The Hydroporini (Coleoptera : Dytiscidae : Hydroporinae) of New Guinea: Systematics, distribution and origin of the fauna

1995 ◽  
Vol 9 (5) ◽  
pp. 1009 ◽  
Author(s):  
M Balke

Only one species of Hydroporini, Megaporus piceatus (RCgimbart, 1892), has been known from New Guinea. M. piceatus is very similar to the Australian M. ruficeps (Sharp, 1882) and study of additional material is neccessary to determine its status. Chostonectes maai, sp. nov., is described from Papua New Guinea. Its sister-species is the Australian C. gigas (Boheman, 1858). The classification of the genera Megaporus Brinck, 1943, and Chostonectes Sharp, 1882, is discussed, and autapomorphies for both groups are suggested. The following species of Hydroporini are reported from New Guinea for the first time: Megaporus sp., Antiporus sp., and Sternoprisccts hansardi (Clark, 1862). A total of five Hydroporini species is now known from New Guinea. All are Australian, or of Australian origin. The New Guinean Hydroporini are not a monophyletic group. The factors delimiting the distribution of Hydroporini in New Guinea are climate and perhaps also vegetation. Australian Hydroporini are adapted to a seasonal climate and most of them also to open forests/woodland.

1972 ◽  
Vol os-19 (5) ◽  
pp. 214-218
Author(s):  
David Scorza

Folklore among the Au of Papua New Guinea takes three forms: Tipiitim Tipiir, tales told the ancestors by the spirits; Tipiitim Herwe, tales invented by the ancestors; and Him, tales invented by the older men. The first are basically etiological, the second provide emotional release and entertainment, and the third show attempts to cope with the cultural flux which followed the arrival of Europeans. Certain Scriptural parallels are explored, with their implications for crosscultural communication of the gospel.


1992 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
AD Austin ◽  
PC Dangerfield

The genera of microgastrine braconid wasps present in the Australasian region (defined as Australia, New Zealand, New Caledonia, New Guinea, Solomon Is, Fiji Is, Samoan Is, Cook Is, but not French Polynesia) are reviewed. An illustrated key to genera, comments on their taxonomy, and information on the distribution and host relationships of species are provided. Following examination of holotypes, the generic placement of all species recorded from the region is reassessed since a recent generic reclassification of the subfamily left most of the Australasian species incorrectly placed. Parapanteles Ashmead (N.T.), Fornicia Brullé (Qld) and Deuterixys Mason (Qld) are recorded from Australasia for the first time, while Buluka De Seager, Parenion Nixon, Snellenius Westwood and Wilkinsonellus Mason, previously known from Australasia, are recorded from mainland Australia for the first time. The genus Austrocotesia is described as new [with A. exigua, sp. nov. (Papua New Guinea) as the type species], along with the following 14 species: Austrocotesia delicata, sp. nov. (Papua New Guinea, Qld), A. paradoxa, sp. nov. (Papua New Guinea), Buluka collessi, sp. nov. (Qld), Deuterixys anica, sp. nov. (Vic., N.S. W., Qld), Fornicia commoni, sp. nov. (Qld), Glyptapanteles deliasa, sp. nov. (S.A.), Microgaster nixoni, sp. nov. (Tas., N.S.W.), Parapanteles masoni, sp. nov. (N.T.), Parenion beelaronga, sp. nov. (Qld), P. bootha, sp. nov. (Qld), Sathon albicoxa, sp. nov. (Tas., Vic., N.S.W.), S. naryciae, sp. nov. (Vic.), Wilkinsonellus amplus, sp. nov. (Qld, N.T.) and W. tomi, sp. nov. (Papua New Guinea, New Britain, Qld). Glyptapanteles guyanensis (Cameron), comb. nov. is excluded from the Australasian fauna; the name Glyptapanteles fullawayi, nom. nov. (Samoa) is proposed for Apanteles opercuiinae var. polita Fullaway; lectotypes are designated for Cotesia deliadis (Bingham), comb. nov. (Qld), C. philoeampa (Cameron), comb. nov. (N.S.W) and C. rufiventris (Bingham), comb. nov. (Qld); Glyptapanteles operculinae (Fullaway), comb. nov. (Samoa), Microgaster kuchingensis Wilkinson (Papua New Guinea) and Sathon moratus (Wilkinson), comb. nov. (Vic., S.A., W.A.) are redescribed; and 41 additional new combinations are proposed.


Zootaxa ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 3444 (1) ◽  
pp. 40 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. O. SHATTUCK ◽  
N. R. GUNAWARDENE ◽  
B. HETERICK

Five species of the rarely encountered ant genus Probolomyrmex are known from Australia and Papua New Guinea, four of which are described here for the first time. Two species belong to the greavesi species-group (P. greavesi, P. latalongus sp. n.) while three belong to the longinodus species-group (P. aliundus sp. n., P. newguinensis sp. n., P. simplex sp. n.). The genus is now known to occur broadly across northern Australia and P. newguinensis and P. simplex are the first species of the genus described from Papua New Guinea. A key to Australian and Melanesian species is provided.


Zootaxa ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 4816 (3) ◽  
pp. 333-349 ◽  
Author(s):  
SHANE T. AHYONG ◽  
PETER K.L. NG

Three new Indo-West Pacific species of pinnotherid crabs are described, one each of Arcotheres, Buergeres and Nepinnotheres. Arcotheres pollus, described from Paway Island, Mergui Archipelago, is most similar to A. boninensis (Stimpson, 1858), A. pernicola (Bürger, 1895) and A. purpureus (Alcock, 1900), sharing a transversely ovate carapace and long, slender, almost styliform dactyli of P4 and 5 that are about twice the length of those of P2 and 3. Buergeres choprai, described from Papua New Guinea, is most similar to B. deccanesis (Chopra, 1931) from eastern India but differentiated by segment proportions and setation of the walking legs. Buergeres tenuipes (Bürger, 1895) is synonymised with B. ortmanni (Bürger, 1895), which is also reported for the first time from Indonesia. A male of an undetermined species of Buergeres from the Philippines, possibly B. ortmanni, is figured and described, documenting the gonopod morphology in Buergeres for the first time. A key to the species of Buergeres based on females is provided. Nepinnotheres fulvia sp. nov. is also described from Papua New Guinea, and resembles N. cardii (Bürger, 1895) from the Philippines and Malaysia but can be distinguished by features of the chelipeds and maxilliped 3. 


1997 ◽  
Vol 28 (4) ◽  
pp. 445-470
Author(s):  
Marianne Horak

AbstractDue to confusion about the type species the Australian genus Ctenomeristis Meyrick has been misinterpreted. The genus is revised, comprising the type species Ctenomeristis almella (Meyrick), and Ctenorneristis subfuscella (Hampson), Ctenomeristis paucicornuti sp. n., Ctenomeristis albata sp. n. (present also in Papua New Guinea), Ctenomeristis shafferi sp. n. and Ctenomeristis sebasmia (Meyrick) comb. n. The genus Eremographa Meyrick syn. n. is synonymised with Ctenomeristis. A cladistic analysis and comprehensive illustrations draw attention to the remarkably homoplasious antenna and labial palpus in a clearly monophyletic group with uniquely derived male genitalia. Lectotypes are designated for Ceroprepes almella Meyrick and Odontarthria subfuscella Hampson.


1998 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 107-122
Author(s):  
Christin Kocher-Schmid

AbstractBiodiversity is not exclusively a product of pristine natural processes but is also, to a considerable degree, caused by human activities. This is demonstrated by a detailed inspection of the use and classification of plants by the people of Nokopo village in the Finisterre Range of Papua New Guinea. Nokopo people recognise and value biodiversity on all its levels - genetic diversity, species diversity and diversity of ecosystems - and their activities enhance overall biodiversity. This can be partly explained by the usefulness biodiversity has to them, in terms of resource access and other utilitarian considerations. On the other hand, aesthetic concepts and values make a significant contribution. Both these intrinsically interwoven components - the utilitarian and the aesthetic component respectively - form the base for understanding the major role humans play in creating and maintaining biodiversity, the role of keystone species enhancing overall biodiversity in a given ecosystem.


Zootaxa ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 1178 (1) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. JOHN TENNENT

A systematic checklist of the butterflies of Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia is presented. A significant number of previously unpublished island records were found in major museum collections in the UK, Australia and the USA. Aspects of butterfly distribution, authorship of names, and taxonomy are addressed, and sources for about 2,200 published butterfly names are incorporated in a comprehensive bibliography of Pacific butterflies. Combined with recent publications dealing with specific areas, such as Papua New Guinea, a working systematic checklist of Pacific Region butterflies is available for the first time.


2003 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 67
Author(s):  
E. D. Edwards

The genus Eriogenes Meyrick, with three species, is reviewed. A lectotype of Phanaca cossoides Butler is designated and the species placed in Eriogenes as a senior subjective synonym of E. meyricki Duckworth. The known species of Eriogenes Meyrick, E. mesogypsa Meyrick and E. cossoides both described from Papua New Guinea, are redescribed based on Australian material and E. mesogypsa is recorded from Australia for the first time. A third, and new, species from Australia is described here as E. nielseni, sp. nov. Females of Eriogenes were previously unknown but females of two species are described here. Characters to differentiate Eriogenes and Agriophara Rosenstock are discussed.


2008 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 243-266 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. R. Tappin ◽  
P. Watts ◽  
S. T. Grilli

Abstract. The Papua New Guinea (PNG) tsunami of July 1998 was a seminal event because it demonstrated that relatively small and relatively deepwater Submarine Mass Failures (SMFs) can cause devastating local tsunamis that strike without warning. There is a comprehensive data set that proves this event was caused by a submarine slump. Yet, the source of the tsunami has remained controversial. This controversy is attributed to several causes. Before the PNG event, it was questionable as to whether SMFs could cause devastating tsunamis. As a result, only limited modelling of SMFs as tsunami sources had been undertaken, and these excluded slumps. The results of these models were that SMFs in general were not considered to be a potential source of catastrophic tsunamis. To effectively model a SMF requires fairly detailed geological data, and these too had been lacking. In addition, qualitative data, such as evidence from survivors, tended to be disregarded in assessing alternative tsunami sources. The use of marine geological data to identify areas of recent submarine failure was not widely applied. The disastrous loss of life caused by the PNG tsunami resulted in a major investigation into the area offshore of the devastated coastline, with five marine expeditions taking place. This was the first time that a focussed, large-scale, international programme of marine surveying had taken place so soon after a major tsunami. It was also the first time that such a comprehensive data set became the basis for tsunami simulations. The use of marine mapping subsequently led to a larger involvement of marine geologists in the study of tsunamis, expanding the knowledge base of those studying the threat from SMF hazards. This paper provides an overview of the PNG tsunami and its impact on tsunami science. It presents revised interpretations of the slump architecture based on new seabed relief images and, using these, the most comprehensive tsunami simulation of the PNG event to date. Simulation results explain the measured runups to a high degree. The PNG tsunami has made a major impact on tsunami science. It is one of the most studied SMF tsunamis, yet it remains the only one known of its type: a slump.


Zootaxa ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 4410 (1) ◽  
pp. 177
Author(s):  
M. B. MALIPATIL

The assassin bugs of the genus Ptilocerus Gray, 1831 (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Reduviidae: Holoptilinae) occurring in the Australian Region are reviewed for the first time, resulting in the description of two new species, viz., P. spangenbergi sp. nov. (Queensland and Northern Territory, Australia) and P. papuensis sp. nov. (Papua New Guinea). The latter species differs from P. fuscus Gray, 1831 (the type-species of genus Ptilocerus) in a couple of major external morphological characters, hence its tentative placement in the genus Ptilocerus is discussed. A key for the separation of the two new species is provided. 


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