skip to main content
US FlagAn official website of the United States government
dot gov icon
Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.
https lock icon
Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( lock ) or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.
Attention:The NSF Public Access Repository (NSF-PAR) system and access will be unavailable from 7:00 AM ET to 7:30 AM ET on Friday, April 24 due to maintenance. We apologize for the inconvenience.

Explore Research Products in the PAR
It may take a few hours for recently added research products to appear in PAR search results.


  • NSF Public Access
  • Search Results
  • Namib Desert Asiloidea (Diptera) 1. A review of the assassin-fly genus Acnephalomyia Londt, 2010 (Asilidae) with the description of a new species
Title: Namib Desert Asiloidea (Diptera) 1. A review of the assassin-fly genus Acnephalomyia Londt, 2010 (Asilidae) with the description of a new species
The genusAcnephalomyiaLondt, 2010 (Diptera, Asilidae, Willistonininae) is reviewed in the southern Namib Desert. Currently, seven species ofAcnephalomyiaare recognised from Namibia and South Africa. In the southern Namib Desert, there are fourAcnephalomyiaspecies recorded to date:Acnephalomyia andrenoides(Wiedemann, 1828),Acnephalomyia eremiaLondt, 2010,Acnephalomyia iotaLondt, 2010 andAcnephalomyia platygaster(Loew, 1858). One new species,Acnephalomyia metallicoindicasp. nov. from the northern parts of the southern Namib Desert, is described and the single paratype ofAcnephalomyia iotaknown from Namibia is assigned to this species, restrictingA. iotato the Northern Cape Province of South Africa.Acnephalomyia eremiais recorded with several additional collecting events in the southern Namib Desert, extending its range significantly. Distribution, biology, occurrence in biodiversity hotspotssensuConservation International and seasonal imago flight activity are discussed for each species. Diagnoses, photographs, specimen occurrence data and an identification key to species are provided with the new species described in detail. Online resources to the original descriptions or re-descriptions and an illustrated dichotomous identification key are provided and all specimen images are uploaded to a dedicated image repository. The southern Namib Desert is chiefly outlined by the Namib-Naukluft National Park and adjacent areas to the east using nature reserves and roads to delimit the study area more precisely. The knowledge of Diptera, Asiloidea species and important early collectors of specimens (including the museum depository), especially at the Gobabeb Namib Research Institute, is summarised. An updated key to the Asilidae genera of the Afrotropical Region, to include all species ofAcnephalomyia, is provided. Both keys are made available online on the Lucid Keyserver.  more » « less
Award ID(s):
2209399
PAR ID:
10666630
Author(s) / Creator(s):
 ;  ;  
Publisher / Repository:
Pensoft
Date Published:
Journal Name:
African Invertebrates
Volume:
66
Issue:
2
ISSN:
1681-5556
Page Range / eLocation ID:
251 to 271
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
More Like this
  1. ; (, African Invertebrates)
    The Bombyliidae generaEnicaMacquart, 1834 andNomaloniaRondani, 1863, restricted to South Africa, are synonymized. Currently, one species ofEnicais known from South Africa,Enica longirostris(Wiedemann, 1819), and sixNomaloniaspecies are newly combined withEnica:Enica clavicornis(Hesse, 1956),comb. nov.;Enica eremophila, (Hesse, 1975),comb. nov.;Enica henicoides(Hesse, 1956),comb. nov.;Enica imitata(Hesse, 1956),comb. nov.;Enica sporanthera(Hesse, 1956),comb. nov.; andEnica syrticola(Hesse, 1956),comb. nov.A new species,Enica adelphesp. nov.from the Richtersveld in the Northern Cape of South Africa, is described. AllEnicaspecies are redescribed and a dichotomous key with photographic references is provided for ease of identification. Specimen occurrence data and photographs are provided for each species. Each species ofEnicaoccurs in at least one of three biodiversity hotspots in South Africa,i.e., Succulent Karoo, Cape Floristic Region, and Maputaland-Pondoland-Albany, withE. longirostrisoccurring in all three. 
    more » « less
  2. ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; et al (, American Journal of Botany)
    Abstract PremiseSouthern Africa is a biodiversity hotspot rich in endemic plants and lichen‐forming fungi. However, species‐level data about lichen photobionts in this region are minimal. We focused onTrebouxia(Chlorophyta), the most common lichen photobiont, to understand how southern African species fit into the global biodiversity of this genus and are distributed across biomes and mycobiont partners. MethodsWe sequencedTrebouxianuclear ribosomal ITS andrbcLof 139 lichen thalli from diverse biomes in South Africa and Namibia. GlobalTrebouxiaphylogenies incorporating these new data were inferred with a maximum likelihood approach.Trebouxiabiodiversity, biogeography, and mycobiont–photobiont associations were assessed in phylogenetic and ecological network frameworks. ResultsAn estimated 43 putativeTrebouxiaspecies were found across the region, including seven potentially endemic species. Only five clades represent formally described species:T. arboricolas.l. (A13),T. cf.cretacea(A01),T. incrustata(A06),T. lynniae(A39), andT. maresiae(A46). Potential endemic species were not significantly associated with the Greater Cape Floristic Region or desert.Trebouxiaspecies occurred frequently across multiple biomes. Annual precipitation, but not precipitation seasonality, was significant in explaining variation inTrebouxiacommunities. Consistent with other studies of lichen photobionts, theTrebouxia–mycobiont network had an anti‐nested structure. ConclusionsDepending on the metric used, ca. 20–30% of globalTrebouxiabiodiversity occurs in southern Africa, including many species yet to be described. With a classification scheme forTrebouxianow well established, tree‐based approaches are preferable over “barcode gap” methods for delimiting new species. 
    more » « less
  3. ; ; ; ; ; (, Fungal Systematics and Evolution)
    We describe four new nodulose-spored species ofInocybefrom tropical regions of Africa:I. beninensis, I. flavipes, I. fuscobrunneaandI. pallidiangulata.The new species are recognised based on morphological data and phylogenetic analyses of ITS, 28S andRPB2sequences. Phylogenetic analyses indicated thatI. flavipesandI. beninensisare part of a subclade leading to theI. calidagroup.Inocybe fuscobrunneaappears sister to theI. asterosporagroup.Inocybe pallidiangulatais nested within a clade of mainly tropical species from South Asia, Africa, and South America, close to the subclade ofI. lilacinosquamosaandI. ayangannaefrom Guyana. Complete descriptions and illustrations, including photographs and line drawings, and a key to nodulose-spored taxa of tropical African species ofInocybeare provided. 
    more » « less
  4. ; ; ; ; ; (, Diversity)
    null (Ed.)
    Monechma Hochst. s.l. (Acanthaceae) is a diverse and ecologically important plant group in sub-Saharan Africa, well represented in the fire-prone savanna biome and with a striking radiation into the non-fire-prone succulent biome in the Namib Desert. We used RADseq to reconstruct evolutionary relationships within Monechma s.l. and found it to be non-monophyletic and composed of two distinct clades: Group I comprises eight species resolved within the Harnieria clade, whilst Group II comprises 35 species related to the Diclipterinae clade. Our analyses suggest the common ancestors of both clades of Monechma occupied savannas, but both of these radiations (~13 mya crown ages) pre-date the currently accepted origin of the savanna biome in Africa, 5–10 mya. Diversification in the succulent biome of the Namib Desert is dated as beginning only ~1.9 mya. Inflorescence and seed morphology are found to distinguish Groups I and II and related taxa in the Justicioid lineage. Monechma Group II is morphologically diverse, with variation in some traits related to ecological diversification including plant habit. The present work enables future research on these important lineages and provides evidence towards understanding the biogeographical history of continental Africa. 
    more » « less
  5. ; ; (, ZooKeys)
    The rarely encountered spider genusHexurellaGertsch & Platnick, 1979 includes some of the smallest mygalomorph spiders in the world, with four poorly known taxa from central and southeastern montane Arizona, southern California, and northern Baja California Norte. At time of description the genus was known from fewer than 20 individuals, with sparse natural history information suggesting a vagrant, web-building, litter-dwelling natural history. Here the first published taxonomic and natural history information for this taxon is provided in more than 50 years, working from extensive new geographic sampling, consideration of male and female morphology, and sequence capture-based nuclear phylogenomics and mitogenomics. Several new species are easily diagnosed based on distinctive male morphologies, while a complex of populations from central and northern Arizona required an integrative combination of genomic algorithmic species delimitation analyses and morphological study. Four new species are described, includingH. ephedrasp. nov.,H. uwiiltilsp. nov.,H. xericasp. nov., andH. zassp. nov.Females ofH. encinaGertsch & Platnick, 1979 are also described for the first time. It is predicted that additional new species will ultimately be found in the mountains of central and northwestern Arizona, northern mainland Mexico, and the Mojave Desert of California. 
    more » « less
  • Citation Formats
  • MLA
  • APA
  • Chicago
  • BibTeX
  • Text Encoded Conversion
  • XML
  • Save / Share this Record
  • Send to Email