Systematics (Taxonomy)

We show that the three species of Thala known from the Hawaiian Islands are endemic, rather than having broader Indo-Pacific distributions as previously thought. Records of T. todilla (Mighels, 1845) outside of the Hawaiian Islands are misidentificalions, as are records of T. milium (Reeve, 1845) and T. exilis (Reeve, 1845) within the Hawaiian Islands. The latter are described as endemic species, Thala lillicoi spec. nov. and Thala hilli spec. nov., respectively. Neotypes are designated for T. todilla and T. milium, with the later becoming an objective senior synonym of, and the valid name for, T. illecebra (Melvill, 1927), which is endemic to Japan. Thala angiostoma Pease, 1868, from the Tuamotu Archipelago, is confirmed as a valid species rather than a synonym of T. mirifica (Reeve, 1845). With these revisions, the Recent diversity of Thala increases to 23 species; only 3 species were recognized in 1970. This eight-fold increase in known diversity is concordant with other recent studies showing that levels of diversity and endemism in the lndo-West Pacific have been substantially underestimated.

Kamena Gora is located in the southwesternmost part of Serbia, near the border of Montenegro and represents a part of the Stari Vlah-Raška highland region of the Dinarides in Serbia. This area belongs to the region of Srednje Polimlje, between the rivers Lim and Uvac. Biospeleological research in the mentioned area dates back to 1933 when a French team of biologists led by P. Rémy, an expert for cave crustaceans, explored nine caves in the surrounding of Pljevlja in Montenegro as well as three smaller caves near Prijepolje in Serbia. Various material was collected, first of all arthropods, including two new species of troglobitic insects, both of genus Proleonhardella (Jeannel, 1934). In August 2008 a team of speleologists from the Institute for Nature Conservation of Serbia started systematic researches on speleological sites, for the purpose of drafting the Study on Protection of Kamena Gora under the study title "The Landscape of Extraordinary Features KAMENA GORA, which was...

Among 26 species of Antarctic Cumacea sampled during the southern summer 1989/90 from benthic habitats in the Weddell Sea, four are described as new to science: Campylaspis ledoyeri spec. nov., Hemilamprops bacescui spec. nov., Paralamprops racovitzai spec. nov., and Leptostylis weddelli spec. nov. Detailed descriptions are given for the previously unknown or undescribed sex in seven species: Cyclaspis gigas Zimmer, 1907, Procampylaspis compressa Zimmer, 1907, Paralamprops asper Zimmer, 1907, P. mawsoni (Hale, 1937), Diastylis anderssoni armata Ledoyer, 1993, D. mawsoni Calman, 1918, and Leptostylis antipus Zimmer, 1907. Previous descriptions are supplemented by additional morphological data on 14 species: Cyclaspis gigas, Vaunthompsonia inermis Zimmer, 1909, Eudorella gracilior Zimmer, 1907, Campylaspis excavata Ledoyer, 1993, Procampylaspis compressa, Paralamprops mawsoni, Diastylis anderssoni armata, D. corniculata Hale, 1937, D. enigmatica Ledoyer, 1993, D. helleri Zimmer, 1907, D. mawsoni, Diastylopsis goekei Roccatagliata  Heard, 1992, Leptostylis antipus, and Makrokylindrus inscriptus Jones, 1971.
Egg sizes measured in six species were above or partly in the upper range of previous findings in subpolar to polar climates, while numbers of eggs per female were well within this range. Body sizes measured in nine species were mostly in the upper range. Incubating females were frequent (Diastylopsis goekei), less frequent (Diastylis mawsoni), infrequent (Cyclaspis gigas, Diastylis anderssoni armata, D. corniculata), or absent (Vaunthompsonia inermis, Paralamprops mawsoni, Leptostylis antipus) in the summer samples, thus pointing to the possibility of various breeding strategies in high Antarctic waters.

Die Wirtschaftlichkeit ihrer Kundenbeziehungen ist für viele Dienstleistungsunternehmen von herausragender Bedeutung. Dies betrifft insbesondere das Mengenkundengeschäft mit privaten Endverbrauchern. Sollen nicht-profitable Kunden weiterhin intern betreut oder besser extern »ausgelagert« werden?

A population of a non-indigenous armoured catfish Pterygoplichthys aff. pardalis from the Dinh river basin (Khan Hoa province, Vietnam). We provide evidence that this is a fully naturalised self-reproducing population and present data on its reproduction. Batch spawning is noted. Possible threat presented by this population to the native habitat and its inhabitants is discussed along with its possible fate. We also analysed the patterns of the fish colouration, which is the main character used for the identification of the species of this genus. We provide evidence that morphometric traits and patterns of the body colouration do not form discrete clusters. Therefore, systematics of the genus should be revised and several species would likely be invalid.

The theory of autopoiesis claims that adaptation should be understood as a precondition, and not as a constraint, guiding the evolution of social and living systems. This premise is at first sight incompatible with the perspective of the neo-Darwinian theory of evolution. In the case of speciation (phylogenesis) the varying adaptation to the environment is here, in fact, understood as a determinant factor arranging how organisms are selected. Nevertheless, the present study tests out a perspective on evolutionary biology, which is compatible with the implications of the theory of autopoiesis and can demonstrate a productive explanatory potential for evolutionary biology. In this way, it is possible to demonstrate an approach to solving the problems being intensively discussed in (neo-Darwinian) evolutionary biology. Namely, the problems of the units to be selected in evolution, or of rendering the meaning and function of the evolutionary development of sexuality comprehensible, or of relativizing the problem of altruism in evolution. Also, explanations for the so-called Cambrian Explosion and the fundamental difference between the evolution of prokaryotic and eukaryotic forms of life can be derived. And finally, the perspective so so developed permits us to determine the relation of biotic and social evolution in a differentiated manner.

Whether communicating with a fellow practitioner, looking up research on a plant, or checking official legislation, plant names are essential to practising herbal medicine. However, names used to refer to Chinese Materia Medica (CMM) are complicated by the fact that one name can refer to several species, and these names can mean different things to different people. This creates potential for inaccuracies and miscommunication.

This article begins by giving an overview of the different names used in traditional Chinese medicine; whilst these names are useful for defining a drug entity, it is often not clear what species of plant they refer to and that they are defined differently in different publications. It then explores the benefits of using scientific names whilst also exploring the difficulties their use can present.

It goes on to cover the work Medicinal Plant Names Services (MPNS), a project based at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, has been doing to highlight and help resolve these issues. MPNS has created a global resource that indexes the many different names in use and links them to up to date scientific classification. This resource is publicly available and its aim is to improve communication about medicinal plants. MPNS also advises on best practice in the use of plant names and works with global health regulators to ensure accuracy.

The taxonomy of Zamia montana and Z. oligodonta, two poorly understood species occurring at high elevations in the Western Cordillera of Colombia, is discussed. Zamia oligodonta was recently synonymized under Z. montana, but information derived from recent field studies is provided showing the two species are quite distinct. A treatment of both species is presented , including discussion of the major morphological differences between them and also between other South American species with prominently-veined leaflets. The conservation status of both species is evaluated.

The question whether taxonomic descriptions naming new animal species without type specimen(s) deposited in collections should be accepted for publication by scientific journals and allowed by the Code has already been discussed in Zootaxa (Dubois & Nemésio 2007; Donegan 2008, 2009; Nemésio 2009a–b; Dubois 2009; Gentile & Snell 2009; Minelli 2009; Cianferoni & Bartolozzi 2016; Amorim et al. 2016). This question was again raised in a letter supported by 35 signatories published in the journal Nature (Pape et al. 2016) on 15 September 2016. On 25 September 2016, the following rebuttal (strictly limited to 300 words as per the editorial rules of Nature) was submitted to Nature, which on 18 October 2016 refused to publish it. As we think this problem is a very important one for zoological taxonomy, this text is published here exactly as submitted to Nature, followed by the list of the 493 taxonomists and collection-based researchers who signed it in the short time span from 20 September...

Xiphosurids are an archaic group of aquatic chelicerate arthropods, generally known by the colloquial misnomer of ‘horseshoe crabs’. Known from marine envi- ronments as far back as the early Ordovician, horseshoe crabs are generally considered ‘living fossils’ – descendants of a bradytelic lineage exhibiting little morphological or ecological variation throughout geological time. However, xiphosurids are known from freshwater sediments in the Palaeozoic and Mesozoic; furthermore, the contention that xiphosurids show little morphological variation has never been tested empirically. Attempts to test this are hampered by the lack of a modern phylogenetic framework with which to explore different evolutionary scenarios. Here, I present a phylogenetic analysis of Xiphosurida and explore patterns of morphospace and environmental occupation of the group throughout the Phanerozoic. Xiphosurids are shown to have invaded non-marine environments indepen- dently at least five times throughout their evolutionary history, twice resulting in the radiation of major clades – bellinurines and austrolimulids – that occupied novel regions of morphospace. These clades show a convergent ecological pattern of differentiation, speciation and subse- quent extinction. Horseshoe crabs are shown to have a more dynamic and complex evolutionary history than previ- ously supposed, with the extant species representing only a fraction of the group’s past ecological and morphological diversity.

Se presenta el primer registro de Hippodamia variegata (Goeze 1777) (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) en el Perú que además se constituye como la cita a mayor altura de la especie. Esta especie introducida se halla establecida en el resto del continente pero su presencia en el Perú se confirma con la presente contribución. Son presentados un mapa de distribución y una clave para separar las dos especies del género presentes en el Perú.
The first record of Hippodamia variegata (Goeze 1777) (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) in Peru is reported, which also constitutes the highest record of the species. This introduced species is already established in the rest of the continent, but its presence in Peru is confirmed in this contribution. A distribution map and a key to distinguish the two species of this genus present in Peru are presented.

The fern genus Dryopteris (Dryopteridaceae) is represented in the Hawaiian Islands by 18 endemic taxa and one non-endemic, native species. The goals of this study were to determine whether Dryopteris in Hawai’i is monophyletic and to infer the biogeographical origins of Hawaiian Dryopteris by determining the geographical distributions of their closest living relatives. We sequenced two chloroplast DNA fragments, rbcL and the trnL-F intergenic spacer (IGS), for 18 Hawaiian taxa, 45 non-Hawaiian taxa, and two outgroup species. For individual fragments, we estimated phylogenetic relationships using Bayesian inference and maximum parsimony. We performed a combined analysis of both cpDNA fragments employing Bayesian inference, maximum parsimony, and maximum likelihood. These analyses indicate that Hawaiian Dryopteris is not monophyletic, and that there were at least five separate colonizations of the Hawaiian Islands by different species of dryopteroid ferns, with most of the five groups having closest relatives in SE Asia. The results suggest that one colonizing ancestor, perhaps from SE Asia, gave rise to eight endemic taxa (the glabra group). Another colonizing ancestor, also possibly from SE Asia, gave rise to a group of five endemic taxa (the exindusiate group). Dryopteris fusco-atra and its two varieties, which are endemic to Hawai’i, most likely diversified from a SE Asian ancestor. The Hawaiian endemic Nothoperanema rubiginosum has its closest relatives in SE Asia, and while the remaining two species, D. wallichiana and D. subbipinnata, are sister species, their biogeographical origins could not be determined from these analyses due to the widespread distributions of D. wallichiana and its closest non-Hawaiian relative.

This study focuses on the phylogenetic relationships within the Polyopisthocotylea and Monopisthocotylea, two groups that are often grouped within the monogeneans, a group of disputed paraphyly. Phylogenetic analyses were conducted with multiple outgroups chosen according to two hypotheses, a paraphyletic Monogenea or a monophyletic Monogenea, and with three methods, namely maximum parsimony, neighbour joining and maximum likelihood. Sequences used were from the partial domain C1, full domain D1, and partial domain C2 (550 nucleotides, 209 unambiguously aligned sites) from the 28S ribosomal RNA gene for 16 species of monopisthocotyleans, 26 polyopisthocotyleans including six polystomatids, and other Platyhelminthes (61 species in total, 27 new sequences). Results were similar with outgroups corresponding to the two hypotheses. Within the Monopisthocotylea, relationships were: {[(Udonella, capsalids), monocotylids], (diplectanids, ancyrocephalids)}; each of these families was found to be monophyletic and their monophyly was supported by high bootstrap values in neighbour joining and maximum parsimony. Within the Polyopisthocotylea, the polystomatids were the sister-group of all others. Among the latter, Hexabothrium, parasite of chondrichthyans, was the most basal, and the mazocraeids, mainly parasites of clupeomorph teleosts, were the sister-groups of all other studied polyopisthocotyleans, these, mainly parasites of euteleosts, being polytomous.

Rad razmatra problematiku ispunjavanja obaveza Bosne i Hercegovine u oblasti zaštite prirode na njenom evropskom putu. Naročita pažnja pridaje se analizi rezultata četiri do sada sprovedena projekta koja se tiču procesa uspostavljanja evropske ekološke mreže Natura 2000 u BiH. Na bazi svih relevantnih naučnih i stručnih podataka rad daje reviziju referentne liste vrsta sa Aneksa II Direktive o staništima i
Aneksa I Direktive o pticama, kao i reviziju liste staništa sa Aneksa I Direktive o staništima, značajnih za izdvajanje budućih Natura 2000 područja na teritoriji države. Biljna vrsta Himantoglossum adriaticum Baumann, značajna za Evropsku uniju, prikazuje se kao nova za Bosnu i Hercegovinu. Predložena revidirana referentna lista vrsta broji 238 vrsta od čega 11 nije pominjano ni u jednoj dosadašnjoj referentnoj
listi, a neki ranije razmatrani taksoni i stanišni tipovi su izbrisani sa liste. Na kraju, rad ustanovljava neke nedostatke prijedloga mreže Natura 2000 u BiH i daje glavne smjernice kako bi ovaj važan proces trebao biti nastavljen.

Our understanding of the earliest stages of crown bird evolution is hindered by an
exceedingly sparse avian fossil record from the Mesozoic era. The most ancient
phylogenetic divergences among crown birds are known to have occurred in the
Cretaceous period1–3, but stem-lineage representatives of the deepest subclades of
crown birds—Palaeognathae (ostriches and kin), Galloanserae (landfowl and
waterfowl) and Neoaves (all other extant birds)—are unknown from the Mesozoic era.
As a result, key questions related to the ecology4,5, biogeography3,6,7 and divergence
times1,8–10 of ancestral crown birds remain unanswered. Here we report a new
Mesozoic fossil that occupies a position close to the last common ancestor of
Galloanserae and fills a key phylogenetic gap in the early evolutionary history of
crown birds10,11. Asteriornis maastrichtensis, gen. et sp. nov., from the Maastrichtian
age of Belgium (66.8–66.7 million years ago), is represented by a nearly complete,
three-dimensionally preserved skull and associated postcranial elements. The fossil
represents one of the only well-supported crown birds from the Mesozoic era12, and is
the first Mesozoic crown bird with well-represented cranial remains. Asteriornis
maastrichtensis exhibits a previously undocumented combination of galliform
(landfowl)-like and anseriform (waterfowl)-like features, and its presence alongside a
previously reported Ichthyornis-like taxon from the same locality13 provides direct
evidence of the co-occurrence of crown birds and avialan stem birds. Its occurrence in
the Northern Hemisphere challenges biogeographical hypotheses of a Gondwanan
origin of crown birds3, and its relatively small size and possible littoral ecology may
corroborate proposed ecological filters4,5,9 that influenced the persistence of crown
birds through the end-Cretaceous mass extinction.

A systematic revision for the species of Launaea Cass. in Egypt has revealed the presence of fourteen taxa belonging to 12 species, of which L. acanthodes (Boiss.) Kuntze is a new recorded. One new combination “L. fragilis subsp. tenuiloba (Boiss.) Zareh & Mohamed” is
made. Achene diversity of the studied taxa of Launaea was studied using light and scanning electron microscopy. The taxonomic relationships between the studied taxa were discussed as well as SEM micrographs of achenes are provided. Synonyms and key for the identification of the investigated taxa based on morphological characters as well as notes on distribution are provided.

This paper provides a comprehensive catalogue of the New Zealand members of the family Zopheridae Solier (Coleoptera: Tenebrionoidea) in an effort to stabilize the nomenclature preceding extensive revisionary taxonomy within the group. A checklist of the 17 New Zealand zopherid genera and an account for each of the 189 species (by current combination) is provided. Type material for nearly all species was examined, and type specimens are designated herein (90 confirmed holotypes, 3 confirmed paratypes, 102 lectotypes, 280 paralectotypes). Images of all primary type specimens and labels examined are provided. Pycnomerus sulcatissimus Sharp, 1886 is a junior synonym and secondary homonym of Pycnomerus sulcatissimus (Reitter, 1880). One replacement name is proposed, Chorasus buckleyi new name, for Chorasus subcaecus (Broun), and 23 new combinations are given.

Three opisthomonorchiinae species are described from fishes obtained at the Fish Market in Nouméa, New Caledonia. Opisthomonorchis dinema n. sp. from Carangoides dinema Bleeker differs from the other recognised species in the genus by the long recurved genital atrium, arcing anteriorly. Also described are Opisthomonorchis carangis Yamaguti, 1952 from Carangoides sp. and Pseudopisthomonorchis thapari (Varma & Singh, 1979) n. comb. for Opisthomonorchis thapari Varma & Singh, 1979 from Carangoides chrysophrys (Cuvier). The features distinguishing
Opisthomonorchis Yamaguti, 1952 and Pseudopisthomonorchis Madhavi, 1974 are discussed.

Eptesicus es un género de murciélagos de la familia Vespertilionidae con amplia distribución mundial. En Colombia se conocen seis especies, de las cuales E. chiriquinus es una de las más ampliamente distribuidas con presencia en 13 departamentos. Se confirma aquí la presencia de E. chiriquinus en el departamento del Chocó mediante la verificación de un espécimen CMCH 1285 ♂ recolectado en el corregimiento de Pacurita, municipio de Quibdó, y depositado en la Colección Teriológica del Chocó. Se comenta sobre la diferenciación entre especies de Eptesicus presentes en el Chocó a partir de sus caracteres externos y, por último, se presenta un mapa actualizado de su distribución en el país.

Four juvenile specimens referable to Pinacosaurus grangeri (Ankylosauria: Dinosauria) are described from the Campanian (Upper Cretaceous) locality Bayan Mandahu in northern Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region (People’s Republic of China). All the specimens preserve the skulls as well as, in some cases, mandibles, postcrania, and osteoderm. They are not taphonomically deformed by expanding matrix distortion, unlike many Gobi specimens, including the holotype of P. grangeri. Bayan Mandahu is also the type locality for Pinacosaurus mephistocephalus. The proximity in space and time of these two closely related species warrants a generic and specific revision for Pinacosaurus. The distinction of the two species is based on characters of the squamosal dermal elaborations, cranial roof posterior to the orbits, premaxillary notch, and distal margin of the ilium. Although a relatively well-represented ankylosaur taxon, the phylogenetic position of Pinacosaurus has not been unequivocally resolved. A new analysis recovers Pinacosaurus as the most basal member of the Ankylosaurinae.