Sara Motaghian

Sara Motaghian, a PhD student at the Natural History Museum, talks to Sue Bowler about her research and outreach, and her 2021 Institute of Physics Award, the Jocelyn Bell Burnell Medal and Prize.

The historical relics in Chongqing Natural History Museum: An annotated checklist of original materials for 37 names of Chinese seed plants

A catalogue of type specimens deposited at the herbarium of Chongqing Natural History Museum (CQNM) is carried out. A total of 62 specimens belonging to 56 gatherings concerning 37 valid published names in 23 families of Chinese seed plants are documented as original materials. They include seven isotypes, 21 syntypes, of which 16 of them are isolectotypes and 34 paratypes. A checklist of the 37 names is presented with annotations on the typification, authorship citation, type localities and other taxonomic issues. Eight names were lectotypified, and one name’s second-step lectotype is proposed. Additionally, Distylium lanceolatum Chun, which is invalid pending for further study, and which has long been treated as a synonym of D. dunnianum H.Lév., is listed after the 37 names.

CATALOGUE OF AQUATIC MITES FROM THE MINHO RIVER (NW IBERIAN PENINSULA)

Acari are a subclass of chelicerate arthropods that includes mites and ticks. The present study focuses on the taxonomic diversity of aquatic mites in the Portuguese territory of the Minho Region. Our aim was to compile all available information and thus generate a list of species linking them to the site where they were recorded. Aquatic species were all those that live exclusively in the marine environment, deep sea, intertidal, freshwater, brackish water or in transitional environments with the terrestrial environment if their lifestyle is associated with the aquatic environment. Since the first records of Portuguese endemic mites by Lunblad in the 1950s several authors have contributed to accurately catalogue, record, and redescribe this vast group in Portugal and Minho consecutively. In our review in this work, we used the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) to obtain previous occurrences supplemented by an extensive literature review and the book collection Süßwasserfauna von Mitteleuropa, among others. Additionally, we resorted to active sampling and by-catch sampling in the Portuguese section of the Rio Minho catchment area. The collected organisms represent 12 new records for the Minho River and among them 10 are new records for Portugal, which were deposited in the Natural History Museum of the Iberian Peninsula - NatMIP (“Museu de História Natural da Península Ibérica”), Vila Nova de Cerveira, Portugal.

First Description of the Female of the Trinidadian Theraphosine Spinosatibiapalpus trinitatis (Pocock, 1903) (Araneae: Theraphosidae)

The hitherto unknown female of the theraphosine Spinosatibiapalpus trinitatis (Pocock, 1903) is herein described based on the paralectotype series of the schismatotheline Neoholothele incei (F. O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1899) housed in the collections of the Natural History Museum, London.

Corrigendum: Description of Kavayva, gen. nov., (Chalcidoidea, Eurytomidae) and two new species associated with Guarea (Meliaceae), and a review of New World eurytomids associated with seeds. Journal of Hymenoptera Research 86: 101–121. https://doi.org/10.3897/jhr.86.71309

In a paper about the description of Kavayva, a new genus of Eurytomidae (Zhang et al. 2021) The indication of repository for the type specimens were missing. We regret this omission, and provide the missing information below. MUSM – Natural History Museum of the San Marcos University, Lima, Peru UFGD – Museum of Biodiversity of the Federal University of Grande Dourados, Dourados-MS, Brazil USNM – United States National Museum of Natural History, Washington, D.C., USA. Kavayva bodoquenensis Zhang, Silvestre, & Gates, sp. nov. Holotype female deposited at USNM. Paratypes deposited at USNM [12F, 13M] and UFGD [8F, 3M]. Kavayva davidsmithi Zhang & Gates, sp. nov. Holotype female deposited at MUSM. Paratypes deposited at USNM [1F, 1M].

Knapping tools in Magdalenian contexts: New evidence from Gough’s Cave (Somerset, UK)

Our knowledge of the recolonization of north-west Europe at the end of the Last Glacial Maximum depends to a large extent on finds from Gough’s Cave (Somerset, UK). Ultra-high resolution radiocarbon determinations suggest that the cave was occupied seasonally by Magdalenian hunters for perhaps no more than two or three human generations, centred on 12,600 BP (~14,950–14,750 cal BP). They left behind a rich and diverse assemblage of Magdalenian lithic and osseous artefacts, butchered animal bones, and cannibalised human remains. The faunal assemblage from Gough’s Cave is one of the most comprehensively studied from any Magdalenian site, yet new and unexpected discoveries continue to be made. Here, we record previously unrecognized flint-knapping tools that were identified during a survey of the Gough’s Cave faunal collection at the Natural History Museum (London). We identified bones used as hammers and teeth manipulated as pressure-flakers to manufacture flint tools. Most of the pieces appear to be ad hoc (single-use?) tools, but a horse molar was almost certainly a curated object that was used over an extended period to work many stone tools. This paper explores how these knapping tools were used to support a more nuanced understanding of Magdalenian stone-tool manufacturing processes. Moreover, we provide a standard for identifying minimally-used knapping tools that will help to establish whether retouchers and other organic stone-working tools are as rare in the Magdalenian archaeological record as current studies suggest.

Franz Tappeiner (1816–1902): The physician who became headhunter. Portrait of a leading figure in 19th Century anthropology

Franz Tappeiner (1816, Laas – 1902, Merano) was an Austrian physician and anthropologist. He studied at the universities of Prague, Padua and Vienna and in 1846 he moved to Merano. Tappeiner investigated the transmission of pulmonary tuberculosis in animal models and he dealt with public health. As an anatomist, he performed thousands of craniometrics measurements, creating a huge skull collection later donated to the Natural History Museum in Vienna. In 1878, Tappeiner turned to archeology and palaeoanthropology, with the aim of clarifying the origins of the Alpine population of Tyroleans. He was also active as a botanist.

Rediscovery of the endemic Afrotropical genus Spathioplites (Hymenoptera, Braconidae, Doryctinae) with major range extension records for Spathioplites phreneticus

The endemic, monotypic Afrotropical genus Spathioplites Fischer, 1962 is rediscovered based on new specimens collected in South Africa and Senegal. Spathioplites phreneticus Fischer, 1962 was previously known from the holotype (male) and 12 paratypes (11 males and a female) collected in Chad in 1959. As part of an ongoing long-term insect inventory survey program in Africa new specimens were recently collected in Tswalu Kalahari Game Reserve in South Africa, extending the distribution range southwards by 4900 km. An additional historical specimen from Senegal was discovered in the collections of the Natural History Museum in Paris, extending the range westwards by 4000 km. Possible reasons for the disjunct distribution exhibited by current locality records for this species are discussed. The holotype male and a paratype female, as well as one of the two newly collected South African females were imaged. These photographs, as well as genus and species re-descriptions, are provided. An identification key to the Old World genera in the doryctine tribe Spathiini s. str. is also presented. All images and interactive identification keys are available on www.waspweb.org.