ALBERT

Description: The genus Pseudoniphargus has long been considered monospecific. Its unique species, Ps. africanus, was supposed to occur on both sides of the Mediterranean, on the Atlantic side of the Iberian peninsula, on the Azores, and on Madeira, in localities ranging from the sea shore to more than 1000 m of altitude, and covering almost the entire natural salinity range (0-36\xe2\x80\xb0).\nA taxonomie revision revealed that at least nine named species and several unnamed forms (of which insufficient material is available) hide under the name Ps. africanus, each with a narrow ecological and geographical range.\nThe evolutionary scenario of the members of the genus is discussed at some length: they are presumably of marine origin, and got adapted to conditions of continental waters during various marine regressions in the Eocene and Oligoc\xc3\xa8ne, but notably in the Miocene.

Description: A review of 99 species and subspecies of the genus Corydoras is given. The primary type-material is recorded together with additional type-specimens deposited in 22 different museum collections. Two neotypes and 22 lectotypes are designated.\nThe species are arranged in five groups: 31 species in the punctatus-group, 11 in the barbatus-group, 25 in the aeneus-group, 8 in the elegans-group, and 19 in the acutusgroup. Measurements and counts of almost all primary typespecimens are tabulated. Ill-known illustrations of type-material are included.

Description: The activity of G. zaddachi from a non-tidal environment (the brackish lake \xe2\x80\x9cDe Putten\xe2\x80\x9d, prov. North Holland, The Netherlands), has been studied in a current chamber in which tidal cycles can be simulated, in order to make a comparison with estuarine populations. The animals show a clear nocturnal activity pattern in stagnant water, which is preserved after transfer to running water, but with a reduced amplitude. Like in estuarine G. zaddachi, a very strong increase in swimming activity is provoked by a so-called complete high tide simulation, i.e. a decrease in current velocity, followed by a short period of standstill and a slow current in the opposite direction, and a rise in salinity (which resulted also in a rise in pressure of maximally 0.1 atm. due to pumping) and in temperature.\nContrary to what was concluded for estuarine populations, these non-tidal G. zaddachi show a much stronger response to changes in salinity than to changes in current. In fact, high tide simulations consisting of changes in salinity only result in an increase in activity, comparable with that at complete high tide simulations. A strong response is also noticed to a short increase in pressure of 0.3 and 0.5 atm., but the construction of the current chamber only allows tests of longer duration with an increase in pressure of 0.15 atm. This merely causes a small increase in swimming activity.\nRemarkably enough, simulations in the light have the same effect on activity as simulations in the dark.\nAn (endogenous) circatidal activity rhythm with peak swimming at the expected time of simulated high tide is entrained in non-tidal G. zaddachi by subjecting them to a series of complete high tide simulations at tidal intervals. A series of high tide simulations, consisting of changes in current and salinity (but without changes in temperature) also entrains the rhythm, but neither changes in current nor changes in salinity are able to entrain the circatidal rhythm when applied alone (the same holds true for the small increases in pressure, due to pumping). The result of a combination of factors is therefore more than simply the sum of their individual effects.\nThe endogenous tidal rhythm does not show any sign of inhibition at expected high water in the light. Earlier fieldwork on the migration of estuarine G. zaddachi suggests that the tidal migrations of this species are confined to the dark. The activity of freshly caught estuarine G. zaddachi from the river Slack (France) shows a circatidal rhythm in the laboratory with equal peaks in the light and in the dark. The absence of tidal migrations during spring tides in daytime is therefore difficult to explain on the basis of the behaviour observed under laboratory conditions. Possibly the influence of light in the laboratory is different from that in the field, and further fieldwork will be necessary to determine the effect of light on emergence, height of swimming, etc., of estuarine G. zaddachi.

Description: The type material of Colombian species of freshwater triclads (Fuhrmann, 1914) is revised and the original descriptions corrected and amplified. Planaria polyorchis is conspecific with Dugesia festai (Borelli). Planaria longistriata is a typical Girardia species of the Dugesia (Girardia) tigrina group, a group widespread in North and South America. Planaria paramensis and P. cameliae belong to a group of Dugesia species characterized particularly by their dorsal testes, and exemplified by a number of species in and around the Caribbean region.

Description: The study of the mandible of the Bathynellacea yielded the following results: The family Leptobathynellidae Noodt, which is according to Schminke (1973) synonymous with the family Parabathynellidae, is a valid taxon. This taxon is characterized by a corpus mandibulae being longer than high, a pars incisiva being localized in the antero-distal region of the corpus mandibulae, a particular arrangement of the molar claws on the corpus mandibulae, parallel to the longitudinal axis of the mandible, a direct implantation of the adductors on the corpus mandibulae, and a parallel orientation of the general developmental axis and the connective border. These features prove the strong differentiation of the mandible that characterize the present family against that of the Parabathynellidae, in which the corpus mandibulae is as long as high, the pars incisiva is individualized over the entire distal length of the corpus mandibulae, the molar claws are located on a lobe (molar plate) and are arranged parallel to the transverse axis of the mandible, the 2nd adductors are implanted on the labro-mandibular apodeme, and the general axis of development is inclined in relation to the connective border.\nA number of features connect the Leptobathynellidae and the Parabathynellidae, viz. the inclination, in antero-posterior sense, of the connection level of the mandibles on the cephalic capsule, the one-segmented mandibular palp, the reduced size and non-prehensile nature of the molar part comprising the claws, and the total absence of transverse mandibular muscles. These characters separate them clearly from the Bathynellidae, which show a postero-anterior inclination of the connecting level of the mandibles on the cephalic capsule, a 3-, 2-, or 1-segmented mandibular palp of large size and prehensile, a molar part provided with teeth, and the presence of transverse adductor muscles 5a.\nGiven the structural relations and the degree of differentiation of the mandibles characteristic of each family, we propose a division of the order Bathynellacea Chappuis into two great evolutionary assemblages, the suborder Bathynellidea (comprising the family Bathynellidae Grobben) and the suborder Parabathynellidea (uniting the families Parabathynellidae Noodt and Leptobathynellidae Noodt).

Description: An association is described between a Caribbean stony coral, Meandrina meandrites, and a chaenopsid fish, Emblemariopsis diaphana. Like in anemone/fish associations the coral tentacles provide shelter for the fish. Some observations were made, both in the field and in the laboratory, of the behaviour of both fish and coral with respect to each other.

Description: Mostly annual herbs, rarely perennials or shrubs; stems often 5-angled, prostrate or climbing by means of tendrils. Leaves alternate, petiolate, simple and then often palmately-lobed and with a cordate base or palmately compound with the lateral leaflets asymmetrical. Stipules wanting. Tendrils arising beside the petiole, sometimes with a joint, branched or simple, usually coiling in the upper part. Inflorescence consisting of axillary cymes, racemes or panicles, or flowers solitary. Flowers usually unisexual, rarely hermaphrodite, actinomorphic. Receptacle bell-shaped or tubular. Sepals 5, imbricate, free or basally connate. Petals 5, inserted on the rim of the receptacle, free or united, the lobes valvate. Stamens 3, free or variously united; filaments free; anthers free, cohering or confluent into a head, two of them 2-celled, the other one 1-celled. Ovary inferior, or nearly so, (1\xe2\x80\x942)\xe2\x80\x943\xe2\x80\x94(4\xe2\x80\x946)-celled; style short; stigma 3 cleft or 3 lobed. Ovules numerous to 1, placentas parietal. Fruit a berry. Seeds many. Embryo straight; cotyledons large. Endosperm wanting. About 850 species in 100 genera of tropical and subtropical distribution; a few species in temperate regions.

Description: A list is provided of the 53 Tipulidae species known from Macaronesia (16), Northwest Africa (38) and Egypt (1). No species are known from Libya. Some synonyms and some species erroneously recorded from the region are discussed. A description is given of Tipula (Yamatotipula) lateralis barbarensis subsp. nov., T. (Yamatotipula) montium afriberia subsp. nov. and T. (Acutipula) rifensis spec. nov. A redescription is given of T. (Savtshenkia) atlas Pierre.\nThe following results about zoogeography are presented: The present tipulid fauna of North Africa is of Palaearctic origin and has no elements originating from the Afrotropical Region. The immigration route for probably all Tipulidae from Europe to Northwest Africa lies over the Strait of Gibraltar and not over the Sicilian Channel. The Macaronesian fauna on the average is of an older origin than that of Northwest Africa.

Description: The phylogeny and biogeography of the western Palaearctic species of Nephrotoma are analyzed. Phylogeny is dealt with in a cladistic sense. Briefly outlined are criteria developed for polarity decisions as well as the r\xc3\xb4le assigned to parallelisms. Representatives of fourty-one Holarctic (sub)genera were examined in order to establish the sistergroup of Nephrotoma. The internal hypopygial stuctures of these taxa are discussed and the following cluster of closely related taxa is recognized: Dolichopeza s. str., Oropeza, Nesopeza, Prionocera, Trichotipula, and Scamboneura, Nephrotoma. The two last-mentioned taxa are considered sistergroups.\nThe western Palaearctic Nephrotoma species are assigned here to four monophyletic groups: cornicina group, dorsalis group, brevipennis group, and crocata group.\nIn the section dealing with biogeography, an attempt is made to correlate the phylogeny of the cornicina and crocata groups with glacial-interglacial cycles. In a further account the distribution patterns of all Palaearctic species are discussed in relation to Pleistocene and Holocene climatic fluctuations.\nThe origin of the genus is situated in early Tertiary East Asia. The brevipennis group, restricted to Madeira, is assumed to date back from at least Pliocene times. The dorsalis group, widespread throughout the Holarctic, apparently achieved its present range before the late Pliocene. It is intimated that the Pleistocene climatic oscillations had little effect on speciation within groups adapted to northern temperate or even cooler climates. This in contrast to the southern temperate and Mediterranean species groups such as the flavescens and crocata subgroups. The relative success of these two subgroups in post-Cromerian times may well be associated with their shift to more open habitats.

Description: A study, by immunoelectrophoresis and immunodiffusion of the shared antigens in venoms from 15 genera and 29 species of Old World Elapinae, tested with 9 reference immune sera, yielded a number of results of phylogenetic and systematic significance: 1. The genus Dendroaspis differs markedly from all the other Elapinae. 2. The Australian Elapinae do not constitute an homogeneous group: many genera possess numerous shared antigens with Bungarus and to a lesser extent with Naja, whereas Oxyuranus, Parademansia and Pseudonaja have very weak cross-reactivity with other Elapinae. 3. The African Naja differ to some extent from the Asiatic ones. The latter are homogeneous and seem to belong to a single species, Naja naja.