Acta Zoologica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae 54 (4), pp. 319–324, 2008
Title: A new species of Ctenoplectrella in Baltic amber (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae)
Author: Engel, M. S.
Author's address: Division of Entomology (Palaeoentomology), Natural History Museum, and Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, 1501 Crestline Drive – Suite 140, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas 66049–2811, USA; E-mail: msengel@ku.edu
Abstract: A new species of the extinct bee genus Ctenoplectrella Cockerell (Megachilinae: Ctenoplectrellini) is described and figured from two females preserved in a single piece of middle Eocene (Lutetian) Baltic amber. Ctenoplectrella gorskii Engel, sp. n. is distinguished from other species of the genus most notably in the venation of the forewing.
Key words: Apoidea, Anthophila, Megachilinae, Ctenoplectrellini, Tertiary
Download in Portable Document Format (pdf)
Acta Zoologica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae 54 (4), pp. 325–400,
2008 Title: Revision of the genus Amygdalops Lamb, 1914 (Diptera, Anthomyzidae) of the Oriental, Australasian and Oceanian Regions
Author: Roháček, J.
Author's address: Department of Entomology, Silesian Museum, Tyršova 1, CZ-746 01 Opava, Czech Republic; E-mail: rohacek@szmo.cz
Abstract: The Oriental, Australasian and Oceanian species of the genus Amygdalops
Lamb, 1814 (Diptera, Anthomyzidae) are revised. The genus
is re-diagnosed on the basis of the morphological diversity revealed.
Fifteen species are recognized, keyed and illustrated. Descriptions
of 8 species new to science are given, viz., A. abnormis sp.
n. (Sri Lanka, India), A. bisinus sp. n. (Thailand, Vietnam,
Indonesia: Flores I.), A. curtisi sp. n. (Thailand, Taiwan),
A. curtistylus sp. n. (Thailand), A. cuspidatus sp.
n. (Indonesia: Flores I., Taiwan), A. pappi sp. n. (Thailand),
A. silaceus sp. n. (Mariana Is.), A. stenopteryx sp.
n. (Thailand). Three species, A. geniculatus de Meijere,
1916 (only known from Indonesia: Java), A. lineola de
Meijere, 1916 (new records from Thailand, Indonesia: Java,
Flores I. and Papua New Guinea) and A. nigrinotum Sueyoshi
et Roháček, 2003 (widespread, many new records)
are redescribed including revision of available type specimens and
remaining 4 species are diagnosed but left unnamed owing to insufficient
material. Lectotype of A. geniculatus is designated. The relationships
of all species are discussed on the basis of newly discovered features
of the male and female postabdominal structures and their known distribution
is reviewed. Notes on the phylogeny and biogeography of Amygdalops
species are provided along with 164 original figures.
Key words: Anthomyzidae, Amygdalops, new species, relationships, distribution, Oriental, Australasian, Oceanian Regions
Download in Portable Document Format (pdf)
Acta Zoologica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae 54 (4), pp. 401–410,
2008 Title: Egg distribution of the Southern Festoon (Zerynthia polyxena) (Lepidoptera, Papilionidae)
Authors: Batáry, P.1,2, Örvössy, N.1, Kõrösi, Á.3 and Peregovits, L.1
Authors' addresses: 1Hungarian Natural History Museum, Department of Zoology, H-1088 Budapest, Baross u. 13, Hungary Abstract: We investigated environmental factors grouped along hierarchical spatial
scales influencing the egg density of a monophagous papilionid, the
southern festoon (Zerynthia polyxena) on its food-plant, the
birthwort (Aristolochia clematitis). Two patch level variables
were considered: habitat type (black locust plantation, clearing and
hummock) and food-plant patch size. We measured several plant variables
at the egg-bearing shoots. We counted the number and measured the
mean height of birthworts within the microenvironment of the egg-bearing
shoots. We also measured the height and counted the leaves of each
egg-bearing shoot itself. Plant apparency was defined as the height
difference between egg-bearing shoots and the surrounding ones. Two
variables were measured on the egg-bearing shoots (hence at food-plant
scale): number of leaves and position of eggs on the leaf-storeys.
Habitat type affected the distribution of eggs; black locust plantations
and hummocks were preferred against clearings. At a smaller scale,
neither shoot density, nor food-plant apparency affected egg distribution.
At the plant level, the number of eggs increased with the number of
leaves, and the position of eggs also co-varied with egg density,
having fewer eggs in clusters positioned higher on shoots. We conclude
that spatially correlated data on butterfly egg distribution should
be analysed considering the intrinsically hierarchical structure of
environmental factors.
Key words: Zerynthia polyxena, oviposition, plant–insect interaction, Aristolochia clematitis, food-plant, spatial scale
Download in Portable Document Format (pdf)
Acta Zoologica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae 54 (4), pp. 411–418,
2008 Title: Conformity to Bergmann's rule in the Plateau Pika (Ochotona curzoniae Hodgson, 1857) on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau
Authors: Lin, G.1,2, Ci, H.1,2, Zhang, T.1 and Su, J.1
Authors' addresses: 1Key Laboratory of Adaptation and Evolution of Plateau Biota, Northwest Institute of Plateau Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences,
Xining, 810001, China Abstract: Interspecific and intraspecific variation in the body sizes of warm-blooded animals is usually correlated with geographical gradients (latitude and/or altitude) according to the well-known Bergmann's rule. However, what determines conformity to Bergmann"s rule or even whether this rule is valid has been debated. We tested the relationships between skull size of the plateau pika (Ochotona curzoniae) collected from different geographic localities and two geographic variables (latitude and altitude) as well as some environmental factors that usually change with geographical gradients on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. Our results indicated that skull size was positively correlated with both latitude and altitude, and negatively correlated with annual temperature, annual precipitation, and annual net primary production. These results indicated conformity to Bergmann"s rule in this species, i.e., the body size of the plateau pika tends to increase with climate severity and food scarcity.
Key words: Bergmann's rule, geographic variables, climatic variables, food resource
Download in Portable Document Format (pdf)
2Current address: Agroecology, Georg-August University,
Waldweg 26, D-37073 Göttingen, Germany
3Animal Ecology Research Group of the Hungarian Academy of
Sciences and the Hungarian Natural History Museum, H-1083 Budapest, Ludovika tér
2, Hungary
E-mail: batary@nhmus.hu; orvossy@nhmus.hu; korosi@nhmus.hu; perego@nhmus.hu
2Graduate School of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049,
China, E-mail: jpsu@nwipb.ac.cn