Sycamore tree lace bug (Corythucha ciliate Say)(Hemiptera: Tingidae) reaches Africa

In February 2014 colonies of a large and conspicuous lacebug (Fig. 1A) were collected from the undersides of the leaves of London plane trees (Platanus x acerifolia) in the suburb of Newlands, Cape Town, South Africa. Infected leaves could easily be identified by their characteristic bronzed appearance (Fig. 1B). The lace bugs were subsequently identified as Corythucha ciliata (Say) using keys to North American Corythucha species (Mead 1989) and economically important tingids of the world (Stonedahl et al. 1992). Corythucha species have high host-specificity, whilst C. ciliata is the only lace bug known to feed on Platanus species (sycamores) - this association is thus considered to be diagnostic for the species (CABI 2014). C. ciliata has a broad native range across the eastern parts of North America and Canada, where it is largely monophagous on Platanus (sycamore) trees, with P. occidentalis being its main host. However, it also occurs on Platanus hybrids, and in invasive parts of its range feeds on P. orientalis and P. x acerifolia (the hybrid between P. occidentalis and P. orientalis (CABI 1984).Our thanks to the DST-NRF Centre of Excellence for Invasion Biology for funding support for this study and to A. Wright and R. Griffiths for assistance with the field surveys. The source of the shapefile for the distribution map was Naude et al. (2007). The two reviewers are thanked for their useful comments

Book Reviews

Book Review 1Book Title: Pheromones of Social BeesBook Author: John B. FreeChapman & Hall, 1987. 218 pp.Book Review 2Book Title: Insects - PlantsBook Authors: V. Labeyrie et alDr. W. Junk Publishers, The Hague, 1987. 459 pp.Book Review 3Book Title: The Ecology of Woodland Rodents: Bank voles and wood miceBook Authors: Edited by J.R. Flowerdew, J. Gurnell & J.H.W GippsThe Zoological Society of London. Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1985. 418 pp.Book Review 4Book Title: Visual behavior in salamandersBook Author: Gerhard RothSpringer-Verlag, Berlin, 1987. 301 pp.Book Review 5Book Title: Digestive Physiology and Nutrition of MarsupialsBook Author: Ian D. HumeMonographs on Marsupial Biology. Cambridge University Press, 1982. 256 pp.Book Review 6Book Title: Neurobiology and Behavior of HoneybeesBook Authors: Edited by Randolf Menzel & Alison MercerSpringer-Verlag, 1987.334 pp.Book Review 7Book Title: Ecology and Productivity of an African Wetland SystemBook Author: G.A. EllenbroekDr W. Junk Publishers, Dordrecht, 1987. 267 pagesBook Review 8Book Title: Biological Surveys of Estuaries and Coasts Estuarine and Brackish Water Sciences Association HandbookBook Authors: Edited by J.M. Baker & W.J. WolffCambridge University Press, 1987. 449 pp.Book Review 9Book Title: Caste Differentiation in Social InsectsBook Authors: Edited by J.A.L. Watson, S.M. Okot-Kotber & C.H. NoirotPergamon Press, Oxford, 1985. 399 pp.Book Review 10Book Title: Sistematica, filogenia y biogeografia de la subfamilia Gibbiinae (Coleoptera, Ptinidae)Book Author: Xavier BellésTreballs del Museu de Zoologia, 1985, No.3, Barcelona. 94 pp.Book Review 11Book Title: A Biologist's Advanced MathematicsBook Author: D.R. CaustonAllen & Unwin, London 326 pp.Book Review 12 Book Title: Reproduction in Mammals: 5 Manipulating reproductionBook Authors: Edited by C.R. Austin & R.V. ShortCambridge University Press, London, New York, New Rochelle, Melbourne, Sydney. 235 pp.Book Review 13Book Title: Vertebrate Fetal MembranesBook Author: Harland W. MossmanMacmillan press, 1987. 383 pp.Book Review 14Book Title: Avian Physiology (Fourth edition)Book Author: Edited by P.O. SturkieSpringer-Verlag, New York, 1986. 516 pp

Alien animals in South Africa – composition, introduction history, origins and distribution patterns

Background: There is no comprehensive inventory and analysis of the composition, distribution, origin and rate of introduction of the alien fauna of South Africa. Objectives: To provide such an analysis to facilitate effective ecological management, and compile a comprehensive inventory of introduced animal species across major habitats. Methods: All available databases and references were used to compile the inventory, forming the basis of subsequent analyses. A graduated map was produced to identify concentrations of alien species. Results: Of the 571 alien animal species analysed, insects comprised the largest component (53%, 300 species), followed by molluscs (9%, 51 species), annelids (8%, 48 species), arachnids (7%, 41 species), vertebrates (7%, 41 species) and crustaceans (6%, 36 species). Vertebrate introductions (88%) were largely intentional, whereas 84% of invertebrate introductions were unintentional. Conclusions: Almost all marine and most terrestrial alien species were accidentally introduced, whereas freshwater introductions were almost entirely intentional. Some 13% had not spread significantly, 16% had spread significantly and 71% had become fully invasive. Vertebrate introductions virtually ceased after the 1950s, but rate of introduction of invertebrates remained linear. The overall rate of species accumulation was fairly low until 1880, but accelerated sharply thereafter. Most terrestrial alien species originated from Europe (28.6%) and Asia (25.0%) and the lowest proportion (6.1%) from Africa. Freshwater introductions largely originated from the Americas, with few from Africa. The most invaded areas were around Cape Town, (up to 162 introduced species/half-degree grid cell), followed by Gauteng and Durban

Gas exchange characteristics, metabolic rate and water loss of the Heelwalker, Karoophasma biedouwensis (Mantophasmatodea: Austrophasmatidae)

This study presents the first physiological information for a member of the wingless Mantophasmatodea, or Heelwalkers. This species shows cyclic gas exchange with no evidence of a Flutter period (more typical of discontinuous gas exchange in insects) and no indication that the spiracles are fully occluded during quiescent metabolism. Standard metabolic rate at 20 °C was 21.32±2.73 μl CO2 h-1 (mean±S.E.), with a Q10 (10-25 °C) of 1.7. Increases in V{radical dot}CO2 associated with variation in mass and with trial temperature were modulated by an increase in burst period volume and a decline in cycle frequency. Total water loss rate, determined by infrared gas analysis, was 0.876±0.08 mg H2O h-1 (range 0.602-1.577, n = 1 1) whilst cuticular water loss rate, estimated by linear regression of total water loss rate and metabolic rate, was 0.618±0.09 mg H2O h-1 (range 0.341-1.363, n = 1 1). Respiratory water loss rate was therefore no more than 29% of the total rate of water loss. Both total water loss rate and estimated cuticular water loss rate were significantly repeatable, with intraclass correlation coefficients of 0.745 and 0.553, respectively. © 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.Articl

Floristic and faunal Cape biochoria: do they exist?

Many authors, over a long period, have remarked on the biotic distinctiveness of the southwestern corner of Africa, both in terms of its flora (Bolus 1886; White 1976; Goldblatt 1978) and its fauna (Moreau 1952; Stuckenberg 1962; Carcasson 1964; Poynton 1964; Holt et al. 2013). Climatically the region is defined by predominantly cool-season (autumn to spring) rainfall and mild temperatures (Chapter 2), and its plant species richness is unmatched in the rest of Africa (Manning and Goldblatt 2012; Snijman 2013). The Cape Floristic Region (CFR; or core Cape flora of Manning and Goldblatt 2012) is a distinctive phytogeographic feature (Goldblatt and Manning 2000), previously recognized as one of six global floral kingdoms on account of its high species richness and endemicity (Marloth 1908; Good 1974; Takhtajan 1986; but see Cox 2001 who considered this ranking untenable). More recently, the concept of a Greater Cape Floristic Region (GFCR), incorporating both the CFR and the succulent karoo region, has found favour as a more coherent biogeographical unit (Bayer 1984; Jürgens 1991, 1997; Born et al. 2007)

Biological invasions in the Cape Floristic Region: history, current patterns, impacts, and management challenges

The Cape Floristic Region (CFR) is the most invaded terrestrial area in South Africa in terms of: the conspicuous prominence of (mainly woody) invasive plants (Fig 12.1, Plate 12) (Henderson 2007); the area invaded as surveyed (Kotzé et al. 2010); and the numbers of animal invaders (Picker and Griffiths 2011). At the same time its status as a globally important system for the study of plant invasions is firmly established. Tree invasions in the region provide model systems that have been influential in the development of plant invasion ecology; in particular work on pine species (Richardson et al. 1994) and Australian acacias (Richardson et al. 2011). In fact, the observation of alien trees invading pristine fynbos shows that widespread invasions are not, as suggested by Charles Elton, confined to ecosystems markedly altered by human activities (Elton 1958). This provided part of the stimulus for a major international programme on invasions in the 1980s funded by the Scientific Committee on Problems of the Environment