Australian Biological Resources Study

Previous studies of the small Southern Hemisphere family Atherospermataceae have drawn contradictory conclusions regarding the number of transantarctic disjunctions and role of transoceanic dispersal in its evolution. Clarification of intergeneric relationships is critical to resolving (1) whether the two Chilean species, Laurelia sempervirens and Laureliopsis philippiana, are related to different Austral-Pacific species, implying two transantarctic disjunctions as suggested by morphology; (2) where the group is likely to have originated; and (3) whether observed disjunctions reflect the breakup of Gondwana. We analyzed chloroplast DNA sequences from six regions (the rbcL gene, the rpl16 intron, and the trnL-trnF, trnT-trnL, psbA-trnH, and atpB-rbcL spacer regions; for all six regions, 4,372 bp) for all genera and most species of Atherospermataceae, using parsimony and maximum likelihood (ML). The family's sister group, the Chilean endemic Gomortega nitida (Gomortegaceae), was used to root the tree. Parsimony and ML yielded identical single best trees that contain three well-supported clades (> or = 75% bootstrap): Daphnandra and Doryphora from south-eastern Australia; Atherosperma and Nemuaron from Australia-Tasmania and New Caledonia, respectively; and Laurelia novac-zelandiac and Laureliopsis philippiana from New Zealand and Chile, respectively. The second Chilean species, Laurelia sempervirens, is sister to this last clade. Likelihood ratio testing did not reject the molecular clock assumption for the rbcL data, which can therefore be used for divergence time estimates. The atherosperm fossil record, which goes back to the Upper Cretaceous, includes pollen, wood, and leaf fossils from Europe, Africa, South America, Antarctica, New Zealand, and Tasmania. Calibration of rbcL substitution rates with the fossils suggests an initial diversification of the family at 100-140 million years ago (MYA), probably in West Gondwana, early entry into Antarctica, and long-distance dispersal to New Zealand and New Caledonia at 50-30 MYA by the ancestors of L. novae-zelandiae and Nemuaron.

A catalogue of the lichens of Thailand is provided based on published reports. It includes publication details of 554 species and infra-specific taxa together with information on distribution in Thailand, occurrence in other south and south-east Asian countries, literature references and the locations of named specimens.

BACKGROUND: Members of the order Chlamydiales are known for their potential as human and veterinary bacterial pathogens. Despite this recognition, epidemiological factors such as routes of transmission are yet to be fully defined. Ticks are well known vectors for many other infections with several reports recently describing the presence of bacteria in the order Chlamydiales in these arthropods. Australian wildlife are hosts to an extensive range of tick species. Evidence is also growing that the marsupial hosts these ticks parasitise can also be infected by a number of bacteria in the order Chlamydiales, with at least one species, Chlamydia pecorum, posing a significant conservation threat. In the current study, we investigated the presence and identity of Chlamydiales in 438 ixodid ticks parasitizing wildlife in Australia by screening with a pan-Chlamydiales specific targeting the 16S rRNA gene. RESULTS: Pan-Chlamydiales specific PCR assays confirmed the common presence of Chlamydiales in Australian ticks parasitising a range of native wildlife. Interestingly, we did not detect any Chlamydiaceae, including C. pecorum, the ubiquitous pathogen of the koala. Instead, the Chlamydiales diversity that could be resolved indicated that Australian ticks carry at least six novel Chlamydiales genotypes. Phylogenetic analysis of the 16S rRNA sequences (663 bp) of these novel Chlamydiales suggests that three of these genotypes are associated with the Simkaniaceae and putatively belong to three distinct novel strains of Fritschea spp. and three genotypes are related to the "Ca. Rhabdochlamydiaceae" and putatively belong to a novel genus, Rhabdochlamydia species and strain, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Sequence results suggest Australian wildlife ticks harbour a range of unique Chlamydiales bacteria that belong to families previously identified in a range of arthropod species. The results of this work also suggest that it is unlikely that arthropods act as vectors of pathogenic members of the family Chlamydiaceae, including C. pecorum, in Australian wildlife. The biology of novel Chlamydiales identified in arthropods remain unknown. The pathogenic role of the novel Chlamydiales identified in this study and the role that ticks may play in their transmission needs to be explored further.

Species lists are widely used in legislation and regulation to manage and conserve biodiversity. In this paper, we explore the issues caused by the lack of an adequately governed and universally accepted list of the world’s species. These include lack of quality control, duplicated effort, conflicts of interest, lack of currency, and confusion in the scientific use of taxonomic information. If species lists are to fulfill their role efficiently, then the governance systems underlying their creation must keep pace. Fortunately, modernization of species list governance is now possible as a result of advances in biodiversity informatics and two decades of experience working to create the backbone of a global species list.

Abstract Clathroporina Müll. Arg. (1882), a genus of muriform-spored, pyrenocarpous lichens, is considered to be synonymous with Porina Müll. Arg. nom. cons. (1883). In order to avoid nomenclatural chaos, a proposal should be made to add it to the list of rejected names for Porina . Meanwhile, the following species are recognized: C. biroi Szatala, C. eminentior (NyL) Müll. Arg., C. exocha (Nyl.) Müll. Arg. and C. nuculastrum Müll. Arg. The following new combinations are effected: Aspidothelium cuyabense (Malme) P. M. McCarthy ( Thelenella cuyabensis Malme), C. eminentior f. sorediifera (Müll. Arg.) P. M. McCarthy ( C. desquamans f. sorediifera Müll. Arg), Laurera straminea (Malme) P. M. McCarthy ( T. straminea Malme) and P. tahitensis (Räsänen) P. M. McCarthy ( T. tahitensis Räsänen). The name P. farinose Knight is available for C. farinose (Knight) Müll. Arg. and P. grandispora sp. nov. is described from SE China. Fifteen species of Clathroporina and Thelenella sect. Clathroporina are referred to genera outside the Trichotheliaceae.

Clathroporina Müll. Arg. (1882), a genus of muriform-spored, pyrenocarpous lichens, is considered to be synonymous with Porina Müll. Arg. nom. cons. (1883). In order to avoid nomenclatural chaos, a proposal should be made to add it to the list of rejected names for Porina. Meanwhile, the following species are recognized: C. biroi Szatala, C. eminentior (NyL) Müll. Arg., C. exocha (Nyl.) Müll. Arg. and C. nuculastrum Müll. Arg. The following new combinations are effected: Aspidothelium cuyabense (Malme) P. M. McCarthy (Thelenella cuyabensis Malme), C. eminentior f. sorediifera (Müll. Arg.) P. M. McCarthy (C. desquamans f. sorediifera Müll. Arg), Laurera straminea (Malme) P. M. McCarthy (T. straminea Malme) and P. tahitensis (Räsänen) P. M. McCarthy (T. tahitensis Räsänen). The name P. farinose Knight is available for C. farinose (Knight) Müll. Arg. and P. grandispora sp. nov. is described from SE China. Fifteen species of Clathroporina and Thelenella sect. Clathroporina are referred to genera outside the Trichotheliaceae.

Abstract Myeloconis P. M. McCarthy & Elix gen. nov. is described from the Neotropics and the eastern Paleotropics. Four new species, M. erumpens, M. fecunda, M. guyanenis and M. parva, are recognized. The genus is characterized by a medulla containing previously unknown yellow or orange pigments and perithecioid ascomata with a dark, dense, almost pseudostromatal wall, a basally anastomosing, but otherwise free, hamathecium, uniformly thin-walled asci and elongate, muriform ascospores. While its affinities are uncertain, the ascomata and their contents suggest a rather close relationship with Porina Müll. Arg. and Clathroporina Müll. Arg. ( Trichotheliaceae ).

Abstract Ten species and one variety of Verrucaria Schrader are known from creeks and rivers in eastern Australia. Verrucaria austroalpina sp. nov., V. inconstans sp. nov., V. mundula sp. nov., V. mundula var. deminuta var. nov., V. phaeoderma sp. nov., V. tasmanica sp. nov. and V. tholocarpa sp. nov. are described. The combination V. puncticulata (P. M. McCarthy) P. M. McCarthy is made for V. hydrela var. puncticulata P. M. McCarthy. Verrucaria margacea (Wahlenb.)Wahlenb. and V. praetermissa (Trevisan) Anzi are reported from the Southern Hemisphere for the first time.

Recent revisions of generic relationships in the pyrenocarpous lichen family Trichotheliaceae by J. Hafellner & K. Kalb (based on perithecial pigmentation and ascus structure) and R. C. Harris (based on morphological, chemical and environmental trends) are assessed. However, most of their conclusions are rejected because the authors used shared or variable characters, insufficient specimens and highly disjointed groups of species.

Summary Brummitt, R. K., Castroviejo, S., Chikuni, A. C., Orchard A. E., Smith, G. F. & Wagner, W. L.: The Species Plantarum Project, an international collaborative initiative for higher plant taxonomy. – Taxon 50: 1217–1230. 2001. – ISSN 0040–0262. Basic understanding of the higher plant resources of the world for the successful management of biodiversity requires international collaboration and the setting up of a global taxonomic database. Botanists at all levels should be involved in the taxonomic work, and biologists and conservationists need to be actively aware of the need for such work on a global basis. The database must include census, descriptive, and identification aspects. At present, existing available information is haphazardly distributed on library shelves and inadequately organised. Published data on threatened species have been shown to be hopelessly inaccurate. National and regional Floras may often portray a false perspective of the plants they include. The world's botanists have to organise themselves to pool their information, and substantial international funding is needed to support this. The Species Plantarum Project, set up in 1995 under the International Organisation for Plant Information affiliated to the International Union of Biological Sciences (IUBS), aims to overcome “the taxonomic impediment”, and is currently seeking appropriate funding. It responds to the priorities highlighted in the work programme being developed under the Global Taxonomy Initiative of the Convention on Biological Diversity. The project has an international Steering Committee representing all regions of the world, and aims to develop a further network of collaborators. Publication of data will be in both hard copy and electronic form. Instructions to contributors and accounts of five relatively small families have already been published in hard copy, and accounts of two further families totalling nearly 1000 species are in press. Future plans emphasise the need for capacity building in floristic work throughout the world. The project now invites the collaboration of taxonomists throughout the community, but the future of the project is dependent on funding being made available.

Five species of caddisfly were identified in several small collections from a peat swamp at Selangor in Peninsular Malaysia. They included a widespread South-East Asian leptocerid species, Oecetis meghadouta Schmid, 1958 Schmid, F. 1958. “Trichoptères de Ceylon,”. Archives de Hydrobiologie, 54: 1–173. [Google Scholar] – described from Sri Lanka; two ecnomid species, Ecnomus crepidulus Mosely, 1932 Mosely, M E. 1932. “New exotic species of the genus Ecnomus (Trichoptera),”. Transactions of the Entomological Society of London, 80: 1–17. [Google Scholar] – described from Malaysia, and Ecnomus selangor sp. nov.; one hydroptilid species, Oxyethira paludicola sp. nov.; and an unidentified female hydropsychid species. The distribution and special features of tropical peat swamps are summarised, the new species are described, and comments are given on the trophic groups represented in the caddisfly fauna.

Summary A workshop in tropical forests of Khao Yai National Park on lichenized fungi, identified major components of the lichen flora on corticolous, foliicolous and saxicolous substrata. 161 taxa were recorded in three areas of the park including a riverine site on the Lam Takhong river, a montane forest at Khao Khieo and areas of tropical forest around the park headquarters. Species new to Thailand included foliicolous and corticolous species of equatorial forests, and others yet to be identified or described.

Abstract Four new pyrenocarpous lichens are described from Rarotonga, Cook Islands, South Pacific Ocean: Porina deminuta (Trichotheliaceae), Pyrenula ochraceoflava var. pacifica (Pyrenulaceae), Strigula decipiens var. divisa (Strigulaceae) and Verrucaria fortuita (Verrucariaceae). The new combinations Porina eminentior (Nyl.) P. M. McCarthy and P. exocha (Nyl.) P. M. McCarthy are made for Thelenella eminentior Nyl. (Clathroporina eminentior (Nyl.) Müll. Arg.) and Verrucaria exocha Nyl. (Clathroporina exocha (Nyl.) Müll. Arg.), respectively. Brief descriptions and additional notes are provided for 26 other taxa. The phytogeographical affinities and possible origins of the pyrenocarpous lichens of Rarotonga and Lord Howe Island are discussed.

Abstract The saxicolous Strigula fractans sp. nov. and S. rupestris sp. now are described from Lord Howe Island, New South Wales, Australia. A new combination, S. decipiens (Malme) P. M. McCarthy, is proposed for Porina decipiens Malme, and a key to the 17 saxicolous species of Strigula is provided.

Abstract New records are given for New Caledonian Hydroptilidae including the first formal records of two species, in Hydroptila and Hellyethira which are also widely distributed in Australia. In addition, a new species of Acritoptila and larvae and cases of several congeners, and an unusual "horned"; early stage larva, deduced to be Caledonotrichia are described. An apparently facultative association of final instar larvae of Acritoptila disjuncta with a fresh water sponge is recorded. The diagnosis of the endemic genus, Caledonotrichia is revised on the basis of new material of adults and immature stages, and the nature and composition of the New Caledonian micro‐caddisfly fauna, now comprising 22 species in six genera, are discussed briefly. Keywords: New CaledoniaTrichoptera: Hydroptilidaetaxonomyfaunistics

Final‐instar larvae of the microcaddisfly, Scelotrichia willcairnsi sp. nov. (Trichoptera: Hydroptilidae) were discovered feeding on a moss, Platyhypnidium muelleri in north‐eastern Queensland. Not only do the larvae feed on the moss, but their cases are constructed from fragments of moss leaves. Microscopic examination of larval guts and cases showed a total contrast in the angle at which the moss leaves are cut for each purpose: for cases the moss leaves are cut longitudinally, in parallel with the length of the cells, whereas for feeding the leaves are cut perpendicular to the leaf margin, across the cells, presumably an adaptation that releases the cell contents for digestion. The new caddisfly species is described based on the adult males. Scelotrichia willcairnsi represents the first Australian record of the South‐east Asian‐New Guinean Stactobiini genus Scelotrichia.

Two species of the lichen genus Rhizocarpon Ramond ex DC. (Rhizocarpaceae, Ascomycota), R. flavomedullosum Elix & P.M.McCarthy and R. vigilans P.M.McCarthy & Elix, are described as new to science. Six others [R. adarense (Darb.) I.M.Lamb, R. eupetraeoides (Nyl.) Blomb. & Forssell, R. geminatum Körb., R. intersitum Arnold, R. lavatum (Fr.) Hazsl. and R. lecanorinum Anders] are reported from Australia for the first time. Variation in the composition of lichen substances is documented, and a key is provided to the 18 Australian taxa.

The New Caledonian endemic hydroptilid genus Caledonotrichia Sykora (Trichoptera) is reviewed and 6 new species are described: Caledonotrichia bifida, Caledonotrichia capensis, Caledonotrichia minuta, Caledonotrichia ouinnica, Caledonotrichia sykorai and Caledonotrichia vexilla. Together with the established species for which revised diagnoses are given, these raise to 11 the number of species known in this genus. The new species, females of 3 species, and several unusual larval cases are examined and described for further insight into relationships of this enigmatic genus. A key to species is provided.

Peer Reviewed

Abstract Recent revisions of generic relationships in the pyrenocarpous lichen family Trichotheliaceae by J. Hafellner & K. Kalb (based on perithecial pigmentation and ascus structure) and R. C. Harris (based on morphological, chemical and environmental trends) are assessed. However, most of their conclusions are rejected because the authors used shared or variable characters, insufficient specimens and highly disjointed groups of species.