Herpetological surveys in the dry forests of the limestone massif Montagne des Français in the far north of Madagascar have recently yielded a number of undescribed reptile species. Here we describe an additional new and potentially microendemic species of the snake genus Madagascarophis (Squamata: Serpentes: Pseudoxyrhophiinae) which lives in this massif syntopically with M. colubrinus septent...

We present results from ambient noise tomography applied to temporary seismological stations in the easternmost part of the Alps and their transition to the adjacent tectonic provinces (Vienna Basin, Bohemian Massif, Southern Alps, Dinarides). By turning each station into a virtual source, we recover surface waves in the frequency range between 0.1 and 0.6 Hz, which are sensitive to depths of a...

Most oceanic plateaux are massive basaltic volcanoes. However, the structure of these volcanoes, and how they erupt and evolve, is unclear, because they are remote and submerged beneath the oceans. Here we use multichannel seismic profiles and rock samples taken from Integrated Ocean Drilling Program core sites to analyse the structure of the Tamu Massif, the oldest and largest edifice of the S...

Chlorites from (1) hydrothermal veins composed of quartz and/or carbonate that cross-cut unmetamorphosed to epizonally metamorphosed Variscan flysch sequences in the Nízký Jeseník Upland, (2) Alpine-type veins in amphibolites and gneisses of the Sobotín region, and (3) pegmatites of the Žulová massif and Strzegom-Sobótka massif were studied by chemical methods to elucidate the conditions of the...

Seven species of Mecyclothorax Sharp precinctive to Mont Mauru, Tahiti, Society Islands are newly described: Mecyclothorax tuteisp. n., Mecyclothorax tihotiisp. n., Mecyclothorax putaputasp. n., Mecyclothorax toretoresp. n., Mecyclothorax anaanasp. n., Mecyclothorax pirihaosp. n., and Mecyclothorax porosp. n. These seven constitute the first representative Mecyclothorax species recorded from Ma...

The Massif Central, like the southern part of the Massif Armoricain, belongs to the North Gondwana margin. The Massif Central consists of a stack of nappes resulting of six main tectonicmetamorphic events. The first one, D0, is coeval with an Early Late Silurian (ca 415 Ma) highpressure (or ultra high-pressure) metamorphism for which the associated structures are poorly documented. The Early De...

Cyrtodactylus metropolis sp. nov. from Batu Caves massif, Selangor, Peninsular Malaysia is differentiated from all congeners by having a unique suite of morphological and color pattern characteristics. Remarkably, this species has been overlooked despite a plethora of field studies at Batu Caves from 1898 to the present and no specimens had ever been examined until now. As with all other limest...

Automation of the mounting of cryocooled samples is now a feature of the majority of beamlines dedicated to macromolecular crystallography (MX). Robotic sample changers have been developed over many years, with the latest designs increasing capacity, reliability and speed. Here, the development of a new sample changer deployed at the ESRF beamline MASSIF-1 (ID30A-1), based on an industrial six-...

A new frog of the genus Pristimantis is named and described from the summit of Abakapá-tepui in the Chimantd massif, south-eastern Venezuela. The new species is known from two adult specimens and is the second craugastorid species described from this massif. It can be readily distinguished from all congeners inhabiting the highlands of the Guiana Shield by the unique combination of the followin...