Management Plan for the Conservation of Rare and Endangered Karst Species, Camp Bullis, Bexar and Comal Counties, Texas

Camp Bullis is a 113.3-km2 military training facility under the Fort Sam Houston Command. It is located in north-central Bexar County and southwestern Comal County. Camp Bullis’ mission is to provide field training and support for military activities in south Texas, including weapons training, field training and maneuvers, map and compass courses, parachute operations training, combat assault landing training, and field medical training. Soon after the now-listed species were petitioned for endangered listing, Camp Bullis initiated a series of cave and karst investigations that continue to the present in order to pro-actively evaluate the installation’s potential to contain the species and manage those species according to the best available scientific information (Veni and Elliott, 1994; Veni et al., 1995, 1996, 1998a, 1998b, 1999, 2000, 2002a, 2002b). To date, three of the species have been found on the installation, Cicurina (Cicurella) madla, Rhadine exilis, Rhadine infernalis. Additionally, one species on the State of Texas list of threatened species has been found, Eurycea tridentifera, plus 15 new or possibly new species known only from Camp Bullis. The presence of these listed and rare species of concern suggests that Camp Bullis has effectively managed its impact to the environment and these animals. This includes the potential impacts from the installation’s live fire ranges where one of the listed species is known to occur in five caves despite several decades of firearm use. With the increasing rate of urban development of the area around the installation, Camp Bullis may become an important refuge where these and other listed and rare species will continue to survive. The mission requirements of Camp Bullis demand the presence of large tracts of undeveloped land for training operations that are mostly compatible with successfully preserving in perpetuity the ecosystems of the listed species and species of concern. This management plan is designed to minimize and/or direct potentially detrimental imp

Management Plan for the Conservation of Rare and Endangered Karst Species, Camp Bullis, Bexar and Comal Counties, Texas

Camp Bullis is a 113.3-km2 military training facility under the Fort Sam Houston Command. It is located in north-central Bexar County and southwestern Comal County. Camp Bullis’ mission is to provide field training and support for military activities in south Texas, including weapons training, field training and maneuvers, map and compass courses, parachute operations training, combat assault landing training, and field medical training. Soon after the now-listed species were petitioned for endangered listing, Camp Bullis initiated a series of cave and karst investigations that continue to the present in order to pro-actively evaluate the installation’s potential to contain the species and manage those species according to the best available scientific information (Veni and Elliott, 1994; Veni et al., 1995, 1996, 1998a, 1998b, 1999, 2000, 2002a, 2002b). To date, three of the species have been found on the installation, Cicurina (Cicurella) madla, Rhadine exilis, Rhadine infernalis. Additionally, one species on the State of Texas list of threatened species has been found, Eurycea tridentifera, plus 15 new or possibly new species known only from Camp Bullis. The presence of these listed and rare species of concern suggests that Camp Bullis has effectively managed its impact to the environment and these animals. This includes the potential impacts from the installation’s live fire ranges where one of the listed species is known to occur in five caves despite several decades of firearm use. With the increasing rate of urban development of the area around the installation, Camp Bullis may become an important refuge where these and other listed and rare species will continue to survive. The mission requirements of Camp Bullis demand the presence of large tracts of undeveloped land for training operations that are mostly compatible with successfully preserving in perpetuity the ecosystems of the listed species and species of concern. This management plan is designed to minimize and/or direct potentially detrimental imp

Feminizing Wolbachia in Zyginidia pullula (Insecta, Hemiptera), a leafhopper with an XX/X0 sex-determination system

Zyginidia pullula is a grass-dwelling leafhopper characterized by a bisexual reproduction mode. In this species, some females collected in Northern Italy, when mated with males, gave origin to an exclusively female brood. Here, we demonstrated that in these lineages an infection by a new strain of Wolbachia pipientis—designated as wZygpul—was detected by amplifying and sequencing the wsp and 16S rRNA genes. About half of the female progeny were characterized by intersexual phenotypes, i.e. showing upper pygofer appendages, a typical male secondary sexual feature. The karyological analysis proved that while phenotypically normal females had a female genotype, those with upper pygofer appendages had a male genotype and were thus feminized males. The complete removal of W. pipientis after tetracycline treatment of morphologically normal females, and the consequent re-appearance of males in the brood, permitted us to connect the feminizing effect with the presence of the bacterium. This is the first case of feminization by W. pipientis in an XX/X0 sex-determination system, and is the second case reported in insects

First identifiable Mesozoic harvestman (Opiliones: Dyspnoi) from Cretaceous Burmese amber

Two inclusions in a piece of Upper Cretaceous (Albian) Burmese amber from Myanmar are described as a harvestman (Arachnida: Opiliones), Halitherses grimaldii new genus and species. The first Mesozoic harvestman to be named can be referred to the suborder Dyspnoi for the following reasons: prosoma divided into two regions, the posterior formed by the fusion of the meso- and metapeltidium; palp lacking a terminal claw, with clavate setae, and tarsus considerably shorter than the tibia. The bilobed, anteriorly projecting ocular tubercle is reminiscent of that of ortholasmatine nemastomatids. The status of other Mesozoic fossils referred to Opiliones is briefly reviewed

Description of the male of Daguerreia inermis Soares & Soares, with biological notes on population size in the Gruta da Lancinha, Paraná, Brazil (Arachnida, Opiliones, Gonyleptidae)

The male of Daguerreia inermis Soares & Soares, 1947, a troglophilic harvestman, is described. Distribution records are given for caves of the Speleological Province of Vale do Ribeira and two non carbonatic areas (Telêmaco Borba and Arapoti, Paraná), in southeastern Brazil. The population of the Gruta da Lancinha (Paraná, Brazil) was studied from October 1988 to February 1989. The population size was estimated, by Fisher Ford\u27s method, between 158-610 individuals. The sex ratio observed was 1:1