Melinis maroccana (Melinidinae, Paniceae, Poaceae), a new combination for the Moroccan flora, and comments on related taxa

Phytotaxa ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 433 (1) ◽  
pp. 77-80
Author(s):  
MANUEL B. CRESPO ◽  
Mª ÁNGELES ALONSO ◽  
MARIO MARTÍNEZ-AZORÍN
Keyword(s):  
Mediterranean Basin ◽  
Pacific Islands ◽  
Arabian Peninsula ◽  
Invasive Alien Species ◽  
Cape Verde ◽  
Perennial Grasses ◽  
New Combination ◽  
Tropical Africa ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
The Mediterranean Basin

In the framework of a revision of the Iberian Paniceae Brown (1814: 582) for the Flora iberica project, we came across the aggregate of the “Natal grass”, Melinis repens (Willdenow 1797: 322) Zizka (1988: 55), a group of annual to short-lived perennial grasses being native and widely distributed in Tropical Africa, Arabian Peninsula, India, Cape Verde, and the Canary Islands. Only M. repens s.str. is currently naturalised in the Mediterranean basin, America, Australia, southeastern Asia and the Pacific Islands, where it was mostly introduced for ornamental use, forage or stabilization and cover on disturbed sites, and has become an invasive alien species (Kaufman 2012).

scholarly journals Colonization of Socorro Island (Mexico), by the tropical house gecko Hemidactylus frenatus (Squamata: Gekkonidae)

1969 ◽  
pp. 237-238
Author(s):  
Patricia Galina-Tessaro ◽  
Alfredo Ortega-Rubio ◽  
Sergio Alvarez-Cárdenas ◽  
Gustavo Arnaud
Keyword(s):  
Pacific Islands ◽  
Tropical Africa ◽  
Southern Asia ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Socorro Island ◽  
Hemidactylus Frenatus

Hemidactylus frenatus Schlegel is a nocturnal lizard widely distributed in Southern Asia, the Pacific Islands, tropical Africa, Australia and Polynesia (Smith and Taylor 1950, Bustard 1970).

scholarly journals The goblin spider genus Opopaea in Australia and the Pacific islands (Araneae: Oonopidae)

2013 ◽  
Vol 58 ◽  
pp. 107-338
Author(s):  
Barbara Baehr ◽  
◽  
Mark Harvey ◽  
H.M. Smith ◽  
R. Ott ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Pacific Islands ◽  
New Records ◽  
New Caledonia ◽  
New South ◽  
South Australia ◽  
New Combination ◽  
Australian Species ◽  
South Wales ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
New Synonymy

The widespread and highly diverse goblin spider genus Opopaea Simon is a pantropical genus with biodiversity hotspots in Africa, Asia and Australia. We revise the Australian and Pacific species of the genus, provide redescriptions of the Australian species O. banksi (Hickman) and the Micronesian species O. foveolata Roewer, and new records of the pantropical O. deserticola Simon and O. concolor (Blackwall), as well as O. apicalis (Simon) which is newly transferred from Epectris, after the new synonymy of Epectris with Opopaea. The following species are provisionally transferred from Epectris to Opopaea, pending investigations into their generic affinities: O. conujaingensis (Xu), new combination from China; and O. mollis (Simon), new combination from Sri Lanka. Most Pacific Islands are inhabited by the four above-mentioned species but the following 15 newly described species are most likely native to the islands: from Fiji (O. fiji), Hawaii (O. hawaii), Palau (O. palau), New Caledonia (O. amieu, O. bicolor, O. burwelli, O. calcaris, O. goloboffi, O. monteithi, O. ndoua, O. platnicki, O. raveni, O. striata, O. touho, O. tuberculata). We treat the Australian Opopaea fauna and recognise 84 species including 71 new and 13 previously described species. The new Australian species include 21 species from New South Wales (O. acuminata, O. addsae, O. bushblitz, O. gerstmeieri, O. lebretoni, O. linea (also occurs in Queensland), O. magna, O. margaretehoffmannae, O. martini, O. michaeli, O. milledgei, O. nitens, O. ottoi, O. plana, O. simplex, O. sturt, O. suelewisae, O. sylvestrella, O. tenuis, O. ursulae, O. yorki); six from Northern Territory (O. ephemera, O. fishriver, O. gilliesi, O. johardingae, O. preecei, O. wongalara); 13 from Queensland (O. ameyi, O. brisbanensis, O. broadwater, O. carnarvon, O. carteri, O. chrisconwayi, O. douglasi, O. lambkinae, O. leichhardti, O. mcleani, O. proserpine, O. stanisici, O. ulrichi); three from South Australia (O. millbrook, O. mundy, O. stevensi); and 28 from Western Australia (O. aculeata, O. aurantiaca, O. billroth, O. callani, O. cowra, O. durranti, O. exoculata, O. flava, O. fragilis, O. framenaui, O. gracilis, O. gracillima, O. harmsi, O. johannae, O. julianneae, O. marangaroo, O. millstream, O. nadineae, O. pallida, O. pannawonica, O. pilbara, O. rixi, O. robusta, O. rugosa, O. subtilis, O. triangularis, O. wheelarra, O. whim). New records are provided for O. sown Baehr. Seven area-based keys to species are provided.

New distribution and taxonomic information on Callitriche (Plantaginaceae) in the Mediterranean region

Phytotaxa ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 313 (1) ◽  
pp. 91 ◽  
Author(s):  
RICHARD V. LANSDOWN ◽  
IOANNIS BAZOS ◽  
MARIA CARMELA CARIA ◽  
ANGELO TROIA ◽  
JAN J. WIERINGA
Keyword(s):  
Mediterranean Basin ◽  
Mediterranean Region ◽  
New Records ◽  
Field Work ◽  
First Record ◽  
New Combination ◽  
Herbarium Specimens ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
New Distribution ◽  
The Mediterranean Basin

This article presents new records of water-starworts (Callitriche sp. pl.) from the Mediterranean basin, resulting from review of herbarium specimens and field work. Callitriche brutia var. naftolskyi is stated as a new combination and confirmed from Greece (Lesvos and Milos), Israel, Italy (Sardinia and Sicily), Libya, Morocco and Syria; C. lusitanica from Greece (Lesvos), Israel and Italy (Sardinia and Sicily); C. brutia var. brutia has been known from Greece for some time but is confirmed from Lesvos and Milos; C. obtusangula and C. truncata subsp. truncata are both confirmed from Sardinia and Sicily, while the latter is also confirmed from Syria. Callitriche lenisulca and C. stagnalis are confirmed from Sardinia but records of the latter from Lesvos appear to be erroneous; C. truncata subsp. occidentalis is known from Lesvos but records from Sardinia and Sicily appear to be erroneous. Records of C. regis-jubae from Sardinia are probably misidentifications for C. brutia var. naftolskyi. Records of C. brutia var. hamulata from the region are likely to be erroneous. A recent find of the alien C. terrestris in Spain is the first record for that country and the second record for Europe.

scholarly journals Heliotropium curassavicum (salt heliotrope).

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julissa Rojas-Sandoval
Keyword(s):  
Mediterranean Basin ◽  
Arabian Peninsula ◽  
Nile Delta ◽  
Native Vegetation ◽  
Saline Soils ◽  
Rapid Spread ◽  
Successional Pathways ◽  
The Mediterranean Basin ◽  
Root Buds ◽  
Arid And Semiarid

Abstract Heliotropium curassavicum is an aggressive weed that rapidly colonizes new areas, in particular on disturbed saline soils and coastal areas in arid and semiarid habitats. It forms dense monospecific stands that displace native vegetation and alter successional pathways. A combination of traits, such as high seed germination and seedling establishment rates in open areas, along with its ability to shift between sexual reproduction to clonal growth (i.e., adventitious root buds) are responsible for the invasiveness and rapid spread of H. curassavicum. H. curassavicum has become one of the most common weeds in the Mediterranean Basin and the Nile Delta, where it is regarded as a serious ecological and agricultural problem, but it is also listed as invasive in countries across Europe, the Arabian Peninsula, Africa and in Anguilla in the Lesser Antilles.

scholarly journals Economic costs of invasive alien species in the Mediterranean basin

NeoBiota ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 67 ◽  
pp. 427-458
Author(s):  
Melina Kourantidou ◽  
Ross N. Cuthbert ◽  
Phillip J. Haubrock ◽  
Ana Novoa ◽  
Nigel G. Taylor ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Alien Species ◽  
Mediterranean Basin ◽  
Invasive Alien Species ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Economic Costs ◽  
Socioeconomic Variables ◽  
Use Of Resources ◽  
Mediterranean Countries ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
The Mediterranean Basin

Invasive alien species (IAS) negatively impact the environment and undermine human well-being, often resulting in considerable economic costs. The Mediterranean basin is a culturally, socially and economically diverse region, harbouring many IAS that threaten economic and societal integrity in multiple ways. This paper is the first attempt to collectively quantify the reported economic costs of IAS in the Mediterranean basin, across a range of taxonomic, temporal and spatial descriptors. We identify correlates of costs from invasion damages and management expenditures among key socioeconomic variables, and determine network structures that link countries and invasive taxonomic groups. The total reported invasion costs in the Mediterranean basin amounted to $27.3 billion, or $3.6 billion when only realised costs were considered, and were found to have occurred over the last three decades. Our understanding of costs of invasions in the Mediterranean was largely limited to a few, primarily western European countries and to terrestrial ecosystems, despite the known presence of numerous high-impact aquatic invasive taxa. The vast majority of costs were attributed to damages or losses from invasions ($25.2 billion) and were mostly driven by France, Spain and to a lesser extent Italy and Libya, with significantly fewer costs attributed to management expenditure ($1.7 billion). Overall, invasion costs increased through time, with average annual costs between 1990 and 2017 estimated at $975.5 million. The lack of information from a large proportion of Mediterranean countries, reflected in the spatial and taxonomic connectivity analysis and the relationship of costs with socioeconomic variables, highlights the limits of the available data and the research effort needed to improve a collective understanding of the different facets of the costs of biological invasions. Our analysis of the reported costs associated with invasions in the Mediterranean sheds light on key knowledge gaps and provides a baseline for a Mediterranean-centric approach towards building policies and designing coordinated responses. In turn, these could help reach socially desirable outcomes and efficient use of resources invested in invasive species research and management.

Didymoplexis holochelia (Orchidaceae, Gastrodiinae), a new species from northern Vietnam

Phytotaxa ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 405 (1) ◽  
pp. 54
Author(s):  
LEONID V. AVERYANOV ◽  
MAXIM S. NURALIEV ◽  
TATIANA V. MAISAK ◽  
ANDREY N. KUZNETSOV ◽  
SVETLANA P. KUZNETSOVA
Keyword(s):  
New Species ◽  
Pacific Islands ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
Peninsular Malaysia ◽  
Tropical Africa ◽  
Photographic Material ◽  
Northern Vietnam ◽  
The Core ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
A New Species

Didymoplexis Griffith (1844: 383) belongs to a group of morphologically close genera, which also includes Asian genera, Gastrodia R.Brown (1810: 330), Didymoplexiella Garay (1954: 33) and Didymoplexiopsis Seidenfaden (1997: 13). All these plants are small, terrestrial, leafless mycoheterotrophic herbs forming the core of the subtribe Gastrodiinae Lindley (1840: 383) of tribe Gastrodieae Lindley (1821: Appendix), subfamily Epidendroideae Lindley (1821: Appendix). Two-lipped flower and column lacking distinct wings or appendages are main generic characters that distinguish Didymoplexis from related genera of this subtribe. Didymoplexis comprises about 20 species distributed mostly in tropical Africa, Asia, Australia and the Pacific Islands (Zhou et al. 2016, Govaerts et al. 2018). All species of this genus are miniature ephemeral herbs with small, unattractive fugacious flowers opening in one or two in succession and lasting commonly only one day, often only in the morning hours. As a result, representatives of this genus are easily overlooked in botanical surveys, poorly represented in herbaria (where they are often hardly recognized without additional spirit or photographic material) and remain infrequently inventoried in local floras throughout its range. According to available records (Fig. 1), the highest species diversity of Didymoplexis is observed in Java with 6 species (Comber 1990). Thailand (Pedersen et al. 2014) and Borneo (Wood & Cribb 1994, Tsukaya & Okada 2012, Tsukaya et al. 2014, Suetsugu et al. 2017) are inhabited by 5 species each. Three species were hitherto recorded in China (Chen et al. 2009, Lin et al. 2016, Zhou et al. 2016) and Vietnam (Averyanov 2011). Two species were found in Sri Lanka (Fernando & Ormerod 2008) and Laos (Averyanov et al. 2016, 2018). Floras of most other Asian regions such as Afghanistan, India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Japan, Peninsular Malaysia, Sumatra and the Philippines include only one species (Garay & Sweet 1974, Seidenfaden & Wood 1992, Comber 2001, Pearce & Cribb 2002, Kress et al. 2003, Rokaya et al. 2013, Islam et al. 2016). The presence of several species of Didymoplexis in Cambodia is highly possible, despite none of them were recorded there to date. One more species new to science that clearly differs from all hitherto known species of this genus was recently discovered in northern Vietnam, close to the Laos border. Here we describe and illustrate this remarkable plant as Didymoplexis holochelia.

scholarly journals Analyses towards determining Madagascar’s place in global biogeography

2012 ◽  
Vol 58 (3) ◽  
pp. 363-374 ◽  
Author(s):  
Şerban Procheş ◽  
Syd Ramdhani
Keyword(s):  
Vascular Plants ◽  
Pacific Islands ◽  
Tropical Africa ◽  
Tropical Asia ◽  
Taxonomic Level ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
The World ◽  
The Status ◽  
Plant Families ◽  
Different Levels

Abstract The relationships of Madagascan plant and animal taxa have been the object of much fascination, Madagascar sharing numerous lineages with Africa, others with Asia, Australia, or the Americas, and many others being of uncertain relationships. In commonly accepted global regionalization schemata, Madagascar is treated together with Africa for animals, and with Africa, tropical Asia and the Pacific islands in the case of plants. Here we examine the similarities between the biotic assemblages of (i) tropical Africa, (ii) Madagascar, and (iii) the rest of the world, on a basic taxonomic level, considering the families of vascular plants and vertebrates as analysis units. The percentages of endemic families, families shared pair-wise between regions, or present in all three, are roughly similar between the two broad groups, though plant families with ranges limited to one region are proportionally fewer. In dendrograms and multidimensional scaling plots for different groups, Madagascar clusters together with Africa, Asia or both, and sometimes with smaller Indian Ocean Islands, but quite often (though not in plants) as a convincingly separate cluster. Our results for vertebrates justify the status of full zoogeographic region for Madagascar, though an equally high rank in geobotanical regionalization would mean also treating Africa and Tropical Asia as separate units, which would be debatable given the overall greater uniformity of plant assemblages. Beyond the Madagascan focus of this paper, the differences between plant and vertebrate clusters shown here suggest different levels of ecological plasticity at the same taxonomic level, with plant families being much more environmentally-bound, and thus clustering along biome lines rather than regional lines.

scholarly journals 15-year variability of desert dust optical depth on global and regional scales

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (21) ◽  
pp. 16499-16529
Author(s):  
Stavros-Andreas Logothetis ◽  
Vasileios Salamalikis ◽  
Antonis Gkikas ◽  
Stelios Kazadzis ◽  
Vassilis Amiridis ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Optical Depth ◽  
Mediterranean Basin ◽  
Arabian Peninsula ◽  
Geometric Mean ◽  
Dust Particles ◽  
Gobi Desert ◽  
Seasonal Trends ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
Bodele Depression ◽  
The Mediterranean Basin

Abstract. This study aims to investigate global, regional and seasonal temporal dust changes as well as the effect of dust particles on total aerosol loading using the ModIs Dust AeroSol (MIDAS) fine-resolution dataset. MIDAS delivers dust optical depth (DOD) at fine spatial resolution (0.1∘×0.1∘) spanning from 2003 to 2017. Within this study period, the dust burden increased across the central Sahara (up to 0.023 yr−1) and Arabian Peninsula (up to 0.024 yr−1). Both regions observed their highest seasonal trends in summer (up to 0.031 yr−1). On the other hand, declining DOD trends are encountered in the western (down to −0.015 yr−1) and eastern (down to −0.023 yr−1) Sahara, the Bodélé Depression (down to −0.021 yr−1), the Thar (down to −0.017 yr−1) and Gobi (down to −0.011 yr−1) deserts, and the Mediterranean Basin (down to −0.009 yr−1). In spring, the most negative seasonal trends are recorded in the Bodélé Depression (down to −0.038 yr−1) and Gobi Desert (down to −0.023 yr−1), whereas they are in the western (down to −0.028 yr−1) and the eastern Sahara (down to −0.020 yr−1) and the Thar Desert (down to −0.047 yr−1) in summer. Over the western and eastern sector of the Mediterranean Basin, the most negative seasonal trends are computed at summer (down to −0.010 yr−1) and spring (down to −0.006 yr−1), respectively. The effect of DOD on the total aerosol optical depth (AOD) change is determined by calculating the DOD-to-AOD trend ratio. Over the Sahara the median ratio values range from 0.83 to 0.95, whereas in other dust-affected areas (Arabian Peninsula, southern Mediterranean, Thar and Gobi deserts) the ratio value is approximately 0.6. In addition, a comprehensive analysis of the factors affecting the sign, the magnitude and the statistical significance of the calculated trends is conducted. Firstly, the implications of the implementation of the geometric mean instead of the arithmetic mean for trend calculations are discussed, revealing that the arithmetic-based trends tend to overestimate compared to the geometric-based trends over both land and ocean. Secondly, an analysis interpreting the differences in trend calculations under different spatial resolutions (fine and coarse) and time intervals is conducted.

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