During the months of April through July 2020 we studied aspects of the natural history of Leiolepis rubritaeniata,a species of butterfly lizard that occurs on the Khorat Plateau in Thailand and adjacent regions of Lao...During the months of April through July 2020 we studied aspects of the natural history of Leiolepis rubritaeniata,a species of butterfly lizard that occurs on the Khorat Plateau in Thailand and adjacent regions of Laos and Cambodia as well as in south-central Vietnam.We present data on population size and structure,as well as location,size,compass orientation,and structure of the lizard’s burrows.Also,we present climatic data(ambient air temperature and precipitation)at the study site for the duration of our field work as well as temperature data for the complete year 2021.Furthermore,we provide data on egg laying,incubation conditions and characteristics of the hatchlings.Finally,we present an easy to use and reliable non-invasive method for the long-term recognition of individual butterfly lizards based on their unique dorsal patterning.Butterfly lizards are utilized as a food source for the local human population.So far,there are no farming projects in Thailand involving this species and all individuals are collected from the wild populations.No data are available on the population dynamics of L.rubritaeniata but it can be assumed that habitat destruction due to land use change as well as its utilization for human consumption have negative effects on the long-term survival of the local populations of this lizard species.The baseline data presented here are essential for any meaningful conservation strategy for these lizards.展开更多
Pinus squamata X. W. Li, a recently-described species of the Pinaceae, is an extremely endangered pine with only 32 individuals in the wild. This species was thought to be intermediate between P. bungeana Zuec. ex End...Pinus squamata X. W. Li, a recently-described species of the Pinaceae, is an extremely endangered pine with only 32 individuals in the wild. This species was thought to be intermediate between P. bungeana Zuec. ex Endl. of subgen. Strobus and P. yunnanensis Franch. of subgen. Pinus by the original author. We made an effort to address the question of the phylogenetic relationship of this peculiar and important species in the context of the major groups of the genus Pinus by using sequences of the rbcL, matK,genes, rpl20-rps18 spacer, trnV intron of the chloroplast genome and the nuclear ribosomal ITS region. The results of the separated analysis and the combined analysis of the four cpDNA sequences and ITS sequence indicated that P. squamata was a stable member of subsect. Gerardianae and P. gerardiana Wall. was the closest species of P. squamata phylogenetically. As a result, the causes of the distribution pattern of subsect. Gerardianae were also discussed.展开更多
Funiusaurus luanchuanensis gen. et sp. nov. was described on the basis of an incomplete skull from the Upper Cretaceous Qiupa Formation of the Tantou Basin in Luanehuan County, Henan Province. It is the second represe...Funiusaurus luanchuanensis gen. et sp. nov. was described on the basis of an incomplete skull from the Upper Cretaceous Qiupa Formation of the Tantou Basin in Luanehuan County, Henan Province. It is the second representative of lizards known from Luanchuan and adds a new member to the Luanchuan Fauna. F. luanchuanensis is a small-sized lizard and systematically assigned to the Polyglyphanodontidae of the Teiioidea because of the presence of a caniniform tooth and an elongate posterior process of the postorbital. It is distinctive in that the heterodont dentition bears 19 teeth in both the upper and lower jaws, the 3^rd maxillary tooth is large and caniniform, the post-caniniform teeth in maxilla and those posterior to the 3^rd dentary tooth are chisel-like in lateral view, the prefrontal possesses a fossa on its lateral surface, the postorbital with an extremely elongate posterior process and the well-developed retroarticular process has a deep fossa on its dorsal surface. In phylogeny, our analysis suggests a close relationship of Funiusaurus to the large-sized Tianyusaurus from the same basin within the Tuberocephalosaurinae. The discovery of Funiusaurus is significant in confirming the status of the Tuberocephalosaurinae, which includes a group of the Asian members of the Polyglyphanodontidae only.展开更多
On the basis of a different dorsal pattern,and a low number of maxillary teeth,the specimens of Oligodon joynsoni(Smith,1917) from the Nonggang National Nature Reserve,Guangxi,China formerly identified as O. joynsoni ...On the basis of a different dorsal pattern,and a low number of maxillary teeth,the specimens of Oligodon joynsoni(Smith,1917) from the Nonggang National Nature Reserve,Guangxi,China formerly identified as O. joynsoni by several authors should be referred to the recently described species O. nagao David,Nguyen,Nguyen,Jiang,Chen,Teynié,and Ziegler,2012. Here,we provide the first genuine record of O. joynsoni(Smith,1917) in China based on a male specimen collected from Xishuangbanna,Yunnan,China.展开更多
A new species of the genus Protobothrops Hoge ＆ Romano-Hoge, 1983, was described from Jilong County, southern Tibet, China, and Chungthang, northern Sikkim, India. It differs from congeners by the following character...A new species of the genus Protobothrops Hoge ＆ Romano-Hoge, 1983, was described from Jilong County, southern Tibet, China, and Chungthang, northern Sikkim, India. It differs from congeners by the following characters： 1） relatively large body size （total length up to 1510 mm）; 2） dorsal scale rows 25-25-19; 3） except for the smooth outermost row, dorsal scales are weakly keeled; 4） relatively high number of ventral （198-216） and subcaudal （65-76 pairs） scales; 5） 7-8 supralabials; 6） 11 to 13 infralabials; 7） dorsal head uniform dark brown, laterally a reddish-brown obscure postocular streak; 8） dorsum of trtmk and tail olive, with distinct black edged red brown transverse bands across the body and tail; and 9） eye from bright brown and reddish brown to mildly brown. The new species was also observed from the Haa Valley in western Bhutan.展开更多
Elevation plays a crucial factor in the distribution of plants,as environmental conditions become increasingly harsh at higher elevations.Previous studies have mainly focused on the effects of large-scale elevational ...Elevation plays a crucial factor in the distribution of plants,as environmental conditions become increasingly harsh at higher elevations.Previous studies have mainly focused on the effects of large-scale elevational gradients on plants,with little attention on the impact of smaller-scale gradients.In this study we used 14 microsatellite loci to survey the genetic structure of 332 Juniperus squamata plants along elevation gradient from two sites in the Hengduan Mountains.We found that the genetic structure(single,clonal,mosaic)of J.squamata shrubs is affected by differences in elevational gradients of only 150 m.Shrubs in the mid-elevation plots rarely have a clonal or mosaic structure compared to shrubs in lower-or higher-elevation plots.Human activity can significantly affect genetic structure,as well as reproductive strategy and genetic diversity.Sub-populations at mid-elevations had the highest yield of seed cones,lower levels of asexual reproduction and higher levels of genetic diversity.This may be due to the trade-off between elevational stress and anthropogenic disturbance at mid-elevation since there is greater elevational stress at higher-elevations and greater intensity of anthropogenic disturbance at lower-elevations.Our findings provide new insights into the finer scale genetic structure of alpine shrubs,which may improve the conservation and management of shrublands,a major vegetation type on the Hengduan Mountains and the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.展开更多
A new record of the homalopsid snake, Gerarda prevostiana is presented from a mangrove-dominated patch in the vicinity of Kampung Bako, Sarawak, East Malaysia, and this comprises the first published record from the Su...A new record of the homalopsid snake, Gerarda prevostiana is presented from a mangrove-dominated patch in the vicinity of Kampung Bako, Sarawak, East Malaysia, and this comprises the first published record from the Sundaic Island of Borneo. A possible second locality for the species is a ca. 6.68 km site to its northeast, Kampung Buntal, based on an unlocated museum specimen. The species is widespread in mainland Southeast Asia, with additional records to the west （the Indian Subcontinent） and east （the Philippines Archipelago）, but was previously unrecorded from the islands of the Sundas. The secretive habits of the species, including the occupancy of mud lobster （Thalassinia spp.） mounds in mostly inaccessible, swampy habitats may be a reason for its perceived rarity and few published records.展开更多
In this study,we investigated the optimal concentration of nutrient-mist and NaHSO3 for cutting propagation of Juniperus squamata ’Blue Star’,as well as the variation in the contents of chlorophyll in leaves,and sol...In this study,we investigated the optimal concentration of nutrient-mist and NaHSO3 for cutting propagation of Juniperus squamata ’Blue Star’,as well as the variation in the contents of chlorophyll in leaves,and solubility carbohydrate,soluble protein and other nutrition in leaves and bases of cuttings during rooting.Cuttings of grade Ⅲ(the lenghth of cutting bases lignified from 0.1 to 0.2 cm) was treated by 1/4MS+NaHSO3(200 mg·L-1),and the rooting rate rose 35% and root qualities were improved compared with control experiment,for there were different effects among three grade cuttings.The treatment of grade Ⅲ cuttings also resulted in higher content of soluble sugar and starch of those bases during rooting,especially obviously different for fifteen days,but less effect on the chlorophyll and some nutrition content of cutting leaves.展开更多
基金This research was funded partly by Chulalongkorn University:CU_GR_63_66_23_10also partly financially supported by the Sci-Super Ⅵ fund from Faculty of Science,Chulalongkorn University.
文摘During the months of April through July 2020 we studied aspects of the natural history of Leiolepis rubritaeniata,a species of butterfly lizard that occurs on the Khorat Plateau in Thailand and adjacent regions of Laos and Cambodia as well as in south-central Vietnam.We present data on population size and structure,as well as location,size,compass orientation,and structure of the lizard’s burrows.Also,we present climatic data(ambient air temperature and precipitation)at the study site for the duration of our field work as well as temperature data for the complete year 2021.Furthermore,we provide data on egg laying,incubation conditions and characteristics of the hatchlings.Finally,we present an easy to use and reliable non-invasive method for the long-term recognition of individual butterfly lizards based on their unique dorsal patterning.Butterfly lizards are utilized as a food source for the local human population.So far,there are no farming projects in Thailand involving this species and all individuals are collected from the wild populations.No data are available on the population dynamics of L.rubritaeniata but it can be assumed that habitat destruction due to land use change as well as its utilization for human consumption have negative effects on the long-term survival of the local populations of this lizard species.The baseline data presented here are essential for any meaningful conservation strategy for these lizards.
文摘Pinus squamata X. W. Li, a recently-described species of the Pinaceae, is an extremely endangered pine with only 32 individuals in the wild. This species was thought to be intermediate between P. bungeana Zuec. ex Endl. of subgen. Strobus and P. yunnanensis Franch. of subgen. Pinus by the original author. We made an effort to address the question of the phylogenetic relationship of this peculiar and important species in the context of the major groups of the genus Pinus by using sequences of the rbcL, matK,genes, rpl20-rps18 spacer, trnV intron of the chloroplast genome and the nuclear ribosomal ITS region. The results of the separated analysis and the combined analysis of the four cpDNA sequences and ITS sequence indicated that P. squamata was a stable member of subsect. Gerardianae and P. gerardiana Wall. was the closest species of P. squamata phylogenetically. As a result, the causes of the distribution pattern of subsect. Gerardianae were also discussed.
基金supported by research grants from"the Liang-Quan-Jia-Kuan"Projects of the Geological Science and Technology of Henan(Yuzhao:2011-622-2)the National Science Foundation of China(No.41272022,No.41172027)+1 种基金the project from China Geological Survey(No.12120114026801)the Canadian Museum of Nature(RCP09)
文摘Funiusaurus luanchuanensis gen. et sp. nov. was described on the basis of an incomplete skull from the Upper Cretaceous Qiupa Formation of the Tantou Basin in Luanehuan County, Henan Province. It is the second representative of lizards known from Luanchuan and adds a new member to the Luanchuan Fauna. F. luanchuanensis is a small-sized lizard and systematically assigned to the Polyglyphanodontidae of the Teiioidea because of the presence of a caniniform tooth and an elongate posterior process of the postorbital. It is distinctive in that the heterodont dentition bears 19 teeth in both the upper and lower jaws, the 3^rd maxillary tooth is large and caniniform, the post-caniniform teeth in maxilla and those posterior to the 3^rd dentary tooth are chisel-like in lateral view, the prefrontal possesses a fossa on its lateral surface, the postorbital with an extremely elongate posterior process and the well-developed retroarticular process has a deep fossa on its dorsal surface. In phylogeny, our analysis suggests a close relationship of Funiusaurus to the large-sized Tianyusaurus from the same basin within the Tuberocephalosaurinae. The discovery of Funiusaurus is significant in confirming the status of the Tuberocephalosaurinae, which includes a group of the Asian members of the Polyglyphanodontidae only.
基金supported by the grants from the Ministry of Science and Technology of China (MOST Grant No. 2011FY120200)the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31090100) the Chinese Academy of Sciences (KSCX2-YW-Z-0807, KSCX2- EW-Z-2), GEF (2011GXGEF006)
文摘On the basis of a different dorsal pattern,and a low number of maxillary teeth,the specimens of Oligodon joynsoni(Smith,1917) from the Nonggang National Nature Reserve,Guangxi,China formerly identified as O. joynsoni by several authors should be referred to the recently described species O. nagao David,Nguyen,Nguyen,Jiang,Chen,Teynié,and Ziegler,2012. Here,we provide the first genuine record of O. joynsoni(Smith,1917) in China based on a male specimen collected from Xishuangbanna,Yunnan,China.
基金supported by grants from the National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program2007CB411600)+5 种基金the Ministry of Science and Technology of China (MOST Grant 2011FY120200)the Capability Support Project for Nature Reserve (Finance-Agri [2008] 297)the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31090250, 31071946)the Chinese Academy of Sciences (KSCX2-YW-Z-0807, KSCX2-EW-Z-2)the Bureau of Science and Technology of Yunnan, China
文摘A new species of the genus Protobothrops Hoge ＆ Romano-Hoge, 1983, was described from Jilong County, southern Tibet, China, and Chungthang, northern Sikkim, India. It differs from congeners by the following characters： 1） relatively large body size （total length up to 1510 mm）; 2） dorsal scale rows 25-25-19; 3） except for the smooth outermost row, dorsal scales are weakly keeled; 4） relatively high number of ventral （198-216） and subcaudal （65-76 pairs） scales; 5） 7-8 supralabials; 6） 11 to 13 infralabials; 7） dorsal head uniform dark brown, laterally a reddish-brown obscure postocular streak; 8） dorsum of trtmk and tail olive, with distinct black edged red brown transverse bands across the body and tail; and 9） eye from bright brown and reddish brown to mildly brown. The new species was also observed from the Haa Valley in western Bhutan.
基金study was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(grant number:U20A2080,31622015)Sichuan University(Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities,SCU2021D006,SCU2020D003).
文摘Elevation plays a crucial factor in the distribution of plants,as environmental conditions become increasingly harsh at higher elevations.Previous studies have mainly focused on the effects of large-scale elevational gradients on plants,with little attention on the impact of smaller-scale gradients.In this study we used 14 microsatellite loci to survey the genetic structure of 332 Juniperus squamata plants along elevation gradient from two sites in the Hengduan Mountains.We found that the genetic structure(single,clonal,mosaic)of J.squamata shrubs is affected by differences in elevational gradients of only 150 m.Shrubs in the mid-elevation plots rarely have a clonal or mosaic structure compared to shrubs in lower-or higher-elevation plots.Human activity can significantly affect genetic structure,as well as reproductive strategy and genetic diversity.Sub-populations at mid-elevations had the highest yield of seed cones,lower levels of asexual reproduction and higher levels of genetic diversity.This may be due to the trade-off between elevational stress and anthropogenic disturbance at mid-elevation since there is greater elevational stress at higher-elevations and greater intensity of anthropogenic disturbance at lower-elevations.Our findings provide new insights into the finer scale genetic structure of alpine shrubs,which may improve the conservation and management of shrublands,a major vegetation type on the Hengduan Mountains and the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.
基金the Sarawak Forest Department for issuance of a research permit(No.NCCD.907.4.4 Jld.7–39)a Fundamental Research Grant[Grant No:FRGS/07(04)787/2010(68)]from the Ministry of Higher Education of Malaysia for supporting our study on the herpetofauna of Sarawak.Y.M.
文摘A new record of the homalopsid snake, Gerarda prevostiana is presented from a mangrove-dominated patch in the vicinity of Kampung Bako, Sarawak, East Malaysia, and this comprises the first published record from the Sundaic Island of Borneo. A possible second locality for the species is a ca. 6.68 km site to its northeast, Kampung Buntal, based on an unlocated museum specimen. The species is widespread in mainland Southeast Asia, with additional records to the west （the Indian Subcontinent） and east （the Philippines Archipelago）, but was previously unrecorded from the islands of the Sundas. The secretive habits of the species, including the occupancy of mud lobster （Thalassinia spp.） mounds in mostly inaccessible, swampy habitats may be a reason for its perceived rarity and few published records.
文摘In this study,we investigated the optimal concentration of nutrient-mist and NaHSO3 for cutting propagation of Juniperus squamata ’Blue Star’,as well as the variation in the contents of chlorophyll in leaves,and solubility carbohydrate,soluble protein and other nutrition in leaves and bases of cuttings during rooting.Cuttings of grade Ⅲ(the lenghth of cutting bases lignified from 0.1 to 0.2 cm) was treated by 1/4MS+NaHSO3(200 mg·L-1),and the rooting rate rose 35% and root qualities were improved compared with control experiment,for there were different effects among three grade cuttings.The treatment of grade Ⅲ cuttings also resulted in higher content of soluble sugar and starch of those bases during rooting,especially obviously different for fifteen days,but less effect on the chlorophyll and some nutrition content of cutting leaves.
