Phylogenetic revision of the psammophilic Trogloderus LeConte (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae), with biogeographic implications for the Intermountain Region

The genus Trogloderus LeConte, 1879, which is restricted to dunes and sandy habitats in the western United States, is revised using morphological and molecular information. Six new species are described from desert regions: Trogloderus arcanus New Species (Lahontan Trough); Trogloderus kandai New Species (Owens Valley); Trogloderus major New Species (Mohave Desert); Trogloderus skillmani New Species (eastern Great Basin and Mohave Desert); Trogloderus verpus New Species (eastern Colorado Plateau); and Trogloderus warneri New Species (western Colorado Plateau). A molecular phylogeny is presented for the genus and used to infer its historical biogeography. The most recent common ancestor of Trogloderus is dated to 5.2 mya and is inferred to have inhabited the Colorado Plateau. Current species most likely arose during the mid-Pleistocene where the geographic features of the Lahontan Trough, Bouse Embayment and Kaibab Plateau were significant factors driving speciation.

Nasal–Oral Water Administration for Rehydration of Juvenile Mohave Desert Tortoises

Some terrestrial chelonians, including Mohave desert tortoises Gopherus agassizii, reabsorb water from urine stored in their bladders, and thus they may experience an elevated risk of dehydration if they urinate in response to interactions with humans. Field biologists can use several methods to attempt to replace voided urine with hydrating fluids, but each has drawbacks or unknown efficacy. Here we evaluate the efficacy of offering juvenile Mohave desert tortoises water via needle-free syringe for ingestion through the nasal and oral passages. Only tortoises offered ≥ 12 mL of water, which equated to ≥ 40 mL of water/kg body weight, gained weight during the hydration attempt. We recommend that field biologists offer at least 40 mL of water/kg body weight when using the nasal–oral hydration method with a minimum of 15 mL offered regardless of body weight. The nasal–oral technique and minimum volume recommendations may be useful for other terrestrial chelonians, and we recommend attempting rehydration via this simple technique when alternate methods are not available to alleviate the potentially harmful effects of handling-induced loss of urine.

Mycoplasma testudineum sp. nov., from a desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizii) with upper respiratory tract disease

Mycoplasma testudineum sp. nov., first cultured from the upper respiratory tract of a clinically ill tortoise (Gopherus agassizii) in the Mohave Desert, was distinguished from previously described mollicutes serologically and by 16S rRNA gene sequence comparisons. It lacks a cell wall; ferments glucose, mannose, lactose and sucrose; does not produce ‘film and spots’; does not hydrolyse arginine, aesculin or urea; is sensitive to digitonin; and lacks phosphatase activity. The organism causes chronic rhinitis and conjunctivitis of tortoises. The type strain of M. testudineum is BH29T (=ATCC 700618T=MCCM 03231T).

Desert Nitrogen Cycles: Fecal Nitrogen From a Population of the Sahelian Tree Locust in Oman

This research quantifies the amount of nitrogen deposited by the tree locust, Anacridium melanorhodon, during an irregular population outbreak in an Acacia tortilis woodland in Oman. The average standing crop of feces was 65.28g m-2. The mean fecal crude protein and nitrogen were respectively, 20.14 and 3.22 g/100 gash-free dry weight. A hectare of this woodland would contain approximately 1.1 kg of fecal nitrogen beneath the trees. This single contribution by the locusts equals about one-third of the total standing crop of detrital nitrogen under perennial vegetation in a hectare of the Mohave Desert of North America. This, and the fact that grasshoppers are diverse and seasonally abundant in deserts, suggests they may be important organisms in nitrogen cycles.

The Case for Privatization

Should groves of quaking aspen in the National Forests of southwestern Colorado be maintained for those who delight in them, “so vibrant with light and motion, forever restless, always whispering, in tune like ballerinas to the music of the air,” and for ranchers, whose cows perhaps delight in the grass and shade they provide? Or should the trees be sold to Louisiana Pacific, which has figured out how to turn them into a cheaper substitute for plywood, thereby providing jobs in a not-too-prosperous area? Should portions of BLM land in the Mohave Desert be open to motorcycle races that draw thousands of participants, who “really love this sort of thing” and spend a lot of money in local communities? Or should they be withdrawn from off-road use as “critical habitat” for the endangered desert tortoise? Answers to questions like these may add up to one sort of answer to the question, “How should public lands be managed?” Insofar as the uses proposed for different parcels are consistent (so that, for example, silt from a logging operation doesn't destroy a downstream fishery), these answers will constitute a coherent plan of use for public lands. But this is not the kind of answer privatization advocates give. They do not argue directly for some pattern of use, local or global. Instead, they maintain that a system in which resources are private and individuals decide how theirs are to be used is better than one in which the private use of public resources is regulated by collective decisions. That is, they take the question “How should public lands be managed?” to ask not for a giant management plan that specifies the best use of each acre, but for a description of the institutions which best constrain decisions about use. Privatization advocates do propose to judge land-management institutions by results, but not by how closely these results fit some pattern they are prepared to specify in advance. Like politicians who tailor their pitch to their audience, they may suggest to each of various groups—environmentalists, loggers, ranchers, and others—that their interests in public lands will be better served by private management.