Checklist of Gyrinidae,Haliplidae, Noteridae and Dytiscidae of Turkey (Coleoptera: Adephaga)

An updated species list of four beetle families is given for Turkey. A total of 35 genera and 167 species and subspecies are known to occur in Turkey. Ten species and two subspecies are from the family Gyrinidae, 16 species are from the family Haliplidae, three species are from the family Noteridae and 129 species and seven subspecies are from the family Dytiscidae.     

Checklist of leaf beetles (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) of Turkey,excluding Bruchinae

The leaf beetle fauna of Turkey is reviewed and a complete checklist with provincial distributions is presented for the first time. Seven hundred and seventy-six species are catalogued in total. This represents approximately 22% of the known Palaearctic leaf beetle fauna. The Turkish leaf beetle fauna is characterized by 81 endemic species. Distributions of the species in Turkey are given based on available literature records. Some new materials from new localities are also examined. Taxa in the list are arranged systematically under family, subfamily, genus, subgenus (when recognized) and species. The subspecies are not included in the list but mentioned in the notes given for certain species. The species whose occurrences in Turkey need conformation are not included in the list but are given separately. Additionally, two new synonymies are stated: Psylliodes diversicolor Nadein 2006 = P. kasnakensis Gök et Aslan, 2007 syn.nov.; Phyllotreta maculicornis Pic, 1906 = Ph. ispartaensis Gök, 2005 syn.nov.     

Aquatic Coleoptera from Pakistan: faunistic and zoogeographical contribution (Coleoptera: Gyrinidae: Dytiscidae: Hydrophilidae)

Records of 19 species and one subspecies of water beetles of four families: Gyrinidae (two species), Dytiscidae (seven species), Hydrophilidae (10 species), and Spercheidae (one subspecies) from Pakistan are listed, based on collected material. Four genera and 10 species are recorded from Pakistan for the first time. The newly recorded genera are: Patrus, Helochares, Sternolophus and Coelostoma. The newly recorded species are: Dineutus spinosus (Fabricius, 1781), Patrus haemorrhous (Régimbart, 1891), Copelatus freudei Guignot, 1955, Copelatus sp1, Copelatus sp2, Enochrus ater (Kuwert, 1888), Helochares anchoralis Sharp, 1890, Sternolophus rufipes (Fabricius, 1792), Paracymus aeneus (Germar, 1824) and Coelostoma stultum (Walker, 1858). Zoogeographic affinities of the recorded species are discussed. According to their current distribution, the 18 species known from Pakistan can be classified into five zoogeographical categories.     

Amphibians of Western Chihuahua

This third report on the herpetofauna of Chihuahua deals exclusively with amphibians. The first plethodonid salamander is reported, species Ambystoma rosaceum is discussed in greater detail than before, and two subspecies are recognized. Spea is elevated from subgeneric to generic rank, and S. stagnalis Cope is removed from synonymy and is recognized as a subspecies of hammondii . The species listed include the following: 2 salamanders and 19 anurans (1 Scaphiopus , 2 Spea , 9 Bufo , 1 Eleutherodactylus , 2 Hyla , 3 Rana , and 1 Microhyla ). Reference is made to vaious habitats that are associated with elevations arising form lower deserts and extending into the western mountains. The role played by the dry and wet annual cycles is also noted.     

Dorcadionini of Turkey (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae)

The Dorcadionini fauna of Turkey is reviewed, and a complete list with type information and provincial distributions is presented. Two hundred and seventy-eight species-group taxa are catalogued in total. This represents approximately 35% of the known Palaearctic Dorcadionini fauna. The Turkish Dorcadionini fauna is characterised by 227 endemic species-group taxa. So its endemism ratio is very high (approximately 82%). Distributions of the taxa in Turkey are given based on available literature records. Taxa in the list are arranged systematically under tribe, genus, subgenus (when recognised), species and subspecies (when recognised). The species group taxa whose occurrences in Turkey need conformation are not included in the list but are given separately. Additionally, two taxa are removed from the list: Dorcadion (Cribridorcadion) investitum Breuning in Braun, 1978a as nomen nudum and Dorcadion (Cribridorcadion) rosinae K. Daniel in Bodemeyer, 1900 as nomen nudum; and two taxa are given as status nov. and comb. nov.: Dorcadion (Cribridorcadion) atritarse Pic, 1931a and Dorcadion (Cribridorcadion) equestre bernhauerorum Peks, 2010. Moreover, a checklist of Dorcadionini of Turkey is presented in an appendix.     

A new Hypsiglena from Tiburon island, Sonora, Mexico

This third report on the herpetofauna of Chihuahua deals exclusively with amphibians. The first plethodonid salamander is reported, species Ambystoma rosaceum is discussed in greater detail than before, and two subspecies are recognized. Spea is elevated from subgeneric to generic rank, and S. stagnalis Cope is removed from synonymy and is recognized as a subspecies of hammondii . The species listed include the following: 2 salamanders and 19 anurans (1 Scaphiopus , 2 Spea , 9 Bufo , 1 Eleutherodactylus , 2 Hyla , 3 Rana , and 1 Microhyla ). Reference is made to vaious habitats that are associated with elevations arising form lower deserts and extending into the western mountains. The role played by the dry and wet annual cycles is also noted.     

A revision and phylogenetic re-evaluation of the family Schizopodidae (Coleoptera,Buprestoidea)

The Schizopodidae (formerly subfamily Schizopodinae, family Buprestidae) is elevated to family status, based on a review of its morphology including wing venation, male and female genitalia, larvae, and also a cladistic analysis of in-group and out-group comparisions. Two tribes are recognized: Schizopodini LeConte with one genus, Schizopus LeConte and Dystaxiini Théry with two genera: Dystaxia LeConte and Glyptoscelimorpha Horn. The genus Schizopus contains two species: S. laetus LeConte and S. sallei Horn with one new subspecies, S. sallei nigricans Nelson. The genus Dystaxia includes two species: D. murrayi LeConte, and D. elegans Fall. The genus Glyptoscelimorpha is separated into two subgenera: G. (s. str.) with two species, G. marmorata Horn, and G. viridis Chamberlin; and G. (Dystaxiella) Knull, new status, with one species, G. (D.) juniperae (Knull), new combination, with a new subspecies, G. (D.) juniperae viridiceps Nelson. All taxa are described and information on variation, type localities, distribution, biology, and comparisons are given for each species. Keys to taxa for tribes to subspecies are provided. Illustrations for all species, including habitus, male and female genitalia and other parts, as well as cladograms of relationships are presented. Lectotypes are designated for the following: Yermoella helferi Obenberger, Dystaxia elegans Fall and Glyptoscelimorpha marmorata Horn. Tables of taxa, characters and character states used in the cladistic analysis are included.     

Lizards and turtles of western Chihuahua

This second report on the reptiles of Chihuahua deals with the lizards and turtles of western Chihuahua. Field work was done from 1956 to 1972 and was confined to the area west of Highway 45. General information pertaining to the ecology and geology reported in the section on snakes is not repeated. Ecological and life history information is included in the species accounts where data are available. In western Chihuahua 16 genera and 49 species and subspecies of lizards and 3 genera and 5 species of turtles are reported. Only one subspecies is described as new ( Sceloporus poinsettii robisoni ), and added data strengthen the diagnosis of others. Three genera ( Sceloporus, Cnemidophorus, and Eumeces ) contain 28 of the species and subspecies reported.     

A description of Siphonophora portoricensis Brandt (Diplopoda: Siphonophorida: Siphonophoridae), with a Catalogue of Ordinal Representatives in the New World

Data on geographical distribution are provided for S. portoricensis Brandt, the type species of Siphonophora Brandt and the oldest species-group name in the genus, family, and Order; it appears to occur throughout Puerto Rico. It is characterized by fusion of the distal three podomeres of the anterior gonopods, which are sublinear in shorter, less mature males and bend caudad for varying lengths in longer individuals. In the New World, the Siphonophorida is represented by both families, the Siphonorhinidae by one genus and one species, Illacme plenipes Cook and Loomis, from San Benito County, California, and the Siphonophoridae by 10 genera, six monotypic, 66 extant nominal species, and one subspecies; two fossil species of Siphonophora have been proposed along with an unnamed fossil form of Siphonocybe Pocock. The following new combinations are officially recorded: Columbianum gracilicornis (Carl), Columbiozonium pearsei (Chamberlin), Cordillerium fuhrmanni (Carl), Yucatanium sabachana (Chamberlin), and Guatemalium barberi (Chamberlin). The Siphonophoridae ranges from southern California, northcentral Arizona, and central Texas to the Andes of central Peru and São Paulo state, Brazil. It also occurs on 10 islands in the Greater and Lesser Antilles, being newly recorded from Martinique, but apparently does not cross the Straits of Florida and is unknown from Florida, the Bahamas, and the Turks and Caicos Islands.     

Ostracod fauna of salt Lake Acıgöl (Acı Tuz) (Turkey)

Lakes and wetlands in Mediterranean regions are overexploited and contaminated without sufficient local governmental control. The biodiversity of Salt Lake Ac?göl (Turkey), an internationally recognized ecosystem, is presently endangered by management plans. This study aims to analyse the ostracod community to establish its ecological status as a base for future paleoecological studies using ostracods to reconstruct the recent evolution of this wetland. Samples were collected seasonally and 13 species were recorded. Multivariate classification and ordination statistical methods revealed a major difference between assemblages related to the relative abundance of species tolerant of desiccation vs. species preferring permanent waters. Cyprideis torosa, mainly found in saline, low diversity sites, is a euryhaline species regarded as an indicator of future lake conditions if inappropriate water resource management continues.     

Mites of the family Oppiidae (Acari: Oribatida) from Turkey

Two new oppiid species (Gressittoppia luxtoni, Anomaloppia ozkani) and one new subspecies (Graptoppia sundensis acuta) are described from Turkish soils, and two known species are recorded for the first time. The genera Gressittoppia, Anomaloppia and Graptoppia are redefined and keys provided to the known species.     

The Glyceridae (Polychaeta) of the North Atlantic and Mediterranean,with descriptions of two new species

Two genera, 12 species and one species complex of the polychaete family Glyceridae are described and figures from the North East Atlantic and Mediterranean. Diagnostic taxonomic features are described and keys to genera and species are included. Material from other parts of the world is also considered where relevant to the taxonomy of the species concerned. Of the 12 recorded species, one is reestablished for European waters after submersion in synonomy, a species complex is described and two new species are erected.     

Mexican cardiochiline genera (Hymenoptera: Braconidae), including a preliminary assessment of species-groups in Toxoneuron Say and Retusigaster Dangerfield,Austin and Whitfield

The Mexican species of the braconid subfamily Cardiochilinae are reviewed. Forty-five species are recognized from Mexico, though many of these remain undescribed. Seven species are described as new and one, Toxoneuron levis (Mao), is redescribed. Species-groups are delineated for the New World species of Toxoneuron Say and Retusigaster Dangerfield, Austin and Whitfield and the genera are re-defined with respect to one another. Two new species are described in both Retusigaster and Toxoneuron. The atypical nature of the two included in Toxoneuron is discussed. Hansonia, Heteropteron and Schoenlandella are newly recorded for Mexico with one new species described for each. The placement of all New World species previously included in Schoenlandella is discussed, and several of these species are returned to Cardiochiles s. s. Distribution patterns of the Mexican species are discussed and an annotated key is presented for the 28 described species recorded from Mexico.     

Revision and biogeographical analysis of the black-chinned tilapia Sarotherodon melanotheron (Teleostei,Cichlidae): results of morphometric,allozyme, globin chain and mtDNA studies

Morphometric, allozyme, globin chain and cytochrome b analyses were used for a revision of the subspecies complex of the black-chinned tilapia, Sarotherodon melanotheron Rüppell, 1852. Three out of four subspecies are recognized as valid: S. m. melanotheron (Ivory Coast to Benin), S. m. heudelotii (Senegal to Guinea) and S. m. leonensis (Sierra Leone to Liberia). The fourth subspecies, S. m. nigripinnis, is raised to the species level S. nigripinnis and is composed of the nominate subspecies S. n. nigripinnis known from Gabon and a newly introduced subspecies, S. n. dolloi, originally described as Tilapia dolloi and previously synonymized with S. m. nigripinnis. It is presently known from the mouth of the Congo to the Lower Kouilou. Phylogenetically, populations from the most eastern range, e.g. Gabon/Congo, are considered to represent the most ancient populations. From this area of origin, the western range of West Africa (Senegal to Benin) was colonized. Two independent colonization events are indicated by allozyme and mtDNA analyses. The initial invasion of the western range of West Africa could be dated back to about 2.5 million years ago.     

Biochemical differentiation in the Idaho ground squirrel, Spermophilus brunneus (Rodenta: Scuridae)

Spermophilus brunneus is restricted to a 90 × 125-km area of west central Idaho, with two distinct (northern and southern) groups of populations within this limited range. Morphological differences in pelage length and coloration, external and cranial measurements, and bacula suggest that these groups are either very distinct subspecies or species. We used starch-gel electrophoresis to estimate the amount of genetic differentiation accompanying these morphological differences by assaying genetic variation at 31 loci in the two geographic groups. Fifteen loci were polymorphic (13 in the northern group, 12 in the southern), and mean heterozygosity (H) was high (12.3% northern and 10.8% southern). Nei's genetic distance (0.057) is in the range usually associated with subspecific differences. However, Jaccard's association coefficient (0.893) is about the same as that found between several ground squirrel taxa currently recognized as species. The high levels of heterozygosity suggest that S. brunneus is a neoendemic rather than a paleoendemic species.     

Typhlosyrinx -like tropical deep-water turriform gastropods (Mollusca,Gastropoda, Conoidea)

Based on radular and protoconch morphology, the genus Typhlosyrinx Thiele, 1925 has been successively classified in the subfamily Turriculinae of the family Turridae and in the subfamily Clathurellinae of the family Conidae. It is shown that the protoconch had earlier been misinterpreted, and the presence of a diagonally cancellated sculpture indicates a placement in the conid subfamily Raphitominae. Two conchologically similar genera, based on teleoconch sculpture and radular morphology are recognized: Typhlosyrinx, with axial ribbing on teleoconch spire whorls and a radula with long (250 μm) barbed teeth, and Leiosyrinx n. gen., without axial sculpture and a radula with short (<100 μm) simplified teeth. Five species (two new) of Typhlosyrinx and four species (all new) of Leiosyrinx are recognized, all at bathyal depths between 280 and 1840 m in the tropical Indo-Pacific and Panamic provinces. The two genera are not known earlier than the Pliocene, where they already occurred in deep-water assemblages.     

Palaearctic species of Ammoplanus (Hymenoptera: Sphecidae)

The Palaearctic species of the genus Ammoplanus Giraud are revised, based on material of over 1750 specimens from Europe, North Africa and Central Asia. For almost all species it was possible to examine the type material and in six species the lectotypes have been designated, in two cases (A. perrisi and A. marathroicus) the neotypes. As a result 38 species are recognized as valid, keyed out and commented on. Eight species are described as new and four species names are here placed in synonymy. Several species are of wide distribution, which made it necessary to include also those described from Central Asia and Mongolia. The keys are made to all Palaearctic species but no material is known from the regions east of Mongolia, although four undescribed species are available from South-East Asia. The Afrotropical species are listed and most of them were also examined. Two subgenera are recognized in the region; 32 species are classified in Ammoplanus sensu stricto and six in the subgenus Ammoplanellus. In the nominal subgenus the following species are described as new: A. atlasensis from Morocco, A. biscopula from Israel, A. biskrensis from Algeria, A. denesi from Turkey (Anatolia), A. freidbergi and A. kaplanae from Israel, A. minutus from Bulgaria and Turkey and A. strumae from Bulgaria and Greece. New synonymy: A. angelae becomes a junior synonym of rhodesianus (known before only from Africa), A. crudelis a synonym of A. kaszabi, A. handlirschi a synonym of A. marathroicus, A. suarezi a synonym of A. kohlii, A. subcompressus of A. gegen, A. orbiculatus of A. simplex and A. zarcoi of A. kohlii; A. wesmaeli is confirmed as a synonym of A. perrisi. Otherwise the synonymy is corrected under A. bischoffi and the names A. dusmeti and A. curvidens are re-established as valid. In a short review of the African species A. (Ammoplanellus) cradockensis Arnold, 1959 is placed as a new synonym under A. (Ammoplanellus) latiscapus Leclercq, 1959. The nomenclatural changes are explained under the relevant species.     

The fishes of Saint Helena Island,South Atlantic Ocean. II. The pelagic fishes

The pelagic fishes of St Helena Island, South Atlantic Ocean (15°58′S 5°43′W) are reviewed. A checklist of 53 taxa of pelagic fishes, with notes on fisheries significance, ecology and geographical distribution, is presented. Twelve of the taxa have not before been recorded at St Helena. Of particular interest are records of three primarily Indo-Pacific species: Decapterus muroadsi (Temminck and Schlegel), Uraspis helvola (Forster) and Scomberomorus commerson (Lacepède). Apart from U. helvola, which is known also from Ascension Island, these species are not otherwise recorded in the Atlantic Ocean.

Of the 49 pelagic fishes whose identities are clear, 81·6% are wide-ranging species known from both the Atlantic and Indo-Pacific regions, 12·2% are pan-Atlantic warm-water species and 4·1% are eastern Atlantic species which reach their western limit in the central Atlantic. In addition, the subspecies Platybelone argalus trachura is found only at St Helena and Ascension.

The principal pelagic species caught by St Helena fisheries are Katsuwonus pelamis, Thunnus albacares, T. obesus, T. alalunga, Scomber japonicus, Acanthocybium solandri and Pseudocaranx dentex, which together accounted for almost 95% of fish landings in 1982–1983 fiscal year.     

The songs and taxonomy of the grasshoppers of the Chorthippus biguttulus group in the Iberian Peninsula (Orthoptera: Acrididae)

The Chorthippus biguttulus group includes a number of common European species that are difficult to distinguish morphologically but are easily recognized in the field by the distinctive calling songs of the males. These song-patterns have not previously been studied in Spain and as a result the Iberian members of the group have been misidentified in almost all the extensive Spanish literature on the ecology and cytogenetics of these insects. In this study the male calling songs of all six members of the group known from the Iberian Peninsula and North Africa and fully described and illustrated with oscillograms at several different speeds. The songs of the three species known only from Iberia or North Africa, jacobsi, yersini and marocanus, are fully described for the first time (marocanus is here raised in rank from subspecies). Notes on recognition, using both morphology and song, are given for each species, and two identification keys are provided, one based on morphology and the other on song. It is shown that the three species biguttulus, brunneus and mollis, previously believed to be widespread in Iberia, are absent from most of the peninsula.     

A revision of the new riodinid butterfly genus Pseudotinea (Lepidoptera: Riodinidae)

A revision of the new South American riodinid genus Pseudotinea is presented that includes taxonomic and ecological notes, distributional data and illustrations of adults and genital structures for all species. The systematic position of Pseudotinea within the Riodinidae, its ecology and biogeography are discussed. Five species are recognized: volcanicus Callaghan and Salazar, hemis Schaus and caprina Hewitson are transferred from Calydna (comb. n.) and two new species, P. eiselei and P. gagarini, are described here. The genus is confined to the Andes and south-east Brazil where all species are very rare and many endangered.