Taungurungia gen. nov., from the Lower Devonian of Yea, central Victoria, Australia

This paper records a new genus Taungurungia, which is the first new taxon with emergences to be described from the Lower Devonian of Victoria. The fossil is preserved primarily as a compression and impression, and lacks internal anatomy. The fossil extends our knowledge of known variations within early land plants, with most characteristics, such as emergences and H- or K-branching, redolent of affinities with the zosterophylls. However, having a large ovate terminal sporangium, the fossil adds to taxa that in some cases have been provisonally allied to the zosterophylls with elongate sporangia; this further demonstrates the need for reassessment of the Zosterophyllopsida.

Lower Devonian Zosterophyllum-like plants from central Victoria, Australia, and their significance

Three specimens belonging to Zosterophyllaceae are described. Two of these possess bilateral symmetry and are the first to be described with this arrangement from the Lower Devonian of Victoria. One of these specimens is similar to Zosterophyllum fertile, and the other cf. Zosterophyllum sp. A. is unusual in possessing vascularised long stalks. The third specimen described cf. Zosterophyllum sp. B. from Ghin Ghin Road, near Yea possesses a small spike and has sporangia that appear vertically elliptical and similar to some South China taxa. All the specimens are significantly different to previous zosterophyll taxa described from Victoria.

Two new genera and species of sepioline squids (Cephalopoda: Sepiolidae) from Australia

Two new genera and species of sepioline squid (Cephalopoda: Sepiolidae) are described from Australian waters. Dextrasepiola taenia is characterised by having copulatory organs (i.e. the hectocotylised arm in the males and the bursa copulatrix in the females) in the right side of the body. All other known sepiolinids have copulatory organs in the left side of the body. Amutatiola macroventosa is characterised by the absence of a hectcotylised arm in mature males; instead, it possesses many enormously enlarged suckers on some of the arms of the males. The bursa copulatrix is in the left side of the female body, as in other known sepioline squids. The discovery of these two new taxa indicates that the present definition of Sepiolinae needs to be broadened to accommodate these two new genera.

New species of squat lobsters of the genus Munida from Australia

This study reports on new squat lobsters of the genus Munida collected during recent surveys of Australia’s continental margins. We report on 33 species of Munida including seven new species and 14 new range extensions for Australia. More than 500 specimens were collected, mostly from the western continental margin of Australia, but also including a new species from deep water (>2000 m) off Tasmania. We provide new data on the colour patterns of some species and include molecular data from two mitochondrial markers (16S rRNA and COI) to support the taxonomic status of the new species.

Parasitoids of the uniquely social colletid bee Amphylaeus morosus (Hymenoptera: Colletidae) in Victoria

Understanding how nest parasites contribute to brood mortality rates in host species is an important step towards uncovering the potential implications for host behaviour. This can be especially important for understanding the evolution of social living, where defence against parasites is often posited as a major benefit of cooperative nesting. Only two parasitoid species have previously been reported for the only known social colletid bee, Amphylaeus morosus: the gasteruptiid wasp, Gasteruption primotarsale, and the mutillid, Ephutomorpha tyla. Here we report six additional parasitoid species of A. morosus: the gasteruptiid wasps G. atrinerve, G. globiceps, G. melanopoda and G. cinerescens; the bombyliid fly Anthrax maculatus; and the mutillid wasp Ephutomorpha aff. varipes. The mechanisms of parasitism for these eight parasitoid species are described in combination with how they operate throughout the host brood rearing period and whether benefits of social nesting vary across the season.

Phylogenetic placement of a recently discovered population of the threatened alpine she-oak skink Cyclodomorphus praealtus (Squamata: Scincidae) in Victoria

The alpine she-oak skink Cyclodomorphus praealtus is a threatened alpine endemic lizard from the mainland of Australia. The species is previously known from disjunct populations in Kosciuszko National Park in New South Wales and three isolated localities in the Victorian Alps. The New South Wales and Victorian populations represent separate evolutionarily significant units. In 2011, a fourth Victorian population was discovered. We conducted a phylogenetic analysis and determined that the newly discovered population is discrete and may have been separated from other populations since the end of the last glacial maxima. This population requires separate management.

George Lyell and Frederick Parkhurst Dodd: authority and expertise in nineteenth-century Australian entomology

This article focuses on the correspondence and careers of two lepidopterists, George Lyell and F. P. Dodd. Drawing on Dodd’s unpublished letters to Lyell during the late nineteenth-century rage for butterflying, it examines how private acquisition gave way to the professional activity of collecting and, in Lyell’s case, the eventual gifting of a large and significant collection of moths and butterflies to the National Museum of Victoria from 1932 through to 1946. The article also examines how issues of authority and expertise were measured and contested among collectors in this period.

Early land plants from the Lower Devonian of central Victoria, Australia, including a new species of Salopella

Early land plants with elongate sporangia held in the palaeobotanical archives of Museums Victoria were examined. The fossil plants are from Yea (?upper Silurian) and near Matlock (Lower Devonian) in central Victoria, and are of interest because they contribute to our understanding of the evolution of early land plants in a region in which research has been limited. Both Salopella australis and Salopella caespitosa were originally described over 30 years ago and this reinvestigation has resulted in the emending of the diagnosis of Salopella australis and the erection of a new morphotaxon Salopella laidae sp. nov. based primarily on differing branching architecture and sporangial morphology. Salopella laidae comes from Yea Formation and possesses regular isotomous branching over at least two orders of branching, terminating in elongate sporangia that are wider than their subtending axes, differing from S. australis, which possesses only one dichotomy emanating from at least two erect parallel parent axes with sporangia that are the same width as their subtending axes. A recently collected specimen of Salopella caespitosa was also examined and adds to our understanding of this taxon, which was previously only known from one specimen. Consideration is given to the possible sources of these early land plants based on other early land plants with a similar grade of organisation.

The unusual genus Ramiheithrus (Trichoptera: Philorheithridae)

The descriptions of males of the two described species of Ramiheithrus (R. virgatus Neboiss and R. kocinus Neboiss) are expanded using additional material. The female, pupa and larva of Ramiheithrus virgatus are described for the first time for the genus. Preliminary genetic barcoding analysis suggests the presence of additional undescribed species that are only known as larvae. The unusual larval habitat is described and issues relating to this are discussed.

Review of the Australian endemic odontocerid genus Barynema and status of Australian Marilia (Trichoptera)

In this review of Australian Odontoceridae, we revise details of the two established species in the endemic genus Barynema Banks – B. costatum Banks and B. australicum Mosely – and describe six new congeners: B. paradoxum sp. nov., B. lorien sp. nov., B. lobatum sp. nov., B. dilatum sp. nov., B. dolabratum sp. nov. and B. goomburra sp. nov. For the only other odontocerid genus recorded for Australia, Marilia Müller, we discuss the present status of the three described species – M. bola Mosely, M. aenigmata Neboiss and M. fusca Kimmins – and outline our efforts and those of others to resolve problems of species delimitation based on morphology. We select a new replacement name for Marilia fusca and provide brief notes on the larvae of both genera.