Monoecious Nitella species (Characeae, Charophyta) from south-eastern mainland Australia, including Nitella paludigena sp. nov.

2008 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 201 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michelle T. Casanova ◽  
Kenneth G. Karol

Identification of Australian species of Nitella is problematic. Several species of monoecious Nitella have been described from south-eastern mainland Australia, but identification of these based on current treatments has been difficult. In response to the discovery of a new monoecious Nitella from the swamps of the Fleurieu Peninsula in South Australia, the monoecious species of Nitella from south-eastern mainland Australia were examined and compared. N. paludigena M.T.Casanova & K.G.Karol is distinguished from other monoecious species on the basis of its overall vegetative morphology and oospore morphology. N. paludigena is found in peaty tea-tree (Leptospermum sp) swamps on the Fleurieu Peninsula in South Australia, and in the south-west of Victoria. A description of the morphology and ecology of the five monoecious Nitella species from south-eastern mainland Australia is given, along with a key.

1990 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
pp. 217 ◽  
Author(s):  
AJ Willis ◽  
JE Ash

The breeding systems of Stylidiurn grarninifolium and S. producturn (= S. grarninifoliurn var. caulescens) were studied by observing the phenology of individual flowers and inflorescences, and relating the data to a series of pollination experiments within and between the species. Inter-specific pollinations yielded similar levels of seed-set to crosses within the species indicating a close relationship between the taxa. Self-pollination of either species is uncommon; however, when it occurs, the majority of selfed ovules are aborted post-zygotically, probably by a system of recessive lethals, as there is no indication of an incompatibility system. It is concluded that the breeding systems of S. grarninifoliurn and S. productum, two of the few eastern Australian species, are similar to those of many Stylidiurn species from the south-west, casting doubt upon hypotheses that the breeding system has led to high rates of speciation in the south-west.


Koedoe ◽  
1996 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
D.E. Van Dijk

Surveys were made of the anuran fauna of the Khatse Dam catchment area in the Lesotho Highlands, and of the region between the Central Mountains and the Thaba Putsoa Range which would be affected by Phase 1B of the Lesotho Highlands Water Scheme, if implemented. The Khatse Dam is at present filling. Seven species of anurans were encountered in the Khatse Dam catchment, and five of them also in the valley to the south-west. Four taxa occur all around central Lesotho, but one, the Gariep toad, has its south-eastern limit on the Drakensberg Escarpment, and another. Gray's frog, shows indications in Lesotho, as elsewhere, of being distinct from the typical taxon. Two taxa are endemic to the mountains of the Lesotho region, the one being more rheophilic and more wide-spread. The remaining anuran, previously unknown in Lesotho, is now recorded from the highly characteristic, strongly rheophilic tadpoles, as Heleophryne. The various available habitats and the associated anurans are reviewed. Features of the reproductive cycles, are noted. Dispersal and isolation are outlined. Reference is made to the most probable additions to the anuran fauna which further collecting might reveal. The probable impact of the Khatse Dam is discussed.


2006 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 211 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen D. Hopper ◽  
Andrew P. Brown

We uphold the generic rank of Paracaleana on the basis of its divergent pollination syndrome (sexual deception of male thynnid wasps compared with pollination of Caleana by male sawflies), recent DNA sequence data demonstrating monophyly, and nomenclatural stability. Ten of the 13 species recognised herein are new, all endemic to the South-west Australian Floristic Region: Paracaleana alcockii, P. brockmanii, P. dixonii, P. gracilicordata, P. granitica, P. hortiorum, P. lyonsii, P. parvula, P. terminalis and P. triens. Although some of these taxa have subtle morphological differences, primarily of labellum morphology, evidence from other Australian orchid genera whose flowers sexually deceive wasp pollinators indicates that reproductive isolation is probable among close sister taxa in Paracaleana. Moreover, phenological, ecological and geographical differences help separate morphologically close sister taxa. P. disjuncta D.L. Jones is considered to extend from Victoria and South Australia west into the South-west Australian Floristic Region, where James Drummond first collected the species, probably in 1838. Additional research is needed on pollinators, molecular phylogeny, possibly undescribed taxa within P. nigrita and on the few putative hybrids identified in the genus.


1966 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 303 ◽  
Author(s):  
JA Mccomb

The sex form of each species in the flora of the south-west of Western Australia was determined, and the proportions of the different forms compared with data available for South Australia. Although the western flora has been substantially isolated since at least the mid Tertiary, no significant difference in the proportion of hermaphrodite species from that of South Australia was found. A re-analysis of the sex forms of the flora of the British Isles was also made, and it was found that this flora has a higher proportion of non-hermaphrodite species than has either Western Australia or South Australia. The possible evolutionary significance of these observations is discussed.


2014 ◽  
Vol 44 (2) ◽  
pp. 189-200 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marija Tabain ◽  
Andrew Butcher

Pitjantjatjara is a dialect of the Western Desert Language (WDL) of central Australia (Douglas 1958). The Western Desert Language is a member of the south-west Pama-Nyungan group. Together with Warnman, it forms the Wati sub-group. It is spoken by 4000–5000 people, and covers the widest geographical area of any language in Australia, stretching from Woomera in central northern South Australia, as far west as Kalgoorlie and Meekatharra and north to Balgo Hills, in Western Australia. The main dialects, which differ most in regards the lexicon but also to some extent in grammar and phonology, include Pitjantjatjara, Yankunytjatjara, Ngaanyatjarra, Ngaatjatjarra, Southern Luritja, Pintupi-Luritja, Kukatja, Gugarda, Ngalia, Wangkatja, Wangkatha, Manyjilyjarra, Kartutjarra and Yurlparija. It is perhaps more accurately conceived of as a dialect chain, whereby a dialect such as Pitjantjatjara is mutually intelligible with its neighbours Ngaanyatjatjarra and Yankunytjatjara, but not with dialects more distant than these, such as Kukatja and Manyjilyjarra.


1979 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 237 ◽  
Author(s):  
W Koste

Brachionus keikoa, sp. nov., Keratella shieli, sp. nov. (family Brachionidae Bartos, 1959), and Filinia pejleri var. grandis, var. nov. (family Filiniidae Bartos, 1959), from the River Murray at Mannum, South Australia, and Lecane ungulata var. australiensis, var. nov. (family Lecanidae Bartos, 1959), from waters associated with the Goulburn River at Alexandra, Victoria, are described and figured. B. keikoa has affinities with the angularis-caudatus species group, differing in the location of the foot-opening, the site of the lateral antennae, and in the morphology of the lorica surface. K. shieli is closely related to the quadrata species group, differing in the morphology of the caudal plate and lorica facets. L. (s.str.) ungulata var. australiensis differs from the type in the form of the anterior lorica border and in larger size. F. pejleri var. grandis has the greatest measurements in length of body and bristles of all described forms so far known from other continents. Figures of some 10 species of Brachionus and of eight species of Keratella are presented for comparative purposes.


The author, who had the command of His Majesty’s ship Algerine, was instructed to take charge of the enterprise commenced by the officers and crew of His Majesty’s ship Lightning, having for its object the recovery of the treasure and stores from the wreck of the Thetis, which, in the month of December 1830, had sunk in a cove to the south-east of Cape Frio. He reached this spot on the 6th of March, 1832, having with him eleven officers and eighty-five men. A certain number of men were appointed to remain on board the ship, which was moored in a harbour two miles off a party of artificers and others were employed at the huts which they inhabited near the Cape; and the rest, nearly thirty-five in number, were stationed at the wreck. The author gives a description of Cape Frio, and of the island of which it forms the south-eastern extremity, and which is an immense promontory of insulated granite jutting into the Atlantic Ocean, sixty miles east of Rio de Janeiro. The cove, in the middle of which the wreck of the Thetis lay, is a square indenture in the cliffs, six hundred feet deep by as many wide. It is surrounded by nearly perpendicular masses of granite, from one hundred to two hundred feet high, and is exposed to the whole swell of the South Atlantic, which sets in with remarkable force in that direction. The weather is singularly variable; and transitions frequently take place in the course of few hours, from perfect stillness to the most tremendous swell. The author states that he has witnessed few scenes in nature more sublime than that presented by the Thetis Cove during a gale of wind from the south-west.


1869 ◽  
Vol 6 (58) ◽  
pp. 167-173
Author(s):  
Henry Alleyne Nicholson

In the former portion of this paper, the Tipper or south-eastern boundary of the Skiddaw Slates, in their main area, had been traced from Troutbeck, on the N.E., as far as the head of Buttermere, onthe S.W. From this point (i.e. the north-western end of Honister Crag), the Skiddaw Slates can be traced for a very short distance across Warnscales Bottom. They are still overlaid by the felspathic trap and succeeding band of slates and breccias, which together compose Fleetwith Pike and the S.E. end of Honister Crag, and the relations between the two formations are the same as in the Gatescarth Valley. When however the pass of Scarf Gap on the south-west of Warnscales is reached, the Skiddaw Slates have disappeared and the base of the Green Slate Series now rests upon a great mass ofiatrusive felstone-porphyry (here almost a true syenite) which forms High Crag and High Stile. Though the Skiddaw Slates are absent here, it is interesting to observe that the stratification of the Green Slate Series can be particularly well made out in this region. The rugged hills to the S.E. of Scarf Gap are occupied by a prolongation of the great slaty band of Honister, but the beds have now to a great extent lost their former character, and have assumed very much the mineral aspect of trap, from which however they are easily distinguished by the fact that the bedding, in spite of a rough but well marked cleavage, is unusually distinct. The strata displayed in a number of magnificently moutonné'd crags and bosses, in which they are seen to undulate repeatedly, forming a series of small but well-preserved anticlinals and synclinals, the dips of which are N.N.W. and S.S.E. at angles of from 25° to 35°. The inclination therefore of these beds is only about half as high as that of the Skiddaw Slates in the Gatescarth Valley.


2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tim Dolby ◽  
Rohan Clarke

Finding Australian Birds is a guide to the special birds found across Australia's vastly varied landscapes. From the eastern rainforests to central deserts, Australia is home to some 900 species of birds. This book covers over 400 Australian bird watching sites conveniently grouped into the best birding areas, from one end of the country to the other. This includes areas such as Kakadu in the Top End and rocky gorges in the central deserts of the Northern Territory, the Great Barrier Reef in Queensland, rainforests distributed along the eastern Australian seaboard, some of the world's tallest forests in Tasmania, the Flinders Ranges and deserts along the iconic Strzelecki and Birdsville Tracks in South Australia, and the mallee temperate woodlands and spectacular coastlines in both Victoria and south west Western Australia. Each chapter begins with a brief description of the location, followed by a section on where to find the birds, which describes specific birdwatching sites within the location's boundaries, and information on accommodation and facilities. The book also provides a comprehensive 'Bird Finding Guide', listing all of Australia's birds with details on their abundance and where exactly to see them. Of value to both Australian birdwatchers and international visitors, this book will assist novices, birders of intermediate skill and keen 'twitchers' to find any Australian species.


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