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Insects visiting flowering trees of Syzygium floribundum, Syzygium smithii and Tristaniopsis laurina (Myrtaceae) were recorded in lowland subtropical rainforest communities in the Manning Valley, mid-north coast of New South Wales. These species are visited by a taxonomically broad assemblage of insects, many of which are known to frequent other rainforest- and open forest-flowering plant species. Consequently there is likely to be a regional pool of potential pollinators found throughout the range of each plant.
The threatened Australian endemic rainforest tree Rhodomyrtus psidioides (Myrtaceae) is visited and pollinated by a taxonomically diverse assemblage of mainly small, ecologically unspecialised, insects. Flower structure suggests that it may also be adapted for wind-pollination. However, the recent (2010) invasion by the aggressive fungal pathogen Myrtle rust (Austropuccinia psidii) has resulted in the local extinction of both the floral resource and associated plant-insect relationships. Here I table observed insect visitors to the flowers of Rhodomyrtus psidioides made before the impact of Myrtle rust - no other records appear to have been published.
Two new forest species, Eugenia sapoensis sp. nov. and Eugenia breteleri sp. nov., from Liberia and Gabon respectively, are described and illustrated here. Both are shrubs with comparatively large red fruits. They resemble each other, but E. breteleri differs from E. sapoensis in having twigs with conspicuously peeling bark, 6–8 pairs of main lateral nerves, versus 4–6 pairs, and fruits with a peduncle of 3–5 mm rather than 1– 2 mm long. Eugenia breteleri grows up to 3 m high while E. sapoensis does not grow higher than 1.4 m.
Introduced species lists provide essential background information for biological invasions research and management. The compilation of these lists is, however, prone to a variety of errors. We highlight the frequency and consequences of such errors using introduced Melaleuca (sensu lato, including Callistemon) species in South Africa as a case study. We examined 111 herbarium specimens from South Africa and noted the categories and sub-categories of errors that occurred in identification. We also used information from herbarium specimens and distribution data collected in the field to determine whether a species was introduced, naturalized and invasive. We found that 72% of the specimens were not named correctly. These were due to human error (70%) (misidentification, and improved identifications) and species identification problems (30%) (synonyms arising from inclusion of Callistemon, and unresolved taxonomy). At least 36 Melaleuca species have been introduced to South Africa, and field observations indicate that ten of these have naturalized, including five that are invasive. While most of the errors likely have negligible impact on management, we highlight one case where incorrect identification lead to an inappropriate management approach and some instances of errors in published lists. Invasive species lists need to be carefully reviewed to minimise errors, and herbarium specimens supported by DNA identification are required where identification using morphological features is particularly challenging.