Odontomyia ochropa Thomson, 1869, is redescribed and found to be identical with O. dorsoangulata Brunetti, 1920, which is proposed as a new synonym. The female holotype of O. ochropa from the Philippines was examined and compared with specimens from India, Thailand and Singapore. Terminalia and other diagnostic characters of both sexes are illustrated. The larva of O. ochropa is described in detail. The larval characters are in accordance with the characters of O. dorsoangulata mentioned by Brunetti (1920). The larva of O. ochropa is compared with that of O. cyanea described by Mathur (1933). Cuticular structures and diagnostic characters of both larvae are documented by drawings and SEM micrographs. A new identification key to larvae of Odontomyia known from the Oriental Region is provided.
Adults of Copestylum tamaulipanum and C. lentum were reared from larvae collected from decaying platyclades of the cactus Opuntia in the state of Veracruz (Mexico). The larvae and puparia of both species, as well as preliminary data about their life cycles are described. The feeding behaviour of the larva in relation to the morphology of the cephalopharyngeal skeleton is analysed.
This paper focuses on the morphology, taxonomy and ecology of the widespread cyanobacteria of the genus Nodularia Mertens ex Bornet & Flahault. In this study the benthic strain of N. sphaerocarpa, isolated from a sand-pit near Olomouc (Czech Republic), is compared with brackish and seawater strains. Changes in morphology and growth parameters (biomass and chlorophyll a) recorded in varying salinity gradients were studied and a 16S rRNA sequencing and AFLP analysis conducted. Morphological and ecophysiological characteristics found were in congruence with molecular data. Three major subgroups of the benthic Nodularia (N. sphaerocarpa, N. moravica and N. harveyana) were found using the polyphasic approach. The results of both the molecular and morphological study clearly separated N. moravica and N. sphaerocarpa, as freshwater species preferring a low salinity and the N. harveyana strains originating from a marine environment preferring a high salinity.
The taxonomy of myxosporeans was traditionally dependent solely upon the spore morphological and morphometric data. Intensive reports of intraspecific morphological variation, however, are increasingly challenging the taxonomic approaches for myxosporeans. In the present work, the morphological pleomorphism of myxospores of Myxobolus drjagini (Akhmerov, 1954) was observed. More interestingly, all of these pleomorphic myxospores occurred in the same plasmodium of M. drjagini, which refutes the previous hypothesis that morphological variation of M. drjagini was derived from its responses to differences in nutrition and immunological responses associated with different host tissues. Bearing the intraspecific morphometric and morphotype variation in mind, the combination of morphological, ecological and molecular data should be applied to the species identification and delimitation for myxosporeans. This is the first reported myxobolid species with high pleomorphic myxospores which are present in the same plasmodium.
The larval morphology of Aphodius (Plagiogonus) nanus Fairmaire, 1860 and A. (P.) arenarius (Olivier, 1789) are described and redescribed, respectively. The common characters of both species, and the specific diagnostic characters are provided and discussed. The most important morphological characters of the larvae of Plagiogonus Mulsant, 1842 are the longitudinal alignment of the anterior setae of the stipes, the spatulate form of the posterior-lateral setae of the glossae of the hypopharynx, the slight development of the anal lobe slit, the form of the epitorma of the epipharynx, the slight sclerotization of the pternotormae and the relative length of second antennal segment. A key to the larvae of both species of Plagiogonus is presented along with life history data and the preferred food of these species. This study shows that A. arenarius and A. nanus feeding habits are closer to saprophagy than to coprophagy.
The third instar larvae of three Anisoplia species, Anisoplia baetica Erichson, 1847, Anisoplia depressa Erichson, 1847 and Anisoplia remota Reitter, 1889 are described and illustrated to show the diagnostic characters of the species. The third instar larva of the monospecific genus Anthoplia, represented by Anthoplia floricola (F., 1787) is also described and illustrated. These four species are included in a revised key to the larvae of Anisopliini, which now includes four genera, and ten species. The taxonomic status of Anthoplia based on the larval morphology, is discussed.
A provisional larval groundplan of the family Hygrobiidae is provided through descriptions of internal and external features of three of six extant species, Hygrobia hermanni (Fabricius, 1775), H. wattsi Hendrich 2001 and H. australasiae (Clark, 1862) and phylogenetic interpretations. Hygrobiidae larvae are morphologically differing dramatically from all other known Adephaga by 20 autapomorphies. Structures involved with feeding, i.e., mouthparts, prepharynx and foregut are highly modified as a result of a specialisation on small tubificid worms and chironomid larvae. A placement of Hygrobiidae within Dytiscoidea is well supported by the reduced condition of the terminal abdominal segments, and the presence of 10 ancestral setae on femur and a clade comprising Hygrobiidae, Amphizoidae, and Dytiscidae by the presence of thin and elongate caudal tentorial arms, a very strong musculus verticopharyngalis and a longitudinally divided adductor tendon of the mandible. A highly modified foregut, reduced terminal spiracles VIII and the presence of tubular gills are features which distinguish hygrobiid larvae from those of other groups of Dytiscoidea (i.e, Amphizoidae, Noteridae, Dytiscidae). A sister-group relationship between Hygrobiidae and Dytiscidae is indicated by a distinctly shortened and transverse prepharynx and a cerebrum and suboesophaeal ganglion shifted to the anterior third of the head. Larvae of the Australian species H. wattsi and H. australasiae share the presence of a bluntly rounded mandible and an apical position of the primary pore MNd in instar I as potential synapomorphies.
Geographic range expansion is one of the best documented macroecological consequences of climate change. A concomitant change in morphology has been demonstrated in some species. The relationship between latitudinal variation in morphology (e.g. Bergmann's rule) and the morphological consequences of microevolutionary pressures at expanding range margins have received little attention in the literature. Here we compare morphology of males of two Palaearctic damselfly (Odonata: Zygoptera) species, Coenagrion puella (Linnaeus, 1758) and Pyrrhosoma nymphula (Sulzer, 1776). C. puella has recently expanded its range from the north of England into Scotland. P. nymphula does not exhibit a range margin in the United Kingdom and has established populations in northern Scotland. We demonstrate evidence for spatially correlated variation in body size across the sampling sites between the two species but a deviation in patterns of dispersal-related morphology. P. nymphula exhibited very weak relationships between dispersal-related morphology (wing loading and thorax : abdomen mass ratio) and latitude. However, the more southerly-distributed C. puella exhibited strong relationships between mass investment in dispersal-related morphology and latitude. These trends appear to indicate compensatory growth patterns in cooler environments like those demonstrated for other species. The limits of this compensation for conditions that are close to the limits of a species' tolerance may contribute to the determination of the range margin. Greater variation in morphology towards the range margin has been observed in previous studies in Odonata. As such, the location of the sampling sites relative to the range margin of each species (closer in C. puella than P. nymphula) is highlighted as a potential contributing factor to the variation observed.
Eumerus purpurariae, described from the Canary Islands (Atlantic), has been reared from the stems (platyclades) of the cactus Opuntia maxima (the first known host) on Nueva Tabarca, a Mediterranean island close to the Iberian coast. The egg, larva and puparium of E. purpurariae, as well as its life cycle on the above host-plant are described. The feeding behaviour of the larva in relation to the cephalopharyngeal skeleton morphology is analysed. Based on the present data, comparative table containing the main morphological characteristics of the injurious Eumerus species of the Palaearctic region is presented.
Lingua::Interset is a universal morphosyntactic feature set to which all tagsets of all corpora/languages can be mapped. Version 2.026 covers 37 different tagsets of 21 languages. Limited support of the older drivers for other languages (which are not included in this package but are available for download elsewhere) is also available; these will be fully ported to Interset 2 in future.
Interset is implemented as Perl libraries. It is also available via CPAN.