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Identification aids for Cicer (Leguminosae, Cicereae) taxa are presented. A DELTA format dataset was generated for 42 Cicer taxa, on the basis of observation of 214 herbarium specimens and information obtained from the literature. Using the programs key, explore and confor, a dichotomous key, a tabular key, an interactive key and brief descriptions were produced and are presented.

Methods used in vicariance biogeography fall into the categories of a posteriori methods (e.g., Component Compatibility Analysis and Brooks Parsimony Analysis) and a priori methods (e.g., Component Analysis, Reconciled Tree Analysis, and Three Area Statement Analysis). Each category corresponds to a particular methodology that arrives at general area cladograms by testing null hypotheses in a particular way. A posteriori methods assume the process of vicariance only (A0) as a common cause of the distribution of different monophyletic groups of taxa under the null hypothesis. Whenever a parsimony analysis of combined data from these monophyletic groups results in a general area cladogram with homoplasy, the null hypothesis is rejected and extinction and dispersal are invoked a posteriori as ad hoc process explanations. A priori methods assume not only vicariance (A0) but also combinations of vicariance with the processes of extinction (A1) and dispersal (A2) as possible causes of the distribution of the taxa of different monophyletic groups. Each assumed set of processes corresponds to a different null hypothesis. Under the assumption of independence and thus additivity of the processes involved, the sets of area cladograms obtained under A0, A1, and A2 from data of each monophyletic group must be inclusive (requirement I). Whenever no congruent area cladograms are found in the intersection of sets of area cladograms derived under the same assumption for different monophyletic groups (II), the corresponding null hypothesis is rejected.

The springtail Lepidocyrtus paradoxus new to the Dutch fauna (Hexapoda: Collembola) Lepidocyrtus paradoxus Uzel, 1890 is a central European springtail, which is recorded here as new to the Dutch fauna. The species was collected in high numbers on a site called the Sint Pietersberg (near Maastricht), a hill at the southern point of the province of Limburg. The location can be described as a meadow on calcareous soil with a short vegetation. Morphological characters that discriminate this species from other Lepidocyrtus-species in the Netherlands are illustrated. A description of the site, supported by photographs, is made and information on its occurrence in Europe is summarised. A list with accompanying species of Collembola caught on the same site is given.

Tijdens een inventarisatie met enkele honderden bodemvallen in het natuurgebied de Blauwe Kamer bij Wageningen werd een enkel exemplaar aangetroffen van Elaphropus hoemorrhoidales, een nieuwe loopkever voor de Nederlandse fauna. Het betreft een mediterrane soort, die in heel Midden-Europa zeer zeldzaam is. Uit de weinige ecologische gegevens blijkt dat de soort vooral gebonden is aan moerassige gebieden. Het is de vraag of zich in de Blauwe Kamer een populatie bevindt, of dat er sprake is van een incidentele waarneming van een verdwaald exemplaar.

A systematic study of 45 taxa belonging to 23 genera of tribes Arabideae, Euclidieae, Hesperideae, Lunarieae, Matthioleae and Sisymbrieae of Brassicaceae from Egypt was conducted by means of numerical analysis based on sixty two morphological characters, including vegetative parts, pollen grains and seeds. On the basis of UPGMA clustering and PCO analysis, four main groups are recognised: Lunarieae, Euclidieae, Matthioleae and a mixed group. Representatives of these groups are clustered together based on characters with high factor loading in the PCO analysis. The tribe Euclidieae is the most homogeneous group, and the tribe Arabideae is the most heterogeneous one.

Bij bestudering van Nederlands materiaal snuitkevers, bleek maar één soort te bestaan. In deze bijdrage wordt het voorkomen van S. variegatus in Nederland besproken en de verschillen met S. hirticornis toegelicht

In dit verslag worden de vangsten genoemd die zijn gedaan tijdens de zomerbijeenkomst van de NEV, van 15-17 juni 2001 nabij Ter Apel, Zuidoost- Groningen. Van vijftien ordes werden 1533 taxa geregistreerd. Met name de kevers waren goed vertegenwoordigd met maar liefst 881 taxa en 298 nieuwe soorten voor de provincie. Ook werden er 45 soorten wantsen nieuw voor Groningen en 42 soorten spinnen gevonden (van de 64!). Dit geeft zowel een indruk van het gebrek aan entomologische interesse voor deze provincie als voor de rijkdom ervan

Lynch [1989, in “Speciation and Its Consequences” (D. Otte and J. A. Endler, Eds.), pp. 527–553, Sinauer, Sunderland, MA, proposed a methodology for assessing the frequency of occurrence of various modes of initiating species formation, using a combination of phylogenetic relationships and relative size of geographic ranges for sister species and sister groups. Historical biogeography provides an alternative criterion for assessing modes of species formation. Species whose distributions conform to a general (replicated in multiple clades) pattern of area relationships are deemed to be the result of vicariance (including microvicariance) regardless of the details of current geographic range. Species exhibiting unique biogeographic distributions are the result of peripheral isolates speciation and postspeciation dispersal. Lineage duplications indicate sympatric speciation. An empirical assessment of this alternative approach was performed using the most recent phylogenetic trees and geographical distribution data on the Mesoamerican poeciliid fish comprising the genera Xiphophorus and Heterandria. The single area cladogram produced by secondary Brooks Parsimony Analysis indicates 3 vicariant events (accounting for seven extant species and the common ancestor of the northern swordtails, which are not further analyzed) and at least 13 episodes of peripheral isolates speciation. Two of the 10 areas considered in previous analyses are vicariant areas of endemism, 1 is historically unique due to a single episode of peripheral isolates speciation, and the remaining 7 have reticulated histories of speciation. The results corroborate inferences of speciation modes made by Lynch for the same data.

We re-examined the Dutch material of Ceratapion carduorum. It was found that in the past C. carduorum was confused with C. gibbirostre. C. gibbirostre is a common and widespread species in the Netherlands. The true C. carduorum appeared to be very rare in the Netherlands

Members of Solanum series Conicibaccata in Mexico and Central America are very similar. All are tetraploids (2n = 4x = 48). Recent authors have recognized three or four species: S. agrimonifolium, S. woodsonii, S. longiconicum (sometimes included in the next), and S. oxycarpum. We had difficulty distinguishing these species in the herbarium, and needed to resolve species boundaries for ongoing floristic studies. We studied this group in the field throughout Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica, and Panama, grew collections in the greenhouse, studied herbarium specimens, determined ploidy levels through flow cytometry, and generated molecular data using Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA. Molecular data distinguish S. agrimonifolium, S. longiconicum, and S. oxycarpum. Solanum woodsonii was not available for molecular analysis. All four species can be distinguished morphologically, but only by leaf character states that overlap in range, by pubescence differences that are best observed in living specimens, and by a seed spot character that is only evident on living or recently gathered specimens.

An AFLP data set comprising 95 accessions from 20 species of Lactuca s.l. (sensu lato) and related genera was generated using the primer combinations E35/M48 and E35/M49. In phenetic analyses of a data subset, clustering with UPGMA based on Jaccard's similarity coefficient resulted in the highest cophenetic correlation, and the results were comparable to those of a principal coordinates analysis. In analyses of the total data set, phenetic and cladistic analyses showed similar tree topologies for the well-supported parts of the trees. The validity of cladistic analysis of AFLP data is discussed. The results do not support a distinction among the serriola-like species L. sativa, L. serriola, L. dregeana, and L. altaica, which is in line with previous results. Therefore, we postulate that these species are conspecific. The serriola-like species L. aculeata occupies a clearly separate position, making it an ideal outgroup for studies of the closest relatives of L. sativa. The subsect. Lactuca as a group is well supported by our data, but the positions of L. saligna and L. virosa relative to the serriola-like species remain unclear. The close relationship between the sect. Mulgedium species L. tatarica and L. sibirica is corroborated by the present AFLP results and by additional crossability data.

In 1994 Otiorhynchus dieckmanni was collected for the first time in the Netherlands. Since then the species was recorded from several other localities far apart from each other. These data strongly suggest that O. dieckmanni is now well established in the Netherlands

Wild potato (Solanum sect. Petota) germplasm has been collected in Mexico on nine major expeditions, as determined by 20 collections or more from each expedition currently at the United States potato genebank, the National Research Support Program-6 (NRSP-6). These have resulted in 609 accessions with good collection data. In addition, NRSP-6 has germplasm of approximately 90 other Mexican collections that are unspecific regarding date or place of collection. This expedition was funded to collect those remaining collections with no or little germplasm: Solanum clarum, S. x edinense, S. hintonii, S. hjertingii var. physaloides, S. leptosepalum, S. lesteri, S. macropilosum, S. x michoacanum, S. x sambucinum, and S. stenophyllidium. In addition, some species and species groups (species groups indicated in parentheses) have unresolved taxonomic problems that needed clarification by additional field collections. These are (S. agrimonifolium and S. oxycarpum), (S. brachycarpum, S. guerreroense, S. hougasii, and S. iopetalum - the S. brachycarpum complex), (S. fendleri, S. papita, S. stoloniferum - the S. stoloniferum complex), S. leptosepalum, and S. macropilosum. We conducted a wild potato germplasm collecting expedition in Mexico from August 22 to October 31, 1997. Our 103 collections, 71 as germplasm collections, provide the first germplasm samples for S. hjertingii var. physaloides, S. leptosepalum, and S. macropilosum. They provide additional germplasm of the rare species S. clarum, S. x edinense, S. lesteri, S. x michoacanum, S. x sambucinum, and S. stenophyllidium. We additionally gathered germplasm and field data to help resolve taxonomic difficulties in S. agrimonifolium and S. oxycarpum, the S. brachycarpum complex, and the S. stoloniferum complex.

Dactyladenia floretii and D. jongkindii are described from Gabon and illustrated. Both species are myrmecophytic. A key is provided to distinguish the new species from their apparent closest relatives.

Species of the genus Solanum usually possess pedicels with a floral abscission zone, which is designated the "articulation" or "joint." A distinct group of tuber-bearing wild potatoes, series Acaulia, is characterized by an indistinct or completely absent articulation. The anatomy of pedicels without articulation is compared with that of articulated pedicels. No abscission zone is observed in pedicels without an articulation, a situation found in the tetraploids Solanum acaule Bitter ssp. acaule and S. acaule ssp. punae (Juz.) Hawkes & Hjert. The hexaploids Solanum albicans (Ochoa) Ochoa and S. acaule ssp. palmirense Kardolus of series Acaulia have an anatomically incompletely differentiated abscission zone. Solanum acaule ssp. aemulans (Bitter & Wittm.) Hawkes & Hjert. (2n = 48) has articulated pedicels and a floral abscission zone. The absence of a floral abscission zone is presumably a recessive trait. The special features of pedicel articulation in series Acaulia are discussed in relation to the "jointless" mutations in tomato. The position of the articulation on the pedicel is concluded to be less significant for taxonomy than generally considered.Key words: Solanaceae, Solanum acaule, anatomy, "jointless" mutation, pedicel articulation, taxonomy.

Computer image analysis was used to quantify the corolla shapes of Solanum species. Three approaches were applied, using global features, a selected number of points along the contour, and complete contour descriptions, the latter in three different variants. All permit quantification of corolla shape and are in fact generally applicable in taxonomy for studying two-dimensional shapes. All image analysis methods gave comparable variation patterns: the observed variation of corolla shapes is continuous, which does not support the subdivision of S. subsect. Potatoe into two superseries on the base of corolla shape alone. The studied accession of S. tarijense (S. superser. Stellata) could not be distinguished on corolla shape from that of S. berthaultii (S. superser. Rotata).

Section Brevivalvula is one of five sections in the large tropical grass genus Pennisetum. It belongs to the tertiary genepool of P. glaucum (L.) R. Br., pearl millet, and consists of six morphological taxa: P. atrichum Stapf & Hubb., P. hordeoides (Lam.) Steud., P. pedicellatum Trin., P. polystachion (L.) Schult., P. setosum (Swartz) L. Rich. and P. subangustum (Schum.) Stapf & Hubb., which together form a polyploid and agamic complex. Four euploid (x = 9) and twelve aneuploid chromosome levels have been found till now; the polyploids are apomictic, while diploid populations of P. polystachion and P. subangustum are considered sexual.