South-eastern Australia Research Articles

Using stable-isotope analysis to assess recent diet and habitat use of stranded green turtles (Chelonia mydas)

Context Gaining a better understanding of the foraging ecology of green turtles (Chelonia mydas) in different regions can improve the effectiveness of conservation and management strategies for this species. New South Wales (NSW), in eastern Australia, has been identified as a region requiring improved information on foraging ecology and habitat use by green turtles. Aims The aim of this study was to use stable-isotope analyses to investigate diet composition and foraging ecology of green turtles found stranded along the NSW coastline from 2018 to 2021. Methods This study measured δ13C, δ15N, and δ34S in macrophyte (mangrove, seagrass, and algae) samples collected along the NSW coastline, between March and June 2021, and epidermis tissue from green turtles that stranded in the same region between 2018 and 2021. In addition, stable-isotope values for animals known, or expected, to be consumed by green turtles were sourced from the literature. Macrophyte stable-isotope values were mapped to display spatial variations, then combined with literature-sourced animal matter and measured epidermis isotope values into stable-isotope mixing models. Mixing models were used to determine diet structure for each stranded green turtle, and their similarity to regional macrophyte isotope values to infer potential foraging locations. Key results High variation was present in δ13C, δ15N, and δ34S values of macrophyte sources along the NSW coastline, limiting the potential to infer the recent foraging locations of stranded green turtles. High δ15N values in green turtle epidermis samples indicated that most sampled turtles were feeding two to three trophic levels above primary producers within algal-based food webs. Mixing models suggested that these food webs were predominantly supported by algae (mean ± s. d. = 51.2 ± 6.1%) and animal material (31.4 ± 4.7%), with mangrove (13.4 ± 2.0%) and seagrass (4.0 ± 2.5%) representing much smaller proportions of overall diet composition. Conclusions The results showed that green turtles stranded along the NSW coastline feed primarily in algae-dominated food webs, with evidence of omnivory. These findings suggest that sampled individuals display diet compositions alternative to those of their Queensland counterparts, who feed primarily in seagrass-dominated habitats. Management and conservation programs in NSW should focus on limiting anthropogenic disturbances in algae-dominated habitats. Implications This novel finding demonstrated the importance of algae-dominated habitats for green turtle conservation and management in south-eastern Australia. The generated isoscapes are useful in examining isotopic variations in macrophytes along the NSW coastline.

High fire severity and frequency threaten the persistence of a widespread obligate-seeder Banksia in south-eastern Australia

Context Obligate-seeding woody plants with long reproductive maturity periods and no soil seed banks are threatened with decline as climate change drives more frequent and severe fires, such as the extensive 2019–2020 wildfires in south-eastern Australia. Aims This study aimed to investigate the effects of fire intervals and severity on the persistence of one such species, Banksia cunninghamii (Hairpin Banksia), in temperate forests. Methods We measured post-fire seedling recruitment of B. cunninghamii at 25 sites in Victoria, burned at various severities in the 2019–2020 wildfires and with differing prior fire intervals. A Bayesian framework was used to model the relationship between seedling numbers, fire severity and fire interval. A spatial analysis compared a species distribution model for B. cunninghamii with fire severity and fire intervals. Key results There was a low chance of B. cunninghamii recruitment (<25%) at sites that either had burned eucalypt canopies or a preceding fire interval of less than 12 years. Sixty-seven percent of its distribution in the south-east of the state of Victoria was mapped as burned at high severity (burned eucalypt canopies) between 1998 and 2020, or burned at shorter than 12 year intervals between 1960 and 2020, although some B. cunninghamii populations will have persisted due to the patchiness of past burns. Conclusions Banksia cunninghamii is vulnerable to local extinctions in the wildfire-affected areas if fires occur again before plants reach maturity, or if high fire severity destroys seeds. Implications More frequent and severe wildfires mean that burn planning needs to consider the reproductive cycles of serotinous obligate-seeding plants.

Deep learning approaches for short-crop reference evapotranspiration estimation: a case study in Southeastern Australia

Deep learning approaches for short-crop reference evapotranspiration estimation: a case study in Southeastern Australia

How Much Warming Can Mosquito Vectors Tolerate?

ABSTRACTClimate warming is expected to substantially impact the global landscape of mosquito‐borne disease, but these impacts will vary across disease systems and regions. Understanding which diseases, and where within their distributions, these impacts are most likely to occur is critical for preparing public health interventions. While research has centered on potential warming‐driven expansions in vector transmission, less is known about the potential for vectors to experience warming‐driven stress or even local extirpations. In conservation biology, species risk from climate warming is often quantified through vulnerability indices such as thermal safety margins—the difference between an organism's upper thermal limit and its habitat temperature. Here, we estimated thermal safety margins for 8 mosquito species that are the vectors of malaria, dengue, chikungunya, Zika, West Nile and other major arboviruses, across their known ranges to investigate which mosquitoes and regions are most and least vulnerable to climate warming. We find that several of the most medically important mosquito vector species, including Ae. aegypti and An. gambiae, have positive thermal safety margins across the majority of their ranges when realistic assumptions of mosquito behavioral thermoregulation are incorporated. On average, the lowest climate vulnerability, in terms of both the magnitude and duration of thermal safety, was just south of the equator and at northern temperate range edges, and the highest climate vulnerability was in the subtropics. Mosquitoes living in regions including the Middle East, the western Sahara, and southeastern Australia, which are largely comprised of desert and xeric shrubland biomes, have the highest climate vulnerability across vector species.

Fluids in the shallow mantle of southeastern Australia: Insights from phase equilibria

Abstract Small amounts of water (tens to hundreds of parts per million) can have a profound effect on the properties of mantle peridotites, including viscosities, conductivities, and melting temperatures. Measuring the water content of nominally anhydrous minerals (NAMs) has provided insight into the amounts of water contained within mantle rocks. However, converting from NAM water contents to the activity of H2O is non-trivial. Equilibria involving amphibole can be used to determine values of the activity of H2O (aH2O) at the time of mineral equilibration. This approach yields low values of the activity of H2O (<0.3) for four peridotite xenoliths from Southeastern Australia. These four xenoliths also record values of oxygen fugacity (fO2) that range from –0.2 to –1.2 log units below the fayalitemagnetite-quartz buffer. All these values of fO2 are inconsistent with the presence of a CH4-rich fluid (too oxidizing), and the lowest value of oxygen fugacity, as recorded by one sample, is inconsistent with the presence of a CO2-rich fluid.

Simulating Genetic Mixing in Strongly Structured Populations of the Threatened Southern Brown Bandicoot (Isoodon obesulus).

Genetic mixing aims to increase the genetic diversity of small or isolated populations, by mitigating genetic drift and inbreeding depression, either by maximally increasing genetic diversity, or minimising the prevalence of recessive, deleterious alleles. However, few studies investigate this beyond a single generation of mixing. Here, we model genetic mixing using captive, low-diversity recipient population of the threatened Southern brown bandicoot (Isoodon obesulus) over 50 generations and compare wild populations across south-eastern Australia as candidate source populations. We first assess genetic differentiation between 12 populations, including the first genomic assessment of three mainland Australian and three Tasmanian populations. We assess genetic diversity in the 12 populations using an individualised autosomal heterozygosity pipeline, using these results to identify a candidate recipient population for genetic mixing simulations. We found that populations fell into four major groups of genetic similarity: Adelaide Hills, western Victoria, eastern Victoria, and Tasmania, but populations within these groups were also distinct, and additional substructure was observed in some populations. Our autosomal heterozygosity pipeline indicated significant variability in mean heterozygosity between populations, identifying one extremely genetically degraded population on Inner Sister Island, Tasmania. Genetic mixing simulations of a low heterozygosity captive population in Victoria suggested the greatest increase in heterozygosity would be reached by using highly differentiated populations as mixing sources. However, when removing populations that may represent taxonomically discrete lineages, neither metrics of differentiation nor heterozygosity was strongly correlated with modelled heterozygosity increase, indicating the value of simulation-based approaches when selecting source populations for population mixing.

Multi-mineral geochronology reveals a protracted Mesoproterozoic tectonic and metallogenic link between southeastern Australia and Laurentia

Plate tectonic reconstructions place Laurentia and eastern Australia together during the Mesoproterozoic. Specifically, the Belt-Purcell Basin in the USA and Canada has been linked to the Rocky Cape Group in northwest Tasmania based on detrital zircon studies. The Belt-Purcell Basin is highly endowed in economic deposits of Cu, Pb, Zn, Ag and critical metals such as Co, formed during the Mesoproterozoic. The Rocky Cape Group of northwest Tasmania hosts several sediment-hosted Cu-Pb-Zn ± Co prospects, however they were previously thought to be Devonian in age. New laser ablation inductively-couple plasma mass spectroscopy (LA-ICP-MS) in situ U-Pb monazite, xenotime and apatite data, sensitive high resolution ion microprobe (SHRIMP) in-situ U-Pb monazite data, and LA-ICP-MS galena Pb isotope data were collected from these prospects. By using multiple minerals with different U–Pb closure temperatures, we have unravelled a complex and protracted history of thermal pulses in the Rocky Cape region associated with Cu-Pb-Zn ± Co mineralisation. These data indicate that primary sulphide mineralisation formed at c. 1350 Ma, with several resetting or remobilisation events recorded at c. 1250 Ma, c. 1100 Ma and c. 950 Ma. These ages are contemporaneous with previously published authigenic monazite and metamorphic monazite ages from the Rocky Cape Group. This suggests that mineralisation is broadly syn-sedimentary and related to the development of the basin into which the Rocky Cape Group was deposited. These new ages are similar to those of sediment-hosted ore deposits in the Belt-Purcell Basin in the USA and Canada, further supporting the proposed link between northwest Tasmania and North America during the Mesoproterozoic. The high metal endowment of age-equivalent rocks in the Belt-Purcell Basin, highlight the potential for new discoveries of base and critical metals in southeastern Australia.

Divergent trajectories of regeneration in early-successional forests after logging and wildfire.

Increases in forest disturbances have altered global forest demography rates, with many regions now characterized by extensive areas of early-successional forest. Heterogeneity in the structure, diversity, and composition of early-successional forests influence their inherent ecological values from immediately following disturbance to later successional stages, including values for biodiversity and carbon storage. Here, using 14 years of longitudinal data, we describe patterns in the structure, richness, and composition of early-successional forests subject to one of three different disturbance types: (1) clearcut logging followed by slash burn, (2) severe wildfire followed by salvage logging, and (3) severe wildfire only, in the Mountain Ash (Eucalyptus regnans) and Alpine Ash (Eucalyptus delegatensis) forests of southeastern Australia. We also documented the influence of disturbance intervals (short, medium, and long) on early-successional forests. Our analyses revealed several key differences between forests that regenerated from wildfire versus two different anthropogenic perturbations. Most ash-type plant communities were resilient to wildfire within historical fire-regimes (75-150 years), exhibiting temporal trends of recovery in plant structure, richness, and composition within the first decade. In contrast, the richness, occurrence, and abundance of some plant lifeforms and life history traits were negatively associated with clearcut logging and salvage logging, relative to forests disturbed by wildfire alone. These included resprouting species, such as tree ferns and ground ferns. However, Acacia spp. and shrubs were more abundant after clearcut logging. Our findings also provide evidence of the pronounced negative impact of salvage logging on early-successional plant communities, relative to that of both clearcut logging and wildfire. Notably, plant richness declined for over a decade after salvage logging, rather than increased as occurred following other disturbance types. Early-successional forests provide the template for the stand structure and composition of mature forests. Therefore, altered patterns of recovery with different disturbance types will likely shape the structure and function of later-successional stages. Predicted increases in wildfire will increase the generation of early-successional forests and subsequent salvage logging. Therefore, it is pertinent that management consider how different disturbance types can produce alternate states of forest composition and structure early in succession, and the implications for mature stands.

Projecting the Potential Global Distribution of Sweetgum Inscriber, Acanthotomicus suncei (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae) Concerning the Host Liquidambar styraciflua Under Climate Change Scenarios.

Acanthotomicus suncei is a newly discovered bark beetle in China that significantly threatens the American sweetgum Liquidambar styraciflua. In recent years, this pest has spread from its original habitat to many surrounding cities, causing substantial economic and ecological losses. Considering the wide global distribution of its host, Liquidambar styraciflua, this pest is likely to continue to spread and expand. Once the pest colonizes a new climatically suitable area, the consequences could be severe. Therefore, we employed the CLIMEX and Random Forests model to predict the potential suitable distribution of A. suncei globally. The results showed that A. suncei was mainly distributed in Southern China, in South Hokkaido in Japan, Southern USA, the La Plata Plain in South America, southeastern Australia, and the northern Mediterranean; these areas are located in subtropical monsoon, monsoonal humid climates, or Mediterranean climate zones. Seasonal rainfall, especially in winter, is a key environmental factor that affects the suitable distribution of A. suncei. Under future climates, the total suitable area of A. suncei is projected to decrease to a certain extent. However, changes in its original habitat require serious attention. We found that A. suncei exhibited a spreading trend in Southwest, Central, and Northeast China. Suitable areas in some countries in Southeast and South Asia bordering China are also expected to show an increased distribution. The outward spread of this pest via sea transportation cannot be ignored. Hence, quarantine efforts should be concentrated in high-suitability regions determined in this study to protect against the occurrence of hosts that may contain A. suncei, thereby avoiding its long-distance spread. Long-term sentinel surveillance and control measures should be carried out as soon as A. suncei is detected, especially in regions with high suitability. Thus, our findings establish a theoretical foundation for quarantine and control measures targeting A. suncei.

Australian Culex annulirostris mosquitoes are competent vectors for Japanese encephalitis virus genotype IV

Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) is transmitted by Culex species of mosquitoes. In 2022, JEV belonging to a previously unrecognised lineage of genotype IV (GIV) caused a major outbreak of JE in South-eastern Australia, resulting in human cases and affecting piggeries. Cx. annulirostris has previously been implicated as the major vector of JEV in northern Australia where the virus has circulated since its first detection in 1995. Here, we showed that experimental infection of a laboratory colony of Australian Cx. annulirostris with the isolate JEV NSW/22 resulted in a 100% mosquito infection rate, with 87% of mosquito saliva samples testing positive by RT-qPCR at 14 days post-infection. Immunohistochemistry confirmed the presence of a replicating virus in the mosquito midgut and dissemination throughout the body, including the salivary glands. Our results also showed evidence of transovarial transmission of this virus; however, transstadial transmission from the eggs to the adult stage was not found. Comparison with an Indonesian isolate of GIV JEV and previous Australian isolates belonging to genotypes I and II showed that infection with JEV NSW/22 resulted in higher viral titres in the early stage of infection and higher proportions of mosquitoes with JEV-positive saliva, indicating a greater transmission potential compared to other isolates. This study provides compelling experimental evidence that Australian Cx. annulirostris is a highly efficient vector for the 2022 Australian JEV GIV outbreak strain.

A Synoptic‐Dynamic View of the Millennium Drought (2001–2009) in Southeastern Australia

AbstractAustralia has had several severe droughts in its recent history. Most studies have linked these droughts to large‐scale modes of variability, whereas few studies have investigated droughts from the perspective of weather systems. The current study examines a wide range of weather systems focusing especially on heavy rainfall events, which are important to meteorological drought. Two distinct phases (development and recovery) are identified for the Millennium Drought based on the cumulative standardized precipitation index. Differences in precipitation from heavy rainfall events between the two drought phases are most pronounced in autumn and summer. The pronounced reduction in precipitation from autumn heavy rainfall events during the development phase is due to fewer, less intense, faster‐moving warm conveyor belts. In contrast, increased precipitation from autumn heavy rainfall events in the recovery phase is explained by an interaction between warm conveyor belts and upper‐level anticyclonic potential vorticity with a persistent anticyclonic circulation over the Tasman Sea acting to slow the eastward propagation of rainfall‐producing weather systems. In summer, however, the difference in precipitation from heavy rainfall events in the two drought phases is due to changed moisture content within warm conveyor belts. In the recovery phase, the higher moisture content is associated with greater moisture transport over the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand.

Mass mortalities of grey-headed flying-foxes (Pteropus poliocephalus) from tree collapses

Mortality factors are an important subject of research, especially when mortalities concern threatened taxa. The grey-headed flying-fox (Pteropus poliocephalus) is a vulnerable species endemic to eastern and south-eastern Australia that is known to be susceptible to a spectrum of compounding threats including factors producing simultaneous deaths. We describe two incidents of trees within a flying-fox roost collapsing and causing mass mortalities in individuals roosting in those trees. Each incident resulted in 335 and 57 deaths, as well as 74 and 45 individuals that would have died if not taken into ex-situ care. Total mortality for each incident equated to approximately 15% and 2% of the colony at the time of those incidents. Although flying-foxes are capable of flight, take-off from a roosting position requires an initial freefall, which makes escape from a collapsing tree difficult. Our accounts potentially represent the first reports of tree collapses causing mortality in Australian flying-foxes, which highlight the relevance of tree health in roosts to flying-fox welfare and conservation. This information also builds upon our growing knowledge of factors producing mass mortalities in flying-foxes.

A crustal Pb isotope map of southeastern Australia

Lead isotopes are a powerful geochemical tracer and a popular tool applied across a broad range of scientific fields, e.g., earth sciences, archaeology, and forensic sciences. Here we present a Pb isotope dataset collected from 232 igneous samples, spanning a ca. 2.3 million km2 area in southeastern Australia, and over 3 billion years of Earth history. This contribution provides a range of isotopic maps showing the spatial variability of Pb isotopes (206Pb/204Pb, 207Pb/204Pb, and 208Pb/204Pb), magma source U/Pb and Th/U, and model ages. The samples selected for this study encompass U- and Th-poor media (i.e., K-feldspar), and U- and Th-bearing sampling media (i.e., whole-rock), providing a temporally and spatially resolved image of U and Th distribution in the crust, and their influence on crustal Pb through radiogenic ingrowth. This dataset has the potential to benefit a wide variety of different disciplines and is an important resource for addressing earth science questions ranging from unravelling crustal differentiation and architecture, through tracing magma source U- and Th-enrichment, to mineral deposit genesis.

Production losses caused by red leather leaf in hay and milling oats

Context Red leather leaf (RLL), caused by Neospermospora avenae, is a common foliar disease of oats in south-eastern Australia but its impact on hay and grain yield and quality is unknown. Aim We aimed to determine the effect of RLL on grain yield and quality of commercial milling oat varieties, and biomass and nutrition of hay oat varieties, with a range of host plant resistance responses by comparing fungicide and disease treatments. Methods A total of eight field experiments were conducted in 2019 and 2020; four experiments each investigated the effects of RLL on hay or milling oats. In each experiment, six or seven oat varieties were sown with a disease or fungicide imposed. RLL severity was estimated visually for each experiment. Biomass yield and quality traits at early milk development stage were measured for hay oat experiments; and grain yield and quality for the milling oat experiments. Key results RLL severity (% leaf area affected: 0–44% in hay oats and 2–61% in milling oats) varied with the season, varietal resistance, and treatments. RLL caused significant losses in most experiments, with reductions in biomass of up to 3.5 t/ha (22%) in hay oats and grain yield of up to 1.1 t/ha (21%) in milling oats. Conclusions RLL can be a severe foliar disease of oats in south-eastern Australia and cause significant losses in both hay and milling oat crops. Implications Growing varieties with resistance can effectively reduce potential loss due to RLL and growers are required to adapt fungicide strategies reflecting seasonal conditions and product type (grain or hay).

Visualising truth-telling through Indigenous community-specific vernacular photography in Canada and Australia

The emphasis in Indigenous photographic scholarship has largely been on Indigenous subjects viewed through a colonial lens. It is often assumed that impoverished communities did not have cameras or photographic archives, given the vulnerability and mobility of their lives. However, cameras, although scarce, were present. This is demonstrated in the photographic legacies of Ngarrindjeri families in south-eastern Australia and Qu’Appelle Valley Métis families in Saskatchewan, Canada, investigated in this article. Both groups share similar histories in marginalised settings – ‘one mile camps’ in Australia and ‘Road Allowance’ communities in Canada. The archives created by generations of Indigenous photographers are both familiar and unique. They depict smiling groups posed in front of cars and homes, although the backdrops are very different to the middle-class and suburban settings typical of vernacular photography more widely. Photographic archives in these communities are comparatively sparse, and thus more precious. Importantly, we see the matriarchs who anchored large, extended families, and evidence of their Indegenous knowledges and the survival skills that provided for them. Working with these photographs in deep engagement with communities and their long-held knowledge reanimates these images in contemporary contexts to facilitate the reclaiming of land, connection and family. We argue that such images represent unparalleled forms of truth-telling, offering a nuanced visual history unavailable from other sources.

Showy birds on attractive food sources: rainbow lorikeets and their plant-related functions at a residential area in South-eastern Australia

Showy birds on attractive food sources: rainbow lorikeets and their plant-related functions at a residential area in South-eastern Australia

Porphyry Cu-Mo mineralization at Anabama Hill, Delamerian Orogen, South Australia: Fertility assessment implicated from epidote and chlorite chemistry

Abstract Porphyry-style hydrothermal alteration has long been recognized in the Delamerian Orogen, Southeastern Australia. However, the fertility of porphyry prospects in this belt, including the Anabama Hill, remains elusive, due to intermittent exploration activities and sparse exposure. Recent significant discoveries of porphyry-epithermal Cu-Au deposits in the adjacent Stavely Arc have led to renewed exploration interest. Reinvestigation of the Anabama Hill drill cores highlights that K-feldspar-rich and epidote-chlorite-dominated alterations are superimposed by extensive quartz-pyrite ± chalcopyrite ± molybdenite veins with white mica-quartz selvedges, related to early-middle Ordovician granitic stocks. Granodiorite and diorite hosts have diagnostic geochemical characteristics, including high Sr/Y, V/Sc ratios, and listric-shaped REE trends, implying amphibole-leading fractionation due to high water contents in primitive melts. LA-ICP-MS analyses show that characteristic element compositions, e.g., high Fe, Sr, Pb, U and Bi and low Mg and REEs in the Anabama Hill epidote, and high Mn, Zn, Zr and U and low Ca, Ba and Pb in the chlorite, suggest the two minerals resulting from propylitic alteration rather than metamorphism. Compared to well-mineralized porphyry deposits, the epidote shows high Bi, Cu, Sr, Ti, Zr and U, and the chlorite is high in Ti/Sr and Al/Si ratios, implying that they are most likely deposit-proximal or near a heat center. This is supported by intermediate to high temperatures of 200—420°C calculated by chlorite geothermometer. Propylitic epidote and chlorite outside pyrite halos typically define geochemical shoulders by anomalous As-Sb and Mn-Zn highs, 1—1.5 km away from the mineralized centers. Given most of the epidote and chlorite intergrown with sulfides, their close proximity to a likely mineralized center accounts for low to moderate concentrations of distal pathfinder elements and subdued performances on the As-Sb and Mn-Zn fertility plots. Combined with bulk-rock results, proximal-fertility indicators recorded in epidote and chlorite provide encouraging implications for porphyry exploration in the Delamerian belt.

Habitat selection and influence on hunting success in female Australian fur seals

Determining the factors influencing habitat selection and hunting success in top predators is crucial for understanding how these species may respond to environmental changes. For marine top predators, such factors have been documented in pelagic foragers, with habitat use and hunting success being linked to chlorophyll-a concentrations, sea surface temperature and light conditions. In contrast, little is known about the determinants of benthic marine predators. The Australian fur seal (Arctocephalus pusillus doriferus) is a benthic-diving forager that has a breeding and foraging distribution largely restricted to Bass Strait, the shallow (max. depth 80 m) continental shelf region between the Australian mainland and Tasmania. The species forages mostly on benthic prey and represents the greatest resident marine predator biomass in south-eastern Australia. The region is also one of the world’s fastest-warming marine areas and oceanographic changes are influencing shifts in prey distribution and abundance. In the present study, GPS-derived locations of benthic dives (n = 288,449) and dive behaviour metrics were used to determine seafloor habitat selection and factors influencing hunting success in 113 lactating adult females from Kanowna Island during the winters of 2006–2021. Individuals non-randomly selected foraging habitats comprised of deeper, steeper sloped, muddy-sandy areas with less gravel and highly disturbed regions (P < 0.01). Hunting success was greatest in shallower rocky reefs (< 30 m) and deep areas (> 40 m) characterised by moderate presence of gravel (25–50%) and substantial rock composition (50–75%) on the seabed. These findings suggest that habitat use and hunting success in adult female Australian fur seals could be impacted by predicted oceanographic changes, such as rising temperature, altered currents and waves which may modify seafloor characteristics and benthic communities.

Turbiditylenchus corticeus n. gen., n. sp. (Rhabditida: Anguinidae) from the bark of Eucalyptus macrorhyncha from the Australian Capital Territory

Summary A new genus and species of the Anguinidae, Turbiditylenchus corticeus n. gen., n. sp., was isolated from the bark of Eucalyptus macrorhyncha from southeastern Australia. Turbiditylenchus corticeus is readily differentiated from all recognised anguinid genera and is characterised primarily by a slender body, lateral field with six incisures, an anteriorly flattened lip region continuous with the body, delicate stylet 7.9-9.9 μm long, muscular median bulb containing a strongly refractive valve, post-vulval uterine sac 1.87-4.4 times vulval body diam., conical tail with pointed tip, and males with leptoderan bursa and spicules 20.5-25.8 μm in length. The phylogenetic relationships of the new species with other anguinid lineages were reconstructed using sequences of the small subunit ribosomal RNA (18S rRNA), the internal transcribed spacer region (ITS; comprising ITS1-5.8S-ITS2) and partial large subunit ribosomal RNA (28S rRNA D2-D3) genes based on Bayesian inference and maximum likelihood analyses. These analyses demonstrate the new species represents a lineage distinct from all other anguinids. Based on phylogenetic results we also transfer Ditylenchus parvicauda Gu, Ma, Castillo &amp; Munawar, 2024 and Ditylenchus gracicauda Gu, Ma, Castillo &amp; Munawar, 2024 to Ditylenchoides Subbotin &amp; Ryss, 2024 as Ditylenchoides parvicauda n. comb. and Ditylenchoides gracicauda n. comb.

Discovery of a new species of allied cowry (Gastropoda: Ovulidae) from the Miocene of Victoria, Southeastern Australia

A new species of Ovulidae J. Fleming, 1822 from the Middle Miocene of Victoria, Australia, is reported. The species is provisionally placed in the genus Cuspivolva Cate, 1973, which, if confirmed, will be the first record of this genus in the fossil record of this part of the world.