Orbital Light Curve of the Peculiar Binary V Sagittae in ExtendedHigh States of Brightness

We have analyzed the orbital modulation of V Sge in two intervals, each several years long, when the long-term light curve was relatively flat, in extended high state of brightness, and displayed just minor fluctuations. We used extensive sets of the visual AAVSO data. The two-sided moving averages with various values of Q were applied to the data folded with the orbital photometric phase – it allowed to pick out the general properties of the orbital component of the variations. We found that the modulation is always present but its shape near the secondary minimum (phase 0.5) remarkably varies for the two respective intervals. The secondary minimum is very prominent in one interval, but is almost absent in other interval. The standard deviation of brightness, computed for each bin of the folded light curve, displays variations through the orbital phase and has its minimum near phase 0.6. All these findings are confirmed for various values of Q. We argue that the source of the scatter of the orbital modulation is located in the lobe of the primary between its center and the L ₁ point, shifted slightly from the line of centers of the stars. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Uptake of palytoxin‐like compounds by shellfish fed Ostreopsis siamensis (Dinophyceae)

Abstract

Greenshell? mussels (Perna canaliculus Gmelin), scallops (Pecten novaezealandiae Reeve), and Pacific oysters (Crassostrea gigas Thunberg) were fed with a New Zealand strain of mass cultured Ostreopsis siamensis Schmidt (for 27 and 84 h and with 1.5 × 10⁶ or 8.6 × 10⁶ cells, respectively) under laboratory conditions. The microalgal cells contained 0.3 pg palytoxin equivalents cell^–1 (as determined by the haemolysis neutralisation assay (HNA) of Bignami (1993)) and extracts of these cells were toxic to mice after intraperitoneal injection. No palytoxin‐like material was detected either in the hepatopancreas or the muscle and roe of mussels fed O. siamensis. Oysters contained detectable amounts of toxin in hepatopancreas muscle, and roe while higher concentrations were present in the hepatopancreas of scallops. Extracts of control shellfish (tested biotoxin free and not fed O. siamensis) were toxic to mice, and there was no definitive evidence that feeding shellfish with O. siamensis at the levels employed in the present experiment increased the toxicity of shellfish tissue extracts to mice.     

New species of benthopelagic copepod Xantharus (Calanoida: Scolecitrichidae) from the upper slope,eastern central New Zealand

Xantharus Andronov, 1981 is reported, for the first time from New Zealand, from the upper slope (306 m) off the southeastern coast of North Island (41°04.10′S, 176°22.05′E). Xantharus cryeri n. sp. females differ from the three known species by a combination of characters: antennules that extend to the distal border of pedigerous somite 2; ancestral segment XVIII of the antennule with 1 seta; mandible basis with 3 setae; maxilla endite 1 with 5 setae; leg 1 basis with inner distal border lined with small spinules; and leg 5 is squat, with all segments as long as wide and the 2 terminal spine‐like extensions of the terminal segment approximately as long as the articulated, inner, subterminal spine.     

Spectroscopic constraints on outflows from BN-type objects

New high-quality high spectral resolution observations of the HI line emission from massive young stellar objects are described and discussed. It is proposed that two distinct physical components contribute to the observed emission. One of these is an optically-thick high-velocity stellar wind, the other a more slowly moving optically-thin volume of gas that may, in the case of S106IR at least, be caused by mass loading of the stellar wind. This decomposition is shown to resolve a long-standing problem regarding the relative widths of high and low opacity lines.     

De Draconis: Spectroscopic orbit,rotation effect and physical model

New spectroscopic observations are used for the determination of orbital elements and for a study of the rotation effect of DE Draconis. The primary component is found to rotate much faster than the synchronous rate and with its axis of rotation possibly inclined with respect to the perpendicular to the orbital plane. The system is fully detached and the stars are relatively young and unevolved.     

Two species of benthopelagic calanoid copepods of the genus Neoscolecithrix Canu, 1896 s.s. from New Zealand and the segregation of Cenognatha n. gen.

Two species of benthopelagic calanoid Copepoda, Neoscolecithrix cf. magna (Grice, 1972) and N. ornata n. sp., are described from the upper slope off North Cape, New Zealand. Neoscolecithrix ornata is distinguished from other species of Neoscolecithrix Canu, 1896 s.s. that have a female leg 5 terminal segment with 4 spines (2 terminal and 1 on each border) principally by the transverse row of long, fine spines on the female genital double somite; and by the more squat terminal segment of leg 5 (length/width ratio about 3.7). This is the second time Neoscolecithrix has been recorded from New Zealand. A new genus, Cenognatha n. gen., is distinguished from Neoscolecithrix principally because: rostrum short (bearing 2 filaments); mandibu‐lar gnathobase masticatory margin with slender dorsal spinulose seta; maxilla endite 1 with 5 well‐developed setae, endite 3 without brush‐like sensory seta, endopod usually with 3 long worm‐like sensory setae and 5 brush‐like setae; posterodistal border of basis of legs 1–3 without spines; distal segment of female leg 5 and its basis subequal in length; male leg 5 of similar lengths on both sides (styliform on right), endopod present at least on 1 side, 1‐segmented and spine‐like on right.