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Lachnodius Maskell is a genus of three named species that are part of an Australian radiation of felt scale insects that induce galls on Eucalyptus and Corymbia (Myrtaceae). A female’s gall usually consists of an open-top pit in swollen plant tissue. Depending on the species, galls can occur on a host’s leaves, buds, stems, or trunk. Here, we redescribe the named species: L.eucalypti (Maskell), L.hirsutus (Froggatt) and L.lectularius (Maskell), and describe seven new species: L.brimblecombei Beardsley, Gullan & Hardy, sp. n. , L.froggatti Beardsley, Gullan & Hardy, sp. n. , L.maculosus Beardsley, Gullan & Hardy, sp. n ., L.melliodorae Beardsley, Gullan & Hardy, sp. n. , L.newi Beardsley, Gullan & Hardy, sp. n. , L.parathrix Beardsley, Gullan & Hardy, sp. n. , L.sealakeensis Gullan & Hardy, sp. n. Descriptions are based primarily on adult females, but for some species short diagnoses of nymphal stages also are provided. The taxonomic history of Lachnodius is reviewed, with notes on their biology and ecology. A key to species based on the morphology of adult females is provided, and lectotypes are designated for Dactylopiuseucalypti Maskell and Lachnodiuslectularius Maskell.

Background With advances in endoscopic diagnosis of early-stage gastrointestinal pathology, the need to offer minimally invasive treatment is attracting significant interest. It is essential that secure and consistent closure of full-thickness colonic resections and colotomy access be provided in natural orifice translumenal surgery (NOTES). This ex vivo porcine study aimed to evaluate a novel prototype flexible endoscopic stapler device for use in closure of full-thickness colonic defects. Methods A feasibility study using ex vivo porcine colon was undertaken to explore the potential of the prototype stapler to close and seal a colotomy. A standardized linear colotomy was created in 30 colons. The novel flexible endostapler was used to close 20, interrupted hand-sewn sutures to close 5, and a well-validated linear stapler to close 5 of these colotomies. The colons were subsequently subjected to leak pressure testing. Results The colotomy closure using the prototype stapler endoluminally required a median time of 280 s. No statistically significant difference in leak pressures between the stapler and the other techniques was described. Although the endostapler without any colotomy was found to have the highest median leak pressures and the interrupted sutures the lowest pressures, no significant difference could be demonstrated ( p  = 0.52). Furthermore, no significant difference was demonstrated when the closure integrity created by the flexible stapler was compared with that created by the well-validated linear stapler. Conclusion The results suggest that the flexible endoscopic stapler is an effective device for the safe closure of a visceral defect, which in this feasibility study was equivalent to other well-established techniques. Further studies will focus on in vivo application of the prototype stapling device in the setting of full-thickness colonic resection.

Between the American Revolution and the War of 1812 American citizens and policymakers grappled with the problems of state power, military mobilization, and economic regulation. At the outset of the American Revolution a shortage of arms and munitions crippled military operations. The inheritors of country Whig ideology believed they needed to avoid the British fiscal-military state and its attendant features of a permanent standing army, large navy, and perpetual national debt if they wanted to secure their hard-won liberties after the Revolution. However, one of the key issues facing Americans after the ratification of the Constitution in 1788 was which policies the country should adopt in order to strengthen the country's war-making abilities without threatening American liberties. During the 1790s Alexander Hamilton and the Federalist Party advocated a political economy of war that closely mirrored the British fiscal-military state. The Federalist vision for the national state included a permanent national debt, a national bank, a professional military, and federal control over the production of war matériel. At roughly the same time, however, Thomas Jefferson, Tench Coxe, and other Republican leaders developed their alternative vision for an American state that could be militarily robust but limited in form and function. Central to the Republican vision for American state power during the early republic was the notion that the national government should foster private producers of military goods. After Jefferson's election in 1800 Republican policymakers enacted strong tariff regulations and a contract system designed to directly aid domestic military manufacturers. By early 1812 enough Republican Congressmen were convinced that the United States had solved the matériel problems associated with the Revolution that they declared war against Great Britain to resolve long-standing grievances over impressment, trade restrictions, and western expansion. The War of 1812 marked a fundamental turning point in the political and economic history of the new nation. Peacetime preparations for military conflict before 1812 had developed the domestic producers of muskets, gunpowder, warships, uniforms, and other military goods to the point where American citizens readily supplied these goods to the federal government. The post-war dénouement ushered in an era of relative peace on the international stage, but the institutional developments of the tariff and contract system within the American polity lasted well through the nineteenth-century.