Structural and functional aspects of tail squirting: a unique defense mechanism of Diplodactylus (Reptilia: Gekkonidae)

1980 ◽  
Vol 58 (5) ◽  
pp. 865-881 ◽  
Author(s):  
Herbert I. Rosenberg ◽  
Anthony P. Russell

The structure of a unique caudal gland is described for the first time. Glandular material is secreted and stored in a series of caudal chambers that makes up the bulk of the tail. The glandular secretion is forcibly ejected from each chamber through a middorsal rupture zone in the epidermis. Localized contraction of caudal musculature causes ejection of the defensive secretion.All species of Diplodactylus that were known or suspected to be tail squirters plus representatives from each of four other species groups were examined. The following species of Diplodactylus have caudal glands: D. ciliaris, D. elderi, D. michaelseni, D. spinigerus, D. strophurus, D. taenicauda, and D. williamsi.Regenerated tails of gland-bearing species contain a regenerated caudal gland which is structurally different from the original. Here all evidence of segmentation is lost and there is no series of epidermal rupture zones. A pair of elongated secretion masses is found within paired, elongated caudal chambers.The results of a preliminary bioassay indicated that caudal gland secretion may be unpalatable to potential predators and thereby protects the species of Diplodactylus that are tail squirters. The very sticky nature of the secretion may complement the repellant effects of the odorous constituents.

2009 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 285-290
Author(s):  
I.Ya. Grichanov ◽  
M.B. Mostovski

The genus Systenus Loew, 1857 is recorded from Afrotropical Region for the first time. A description of a new species, Systenus africanus Grichanov sp. nov., and notes on females of another probably new Afrotropical species are provided. The genus is considered now as cosmopolitan. A key to species and species groups of the Systenus worldwide is compiled.


Zootaxa ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 4769 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-81
Author(s):  
DE-YAO ZHOU

The genus Morphostenophanes Pic, 1925 is redefined and revised. Seventeen new species and three new subspecies are described, including M. aenescens yelang Zhou, new subspecies, M. bannaensis Zhou, new species, M. brevigaster Zhou, new species, M. chongli Zhou, new species, M. crassus Zhou, new species, M. furvus Zhou, new species, M. furvus weishanus Zhou, new subspecies, M. gaoligongensis Zhou, new species, M. iridescens Zhou, new species, M. lincangensis Zhou, new species, M. linglong Zhou, new species, M. metallicus Zhou, new species, M. minor, Zhou, new species, M. planus Zhou, new species, M. purpurascens Zhou, new species, M. sinicus Zhou, new species, and M. yunnanus Zhou, new species from Yunnan, China; M. chongli glaber Zhou, new subspecies from Yunnan, China and North Vietnam; M. curvitibialis Zhou, new species from Guangxi, China, and M. luoxiaoshanus Zhou, new species from Hunan, Hubei and Jiangxi, China. M. birmanicus (Kaszab, 1980) is recorded from China (Yunnan) for the first time. M. papillatus Kaszab, 1941 is firstly recorded from Yunnan and Sichuan, China. Two poorly known species, M. aenescens Pic, 1925 and M. vietnamicus Kaszab, 1980 are redescribed. Male of M. atavus (Kaszab, 1960) is described in detail. Misidentifications of M. aenescens Pic. 1925 and M. atavus (Kaszab, 1960) in previous works are corrected. Six species groups are proposed. A species catalog, identification key and distributional maps for the genus are given. 


Zootaxa ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 4349 (1) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
PAWEŁ JAŁOSZYŃSKI

The tribe Cephenniini is for the first time reported to occur in the Himalaya Mountains, and 58 species are described: Cephennomicrus arunensis sp. n., Cm. acupunctatus sp. n., Cm. taplejungensis sp. n., Hlavaciellus primitivus sp. n., Cephennodes (s. str.) cavifrons sp. n., C. (s. str.) pampinosus sp. n., C. (s. str.) bagmatianus sp. n., C. (s. str.) popeye sp. n., C. (s. str.) clavodentatus sp. n., C. (s. str.) meredaranus sp. n., C. (s. str.) yangrianus sp. n., C. (s. str.) suturalis sp. n., C. (s. str.) karnaliensis sp. n., C. (s. str.) churtanus sp. n., C. (s. str.) sermathangensis sp. n., C. (s. str.) tipulipes sp. n., C. (s. str.) yeti sp. n., C. (s. str.) inflaticornis sp. n., C. (s. str.) dolakhanus sp. n., C. (s. str.) manangensis sp. n., C. (s. str.) martensi sp. n., C. (s. str.) paramartensi sp. n., C. (s. str.) monolaminatus sp. n., C. (s. str.) thakanus sp. n., C. (s. str.) annapurnaensis sp. n., C. (s. str.) parbatensis sp. n., C. (s. str.) letheanus sp. n., C. (s. str.) myagdiensis sp. n., C. (s. str.) malla sp. n., C. (s. str.) gorkha sp. n., C. (s. str.) tharepatianus sp. n., C. (s. str.) minisulcatus sp. n., C. (s. str.) mustangensis sp. n., C. (s. str.) lalitpuranus sp. n., C. (s. str.) paralalitpuranus sp. n., C. (s. str.) bahrabisensis sp. n., C. (s. str.) bilaminatus sp. n., C. (s. str.) ghorepanianus sp. n., C. (s. str.) cordilaminatus sp. n., C. (s. str.) mangmayanus sp. n. C. (s. str.) bilobatus sp. n., C. (s. str.) gokarnaensis sp. n., C. (s. str.) pseudogokarnaensis sp. n., C. (s. str.) mahisapala sp. n., C. (s. str.) licchavi sp. n., C. (s. str.) gopala sp. n., C. (s. str.) paniporuanus sp. n., C. (s. str.) brachyclavatus sp. n., C. (s. str.) phulchokianus sp. n., C. (s. str.) pokharensis sp. n., C. (s. str.) newar sp. n., C. (s. str.) kusunda sp. n., C. (s. str.) sindhupalchowk sp. n., C. (s. str.) furcatus sp. n., C. (s. str.) penicillipes sp. n., C. (s. str.) sulcatus sp. n., C. (s. str.) kalopanianus sp. n., and C. (s. str.) poonensis sp. n. Cephennodes popeye occurs in Bhutan; all remaining species inhabit Nepal. Four new species groups are established in Cephennodes, and a checklist of all Cephennodes species placed in species groups is given. The presumably plesiomorphic morphological structures of H. primitivus are discussed, and comparative notes on the Himalayan Cephenniini fauna are presented.  


Zootaxa ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 4995 (2) ◽  
pp. 303-333
Author(s):  
SHUXIA WANG ◽  
XIAOJU ZHU ◽  
ZHULIN TAO

Eighteen new species of the genus Meleonoma Meyrick are described: M. arcivalvata sp. nov., M. chongqingensis sp. nov., M. curvativa sp. nov., M. curvitaeniana sp. nov., M. dilatifasciata sp. nov., M. fasciptera sp. nov., M. globoidea sp. nov., M. graciliclavata sp. nov., M. grandivalvula sp. nov., M. lunata sp. nov., M. medispinea sp. nov., M. proapicalis sp. nov., M. raphidacantha sp. nov., M. sinuaclavata sp. nov., M. tenuiclavata sp. nov., M. tetrodonta sp. nov. M. ventridentata sp. nov. and M. ventrisinuata sp. nov. The female of M. similifloralis (Wang, 2006) is described for the first time. Images of both adults and genitalia are provided. All species are divided into two species-groups, the dentivalvata species-group and the fasciptera species-group. A key to each group and maps showing the distribution of each group in China are given.  


1978 ◽  
Vol 110 (9) ◽  
pp. 957-1001 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian M. Smith

AbstractLarvae of 13 species representing eight genera and seven families of Arrenuroidea are described, including those of Momonia marciae Habeeb, Midea expansa Marshall, Midea alaris Young (? = M. determina Marshall), Laversia berulophila Cook, Mideopsis (s.s.) crassipes Soar, Mideopsis (s.s.) borealis Habeeb, Mideopsis (s.s.) marshallae Cook, and Mideopsis (Xystonotus) aspera (Wolcott) for the first time. Diagnoses and keys are provided for the genera, subgenera, and species groups involved. Information on host associations is given for each species. Observations on morphology and host associations of these larvae provide the basis for an original, though preliminary, outline of phylogeny in the superfamily.


2014 ◽  
Vol 46 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 19 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paolo Audisio ◽  
Simone Sabatelli ◽  
Josef Jelìnek

A taxonomic revision of members of the genus <em>Meligethes</em> Stephens, 1830 is carried out. Taxonomic and distributional notes are provided on fiftythree <em>Meligethes</em> species, mostly known from the Eastern Palearctic and marginally from the Western Palearctic and the Oriental Regions. Among these, twentythree new species of <em>Meligethes</em> are diagnosed, figured and described: <em>M</em>. <em>argentithorax</em> sp. n. (Central China: Shaanxi, Shanxi), <em>M</em>. <em>aurantirugosus</em> sp. n. (Nepal),<em> M. aureolineatus</em> sp. n. (Central China: Sichuan), <em>M. aurifer</em> sp. n. (Central China: Shaanxi, Shanxi), <em>M. brassicogethoides</em> sp. n. (SW China: Yunnan), <em>M. clinei</em> sp. n. (SW China: Yunnan), <em>M. elytralis</em> sp. n. (Central China: Sichuan), <em>M. ferruginoides</em> sp. n. (Central China: Sichuan), <em>M.</em> <em>cinereoargenteus</em> sp. n. (Central China: Sichuan), <em>M. henan</em> sp. n. (Central China: Henan), <em>M. luteoornatus</em> sp. n. (SW China: Yunnan), <em>M. marmota</em> sp. n. (Nepal), <em>M. nivalis</em> sp. n. (SW and central China: Xizang and Chongqing), <em>M. martes</em> sp. n. (Central China: Shaanxi, Shanxi, Sichuan), <em>M. nigroaeneus</em> sp. n. (SW China: Yunnan), <em>M. occultus</em> sp. n. (SW China: Yunnan), <em>M</em>. <em>pseudochinensis</em> sp. n. (Central China: Hubei), <em>M. pseudopectoralis</em> sp. n. (SW China: Yunan),<em> M. schuelkei</em> sp. n. (Central China: Sichuan, Shaanxi), <em>M. simulator</em> sp. n. (Central-N China: Shanxi), <em>M. stenotarsus</em> sp. n. (SW China: Yunnan, Xizang), <em>M. tryznai</em> sp. n. (SW China: Yunnan), and <em>M. volkovichi</em> sp. n. (SW China: Yunnan). Revaluations at specific rank from synonymy are introduced for <em>Meligethes lutra</em> Solsky 1860, and for <em>M. melleus</em> Grouvelle, 1908. Three new synonymies are established: <em>Meligethes brevipilus</em> Kirejtshuk, 1980 = <em>M. auripilis</em> Reitter, 1889 (syn. n.), <em>Meligethes zakharenkoi</em> Kirejtshuk, 2005 = <em>M. shirakii</em> Sadanari Hisamatsu, 1956 (syn. n.), and <em>Meligethes shirozui</em> Sadanari Hisamatsu, 1965 =<em> M. wagneri</em> Rebmann, 1956 (syn. n.). Complete redescriptions are given for <em>Meligethes binotatus</em> Grouvelle, 1894, <em>M. castanescens</em> Grouvelle, 1903, <em>M. ferrugineus</em> Reitter, 1873, and <em>M. melleus</em> Grouvelle, 1908. The male of <em>Meligethes lloydi</em> Easton, 1968, is described and figured for the first time. The female genitalia of <em>Meligethes auricomus</em> Rebmann, 1956, <em>M. cinereus</em> Jelínek, 1978, and <em>M. griseus</em> Jelínek, 1978 are described and figured for the first time. Available information on insect-host-plant relationships and ecology are summarized for each species; probably all are associated as larvae with flowers of Rosaceae, chiefly of members of the closely related genera <em>Rosa</em> L., <em>Rubus</em> L., <em>Prunus</em> L., and <em>Crataegus</em> Tourn. ex L. All treated species are grouped in two here revaluated subgenera (<em>Meligethes</em> s.str. and <em>Odonthogethes</em> Reitter, 1871), and tentatively grouped also in species-groups and (when necessary) species-complexes, based on their morphology.


ZooKeys ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 996 ◽  
pp. 59-91
Author(s):  
Ruttapon Srisonchai ◽  
Natdanai Likhitrakarn ◽  
Chirasak Sutcharit ◽  
Ekgachai Jeratthitikul ◽  
Warut Siriwut ◽  
...  

The micropolydesmoid millipede family Haplodesmidae is here recorded from Cambodia for the first time through the discovery of the first, new species of the genus Eutrichodesmus Silvestri, 1910: E. cambodiensissp. nov. This new species is described from two limestone habitats in Kampot Province, based on abundant material. It is easily distinguished from all related congeners by the following combination of characters: body greyish-brown; limbus roundly lobulate; solenomere partially divided from acropodite by a digitiform lobe, but without hairpad. Brief remarks on the previously-proposed “pecularis-group” are provided and a second group, the “demangei-group”, is established and discussed on the basis of morphological evidence, updating the number of recognised species groups of Eutrichodesmus to two. Detailed morphological illustrations, photographs and a distribution map, as well as remarks on its habitat and mating behaviour of the new species are presented. Furthermore, the current distributions of all 55 presently-known species of Eutrichodesmus are provided and a key to all 23 species that occur in mainland Southeast Asia is given.


2002 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 185-237 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jason P.W. Hall

AbstractA phylogenetic revision of the Neotropical riodinid genus Calydna Doubleday and relatives is presented. A phylogenetic analysis for all twenty species of Calydna using thirty-eight characters of adult morphology generated four most parsimonious cladograms. Calydna is characterised to contain eighteen species, divided here into three monophyletic species groups with the relationship caieta group + (thersander group + hiria group). A new genus Echydna Hall gen. n. is described for the most basal clade, containing chaseba Hewitson and punctata C. & R. Felder, which are transferred from Calydna (combs. n.). The taxonomy, morphology, biogeography and biology of both genera are discussed, locality data is listed and mapped, and the adults and male and female genitalia are illustrated for all species. Concealed male abdominal androconial scales, which phylogenetically unite the thersander and hiria groups, are reported for the first time outside of the tribes Symmachiini and Nymphidiini. Two new species are described, Calydna jeannea sp. n. and Calydna nicolayi sp. n., and the replacement name fissilisima is provided for the unavailable name fissilis Stichel; maculosa Bates is transferred from Calydna to Callistium Stichel (comb. n.).


2018 ◽  
Vol 66 (5) ◽  
pp. 379 ◽  
Author(s):  
Igor Ballego-Campos ◽  
Elder Antônio Sousa Paiva

Colleters are common among eudicotyledons, but few records exist for monocotyledons and other groups of plants. For Bromeliaceae, mucilage secretions that protect the young portions of the plant have been observed only in the reproductive axis, and little is known about the secretory systems behind this or even other kind of secretions in the family. We aimed to describe, for the first time, the occurrence of colleters associated with the vegetative shoot of Aechmea blanchetiana (Baker) L.B.Sm., and elucidate aspects of their structure, ultrastructure and secretory activity. Samples of various portions of the stem axis were prepared according to standard methods for light and electron microscopy. Colleters were found compressed in the axillary portion of leaves and in all leaf developmental stages. Secretory activity, however, was found to be restricted to young and unexpanded leaves. The colleters displayed a flattened hand-like shape formed by a multiseriate stalk and an expanded secretory portion bearing elongated marginal cells. Ultrastructural data confirmed that the secretory role of the colleters is consistent with mucilaginous secretion. The functional roles of the colleters are discussed with regard to environmental context and intrinsic features of the plant, such as the presence of a water-impounding tank.


Zootaxa ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 5005 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-40
Author(s):  
SCOTT J. FITZGERALD

Four new Neotropical species of Plecia Wiedemann (Diptera: Bibionidae) are described: P. abruptavena sp. n. (Colombia), P. elsalvadorensis sp. n. (El Salvador), P. nessiae sp. n. (Brazil), and P. schusteri sp. n. (Guatemala). Additionally, P. marginata Edwards is redescribed and the male described for the first time. A discussion of Neotropical species-groups is given and three species-groups based on male terminalia are outlined to include the new taxa: the americana-group (7 species), nigra-group (13 species), and xyele-group (2 species).


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