through New Guinea, to spend the southern summer in Australia. There is no acceptable evidence yet that it reaches the continent other than in north Queensland. Its movement in Australia is mainly coastal Most of the population spends the summer south of the Richmond River, New South Wales: elsewhere it is a passage migrant. Little is known of the movements of individual birds as few have been banded. The distribution of the species and that of G. megala in Australia is discussed. There is no evidence of sexual activity whilst the birds are in Australia. Pre-migratory fattening begins in February and in birds that had spent the summer in the highlands most fattening takes place at lower altitudes. There is a complete moult while the birds are in Australia. The food consists of animal and plant material, including seeds. The principal animals eaten are the larvae of insects and earthworms. In Japan the bird breeds away from water in grassland, often in elevated dry situations. In Australia it frequents highland and lowland freshwater and occasionally saline habitats. In Japan much habitat has been destroyed but areas cleared for re-afforestation provide suitable breeding places and the continued production of these disclimax communities results in regeneration of suitable breeding habitat. In Australia most habitat alteration is detrimental to the species and hence its population is not secure.     

Myxomycetes from the Kimberley Region, Western Australia

An account of the Myxomycetes of the Kimberley Region of north Western Australia is presented. It is based on collections obtained mainly from the Napier and Oscar Ranges during the Kimberley Research Project, 1988. The thirty-two collections represent eighteen species, four of which are new records for Australia and twelve new to Western Australia. All but one are new to the Kimberley region, from where only four species were previously known.     

A comparison of the incidence of minor nonmetrical cranial variants in Australian aborigines with those of Melanesia and Polynesia

The incidence of 30 minor non-metrical cranial variants in Australian Aborigines discussed in a previous publication is compared with incidence in crania from Melanesia and Polynesia. With the qualification that the sample sizes from Melanesia and Polynesia are rather small, the data indicate that the differences between Australia and Melanesia and Polynesia exceed those between the three areas into which Australia was divided. The area of Australia made up of the Northern Territory and northern Western Australia has more association with Melanesia than Polynesia as expected, while the more southern regions of Australia have more association with Polynesia than Melanesia perhaps by migrations from Asia. Because the southern Australian Aborigines are now largely extinct, it seems difficult to prove this.     

On the origins of medfly invasion and expansion in Australia

As a result of their rapid expansion and large larval host range, true fruit flies are among the world's most important agricultural pest species. Among them, Ceratitis capitata has become a model organism for studies on colonization and invasion processes. The genetic aspects of the medfly invasion process have already been analysed throughout its range, with the exception of Australia. Bioinvasion into Australia is an old event: medfly were first captured in Australia in 1895, near Perth. After briefly appearing in Tasmania and the eastern states of mainland Australia, medfly had disappeared from these areas by the 1940s. Currently, they are confined to the western coastal region. South Australia seems to be protected from medfly infestations both by the presence of an inhospitable barrier separating it from the west and by the limited number of transport routes. However, numerous medfly outbreaks have occurred since 1946, mainly near Adelaide. Allele frequency data at 10 simple sequence repeat loci were used to study the genetic structure of Australian medflies, to infer the historical pattern of invasion and the origin of the recent outbreaks. The combination of phylogeographical analysis and Bayesian tests showed that colonization of Australia was a secondary colonization event from the Mediterranean basin and that Australian medflies were unlikely to be the source for the initial Hawaiian invasion. Within Australia, the Perth area acted as the core range and was the source for medfly bioinvasion in both Western and South Australia. Incipient differentiation, as a result of habitat fragmentation, was detected in some localized areas at the periphery of the core range.     

A new species of the genus Hydrodroma Koch, 1837 (Acari, Hydrachnidia, Hydrodromidae), with a key to the hitherto known six species of the genus in Australia

The genus Hydrodroma Koch, 1837 in Australia consists of six species, the newly described Hydrodroma meridionalissp. n. included. The new species is described from 45 sampling sites from running waters in Queensland, Victoria, New Southern Wales, Western Australia, Northern Territory and South Australia. Furthermore, a key for the identification of species of Hydrodroma occurring in Australia is given.     

Nemerteans of the Great Barrier Reef 2. Anopla Heteronemertea (Baseodiscidae)

Three species of heteronemerteans from the Great Barrier Reef province of Australia are described and illustrated. These are Baseodiscus delineatus (Delle Chiaje 1825), Baseodiscus hemprichii (Ehrenberg 1831) and Baseodiscus quinauelineatus (Quoy Sc Gaimard 1833). Baseodiscus hemprichii has not previously been reported from Australia. For all three species a full list of known locations is provided.     

Daily patterns of locomotor and sugar-feeding activity of the mosquito Culex annulirostris from geographically isolated populations

Abstract.  The daily patterns of locomotor and sugar-feeding activity of virgin female Culex annulirostris from three regions in Australia and a laboratory colony are studied using video techniques in the laboratory. Although all populations display a crepuscular/nocturnal locomotor pattern, significant variation exists between populations, with the pattern of those from southern Australia differing markedly from those in central and northern Australia. It is hypothesized that adaptation of populations to local climates is responsible. Sugar-feeding (inferred from landing on a sugar source) is mostly crepuscular/nocturnal in all populations. The behavioural variation that exists within wide-ranging mosquito species is highlighted, and indicates that significant behavioural differences exist between laboratory colonies and wild-types.     

A curious coincidence: mosquito biodiversity and the limits of the Japanese encephalitis virus in Australasia

Background  

The mosquito Culex annulirostris Skuse (Diptera: Culicidae) is the major vector of endemic arboviruses in Australia and is also responsible for the establishment of the Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) in southern Papua New Guinea (PNG) as well as its incursions into northern Australia. Papua New Guinea and mainland Australia are separated by a small stretch of water, the Torres Strait, and its islands. While there has been regular JEV activity on these islands, JEV has not established on mainland Australia despite an abundance of Cx. annulirostris and porcine amplifying hosts. Despite the public health significance of this mosquito and the fact that its adults show overlapping morphology with close relative Cx. palpalis Taylor, its evolution and genetic structure remain undetermined. We address a hypothesis that there is significant genetic diversity in Cx. annulirostris and that the identification of this diversity will shed light on the paradox that JEV can cycle on an island 70 km from mainland Australia while not establishing in Australia itself.     

Re-assignment of the Affinities of the Fossil Pollen Type Tricolpites trioblatus Mildenhall and Pocknall to Wilsonia (Convolvulaceae) and a reassessment of the ecological interpretations

Tricolpites trioblatus Mildenhall and Pocknall was described from Upper Miocene-Pliocene sediments of New Zealand and attributed to the Hebe complex (Scrophulariaceae), which is common in the New Zealand vegetation, especially in montane and subalpine habitats. Pollen in Miocene-Pliocene sediments in central Australia is identified with T. trioblatus, and the depositional situations included shallow lakes, with fresh or brackish waters, sometimes becoming saline. The affinities of T. trioblatus are re-examined in the light of these disparate environments in Australia and New Zealand. It has been found that all the fossil grains examined are more comparable to pollen of Wilsonia, and perhaps Cressa (Convolvulaceae), than to those of the Hebe complex. Wilsonia and Cressa are found in salt marshes, hence affinities with them are ecologically more credible for central Australia. T. trioblatus is found in late Eocene sediments deposited under episodic marine transgressions; an environment likely to stimulate the evolution of new species tolerant to saline conditions.     

Revision of the genus Psix Kozlov & Lê (Hymenoptera: Scelionidae)

The genus Psix Kozlov & Lê (Hymenoptera: Scelionidae) is revised from a worldwide perspective. Twelve species are described as new: annulatus [Cameroon], asper [Uganda], aulax [Australia], confluus [Sri Lanka], flavicoxa [Ivory Coast, Zimbabwe], fusm [Australia], lacunatus [Pakistan east to Taiwan, south to Australia], metopa [Australia], rasilis [Ivory Coast, Gambia], sulcifer [Malaysia], viriosus [India east to Philippine Is.] and watshami [E. Africa, Madagascar] . Psix abnormis Kozlov & Lê [W. Africa east to at least India], glabris-crobus (Girault) nxomb. [Australia], olympus (Dodd) n.comb. [Australia], saccharicola (Mani) n.comb. [India], striaticeps (Dodd) n.comb. [W. Africa east to India, Madagascar] and tunetanus (Mineo and Szabó) n.comb. [Tunisia, Gambia, Ivory Coast, Saudi Arabia, S.W. Nearctic, Venezuela] are redescribed. An identification key for the species of Psix is presented. The relationships among species are discussed. The earliest derived species are generally found in Australia and southeast Asia. The more apomorphic species occur generally in Africa, southwest Asia and India. The distribution of Psix tunetanus has possibly been influenced by man. Details of the relationship with Trissolcus and Archi-phanurus are unclear; the position of Psix within the subfamily is therefore also obscure.     

Generic classification of the fern flies (Diptera: Teratomyzidae) with a larval description

Abstract. The seven recognized genera of Teratomyzidae, including the new genera Stepta, Auster, Pous, Camur and Lips , are keyed and described. Vitila is a new subgenus of Teratomyza Malloch. The following five new species are described: Auster pteridii (Australia), Pous manicula (Australia), Camur willii (Brazil), Lips collessi (Australia), Teratomyza ( Vitila ) undulata (Australia). Stepta latipennis is a new combination for Teratomyza latipennis Malloch. Neogeomyza Séguy, 1938 ( Micropachycerina Stuckenberg, 1971, syn.n.) belongs in the Lauxaniidae, not Teratomyzidae. Neogeomyza stenoptera (Stuckenberg, 1971 (from Micropachycerina ) is a new combination. The family Teratomyzidae occurs in the Neotropical, Australasian, Oriental and eastern Palaearctic Regions. The third-instar larva and puparium of Auster pteridii , both of which live externally on fronds of Pteridium (Filicales: Dennstaedtiaceae), are described. Adults of many species also occur on fern fronds.     

The occurrence of Almeidini (Hemiptera: Anthocoridae) in Australia, with the description of a new genus

Abstract. The tribe Almeidini Carayon, 1972 is recorded from Australia and Australmeida gen.n. described. The brachypterous male and female of the typespecies Lasiochilus derricki Gross, 1954 are redescribed and the macropterous male and female and the submacropterous female are newly described. One possibly conspecific specimen is recorded from Kerevat, New Britain. The structure of the male and female internal reproductive systems reinforces the external characters used by Carayon (1972a) as indicating close affinity of the Almeidini to the Xylocorini. The genus Almeida Distant is recorded from Australia and the genuse Limppomanus Distant from New caledonia.     

Middle Cambrian monoplacophorans from Bornholm and Australia, and the systematic position of the bellerophontiform molluscs

Berg-Madsen, Vivianne & Peel, John S. 1978 04 IS: Middle Cambrian monoplacophorans from Bornholm and Australia, and the systematic position of the bellerophontiform molluscs
Minute Middle Cambrian monoplacophorans originally reported from Australia are redescribed on the basis of material from the Kalby Clay of Bornholm. A recent classification of Bellerophon. Sinuites and related genera as monoplacophorans is discussed and rejected. Members of the group are returned to the Gastropoda on account of their similarity in ornament, musculature and inferred water circulation patterns, with contemporary fossil helically coiled gastropods. Water circulation patterns are deduced in Protowenella flemingi and support the assignment to the Monoplacophora. Kulhyella poulseni n.gen. n.sp. is described.     

Evolutionarily accelerated invasions: the rate of dispersal evolves upwards during the range advance of cane toads

Human activities are changing habitats and climates and causing species' ranges to shift. Range expansion brings into play a set of powerful evolutionary forces at the expanding range edge that act to increase dispersal rates. One likely consequence of these forces is accelerating rates of range advance because of evolved increases in dispersal on the range edge. In northern Australia, cane toads have increased their rate of spread fivefold in the last 70 years. Our breeding trials with toads from populations spanning the species' invasion history in Australia suggest a genetic basis to dispersal rates and interpopulation genetic variation in such rates. Toads whose parents were from the expanding range front dispersed faster than toads whose parents were from the core of the range. This difference reflects patterns found in their field-collected mothers and fathers and points to heritable variance in the traits that have accelerated the toads' rate of invasion across tropical Australia over recent decades. Taken together with demonstrated spatial assortment by dispersal ability occurring on the expanding front, these results point firmly to ongoing evolution as a driving force in the accelerated expansion of toads across northern Australia.     

Palaeomagnetic ages of late cretaceous and tertiary weathered profiles in the Eromanga Basin,Queensland

Two iron-enriched weathered profiles, both widely distributed in the Eromanga and Surat Basins of Queensland, have been investigated palaeomanetically. Normal and reversed polarities have been obtained from each profile, indicating that the weathering events spanned at least one reversal of the geomagnetic field. The minimum duration of weathering for the older of the two profiles is estimated as 10,000 years. The palaeomagnetic directions when compared with the Late Cretaceous and Cainozoic apparent polar wander curve for Australia give a Maastrichtian to Early Eocene age for one profile and an approximately Late Oligocene age for the other. These ages are consistent with times of high palaeotemperature indicated by oxygen isotope analysis of marine fossils of the Southeast Indian Ocean. The pole position for the younger profile is not significantly different from pole positions obtained in previous palaeomagnetic investigations of weathered rocks in Western Australia, South Australia and the Northern Territory, supporting the long-held view of a mid-Tertiary continent-wide weathering event in Australia.     

The Cenozoic Brachiopods of the Carnarvon Basin, Western Australia

The Paleocene-Miocene deposits of the Carnarvon Basin of Western Australia contain a rich fauna of brachiopods, but only two species, Tegulorhynchia boongeroodaensis Westralicrania allani , both from the Paleocene, have previously been described.One new genus, Giraliathyris , and eight new species are described herein. They are Giraliathyris mcnamari, G. kaitrinae, G. jubileensis, Liothyrella longorum, Victorithyris decapello, V. cardabiaensis, V. blakeorum, V. tulkiensis, Diedrothyris cf. johnstoniana Paraldingia timi . A Terebratulina species and two species of indeterminate genera are also described. Basiliola (Rhynchonellida) and Cancellothyris (Terebratulida) are recorded for the first time from the upper Paleocene of Australia. These, together with Victorithyris Diedrothyris Liothyrella and Paraldingia , represent the oldest records of these genera. It is suggested that their early occurrence, together with those known from the Antarctic Peninsula, indicates a southern origin for this fauna and a high latitude, southern circum-Indo-Atlantic faunal province is proposed. Subsequently the brachiopod fauna spread northwards towards lower latitudes and west to east around southern Australia, before and during the development of the circum-polar current during the Oligocene.     

Australian Assassins, Part II: A review of the new assassin spider genus Zephyrarchaea (Araneae, Archaeidae) from southern Australia

The Assassin Spiders of the family Archaeidae from southern Australia are revised, with a new genus (Zephyrarchaeagen. n.) and nine new species described from temperate, mesic habitats in southern Victoria, South Australia and south-western Western Australia: Zephyrarchaea austinisp. n., Zephyrarchaea barrettaesp. n., Zephyrarchaea grayisp. n., Zephyrarchaea janineaesp. n., Zephyrarchaea maraesp. n., Zephyrarchaea markisp. n., Zephyrarchaea melindaesp. n., Zephyrarchaea porchisp. n. and Zephyrarchaea vichickmanisp. n. Specimens of the type species, Zephyrarchaea mainae (Platnick, 1991), comb. n., are redescribed from the Albany region of Western Australia, along with the holotype female of Zephyrarchaea robinsi (Harvey, 2002) comb. n. from the Stirling Range National Park. The previously described species Archaea hickmani Butler, 1929 from Victoria is here recognised as a nomen dubium. A key to species and multi-locus molecular phylogeny complement the species-level taxonomy, with maps, habitat photos, natural history information and conservation assessments provided for all species.