Zoologia Neocaledonica, Volume 8 [English] Biodiversity Studies in New Caledonia (Memoires du Museum d'Histoire Naturelle, Volume 206)

About this book

Language: English with bilingual abstracts in English and French

The Mémoires du Muséum publish the eighth volume of the series Zoologia Neocaledonica, dealing with the study of the fauna of New Caledonia, one of the "hot spots" of biodiversity in the Southern hemisphere. More than ever, the study of biodiversity in this megadiverse island is a current question. On the one hand, a growing number of molecular phylogenies bring crucial information about the origin and the evolution of local biodiversity. On the other hand, this biodiversity is more and more threatened by multiple landscape uses and its deleterious consequences. In this context, systematic studies like those of Zoologia Neocaledonica are strongly needed as both a background and a primary source of knowledge. invaluable for evolutionary studies and land management policies.

This volume comprises 19 contributions bearing on lizards, fishes and diverse insects, with the description of many species new to science, taking into account more than one hundred taxa frorn New Caledonia.

Contents

- Introduction / Éric Guilbert, Tony Robillard, Hervé Jourdan & Philippe Grandicolas   9
- New data on Dierogekko (Squamata: Gekkota: Diplodactylidae), with the description of a new species from Île Baaba Province Nord, New Caledonia / Phillip Skipwith, Todd Jackman, Anthony H. Whitaker, Aaron M. Bauer & Ross A. Sadlier   13
- The New Caledonian Leopard Skink Lacertoides pardalis (Reptilia: Scincidae); a review of the species’ morphology distribution, behavior and conservation / Ross A. Sadlier, Glenn M. Shea, Hervé Jourdan, Anthony H. Whitaker & Aaron M. Bauer   31  
- Cryptic speciation in the New Caledonian lizard genus Nannoscincus (Reptilia: Scincidae) including the description of a new species and recognition of Nannoscincus fuscus Günther / Ross A. Sadlier, Aaron M. Bauer, Perry L. Wood Jr., Sarah A. Smith, Anthony H. Whitaker & Todd Jackman   45
- Bocourt’s terrific Skink, Phoboscincus bocourti (Brocchi, 1876), and the Monophyly of the Genus Phoboscincus Greer, 1974 (Reptilia: Scincidae) / Ivan Ineich, Ross A. Sadlier, Aaron M. Bauer, Todd R. Jackman & Sarah A. Smith   69
- Localized endemism in the southern ultramafic bio-region of New Caledonia as evidenced by the lizards in the genus Sigaloseps (Reptilia: Scincidae), with descriptions of four new species / Ross A. Sadlier, Aaron M. Bauer, Perry L. Wood Jr., Sarah A. Smith, Anthony H. Whitaker, Hervé Jourdan & Todd Jackman   79
- High elevation endemism on New Caledonia’s ultramafic peaks – a new genus and two new species of scincid lizard / Ross A. Sadlier, Aaron M. Bauer, Sarah A. Smith, Glenn M. Shea & Anthony H. Whitaker   115
- New data on freshwater fish of New Caledonia / Philippe Keith, Clara Lord, Laura Taillebois & Pierre Feutry   127
- The New Caledonian and Fijian species of Aterpini and Gonipterini (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) / Guillermo Kuschel   133
- The blind weevils of Myrtonymina in New Caledonia and Australia (Curculionidae: Curculioninae: Erirhinini: Myrtonymina) / Guillermo Kuschel   165
- Exocelina nehoue n. sp. from New Caledonia, with a new synonym and new collecting record for other species in the genus (Coleoptera: Dytiscidae) / Michael Balke, Jiří Hájek, Lars Hendrich & Günther Wewalka   181
- A new species, new records, and notes on biology of New Caledonian Scirtes Illiger (Insecta: Coleoptera: Scirtidae) / Rafał Ruta   191
- Corindia (Diptera: Dolichopodidae) from New Caledonia and the Papuan Region / Daniel J. Bickel   201
- Pindaia (Diptera: Dolichopodidae) a new genus from New Caledonia and Australia / Daniel J. Bickel   209
- The water bugs (Hemiptera-Heteroptera: Gerromorpha & Nepomorpha) of New Caledonia: Diversity, ecology and biogeographical significance / Jakob Damgaard & Herbert Zettel   219
- New Caledonia as an evolutionary cradle: a re-appraisal of the jaw-moth genus Sabatinca (Lepidoptera: Micropterigidae) and its significance for assessing the antiquity of the island’s fauna / George W. Gibbs & David C. Lees   239
- Owlflies of New Caledonia. Suhpalacsa caledon McLachlan, 1871 (Neuroptera: Ascalaphidae) / Roland Dobosz & Ábrahám Levente   267
- Redefinition of the cricket genus Protathra Desutter-Grandcolas, 1997 (Orthoptera, Grylloidea, Phalangopsidae), with description of the calling song of Protathra centralis Desutter-Grandcolas, n. sp. / Laure Desutter-Grandcolas, Tony Robillard & Jérémy Anso   277
- Three new species and a synonymy of the genus Nobarnus (Insecta: Heteroptera: Tingidae) / Éric Guilbert   289
- Diversity and distribution of the genus Rothisilpha (Dictyoptera, Blattidae) in New Caledonia: Evidence from new microendemic species / Philippe Grandcolas, Romain Nattier, Roseli Pellens & Frédéric Legendre   299
- Index Taxonomique   309

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Biography

Éric Guilbert and Tony Rubillard are Maître de conférences at the Museum national d'Histoire naturelle and they study respectively systematics and evolution of lace bugs and crickets.

Hervé Jourdan is lngénieur de recherche at lnstitut de Recherche pour Ie Dévelopmement, Nouméa, and studies the ecology and evolution of native and invasive species in New Caledonia.

Philippe Grandcolas is Directeur de recherche CNRS at the Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle and studies the phylogeny and the evolution of insects. He has been in charge of teams, programs and grants devoted to the study of New Caledonian biodiversity.