Altitudinal Distribution and Monthly Occurrence of Butterflies in the Kihansi Gorge Forest, Tanzania, with a Checklist of Species

The goal of this project was to establish a checklist of butterflies occurring in Kihansi gorge to serve as baseline for monitoring of gorge ecosystem health. The key questions were what and how many species of butterflies occur in the gorge with respect to time and space. The study was conducted between October 2005 and February 2007. Butterflies were recorded twice a week, along a walking trail, using malaise traps and sweep net. The traps were located at upper (> 750 – 1100), mid (> 580 – 750 m) and lower (300 – 580 m) gorge. A total of 213 species were documented, of which 50.2% belong to the family Nymphalidae, 19.2% Lycanidae, 17.8% Hesperiidae, 7.5% Pieridae, 5.6% Papilionidae, and 0.5% Riodinidae. Of the 213 species, only 130 had complete information about time and space of occurrence in the gorge. The Nymphalids and Papilionids were present in the gorge throughout the year, while the Pierids, Hesperiids and Lycaenids occurred in the gorge between November and May. Of the 130 species, 51% were common throughout the gorge, while 26%, 3%, and 20% were unique to upper, mid and lower gorge, respectively. Among the documented species are 3 of conservation concern including a new species, Charaxes mtuiae, and two rare species Etesiolaus pinheyi and Artitropa reducta that are only known from the Eastern Arc Mountain Forests. Kihansi gorge therefore serves as their valuable range extension; hence conservation of this area is important.Keywords: Butterfly; Kihansi; Kihansi gorge; Eastern Arc Mountain

The discovery, biodiversity and conservation of Mabu forest—the largest medium-altitude rainforest in southern Africa

The montane inselbergs of northern Mozambique have been comparatively little-studied, yet recent surveys have shown they have a rich biodiversity with numerous endemic species. Here we present the main findings from a series of scientific expeditions to one of these inselbergs, Mt Mabu, and discuss the conservation implications. Comprehensive species lists of plants, birds, mammals and butterflies are presented. The most significant result was the discovery of a c. 7,880 ha block of undisturbed rainforest, most of it at medium altitude (900-1,400 m), a forest type that is not well represented elsewhere. It is possibly the largest continuous block of this forest type in southern Africa. To date, 10 new species (plants, mammals, reptiles and butterflies) have been confirmed from Mt Mabu, even though sampling effort for most taxonomic groups has been low. The species assemblages indicate a relatively long period of isolation and many species found are at the southern limit of their range. Conservationists are now faced with the challenge of how best to protect Mt Mabu and similar mountains in northern Mozambique, and various ways that this could be done are discusse

A biogeographical appraisal of the threatened South East Africa Montane Archipelago ecoregion

Recent biological surveys of ancient inselbergs in southern Malawi and northern Mozambique have led to the discovery and description of many species new to science, and overlapping centres of endemism across multiple taxa. Combining these endemic taxa with data on geology and climate, we propose the ‘South East Africa Montane Archipelago’ (SEAMA) as a distinct ecoregion of global biological importance. The ecoregion encompasses 30 granitic inselbergs reaching > 1000 m above sea level, hosting the largest (Mt Mabu) and smallest (Mt Lico) mid-elevation rainforests in southern Africa, as well as biologically unique montane grasslands. Endemic taxa include 127 plants, 45 vertebrates (amphibians, reptiles, birds, mammals) and 45 invertebrate species (butterflies, freshwater crabs), and two endemic genera of plants and reptiles. Existing dated phylogenies of endemic animal lineages suggests this endemism arose from divergence events coinciding with repeated isolation of these mountains from the pan-African forests, together with the mountains’ great age and relative climatic stability. Since 2000, the SEAMA has lost 18% of its primary humid forest cover (up to 43% in some sites)—one of the highest deforestation rates in Africa. Urgently rectifying this situation, while addressing the resource needs of local communities, is a global priority for biodiversity conservation

Averting biodiversity collapse in tropical forest protected areas

The rapid disruption of tropical forests probably imperils global biodiversity more than any other contemporary phenomenon¹⁻³. With deforestation advancing quickly, protected areas are increasingly becoming final refuges for threatened species and natural ecosystem processes. However, many protected areas in the tropics are themselves vulnerable to human encroachment and other environmental stresses⁴⁻⁹. As pressures mount, it is vital to know whether existing reserves can sustain their biodiversity. A critical constraint in addressing this question has been that data describing a broad array of biodiversity groups have been unavailable for a sufficiently large and representative sample of reserves. Here we present a uniquely comprehensive data set on changes over the past 20 to 30 years in 31 functional groups of species and 21 potential drivers of environmental change, for 60 protected areas stratified across the world’s major tropical regions. Our analysis reveals great variation in reserve ‘health’: about half of all reserves have been effective or performed passably, but the rest are experiencing an erosion of biodiversity that is often alarmingly widespread taxonomically and functionally. Habitat disruption, hunting and forest-product exploitation were the strongest predictors of declining reserve health. Crucially, environmental changes immediately outside reserves seemed nearly as important as those inside in determining their ecological fate, with changes inside reserves strongly mirroring those occurring around them. These findings suggest that tropical protected areas are often intimately linked ecologically to their surrounding habitats, and that a failure to stem broad-scale loss and degradation of such habitats could sharply increase the likelihood of serious biodiversity declines.Keywords: Ecology, Environmental scienc

American and British Public Opinion about the ‘Nazi Olympics’ of 1936

Major: FinanceFaculty Mentor: Dr. Darra Mulderry, Center for Engaged Learnin

Above-ground phytomass of a site disturbed by selective logging in north Queensland wet tropical rainforest

Species composition and phytomass were determined for the vegetation recolonising a disturbed site in the wet tropical rainforest of the Mt. Spec State Forest, Queensland, Australia. Construction of a log loading ramp in 1963/64 resulted in the formation of a gap of approximately 900 m2, and compaction of the soil. Soil bulk density is still 45 % higher, compared to the surrounding undisturbed forest, 27 years after the construction of the ramp. Twenty-four years after disturbance, the gap was dominated by the pioneer species Alphitonia petrei Braid and C. T. White, Alphitonia whitei Braid and Polyscias australiana (F. Muell.) Philipson. Secondary species, Cardwellia sublimis (F. Muell.) and Darlingia darlingiana (F. Muell.) L. Johnson were also abundant. The mean canopy height and total basal area were 15.5 m and 17.5 m2 ha-1, respectively. An above-ground phytomass of 52 t ha-1 was found for this site; foliage comprising 6.4%, stems and branches 93.2 %, and reproductive structures 0.4%. The phytomass was substantially lower than that predicted from published phytomass data for tropical rainforests subjected to moderate disturbances

Triskelionia tricerata Larsen & Congdon, 2011, comb. nov.

<i>Triskelionia tricerata</i> comb. nov. <p> The genus is defined by <i>T. tricerata</i>, the type species, and is characterized by a number of features that unite the two species, while differentiating them from other genera in the Celaenorrhinini tribe:</p> <p> a) as already mentioned by Evans (1937) the palps are longer and the antennal club more arcuate than in <i>Sarangesa</i>, “approaching <i>Calleagris</i> ”.</p> <p> b) the three-pronged spot in the forewing cell is different from all other Celaenorrhinini (slightly similar in <i>S. seineri</i> which has very different genitalia).</p> <p> c) the wing shape, especially of <i>tricerata</i>, is closer to that of <i>Eretis</i> than to <i>Sarangesa.</i></p> <p> d) the male genitalia are very different from any <i>Sarangesa</i> and show affinity with some sections of <i>Celaenorrhinus</i>. The uncus is small and pointed, without lateral side branches. The very large gnathos consists of two fully fused branches, forming an almost box-like structure, the external surfaces of which are finely ribbed and spined. It is proportionately larger than in any <i>Celaenorrhinus</i>; no <i>Sarangesa</i> or <i>Eretis</i> has this type of structure; at most the gnathos is composed of narrow branches that do not fuse. The vinculum continues narrowly to fuse basally rather than forming a regular, solid saccus. The shape and proportion of the penis is very different from <i>Celaenorrhinus</i>.</p> <p> e) the pupa has no free proboscis-sheath as is the case in all known <i>Sarangesa</i> and <i>Eretis</i>, and which is very long in <i>Celaenorrhinus</i>, extending well beyond the end of the abdomen.</p> <p> f) the larval host-plant is a member of the Fabaceae, not known as host-plant for any other African member of the Celaenorrhinini, although used by <i>Calleagris jamesoni</i> in the tribe Tagiadini and many species in the Odontoptilina (which should receive full status as a tribe and is very distant from <i>Triskelionia</i> and other Celaenorrhinini).</p> <p> We attach special importance to the following characters: the longer palps; the large fully-fused gnathos structure; the lack of a free proboscis sheath in the pupa; and the use of Fabaceae as host-plant. None of these characters is found in any of the <i>Sarangesa</i>; each is certainly independent of any of the other characters. The simultaneous presence of four such characters is not compatible with retaining the species in <i>Sarangesa.</i></p> <p> <b>Etymology.</b> The genus name <i>Triskelionia</i> refers to the unique, conjoined three-pronged shape (from Greek ρισκέλιον) of the fused spots in the forewing cell of the two species included in the genus (triskelion is colloquially called the “three-legged cross” in Britain). This ancient symbol was common on Mycenaean pottery from where it entered modern heraldry. It is used in the flags or seals of several modern territories or institutions, including the Isle of Man and Ingushetia. It is also the symbol of the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, and is in use by the US Department of Transportation. <i>Triskelion</i> was preoccupied by a genus of extinct Eocene flagellate Protozoa in the order Ebriida; however, the name seemed so descriptive that a modification of triskelion seemed appropriate.</p>Published as part of <i>Larsen, Torben B. & Congdon, Colin E., 2011, Triskelionia, a new African genus of the Celaenorrhinini (Lepidoptera: Hesperiidae) and the promotion of T. compacta to species-status., pp. 53-58 in Zootaxa 2931</i> on page 54, DOI: <a href="http://zenodo.org/record/278052">10.5281/zenodo.278052</a&gt

Fine root biomass and soil N and P in north Queensland rain forests

[Extract] The development of an extensive surface root mat is one of the major mechanisms that enhances nutrient conservation in tropical rain forest, particularly in ecosystems growing on nutrient-poor, heavily leached soils (Jordan & Herrera 1981, Cuevas & Medina 1988). In these root mats, it is the fine unsuberized roots that are primarily responsible for the retention of nutrients (Edwards & Grubb 1982, Gower 1987, Berish & Ewe1 1988). The level of development of these fine root mats has been found to be very variable within the tropics, with the biomass of roots <5-mm diameter in the top 40 cm of soil ranging from 1.1 t/ha to 123.4 t/ha (Sanford 1985, Gower 1987, Cavelier 1992). \ud \ud According to the source-sink theory of resource allocation, based on theorem three of Bloom et al. (1985), trees growing on infertile sites should allocate a greater proportion of their resources into fine root production than those growing on fertile sites, as this “investment” in nutrient acquisition should increase growth and/or reproduction. Vitousek and Sanford (1 986) found that the available data suggested that the biomass of functionally active roots was substantially greater on infertile sites. Soil nitrogen has been suggested as the major factor governing belowground carbon allocation in temperate forest ecosystems\ud (Grier et al. 1981, Aber et al. 1985, Nadelhoffer et al. 1985); however, there is conflicting evidence of the role nitrogen plays in influencing fine root biomass in tropical rain forest. A nutrient amendment study in a tropical rain forest in Hawaii found that nitrogen addition resulted in a significant reduction in fine root biomass (Gower & Vitousek 1989). In contrast, the availability of nitrogen was not a significant factor influencing fine root biomass at two sites in Costa Rica (Gower 1987). At these sites, the availabilities of phosphorus and calcium were suggested to be the major factors influencing fine root biomass (Gower 1987). The aims of this study were to document the variation in fine root biomass in soils of differing fertility and to investigate the relationship between fine root biomass and soil nitrogen and available phosphorus in north Queensland tropical rain forests

Triskelionia Larsen & Congdon, gen. nov.

&lt;i&gt;Triskelionia&lt;/i&gt; Larsen &amp; Congdon, gen. nov. &lt;p&gt; &lt;b&gt;Type species&lt;/b&gt;: &lt;i&gt;Hyda tricerata&lt;/i&gt; Mabille, 1891. &lt;i&gt;Bulletin de la Soci&eacute;t&eacute; Entomologique de Belgique&lt;/i&gt; &lt;b&gt;35&lt;/b&gt;: 106 (59&ndash;88, 106&ndash;121, 168&ndash;187). The genus &lt;i&gt;Hyda&lt;/i&gt; (type species &lt;i&gt;H. micacea&lt;/i&gt; Mabille, 1889, a junior synonym of &lt;i&gt;Sarangesa tertullianus&lt;/i&gt; Fabricius, 1793) is a junior homonym of &lt;i&gt;Hyda&lt;/i&gt; Walker, 1854 (a moth genus in Arctiinae).&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt; Conventionally placed in &lt;i&gt;Sarangesa&lt;/i&gt;: Holland (1896) [subgenus &lt;i&gt;Hyda&lt;/i&gt;] Aurivillius [in Seitz] (1925); Evans (1937); Larsen (2005).&lt;/p&gt;Published as part of &lt;i&gt;Larsen, Torben B. &amp; Congdon, Colin E., 2011, Triskelionia, a new African genus of the Celaenorrhinini (Lepidoptera: Hesperiidae) and the promotion of T. compacta to species-status., pp. 53-58 in Zootaxa 2931&lt;/i&gt; on page 54, DOI: &lt;a href="http://zenodo.org/record/278052"&gt;10.5281/zenodo.278052&lt;/a&gt

Triskelionia compacta Evans 1951, stat. rev.

&lt;i&gt;Triskelionia compacta&lt;/i&gt; (Evans, 1951) stat. rev., comb. nov. &lt;p&gt; &lt;i&gt;Sarangesa tricerata compacta&lt;/i&gt; Evans, 1951. &lt;i&gt;Annals and Magazine of Natural History&lt;/i&gt; (12) &lt;b&gt;4&lt;/b&gt;: 1269 (1268&ndash;1272).&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt; &lt;b&gt;Type locality:&lt;/b&gt; Tanzania: &ldquo;Mikindani, Tanganyika&rdquo;. Type depository: 3 Natural History Museum (BMNH), London (inspected).&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt; &lt;i&gt;Triskelionia tricerata&lt;/i&gt; (Mabille, 1891) is a rather rare skipper with a western distribution in Africa, being known from the Gambia and Guinea to the Central African Republic and western to northern parts of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Only five males in the British Museum (Natural History) were listed by Evans (1937) &ndash; a few have been added since. The species has some similarity with the distinctly larger black-and-white members of the genus &lt;i&gt;Celaenorrhinus&lt;/i&gt;, as well as certain &lt;i&gt;Sarangesa&lt;/i&gt;, but is immediately distinguished by having four subapical spots that are very irregularly placed and the triskelion-shaped, fused cell-spots. Confusion with any other Afrotropical Hesperiid, even in the field, is impossible. It is illustrated in figure 2. We have occasionally collected this species in West Africa and have seen about 70 specimens in museum and private collections from the following countries: Gambia, Guinea, Sierra Leone, C&ocirc;te d&rsquo;Ivoire, Ghana, Togo, Nigeria, Cameroun, Central African Republic, Angola, and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) (the localities are indicated in the map in figure 3). There is only little variation in the material and no indication at all of geographical variation.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt; &lt;i&gt;Triskelionia tricerata compacta&lt;/i&gt; (Evans, 1951) was described in the genus &lt;i&gt;Sarangesa&lt;/i&gt; and adequately described as follows, although the description does not fully show how different it actually is from &lt;i&gt;T. tricerata&lt;/i&gt;:&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt; &ldquo; &lt;i&gt;compacta&lt;/i&gt;, [ssp] nov.: 3 Mikindani, Tanganyika, Jan. &ndash; May, 1897: Reimer: type B.M. Paler than &lt;i&gt;tricerata&lt;/i&gt; Mabille: &lt;i&gt;upf&lt;/i&gt; spots in cell and space 2 very greatly enlarged (2 mm wide) and nearly conjoined: no spot in space 9. &lt;i&gt;Unh&lt;/i&gt; brown with dark spots, as in &lt;i&gt;tricerata&lt;/i&gt;. Ƥ as in 3. 1 pair from the type locality.&rdquo;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt; Both species are shown in figure 2. &lt;i&gt;T. compacta&lt;/i&gt; was first figured by Kielland (1990) by the male holotype from London. It will be noted that the male illustrated here has only a single subapical spot, but there may be two or three. The wings are less irregular in outline than those of &lt;i&gt;S. tricerata&lt;/i&gt; and there is a sexual dimorphism that is wholly lacking in &lt;i&gt;S. tricerata&lt;/i&gt;. The two sexes are united by the overlay of ochreous-brown on much of the hindwing underside &ndash; darker in the male. Had a longer series been available to Evans, he would certainly have treated them as distinct species. All material available is from Mikindani and the Rondo Plateau area in Tanzania, not far from the coast and the Mozambique border, and close to each other. With the labelling practices of the time it is even possible that the type was from Rondo.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt; In addition to the morphological differences, the genitalia differ sufficiently to validate the species rank of &lt;i&gt;T. compacta&lt;/i&gt;, as illustrated in figure 1, but they also show the close affinity of the two species.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt; The genitalia of &lt;i&gt;T. tricerata&lt;/i&gt; (SCC 579 Batalimo, Central African Republic) have a less domed tegumen/uncus and a somewhat larger, denticulate gnathos than &lt;i&gt;T. compacta&lt;/i&gt; (SCC 587 Rondo, Tanzania), as well as a longer free uncus. The valves have a different shape: the ventral edge of &lt;i&gt;T. tricerata&lt;/i&gt; is evenly curved instead of almost straight. The pointed lower lobe of the valve is more massive than in &lt;i&gt;T. compacta&lt;/i&gt;; the dorsal edge of valve is almost straight, until the distal thorn suddenly curves sharply downwards almost to touch the lower lobe; in &lt;i&gt;T. compacta&lt;/i&gt; the dorsal edge is gently curved, with a shorter, straighter, and more slender distal tooth. Both species have a small harpe on the valve. The saccus of both species consists of a narrow merging of the two vinculum branches, not solidifying into a large, strongly chitinized saccus as in other similar genera of the Celaenorrhinini. The genitalia differ about as much as one might have expected from the morphological differences between the two species. The valves, gnathos, and tegumen/uncus are compatible with some groups of &lt;i&gt;Celaenorrhinus&lt;/i&gt;.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt; &lt;b&gt;Habitat, habits, and biogeography&lt;/b&gt;. The species was first collected from Mikindani in eastern Tanzania in 1897 by a Herr Reimer, apparently a German colonial civil servant who in addition to other duties collected insects and other organisms, as they were encouraged to do by the authorities in Berlin. Mikindani was at the time an administrative centre on the coast of Tanzania, just north of the Mozambique border. Somehow, the holotype ended up in the NHM, London where Evans described it. This area would at the time all have been covered with coastal forest (Zanzibar &ndash; Inhambane Coastal Forest Mosaic).&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt; The African Butterfly Research Institute (ABRI), Nairobi decided that an attempt should be made to find this species again after it had not been recorded for more than a hundred years. Ivan Bampton and Colin Congdon went to the general area, where the forest habitat is now degraded to the point where forest in good condition hardly exists. However, it turned out that the host-plant, &lt;i&gt;Dalbergia armata&lt;/i&gt; (Fabaceae), survives in timber plantations and elsewhere with full canopy cover and three specimens were collected on the wing. A female was found ovipositing on this plant, a forest liana, and further 20 were bred. The early stages are fully described by Cock &amp; Congdon (&lt;i&gt;in press&lt;/i&gt;). The plant extends from eastern Tanzania to KwaZulu Natal. The early stages of &lt;i&gt;T. tricerata&lt;/i&gt; remain unknown.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt; The range of &lt;i&gt;T. tricerata&lt;/i&gt; covers the main forest zone of western and central Africa, though not reaching the Albertine Rift in the Kivu area or Uganda as do many other species. There are few or no records from the western DRC, the Congo Republic, or Gabon, areas that have been poorly investigated; we have no doubt that the species will be found there as well. This leaves &lt;i&gt;T. compacta&lt;/i&gt; in the very special East African coastal forest isolated from its only congener by a gap of nearly 2,000 km (figure 3).&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt; The closest parallel to such a distribution in East Africa seems to be the presence of &lt;i&gt;Catuna sikorana&lt;/i&gt; Rogenhofer in the coastal forests eastern Tanzania (Nymphalidae, Adoliadini). There are four more or less widely distributed &lt;i&gt;Catuna&lt;/i&gt; throughout the main forest zone, with &lt;i&gt;C. crithea&lt;/i&gt; Drury reaching as far as Kakamega in Kenya.&lt;/p&gt;Published as part of &lt;i&gt;Larsen, Torben B. &amp; Congdon, Colin E., 2011, Triskelionia, a new African genus of the Celaenorrhinini (Lepidoptera: Hesperiidae) and the promotion of T. compacta to species-status., pp. 53-58 in Zootaxa 2931&lt;/i&gt; on pages 55-58, DOI: &lt;a href="http://zenodo.org/record/278052"&gt;10.5281/zenodo.278052&lt;/a&gt