Scientiae biologicae

Pentacomia (Pentacomia) davidpearsoni sp.nov. is described as a new species to science from three localities in southeastern Bolivia. Lectotype designation and detailed redescription of a closely related species P. (P.) speculifera (Brullé, 1837) as well as differential diagnosis of two other related species, Pentacomia (P.) sericina (Klug, 1834) and P. (P.) degandei (Tatum, 1851) are given. The original spelling of the subtribe name Odontochilina W. Horn, 1899 is emended as Odontocheilina according to Art. 35.4.1 (ICZN 1999). Illustrations of the habitus, diagnostic characters and variability of the new species and P. (P.) speculifera are presented in colour photographs.

Pentacomia (Pentacomia) lanei (W. Horn, 1924) hitherto known from only three syntypes from Brazil, but recently re-discovered from termite mounds in Paraguay, is presented. A syntype male (SDEI) is designated as a lectotype to increase stability of the taxon. Detailed redescription, illustrations of the habitus and diagnostic characters of the lectotype, paralectotype (SDEI), as well as of the adults from Paraguay including their termitophilous habitat, are presented in colour photographs. The aedeagus of this very rare species is illustrated here for the first time and the structures of the internal sac have confirmed its placement in the nominotypical subgenus of Pentacomia. The original spelling of the subtribe name Odontochilina W. Horn, 1899 is emended as Odontocheilina according to Art. 35.4.1 (ICZN 1999).

Odontocheila pentacomioides W. Horn, 1900 comb. restit. is restored here into its original name combination. It is thus excluded from the genus Pentacomia Bates, 1892, where it was recently transferred when only female sex of this species was known. Examination of the recently discovered male disclosed that its aedeagus is fully characteristic of the genus Odontocheila both in its shape and the structure within the internal sac containing a long, convoluted flagellum. Detailed redescription, illustrations of the habitus and diagnostic characters of the holotype female in SDEI, and other two existing females, as well as the first description of the male and its aedeagus, are presented. Odontocheila cyanella pseudomargineguttata W. Horn, 1930 syn. nov. is newly synonymized with Odontocheila spinipennis Chaudoir, 1843. A detailed redescription of O. spinipennis, history of the taxonomy and illustrations of diagnostic characters are presented in colour photographs. The original spelling of the subtribe name Odontochilina W. Horn, 1899 is emended as Odontocheilina according to Art. 35.4.1 (ICZN 1999).

A new species of Tropicus Pacheco, 1964, T. panamensis sp.nov. from Panama, is described, illustrated and compared with similar species. T. bartolozzii Mascagni, 1994 is reported from Panama for the first time.

Based on gall records, eight species of gallmaking sawflies of the genus Euura Newman, 1837, are listed from the Czech Republic for the first time: E. angusta (Hartig, 1837), E. auritae Kopelke, 2000, E. cinereae Kopelke, 1996, E. daphnoidica Kopelke, 2001, E. gemmacinereae Kopelke, 2001, E. hastatae Malaise, 1921, E. nigritarsis Cameron, 1885, and E. weiffenbachii Ermolenko, 1988. A list of seventeen species known from the Czech Republic is also included.

A complete list is provided of the names employed by Joseph Freyn to describe the family Leguminosae using material collected by Ove Paulsen in the course of a Danish expedition to northern Persia and the Pamir in 1888ñ1889; it contains 34 names (28 at specific level, 6 at subspecific). Lectotypes are designated for 14 of them in the genera Astragalus, Colutea, Kostyczewa (Chesneya), Lotus, Oxytropis and Trigonella. Most of the specimens involved are deposited in three herbaria: Brno, Copenhagen and St. Petersburg.

Gregor Mendel (1822-1884) is now generally acknowledged as the founder of modern genetics. He was among the first to make systematic use of mathematical methods in biology, employing just the simpler rules of probability theory to work out some of the underlying laws of heredity. However, it is less well known that an element of controversy began to attach to his experimental results in the 1930ís, largely as a result of the work of the eminent British statistician and biologist R.A. Fisher, who felt that Mendelís results were too close to expected values. New explanations have therefore been sought to avert suspicion that the figures may have been in some way idealised. The work in hand seeks to contribute to resolving the Mendel-Fisher controversy. An alternative statistical model for the design of Mendelís experiments is suggested, which appears to correspond to Mendelís results. At the same time, the proposed model allows a very simple interpretation.