Species Description Research Papers - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

The five human senses are the result of complex psycho-physiological phenomena (Geldard, 1953) allowing us to perceive our environment. It is important to stress the psychoneurological aspect of biological processes involving our senses.... more

The five human senses are the result of complex psycho-physiological phenomena (Geldard, 1953) allowing us to perceive our environment. It is important to stress the psychoneurological aspect of biological processes involving our senses. Indeed, without this link between memory and senses, the latter would not be as important. Identifying a fungus in situ is difficult, but remembering it is even more so. When identifying a fungus in the field, four of our five senses are mainly involved: touch, smell, taste, and sight. Hearing does not help in direct identification of the fungus. In this series of articles, the role and importance of these four senses in identifying a fungus are non-exhaustively reviewed.

The genus Gentiana (Gentianaceae), dis- tributed in temperate and cold regions of the Northern Hemisphere, is represented in Mexico by 13 species plus one subspecies. Most of these are endemic, with only two also registered from... more

The genus Gentiana (Gentianaceae), dis- tributed in temperate and cold regions of the Northern Hemisphere, is represented in Mexico by 13 species plus one subspecies. Most of these are endemic, with only two also registered from Guatemala. A synop- sis of the genus in Mexico is presented, including a key for the identifi cation of the species, descriptions, and ecological

The forest batis, Batis mixta, is a common bird of the forests of the Eastern Arc Mountains of Tanzania and in some adjacent montane and coastal forests. Through new collecting efforts in most of this range we documented a well-marked... more

The forest batis, Batis mixta, is a common bird of the forests of the Eastern Arc Mountains of Tanzania and in some adjacent montane and coastal forests. Through new collecting efforts in most of this range we documented a well-marked change in morphology in the middle of the range. Supplementary genetic studies of the historical population structure suggest connectivity among

The degree of completeness of the western Palaearctic inventory of the genus Aphthona and the factors that have determined the process of species description in the region were analysed. The historic species accumulation curve shows no... more

The degree of completeness of the western Palaearctic inventory of the genus Aphthona and the factors that have determined the process of species description in the region were analysed. The historic species accumulation curve shows no asymptotic trend so no accurate estimations could be made of the number of species to be discovered in the future, but the shape of the curve indicates that a significant proportion of the taxa remains yet-to-be-described and thus further taxonomic effort will be needed. In order to optimise this taxonomic work, several morphologic, trophic and geographic variables of Aphthona species were analysed, in a search for the factors that have influenced the probability of discovery of taxa and thus to estimate the characteristics of the yet-to-be-described species. General Regression Models and variation partitioning were used to assess the influence on the process of species description of body size and colour, trophic range, number of host plants, geographic range size, maximum and minimum latitude and longitude. Morphological variables are not statistically significant in explaining the variation in the year of description, whereas trophic and geographic variables are essential determinants. The pure effects of geographic range size, trophic variables and geographic location of taxa are negligible, but the shared effects between the three groups of variables account for important portions of the variation; the whole model explains 64% of the variance. Widely distributed and trophic generalist species living in northern and western areas of the western Palaearctic region were described first. Extrapolation of the observed pattern should yield an estimate of the probable features and location of the yet-to-be-described species. New Aphthona should be searched for southwards and eastwards, distributed in small areas and living on a single, or very few, host plants.

Which factors determine whether a species is obvious to collectors? For some taxa, species of small body size tend to be described later than large-bodied species, perhaps because large animals are more obvious or easily captured. Thus it... more

Which factors determine whether a species is obvious to collectors? For some taxa, species of small body size tend to be described later than large-bodied species, perhaps because large animals are more obvious or easily captured. Thus it has been proposed that current estimates of species numbers within taxa may be biased, as they may not include small species. However,

The forest batis, Batis mixta, is a common bird of the forests of the Eastern Arc Mountains of Tanzania and in some adjacent montane and coastal forests. Through new collecting efforts in most of this range we documented a well-marked... more

The forest batis, Batis mixta, is a common bird of the forests of the Eastern Arc Mountains of Tanzania and in some adjacent montane and coastal forests. Through new collecting efforts in most of this range we documented a well-marked change in morphology in the middle of the range. Supplementary genetic studies of the historical population structure suggest connectivity among

The genus Lasiosphaeria recently has been circumscribed more narrowly to include five mor-phospecies united by tomentose ascomata containing yellow centrum pigments. Species boundaries have not been established and phylogenetic... more

The genus Lasiosphaeria recently has been circumscribed more narrowly to include five mor-phospecies united by tomentose ascomata containing yellow centrum pigments. Species boundaries have not been established and phylogenetic relationships have not been clearly defined for these morphospecies. To delimit species boundaries and determine phylogenetic relationships among species, maximum parsimony, maximum likelihood and Bayesian analyses were conducted on sequence data from four nuclear genes, the ribosomal internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region, 28S large subunit (LSU) rDNA, β-tubulin and ribosomal polymerase II subunit 2 (RPB2). Representatives of L. glabrata, L. ovina, L. rugulosa and L. sorbina resolved as four highly supported monophyletic groups in almost all analyses and are recognized as well-defined species employing principles of genealogical concordance. These species delimitations are corroborated further by morphology. Representatives of L. lanuginosa were polyphylet...

The hamate dandelion section (Taraxacum sect. Hamata H. Øllg.) represents a morphologically tight group of taxa, distributed in the oceanic and sub-oceanic regions of Europe. In Central Europe, it is mostly confined to freshly moist... more

The hamate dandelion section (Taraxacum sect. Hamata H. Øllg.) represents a morphologically tight group of taxa, distributed in the oceanic and sub-oceanic regions of Europe. In Central Europe, it is mostly confined to freshly moist meadows, as well as places in the shade within urban areas. The known distribution area in Europe until now extended towards the E part of the Czech Republic and S Poland. During the past six years, we have discovered an additional eleven localities of hamate dandelions in NW and N Slovakia, which represents a corrected south-eastern limit for the distribution area of this section. In this paper, we discuss seven recognized taxa (T. boekmanii, T. fusciflorum, T. hamatiforme, Taraxacum hamatum, T. lamprophyllum, T. pseudohamatum, and T. quadrans). We provide a determinative key to the Slovakian hamate dandelions, brief species descriptions, comments on their distribution, a distribution map of the section in Slovakia, as well as images of all of the newly found species.