The following Applications were published on 29 September 2000 in Vol. 57, Part 3 of the Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature. Comment or advice on any of these applications is invited for publication in the Bulletin and should be sent to the Executive Secretary (I.C.Z.N.), c/o The Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BD, U.K. (e-mail: iczn@nhm.ac.uk).

The takahe (Porphyrio mantelli) is an endemic New Zealand avian species which was once thought to be extinct. Its rediscovery in 1948 heralded an intense species recovery programme, which is ongoing. Early in this programme, difficulties in the assignment of sex became apparent. Subsequently several approaches have been used in order to develop accurate methods to identify males and females in this species. We discuss the value of these approaches and report the results of our studies into DNA-based, as well as morphometric and hormonal methods. We demonstrate that sex-linked DNA sequence variation within both the chromo-helicase-DNA binding (CHD) and ATP synthase α-subunit, (ATP5A1) genes allows the correct assignment of known-sex adults. We also report the development of a discriminant function using body weight, bill depth, shield width, length from nares to bill-tip, tarsus length, mid-toe length and culmen length. This method had a maximum accuracy of 89% on a sample of 37 known-sex takahe, using culmen and tarsus lengths. In relation to hormonal methods of sexing takahe, plasma testosterone and oestradiol concentrations in adult and juvenile male and female takahe were measured in spring. The oestradiol/testosterone ratio discriminated between all 15 adults sampled within 38 min of capture. However, males experiencing increased capture stress had reduced testosterone levels and hence an uninformative oestradiol/testosterone ratio. Testosterone and oestradiol levels were generally undetectable in juvenile takahe less than 10 months old. Consequently, plasma sex steroid analyses in the breeding season are useful for the determination of sex in recently captured adults only.

Temporal and spatial distribution of the chiton Acanthopleura japonica and associated molluscs were recorded on a semi-exposed tropical rocky shore in Hong Kong over 24 months. Most molluscs showed a clear vertical distribution pattern which varied with season. Many mobile gastropods, e.g. Monodonta labio, Cellana toreuma, Nerita albicilla and Thais clavigera, were found lower on the shore in summer (June–September), presumably as a response to the hot, desiccating conditions, but extended their range during winter (December–March). Acanthopleura, was distributed throughout the eulittoral and did not show such strong seasonal patterns, possibly due to the ability to use spatial refuges (specifically crevices) as a result of its flexible body-plan. Chitons exposed on horizontal rocks lost more body water during periods of emersion as compared to those in vertical or crevice habitats and, in summer, all animals on horizontal surfaces died. It is suggested that A. japonica uses cracks and crevices, which are not available to hard-shelled molluscs, throughout the year to reduce the impact of heat and desiccation stress during periods of emersion. This ability may explain the slight seasonal changes seen in Acanthopleura as compared to other species, and the dominance of chitons as herbivores on tropical shores.

While mating behaviour in onychophorans has been documented in only a few species, it would appear that male reproductive strategies include both dermal and vaginal insemination. To add to this diversity, the males of many newly described species of Australian onychophorans display elaborate head structures. In some species, these head structures have been shown to carry spermatophores. Here we describe Florelliceps stutchburyae gen. nov., sp. nov., a species possessing a unique head structure. An account of its unusual mating behaviour is provided in which the male's everted head structure was placed against the female's gonopore and held there by the claws of the female's reduced last pair of oncopods. After the individuals separated, the female's genital opening was covered by a spermatophore and histological sections showed that sperm had been released into her reproductive tract. A review of mating behaviour in onychophorans is also included with a discussion of sperm acquisition by the female and its correlation with her reproductive cycle.

In spiders, cuticular scales are flattened, hollow setae that occur in a variety of shapes and colours. Using transmission electron microscopy and scanning electron microscopy, we examine and provide descriptions of the external and internal anatomy of prosomal and opisthosomal scales of 70 species of lynx spiders (Araneae, Oxyopidae), representing the genera Hamataliwa, Hostus, Oxyopes, Peucetia, Schaenicoscelis, Tapinillus, and Tapponia. The cuticular scales of these taxa exhibit regional (with respect to location on the body), sexual, inter- and intrageneric variation in external and internal morphology. In the genera, Peucetia, Schaenicoscelis, and Tapinillus, cuticular scales are plumose and only occur on the prosoma. Species of the genera Hamataliwa and Tapponia, have lanceolate scales that occur on the prosoma, legs, and opisthosoma. Hostus has spatulate scales in these areas. In the genus Oxyopes, most species have lanceolate scales on the prosoma and spatulate scales on the legs and opisthosoma. Examinations of the genitalia of 82 species of lynx spiders, revealed a strong correlation between genitalic morphology and scale shape and distribution.

Forty-six female black rhino were immobilized 113 times in the Sinamatella Intensive Protection Zone, Zimbabwe, from August 1992 to October 1997. The effects of immobilization on inter-calving interval (ICI), calving rate (calves/female/year), conception and calves born/year were assessed. The mean ICI (n = 17) was 40.24 ± 4.96 months. There was a significant linear relationship between the number and interval of immobilizations in the preconception interval (PCI) and duration of ICI; further investigations were made to overcome possible effects of temporal autocorrelation. Both a non-linear model and a general linear model (with five independent effects) showed a significant relationship only between the ICI and mean immobilization interval in the pre-conception interval (PCI), but not the mean immobilization interval in the whole ICI (including gestation immobilizations). Both suggested that the relationship between immobilization and inter-calving interval was not the result of temporal autocorrelation and that the immobilization regime significantly affected the ICI. Using the calving rate as a response variable, five effects were tested in a general linear model. Only the immobilization rate in the PCI was significant. For conceptions per calendar month, we examined two effects in a general linear model: the number of mature females immobilized each month, and rainfall in the month of conception plus 2 previous months. Both effects were significant. For the number of calves born/year, the effect of the immobilization regime (the number of mature females immobilized/year) and rainfall were examined. Only immobilization was significant. We suggest that the unusually intensive immobilization regime undertaken at Sinamatella has negatively impacted on female fertility, and discuss possible mechanisms. We also suggest the need to adopt guidelines to minimize the impact of immobilization on fertility in female black rhino.

We studied the influence of moonlight upon the foraging activity pattern of the fruit bat Cynopterus sphinx. We observed the bats when foraging on the fruits of Calophyllum inophyllum and on the leaves of Mimusops elengi and Cassia fistula for 31, 27 and 28 days, respectively at the botanical garden in the Madurai Kamaraj University campus. The number of feeding bouts was recorded every hour between 18:00 and 05:00. A feeding bout involves a bat landing on the tree and collecting a part (or whole) of the fruit or a leaf. The total number of feeding bouts was negatively correlated with per cent moonlight each night. The number of feeding bouts decreased during the waxing phases of the moon. During the period of new moon the mean number of feeding bouts was significantly higher compared to the periods of other phases. During the first quarter and the last quarter phases, feeding occurred more during the dark part of the night, especially when the bats foraged upon M. elengi and C. fistula. While cloud cover enhanced the foraging activity, lightning and thunder suppressed it. Our study indicates that moonlight influences the foraging activity of C. sphinx.

Most naked mole-rats Heterocephalus glaber are countershaded, with purple-grey dorsal but pale pink ventral skin. The exceptions to this coloration pattern are uniformly pink, and include newborn pups, most queens and breeding males, and very old animals. Countershading begins to appear at 2–3 weeks of age and begins to disappear at c. 7 years of age. Countershading may provide camouflage when young naked mole-rats are above ground attempting to disperse. Therefore, reproductives and older workers may lose this coloration once they are unlikely to leave the burrow. Alternative hypotheses for pigmentation that we considered include: thermoregulation, and protection from abrasion or from damaging ultraviolet radiation. These hypotheses are not necessarily mutually exclusive, but do lead to different predictions regarding the development of pigmentation and which colony members should be countershaded.

At the end of the 1970s otter surveys were developed to study the distribution of the Eurasian otter Lutra lutra. The method was quickly adopted and expanded to include other species of otter. Different methods to estimate otter density were also used. There is some uncertainty, however, as to the significance and precision of the results. Otter surveys, radio-tracking studies and otter censuses (tracks and visual) were conducted in the same areas simultaneously. Comparison of the home ranges of otters tagged with transmitters with the results from otter surveys carried out in the same areas showed very similar otter distribution. Some 71% of those sites examined in which only one otter lived were positive, and 97% of those sites with two or more otters. Differences were found between different watercourses. In small or average sites with waterways, one single otter was capable of marking many kilometres so that it could be detected in most of the conventional 600 m sites (here 71% of sites). The data obtained by radio-tracking showed that almost all otters can be seen by experienced observers, confirming the validity of visual censuses. A high correlation was found between the number of otters seen during visual censuses and the number of otters detected by means of the length of their footprints. Using new and old tracks (2-days-old or more) the number of otters was overestimated.

The lungs of the naked mole-rat Heterocephalus glaber were morphologically (qualitatively) and morphometrically (quantitatively) investigated in adult captive in-burrow body-temperature-maintained (CBTMA) and captive cold-exposed animals (CCEA). The observations were compared with those of field (burrow-dwelling) animals (FA) examined in an earlier study. The lungs of the captive animals were morphologically (qualitatively) similar to those of the field mole-rats. Conspicuous paedomorphic features, i.e. a preponderant double pulmonary capillary arrangement, incomplete differentiation of alveolar pneumocytes, and extension of a cuboidal epithelium to the immediate vicinity of the alveoli, were observed. The prevalent pulmonary underdevelopment was attributed to the relatively low metabolic rate of the poikilothermic naked mole-rat, a species that has evolved in a thermally stable environment. Measurable differences and similarities were found between the lungs of the captive naked mole-rats themselves (i.e. the CBTMA and the CCEA) and between the captive and the field ones. Genetic factors may help explain the conserved pulmonary structural features while environmental (gaseous) change from a hypoxic–hypercapneic (an oxygen deficient–high carbon dioxide concentration) to a normoxic–normocapnic atmosphere and the thermal shift respectively may have enforced pulmonary transformations between the CBTMA and the FA and between the CCEA and the CBTMA. Paradoxically, the CCEA had a significantly lower mass-specific total morphometric pulmonary diffusing capacity of 0.024 compared with that of 0.102 mlO2.s−1.mbar−1.kg−1 in the CBTMA. The observed morphometric differences indicate that the lung of the naked mole-rat, though morphologically unchanged, is intrinsically tractable to environmental shifts in its habitat. Studies on captive naked mole-rats should not be indiscriminately taken to be representative of the species.

For many animals, strategies for optimally timing reproduction involve monitoring not only the physical environment, but also the social context. To explore the potential for social factors to modulate reproductive seasonality, the influence of social and environmental cues on birth timing was examined in greater spear-nosed bats Phyllostomus hastatus. Births were observed or dated from pup growth curves in three caves on Trinidad, West Indies, over 4 years. Nearly 40% of the variability in birth dates could be explained by environmental factors because birth dates differed significantly between years and showed consistent differences between locations that receive differing rainfall amounts. Nevertheless, the timing of births within caves and in captivity indicated that social cues also affect the timing and synchrony of births within female social groups. Within each cave, social groups differed significantly in mean birth dates. Two groups of greater spear-nosed bats brought into captivity and maintained without seasonal cues initially exhibited less birth synchrony than wild groups, but birth synchrony did not decline over 3 subsequent years. Further evidence for the influence of social cues on reproductive timing came from four females that were transferred between the captive groups and then gave birth in synchrony with their new group and out of schedule with their original group. Social cues influencing reproductive timing are unlikely to be volatile chemicals or other passively transferred cues, given that frequent prolonged physical contact did not increase birth synchrony between adjacent wild groups. Cues are more probably transferred actively between female group members, perhaps by grooming, or through mating with one attendant male.

Scaling of avian brain:body mass throughout the diversification of the class was investigated by analysis of a large collection of adult brain and body masses. Linear regression model analysis of whole-class brain:body scaling resulted in scaling exponents ranging from 0.574 to 0.609, values which exclude several prior empirical and theoretical estimates. Taxonomic level-specific analysis of brain:body scaling was performed by major-axis regression of trait variances partitioned among levels of taxonomic distinction. Brain:body scaling exponents varied markedly among avian orders, but were not easily related to ecological differences among taxa. Avian brain:body scaling exhibited a partial taxon-level effect, in that scaling exponents vary with the taxonomic level of investigation. However, scaling exponents were greatest at the family level, a pattern not consistent with prior ontogenetic or genetic covariance models of trait diversification. Instead, it is suggested that initial diversification among birds was largely through body size diversification, while later diversification of families within orders contained a relatively greater degree of brain size diversification. Avian developmental mode, known to influence avian brain size at hatching, was associated with relatively little variance in adult brain mass. Avian brain:body diversification has occurred relatively uniformly in precocial taxa, while diversification within altricial taxa is marked by a relatively high degree of brain mass diversification among families within orders.

Hickmania troglodytes, the Tasmanian cave spider, belongs to a relict group with a scattered world distribution, and is of both phylogenetic and zoogeographic interest. It belongs to the superfamily Austrochiloidea (infra-order Araneomorphae) and shares characteristics with more advanced araneomorphs and primitive spiders in the infra-orders Liphistiomorphae and Mygalomorphae. The reproductive behaviour of H. troglodytes (including courtship, mating, egg-sac construction, brooding, emergence, and moulting behaviour) is described, providing the first such account for any member of the Austrochiloidea. Courtship in H. troglodytes is ritualized and involves distinct communicatory gestures (beating with the legs) by the male to identify and protect himself. Males use a pronounced curve in the metatarsus of the second leg to immobilize females during mating; this curve closely matches the contours of the female's cheliceral region. Both courtship and mating are protracted and each can last for over 5.5 h. The egg-sac is large and unusual, with a rigid internal structure that separates the egg mass from the silk walls, while the silk itself seems to be exceptionally resistant to fungal degradation. The young emerge from the egg-sac 8–10 months after laying, a period significantly longer than the typical emergence time of araneomorph spiders (4–8 weeks). It is suggested that the rigid internal structure and the silk of the egg-sacs may help to buffer and protect the eggs and young from biotic and abiotic factors during this extended pre-emergence period.