Overwintering survivorship of pupae of the mimosa web worm, Homadaula anisocentra (Lepidoptera: Plutellidae), in an urban landscape

ABSTRACT. 1. Overwintering survivorship of pupae of the mimosa webworm, Homadaula anisocentra Meyrick (Lepidoptera: Plutellidae), was examined in several urban habitats in central Iowa during the winters of 1981–82, 1982–83 and 1983–84.
2. Survivorship and supercooling point temperatures were determined throughout the winters. Corroborative laboratory studies were conducted during the winter of 1982–83.
3. Minimum ambient temperatures that equalled or were below the supercooling point of the insect, at any time, were lethal.
4. Prolonged cold exposure below 0°C and above the supercooling point resulted in high mortality levels. To quantify this relationship, a concept of minimum-temperature exposure was developed by tabulating the number of degrees that the daily minimum temperature was below 0°C for a given sampling period.
5. Some mimosa webworm pupae were found to overwinter in highly protected sites (2.5–5.0°C warmer than the ambient air temperatures) in the urban environment, resulting in less minimum-temperature exposure and reducing the probability of reaching the lethal supercooling point temperature.     

Asymmetric priority effects influence the success of invasive forest insects

1. Settlement timing is often an important factor in interspecific herbivore interactions, as early‐arriving species may encounter higher resource availability and/or avoid induced defences. Despite the general importance of priority effects to the outcome of herbivore interactions, there has been little exploration of such interactions on woody host plants where their impact can only be measured over multiple years. 2. In the eastern U.S.A., two invasive species, the hemlock woolly adelgid Adelges tsugae and the elongate hemlock scale Fiorinia externa, share a native host, eastern hemlock Tsuga canadensis. Their interaction and its consequences were investigated for plant growth – hemlock saplings that had been inoculated with either A. tsugae or F. externa, starting in spring 2007, were cross‐infested with the other insect in spring 2009. A set of uninfested trees was simultaneously infested with A. tsugae, F. externa, both, or neither insect (= control), and insect density and plant growth was assessed in all treatments. 3. Adelges tsugae settlement rates did not differ if it settled alone or simultaneously with F. externa, but were ～45% lower on trees previously infested with F. externa. There was no difference in F. externa settlement rates, and plant growth did not differ substantively between any of the herbivore treatments. 4. At a temporal scale (i.e. multiple growing seasons) appropriate to interactions between woody plants and their herbivores, this work demonstrates that plant‐mediated priority effects can substantially affect herbivore settlement and thus the outcome of interspecific competition.     

Phylogeny and classification of Cucujoidea and the recognition of a new superfamily Coccinelloidea (Coleoptera: Cucujiformia)

A large‐scale phylogenetic study is presented for Cucujoidea (Coleoptera), a diverse superfamily of beetles that historically has been taxonomically difficult. This study is the most comprehensive analysis of cucujoid taxa to date, with DNA sequence data sampled from eight genes (four nuclear, four mitochondrial) for 384 coleopteran taxa, including exemplars of 35 (of 37) families and 289 genera of Cucujoidea. Maximum‐likelihood analyses of these data present many significant relationships, some proposed previously and some novel. Tenebrionoidea and Lymexyloidea are recovered together and Cleroidea forms the sister group to this clade. Chrysomeloidea and Curculionoidea are recovered as sister taxa and this clade (Phytophaga) forms the sister group to the core Cucujoidea (Cucujoidea s.n .). The nitidulid series is recovered as the earliest‐diverging core cucujoid lineage, although the earliest divergences among core Cucujoidea are only weakly supported. The cerylonid series (CS) is recovered as monophyletic and is supported as a major Cucujiform clade, sister group to the remaining superfamilies of Cucujiformia. Currently recognized taxa that were not recovered as monophyletic include Cucujoidea, Endomychidae, Cerylonidae and Bothrideridae. Biphyllidae and Byturidae were recovered in Cleroidea. The remaining Cucujoidea were recovered in two disparate major clades: one comprising the nitidulid series + erotylid series + Boganiidae and Hobartiidae + cucujid series, and the other comprising the cerylonid series. Propalticidae are recovered within Laemophloeidae. The cerylonid series includes two major clades, the bothriderid group and the coccinellid group. Akalyptoischiidae are recovered as a separate clade from Latridiidae. Eupsilobiinae are recovered as the sister taxon to Coccinellidae. In light of these findings, many formal changes to cucujiform beetle classification are proposed. Biphyllidae and Byturidae are transferred to Cleroidea. The cerylonid series is formally recognized as a new superfamily, Coccinelloidea stat.n. Current subfamilies elevated (or re‐elevated) to family status include: Murmidiidae stat.n. , Teredidae stat.n. , Euxestidae stat.n. , Anamorphidae stat.rev. , Eupsilobiidae stat.n. , and Mycetaeidae stat.n. The following taxa are redefined and characterized: Cleroidea s.n. , Cucujoidea s.n. , Cerylonidae s.n. , Bothrideridae s.n. , Endomychidae s.n. A new subfamily, Cyclotominae stat.n. , is described. Stenotarsinae syn.n. is formally subsumed within a new concept of Endomychinae s.n.     

The status of the West African fish Gobius nigricinctus with reference to New World autochthones and an Old World colour-analogue

The systematic features of a small West African marine gobiid fish, Gobius nigricinctus Delais 1951, are redescribed from the holotype with special emphasis on the head lateral-line canal and sensory papillae (tree neuromast) systems. A junior synonym is found to be Gobius lepidogenys Robins 1970. The status of G. nigricinctus is best expressed in a new monotypic genus, Gorogobius , with closest affinity to the Atlantic-Mediterranean Corcyrogobius and Odondebuenia , Similarities in head sensory papillae arrangement exist between Gorogobius and certain 'seven-spined' genera of the New World tropical insular fauna, but G. nigricinctus is shown not to be a recent transatlantic immigrant. The validity of the tribe Gobiosomini as a natural grouping endemic to the Americas is questioned. Close resemblance in striped coloration between Gorogobius and small Indo-West Pacific gobies, especially Quisquilius eugenius , is shown to be the result of convergent evolution.     

MORAL FICTIONS AND MEDICAL ETHICS

Conventional medical ethics and the law draw a bright line distinguishing the permitted practice of withdrawing life‐sustaining treatment from the forbidden practice of active euthanasia by means of a lethal injection. When clinicians justifiably withdraw life‐sustaining treatment, they allow patients to die but do not cause, intend, or have moral responsibility for, the patient's death. In contrast, physicians unjustifiably kill patients whenever they intentionally administer a lethal dose of medication. We argue that the differential moral assessment of these two practices is based on a series of moral fictions – motivated false beliefs that erroneously characterize withdrawing life‐sustaining treatment in order to bring accepted end‐of‐life practices in line with the prevailing moral norm that doctors must never kill patients. When these moral fictions are exposed, it becomes apparent that conventional medical ethics relating to end‐of‐life decisions is radically mistaken.     

The Effects of Centrifugation on Asymmetric Cell Division and Differentiation of Fern Spores

We have investigated the effects of centrifugation on sporepolarity, asymmetric cell division, and rhizoid differentiationin the sensitive fern Onoclea sensibilis L. Centrifugation at10000 g for 30 min produces a random orientation of spores withstratification of the cell contents. After centrifugation atmost early stages of development, the nucleus retains its normalpattern of migration from the centre of the ellipsoidal sporeto the proximal face and then to an end of the spore, withoutregard to the orientation of stratification. This indicatesthat the polarity of the spore is stable to centrifugation.As long as the nucleus migrates to an end of the spore and asymmetriccell division occurs, the small cell differentiates into a rhizoid.The arrangement of large cytoplasmic organelles appears to haveno influence on nuclear migration, asymmetric cell division,or rhizoid differentiation. The only period during developmentwhen centrifugation blocks asymmetric cell division is immediatelypreceding and during mitosis and cytokinesis. Spores centrifugedat this stage do not complete nuclear migration, and symmetriccell division results, with neither cell differentiating intoa rhizoid. The source of the stable polarity of the spore isdiscussed. cell polarity, rhizoid differentiation, centrifugation, Onoclea sensibilis L., sensitive fern, fern spores     

Development of Microsatellite Loci in Eulachon (Thaleichthys pacificus)

The decline of eulachon spawning runs over the past decade has enhanced the need for management units that reflect the genetic structure of the species. We report the development of 14 novel, highly polymorphic di‐ and tetranucleotide loci for use in population studies. In a survey of over 200 individuals from two rivers from the Pacific NW, observed heterozygosities of the loci ranged from 0.54 to 0.95 and an average of 23 alleles per locus were resolved. All 14 microsatellite markers were in Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium.