We review morphology of Sunda Shelf Gonocephalus with an emphasis on Sumatran and Javan species. At least 15 species and subspecies inhabit Peninsular Malaysia, Sumatra, Java, Borneo, and adjacent ...smaller continental islands. Following analysis of external morphology, we provide a dichotomous key to Sunda Shelf Gonocephalus and resolve two taxonomic problems with this group of lizards. Three populations of Gonocephalus doriae on Borneo, Peninsular Malaysia, and Sumatra are recognized as subspecies, because they lack concordance of multiple morphological differences and have low genetic divergence in a 556 base-pair fragment of the 16S rRNA gene. Described as new herein, G. doriae brevis from Aceh and North Sumatra differs from G. d. abbotti and G. d. doriae in usually having more scales around midbody and a relatively shorter tail with fewer dark bands. Though previously reported as lost, a syntype of G. d. doriae (MSNG 29152) is designated as lectotype, illustrated, and described. Also described as new, G. inauris from high elevations of the Bukit Barisan Range of Bengkulu, Sumatra, is a species of the G. megalepis Group differing from all congeners in having 7/6 (vs. 8–19) loreals separating the last canthal and supralabials, 8/8 (11–27) infraorbitals, and 58 (73–153) scales around midbody. In this new species, distinctly enlarged suboculars broadly contact its supralabials, whereas 1–4 lorilabials separate the suboculars and supralabials in congeners. High genetic divergence in the new species mirrors its high level of morphological divergence.
During recent years several lizard taxa have been added to the faunal list of Iran. Descriptions and new records are scattered in different publications in the herpetological literature. We here ...present species accounts for 152 species belonging to 43 genera and 10 families up to July 2016. The most diverse family is Lacertidae with 9 genera, 49 species and 2 subspecies, followed by Gekkonidae with 13 genera and 43 species, Agamidae with 5 genera, 18 species and 4 subspecies, Scincidae with 7 genera, 18 species and 2 subspecies, Phyllodactylidae with 1 genus and 10 species, Sphaerodactylidae with 2 genera and 4 species, Varanidae with 1 genus, 3 species and 2 subspecies, Uromastycidae with 2 genera and 3 species, Eublepharidae with 1 genus and 3 species, and Anguidae with 2 genera and 2 species. The current paper provides a dichotomous key including all of the currently recognized lizards of Iran.
Werneria villosa is a species well defined by its yellow ray limbs. In the recent monograph of the genus Werneria, a few populations from northwestern Argentina displaying white ray limbs were ...tentatively also included in this species following previous authors and because of lack of information for making an accurate taxonomic decision. However, as a result of field‐work carried out in Salta and Jujuy, I have concluded that the plants with white ray limbs correspond to a distinct taxonomic entity and, accordingly, it is here described as the new species W. praetermissa. Detailed pictures of living plants, distribution maps and a dichotomous key to the Argentinian Werneria species is presented.
Oritrophium (Kunth) Cuatrec. is a neotropical genus with a disjunct distribution in the Andes (Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela), the center of Mexico, and the mountains of the Guiana ...Shield in Venezuela, with a remarkable diversity in Ecuador. We present a taxonomic study for Ecuador that represents the first modern and exhaustive revision of this genus in this country. We recognize eight species and four subespecies. We provide a dichotomous key, descriptions, synonyms, morphological and nomenclatural notes, distribution maps, and photographs of living plants. Three names are lectotypified and two names are neotypified.
Resumo O objetivo do presente estudo foi elaborar uma chave de identificação e descrever as espécies lenhosas de Fabaceae em um remanescente de Floresta Ombrófila Mista considerando caracteres ...dendrológicos. Foram selecionados de 3 a 10 indivíduos adultos e sadios para caracterização de tronco, casca, ramos e folhas. O material testemunho das espécies foi depositado no Herbário Escola de Florestas Curitiba (EFC). Foram descritas as características de cada espécie e elaborada uma chave de identificação. Foram encontradas 14 espécies pertencentes às subfamílias Papilionoideae (nove), Caesalpinioideae (quatro) e Cercidoideae (uma). A variedade dos tipos de folhas e a disposição dos folíolos auxiliou na diferenciação das espécies, englobando: uma com folhas simples bilobadas, duas trifolioladas, duas bipinadas, quatro imparipinadas com folíolos alternos, duas imparipinadas com folíolos opostos e três paripinadas. A diferenciação de cada espécie foi viabilizada prioritariamente por características de casca, indicando que os caracteres dendrológicos foram eficientes na diferenciação das espécies.
This work provides a taxonomic survey of the North American species of the genus Elonus Casey, 1895 (Coleoptera: Tenebrionoidea: Aderidae). It includes the description of a new species, Elonus ...gruberi n. sp. from the United States, related to E. hesperus Werner, 1990 and to E. basalis (LeConte, 1855). A review and key to the North American species is provided.
We describe a new species of groundsnake of the genus Stegonotus (Colubridae) from the Purari River basin in Gulf Province, Papua New Guinea. The new species can be most readily distinguished from ...all other New Guinean Stegonotus by its unique dorsal colour pattern which consists of a dark head and creamy-white anterior one third to two thirds of the body, grading into increasingly dense dark pigmentation on the posterior of the body and tail. It is most similar to S. iridis from the Raja Ampat Archipelago off western New Guinea, but that species has a different pattern of pigmentation dorsally, has a lower ventral scale count (198-211 vs. 229-239), and exhibits a different temporal scale arrangement. The description of S. aplini sp. nov. brings to fourteen the number of Stegonotus species described from New Guinea. A dichotomous key to described species in the New Guinea region is provided.
Summary
1. Effective management of aquatic fauna requires knowledge of the ways in which populations in different catchments and sub‐catchments are connected. A powerful way to estimate this is using ...genetic markers, which provide information on the average amount of genetic connectivity among populations over generations. Although many studies of genetic connectivity have appeared in the literature, there are innumerable species that have not been studied.
2. This study explores whether it is possible to make broad generalisations about population connectivity, based on readily available information in the form of species life history and architecture of the aquatic habitat.
3. A number of models have been proposed to explain the pattern of connectivity shown by aquatic species with different life‐history characteristics, for example, the stream hierarchy model, Isolation by Distance, the Death Valley Model, the headwater model and panmixia.
4. In this study, we propose a dichotomous key to assign species to different models of potential connectivity. The key is based on a few very simple questions about the life history of the species and the geographical arrangement of study sites. We then assessed the performance of the key with 109 data sets of Australian fish and macroinvertebrates, using genetic data to provide an estimate of realised connectivity.
5. The realised connectivity fitted the proposed potential connectivity model in over 70% of cases, and we suggest this might be a useful initial approach for managers where empirical data are lacking.
For the pupae of Trichoptera, the distribution of abdominal hook plates is considered a conserved feature, characteristic of families. However, we have found that the distribution of hook plates on ...abdominal terga of pupae of Glossosomatidae varies among North American genera. For this reason, use of these hook-plates as diagnostic characters in keys can cause confusion for genera of Glossosomatidae. Pupae of representative species of Anagapetus and Protoptila are described for the first time. The distribution of abdominal hook plates for all North American genera is summarized and diagnostic characters of pupal mandibles are discussed. A revision for the affected part of a well-known key for pupae of North American families is provided.
The dioecious seagrass species
reproduces mainly through fast clonal growth, underlying its invasive behavior. Here, we provide morphological evidence to show that the first findings of fruits in the ...Caribbean were misidentified. Consequently,
reproduction is likely still only asexual in the Caribbean. Therefore, we introduce an identification key of
reproductive structures to encourage careful identification and quantification throughout its invasive range. Until large-scale seed production in invaded habitats is reported, the apparent low rate of sexual reproduction needs to be considered in current studies investigating the invasion capacity of this species.
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