Zehneria monocarpa (Cucurbitaceae), a new species from the relicts of Kenya’s coastal forests

Zehneria monocarpa (Cucurbitaceae), a new species from the fragmented lowland coastal forests of Kenya is described here and illustrated with photographs. It resembles Z. oligosperma and Z. longiflora, but can be distinguished by its solitary female flowers and fruits. Furthermore, the new species has 1–23 conspicuous dark green glands on the apex of the leaf and the inner part of its receptacle tube is entirely hairy.

Knock-knock, who’s there: Sex-coding, competition and the energetics of tapping communication in the tok-tok beetle, Psammodes striatus (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae)

ABSTRACTI describe the abdomino-substratal tapping communication system of a Southern African tenebrionid beetle, Psammodes striatus (Fabricius, 1775) (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae: Molurini), using computer simulation of tapping signals and computer-assisted acquisition of precise response timing data, augmented with data from natural beetle-beetle communication. Communication consists of trains of 5 - 7 Hz taps in groups or trains separated by 2-3 sec intervals. Male beetles spontaneously produce groups of tap-trains with 8 - 18 taps per train. If other beetles reply, an alternating duet commences. Solitary female beetles do not tap spontaneously but respond to male tapping with short, distinctive tap-trains containing 4 – 6 taps; they ignore female signals. In contrast, extensive communication occurs between male beetles, the nature of which changes significantly if the stimulus call is typical of male or of female beetles. Inter-male communication consists of long tap-trains, but males interacting with females produce shorter tap-trains and engage in phonotactic behavior that is absent in inter-male communication. Females respond highly preferentially to inter-male communication, rather than to the signals produced spontaneously by single males. Finally, I propose a simple model of the selective advantages of this unusual communication system, and calculate its approximate energetic leverage over random locomotion (∼13x).

First record of the Diadem Leaf-Nosed Bat Hipposideros diadema (E. Geoffroy, 1813) (Chiroptera: Hipposideridae) from the Andaman Islands, India with the possible occurrence of a hitherto unreported subspecies

The Diadem Leaf-nosed Bat Hipposideros diadema (E. Geoffroy, 1813) is recorded for the first time from the Andaman Islands, India. A solitary female specimen was collected on October 13, 2015 from a limestone cave on Baratang Island. Cranial measurements and other morphological characters indicate that the specimen differs from the endemic subspecies, the Nicobar Diadem Leaf-nosed Bat Hipposideros diadema nicobarensis (Dobson, 1871), but compares favourably with the South-east Asian subspecies, Mason’s Diadem Leaf-nosed Bat Hipposideros diadema masoni (Dobson, 1872), in description, craniodental characters, and echolocation calls. This is the first record of Hipposideros diadema (E. Geoffroy, 1813) from Andaman Islands, and the subspecies Mason’s Diadem Leaf-nosed Bat Hipposideros diadema masoni (Dobson, 1872) from India.

On Their Own

This article explores the tension between women’s efforts to find time for themselves and traditional culture’s strong directives against women spending any time alone. Drawing on twenty-one contemporary legends from the Snopes website (http://www.snopes.com) that feature solitary female protagonists, it argues that the narratives demonstrate a gendered contestation of public space. Set in cars, hotels, shopping malls and in cyberspace, locations that sociologist Marc Augé (1995) describes as “non-places,” these legends warn of the dangers that await women if they venture into the world alone. In addressing the question of where women belong, the texts speak of female challenges to male domination of public spaces at the same time they reveal powerful male defenses.

Changes in reproductive parameters in aging females of solitary phase Schistocerca gregaria

The proportion of resorbing basal oocytes was higher in aging than in young solitary female Schistocerca gregaria and the haemolymph vitellogenin available to the maturing oocytes in late gonotrophic cycles was undiminished or even increased in comparison with early gonotrophic cycles. Nevertheless eggs in late pods from solitary females showed only a very modest size increase over those from early pods, particularly in comparison with the size increase which resulted from crowding solitary females. Hatchlings emerging from late pods, like those from early pods, were largely of the solitary phase.A remarkable cyclicity of haemolymph vitellogenin titres was observed during gonotrophic cycles in aging females, the maximal titre almost always following closely upon the oviposition which marked the beginning of the cycle.