The effect of increasing soil Zn concentrations on growth and Zn tissue concentrations of a metalaccumulating aspen clone was examined in a dose–response study. Plants were grown in a soil with a low native Zn content which was spiked with Zn salt solutions and subsequently aged. Plant growth was not affected by NH4NO3-extractable soil Zn concentrations up to 60 mg Zn g 1 soil, but it was compl...

In a survey for Cryphonectria and Chrysoporthe species on Myrtales in South Africa, a fungus resembling the stem canker pathogen Chrysoporthe austroafricana was collected from native Syzygium cordatum near Tzaneen (Limpopo Province), Heteropyxis canescens near Lydenburg (Mpumalanga Province) and exotic Tibouchina granulosa in Durban (KwaZulu-Natal Province). The fungus was associated with dying...

Parasitoids of dried-fruit insects were surveyed at a culled fig warehouse in Fresno, CA. Three parasitoids of pyralid larvae were found: Habrobracon hebetor (Say), Venturia canescens (Gravenhorst), and at least one species in the genus Goniozus Förster. Two parasitoids of pyralid pupae also were noted: Mesostenus gracilis (Cresson) and a new species of Psilochalcis Keifer. The latter is a new ...

We used comparative developmental morphology to study the evolution of nonpapilionaceous corollas in the amorphoid clade of the tribe Amorpheae (Papilionoideae). This clade consists of five genera in which there are no papilionaceous corollas (five petals differentiated into one banner, two wing, and two keel petals). We studied the ontogenies of three nonpapilionaceous forms: corollas consisti...

The life history of Confuciusornis sanctus is controversial. Recently, the species' body size spectrum was claimed to contradict osteohistological evidence for a rapid, bird-like development. Moreover, sexual size dimorphism was rejected as an explanation for the observed bimodal size distribution since the presence of elongated rectrices, an assumed 'male' trait, was uncorrelated with size. Ho...