Diversity of Silica-Scaled Chrysophytes in Central Vietnam

This paper focuses on the flora of scale-bearing chrysophytes from eight provinces located in the central part of Vietnam. Khanh Hoa, Phu Yen, Binh Dinh, Thua Thien Hue, Quang Tri, and Quang Binh provinces are located in the coastal area of Vietnam. Lam Dong and Dak Lak provinces represent mountain territories with an elevation of 500–2000 metres above sea level. In total, 212 water bodies of different origins were studied. Samples were obtained from swamp areas, lakes, rivers, reservoirs, ponds, and small temporary water bodies. In total, 76 taxa were identified by electron microscopic observations of samples. A total of 54 taxa were found in the mountainous provinces, while 73 were found in the coastal provinces. Of these, 51 species are common for both areas. The most diverse was the genus Mallomonas with 66 species, varieties, and forms; followed by Synura with 7 taxa; Chrysosphaerella with 2; and Spiniferomonas with 1. Seven taxa of the genus Mallomonas were not identified to the lower rank. All these unidentified specimens may potentially represent new species for science. Ten taxa are reported for the first time in Vietnam.

Studies on Algae from the Order Synurales (Chrysophyceae) in Northern Vietnam

The present paper focuses on the flora of synuralean algae from four northern provinces in Vietnam: Bac Kan, Hanoi, Ninh Binh, and Thanh Hoa. Fifty-five water bodies were studied, including territories within national parks Ba Be, Ba Vi, Cuc Phuong, Ben En, and Trang An Wetland—The World Cultural and Natural Heritage and Van Long Wetland Nature Reserve. Samples were obtained from natural lakes and wetlands, artificial reservoirs and ponds, and small temporary water bodies. Electron microscopy allowed for the discovery of 39 taxa, 37 of which belonged to the genus Mallomonas and two to the genus Synura. Six taxa of the genus Mallomonas and two taxa from the genus Synura were not identified to the lower rank. Five taxa are reported for the first time in Vietnam. The most diverse flora was observed in natural protected water bodies. Eutrophic and hypereutrophic water bodies, which were prevalent in the study area, had a reduced number of selected species.

Tadpoles Inhabiting Natural and Anthropogenic Temporary Water Bodies: Which Are the Environmental Factors that Affect the Diversity of the Assemblages?

The study of tadpole assemblages allows inferring habitat availability and using their occupation as a means of proxy for the effective reproduction of the species, contributing to complementary information for the study of their adult forms. Environmental variables, represented by abiotic variables, vegetation structure, matrix management, and landscape elements, affect species having reproductive modes associated with oviposition and development in bodies of water. In the Orinoco region, most amphibians have complex life cycles and deposit their eggs in highly dynamic lentic bodies of water. Therefore, it is important to know how larval assemblages change over short periods of water accumulation and their relationship with environmental variables. Fieldwork was conducted during 9 weeks of larval sampling, from the beginning of the rainy season. We evaluate changes in anuran assemblages associated with water accumulation in five temporary water bodies of anthropogenic (road or pasture) and natural (savanna or gallery forest) origin. Twenty environmental variables were evaluated and measured in the center of each water body. Of these, nine landscape variables were measured only once during the study. The other eleven variables, representing management practices, physicochemical and structural characteristics of the water bodies, were measured weekly during the 3 months of sampling. We explored differences in the structure and diversity of larval-stage anuran assemblages using statistical tests suitable for small sample sizes (i.e., permutational multivariate analysis of variance PERMANOVA and the distance-based linear modeling DistLM). Of the 14 species found, two species had remarkedly high abundances from which Rhinella humboldti (19% of the total tadpole abundance) was a generalist inhabiting the natural and anthropogenic water bodies, while Leptodactylus insularum (18% of the total tadpole abundance) was a specialist at a natural pond in the savanna. The natural water bodies contained the highest number of species (between 10 and 12) and a total abundance of larvae (between 847 and 485 individuals). In contrast, the anthropogenic water body tracks generated by tractors were only occupied by two species with 50 individuals in total, while the water body generated by the trampling of cattle in pastures had three species with 474 individuals. These three species that inhabited the anthropogenic puddles were also found in the natural ponds and none of the eight species of hylids inhabited the puddles. In each field trip, all the tadpoles were collected from the sampled bodies of water. However, a week later, we found that each of the water bodies had been recolonized by four species (Leptodactylus fuscus, Leptodactylus fragilis, Elachistocleis ovalis, and R. humbolti). The variables with the highest explanatory power on the variation of anuran assemblage structure throughout all the water bodies were height of plants, number of cattle, distance to the nearest native forest edge, distance to an anthropic lentic body of water, distance to a natural lentic body of water, and pH. The bodies of water immersed in the natural cover were more diverse and had a greater degree of spatial and temporal species turnover. Our study calls for the importance of understanding the turnover of larval stage anurans over short periods, associated with water accumulation, in highly dynamic systems such as natural ponds and anthropogenic puddles. The importance of species traits and local processes is also highlighted, from environmental variables to human management activities, in the conservation of amphibian assemblages.

On the Biodiversity Hotspot of Large Branchiopods (Crustacea, Branchiopoda) in the Central Paroo in Semi-Arid Australia

Biodiversity is central to the structure and functioning of communities including those of temporary water bodies. Worldwide the large branchiopod component commonly consists up to about six species instantaneously per site and twice that number across the surrounding district. Where these figures reach eight to ten species per site and about twice that number per district, the term diversity hotspot is sometimes used. In eastern Australia, biogeographical factors have facilitated a rich large branchiopod fauna ca 80 species and locally within 500 km2 of the central Paroo in northwestern New South Wales where a rarely diverse and abundant array of habitats supports at least 38 species, though the maximum per site syntopically is still near 10 species — we suggest it be termed a super hotspot.

First record of Arctodiaptomus wierzejskii (Richard, 1888) (Copepoda Calanoida Diaptomidae) from Malta

Diaptomid copepods belonging to the genus Arctodiaptomus Kiefer, 1932 were collected in two temporary water bodies in Malta. The morphological identification of the collected specimens proved that they belong to Arctodiaptomus wierzejskii (Richard, 1888) even if a morphological peculiarity pertaining to the morphology of the male right antennule of the Maltese populations was observed and here briefly discussed. This finding constitutes the first record of a calanoid copepod from the inland waters of the Maltese Islands.

Prevalence of Stegomyia albopicta in Dakshina Kannada district of Karnataka, India

Dengue is one of the rapidly spreading mosquito-borne diseases transmitted worldwide by the bites of infected Stegomyia aegypti and St. albopicta mosquito. Both species are adapted for human habitation and breeds mainly in temporary water bodies. In the present study, a preliminary larval survey was carriedout in four different localities of Dakshina Kannada District. Of the 1094 suspected water bodies, 496 sites showed the presence of St. albopicta larvae and none of them showed the presence of St. aegypti indicating the dominance of the former species. The occurrence of St. albopicta was significantly higher in natural phytotelmata compared to artificial containers. Among the different breeding sites, receptacles contributed 24.5% of larval positivity. The receptacles also showed a higher breeding preference ratio (1.56) indicating that abandoned waste thrashes when receives water may act as the most preferred breeding sites for dengue vector species.

Phyllodiaptomus (Phyllodiaptomus) roietensis, a new diaptomid copepod (Copepoda, Calanoida) from temporary waters in Thailand and Cambodia, with a key to the species

Phyllodiaptomus (Phyllodiaptomus) roietensissp. nov. was collected from temporary water bodies in Roi Et and Nakhon Ratchasima provinces in northeastern Thailand and Kampong Thom Province in central Cambodia. The new species is closely related to Phyllodiaptomus (P.) surinensis Sanoamuang & Yindee, 2001 in that it shares common morphological characters in the males: urosomites 2–3, P5 intercoxal sclerite, right P5 Exp-2, and left P5 Exp. Minor differences on the right antennule, right caudal ramus, P5 basis and Enp exist. The females differ in their Pdg 5, genital double-somite, and P5. An updated key to the species of the genus Phyllodiaptomus Kiefer, 1936 is provided.

WATER MITES (ACARIFORMES: HYDRACHNIDIA, HALACAROIDEA) OF BOGS OF WESTERN SIBERIA (RUSSIA)

Water mites (Acariformes, Hydrachnidia, Halacaroidea) were studied in 8 different bogs and fens of Western Siberia. 28 species of Hydrachnidia and 5 species of Halacaridae were found in them. The species composition in the bogs was very different. In the fens the abundance and species diversity were higher than in sphagnum bogs and the fauna were based on spring species. The representatives of the halacarid mites dominated in sphagnum bogs, which were not found in the fens. The specific similarity of the studied bogs was low. At the same time, the peculiarities of seasonal dynamics in bogs and fens were similar and resembled temporary water bodies: high numbers in the spring and an abruptly decline in the summer, with a slight increase in autumn.