Das Tierreich Research Articles

From 1900 to 2000: History of Earthworm taxonomy in the North and Northeast of Brazil and its current distribution in Brazilian Biomes

One of the initial milestones for earthworm taxonomy was the work of Michaelsen (1900), “Das Tierreich Oligochaeta”. During this period only two exotic species of the genus Amynthas were recorded for the North and Northeast of Brazil. A century has passed and little is known about the taxonomy of earthworms in these two regions and the distribution of these organisms in Brazilian Biomes. The Brazilian territory is divided into six large biomes, Amazonian, Caatinga, Cerrado, Atlantic Forest, Pampa, and Wetlands. Little is known about the distribution of earthworms in these environments. This article provides a review of the literature on the progress of taxonomy in northern and northeastern Brazil over a century and provides the current distribution of earthworms in Brazilian biomes. In the first four decades the taxonomy has advanced at a slow pace, with only 19 new species recorded. With the beginning of Gilberto Righi’s work, earthworm taxonomy has advanced significantly. After Righi’s death in 1999, taxonomy in the North and Northeast has only begun breathing again within the past two years, in which the description of nine new species and two new genera have appeared. There are currently 174 species distributed in thirteen of the sixteen states that make up the North and Northeast regions of Brazil. Regarding distribution, the Amazon, Mata Atlantica and Cerrado biomes stand out for being the most diverse in genera and species, while the Caatinga, Pampa and Pantanal biomes are less diversified. In addition, the Caatinga and Pampa are the only biomes having more exotic species than native species.

Biological and Revisional Comments on the Classification of Dermaptera

Sakai (1970-1993, Dermapterorum Catalogus: Vols. I-XXV, 9,247 pp.) compiled much of the relevant taxonomic informa- tion and references on worldwide valid and invalid dermapteran taxa since Linnaeus (1758). The global biodiversity of Dermaptera is recognized in 4 suborders, 6 superfamilies, 11 families, 55 subfamilies, 208 genera, 1,930 species, 34 subspecies, 37 varieties and 9 forms. It is interesting to consider the way in which the diversity of features in the Dermaptera seems to be concentrated in the male forceps, pygidium, manubrium, and genitalia-including shapes of the virga and paramere. The citations in Steinmann's Catalogue (1989) and Das Tierreich (1986, 1989) on Dermaptera have sometimes overlooked important taxonomic references. The suprageneric names at subfamily level in Steinmann (1989) are incorrect; for example, Carcinophoridae for Anisolabididae and Labiidae for Spongiphoridae. Sakai (1990) indicates that many incorrect synonyms were cited in Steinmann's World Catalogue and Das Tierreich. These references are useful, but take several different approaches from Sakai's Catalogus and other references. A new genus, Paralabella, erected by Steinmann (1989) on the basis of paramere shape of the male genitalia, is an example of the excellent treatment of Dermapteran classification by Steinmann (1989).

Rediscovery of the Anguid Lizard Diploglossus atitlanensis (Smith)

The lizard Diploglossus atitlanensis was previously known only from the holotype from Atitlin, Guatemala. Herein I report on a second specimen collected at Finca El Imposible, Departamento de Ahuachapain, El Salvador. Morphological and ecological data for this specimen are presented. Bocourt (1879) designated an anguid lizard collected in Atitlain, southwestern Guatemala as Diploglossus (Celestus) steindachneri Cope. Giinther (1885) and Boulenger (1885) apparently did not reexamine this Guatemalan specimen, and they thought it was conspecific with Cope's (1864) D. steindachneri. Cope (1900) subsequently allocated this specimen to Celestus enneagrammus. Smith (1950) recognized that Bocourt's specimen was different from D. steindachneri, and he described it as Celestus atitlanensis. The validity of this taxon was questioned by Stuart (1963), who suggested that there may have been a confusion with Bocourt's data and stated that further material was necessary to prove the occurrence of the genus Celestus on the Pacific versant of Guatemala and Chiapas, Mexico. Wermuth (1969) placed C. atitlanensis in the genus Diploglossus. Subsequent to its original collection, D. atitlanensis has never been retaken. On 24 October 1979, forest wardens captured a single female lizard referable to this species at Finca El Imposible, 6 km NE San Francisco Menendez, Departamento de Ahuachapan, El Salvador, 800 m. This locality is about 150 km SE of the type locality. The Salvadoran specimen of D. atitlanensis (KU 184048) is described below. I have provided a thorough description to justify its specific allocation. ' Current address: Department of Biology, University of Missouri, Kansas City, Missouri 64110. This content downloaded from 207.46.13.105 on Wed, 25 May 2016 06:49:26 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms VOLUME 85, NUMBER 1 35 Fig. 1. Dorsal view of the head of Diploglossus atitlanensis (KU 184048), snout to vent length 111 mm, tail length 117 mm. Diploglossus atitlanensis (Smith) (Fig. 1) Diploglossus (Celestus) steindachneri (nec Cope) Bocourt, Miss. Sci. Mex., Rept., 1879:383, pl. 22, figs. 3-3c (in part). Celestus atitlanensis Smith in Smith and Taylor, Bull. U.S. Nat. Mus., 199, 1950:195, designation of Bocourt's D. steindachneri as type. Diploglossus atitlanensis-Wermuth, Das Tierreich, Lief. 90, 1969:4. Diagnosis.-Thirty-one scales around mid-body; median prefrontal wider than long, in contact with two supraoculars and frontal; lateral prefrontals present, not fused to median loreal; frontal longer than wide, not in contact with first supraocular; nasal in contact with rostral; three loreals; most dorsal scales with 20-25 striae, not keeled; 74 dorsal scales from occipital to base of tail; two light dorsolateral stripes present. Description.-Rostral wider than high, visible from above; two internasals; two frontonasals slightly larger than internasals; median prefrontal wider than long, in contact with two supraoculars and frontal; lateral prefrontals present, not fused to median loreal; frontal longer than wide; five inner supraoculars, second in contact with prefrontal and separating frontal from first supraocular; four or five outer smaller supraoculars, the first in This content downloaded from 207.46.13.105 on Wed, 25 May 2016 06:49:26 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 36 TRANSACTIONS OF THE KANSAS ACADEMY OF SCIENCES Table 1. Comparison of known specimens of Diploglossus atitlanensis. Character MHNP 5206 (Holotype) KU 184048

Taxonomic Disposition of Some 19th Century Leptodactylid Frog Names

The Das Tierreich account of leptodactylid frogs (Gorham, 1966) perpetuated incorrect usage of several leptodactylid frog names. Six of these names are based on materials

The Taxonomy of the False Scorpion Genus Synsphyronus with Remarks on the Sporadic Loss of Stability in Generally Constant Morphological Characters (Arachnida: Chelonethida)

The genus Synsphyronus Chamberlin was erected in 1930 (Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist. (10), 5 : 609, 616–617) to accommodate an unusual species of the family Garypidae which differed primarily from other members of the group in having the metatarsus and tarsus of the legs secondarily fused to form a typical miotarsus. At the time, it was pointed out that, in spite of this unusual character, the genus was undoubtedly truly referable to the family Garypidae on the basis of every other morphological character definitive of that group. In spite of this, Beier in 1932 (Das Tierreich, 57 :238) elevated the genus to family rank (Synsphyronidae) and removed it from the superfamily Garypoidea[2][1] to the Feaelloidea. Consideration of the following tabular summary of the normal characteristics of these two superfamilies will clearly reveal the untenability of Beier's disposition of this genus. In every character but the invariable presence of a normal, two-segmented tarsus, Synsphyronus agrees with the characters itemized under the heading Garypoidea. [1]: #fn-1

Systematics of Millipedes

ANY work on the Polydesmoidea from the pen of Count von Attems must command repsect. His contributions to our knowledge of a taxonomically difficult group have been very numerous and he is of course well fitted for the task of drawing together the threads of description and weaving them into a serviceable whole. The volume under notice begins with a list of works of reference occupying ten pages, and similar space is devoted to a clear and very useful systematic index. The author then plunges into the real business in hand to give nomenclatural particulars and full descriptions of the families mentioned in the title and to deal with all their subdivisions down to subspecies and varieties. It is a formidable task, for more than eight hundred species, certain and uncertain, need consideration. Myriapoda 3, Polydesmoidea II, Fam. Leptodesmidae, Platyrhachidae, Oxydesmidae, Gomphodesmidae Bearbeitet von Dr. Graf Attems. (Das Tierreich: eine Zusammenstellung und Kennzeichnung der rezenten Tierformen. Im Auftrage der Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin. Herausgegeben von F. E. Schulze, W. Kukenthal, K. Heider, fortgesetzt von R. Hesse. Lieferung 69.) Pp. xxviii + 487. (Berlin und Leipzig: Walter de Gruyter und Co., 1938.) 81·25 gold marks.

A CRITICAL REVIEW OF THE TREATMENT OF NORTH AMERICAN PARNASSIUS SPECIES BY FELIX BRYK IN DAS TIERREICH, PART 65

A monograph of the lepidopterous genus Parnassius has recently appeared as Part 65 of that monumental undertaking “Das Tierreich.” The volume in question comprises nearly 800 closely printed pages and 698 illustrations. The author, Felix Bryk of the Zoological Museum of Berlin, Germany, has long posed as a specialist in this genus of butterflies and is the editor of a publication, “Parnassiana.”

Crocodiles or Alligators

PROF. RITCHIE need have no fear that the name Crocodilus for the crocodiles in general will be replaced in future by Champse1, It was unfortunate that Dr. Werner's blunder should have appeared in so authoritative a work as “Das Tierreich” but it was at once corrected by Dr. Stejneger in Copeia, No. 3, p. 117, Oct. 1933. The type of Crocodilus, both by absolute) tautonymy and by subsequent designation, is niloticus = the Lacerta crocodilus of Linnaeus (in part).

Crocodiles or Alligators?

THERE has recently been published the part of “Das Tierreich” dealing with Reptilia Loricata, and since this great work is bound to be widely used by zoologists in the naming of species, it becomes of considerable importance in the stabilising of zoological nomenclature. One therefore examines with more than usual interest the generic and specific names adopted by Dr. Franz Werner for crocodiles and alligators. Again the strict application of the laws of priority in nomenclature gives rise to some confusion. The generic name Crocodilus, as applied to Old World crocodiles (Crocodilidae) by Cuvier in 1807, is replaced by Champse of Merrem (1820), the reason being that in 1768 Laurenti had used the name Crocodylus with another significance.

Two New Scelionid Parasites of Locusta migratoria, L., from Russia

This summer I received for identification from the Entomological Department of the Experimental Station at Poltava one vial with 12 specimens (2 ♂♂, 10 ♀♀) of a new species of Scelio bred from eggs of Locusta migratoria ph. danica, collected by F. Lukjanovich, 12.viii.1925, at Priluky, Poltava province ; and later on Mr. B. P. Uvarov sent me two females of another species from Turkestan. All the representatives of the cosmopolitan genus Scelio, Latr., so far as we know, are egg-parasites of Acrididae. Some species have been bred from L. danica in Australia, but in Europe this is the first species of which the host has been recorded. Dr. J. J. Kieffer, in a posthumous monograph of the Scelionidae (Das Tierreich, Lief. 48, 1926), among other generic characters mentioned the four-jointed maxillary palpi. He further distinguished the Australian genus Neoscelio, Dodd, from Scelio by its having three-jointed maxillary palpi, besides the long metathoracic spine. Unfortunately Kieffer did not mention to which species of the genus Scelio his observation referred. I have dissected a few specimens of three species, S. vulgaris, Kieff., S. uvarovi, sp. n., and S. nikolskyi, sp. n., and can state that in both sexes of all these species the maxillary palpi are only three-jointed. The generic definition of the genus Scelio must therefore be corrected in this sense.

(1) Le Zebre (2) La Pêche au Bord de la Mer (3) Bees shown to the Children (4) A Hand-list of British Birds (5) Liverpool Marine Biology Committee: LMBC Memoirs on Typical British Marine Plants and Animals (6) Das Tierreich

THOSE interested in zebras and quaggas will find an excellent account of these animals in Dr. Griffini's little book (1), which is one of the series of useful manuals edited and issued by Ulrico Hoepli, of Milan. That he has thoroughly grasped the conclusions of the most trustworthy recent authorities is shown by his discussion and rejection of the claim that the existing striped Equidæ can be logically entitled Hippotigris, by his adoption of the view that four, and only four, species, namely, Equus grevyi, E. zebra, E. foai and E. quagga, the latter including as subspecies all the so-called burchelli forms, can be admitted, by his summary of the evidence supporting the cela-tivc significance of the coloration, and of the evidence favouring the view that the pale, and not the dark, bands are in reality the “stripes.” Writing as an expounder rather than as an original researcher, Dr. Griffini is, of course, aware that his classification and synonymy of the local races of E. quagga must be regarded as tentative instead of final; but, considering the difficulties. of the question, his attempts at its settlement, although not above criticism, do credit to his perspicacity. We have only one serious fault to find with the book. It has no index. In the place where the index should be is a complete list of the author's contributions to zoology, which show that his time has been mainly devoted to the study of systematic entomology. Perhaps it is to the training thus acquired that is to be attributed his masterly handling of the subject-matter of this volume. (1) Le Zebre. Studio Zoologico Popolare. By Dr. Achille Griffini. Pp. xxviii + 298; illustrated. (Milano: Ulrico Hoepli, 1913.) Price 4 lire. (2) La Pêche au Bord de la Mer. J.-H. Perreau. Pp. 311. (Paris: J.-B. Baillière et Fils, 1912.) Price 4 francs. (3) Bees shown to the Children. Ellison Hawks. Pp. xii + 120; illustrated. (London and Edinburgh: T. C. and E. C. Jack.) Price 2s. 6d. net. The Shown to the Children Series.) (4) A Hand-list of British Birds. With an account of the distribution of each species in the British Isles and abroad. By Ernst Hartert F. C. R. Jourdain N. F. Ticehurst and H. F. Witherby. Pp. xii + 237. (London: Witherby and Co., 1912.) Price 7s. 6d. net. (5) Liverpool Marine Biology Committee: L.M.B.C. Memoirs on Typical British Marine Plants and Animals. Dr. W. A. Herdman. XX. Buccinum (the Whelk.) By Dr. Wm. J. Dakin. Pp. viii + 115 + 8 plates. (London: Williams and Norgate, 1912.) Price 4s. 6d. (6) Das Tierreich. 31 Lieferung: Ostracoda. By G. W. Müller. Pp. xxxiii + 434. (Berlin: R. Friedländer und Sohn, 1912.) Price 32 marks.

Das Tierreich

READERS of Stevenson may possibly remember that when the hero of “Catriona” took leave of Alan Breck on Gillane Sands and turned to meet his pursuers, his attention was caught, in the solitude and silence of that “unchancy” place, by “the sand-lice hopping nimbly about the stranded tangles.” One might search far through the fields of literature before finding another mention of the amphipodous Crustacea. Their small size, the aquatic habits of the majority, and the fact that they are neither immediately useful nor directly harmful to man, combine to withdraw them from popular observation, while even to many who claim the title of naturalist they are known only by name. Yet the student who attempts to gain some knowledge of this group of animals is likely to be bewildered at the outset by the almost infinite variety of specific differentiation which they present, no less than by the overwhelming mass of technical literature in which their peculiarities are recorded. Das Tierreich. 21 Lieferung. Crustacea. Amphipoda, I., Gammaridea. By the Rev. T. R. R. Stebbing. Pp. xxxix + 806; 127 figures in text. (Berlin: R. Friedländer und Sohn, 1906.) Price 48 marks.

Verhandlungen der deutschen zoologischen Gesellschaft, xii Versammlung, Giessen, 1902

THE German Zoological Society consists of about 240 experts, who meet in variable numbers for two or three days annually in some happily chosen hospitable spot, where they hold high discourse. There were only about sixty members present at last summer's (twelfth) meeting in Giessen, but the Society, if not large in numbers, is strong in quality. It is not pecuniarily rich, for it has backed out of more than an honorary responsibility witH regard to one of its offspring—an expensive child—“Das Tierreich,” which the Berlin Academy of Science will henceforth solely foster, but it is rich in enthusiasm, as we infer from the proposal to segregate into entomological, ornithological and other sections. Long may it live and thrive, and continue to publish its interesting proceedings, which we have just been enjoying. The volume, ably edited by Prof. Korschelt, contains a general introductory address by Prof. Chun; a welcome from Prof. Hansen, as rector of the University of Giessen; a short reminiscence, by Prof. Spengel, of the zoologists who have taught and wrought at Giessen, e.g. Leuckart, Schneider and Ludwig; and;about sixteen papers, most of which impress us with their general interest, their lucidity and their brevity. Verhandlungen der deutschen zoologischen Gesellschaft, xii. Versammlung, Giessen, 1902. Pp. iv + 221. (Leipzig: Engelmann, 1902.)

A New Synopsis Animalium—Das Tierreich

FROM rough calculations lately made by the contributors to the Zoological Record, it would appear that some 360,000 species of animals have been described by naturalists up to the present date. To arrange all these species on a uniform system, and to add descriptions and other necessary particulars to each of them, would appear to be almost an herculean task. Yet it has been undertaken, we are told, by the German Zoological Society, which has entered into an agreement with Messrs. Friedländer and Son for the publication of such a work. Prof. F. E. Schultze, of Berlin, has been selected as general editor of “Das Tierreich,” and will be assisted by numerous sub-editors in the different departments of zoology. Each of these sub-editors again will invite the assistance of specialists in the groups assigned to his charge, so that a very large number of naturalists will assist in this gigantic undertaking. It is proposed to issue the first parts of the work in 1897, and it is expected that at least twenty-five years will elapse before the undertaking can be brought to a conclusion.