ALBERT

Description: By means of modernized sieving techniques 110 m3 of matrix from a gully filling in the Tegelen Clay were sieved. This yielded a good collection of small mammals, which clarifies the stratigraphic position of the Tiglian, a collection of other vertebrates, a small collection of mollusks, and a vast amount of plant material. A good collection of mollusks was made through classical collecting techniques. The faunal lists in this paper constitute a considerable enlargement of the known Tegelen fauna. Collecting is continuing, and further additions to the fauna may be expected.

Description: Some details are given on the bryophyte vegetation in an old clay pit near Venlo. Due to burrowing activities, the bottom of the pit has a very broken surface, and in the upper soil layer sand, sandy clay and pure clay (from the Tiglien formation) replace each other. On some places water comes out of the soil. Some locally important bryophyte unions (in the sense of Barkman 1973) are described. An impoverished form of the Haplomitrium- Fossombronia incurva union occurs on moist sandy ground. On a steep, south-exposed, dry clay edge a fragment of the Aloinetum rigidae was found. The wet clayey parts are occupied by a vegetation mainly consisting of Leiocolea badensis and Anisothecium varium, for which a new union is proposed, the Leiocolea badensis- Anisothecium varium union. On a steep sandy side the rare species Anisothecium rufescens, Mniobryum lutescens and Trichodon cylindricus were found; the last two species have not been reported from the Netherlands before. In conclusion, the importance of such clay pits in general and this one in particular as refugia for bryophyte flora and vegation is stressed.

Description: In Senecio jacobaea L. two forms with non-radiating capitules are distinguished: a.) a non-heritable form, hence of no systematic value, occurring incidentally throughout the area of the species, with the outer ray of fruits nearly glabrous like in normal radiating forms of the species, and b.) a heritable (DE VRIES, 1901) form with a distinct area (fig. 1) with all fruits equally hairy (probably by reduction of the outer ray of flowers). The distribution of the latter form, provisionally called Senecio jacobaea var. nudus Weston (Bot. Univ. 3, 1772, p. 641; syn.: S. jacobaea var. floseulosus Lamk. et DC.; S. dunensis Dum.), is given from herbarium material and literature; var. nudus fully replaces the type variety in the dunes in the Netherlands southwards to IJmuiden, only in the dunes between IJmuiden and Den Haag both the radiating form and var. nudus are found together (at present the latter is very common whereas the radiating form is rare, but at the end of the last century this situation was reverse). Var. nudus may be worth the rank of subspecies. A probable hybrid S. aquaticus X jacobaea var. nudus is recorded from the island of Terschelling.

Description: A survey of the structures of the intestine of the Goldfish is given. Several morphological techniques have been used. Special attention has been paid to those characteristics of this organ that may be of importance to physiologists working with the same material, with emphasis on cell-to-cell contact in the mucosal epithelium, which appeared to be quite \xe2\x80\x9ctight\xe2\x80\x9d.

Description: The taxonomic portion of this paper discusses 27 species of mites of the family Phytoseiidae known to occur on plants in Madagascar.\nEight new species are described: Phytoseius (Phytoseius) betsiboka. Ph. (Pennaseius) onilahy, Amblyseius (Amblyseius) hova, A. (A.) ankaratrae, A. (A.) boina, A. (A.) sakalava, A. (A.) trichophilus and A. (Proprioseiopsis) tulearensis.\nThe following species are recorded for the first time from the island: Typhlodromus (Typhloseiopsis) contiguus Chant, 1959, Phyloseius (Phytoseius) crinitus Swirski & Shechter, 1961, Ph. (Ph.) intermedius Evans & Macfarlane, 1961, Ph. (Pennaseius) hongkongensis Swirski & Shechter, 1961, Ph. (P.) amba Pritchard & Baker, 1962, Iphiseius (Iphiseius) degenerans (Berlese, 1889), I. (Trochoseius) gongylus Pritchard & Baker, 1962, Paraphytoseius multidentatus Swirski & Shechter, 1961, Amblyseius (Amblyseius) hima Pritchard & Baker, 1962, A. (A.) deleoni Muma & Denmark, 1970, A. (Proprioseiopsis) sundi Pritchard & Baker, 1962 and A. (P.) peltatus Van der Merwe, 1968. Additional descriptions are given for most of these species. The male of P. multidentatus is described for the first time.\nNew distribution records are presented for the following species: Typhlodromus scytinus Chazeau, 1970, the T. (Anthoseius) gutierrezi-chazeaui group, Amblyseius (Amblyseius) masiaka Blommers & Chazeau, 1974, A. (A.) bibens Blommers, 1973, A. (A.) rotundus Blommers, 1973, A. (A.) brevipes Blommers, 1973 and A. (A.) tamatavensis Blommers, 1974.\nThe simultaneous occurrence of spider mites and other small arthropods on the plants on which the phytoseiids were collected is noted.\nA final chapter summarizes the results of experiments devised to see whether the collected phytoseiid mites can be effectively predators of spider mites, i.e. of Tetranychus neocaledonicus Andr\xc3\xa9, 1933 and sometimes Oligonychus coffeae (Nietner, 1861). Most of these results were negative. Only, Typhlodromus contiguus, Amblyseius tulearensis and A. sundi can regulate population numbers of the first prey species under circumstances of low webbing and/or additional food. Iphiseius degenerans, and possibly Amblyseius rotundus, can control Oligonychus coffeae in their area of distribution.

Description: This paper presents the results of an analysis of about four hundred skulls of Myotis mystacinus and M. brandtii of the Holocene age from the Z\xc3\xa1sko\xc4\x8die Cave (Central Slovakia). A review of criteria for species determination is presented, including a new criterion concerning the morphology of P4 roots, as well as the results of a statistical survey of skull dimensions and correlation and regression analyses. The author concludes that the above mentioned bats are not sibling species, but that they belong to different subgenera of the genus Myotis.

Description: Description of three Zoanthids new to the Tulear region (S.W. Madagascar): a macrocnemic species, Epizoanthus cf. minutus Duerden, 1898, and two brachycnemic species, Zoanthus pacificus Walsh & Bowers, 1971, and Z. vietnamensis Pax, 1957. These new records bring the number of zoanthids known from the reefs in the Tul\xc3\xa9ar region to thirteen.

Description: To explain the typical form of the anuran body, the following hypothesis is proposed: The ancestors of Anura, Urodela and Gymnophiona, having probably much in common, were potential competitors, so they each had to develop in a different ecological direction: Gymnophiona in the soil, Urodela on the surface of the soil specializing in the capture of slow moving prey and the Anura on the surface of the soil in the hunting of swift moving prey. Presumably the ancestors of the anurans were slow animals themselves and had to wait hiding until prey passed by. Also, to protect the body against dehydration it was necessary to dig into the soil and \xe2\x80\x94 because of the need to catch swift moving prey \xe2\x80\x94 to dig backwards, so that the head remained free. In the following discussion several characteristics of recent anurans and of probable ancestral anurans are examined in the light of this hypothesis.

Description: The South American callichthyid catfish genus Aspidoras R. von Ihering, 1907, is redefined on the basis of thirteen nominal species. Morphological differences with the related genus Corydoras Lac\xc3\xa9p\xc3\xa8de, 1803, are discussed. Two species originally described in Corydoras, viz., Corydoras raimundi and Corydoras pauciradiatus are herein transferred to Aspidoras.\nAspidoras now consists of the following previously described nominal species: (1) Aspidoras rochai R. von Ihering, 1907 (type-species of the genus), known from Brazil, Est. Cear\xc3\xa1, Fortaleza, (2) Aspidoras raimundi (Steindachner, 1907) from Brazil, Est. Maranh\xc3\xa3o, Rio Parna\xc3\xadba system, (3) Aspidoras lakoi P. de Miranda Ribeiro, 1949, from Brazil, Est. Minas Gerais, Rio Parana\xc3\xadba system, and (4) Aspidoras pauciradiatus (Weitzman & Nijssen, 1970) from Brazil, Est. Goi\xc3\xa1s, Rio Araguaia system.\nNine new species from Brazil are described herein: (1) Aspidoras albater from Est. Goi\xc3\xa1s, Rio Tocantinzinha, (2) Aspidoras brunneus from Est. Mato Grosso, Serra do Roncador, (3) Aspidoras carvalhoi from Est. Cear\xc3\xa1, Guaramiranga, (4) Aspidoras eurycephalus from Est. Goi\xc3\xa1s, C\xc3\xb3rego Vermelho, (5) Aspidoras fuscoguttatus from Est. Mato Grosso, C\xc3\xb3rrego Corguinho, (6) Aspidoras maculosus from Est. Bahia, Rio Itapicur\xc3\xba system, (7) Aspidoras menezesi from Est. Cear\xc3\xa1, Rio Salgado system, (8) Aspidoras poecilus from Est. Mato Grosso, upper Rio Xingu, and from Est. Goi\xc3\xa1s, Rio Araguaia, and (9) Aspidoras spilotus from Est. Cear\xc3\xa1, a tributary of Rio Acar\xc3\xa1u, and from Cachoeira do Gusm\xc3\xa3o. In addition to these nominal species some material is described and figured under the provisional designation of Aspidoras sp. aff. poecilus. These specimens may represent another species, but are not formally named.

Description: Ausgangssituation dieser Untersuchung war die Kenntnis von 11 nominellen Stenothoe-Arten im Mittelmeer. Von diesen wurde St. bosphorana Sowinski, 1898, seit der Beschreibung nicht mehr wiedergefunden, von St. dactylipotens Chevreux, 1908, kannte man nur das \xe2\x99\x80, schlie\xc3\x9flich waren die Arten im Komplex St. dollfusi-gallensis-cattai kaum oder unklar voneinander abgegrenzt. Eigene Sammlungen aus der Adria, dem Jonischen Meer, Ligurien, der Tyrrhenis sowie den K\xc3\xbcsten von Sizilien und Pantelleria erbrachten gr\xc3\xb6\xc3\x9fere Serien von Stenothoe, die zu einer Revision der Gattung im Mittelmeerraum ermutigten.\nSt. dactylipotens erwies sich als Synonym von bosphorana; von St. antennulariae, die Della Valle, 1893, in einem juvenilen \xe2\x99\x82 bekannt machte, wird das adulte \xe2\x99\x82 erstmals abgebildet. Der Art St. cattai sensu Chevreux & Fage, 1925, gab ich einen neuen Namen, wie schon vor mir drei Autoren forderten (denn St. cattai Stebbing, 1906, ist synonym zu St. gallensis Walker, 1904): St. eduardi n. sp. wird in \xe2\x99\x82 und \xe2\x99\x80 vollst\xc3\xa4ndig beschrieben und abgebildet. Die Abgrenzung der morphologisch sehr nahestehenden Arten dollfusi Chevreux, 1887, gallensis Walker, 1904, und eduardi n. sp. konnte dank der deutlich verschiedenen \xc3\x96kologie gelingen. Aus Livorno und Ischia lag mir eine \xe2\x80\x9ekleine Form von St. monoculoides\xe2\x80\x9d (schon Chevreux, 1911, hatte sie so bezeichnet) vor, die ich als eigene Art, St. elachista n. sp., abtrennen konnte. Schlie\xc3\x9flich verglich ich St. marina mediterranea von Ledoyer, 1973, mit atlantischem Material von St. m. marina (Bate, 1857) und kam zur \xc3\x9cberzeugung, da\xc3\x9f die st\xc3\xa4rkere Bedornung der 5 Individuen aus Marseille noch innerhalb der Variationsbreite der Nominatform liegt.\nAu\xc3\x9fer St. marina konnten alle Arten abgebildet werden. Die Arbeit wird von einem Bestimmungsschl\xc3\xbcssel f\xc3\xbcr mediterrane Stenothoe-Arten abgeschlossen, u. zw. antennulariae, bosphorana, cavimana, dollfusi, eduardi, elachista, gallensis, marina, monoculoides, tergestina und valida.