UNLABELLED PREMISE OF THE STUDY Tribe Cardueae (thistles) forms one of the largest tribes in the family Compositae (2400 species), with representatives in almost every continent. The greatest species richness of Cardueae occurs in the Mediterranean region where it forms an important element of its flora. New fossil evidence and a nearly resolved phylogeny of Cardueae are used here to reconst...

Cirsium semzinanicumsp. nov. (Asteraceae) is described as a new species from Hakkâri, Turkey. The new species is a part of the sect. Epitrachys (Cardueae) and similar to Cirsium karduchorum, from which it differs in morphological characters such as leaves, involucre, phyllaries, corolla, achens and pollen morphology. Geographical distribution, habitat and IUCN conservation status of this specie...

The majority of herbivorous insects are specialized feeders restricted to a plant family, genus, or species. The evolution of specialized insect-plant interactions is generally considered to be a result of trade-offs in fitness between possible hosts. Through the course of natural selection, host plants that maximize insect fitness should result in optimal, specialized, insect-plant association...

We studied the life history, geographic distribution, behavior, and ecology of Larinus filiformis Petri (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) in its native range to determine whether it is worthy of further evaluation as a classical biological control agent of yellow starthistle, Centaurea solstitialis (Asteraceae: Cardueae). Larinus filiformis occurs in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Turkey, and Bulgaria and has ...

In 1999, we reported our discovery, in California and Oregon, of Chaetorellia succinea (Costa) (Diptera: Tephritidae) destroying the seeds of yellow starthistle, Centaurea solstitialis L., one of the worst weeds in the western United States. This fly, an unintentional introduction from Greece, dispersed rapidly throughout California and the northwest, and there is interest in using this adventi...

A new genus of Compositae, Shangwua, is described to accomodate all species formerly placed in Saussurea sect. Jacea. This genus is distinct from the other genera of tribe Cardueae in its unique combination of states of characters including involucral bracts, receptacle, paleae, anther, style, achene and pappus. Phylogenetic analyses based on molecular data suggest that this new genus belongs t...