The breeding site characteristics of the smooth newt (Triturus vulgaris) and the common frog (Rana temporaria) have been investigated in the Republic of Ireland and in Northern Ireland. A total of 278 waterbodies and their surrounding terrestrial habitats were examined in 60 National Grid 10-km squares across the island: 33 habitat parameters were recorded. Discriminant function analyses were calculated which correctly classified 88.46% and 87.5% of the sites for the newt and frog, respectively. These analyses identified the terrestrial and aquatic habitat variables which were important in discriminating between the sites which were used and unused by each of the species. Terrestrial habitat factors, particularly the availability of terrestrial refugia, were found to be especially important in determining the suitability of the breeding sites for both species.

The demography of red and grey squirrels was studied by live-trapping and radio-tagging at 14 deciduous and conifer sites in southern Britain and at eight conifer sites for one year in northern England. Densities and productivity correlated with tree seed crops for both squirrel species in deciduous and conifer habitats. Productivity was reduced by high density of full-grown squirrels relative to seed abundance. In oak-hazel woods, demography of grey squirrels correlated with abundance of acorns but not of hazel-nuts, whereas density and productivity of red squirrels correlated with hazel-nut abundance. Correlations of female density and productivity with pine-cone crops did not differ between red and grey squirrels. Predators ate many radio-tagged grey squirrels in conifers, and annual survival was only 50% compared with 80-82% for both species in other habitats. Grey squirrel populations in southern conifer sites were sustained by immigration, and at northern sites female density correlated with oak abundance within 500m. Failure to exploit acorn crops puts red squirrels at a competitive disadvantage in deciduous woodland. Red squirrels had higher survival than grey squirrels in conifers, which may give them an advantage in that habitat, but could also have been explained by a lack of predators on their island study site.

Fourteen radio-tagged red squirrels were released in pine woodland containing grey squirrels. Movements of the squirrels were related to the tree species of the donor site. Survival after release was lower than for the grey squirrels: of 11 red squirrels that survived at least a week, only three survived more than three months and none for four months. More than half were eaten or cached by predators, mainly foxes; an experiment with grey squirrel carcasses indicated that they had been killed, not scavenged after death. Hypertrophied adrenals, disease and loss of weight indicated stress as another factor in the deaths. Data on overlap of core ranges, and reluctance of red squirrels to enter traps used by grey squirrels in the mixed population, indicated interference competition between the two species, with grey squirrels possibly dominant. We recommend: (i) that care should be taken to release translocated animals in similar habitat to their origin; (ii) that grey squirrels should be excluded from future release areas until red squirrels have settled and, before biodiversity is reduced by landscape management for red squirrels; (iii) more research to determine whether interactions with grey squirrels or differential predation will ultimately displace red squirrels in conifers.

Circadian rhythms of metabolic rate and body temperature were measured in groups of huddling and solitary red-billed woodhoopoes (Phoeniculus purpureus) as a function of ambient temperature. Basal metabolic rates were 30-60% lower than those of similar-sized birds of other species. As a consequence, circadian amplitudes of Tb and VO2 fluctuation between the rest and activity phases of non-huddling birds were also larger than expected. Circadian rhythms of metabolism save huddling and non-huddling woodhoopoes 19-34% of their potential daily energy expenditure. Birds huddling in groups conserved 12-29% of the daily energy expenditure of non-huddling birds at ambient temperatures of 20°C and below. However, at 30°C huddling birds used c. 12% more energy than non-huddling birds. The various avenues of energy conservation employed by woodhoopoes are suggested to be beneficial in: a) augmenting the proximate benefits of cooperative breeding; and b) optimizing fitness in the drought-prone sub-Saharan savannahs which are heavily influenced by the El Niño Southern Oscillations.

It is demonstrated that cross-fostering is a practical way of improving the rate of increase of a rare species in captivity. Two adult Bettongia tropica were captured in northern Queensland and housed in captivity in Adelaide, South Australia. Eleven pouch young born in captivity to the wild-caught B. tropica were transferred at 20 days old or older to B. penicillata foster mothers and nine were reared successfully. Of a further 10 young not fostered, six were reared by the wild-caught mother. Fostering allowed the wild-caught female to produce surviving young nearly twice as frequently as if she had reared them in her pouch.

Sexual maturity occurred at 246-523 days (x[bar] = 407.2 ± 59.9 days) in 4 males and at 185-429 days (x[bar] = 300.5 ± 26.0 days) in 11 females. Breeding continues throughout the year and females undergo embryonic diapause whilst supporting a pouch young. The female reproductive system is remarkable for its relatively long urethra and lateral vaginae and consequently short urogenital sinus. The male reproductive system is unremarkable, having a carrot-shaped prostate gland and three pairs of Cowper's glands, as do many other macropodoid species. Two pairs of paracloacal glands are found in males and females.

Cryptomys mechowi is a social subterranean mole-rat which inhabits the mesic regions of south-eastern and central Africa. Giant mole-rats live in colonies of up to 11 animals in which reproduction is normally restricted to the largest male and female in the colony. In this preliminary study on a laboratory-reared colony, the non-reproductive members of the colony could not be placed into clearly defined, work-related groups based on body mass. The colony showed a work frequency related division of labour. Reproductive animals performed little work, 3-4% of the total work. The non-reproductive caste was divided into two groups based on the amount of burrow maintenance activity: those performing between 7-11% of total work and those ranging from 15-22% of total work. Male members of the colony tended to perform more work than the females. The dominance hierarchy of the colony was found to be nearly linear, with a value of 0.83 calculated from Landau's linearity index. The reproductive animals were the most dominant in their respective gender. Dominance was not age-related. However, non-reproductive males tended to be more dominant than non-reproductive females. Social organization within the giant Zambian mole-rat is compared with other southern African Cryptomys species in the light of the eusociality continuum.

Observations of the external morphology of wild-caught and captive male brown long-eared bats (Plecotus auritus) revealed a marked seasonal pattern of spermatogenesis, similar to that established by histological examination of other temperate-zone vespertilionids, with a peak in testes size in August and a lag between testicular growth and epididymal distension. This was followed by complete cessation of spermatogenesis and shrinkage of the testes to prepubertal size. The period of peak spermatogenesis coincided with a reduction in the incidence of torpor and also a decline in body mass. This suggests that torpor and spermatogenesis may be incompatible in this species. Outside the season of testicular growth and epididymal distension, sexual maturity could not be confidently determined in P. auritus by the pigmentation of the tunica vaginalis surrounding the epididymis, a characteristic which has become established in other species. Instead, the size and shape of the caudae epididymides appeared to be a better criterion for defining sexual maturity in this species. Most males underwent testicular growth and epididymal distension, and were assumed to have reached sexual maturity, at an age of 15 months. However, some individuals (29%), particularly those in good condition (relatively heavy individuals), showed a degree of testicular and epididymal development in their first autumn, i.e. at 3 months of age, indicating that the onset of puberty may be dependent on body condition. Poor body condition was associated with delayed spermatogenesis in adult males.

The level of visible (i.e. white or unpigmented) scarring on cetaceans varies greatly between species, particularly for intraspecific scarring in odontocete cetaceans. In some species, unpigmented intraspecific scars may act as an indicator of male ‘quality’ during aggressive social interactions. Evidence to support this hypothesis was found in 18 species of odontocete cetacean. These were the narwhal (Monodon monoceros), the sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus), the Risso's dolphin (Grampus griseus) and the family Ziphiidae (with the exception of Mesoplodon ginkgodens). The evolution of such signalling is related to the fact that teeth are not required for feeding on certain diets, primarily cephalopod-based diets, and as a result the number of teeth has been reduced. However, some teeth have been retained, and selected, as weapons for male-male competition. This has resulted in an increase in the level of intraspecific scarring and the greater need for a signal of ‘quality’ to avoid costly and dangerous fights. As intraspecific scarring became this signal, the repigmentation rate of scars was reduced, leading to all scars remaining permanently unpigmented in these species.

One new genus and three new species of deep-sea holothuroids, taken by the South African Division of Sea Fisheries R.S. Africana II routine trawls, off the west coast of the Cape Peninsula in South Africa in 1959, are described. A new genus Psolidothuria, perhaps referable to the dactylochirotid family Vaneyellidae, is erected for the new species P. octodactyla. The remaining new species are Paracucumaria capense, in the dendrochirotid family Cucumariidae, and Laetmogone perplexa, in the elasipodid family Laetmogonidae. P. capense was originally described as Trachythyone ?parva (Ludwig) by Thandar (1991). The diagnosis of the family Vaneyellidae is amended to accommodate the new genus.

During three breeding seasons, 1994-96, the habitats of song thrushes were studied in north-east Essex, U.K., in 10 tetrads (total 40 km2) of mainly farmland habitat and 35 woods of differing sizes (range 0.1-57.0 ha). Within tetrads, only 6 (3.5%) territories were found in farmland. Gardens held 123 (71.5%) territories, though this habitat made up only 2% of the total area, while 39 (22.7%) were in woodlands (1% of total area). Population densities were much lower in the tetrads than in earlier studies; this may be an indication of the severe population decline that the species has recently undergone. Densities in gardens differed less from those of previous studies.

In the woodland study, the number of woods holding song thrush territories declined over the three years, while the proportion of total territories in the six largest woods increased. Densities in the woods were lower than those reported in earlier studies but the disparity was not as great as in farmland. Extinctions in the smaller woods was 20-30% per annum, a rate similar to that for gardens: population extinctions did not occur in the larger woods.

Some 40% of non-garden territories in the surveys of both tetrads and woodland plots were within 100 m of a garden. Gardens may be currently acting as a refuge for song thrushes and an understanding of the ecology of the species in different types of gardens may be important in current conservation efforts for the species.

Argyrodes flavipes illustrates a novel form of highly social behaviour in spiders. Although A. flavipes lives in groups, forages communally, and has parental care, it is also highly aggressive towards conspecifics. These observations, plus the relatively small group sizes, suggest that sociality in these animals may be more akin to that in social mammalian carnivores than in social insects. Most highly social spiders are thought to have developed sociality via the sub-social route because of their high level of parental care. Although A. flavipes also exhibits high levels of parental care, its phylogenetic background and the fact that it needs to defend its young from conspecifics, suggest that both sub-social and para-social factors may have influenced its social development.

The Namib Desert golden mole (Eremitalpa granti namibensis) is a small (c. 20 g), blind, sand-swimming, chrysochlorid insectivore that inhabits the sand dunes of one of the driest and least productive areas of the world. Its food, largely termites, is sparse and occurs in widely distributed patches, and free water is unavailable. The moles forage by running on the surface and burrowing below the sand. We estimated their daily energy expenditure in the field to be 11.8 kJ d-1 by constructing a ‘distance-energy budget’ based on measurements of tracks in the sand and the energy cost of running (4.2 kJ d-1), burrowing (3.2 kJ d-1), and resting (4.4 kJ d-1). We also measured field metabolic rate (12.5 kJ d-1) and water turnover (2.3 ml d-1) independently with doubly-labelled water. The resting metabolic rate (0.5 ml O2 g-1 h-1 at 35 °C) is about a fifth of that predicted for a normal insectivorous mammal, and the daily field energy expenditure and water turnover are about a half. The low daily energy expenditure stems mainly from the low resting metabolic rate, which is associated with low body temperatures and metabolic depression. Moles save more energy during foraging by running on the surface of the sand, rather than burrowing under it. The gross energy cost of sand-swimming (80 J m-1) is 26 times more expensive than running on the surface (3.0 J m-1), but is less than a tenth of the energy required by mammals that tunnel through compact soil. Nevertheless, it would be energetically impossible for the moles to obtain enough food by foraging only underground at our study site. The mean track length was 1.4 km, but only 16 m of it was below the surface. There is evidence that the track length and fraction underground depend on food abundance which is influenced by rainfall.

A survey of Skomer voles (Clethrionomys glareolus skomerensis) conducted in August of 1994 and 1995 discovered that 51% of live-trapped animals were positive for Cryptosporidium species (Coccidia). Of the positive animals, 85% were shedding C. muris in their faeces, 5% C. parvum and 10% apparently both parasite species. On the U.K. mainland, the prevalence of Cryptosporidium in the bank vole (Clethrionomys glareolus) is a quarter of that on Skomer and the species normally found is C. parvum. Interest in C. parvum stems from the often severe diarrhoeal disease crypt osporidiosis which it can cause in humans and livestock. The parasite occupies the gastro-intestinal tract and is transmitted between hosts by the faecal-oral route. It has been suggested that wild rodents may be an important reservoir of infection by C. parvum for livestock. However, on Skomer island, C. muris, which is rarely found in livestock, is the dominant species infecting voles.

Rutting calls of male and alarm calls of female red deer (Cervus elaphus), sika deer (C. nippon), and their hybrids were recorded from wild and captive-bred populations. Vocal variations between these species and their hybrids (C. elaphus × C. nippon) were examined using multivariate analysis to determine whether these groups could be successfully discriminated. There were highly significant differences between the vocalizations of each group for both sexes (males: Wilks' Λ = 0.0233, P<0.0001; females: Wilks' Λ = 0.1338, P<0.0001). The greatest differences were between analogous calls of red and sika deer. Vocalizations of hybrids from both captive-bred and feral populations were intermediate between the two parent species. The differences between the groups were most highly influenced by the pitch of calls. The results of this study indicate that the vocalizations of deer, rather than being learned or mimicked from similar species in their proximity, are strongly influenced by the genetic background of their parents.

In lizards, the basic lepidosaurian bauplan of the skull is modified by the reduction of one or more skull elements such as the lower temporal bar (e.g. iguanids), the upper temporal bar (e.g. varanids) and the postorbital bar (e.g. geckos). Skull modifications in Plocederma stellio, Uromastix acanthinurus, Corucia zebrata and Tiliqua scincoides are restricted to the reduction of the lower temporal arcade (the plesiomorph condition for lizards; i.e. possessing a ‘basic’ skull). In spite of the potential mobility (streptostyly) of the quadrate, none of these species shows streptostylic movements during the static power phase of biting. It is assumed that the temporal ligaments fulfil the role of the lower temporal arcade in stabilizing the quadrate. This function is supported by the results of mathematical simulations, which demonstrate that static biting loads the ligament in tension. Apparently, these basic lizard skulls show a shift of the attachment site of the temporal ligament from the quadrate to the lower jaw. This does not affect its quadrate-stabilizing function. However, analyses of forces occurring in the quadratomandibular joint suggest that skull configurations with a jugomandibular ligament confine the possible orientations of the joint forces to a narrow range, more aligned with the quadrate. In this way, optimization of the joint morphology to resist loads imposed by biting might more easily be reached. This is assumed to be important for lizards with a robust skull built for forceful biting.

Using the African diederik cuckoo Chrysococcyx caprius and four sympatric passerine foster species in the subfamily Ploceinae, we show that nestling cuckoos are infested by feather lice and mites derived from the ectoparasite fauna typical of the foster species. Adult cuckoos had five species of lice and mites normally found on ploceines, which demonstrates that these ectoparasites are able to survive on foreign hosts. This is the first record of persistence of passerine ectoparasites on a cuckoo. Adult diederik cuckoos also harboured four species of mites and lice specific to cuckoos; since these were not detected on nestlings, cuckoo-specific lice and mites apparently transfer to cuckoos after they leave the nest. Contrary to prediction, ectoparasites with a life cycle involving a permanent association with their host (feather mites and lice) were more likely to transfer to cuckoo nestlings than ectoparasites which spend part of their life cycle away from their host (haematophagous mites and phoretic skin mites). New host records are established for the lice genera Brueelia, Cuculoecus, Machaerilaemus, Myrsidea, Philopterus as well as for the mite species Microlichus americanus, Ornithonyssus bursa, Ornithocheyla megaphallos, Pellonyssus reedi, Pteronyssoides passeris, Pternonyssus glossifer, Trouessartia baupi, T. carpi, Xolalges plocei, X. scaurus and the mite genus Passeroptes.

Why would a female animal forego her opportunity to pass on her own genes into the next generation and, instead, help to raise somebody else's young? One potential answer comes in the form of kin-selection. If the youngsters she helps to rais e are related to her, then they will share some of her genes, and it may pay to invest in them rather than attempting to breed herself.

The following Applications were published on 30 June 1997 in Vol. 54, Part 2 of the Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature. Comment or advice on any of these Applications is invited for publication in the Bulletin and should be sent to the Executive Secretary (ICZN), c/o The Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BD, U.K.