Toxicocalamus, a New Guinea genus of snakes of the family Elapidae

Toxicocalamus is expanded to include Apistocalamus and Ultrocalamus as subgenera. Pseudapistocalamus nymani, Apistocalamus pratti, A. loennbergi, and A. lamingtoni are considered geographic variations of Toxicocalamus ( Apistocalamus ) loriae. Toxicocalamus ( Ultrocalamus ) buergersi, synonymized with T. ( U. ) preussi by previous workers, is recognized as a distinct species because of many structural peculiarities (most notably, extension of the venom gland back within the body cavity nearly to the heart, as in Maticora ). Three species are described as new: T. ( Apistocalamus ) spiblepidotus, characterized by large size and peculiar colouration; T. ( A. ) holopelturus, characterized by entire subcaudals and hemi-penial structure; and T. ( Toxicocalamus ) misimae, differing from the related T. longissimus in much lower ventral count and in having only 15 scale rows. A population from Garaina (Morobe Division) is believed to be of recent origin from hybridization between T. ( A. ) loriae and T. ( T. ) stanleyanus. Toxicocalamus is most closely related to the Australian genera called Brachyurophis, Melwardia, Narophis, Rhinelaps, and Rhynchoelaps by Worrell, but here all grouped in the genus Rhynchoelaps. This Australian genus and Toxicocalamus make up the Rhynchoelaps group, which does not include the genera Vermicella (for V. annulata only), Ogmodon, or Parapistocalamus. The lack of a diastema behind the fang in the elapid genera Kerilia, Ogmodon, and Toxicocalamus is not a primitive, but a specialized, feature, probably developed independently in each of these genera as a mechanism for coordinating the replacement rhythm of the fangs with that of solid teeth behind. It is suggested that the solid maxillary teeth of Toxicocalamus are neomorphs, formed by backward extension of the fang-forming portion of the dental lamina.     

Aspidomorphus, a genus of New Guinea snakes of the Family Elapidae, with notes on related genera

The Australian snakes that have been included in Aspidomorphus differ markedly from that genus, particularly in hemipenial morphology and in the absence of a muscular slip from the quadrate bone to the venom gland; the genus Aspidomorphus is therefore restricted to the New Guniea species. Aspidomorphus (as here restricted) is closely related to Demansia (in the restricted sense of Worrell, essentially D. psammophis, D. torquata , and D. olivacea ), but the Australian species generally referred to Aspidomorphus seem to be related to Glyphodon . The genera Aspidomorphus, Demansia, Rhinhoplocephalus and Drepanodontis form a natural group. Aspidomorphus contains three species, each identifiable by hemipenial features as well as by details of colouration: A. muelleri (= A. mülleri mülleri and A. m. interruptus of Brongersma's revision); A. lineaticollis (= A. mülleri lineaticollis and A. m. lineatus of Brongersma); and A. schlegeli. The last species differs from the others in the form of the maxillary bone and the anterior mandibular dentition; it seems to be confined to northwestern New Guinea and adjacent islands, since specimens from the eastern end of New Guinea that had been referred to schlegeli are actually A. lineaticollis. In all three species some geographical variation can be demonstrated, at least in ventral count, but it is not considered necessary to use trinomials to indicate that geographical variation exists. Pseudonaja textilis is recorded from New Guinea for the first time. (McDowell.)
Examination reveals Demansia ornaticeps is properly referred to Demansia. (Cogger.)     

薄唇蕨属的分类研究

薄唇蕨属是水龙骨科星蕨类植物中的一个小属,其范围时大时小,没有稳定的概念。我们在编 写《中国植物志》的过程中,分析了该属植物和星蕨类其它属植物的形态和地理分布,扫描了全部种类的孢子,认为薄唇蕨属不同于线蕨属,它包括了过去分出的似薄唇蕨属和树舌蕨等属。     

The mosquito fauna of Smolensk and Kaluga provinces

The mosquitos collected in Smolensk and Kaluga provinces in 1985 by the expedition team of the D. I. Ivanovski? Institute of Virology were identified by V. N. Danilov in 1986. Among the females of mosquitos collected in Smolensk Province four genera and 16 species were recorded; two genera (Culiseta, Mansonia) and 9 species were new ones for this region. Taking in account the reference data (excluding Anopheles hircanus and Aedes behningi, the presence of which here is doubtful) there 22 species of mosquitos of five genera (Anopheles--3, Aedes--16, Mansonia, Culiseta, Culex--one of each) are recently known in Smolensk Province. Among the females of mosquitos collected in Kaluga Province, two genera and 8 species were found including one genus (Mansonia) and three species being a new ones for this region. Together with the reference data, there 17 species of mosquitos of four genera (Anopheles--2, Aedes--13, Mansonia, Culex--one of each) are known now for Kaluga Province.     

Genera Nova vel Minus Cognita Familiae Compositarum,I. Vladimiria Ilj., Diplazoptilon Ling et Dolomiaea DC.

The present paper concerns itself with three Composite genera of the tribe Cynareae (subtribe Carduinae), Vladimiria Ilj., Diplazoptilon Ling and Dolomiaea DC., all ranging throughout the Sino-himalayan region, These genera have in the past always been as sociated with the Eurasiatic genus Jurinea Cass., though there is hardly anything that can indicate such a relationship. Jurinea, according to the conception of Iljin, is a clearly deliminated natural genus, while the three genera now in question are all closely allied to Saussurea DC., being quite remote from Jurinea in the corolla forms, the structure of receptacle and pappus, and also in the morphology of pollen grains. Vladimiria was founded by Iljin, based on Jurinea salwinensis Hand.-Mzt. The genus is a close relative of Saussurea from which it differs chiefly in the usually many seriate pappus which are composed of scabrous or partly barbellulate bristles. As a re sult of our study, a tentative scheme of classification is here proposed, in which Iljin's original generic concept has been amplified to include a dozen of species previously re ferred to Jurinea by Franchet, Diels, Anthony and Handel-Mazzetti from the flora of south-western China and adjacent countries. Two sections, namely, sect. Sorocephalos Ling and sect. Vladimiria (Saussurea sect. Carduella Franch., Mazzettia Ilj.), are being proposed. Diplazoptilon, a new monotypic genus based upon Jurinea picridifolia Hand.-Mzt., is here proposed. It occupies an intermediate position between Vladimiria and Saussurea with a closer affinity to the former, from both of which it is, however, distinguished chiefly by the biseriate pappus with equal plumose bristles. Dolomiaea, a natural genus early founded by De Candolle on the basis of the Himalayan D. macrocephala DC., was considered by Bentham and Hooker f. as not different from Jurinea, a treatment having being followed since by most botanists of the past. But, as mentioned above, its relationship with Saussurea is obvious. It seems to differ from that genus in the two to many seriate pappus, consisting of numerous barbellulate bristles, and in the short style branches. In view of its affinity with Saussurea rather than with Jurinea, the generic status of Dolomiaea should be maintained accordingly. As construed above, the genus is now represented by about 5 species, most of which werepreviously referred to Jurinea by different botanists.     

重庆武隆天生桥种子植物区系研究

重庆武隆天生桥是国家4A级风景名胜区,处于云贵高原大娄山褶皱带与武陵山系的过渡地带。对该区植物从科、属和种的分布区类型进行了统计分析,另外将该区区系特征与其他几个地区进行了对比分析。结果表明：①该区内有种子植物115科、475属、1292种。②大、中属共有37属,仅占总属数的7．79％,但所含种数达389种,占总种数的30．11％。说明本植物区系中优势属较为明显。③从种子植物科属分布区类型所占比例来看,该地区区系性质以热带成分占优势,其中热带分布属214属,占总属数的50．71％,这一特点与当地的环境特点是密切相关的。④区系分析表明,温带分布类型也占相当优势,有温带分布属203属,占总属数的48．10％,说明该地区区系性质具有热带到温带过渡的性质。⑤中国特有种丰富,共有881种,占总种数的68．83％。⑨经对比分析和聚类分析表明：该区与相距较远地区属的相似性系数较低,表明区系上联系较为疏远;而与邻近的几个地区属的相似性系数较高,特别与西南地区植物区系联系紧密。     

A systematic survey of leaf and stem anatomical characters in the genus Gaultheria and related genera (Ericaceae)

MIDDLETON, D. J., A systematic survey of leaf and stem anatomical characters in the genus Gaultheria and related genera (Ericaceae). Leaf and stem anatomical characters of 123 species within the Gaultheria group of genera of the tribe Andromedeae are surveyed. A number of characters show considerable variation within a species which limits their taxonomic use. Other characters such as marginal sclerenchyma and, to a lesser extent, the hypodermis, the presence of adaxial stomata, the presence of free fibres and the pith type were of more taxonomic interest. These characters are discussed in relation to the generic and infrageneric classification of the group.     

Achilaophonte maxima gen.n., spec.n., a new taxon of the Laophontidae (Copepoda,harpacticoida) from the high Antartic (Weddell Sea)

Male and female of a new genus and species of the family Laophontidae, Archilaophonte maxima, are described. The specimen was found in the high Antartic (Weddell Sea) and apprears to be the most primitive genus up to now within the superfamily Laophontoidea as defined by Huys (1990). Based on its setation of legs and mouth parts, however, it can be placed unequivocally into the family Laophontidae. Archilaophonte maxima gen. n. shows close affinities to the laophontid genus Esola Edwards 1891. Both genera form a monophyletic group which is interpreted here as the first and most primitive offshot in the evolution of the Laophontidae. The synapomorphies of the former lineage are the shape of the protopodite of the P1 and shape and setation of the female P5.     

Notes on the Australian sea-snake Ephalophis greyi M. Smith (Serpentes:Elapidae, Hydrophiinae) and the origin and classification of sea-snakes

The type and two other specimens of Ephalophis greyi are described. The venom gland musculature is of the Demansia type, with an isolated muscle running from the quadrate to the rear of the venom gland. The only other hydrophiine with the Demansia pattern of venom gland musculature, Hydrophis mertoni Roux, is referred, for this and other reasons, to the genus Ephalophis as E. mertoni (Roux). Some notes on a skull of E. mertoni are presented, along with a revised diagnosis of Ephalophis. The Demansia pattern of venom gland muscles seen in Ephalophis is primitive for the Hydrophiinae and other members of that subfamily have secondarily taken on a Glyphodon type of musculature of the venom gland by loss of the muscle slip from quadrate to gland. The Demansia group of terrestrial elapids, particularly the genus Drepanodontis Worrell, stand close to the origin of the Hydrophiinae. A classification of the Hydrophiinae into three generic groups is presented, with Ephalophis, Aipysurus , and Emydocephalus referred to an Aipysurus group.     

New chromosome counts in the genus Cousinia and the related genus Schmalhausenia (Asteraceae, Cardueae)

Twenty chromosome counts are reported in the genus Cousinia and the monotypic genus Schmalhausenia , which are part of the Arctium group, from Armenia, Iran, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. Twelve are new and eight provide confirmation of scarce or disputable previous data. The correlation between karyological data, pollen type and molecular phylogeny is very close, and on this basis two main groups can be defined. One is the arctioid group, which comprises the genera Arctium and Schmalhausenia , and a small part of the genus Cousinia , with x  = 18. The other is the genus Cousinia s.s. , with a dysploid series ranging from x  = 13–11. Some considerations on the chromosomal evolution in the group are made.  © 2003 The Linnean Society of London, Botanical Journal of the Linnean Socety , 2003, 143 , 411–418.     

Revision of generic limits in Hyptis Jacq. (Labiatae) and its allies

The primarily neotropical sub-tribe Hyptidinae (Labiatae: tribe Ocimeae) consists of six or seven genera of which the largest is the genus Hyptis with over 300 species. Over the last 12 years, work on the group at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, examining macro-morphological and anatomical characters, as well as pollen surface and chromosome number, has indicated that the genus Hyptis is paraphyletic, with a few of the larger-flowered sections apparently being more closely related to the neighbouring genus Eriope than to the smaller-flowered sections of Hyptis . This has been confirmed by preliminary cladistic studies now in progress. In order to provide a working classification for the group, prior to the publication of the more detailed study, two new genera: Hypenia and Hyptidendron are created. A key to genera of South American Hyptidinae is provided, as well as one to distinguish the two new sections of Hyptidendron . Forty-five new combinations are made.     

Phylogenetics of Stelis and closely related genera (Orchidaceae: Pleurothallidinae)

Stelis, one of the largest genera within Pleurothallidinae, was recently recircumscribed to include a few hundred more species, most of which had previously been assigned to Pleurothallis. Here, a new phylogenetic analysis of Stelis and closely related genera based on DNA sequences from nuclear ITS and chloroplast matK, based on a much larger sample, is presented; it includes more than 100 species assigned to Stelis and covers all proposed groupings within the genus, many of which have not previously been represented. Clades are proposed to enable easier discussion of groups of closely related species; each clade is characterized morphologically, ecologically, and geographically to explain the evidence found in the molecular analysis. Discussion of the evolutionary trends of character states found in the genus in its broad sense is given. The current taxonomy of the group is given and the possible taxonomical implications of the findings presented here are discussed.     

Phylogenetic analyses of the genera Pipra, Lepidothrix and Dixiphia (Pipridae, Passeriformes) using partial cytochrome b and 16S mtDNA genes

The piprids (manakins) are small-bodied Neotropical birds characterized by sexual dimorphism of the plumage and elaborate courtship rituals. The phylogenetic relationships of some of piprid genera, in particular Pipra , are not well defined. Recently, Pipra was divided into three distinct groups, and the recognition of two new genera — Lepidothrix and Dixiphia — was suggested, based on the characteristic of the syringial morphology. In the present study, we analyse the phylogenetic relationships among these genera on the basis of data from the mitochondrial genes rRNA 16S and cytochrome b . Bayesian Inference (BI), Maximum Parsimony (MP) and Maximum Likelihood (ML) methods of analyses produced phylogenetic trees with very similar topologies with regard to the groupings formed by the species representing the three genera. These results indicate that the genera Pipra, Lepidothrix and Dixiphia do not constitute a single monophyletic clade, and support the current hypothesis of polyphyletism for the former representatives of the genus Pipra . However, the topologies presented do not coincide exactly with the phylogeny suggested by the morphological data with regard to the relationship between these three groups and the remaining piprid genera analysed here, emphasizing the need for further studies of this group of birds. The agreement between the molecular data presented here and the biogeographical information available for some of the species analysed appears to confirm the potential of using segments of the mitochondrial genome for the study of phylogeographical patterns in this group of organisms.     

重庆地区蕨类植物区系的初步研究

对重庆地区蕨类植物从科、属分布区类型进行了统计分析,同时将该区区系特征与其它几个地区进行了对比分析。结果表明:(1)该区共有蕨类植物389种(含变种和变型),隶属于109属, 43科。(2)该区蕨类植物中优势科、属十分明显,其中优势科为:鳞毛蕨科、金星蕨科、水龙骨科、蹄盖蕨科、凤尾蕨科;优势属为鳞毛蕨属、耳蕨属、凤尾蕨属、铁角蕨属、卷柏属、凤丫蕨属。(3)从蕨类植物科、属分布区类型的所占比例来看,该地区区系性质以热带成分占优势,其中热带分布科22科,占总科数的75.00%;热带分布属有60属,占总属数的64.52%(剔除世界分布)。(4)本区区系成分古老,古老孑遗的科属较为丰富,但特有现象不明显。(5)该区地形、气候条件对于蕨类植物的散布和充分发育比较适宜,为其在该区的充分发育创造了极为有力的条件。(6)经对比分析和聚类分析表明:该区与临近的几个地区属的相似性系数很高,特别是与西南地区的西藏、横断山区的属相似性系数较大,表明区系上与这些地区有着广泛的联系;而与华北的内蒙古,东北的辽宁等相距较远的地区属的相似性系数较低,表明区系上联系较为疏远。     

The phylogenetic relationships of the physaloid genera (Solanaceae) based on morphological data

A group of genera, e.g., Chamaesaracha, Leucophysalis, Physaliastrum, Margaranthus, and Withania, in the subfamily Solanoideae (Solanaceae) is centered around the genus Physalis and has been named the physaloid group. It comprises a number of small and often poorly known genera, sometimes seen as united with Physalis and/or each other. A hypothesis of the phylogenetic relationships within this group, based on parsimony analyses of morphological data, is here presented for the first time. The result is discussed in relation to prevailing generic circumsciptions and taxonomic consequences. It is also compared with hypotheses of relationships based on cpDNA data.     

On New Findings of a Rare Sea Snake <Emphasis Type="Italic">Leioselasma czeblukovi</Emphasis> Kharin, 1984, with Remarks on Species Composition and Taxonomical Position of the Genus <Emphasis Type="Italic">Leioselasma</Emphasis> Lacepede, 1804, (Serpentes: Hydrophiidae)

Information is presented about a finding of two specimens of a rare sea snake Leioselasma czeblukovi, which was known until now only from the holotype and a paratype, and also about the taxonomical position of the genus Leioselasma within the group of genera Hydrophis sensu lato and the species composition of the latter. An identification key for species is presented.