摘要:

The subterranean amphipodNiphargus vuexfordensis/i>sp. nov.(Amphipoda: Gammaridea: Niphargidae) is described and figured from a well at Kerloge, County Wexford in southern Ireland. The taxonomic position of this species is analysed and its relationship to the controversial genusNiphargellusSchellenberg discussed.

ISSN:0024-4082    

DOI:10.1111/j.1096-3642.1994.tb00322.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1994

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Recent survey work in Madagascar has led to significant changes in the systematics of MadagascanPhelsuma.A new species from the Masoala Peninsula in northeastern Madagascar is described, which has a nostril position typical ofPhelsumafrom Mauritius, Reunion and Rodriguez islands.Phelsuma brevicepswas rediscovered in extreme southern Madagascar and is resurrected from the synonymy ofP. mutabilis. Phelsuma brevicepshas fragile skin, a probable predator escape mechanism, similar to the condition found in geckos of the generaAiluronyxandGeckokpis.Three new synonyms are recognized.Phelsuma befotahensisandP. checkiare junior synonyms ofP. abbotti, andP. minuthiis a junior synonym ofP. lineata.Twenty species ofPhelsumaoccur in Madagascar, of which 16 are endemic. A checklist and identification key are provided. Conservation problems ofPhelsumain the coastal regions of Madagascar are briefly discussed.

ISSN:0024-4082    

DOI:10.1111/j.1096-3642.1994.tb00323.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1994

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

We counted the births of greater horseshoe bats born at three small breeding colonies in southwest Wales and south‐west England at the extreme edge of the species distribution over nine summers (1984–1993). Overall birth timing was almost identical at the three sites (mean of mean birth dates = 13–14 July), but varied widely from year to year. Mean birth timing was synchronized at the three sites in a given year. Early births followed warm springs; a significant negative regression of mean birth date on mean April plus May temperature was evident. A rise of 2oC accelerated mean birth date by about 18 days. Population levels fell at all three sites following the very late mean birth date of 28 July recorded in 1986, after an extremely cold spring and summer. Recovery of populations in all sites followed a series of warm springs and early mean birth dates, but was hampered by birth sex ratios favouring males for several years. These findings confirm climate, through its effect upon birth timing, and possibly also on sex ratios, as a major factor controlling bat populations, and hence the distribution of bat sp

ISSN:0024-4082    

DOI:10.1111/j.1096-3642.1994.tb00324.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1994

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Thoanteus ferrarii sp. nov.from Crimea is described. The phylogeny ofThoanteusis reconstructed in a cladistic analysis and the evolution of this genus is discussed.Thoanteus ferrarii sp. nov.represents an early stage in the additive typogenesis ofThoanteus, in which the appendix retractor still inserts laterally at the appendix section A1, a short distance from its proximal top, as in thePeristoma‐likestem species ofThoanteu

ISSN:0024-4082    

DOI:10.1111/j.1096-3642.1994.tb00325.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1994

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

The crown group of the Neognathostomata, one of the three major clades of irregular echinoids, comprises the paraphyletic order Cassiduloida, the family Neolampadidae, and the order Clypeasteroida. Recent studies have recognized the latter two groups as sister taxa, while suggesting different relationships with other cassiduloids. Here parsimony analyses of 57 qualitative morphologic characters (having 127 states) are employed to determine relationships among all 30 living cassiduloid species and three representative clypeasteroids. The 30 trees (of 144 steps) obtained using unordered multistate characters support the branching sequence: apatopygids(ApatopygusandPorterpygus), echinolampadids(EchinolampasandConolampas), cassidulids(Oligopodia, Eurkodia, RhyncholampasandCassidulus), Studeria, neolampadids and clypeasteroids. Contrary to claims in the literature, ordering multistate characters does not improve resolution, although the majority‐rule consensus of the resulting 84 trees supports the same relationships among genera. Trees found using only characters likely to be preserved in fossils differ only in the arrangement of the neolampadid taxa. Successive approximations weightings are found to be sensitive to arbitrary choices of the scaling factor and truncation. Weightings can lead to increases or decreases in the number of most parsimonious trees and the congruence among tree

ISSN:0024-4082    

DOI:10.1111/j.1096-3642.1994.tb00326.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1994

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Evidence from the comparative biology of living birds and mammals is used to address the question ‘which came first, flight or endothermy?’. Birds and mammals have evolved different solutions to the problems of high energy flow demanded by endothermy. The heavy apparatus needed for processing food to allow the rapid assimilation of energy is housed in the head of mammals, but low down in the bird's body. The primitive inefficient tidal‐flow system of ventilation is simply enlarged in mammals, but is replaced in birds by a lighter uni‐flow system through air sacs and parabronchi. Birds avoid the weight problems associated with the mammalian systems of viviparity and lactation by nourishing their young with large quantities of yolk within the egg and an unprocessed diet after hatching. The apparent adaptedness for flight of the avian systems suggests that in the animals ancestral to birds the adaptations for high energy flow were constrained from the start by the need for aerodynamic stability, i.e. flight was initiated before endothermy. The implications of this conclusion for the origin of flight and feathers are di

ISSN:0024-4082    

DOI:10.1111/j.1096-3642.1994.tb00327.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1994

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Book reviewed in this article:Parasitoids. Behavioural and Evolutionary EcologyOecophorine Genera of Australia, Vol. 1 The Wingia Group (Lepidoptera: Oecophoridae). Monographs on Australian Lepidoptera 3Predation and defence amongst reptiles by J. L. Cloudsley‐Thompson.Tnlobites by H. B. Whittington.Snakes of the World: A Checklist. Vol.1, Venomous Snakes; Vol.2, Boas, Pythons, Shield‐tails and Worm snakesHedgehogs, by N. ReeveTettigoniidae of Australia. Vol. 2, The Austrosaginae, Zaprochilinae and Phasmodinae, by D. C. F. Rentz. Victoria, AustraliaAntarctic Seals: Research Models and TechniquesThe Freshwater Crustacea of Yorkshire. A Faunistic and Ecological SurveyButterflies and Climate ChangeMammoths, Mastodonts and Elephants. Biology, Behaviour, and the Fossil RecordBeetle Larvae of the W

ISSN:0024-4082    

DOI:10.1111/j.1096-3642.1994.tb00328.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1994

数据来源: WILEY