Phagnalon rechingeri (Inuleae,Asteraceae), a new species from Iran

Phagnalon rechingeri spec. nova from S Baluchestan (Iran) is described as a species new to science and illustrated; its relationships to other species of the genus, in particular to thePh. woodii group from S Arabia, are discussed.Dedicated to Hofrat Univ.-Prof. DrK. H. Rechinger on the occasion of his 80th birthday.     

Didymocarpus geitleri,a remarkable new species ofGesneriaceae with deceptive pollen flowers

Didymocarpus geitleri spec. nov. is described from Sungai Pandan, Kuantan distr., Pahang, Peninsular Malaysia. Distinctive features include: leaden-grey leaves with long, erect hairs on the upper side and whitish, campanulate flowers with a long exserted, bright yellow style. The colouring of the latter is caused by densely arranged glands. Together with two yellow blotches in front of the filament insertion, the style apparently acts as an anther (pollen) dummy.The paper and the species is dedicated to my greatly respected teacher of Systematic Botany, Prof. DrLothar Geitler, on the occasion of his 90th birthday.     

SomeCortinarius spp. (Agaricales) of the Cooloola Sand-Mass,Queensland, Australia

Four distinct species ofCortinarius referable to subg.Dermocybe are described from the Cooloola Sand-Mass, Queensland; two are formally recognized asC. alkalivirens, spec. nova andC. chromobasis, spec. nova, whilst notes are provided for the other two. Chemical methods and cladistic studies are applied and indicate a new section of the subgenus is required.Australodermocybe sect. nova is proposed.     

Wolbachia-induced parthenogenesis in the egg parasitoid Telenomus nawai

Two egg parasitoid species, Telenomus nawai and Telenomus spec. are similar morphologically but they have been treated as different species because of their different reproductive forms, arrhenotoky and thelytoky. Male progeny were produced from the thelytokous colony of Telenomus spec. (TT) by heat and antibiotic treatments. These males mated successfully with females of arrhenotokous colony of T. nawai (AT) and the females produced on average 19.1% males. This percentage did not differ from that obtained from AT females mated with AT males (19.4%). Diagnostic PCR indicated that TT is infected with Wolbachia; antibiotic treatments eliminated Wolbachia from TT. These facts suggest that Wolbachia causes thelytoky and Telenomus spec. (TT) is conspecific with T. nawai (AT).     

Five additional genera of conidial lichen-forming fungi from Europe

Three remarkable new genera of conidial lichen-forming fungi, with pycnidial or acervular conidiomata are described and illustrated.Hastifera tenuispora gen. et spec. nov. from the South-Tyrol, Italy, is characterized by very long and narrow hyaline conidia produced in pycnidial conidiomata immersed in thalline warts.Lichingoldia gyalectiformis gen. et spec. nov. from rocks subject to inundation by freshwater in Norway has long sigmoidly curved conidia which appear to be adapted to dispersal in water.Woessia fusarioides gen. et spec. nov. from aQuercus stump in the Burgenland, Austria, has a finely granular thallus and disc-like conidiomata producing falcate conidia; this species is also of interest in that it hasChlorella as the photobiont. The recently described hyphomyceteCheiromycina flabelliformis B. Sutton is reported from Austria for the first time, and is also lichenized. Recent collections ofNigropuncta rugulosa D. Hawksw. from Austria and Italy also show that this species is lichenized rather than parasymbiotic. In all five cases the fungal hyphae of the conidiogenous structures are continuous with those in intimate contact with cells of the algal partners and the biological relationship appears to be mutualistic giving rise to stable crustose lichen thalli.     

Drei neue moosbewohnende Ascomyceten

The following three species of parastiticascomycetes are described, illustrated and discussed in detail:Octosporella ptilidii spec. nova (Pezizales) onPtilidium ciliare from Switzerland,Nectria mnii spec. nova (Hypocreales) onPlagiomnium medium from Switzerland, andPhilobryon anuliferum gen. et spec. nov. (Dothideales) onPleurozia gigantea from New Guinea. The species are known only from the type collections. It is shown that the hyphae present an array of important characters which deserve the same attention as the fruiting bodies.

Frau Prof. Dr.Elisabeth Tschermak-Woess zu ihrem 70. Geburtstag gewidmet.     

The genusPicris (Asteraceae,Lactuceae) in Tropical Africa

Three species of the genusPicris L. are native in Tropical Africa:P. abyssinica Sch. Bip. (Ethiopia),P. xylopoda Lack, spec. nova (Nigeria, Ethiopia) andP. humilis DC. (Senegal, Mali). There are indications that the two perennial species,P. abyssinica andP. xylopoda, are related to and have evolved from a primitive Central Asiatic stock in a manner parallel to many African species ofCrepis L.P. humilis, on the other hand, is a small annual plant with a high number of derived characters. The introduced species of European origin growing south of the Sahara are briefly mentioned.     

Fungal Infection of Mantis Shrimp (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Oratosquilla oratoria</Emphasis>) Caused by Two Anamorphic Fungi Found in Japan

Two fungal pathogens of the mantis shrimp (Oratosquilla oratoria) in Yamaguchi and Aichi Prefectures, Japan are described as the new species Plectosporium oratosquillae and Acremonium sp. (a member of the Emericellopsis marine clade). Both fungi infect the gills of the mantis shrimp, which become brown or black due to melanization. The former species is characterized by its slow growth on artificial seawater yeast extract peptone glucose (PYGS) agar, pale yellow to pale orange or grayish yellow colonies, short cylindrical solitary phialides with a wavy tip, and one-celled ellipsoidal conidia. Although lacking the two-celled conidia demonstrated by the type species Plectosporium tabacinum, the taxonomic placement of the new species was confirmed by DNA sequence analysis of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region of ribosomal DNA (ITS1, 5.8S rDNA and ITS2). Acremonium sp., the other causal pathogen, differs from P. oratosquillae by its fast growth on PYGS agar, pale orange to salmon-colored colonies, long, slender conidiophores consisting of solitary phialides with tips lacking an undulate outline, and typically cylindrical conidia. Analysis of ITS and β-tubulin gene sequences placed this fungus within the phylogenetically distinct Emericellopsis (anam. Acremonium) marine clade. Various physiological characteristics of both pathogens were also investigated. This is the first report of a fungal infection found on the mantis shrimp in Japan.     

The flagellar root system of zoospores of the green algaChlorosarcinopsis (Chlorosarcinales) as compared withChlamydomonas (Volvocales)

The flagellar root system of zoospores in two species ofChlorosarcinopsis (C. minuta andC. spec.) has been studied in detail. The biflagellate zoospores show a cruciate root system, two of the four microtubular roots containing two microtubules, the other two four microtubules. The flagellar apparatus is otherwise identical with that ofChlamydomonas reinhardi as described byRingo (1967). Evidence is presented that the genusChlamydomonas is characterized by a bilateral symmetric root system (4-2-4-2) rather than a system with four equally numbered roots (i.e. 4-4-4-4). It is suggested that a root system with four identical cruciate roots is not present in any biflagellate algal cell. The taxonomic significance of cruciate root systems in green algae is discussed refering to the identical root systems ofChlorosarcinopsis andChlamydomonas.     

Morphological description of three marine ciliates (Ciliophora, Scuticociliatia), with establishment of a new genus and two new species

Three marine scuticociliates, Falcicyclidium fangi nov. gen., nov. spec., Falcicyclidium atractodes nov. spec., and Cristigera media Kahl, 1928 were investigated using live observation and silver impregnation methods. The genus Falcicyclidium is distinguished by the combination of: (i) dorsoventrally flattened body, (ii) hook-like (falciform) paroral membrane, (iii) anterior end of paroral membrane posterior to anterior end of membranelle 1, and (iv) multiple caudal cilia. Falcicyclidium fangi nov. spec., the type of the new genus, can be recognized by the combination of its large size, extremely dorsoventrally flattened (3:1) body, consistently 10 somatic kineties, and the broad, elongate buccal area occupying 60% of the body length. Falcicyclidium atractodes nov. spec. is mainly characterized by a unique spine projecting from both the anterior and posterior end. The uncommon form, Cristigera media is redescribed based on the population from Qingdao, the statistic data and additional features, especially the morphology of the living cells, are documented.     

Synonymy of two species of the genus <Emphasis Type="Italic">Platycephalus</Emphasis> and validity of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Platycephalus westraliae</Emphasis> (Teleostei: Platycephalidae)

The type specimens of platycephalid Platycephalus endrachtensis Quoy and Gaimard 1825 are regarded as being conspecific with Platycephalus arenarius Ramsay and Ogilby 1886, so the latter becomes a junior synonym. This species is characterized as having a caudal fin with four or more longitudinal dark bands and lacking a yellow blotch. It is also found that Platycephalus westraliae (Whitley 1938), which had been considered to be a junior synonym of Platycephalus bassensis Cuvier 1829, is a valid species. Specimens that recently had been mistakenly identified as “P. endrachtensis,” having the caudal fin with three or four longitudinal dark bands and a yellow blotch on the upper lobe, should be referred to P. westraliae.     

New and interesting species ofEurotium from Chinese soil

Eurotium taklimakanense, a new species isolated from desert soil in the Taklimakan desert, Xinjiang Province, China, is described and illustrated. It is characterized by light yellow to reddish yellow colonies on Czapek's agar with 70% (w/v) sucrose, yellow ascomata, broadly lenticular ascospores with conspicuously irregular equatorial crests and tuberculate or verrucose convex surfaces, and anAspergillus anamorph.Eurotium cristatum is also described as a new record from China. It is characterized by light yellow colonies on Czapek's agar with 70% sucrose, yellow ascomata, broadly lenticular ascospores with two equatorial crests and echinulate convex surfaces, and small tuberculate conidia.     

Prey Preference by the StinkbugPerillus bioculatus,a Predator of the Colorado Potato Beetle

Perillus bioculatus(F.) is sometimes considered a generalist but has most often been recorded as predator of Colorado potato beetle (CPB),Leptinotarsa decemlineata.(Say). This study was designed to analyze prey selection inP. bioculatuswith respect to factors that may lead to specialization. To establish if parental prey determines preference in na?&#x0308;ve progeny, prey selection experiments were conducted with the CPB and two unusual prey, the yellow mealwormTenebrio molitor(L.) and the house cricketAcheta domesticus(L.). Na?&#x0308;ve nymphs reared from yellow mealworm-fed parents in the absence of contact with the CPB initiated feeding more frequently on CPB (81.4%) than on cricket prey (69.6%) (P = 0.038), suggesting genetically inheritable preference for CPB. Progeny from CPBfed parents initiated feeding more frequently on CPB prey (93.3%) than on yellow mealworm prey (76.6%) (P = 0.0001), but progeny from yellow mealwormfed parents initiated feeding on yellow mealworm prey as frequently (89.2%) as on CPB (95.0%) (P = 0.613). Similarly, progeny from CPB-fed parents established proboscis contact more frequently on CPB (39.2%) than on house cricket prey (25.0%) (P = 0.008), whereas those from cricket-fed parents probed house cricket prey as frequently (12.5%) as CPB prey (15.4%) (P = 0.416). Results confirm specialization ofP. bioculatustoward CPB or related prey and suggest genetically inheritable as well as maternally reinforcible affinity toward CPB prey. However, affinity of na?&#x0308;ve nymphs for the CPB can be lowered by rearing parents on alternative prey, increasing their chances of survival when alternative prey must be relied upon.     

Two new species ofHeleococcum withAcremonium anamorphs

Two new species ofHeleococcum (a cleistothecial nectrioid genus in the Hypocreaceae) are described and illustrated.Heleococcum alatosporum, isolated from Indonesian soil, is recognized by the production of salmon-colored ascomata, cylindrical asci, and hyaline, small, bicellular ascospores with walls that are verruculose and ornamented with longitudinal ridges.Heleococcum inapertum, isolated from Philippine soil, is characterized by yellow ascomata, clavate asci, and pale yellow, middle-sized, bicellular, verruculose to weakly striate ascospores surrounded with a hyaline sheath. Anamorphs of the new species are included inAcremonium. A key to the accepted species of the genus is provided.     

Taxonomy ofCarminatia (Asteraceae,Eupatorieae)

A taxonomic study of the largely Mexican genusCarminatia is rendered. It is comprised of three closely related species:C. tenuiflora, C. recondita andC. anomala spec. nova. Illustrations, dot maps, keys to species and complete synonymy are presented.     

Construction of a fosmid library of cucumber (Cucumis sativus) and comparative analyses of the eIF4E and eIF(iso)4E regions from cucumber and melon (Cucumis melo)

A fosmid library of cucumber was synthesized as an unrestricted resource for researchers and used for comparative sequence analyses to assess synteny between the cucumber and melon genomes, both members of the genus Cucumis and the two most economically important plants in the family Cucurbitaceae. End sequencing of random fosmids produced over 680 kilobases of cucumber genomic sequence, of which 25% was similar to ribosomal DNAs, 25% to satellite sequences, 20% to coding regions in other plants, 4% to transposable elements, 13% to mitochondrial and chloroplast sequences, and 13% showed no hits to the databases. The relatively high frequencies of ribosomal and satellite DNAs are consistent with previous analyses of cucumber DNA. Cucumber fosmids were selected and sequenced that carried eukaryotic initiation factors (eIF) 4E and iso(4E), genes associated with recessively inherited resistances to potyviruses in a number of plants. Indels near eIF4E and eIF(iso)4E mapped independently of the zym, a recessive locus conditioning resistance to Zucchini yellow mosaic virus, establishing that these candidate genes are not zym. Cucumber sequences were compared with melon BACs carrying eIF4E and eIF(iso)4E and revealed extensive sequence conservation and synteny between cucumber and melon across these two independent genomic regions. This high degree of microsynteny will aid in the cloning of orthologous genes from both species, as well as allow for genomic resources developed for one Cucumis species to be used for analyses in other species. Names are necessary to report factually on available data; however, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) neither guarantees nor warrants the standard of the product, and the use of the name by USDA implies no approval of the product to the exclusion of others that may also be suitable.     

Three new green coccoid zoospore-producing algae from the Great Smoky Mountains National Park,Tennessee, U.S.A.

Three new coccoid zoospore-producing green algae includingAxilococcus clingmanii gen. & spec. nov.,Lautosphaeria monsfumosa gen. & spec. nov., andDictylochloris pulchra spec. nova (Chlorococcales, Chlorophyceae) are described.Dedicated to Prof. DrLothar Geitler on the occasion of his 90th birthday.     

Data on the family Pandalidae around the Canary Islands, with first record of Plesionika antigai (Caridea)

Of the 20 pandalid shrimps species and subspecies reported for the Eastern Central Atlantic (26–36° N), 16 were found in one or more Macaronesian archipelagos (Azores, Madeira, Canary Islands and Cape Verde Islands) (14–40° N), and 11 of them were recorded to date in the Canary Island waters (27° 30–29° 30 N): Bitias stocki Fransen, 1990; Heterocarpus ensifer ensifer A. Milne-Edwards, 1881; Heterocarpus grimaldii A. Milne-Edwards & Bouvier, 1900; Heterocarpus laevigatus Bate, 1888; Plesionika edwardsii (Brandt, 1851); Plesionika ensis (A. Milne-Edwards, 1881); Plesionika holthuisi Crosnier & Forest, 1968; Plesionika martia martia (A. Milne-Edwards, 1883); Plesionika narval (J.C. Fabricius, 1787); Plesionika williamsi Forest, 1964; and Stylopandalus richardi Coutière, 1905. In the present work, Plesionika antigai Zariquiey Álvarez, 1955 is recorded for the first time from the Canary Islands. As a result of many fishing surveys around the Canary Islands at 27–1550 m depth between 1985 and 1998, information on bathymetric distribution, habitat, size and biology of the 12 Canarian pandalid species is given. The geomorphologic, geographic and oceanographic characteristics of the Canary Islands marine ecosystems could explain the great diversity in the biogeographic patterns of the pandalid species inhabiting this area. The distribution patterns found were: Macaronesian (1 spec.), Atlanto-Mediterranean (1 spec.), Eastern Atlantic warm-temperate (1 spec.), amphi-Atlantic warm (2 spec.), amphi-Atlantic warm-temperate (1 spec.), pantropical (5 spec.), and cosmopolitan (1 spec.).     

Veronica fridericae,a new species from eastern Turkey

Veronica fridericae spec. nova, described from the type locality in the S.E. Turkish province Van, is related toV. acrotheca andV. farinosa, both endemic to W. Iran. All 8 perennial species with pinnatifid leaves in S.W. Asia are presented in a key.     

Leaf litter quality and decomposition rates of yellow birch and sugar maple seedlings grown in mono-culture and mixed-culture pots at three soil fertility levels

Seedlings of yellow birch (Betula alleghaniensis Britton) and sugar maple (Acer saccharum Marsh.) were grown for 2 years in mono-culture and mixed-culture and at three fertility levels. Following the second growing season, senescent leaves were analysed for N concentration, acid hydrolysable substances (AHS), and nonhydrolysable remains (NHR). A litter sub-sample was then inoculated with indigenous soil microflora, incubated 14 weeks, and mass loss was measured. Litter-N was significantly higher at medium than at poor fertility, as well as in yellow birch than in sugar maple litter. The species effect on litter-N increased with increasing fertility. At medium fertility, litter-N of sugar maple litter was lower in mixed-culture than in mono-culture. AHS, NHR as well the NHR/N ratio were significantly higher in yellow birch than in sugar maple litter. At medium fertility, the NHR/N ratio of sugar maple litter was significantly lower in mono-culture than in mixed-culture. Mass loss was significantly greater at medium and rich fertility than at poor fertility, and in yellow birch than in sugar maple litter. At poor fertility, mixed-litter decomposed at a rate comparable to yellow birch, whereas at medium and rich fertility, mixed-litter decomposed at a rate comparable to sugar maple. There was a significant positive relationship between litter-N and mass loss. A similar positive relationship between NHR and mass loss was presumed to be a species effect on decomposition. Results support the hypothesis that species × fertility and species × mixture interactions can be important determinants of litter quality and, by implication, of site nutrient cycling.