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Friday, April 5th, 2024
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| 12:57a | [Botany • 2023] Ceropegia strophanthiflora (Apocynaceae: Ceropegieae, sect. Chamaesiphon) • A magnificent and rare New Species from South Africa at the Brink of Extinction
Abstract We describe a novel species of Ceropegia (Apocynaceae-Asclepiadoideae-Ceropegieae) Brachystelma tanzaniense, a species with long and slender corolla lobes from Tanzania, is transferred to Ceropegia section Chamaesiphon under the proposed new name C. dodomaensis. Moreover, the blocking name for this transfer, C. tanzaniensis, is reduced to a synonym of C. cordiloba for which we designate a lectotype. Keywords: Brachystelma, Chamaesiphon, Ceropegieae, Coal mining, Critically Endangered, KwaZulu-Natal, nomen novum, Zululand Coastal Thornveld, Zululand Lowveld, Eudicots  Ceropegia strophanthiflora Heiduk & D.Styles, sp. nov. Etymology: —The specific epithet ‘strophanthiflora’ refers to the unusually long, caudate and twisted, reflexed corolla lobes reminiscent of flowers found in the genus Strophanthus. Annemarie Heiduk and David G.A. Styles. 2023. Ceropegia strophanthiflora (Apocynaceae—Asclepiadoideae)—A magnificent and rare New Species from South Africa at the Brink of Extinction. Phytotaxa. 632(1); 27-37. DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.632.1.2 https://mastodon.green/@plazi_species/11 | ||||||||
| 4:14a | [PaleoEntomology • 2024] Burmogerris rarus • Group Mating in Cretaceous Water Striders (Gerromorpha: Gerroidea)
Abstract Fossilized mating insects are irreplaceable material for comprehending the evolution of the mating behaviours and life-history traits in the deep-time record of insects as well as the potential sexual conflict. However, cases of mating pairs are particularly rare in fossil insects, especially aquatic or semi-aquatic species. Here, we report the first fossil record of a group of water striders in copulation (including three pairs and a single adult male) based on fossils from the mid-Cretaceous of northern Myanmar. The new taxon, Burmogerris gen. nov., likely represents one of the oldest cases of insects related to the marine environment, such as billabongs formed by the tides. It exhibits conspicuous dimorphism associated with sexual conflict: the male is equipped with a specialized protibial comb as a grasping apparatus, likely representing an adaptation to overcome female resistance during struggles. The paired Burmogerris show smaller males riding on the backs of the females, seemingly recording a scene of copulatory struggles between the sexes. Our discovery reveals a mating system dominated by males and sheds light on the potential sexual conflicts of Burmogerris in the Cretaceous. It indicates the mating behaviour remained stable over long-term geological time in these water-walking insects. Keywords: mating behaviour, group mating fossil, sexual conflict, Myanmar amber, palaeoecology
Systematic palaeontology Infraorder Gerromorpha Popov, 1971 Superfamily Gerroidea Leach, 1815 Family incertae sedis Burmogerris Fu, Cai, Chen & Huang, gen. nov. Etymology: The generic name is a combination of the prefix ‘Burma-’ referring to Myanmar, and Gerris, the type genus of the family Gerridae. Gender masculine. Diagnosis: The genus is characterized by a combination of the following characters: macropterous; head without median impressed line on the dorsal surface (a typical median line on the dorsal surface of head in veliids); antennal segment II elongate, slightly shorter than segment I and more than twice as long as two apical segments, segment IV widened, less spindle-shaped. All tarsi three-segmented (two-segmented in all gerrids), first tarsomere extremely short, subcylindrical; forelegs prolonged, almost as long as body length; male protibia bearing numerous discontinuous clusters of pegs (absent in male gerrids); protarsus more than one-half length of the protibia, with second tarsomere about 1.20 times as long as the apical tarsomere; mesotibia bearing a row of long and slender trichobothria-like hairs; mesofemur as long as or slightly longer than the mesotibia; mesotibia almost as long as the mesotarsus; metatarsus with the second tarsomere much longer than the apical tarsomere; claws inserted on the apex of apical tarsomere; arolia absent. Burmogerris rarus Fu, Cai, Chen & Huang, sp. nov. Etymology: The specific epithet ‘rarus’ (Latin, adjective, meaning rare) refers to some odd morphological characters and its rare existence.
Yanzhe Fu, Chenyang Cai, Pingping Chen, Qiang Xuan, Tin Aung Myint and Diying Huang. 2024. Group Mating in Cretaceous Water Striders. Proc. R. Soc. B. 291: 20232546. DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2023.2546 | ||||||||
| 4:29a | [Herpetology • 2024] Trimeresurus lanna & T. tenasserimensis • An Integrative Taxonomic Revision of the Trimeresurus popeiorum group of Pitvipers (Serpentes: Viperidae) with Descriptions of Two New Species from the Indo-Burma Biodiversity Hotspot
Abstract Despite recent progress in our understanding of diversity within the genus Trimeresurus Lacépède, 1804, the subgenus Popeia Malhotra & Thorpe, 2004, distributed across most parts of East and Southeast Asia, remains taxonomically challenging. We applied an integrative taxonomic approach including analyses of morphological data and four mitochondrial genes (12S and 16S rRNA, cytochrome b, and NADH dehydrogenase subunit 4), along with examination of available type material, to address longstanding taxonomic questions in one clade within Popeia, the T. popeiorum group, and reveal a high level of hidden diversity of these snakes in the Indo-Burma Biodiversity Hotspot. We confirm that T. popeiorum Smith, 1937 sensu stricto is restricted to Northeast India, eastern Nepal, southern Bhutan, southeastern Bangladesh, western Yunnan Province (China), and northern and southwestern Myanmar. We further confirm that the recently described species T. yingjiangensis Chen et al., 2019 is a junior synonym of T. popeiorum. In addition, we discovered that the combination Trimesurus [sic] elegans Gray, 1853 is a valid senior synonym of T. popeiorum and threatens the stability of the latter taxon. Therefore, in order to protect the nomen popeiorum and in accordance with Article 23.9 of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, we regard the taxon Trimesurus elegans as a nomen oblitum and render Trimeresurus popeiorum a nomen protectum. Examination of a larger series of specimens allows us to describe two new cryptic species of Trimeresurus from the Indo-Burma Region. This study brings the total number of species in the subgenus Popeia to six and also suggests that the subspecific taxonomy of the T. sabahi complex requires further investigation. We urge adequate actions regarding the conservation of the newly discovered species and recommend further studies on their toxicology. Keywords: Asia, Biodiversity, Crotalinae, ICZN, Indochina, molecular phylogeny, morphology, mtDNA, nomen protectum, nomenclature, Popeia, systematics   
Trimeresurus popeiorum Smith, 1937 Etymology: The species name is a patronym, in genitive plural, created in honour of Clifford H. Pope (1899–1974) and his wife Sarah H. Pope (1901–1995); see below for a discussion of the correct spelling. We recommend the following common names for this species: “Pō pǔ zhú yè qīng” (坡普竹叶青) (in Chinese), “Pope’s green pitviper” (in English), “Ngu Khiew Hang Mai Thong Khiew Assam” (งูเขียวหางไหม้ท้องเขียวอัสสัม) (in Thai), “Trimérésure vert des Pope” (in French), “Popes Bambusotter” (in German), and “Bambukovaya kufiya Poupov” (in Russian).
Trimeresurus lanna sp. nov. Diagnosis: Trimeresurus lanna differs from other members of the subgenus Popeia by the combination of the following morphological characters: (1) dorsal surfaces deep green, without crossbands; (2) in males, a vivid, wide, bicolored ventrolateral stripe, bright and deep red below, white above; in females, ventrolateral stripe thin, pale yellow anteriorly, whitish posteriorly; (3) in males, a conspicuous, bicolored postocular streak, white and thin ventrally, broad and bright red dorsally, covering two or three temporal scales; in females, streak absent or only white; (4) eyes red to deep red in both males and females; (5) 21 (93.3%) or rarely 20 (6.7%) dorsal scales rows at midbody, strongly keeled except those of the first dorsal scale row, always smooth; (6) 145–167 ventral plates (145–167 in males; 157–166 in females); 56–75 paired subcaudal scales with weak sexual dimorphism (59–75 in males, 56–64 in females); (7) first supralabial entirely separated from the nasal scale by a distinct suture; (8) supraoculars relatively narrow, narrower than internasals, separated by 10–13 cephalic scales; (9) internasals never in contact, separated by one or two scales; (10) hemipenes long and forked, reaching at least 25th SC, without spines; (11) 9–14 cephalic scales between the supraoculars in males, 11–13 in females; (12) relative tail length 0.18–0.21 in males, 0.16–0.17 in females. Etymology: The new species name “lanna” represents a noun in apposition and is given in reference to the Lan Na Kingdom, or “Kingdom of a Million Rice Fields”. The Kingdom of Lan Na, also known as Lannathai, was centered in present-day northern Thailand from the 13th–18th centuries. The territories and cultural influence of the Lan Na Kingdom spread from easternmost Myanmar to northern Laos and southernmost present-day Yunnan of China, a geographic area that matches well the range of the new species. Though eventually the Lan Na Kingdom was united with the Siamese State in the early 19th century, its culture had a profound influence on different parts of northern Indochina. We suggest the following common names for the new species: “Ngu Khiew Hang Mai Thong Khiew Nua” (งูเขียวหางไหม้ท้องเขียวเหนือ) (in Thai), “Lán nà zhú yè qīng” (蘭納竹叶青) (in Chinese), “Lanna Green Pitviper” (in English), “Trimérésure vert du Lanna” (in French), “Lanna Bambusotter” (in German), and “Chiangmaiskaya bambukovaya kufiya” (in Russian).
Trimeresurus tenasserimensis sp. nov. Diagnosis: Trimeresurus tenasserimensis differs from other members of the subgenus Popeia by the combination of the following morphological characters: (1) dorsal surfaces deep green, with faint dark, interstitial crossbands; (2) in males, a wide, bicolored ventrolateral stripe, bright red ventrally, white dorsally; in females, ventrolateral stripe thin, pale yellow anteriorly, whitish posteriorly; (3) in males, a conspicuous, bicolored postocular streak, white and thin ventrally, broad and bright red dorsally, covering two or three temporal scales; in females, streak absent or only white; (4) eyes red to deep red in both males and females; (5) 21 dorsal scales rows at midbody, strongly keeled except those of the first dorsal scale row, always smooth; (6) 159–176 ventrals (159–170 in males, 154–176 in females); 57–74 subcaudals with slightly overlapping sexual dimorphism (66–74 in males, 57–66 in females), all paired; (7) first supralabial entirely separated from the nasal scale by a distinct suture; (8) supraoculars relatively narrow, narrower than internasals, separated by 9–11 cephalic scales; (9) internasals not in contact, separated by one scale; (10) 10–11 cephalic scales between the supraoculars in both sexes; (11) relative tail length 0.20–0.23 in males, 0.14–0.16 in females. Etymology: The species name “tenasserimensis” is a modern Latin toponymical adjective in nominative singular, adopting the masculine gender of the genus name Trimeresurus, combining the name of the Tenasserim Mountain Range in western Thailand and southeastern Myanmar, where the new species occurs, and the Latin suffix -ensis (-is, -e), meaning “from”. The species nomen therefore means “from Tenasserim”. We suggest the following common names for the new species: “Ngu Khiew Hang Mai Thong Khiew Tanao Sri” (งูเขียวหางไหม้ท้องเขียวตะนาวศรี) (in Thai), “Dān nà shā lín zhú yè qīng” (丹那沙林竹叶青) (in Chinese), “Tenasserim green pitviper” (in English), “Tenasserim Bambusotter” (in German), “Trimérésure vert du Tenasserim” (In French) and “Tenasserimskaya bambukovaya kufiya” (in Russian). Sabira S. Idiiatullina, Tan Van Nguyen, Parinya Pawangkhanant, Chatmongkon Suwannapoom, Lawan Chanhome, Zeeshan A. Mirza, Patrick David, Gernot Vogel and Nikolay A. Poyarkov. 2024. An Integrative Taxonomic Revision of the Trimeresurus popeiorum group of Pitvipers (Reptilia: Serpentes: Viperidae) with Descriptions of Two New Species from the Indo-Burma Biodiversity Hotspot. Vertebrate Zoology. 74: 303-342. DOI: 10.3897/vz.74.e113347 | ||||||||
| 4:04p | [Paleontology • 2024] Pterosaur Teeth from the Southern Neuquén Basin (Patagonia, Argentina): New Insights on the Reconstruction of Ornithocheiriform Dental Anatomy
The pterosaur fossil record of Argentina is increasing in recent times, both in the number of localities and their temporal range. The new materials are found in levels that span from the Late Triassic to the Late Cretaceous in age. In this contribution we describe twenty isolated pterosaur teeth from the Cerro de los Leones locality (Picún Leufú, Neuquén Province), where the Lohan Cura Formation (Albian) widely crops out. A new, detailed analysis of these remains allowed us to detect a set of morphological features, such as the enamel texture, cross-section shape, crown curvature, and absence of sharp carinae, which suggests close affinities with Ornithocheiriformes. Moreover, with the large number of tooth specimens, a discrimination of three morphotypes based on the crown curvature, the basal cross-section shape, and the presence of carinae was carried out. We performed extensive morphological comparisons between different members of Ornithocheiriformes with the aim to test the hypothesis that the presence of these different morphotypes reflects distinct anatomical positions of the teeth in the jaws . Thus, considering the heterodont dentition of ornithocheiriforms, the tooth morphological classification proposed here represents a new methodology, not only to identify isolated ornithocheiriform teeth, but also to assign them to the rostral, medial, or the posterior portion of the tooth row. Finally, the evidence of ornithocheiriform pterosaurs in Cerro de los Leones has paleobiogeographical implications, allowing us to correlate it with other Albian faunas from South America, expanding our knowledge of the distribution of Early Cretaceous pterosaurs across southwestern Gondwana. Key words: Anhangueridae, Cretaceous, Gondwana, Neuquén Basin, tooth morphology, enamel, heterodonty. Systematic paleontology Pterosauria Kaup, 1834 Pterodactyloidea Plieninger, 1901 Lanceodontia Andres et al., 2014 Ornithocheiriformes Andres, 2021 Alessio Ciaffi and Flavio Bellardini. 2024. Pterosaur Teeth from the Southern Neuquén Basin (Patagonia, Argentina): New Insights on the Reconstruction of Ornithocheiriform Dental Anatomy. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica. 69 (1): 73-86. DOI: 10.4202/app.01122.2023  |
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