scholarly journals Strumigenys perplexa (Smith, 1876) (Formicidae, Myrmicinae) a new exotic ant to Europe with establishment in Guernsey, Channel Islands

2021 ◽  
Vol 83 ◽  
pp. 101-124
Author(s):  
Matthew T. Hamer ◽  
Andy D. Marquis ◽  
Benoit Guénard

Ants are continually introduced into regions outside of their natural biogeographic ranges via global trade. The genus Strumigenys Smith 1860 (Formicidae: Myrmicinae) are minute predators with a growing history of global introductions, although tropical introductions into temperate zones are rarely able to establish outside of heated infrastructures. We report the first record of the Australasian Strumigenys perplexa (Smith 1876) to Europe and the British Isles from four sites on Guernsey, Channel Islands. This novel discovery is likely attributable to the species wide climatic and habitat tolerances, enabling the species to establish away from its natural range in Australasia and from heated-infrastructure. A key to the West Palaearctic Strumigenys species is provided alongside a preliminary and critical checklist of ant species recorded from the Channel Island archipelago, listing 32 species.

1893 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 396-401
Author(s):  
Henry Hicks

In a recent article on the Pre-Cambrian Rocks of the British Isles in the Journal of Geology, vol. i., No. 1, Sir Archibald Geikie makes the following statement: “There cannot, I think, be now any doubt that small tracts of gneiss, quite comparable in lithological character to portions of the Lewisian rocks of the North-West of Scotland, rise to the surface in a few places in England and Wales. In the heart of Anglesey, for example, a tract of such rocks presents some striking external or scenic resemblance to the characteristic types of ground where the oldest gneiss forms the surface in Scotland and the West of Ireland.” To those who have followed the controversy which has been going on for nearly thirty years between the chiefs of the British Geological Survey and some geologists who have been working amongst the rocks in Wales, the importance of the above admission will be readily apparent; but as it is possible that some may be unable to realize what such an admission means in showing geological progress in unravelling the history of the older rocks in Wales during the past thirty years, a brief summary of the results obtained may possibly be considered useful.


2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 91-106
Author(s):  
Frederick J. Rumsey ◽  
Helena J. Crouch ◽  
Richard V. Lansdown ◽  
Mark A. Spencer

Bolboschoenus laticarpus Marhold, Hroudová, Zákravský & Ducháček (for which we suggest the common name Pedunculate Club-rush) is reported from the British Isles and the characters which distinguish it from B. maritimus (L.) Palla are given. The known English distribution is presented and placed in its wider geographical context. The ecology and history of this species in Britain are outlined and its likely status is considered. B. laticarpus is locally abundant and widely distributed in a range of natural and artificial habitats, particularly within the Somerset Levels and also in the flood plains of some larger rivers, where it is now known to have been long persistent. B. laticarpus appears to be a successful colonist, having arrived recently in several newly created, artificial habitats. The mode of introduction is unknown but believed to be natural, and indeed elsewhere in Europe it is reportedly increasing within its natural range, perhaps as a consequence of changes in land-use, eutrophication and potentially climate. We therefore regard it as a native taxon.


2002 ◽  
Vol 93 (3) ◽  
pp. 191-237 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oliver Hampe

ABSTRACTXenacanthids were a very successful group of elasmobranchs that ranged from the Lower Carboniferous to the Upper Triassic. The history of discovery of the xenacanthids, which is closely connected with the history of coal prospecting in England, began with the finding of the type specimen of Xenacanthus laevissimus in the Westphalian B of the West Midlands. In this first review of British Carboniferous xenacanthids, the number of taxa, mainly erected during Victorian times, is reduced to 14 species distributed among six genera. Determinable remains are recorded from at least 96 localities in the British Isles. Unique characteristics of the Dinantian Diplodoselache suggest that the lineage to which this taxon belongs marks a dead end in xenacanthid evolution. This investigation also shows that the Pendleian Dicentrodus, formerly described as Cladodus, belongs to the xenacanthids. The occurrence of Orthacanthus cf. kounoviensis in the Pennines, also known from the German Saar-Nahe basin, the Saale depression and from Bohemia, indicates a faunal exchange between these intramontainous basins during the Carboniferous. The genus Triodus is identified from British deposits for the first time. A cladistic analysis of the xenacanthids suggests that they evolved from phoebodontid elasmobranchs. This analysis also confirms separation of the Middle Devonian Antarctilamna from a relationship with xenacanthid sharks.


2000 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 261-268
Author(s):  
R. J. CLEEVELY

A note dealing with the history of the Hawkins Papers, including the material relating to John Hawkins (1761–1841) presented to the West Sussex Record Office in the 1960s, recently transferred to the Cornwall County Record Office, Truro, in order to be consolidated with the major part of the Hawkins archive held there. Reference lists to the correspondence of Sibthorp-Hawkins, Hawkins-Sibthorp, and Hawkins to his mother mentioned in The Flora Graeca story (Lack, 1999) are provided.


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