摘要:

Monthly samples of the scopimerine sand crabs,Scopimera crabricaudaAlcock 1900 andDotilla sulcata(Forskåll 1775), were collected from November 1992 to January 1994 from a marine inlet, Khawr Suwadi (23°45′N 57°47′E), in the Gulf of Oman. The crabs inhabited mobile sand banks and flats.S. crabricaudaoccurred at mean densities of 79 m−2, between low high water neap and mean low water neap, andD. sulcataoccurred at mean densities of 39 m−2, below this and down to near mean low water spring. The largest individuals were males, but in general the adult crabs were small, ranging from 2.2–5.9 mm CW inS. crabricaudaand 2.1–10.3 mm CW inD. sulcata.Juveniles of both species were present throughout the year, but seasonal recruitment varied between years and did not show a clear temporal relationship to the cycles of breeding as indicated by the percentage of ovigerous females in the population. In comparison with other members of the genera, female egg loads of both species were low. This can be accounted for by the small size of both species and additionally inD. sulcatathe absence of any positive relationship between female size and clutch size.

ISSN:0394-6975    

DOI:10.1080/03946975.1998.10539363

出版商:Taylor & Francis Group    

年代:1998

数据来源: Taylor

摘要:

Five new species of Tenebrionidae (Coleoptera Heteromera) are described from South America and the West Indies:Trichoton comaparensisfrom Comarapa, Bolivia,Diastolinus klapperichifrom Boca Chica,Diastolinus hispaniolensisfrom Palmar de Ocoa,Diastolinus domingoensisfrom Bani all from the Dominican Republic andPenichrus nanusfrom Curapao, Venezuela.

ISSN:0394-6975    

DOI:10.1080/03946975.1998.10539364

出版商:Taylor & Francis Group    

年代:1998

数据来源: Taylor

摘要:

The genusRhinocoetaBurmeister 1842 is unusual among cetoniines, as adults do not feed on flowers or fruits. The biology and ecology of the genus are still completely unknown, and only for three of the six species representing the group have adults of both sexes been described. No information is available for the larval stages of any of the species. Here, we present the first discription of the third instar larvae of one of the species,Rhinocoeta sanguinipes(Gory & Percheron 1833). Cladistic analysis of larval characters confirms the primitive phylogenetic position of this species relative to a small sample of other South African cetoniines, and supports the hypothesis that the genus might belong in the subtribe Xiphoscelidina rather than the Cetoniina, thereby constituting part of a relict lineage derived directly from the most primitive Cetoniinae.

ISSN:0394-6975    

DOI:10.1080/03946975.1998.10539365

出版商:Taylor & Francis Group    

年代:1998

数据来源: Taylor

摘要:

Detailed examination of the only known specimen ofEremias ercoliniiLanza & Poggesi 1975 shows that it has affinities within theOphisops-Mesalinaclade and, on present evidence, is best regarded as a member ofMesalinaGray 1838. However, its exact phylogenetic position will only be confirmed when more material becomes available. Limb proportions and scale form suggest thatMesalina ercoliniiprobably spends time in low, dense vegetation.

ISSN:0394-6975    

DOI:10.1080/03946975.1998.10539366

出版商:Taylor & Francis Group    

年代:1998

数据来源: Taylor

摘要:

A colony of Pacific ParakeetAratinga strenuaRidgway 1915 was studied at Volcán Masaya National Park in Nicaragua from 1993 to 1994. The parakeets nested in two craters of the Nindirí Volcano. They excavated their nests in the soft dirt of volcano wall. The parakeets started to roost in the volcano at the end of the dry season. They nested once a year, in the rainy season, and gradually left the volcano towards the end of that season as their young fledged. A good method for estimating the population would be simultaneous direct counts carried out at fixed points along the parakeets' flight paths into the volcano in June, when the birds have returned to their breeding grounds but have not yet started to lay eggs. All of the parakeets leave the volcano in the morning and can be counted in the afternoon when they come back from their feeding grounds.

ISSN:0394-6975    

DOI:10.1080/03946975.1998.10539367

出版商:Taylor & Francis Group    

年代:1998

数据来源: Taylor

摘要:

A description and biological notes on the second known specimen of the opistoglyph colubrid snakeBrygophis coulangesi(Domergue 1988) are provided together with a re-analysis of the holotype. The new specimen was collected in north-eastern Madagascar, from the Anjanaharibe-Sud Chain and it has a large range extension of about 500 km. It is similar in morphology and colouration to the holotype, found in 1968 at Fiherenana Forest, central-eastern Madagascar. Comments are also provided about the similarity ofBrygophiswith the genusGeodipsas.

ISSN:0394-6975    

DOI:10.1080/03946975.1998.10539368

出版商:Taylor & Francis Group    

年代:1998

数据来源: Taylor

摘要:

The present paper revises the grasshopper genusParepistaurusKarsch 1896. The established species are re-examined, and their internal genitalic morphology is described. A substantial amount of new material has been examined, leading to the description of 10 new species:Parepistaurus browni, P. eburlineatus, P. intermedius, P. jagoi, P. johnseni, P. mupundui, P. pseudofelix, P. pugui, P. robertsoni, andP. tenuicercus, and 5 new subspecies:P. deses manyara, P. d. nairobii, P. johnseni johnseni, P. j. rectus, andP. j. aduncus.Internal genitalic characters are described for all new taxa.P. vansomereniandP. rufijianusare reduced to subspecies status. The genusHintziaRamme 1929 is revived from synonymy andP. squamipterusredesignated to that genus. A genitalic mechanism s hypothesised for the genus in which the basal inner faces of the male cerci interact directly with the sides of the epiphallus during copulation.

ISSN:0394-6975    

DOI:10.1080/03946975.1998.10539369

出版商:Taylor & Francis Group    

年代:1998

数据来源: Taylor

摘要:

An ultrastructural study has been carried out on the cutaneous serous glands in the Argentine hylidsPhyllomedusa sauvageiBoulenger 1882 andP. hypochondrialisBoulenger 1882. Both species possess type I serous units, which are representative of the usual serous glands in anurans, and type II units, peculiar to the genusPhyllomedusaWagler 1830. Type I secretory units were further characterized as type Ia and Ib, on account of the morphology of their specific products. Type Ia secretory materials consist of spheroidal granules (4–6 μm in diameter), which are compact in P.sauvageiand provided with a mesh-like substructure inP. hypochondrialis.Type Ib serous deposits in P.sauvageiare also granules, which exhibit variable density, irregular shape, and are usually larger (up to 15 μm in diameter), whereas in P.hypochondrialisthey are even wider vesicles (up to 20 μm), holding a finely dispersed material. No intermediate forms were detected between these features, and therefore the type I secretory units of these species produce two morphological subclasses of serous products. Type II glands display consistent ultrastructural features in both species. They have been described in the past as wax glands, since they produce lipids which the frogs spread over the body surface. The adaptive value of wax glands is reconsidered in this paper, using ultrastructural criteria. Type II glands share the fundamental traits of anuran serous glands; as sites for production of substances relevant to regulation of water loss through the body surface, they represent an example of the adaptive plasticity of the serous secretory units in anuran skin.

ISSN:0394-6975    

DOI:10.1080/03946975.1998.10539370

出版商:Taylor & Francis Group    

年代:1998

数据来源: Taylor

摘要:

The Bermuda Islands lie in the western Atlantic Ocean with the closest mainland being North Carolina, some 965 km to the west. The islands have undergone considerable change since permanent settlement around 1612 and this has affected their freshwater habitats which now are limited to small lakes (variously influenced by saltwater intrusion), ponds and drainage ditches. Although there exist some patchy records of freshwater invertebrate taxa, going as far back as 1859, there had been no single attempt to survey a variety of habitat types across the islands. The latter was done in 1990–1992 and the results are reported here. Because of the proximity of many sites to the coast, this survey reports some species with brackishwater tolerance, and also, as in the case of the mites, species that were riparian in distribution. The samples revealed a total of 51 fresh/brackish water species, with 24 of these being recorded from the islands for the first time. Predominant amongst this fauna were oligochaetes, gastropods, microcrustaceans, peracarids, odonates, corixids, hydrophilid beetles, and chironomid, ceratopogonid and cphydrid dipterans. Based on distributional records in the literature, it is concluded that these freshwater taxa have colonised the islands primarily from the southwest (from the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico regions), likely carried by the prevailing northeasterly winds and the Gulf Stream. There are, however, other taxa whose sources must lie in the North American continent, particularly on its eastern seaboard. A single species, the brackishwater chironomidHalocladius stagnorum, seems to have colonised from source areas along the coast of the eastern Atlantic, possibly via ocean going vessels.

ISSN:0394-6975    

DOI:10.1080/03946975.1998.10539371

出版商:Taylor & Francis Group    

年代:1998

数据来源: Taylor

摘要:

The poorly known millipedeAporodesminus wallaceiSilvestri 1904 appears to be a widespread pantropical species currently reported from St. Helena Island (southern Atlantic Ocean), the Hawaiian Islands, Tahiti (central Polynesia), and the vicinity of Sydney, Australia (Pacific Ocean). Of these records (the latter two are new), the Sydney adults and subadults have been taken underwater in a few creeks of a single small catchment area. This is only the third polydesmoid, and second Pyrgodesmidae, definitely attributable to semiaquatic millipedes. This habit is further proved by indirect evidence coming from the structure of the mouthparts and a cerotegument enabling plastron respiration. As virtually no record can readily be associated with man/human settlements, the hypothesis is put forth that, as is the case for numerous (sub)cosmopolitan water-dwellers, dispersal of this minute species (4.5–6.6 mm) could have been due to zoochory at least not less likely than to hydrochory or anthropochorism, whereas the remote and scattered islands can hardly be taken as the original source area forA. wallacei.Based solely on similar cerotegment structures as well as on a strikingly similar distribution pattern, but without direct evidence of hydrophily, the same habits if not dispersal mechanism can be suggested for one more pantropical pyrgodesmid,Cryptocorypha ornata(Attems 1938), which has been reported from St. Helena Island, the Hawaiis, the Cook Islands, the Marquesa Islands, Tahiti and Hong Kong. The four latter localities are likewise new.

ISSN:0394-6975    

DOI:10.1080/03946975.1998.10539372

出版商:Taylor & Francis Group    

年代:1998

数据来源: Taylor