The vegetation of seacliffs and headlands in New South Wales,Australia

A phytosociological survey of seacliff and headland vegetation on the central and south coast of New South Wales was carried out. Analysis of the quadrat data led to the recognition of 15 communities; the occurrence of a number of other vegetation types is briefly discussed. The vegetation types fall into three major groupings: grasslands, scrub and heathland, although the coincidence between structural and floristic boundaries is poor. Ordination of the communities indicates that the major factors varying between communities are exposure and soil fertility, the grasslands and scrubs occurring on more fertile soils than the heathlands. Amongst the woody communities it is suggested that the two major groups recognized fall into different phytosociological alliances, although lack of studies of Australian vegetation limits the applicability of a conventional hierarchical classification. The true heathlands correspond closely with the alliance Leptospermion, previously recognized in Victoria. The scrub communities are assigned to a new alliance, the Westringio-Banksion integrifoliae.     

Ectopic Darier's Disease of the Cervix: an Extraordinary Cause of an Abnormal Smear

A small number of skin diseases may involve either extremity of the alimentary tract or the vulva. Fortunately for patients and cytoscreeners, they rarely involve the cervix or vagina. When they do, difficulty in diagnosis may arise if a full history is not provided. A case is described of cervicovaginal Darier's disease, which presented with an abnormal cervical smear and led to a dermatological referral.
Un petit nombre de pathologies cutanées peuvent concerner une extrémité du tractus digestif ou la vulve. Heureusement pour les maladies et pour les cytotechniciens, ces affections touchent rarement le col ou le vagin. Lorsqu'elles le font, des difficultés diagnostiques peuvent exister si l'histoire clinique compléte n'est pas transmise. Ce travail décruit un cas de localisation cervico-vaginale de maladie de Darier, qui s'est présenté avec un frottis cervical anormal et qui à conduit a une consultation dermatologique.
Eine kleine Zahl von Hauterkrankungen befällt gelegentlich auch die Analregion und die Vulva. 1st dies der Fall kann bei Fehlen der Anamnese eine zytologische Beurteilung schwierig sein. Ein derartiger Fall, der ein dermatologisches Konzil crforderlich machte, wird vorgestellt.     

Long‐distance geneflow and habitat specificity of the rock‐dwelling coppertail skink,Ctenotus taeniolatus

Rock boulders or ‘bush‐rocks’ provide essential habitat for many organisms and there has been interest in rehabilitating areas denuded of rock with artificial substitutes. We examine whether the density and size of bush rock influences the density of the coppertail skink (Ctenotus taeniolatus). The success of habitat rehabilitation is contingent on dispersal of rock‐dwelling organisms into areas that have been remediated. To gauge the likelihood of this we characterize geneflow of coppertail skinks among discrete patches of rocky habitat associated with ridge tops. We genotyped 154 individuals from seven localities at six microsatellite DNA loci and from a subset of these individuals we obtained sequence data from the mitochondrial ND4 region. Our field survey established that lizard density was positively associated with the availability of suitably sized bush‐rock (P < 0.001), highlighting the importance of maintaining this habitat element, or replacing it where it has been lost. Despite the presence of habitat features that might be presumed as barriers to dispersal for coppertail skinks, such as intervening gullies and dense vegetation, our genetic data demonstrated high levels of geneflow among rocky ridge tops. Levels of partitioning estimated by global F_ST were significant but low for both microsatellite (F_ST = 0.020) and mitochondrial data (F_ST = 0.113). Spatial autocorrelation of genotypic similarity supports our conclusion of regular longer‐distance geneflow, and we infer lower levels of dispersal in juveniles than in adults. This study suggests that dispersal of coppertail skinks can be sufficient to naturally colonize areas of restored habitat.     

The beetle tree of life reveals that Coleoptera survived end‐Permian mass extinction to diversify during the Cretaceous terrestrial revolution

Here we present a phylogeny of beetles (Insecta: Coleoptera) based on DNA sequence data from eight nuclear genes, including six single‐copy nuclear protein‐coding genes, for 367 species representing 172 of 183 extant families. Our results refine existing knowledge of relationships among major groups of beetles. Strepsiptera was confirmed as sister to Coleoptera and each of the suborders of Coleoptera was recovered as monophyletic. Interrelationships among the suborders, namely Polyphaga (Adephaga (Archostemata, Myxophaga)), in our study differ from previous studies. Adephaga comprised two clades corresponding to Hydradephaga and Geadephaga. The series and superfamilies of Polyphaga were mostly monophyletic. The traditional Cucujoidea were recovered in three distantly related clades. Lymexyloidea was recovered within Tenebrionoidea. Several of the series and superfamilies of Polyphaga received moderate to maximal clade support in most analyses, for example Buprestoidea, Chrysomeloidea, Coccinelloidea, Cucujiformia, Curculionoidea, Dascilloidea, Elateroidea, Histeroidea and Hydrophiloidea. However, many of the relationships within Polyphaga lacked compatible resolution under maximum‐likelihood and Bayesian inference, and/or lacked consistently strong nodal support. Overall, we recovered slightly younger estimated divergence times than previous studies for most groups of beetles. The ordinal split between Coleoptera and Strepsiptera was estimated to have occurred in the Early Permian. Crown Coleoptera appeared in the Late Permian, and only one or two lineages survived the end‐Permian mass extinction, with stem group representatives of all four suborders appearing by the end of the Triassic. The basal split in Polyphaga was estimated to have occurred in the Triassic, with the stem groups of most series and superfamilies originating during the Triassic or Jurassic. Most extant families of beetles were estimated to have Cretaceous origins. Overall, Coleoptera experienced an increase in diversification rate compared to the rest of Neuropteroidea. Furthermore, 10 family‐level clades, all in suborder Polyphaga, were identified as having experienced significant increases in diversification rate. These include most beetle species with phytophagous habits, but also several groups not typically or primarily associated with plants. Most of these groups originated in the Cretaceous, which is also when a majority of the most species‐rich beetle families first appeared. An additional 12 clades showed evidence for significant decreases in diversification rate. These clades are species‐poor in the Modern fauna, but collectively exhibit diverse trophic habits. The apparent success of beetles, as measured by species numbers, may result from their associations with widespread and diverse substrates – especially plants, but also including fungi, wood and leaf litter – but what facilitated these associations in the first place or has allowed these associations to flourish likely varies within and between lineages. Our results provide a uniquely well‐resolved temporal and phylogenetic framework for studying patterns of innovation and diversification in Coleoptera, and a foundation for further sampling and resolution of the beetle tree of life.     

Elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide impairs the performance of root‐feeding vine weevils by modifying root growth and secondary metabolites

Predicting how insect crop pests will respond to global climate change is an important part of increasing crop production for future food security, and will increasingly rely on empirically based evidence. The effects of atmospheric composition, especially elevated carbon dioxide (eCO₂), on insect herbivores have been well studied, but this research has focussed almost exclusively on aboveground insects. However, responses of root‐feeding insects to eCO₂ are unlikely to mirror these trends because of fundamental differences between aboveground and belowground habitats. Moreover, changes in secondary metabolites and defensive responses to insect attack under eCO₂ conditions are largely unexplored for root herbivore interactions. This study investigated how eCO₂ (700 μmol mol^?1) affected a root‐feeding herbivore via changes to plant growth and concentrations of carbon (C), nitrogen (N) and phenolics. This study used the root‐feeding vine weevil, Otiorhynchus sulcatus and the perennial crop, Ribes nigrum. Weevil populations decreased by 33% and body mass decreased by 23% (from 7.2 to 5.4 mg) in eCO₂. Root biomass decreased by 16% in eCO₂, which was strongly correlated with weevil performance. While root N concentrations fell by 8%, there were no significant effects of eCO₂ on root C and N concentrations. Weevils caused a sink in plants, resulting in 8–12% decreases in leaf C concentration following herbivory. There was an interactive effect of CO₂ and root herbivory on root phenolic concentrations, whereby weevils induced an increase at ambient CO₂, suggestive of defensive response, but caused a decrease under eCO₂. Contrary to predictions, there was a positive relationship between root phenolics and weevil performance. We conclude that impaired root‐growth underpinned the negative effects of eCO₂ on vine weevils and speculate that the plant's failure to mount a defensive response at eCO₂ may have intensified these negative effects.     

A new species of watering pot shell (Bivalvia: Anomalodesmata: Clavagelloidea) from the Miocene of the Murray Basin,South Australia

Abstract: A new species of penicillid watering pot shell, Kendrickiana coquinacola sp. nov., is described from the middle Miocene (Balcombian) Bryant Creek Formation of the Murray Basin, South Australia. The new species differs from the extant K. veitchi in its smaller size, much shorter posterior tube, fewer tubules in the anterior watering pot structure, absence of the pedal slit, discontinuous dorsolateral bands of pitted muscle scars on the internal surface of the anterior bulb and habit of cementing itself to the shells in its surrounding environment. The fossil record of Kendrickiana is reviewed. The record from the Dry Creek Sands is discounted, while a record for the extant K. veitchi from the earliest Pleistocene of York Peninsula is added. K. coquinacola indicates the highly derived anatomy of the genus evolved over a 10‐Ma period from the late Oligocene through the early Miocene.