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RTP Program Highlights

Updated: 27 December 2006

Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of Natural History

Research Training Program


Publications, Presentations, Acknowledgments

1980 - 2006

Collaborations between Research Training Program participants and their NMNH mentors have resulted in over 142 authored or co-authored publications, 60 presentations at scientific meetings, and over 5 manuscripts in preparation.

PUBLICATIONS with ABSTRACTS
Research Training Program participant designated by bold type.

Publications    |   Presentations    |   Acknowledgements    |   List of Papers


Almany, G.R. and C.C. Baldwin. 1996. A new Atlantic species of Acanthemblemaria (Teleostei: Blennioidei: Chaenopsidae): morphology and relationships. Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington 109(3): 419-429.

ABSTRACT: Acanthemblemaria johnsoni is described from six specimens collected from shallow coral reefs at the north end of the Caribbean island of Tobago. The new species differs from all other Atlantic species of Acanthemblemaria by the combined spinous and soft dorsal-fin ray count of XXIV, 12-13. Evolutionary relationships of the new species are discussed in relation to the phylogeny of the genus proposed by Hastings (1990).


Anderson, R.P. and C.O. Handley, Jr. 2001. A new species of three-toed sloth (Mammalia: Xenarthra) from Panama, with a review of the genus Bradypus. Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington 114(1): 1-33.

ABSTRACT: Morphological and morphometric analyses of three-toed sloths (Bradypus) from the islands of Bocas del Toro reveal rapid differentiation of several populations during the Holocene. These islands, lying off the Caribbean coast of western Panama, were separated from the adjacent mainland by rising sea levels during the past 10,000 years. The sequence of island formation and the approximate ages of the islands are known. In at least four independent events, sloths of five of the islands evolved smaller size following insularization. Sloths on the younger islands remain conspecific with mainland populations of Bradypus variegatus. On Isla Escudo de Veraguas--the oldest and most remote island of the archipelago--however, the three-toed sloth has differentiated to the species level, and we here describe it as Bradypus pygmaeus. We provide updated diagnoses and distributions for the species of Bradypus, include a key to the genus.


Anderson, R.P. and C.O. Handley, Jr. 2002. Dwarfism in insular sloths: Biogeography, selection, and evolutionary rate. Evolution 56(5): 1045-1058.

ABSTRACT: The islands of Bocas del Toro, Panama, were sequentially separated from the adjacent mainland by rising sea levels during the past 10,000 years. Three-toed sloths (Bradypus) from five islands are smaller than their mainland counterparts, and the insular populations themselves vary in mean body size. We first examine relationships between body size and physical characteristics of the islands, testing hypotheses regarding optimal body size, evolutionary equilibria, and the presence of dispersal in this system. To do so, we conduct linear regressions of body size onto evolutionary rate of change in body size (haldanes and darwins) and the standardized linear selection differential, or selection intensity (i). We also test the observed morphological changes against models of evolution by genetic drift. The results indicate that mean body size decreases linearly with island age, explaining up to 97% of the variation among population means. Neither island area nor distance from the mainland is significant in multiple regressions that include island age. Thus, we find no evidence for differential optimal body size among islands, or for dispersal in the system. In contrast, the dependence of body size on island age suggests uniform directional selection for small body size in the insular populations. Although genetic drift cannot be discounted as the cause for this evolution in body size, the probability is small given the consistent direction of evolution (repeated dwarfism). The insular sloths show a sustained rate of evolution similar to those measured in haldanes over tens of generations, appearing to unite micro- and macroevolutionary time scales. Furthermore, the magnitude and rate of this example of rapid differentiation fall within predictions of theoretical models from population genetics. However, the linearity of the relationship between body size and island age is not predicted, suggesting that either more factors are involved than those considered here, or that theoretical advances are necessary to explain constant evolutionary rates over long time spans in new selective environments.


Anderson, R.P. and P. Jarrin-V., Jr. 2002. A New Species of Spiny Pocket Mouse (Heteromyidae: Heteromys) Endemic to Western Ecuador. A. M. Novitates: 3382, 26pp., 5 figures, 2 tables.

ABSTRACT: Whereas previous treatments have considered Heteromys australis the only spiny pocket mouse present in Ecuador, morphological and morphometric analyses of specimens from Ecuador and southwestern Colombia reveal the presence of two species of genus. Heteromys australis is distributed in evergreen forests from eastern Panama and western Venezuela through Colombia to extreme northwestern Ecuador, where it inhabits wet, unseasonal areas of the Choco and adjacent western slopes of the Andes. We here describe a new species Heteromys teleus, found only in evergreen forests of central-western Ecuador, in areas less mesic and more seasonal than those characteristic of H. australis. Both species possess dark gray dorsal pelage, but H. teleus differs by larger (nonoverlapping) measurements of the hind foot and distinctive cranial proportions. Most notably, the rostrum of the new species is strikingly wide and massive, and the interparietal is narrow and rounded (in contrast to the wide, diamond-shaped interparietal of H. australis). The ranges of the two species together conform to the previously recognized Chocoan evergreen-forest fauna of western Colombia and northwestern Ecuador. However, the restriction of H. teleus to evergreen but seasonal forests of the southern Choco (transitional between the relatively unseasonal evergreen forests of the central Choco (transitional between the relatively unseasonal evergreen forests of the central Choco to the north and highly seasonal xeric regions to the south) is unique within currently recognized species of mammals. Biogeographic overviews hint at similar patterns in other groups, but more alpha-taxonomic research is necessary to evaluate mammalian distributional patterns in the region properly. Most suitable habitat for H.teleus has been converted to agricultural uses, and its current distribution is likely restricted to a handful of small-to-medium-sized forest patches.


Anderson, W.D., and B.B. Collette. 1991. Revision of the freshwater viviparous halfbeaks of the genus Hemirhamphodon (Teleostei: Hemiramphidae). Ichthyol. Explor. Freshwaters 2(2):151-176.

ABSTRACT: Hemirhamphodon differs from all other halfbeaks in having anteriorly directed teeth along the entire length of the lower jaw and in having the first pleural rib on the second instead of the third vertebra. It shares low vertebral counts, a reduced nasal fossa with an elongated nasal barbel, and modifications of the anal fin in males associated with internal fertilization with three other genera: Zenarchopterus, Dermogenys, and Nomorhamphus. Six species of Hemirhamphodon are recognized herein. The six species form two species groups based on the absence or presence of an enlarged fourth anal fin ray and posteriorly directed projection on this fin ray in males.


Armgardt, E. and E.E. Strong. 2007. Ontogenetic changes in shell microstructure of freshwater gastropods from Lake Tanganyika (Cerithioidea, Paludomidae). SICB Annual Meeting, January 3-7, 2007, Phoenix, AZ.

ABSTRACT:


Aschliman, N.C. I.R. Tibbetts, and B. B. Collette. 2005. Relationships of sauries and needlefishes (Teleostei: Scomberesocoidea) to the internally fertilizing halfbeaks (Zenarchopteridae) based on the pharyngeal jaw apparatus.Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington. 118(2):416-427.

ABSTRACT: The 40 life history, myological, and osteological characters that Tibbetts (1992) used in his study of the hemiramphids are evaluated for both saury genera (Cololabis and Scomberesox) to determine if the Scomberesocidae are more closely related to the Zenarchopteridae, to the needlefishes (Belonidae), or to the halfbeaks (Hemiramphidae) and flyingfishes (Exocoetidae). Data were analyzed using PAUP*, and eight equally parsimonious trees were found (70 steps, CI 0.814, RI 0.938). This analysis indicates that sauries are most closely related to needlefishes, supporting the historical concept of the superfamily Scomberesocoidea as a monophyletic assemblage. A caudal displacement of the origin of the retractor dorsalis muscle is a tentative additional synapomorphy for all four saury species. Zenarchopteridae is strongly supported as a valid family sister to the Scomberesocoidea (decay index = 19, bootstrap = 100). Resolution of the internal structure of the Belonidae and the Hemiramphidae requires the identification of additional characters and examination of a greater number of taxa.


Baker, E.A. and B.B. Collette. 1998. Mackerel from the northern Indian Ocean and the Red Sea are Scomber australasicus, not Scomber japonicus. Ichthyol. Res. 45(1): 29-33.

ABSTRACT: The population of Scomber from the Red Sea and northern Indian Ocean (gulfs of Aden and Oman) is identified as S. australasicus rather than S. japonicus based on having 30-33 vs. 26-29 interneural bones under the first and second dorsal fins and the combination of interneural bone counts of 16-20 under the first dorsal fin (vs. 13-16) and first dorsal fin spine counts of 10-13 (vs. 9-10). These are the best morphological characters to distinguish these two species. This change in identification constitutes a major range extension for S. australasicus which was thought to be restricted to the Pacific Ocean and the southeastern Indian Ocean around Western Australia.


Baker, R. and W.A. DiMichele. 1997. Biomass allocation in Late Pennsylvania coal-swamp plants. Palaios 12: 127-132.

ABSTRACT: Carbon allocation to different tissues and organs of Late Pennsylvanian-aged coal-swamp plants was determined for the first time through study of coal balls from the Calhoun coal of central Illinois. Coal balls are concretions that preserve the original peat fabric of the coal seam; they occur within the coal matrix and generally are permineralized with calcium carbonate. Coalified plant cell walls are preserved within the mineral matrix of the coal ball, entombed within the calcium carbonate. Relative carbon allocation was determined by separation of the mineral matrix and organic carbon. Carbon content was determined for replicates of tissues or organs of Psaronius tree ferns, Medullosa pteridosperms, the lycopsid Sigillaria approximata, the small fern Botryopteris forensis, and "whole peat". Unit volume results for tissues and organs were normalized for trunk sections 45 cm in diameter and 1 m long. Psaronius tree ferns were significantly "cheaper" than all other plants due to the large mantle of aerenchymatous roots that made up the bulk of the trunk. Medullosans and small ferns were most 'expensive", with the arborescent lycopsid in between. Relative expense of construction closely parallels the inferred ecological role of each plant within ancient coal swamps, deduced from distributional patterns and indicators of habitat conditions. Tree ferns and lycopsids are colonists, medullosans are site occupying forms.


Baldwin, C.C. and W.L. Smith. 1998. Belonoperca pylei, a new species of seabass (Teleostei: Serranidae: Epinephelina: Diploprionini) from the Cook Islands with comments on relationships among diploprionins. Ichthyological Research 45(4): 325-339.

ABSTRACT: Belonoperca pylei is described from five specimens collected at depths of 68-122m from Rarotonga, Cook Islands.  It differs from all other known diploprionin seranids in having IX, 10 dorsal-fin rays, III, 7 anal-fin rays, and color pattern composed primarily of yellow and orange pigments.  Cladistic analysis of epinepheline morphology supports monophyly of the diploprionin genera Belonoperca and Diploprion and suggests that Belonoperca is the sister group of Diploprion plus the monotypic Aulacocephalus.


Beard, K.H. and P.T. DePriest. 1996. Genetic Variation within and among mats of the reindeer lichen, Cladina subtenuis (des Abb.) Hale & W. Culb. Lichenologist 28: 171-182.

ABSTRACT: Cladina subtenuis (des Abb.) Hale & W. Culb. is the most commonly found "reindeer lichen" in the southeastern United States. In the present study C. subtenuis was examined for polymorphism in the small subunit (SSU) ribosomal DNA (rDNA) within and among small clumps of podetia, here referred to as mats, from five geographical locations. Polymorphism in the SSU rDNA was not detected among podetia within mats, but polymorphism was detected among mats from a single location. Therefore, mats of C. subtenuis may represent a single genetic individual, although genetically distinct mats may occur in close proximity. Their proximity could encourage sexual reproduction between genetically distinct individuals that would maintain variation in these populations. The SSU rDNA types represented three different lengths and restriction-site patterns, reflecting the presence of sequence insertions of at least 200 nucleotides in the SSU rDNA coding region. The insertions, differing in position, number and sequence, are group I introns similar to those previously reported in the Cladonia chlorophaea complex. The intron variation among the SSU rDNA types indicates that molecular evolution has occurred within this species, perhaps since its divergence from related taxa and dispersal across the southeastern United States.


Boulay, M.C. and C.B. Robbins. 1989. Epomophorus gambianus. Mammalian Species 344: 1-5.

ABSTRACT: Taxonomic description of the species Epomorphorus gambianus. Order Chiroptera, Suborder Megachiroptera, Family Pteropodidae, Subfamily Pteropodinae, Genus Epomophorus. The genus Epomorphorus contains six species.


Brandley, M.C. and K. de Queiroz. 2004. Phylogeny, ecomorphological evolution, and historical biogeography of the Anolis cristatellus series. Herpetological Monographs 18: 90-126.

ABSTRACT: To determine the evolutionary relationships within the Anolis cristatellus series, we employed phylogenetic analyses of previously published karyotype and allozyme data as well as newly collected morphological data and mitochondrial DNA sequences (fragments of the 12S RNA and cytochrome b genes). The relationships inferred from continuous maximum likelihood reanalyses of allozyme data were largely poorly supported. A similar analysis of the morphological data gave strong to moderate support for sister relationships of the two included distichoid species, the two trunk-crown species, the grass-bush species A. poncensis and A. pulchellus, and a clade of trunk-ground and grass-bush species. The results of maximum likelihood and Bayesian analyses of the 12S, cyt b, and combined mtDNA data sets were largely congruent, but nonetheless exhibit some differences both with one another and with those based on the morphological data. We therefore took advantage of the additive properties of likelihoods to compare alternative phylogenetic trees and determined that the tree inferred from the combined 12S and cyt b data is also the best estimate of the phylogeny for the morphological and mtDNA data sets considered together. We also performed mixed-model Bayesian analyses of combined morphology and mtDNA data; the resultant tree was topologically identical to the combined mtDNA tree with generally high nodal support. This phylogenetic hypothesis has a basal dichotomy between the Hispanolan distichoids and the bimaculatus series, on the one hand , and the cristatellus series inhabiting the Puerto Rican Island Bank, its satellite islands, the Bahamas, and St. Croix, on the other. The trunk-crown species form a clade, while the trunk-ground and grass-bust species do not as A. gundlachi, a trunk-ground and grass-bust species suggest that one of these ecomorphs may have been ancestral to the other and that one of both evolved convergently. In the context of our preferred phylogeny and divergences dates estimated by NPRS analyses, we propose several biogeographical hypotheses that explain the current distribution of the cristatellus series. The presence of endemic species on the island of the Bahamas, Desecheo, Mona, Monita, and St. Croix are likely due to over-water dispersal. Vicariance resulting from Pliocene or Pleistocene changes in sea levels likely explains the occurrence of A. cristatellus (including A. ernestwilliamsi), A. pulchellus, and A. Stratulus on different islands of the Puerto Rican Bank.


Brandley, M.C. and K. de Queiroz. 2002. The phylogenetic history of the Anolis cristatellus group: a morphological and molecular analysis using frequency parsimony and maximum likelihood methods. 2002 meeting of the Society of Systematic Biologists and the Society for the Study of Evolution, Champaign-Urbana, IL.

ABSTRACT:



Brown, J.W. and K. Bash. 2000. The Lepidoptera of Marine Corps Air Station Miramar: Calculating Faunal Similarity among Sampling Sites and Estimating Total Species Richness. Journal of Research on the Lepidoptera 36: 45-78.

ABSTRACT: An intensive 3-year survey of the Lepidoptera of Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in southwestern San Diego County, California, was conducted from October 1995 through September 1998. Sampling methodology included blacklight trapping (364 nights), diurnal collecting (148 days), and pheromone "baiting." About 646 species of Lepidoptera were documented from the Station, including 20 (or more) undescribed moth species and one "sensitive" butterfly speies - Hermes copper, Lycaena hermes (Edwards). Two species were newly recorded for the United States - Dryadaula terpsichorella (Busck) (Tineidae) and Metapluera potosi Busck (Gelechiidae). While the species accumulation curve reached a convincing asymptote, it is highly unlikely that all species of Lepidoptera present on the Station were sampled. Four methods extrapolated or estimated the fauna to be between 706 and 922 species. Based on the family Geometridae, faunal similarity among a subset of 10 permanent blacklight sites ranged from 0.29 to 0.69. We briefly discuss how Lepidoptera inventories may provide insight into identification of areas of high conservation value.


Brown, J. and A. Cramer. 1999. Five new species of Argyrotaenia (Tortricidae: Archipini) from Mexico and the Southwestern United States. Journal of the Lepidopterists' Society 53(3): 114-125.

ABSTRACT: Based on an examination of 187 specimens, five new species of Argyrotaenia are recognized from Mexico and the southwestern United States. A hypothesis of the phylogenetic relationships among the species is derived using Hennig86 to find the most parsimonious solution to the distribution of 14 morphological characters (5 characters of the forewing, 7 of the male genitalia, and 2 of the female genitalia). Argyrotaenia spinacallis Brown & Cramer, new species, from the State of Veracruz, A. unda Brown & Cramer, new species from the states of Mexico and Morelos, and A. octavana Brown & Cramer, from the states of Puebla and Veracruz, appear to form a monophyletic group with A. ponera (Walsingham), from Puebla. The last is redescribed and illustrated. Although superficially similar, A. coconinana Brown & Cramer, new species, from Arizona and New Mexico, and A. bialbistriata Brown & Cramer, from Arizona (Cochise Co.) and Durango, Mexico, may not be members of the "ponera group" owing to their considerable divergence in male and female genitalia.


Brown, J. W. and T. McPherson. 2001. Review of Rebinea Razowski and Eliachna Razowski (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae: Euliini) - sister groups endemic to Chile and Argentina. Journal of the Lepidopterists' Society 55(4): 129-139.

ABSTRACT. Rebinea Razowski and Eliachna Razowski, two formerly monotypic genera known only from males, are redescribed based on large series of specimens (n=320), including both sexes. As presently defined, Rebinea is still considered monotypic, with a single variable species, R. erebina (Butler, 1883), and its synonym, Arotrophora balsamodes Meyrick, 1931. It is possible that two (or more) species are concealed within the variation, but we were unable to separate them using traditional morphological characters. Eliachna is represented by three species: E. chileana Razowski, 1999, E. digitana Brown and McPherson, new species, and E. hemicordata Brown and McPherson, new species. Both genera are restricted to south-central Chile and southwestern Argentina, ranging from coastal lowlands (5 m) to middle elevations (1200-1700 m) at the southern end of the Andes. A phylogenetic analysis of the four species (plus two out-group species) provides support for the sister relationship of Rebinea and Eliachna based on the following synapomorphies: (1) extremely elongate labial palpi (length 3-4 times the horizontal diameter of the compound eye); (2) a pair of stout, digitate, submedial processes from the dorsum of the transtilla; (3) a deep, rounded excavation near the mid-venter of the valva; and (4) a pair of semicircular, lateral flanges from the posterior edge of the sterigma.


Carleton, M.D., and C. Martinez. 1991. Morphometric differentiation among West African populations of the rodent genus Dasymys (Muroidea: Murinae), and its taxonomic implications. Proc. Bio. Soc. Wash. 104(3): 419-435.

ABSTRACT: Craniodental variation among West African samples of Dasymys is reassessed based on the larger museum series now available. Two morphological kinds can be discerned in this region and are referrable to the locally available epithets Dasymys rufulus Miller (1900), described from Mount Coffee, Liberia, and Dasymys foxi Thomas (1912), named from Panyam, Nigeria. The degree of craniodental differentiation between these two phena matches that documented for other congeneric pairs of murid rodent species inhabiting parts of West Africa. Dasymys rufulus differs from D. foxi by its overall smaller size, especially as observed in its smaller, narrower cranium and less robust molars. In West Africa, samples of D. rufulus are broadly distributed from east of the Niger River, Nigeria, west to northern Sierra Leone; whereas, the known examples of D. foxi are restricted to the Jos Plateau in Nigeria. Dasymys rufulus and D. foxi are provisionally accorded specific status until taxonomic studies of Dasymys populations from other parts of Africa are undertaken to determine their relationships and distributional limits. It is doubtful that either form, but especially D. rufulus, is synonymous with D. nudipes or D. incomtus.


Carrel, C. 1991. Tradescantia Research Project. The Palmetto 11(4): 6.

ABSTRACT: Despite the complications of Edgar Anderson associated with studying the tradescantias, the challenges of deciphering its evolution and its puzzling taxonomy have led to a special study of the Tradescantia native to Florida. These attractive, brightly colored, three-petaled flowers are commonly known as spiderwort, or widow's tears, in reference to the deliquescent nature of the blooms. They were originally introduced into English gardens by John Tradescant in the 17th century.


Collette, B.B. and G.B. Gillis. 1992. Morphology systematics, and biology of the double-lined mackerels (Grammatorcynus, Scombridae). Fishery Bulletin U.S. 90: 13-53.

ABSTRACT: Osteological differences confirm the validity of two species of Grammatorcynus, G. bicarinatus (Quoy and Gaimard 1825) and the long-recognized G. bilineatus (Rüppell 1836). In addition to having fewer gill rakers (12-14 vs. 18-24), a smaller eye (3.1-4.6% vs 4.0 to 6.0% FL), small black spots on the lower sides of the body, and reaching a larger size (110cm FL vs 60cm), G. bicarinatus differs from G. bilineatus in having a shorter neurocranium, shorter parasphenoid flanges, lower posterior edge of maxillary shank, shorter quadrate process, narrower first postcleithrum, wider ethmoid, wider vomer, wider lachrymal, longer teeth, wider palatine tooth patch, wider opercle, and a thin posttemporal shelf between the anterior processes. All but one of the 16 osteological differences previously found between Grammatorcynus bilineatus and Scomberomorus and Acanthocybium are confirmed with the inclusion of G. bicarinatus in the genus. Grammatorcynus bilineatus is widespread in tropical and subtropical waters of the Indo-West Pacific from the Red Sea to Tokelau Islands in Oceania. The range of G. bicarinatus is restricted to the western and eastern coasts of Australia and southern Papua New Guinea.


Collins, E.P. and G.H. Rodda. 1994. Bone layers associated with ecdysis in laboratory-reared Boiga irregularis (Colubridae). Journal of Herpetology 28(3): 378-381.

ABSTRACT: Little work has been done on the periodicity of growth marks in tropical reptiles. Age determination in snakes, which lack long bones, is a special challenge. We found the lingual lamina (often called the prearticular), which forms the inner wall of the mandibular fossa, is the most suitable bone for counting growth marks in Boiga irregularis. Brown tree snakes, Boiga irregularis, accidentally introduced to the tropical island of Guam, have been deemed responsible for the expiration or endangerment of most of the island's native vertebrates. Management actions designed to encourage and augment natural sources of snake mortality have been frustrated by the inability to age snakes and estimate survivorship. We raised brown tree snakes under controlled conditions to test the relationship between age and growth marks. The results revealed growth marks do not express a direct annual cycle of growth and cannot be used in age estimates of captive-reared Boiga irregularis. The primary correlate of growth marks appeared to be ecdysis. The correlation between growth marks and sheds suggest that, under constant environmental condidtions, the bones are recording shed-induced changes in growth. We do not know whether growth marks and edysis are similarly correlated in wild snakes. This phenomenon may make it possible to study frequency of ecdysis in free-ranging snakes.


DeFilipps, R.A., S.L. Maina, and L.A. Pray. 1988. The Palauan and Yap Medicinal Plant Studies of Masayoshi Okabe, 1941-1943. Atoll Research Bulletin 317:1-25.

ABSTRACT: Masayoshi Okabe visited the Palau and Yap Islands to study the local medicinal plants and diseases treated through their use. He made reports of his findings (1941a, 1943a) in Japanese. In this paper the authors present for the first time in the English language a published record of Okabe's findings.


Dikow, T. and W.N. Mathis. 2002. A Revision and Phylogenetic Study of Actocetor Becker (Diptera: Ephydridae). Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington 104(2): 249-290.

ABSTRACT: The genus Actocetor Becker is revised, including a phylogenetic analysis of the seven recognized species. Two new species, Actocetor afrus (Liberia and senegal) and A. yaromi (Ethiopia), are described. Actocetor hendeli de Meijere, A. margaritatus (Wiedemann), and A. panelii Frey are new junior synonyms of A. indicus (Wiedemann), and A. beckeri de Meijere and A. elegans Hendel are new junior synonyms of A. nigrifinis (Walker). Lectotypes, all females, are designated for the following species: Notiphilia indica Wiedemann, Ephydra margaritata Wiedmann, Opomyza nigrifinis Walker, and Actocetor beckeri de Meijere. The cladistic analysis is based on 29 morphological characters and resulted in 10 equally most parsimonious trees (length of 60 steps and consistency and retention indices of 0.83 and 0.83 respectively). Three trees then resulted from application of successive weighting, and from these a strict consensus tree was derived that is typologically identical to one of the original 10 trees. From the consensus cladogram, the following hypotheses can be made: (1) Actocetor is monophyletic and (2) the subgenera Actocetor Becker (4 species) and Poecilostenia Bezzi (3 species) are each monophyletic. althought we suggest an Afrotropical origin for Actocetor, the genus could have resulted from speciation events in the Oriental Region. Keys for the identification of all genera of Discomyzini and the species of Actocetor are provided. The distribution of all species of Actocetor and the biology of A. indicus from a coastal site in Israel are discussed.


Dove, C. J. and A. Agreda. 2007. Differences in plumulaceous feather characters of dabbling and diving ducks. Condor 109: 192-199.

ABSTRACT:


Erbacher, J., C. Hemleben, B.T. Huber, and M. Markey. 1999. Correlating environmental changes during early Albanian oceanic anoxic event 1b using benthic foraminiferal paleoecology. Marine Micropaleontology 38: 7-28.

ABSTRACT: The nature and consequences of mid-Cretaceous oceanic anoxic events (OAEs) are the subject of ongoing debate, and recent studies have shown that different scenarios are needed to explain each of these events. Nevertheless, similarities between the different OAEs can be observed. Here, we have reconstructed paleoenviornmental changes during the early Albian OAE 1b using benthic foraminiferal distributions and lithologies in three sections from different basins and paleowater depths. Eutrophic conditions, as indicated by the presence of infaunal as well as opportunistic genera such as Gyroidinoides, Pseudoboliviana, Pleurostomella, and bolivinitids, prevailed before and during the OAE and led to dysoxic to anoxic conditions. Dysoxia was most intense in the bathyal sections but also occurred in the outer shelf where more heterogeneous patterns of foraminiferal distributions are believed to reflect fluctuations of the upper boundary of an oxygen-minimum zone. A change from eutrophic to mesotrophic conditions caused the termination of OAE 1b and opportunistic benthic foraminifera (e.g. Pseudobolivina, Pleurostomella) were the first to subsequently repopulate the bathyal sea floor. Repopulation occurred rapidly in the shallow settings and gradually in the deeper sites, where a normal, diverse pre-event fauna was established a few tens of thousands of years after OAE 1b.


Erbacher, J., B.T. Huber, R.D. Norris, and M. Markey. 2001. Increased thermohaline stratification as a possible cause for an ocean anoxic event in the Cretaceous period. Nature 409: 325-327.

ABSTRACT: Ocean anoxic events were periods of high carbon burial that led to drawdown of atmospheric carbon dioxide, lowering of bottom-water oxygen concentrations and, in many cases, significant biological extinction. Most ocean anoxic events are thought to be caused by high productivity and export of carbon from surface waters which is then preserved in organic-rich sediments, known as black shales. But the factors that triggered some of these events remain uncertain. Here we present stable isotope data from a mid-Cretaceous ocean anoxic event that occurred 112 Myr ago, and that point to an increased thermohaline stratification as the probable cause. Ocean anoxic event 1b is associated with an increase in surface-water temperatures and runoff that led to decreased bottom-water formation and elevated carbon burial in the restricted basins of the western Tethys and North Atlantic. This event is in many ways similar to that which led to the more recent Plio-Pleistocene Mediterranean sapropels, but the greater geographical extent and longer duration (~46kyr) of ocean anoxic event 1b suggest that processes leading to such ocean anoxic events in the North Atlantic and western Tethys were able to act over a much larger region, and sequester far more carbon, than any of the Quaternary sapropels.


Faden, R.B. and M.H. Alford. 2001. A new species of Commelina (Commelinaceae) from Tanzania. Novon 11: 16-21.

ABSTRACT: Commelina polhillii Faden & Alford, a new annual species of Commelina with buff-orange flowers, is described from Tanzania. It differs from the similar C. subulata primarily in seed morphology. However, staminode shape, the presence of basal lobes on the medial anther connective, and differences in spathe pubescence also serve to varying extent to distinguish the two taxa. Leaf anatomy reveals one major difference but primarily helps to unite the two species with a group of approximately seven other species. A preliminary chromosome count, 2n = ca. 30, is recorded.


Faden, R.B. and K.E. Inman. 1996. Leaf anatomy of the African genera of Commelinaceae: Anthericopsis and Murdannia. The Biodiversity of African Plants (Proc. XIVth AETFAT Cong.: 464-471.

ABSTRACT: Leaf anatomy of Anthericopsis sepalosa and nine species of Murdannia was studied using scanning electron microscopy, paraffin embedded sections, whole leaf clearings, and epidermal scrapes. Anthericopsis was distinctive because of its attenuate margin with basal tannin cells and a broad, discontinuous, adaxial hypodermis. Murdannia was characterized by a thin epidermis, patterned cuticle, usually continuous hypodermis, and generally marginal sclerenchyma. Both genera showed several apparently synapomorphic characters, such as lack of a thick midrib, presence of a broad adaxial hypodermis, and a tapered margin, that separated them from other genera of tribe Commelineae. The anatomical support morphological data that show a phylogenetic relationship between the two genera.


Faden, R.B. and D.M. Cameron. 2005. Cyanotis repens (Commelinaceae): A New Species from Tropical Africa. NOVON 15: 110-116.

ABSTRACT: Cyanotis repens, a mat-forming perennial, is described from Kenya in tropical Africa. It differs from related species by its prostrate habit, indeterminate flowering shoots, and fusiform swelling terminating the style. Two subspecies are recognized, diploid C. repens subsq. repens from Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda, and polyploid C. repens subsp. robusta from Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Gabon. Cyanotis repens belongs to the Cyanotis foecunda species group, the species of which have a basic chromosome number of x = 13 and often distinctive karyotypes.



Falcon, L.I., M. Vecchione, and C.F.E. Roper. 2000. Paralarval gonatid squids (Cephalopoda: Oegopsida) from the mid-North Atlantic. Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash. 113(2): 532-541.

ABSTRACT: Ninety six gonatid cephalopod specimens (Oegopsida: Gonatidae) from the University of Amsterdam Mid-North Atlantic Plankton Expeditions were analyzed and two species were identified: Gonatus steenstrupi (Kristensen 1981) and Gonatus fabricii (Lichtenstein 1818). Gonatids were collected only in spring and summer, despite sampling in autumn and winter. This paper describes aspects of their development and reports their geographical distribution in the central North Atlantic Ocean. Chromatophore patterns were the most consistently useful characters for distinguishing between the species. Among 34 measurements, Tentacle Length (TtL) relative to Dorsal Mantle Length (ML) and number of suckers on Arms I-IV were useful for distinguishing specimens >13 mm ML. Both species develop hooks from suckers on the arms and tentacular clubs at ML > 20 mm. Subtle differences were noted in the morphology of the funnel pads except in the smallest specimens. Specimens of G. steenstrupi >20 mm ML were collected at greater depths (250 to 995 m) than the smaller specimens (found at depths <200 m). Our data suggest that 20 mm ML is the point of transition between paralarvae and juveniles of G. steenstrupi, because specimens larger than 20 mm ML have well defined hooks and a juvenile vertical distribution is established.


Feinstein, N. and S.D. Cairns. 1998. Learning from the collector: a survey of azooxanthellate corals affixed by Xenophora (Gastropoda: Xenophoridae), with an analysis and discussion of attachment patterns. The Nautilus 112(3): 73-83.

ABSTRACT: All species of the gastropod family Xenophoridae affix foreign objects to the upper shell surface. Affixed objects may include bivalve shells, smaller gastropod shells, shell fragments, and coral skeletons, as well as a wide array of inorganic material. In deep water, Xenophora may serve as useful proxy collectors of benthic organisms. Since 1842, coral skeletons have been noted among the attached objects, but this association has never been studied in detail. This paper surveys 227 Xenophora shells, comprising 8 species from 69 stations, for affixed azooxanthellate corals. Five hundred and eighty-one coralla were found, representing 74 coral species, 2 of which remain undescribed. Twenty-four of the affixed coralla were alive at the time the Xenophora hosts were collected; Xenophora not only collect live corals, but corals can remain alive long after being affixed. Corals were found at 6 sites where they had previously been unknown, and the geographic ranges of 29 species of coral were expanded as a result of specimens found on Xenophora.


Fernandez, M., H. Hamilton, S. Reichle, D. Wilson, R. Heyer, and R. McDiarmid. 2003. Verificando un modelo predictivo de distribucion para anfibios en Bolivia. Décimo Encuentro Latinoamericano de Usuarios de Tecnologías de Información Geográfica, Santa Cruz, Bolivia, September 2003.

ABSTRACT: Over the past hundred years, the human population has increased from one to six billion human beings. As a result, the pressure to squeeze this little planet of ours for more food, water, and fuel has increased. Therefore, managing the limited natural resources of the Earth has emerged as perhaps the most crucial problem faced by humanity. Fortunately, technologies are now becoming widely available that may allow us to feed and power the growing population without destroying the very environment that sustains us in the process. With this technology we have started to measure virtually everything on Earth and how these things change over time. Analyzed with special databases called Geographic Information Systems (GIS), these measurements help us to understand what’s happening all around us and even make predictions for areas where there is a lack of information. To provide politicians and decision-makers in Bolivia with useful and fast information as to which places need protection due to their high biodiversity, it is necessary to understand the patterns of distribution of different taxa. This project focuses on a predictive model developed from a GIS database, using information obtained about Bolivian amphibians based on Bolivian collections. This will assist in making a decision on whether or not to protect a specific area. However, testing is required to know if the predictions we developed about the environment reflect reality. In order to test this model, a group of frogs was chosen as a focus group. Using a source of information that was not used to build the model (National Museum of Natural History collection and a revisionary study made by Dr. Ron Heyer); the localities for ten species were mapped and overlaid on the model. The results indicate that two levels of improvement are needed to characterize biodiversity distribution in Bolivia: 1) All available museum data should be used to develop predictive distributions for each species; 2) The various GIS layers now available for climate, soils, and vegetation are inaccurate and/or out of date and need to be improved.


Ferrell, C.S. and D.E. Wilson. 1991. Platyrrhinus helleri. Mammalian Species 373: 1-5.

ABSTRACT: Taxonomic description of the species Platyrrhinus helleri. Order Chiroptera, Suborder Microchiroptera, Family Phyllostomidae, Subfamily Stenodermatinae, Genus Platyrrhinus. The genus Platyrrhinus contains eight species.


Foley C.N., Nittler L.R., McCoy T.J., Lim L., Brown M.R.M., Starr R.D. and Trombka J.I. 2006. Minor element evidence that Asteroid 433 Eros is a space-weathered ordinary chondrite parent body. Icarus 184, 338-343.

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Fonseca, R. M. and C. M. Pinto. 2004. A New Lophostoma (Chiroptera: Phyllostomidae: Phyllostominae) from the Amozonia of Ecuadore Species. Occasional Papers, Museum of Texas Tech Univ. #242.

ABSTRACT: We describe a new species of phyllostomid bat, genus Lophostoma, from eastern Ecuadore. Lophostoma yasuni n. sp. resembles L. carrikeri for its white venter and L. shulzi in size, but it is distinguishable from both by external and cranial characteristics. Lophostoma yansuni has a shorter forearm than the average expected for L. carrikeri; however the skull is the largest in relation to L. carrikeri and L. shulzi. L. yasuni does not present the wart-like granulations on the forearms characteristic of L. shulzi.


Funk, V.A. and M.F. Zermoglio. 1999. A revision of Chrysactinium (Compositae: Liabeae). Systematic Botany 24: 323-338.

ABSTRACT: Chrysactinium (Compositae: Liabeae) is composed of six species, all restricted to the Páramo-type regions of Ecuador and Peru. Chrysactinium longiradiatum and C. rosulatum are considered synonymous with C. acaule because of the high levels of variation exhibited in the characters previously used to distinguish them.


Funk, V.A., M.F. Zermoglio, and N. Nasir. 1999. Testing the use of specimen collection data and GIS in biodiversity exploration and conservation decision making in Guyana. Biodiversity and Conservation 8: 727-751.

ABSTRACT: This paper presents the results of a study conducted at the request of the Government of Guyana by the Centre for the Study of Biological Diversity at the University of Guyana, and the Smithsonian Institution. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the utility of using systematic collections in identifying areas with a high priority for conservation. A biodiversity database and a gazetteer were assembled and interpreted primarily through the use of maps generated in ARC/INFO and ArcView. The data were examined to determine coverage and completeness, and while in general the results support a continued use of the methodology for making informed decisions in conservation related issues, several recommendations are offered in order to enhance the data. The primary use of the results of this study is in the identification of areas of interest for conservation and in the location of eleven areas covering most ecoregions in Guyana that are in need of additional study. The eleven areas have been chosen to avoid areas that are already allocated to logging and mining concessions or Amerindian lands. While it is true that this study would benefit from additional data and further analysis of those data, it is also true that decisions concerning areas for conservation in Guyana are being made in the near future, and if any data are to be used in this process, it will be those data presented in this paper.


Garcia Perez, L. and W.R. Heyer. 1993. Description of the advertisement call and resolution of the systematic status of Leptodactylus gracilis delattini Müller, 1968 (Amphibia: Leptodactylidae). Proc. Bio. Soc. of Wash. 106(1): 51-56.

ABSTRACT: The advertisement call of Leptodactylus gracilis delattini Muller is described from Campeche, Santa Catarina, Brazil and compared with calls from five populations of L. gracilis from mainland Brazil and calls of the closely related L. furnarius and L. plaumanni. Based on comparison of call data and re-examination of the holotype, Leptodactylus gracilis delattini Muller, 1968 is considered to be a strict junior synonym of Leptodactylus gracilis (Dumeril and Bibron, 1841).


Gardner, A.L. and C.S. Ferrell. 1990. Comments on the nomenclature of two genera and two species of Neotropical bats. Bat Research News 30(4): 65-66.

ABSTRACT: We clarify the status of the names of Platyrrhinus, Vampyrops, and Anthorhina; comment on the names Molossus burnesi and M. Barnesi; and identify the authorship of Diclidurus albus.


Gardner, A.L. and C.S. Ferrell. 1990. Comments on the nomenclature of some Neotropical bats (Mammalia: Chiroptera). Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington 103(3): 501-508.

ABSTRACT: We examine four nomenclature problems concerning Neotropical bats and conclude that Platyrrhinus has priority over Vampyrops; Anthorhina is a junior objective synonym of Tonatia; and Cabrera, as first reviser, selected the spelling Molossus barnesi over M. burnesi. We recommended that Wied-Neuwied, not Oken, be considered the author of Diclidurus albus, although the code of zoological nomenclature does not directly address this particular situation.


Gargas, A., P.T. DePriest, and N. Ivanova. 1994. Glacier- covered lichens: Sources of ancient DNA. American Journal of Botany Abstract 81: 92.

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Glenn, T.C., R.S. Ojerio, W. Stephan, and M.J. Braun. 1997. Microsatellite DNA loci for Genetic Studies of Cranes. Proceedings of the 7th North American Crane Workshop 7: 36-45.

ABSTRACT: Microsatellites are short tandem arrays of simple DNA sequences (e.g., [AC]n, where n > 10), which are often highly polymorphic among individuals. These repetitive elements are rapidly becoming the molecular genetic marker of choice for genetic mapping, parentage analyses, and fundamental population genetics. We have isolated more than 50 microsatellite loci from the whooping crane (Grus americana). The microsatellites cloned from whooping cranes are unusually short and infrequent in comparison to other birds and especially so in comparison to mammals or reptiles. However, at least 13 of the 20 primer pairs developed amplify polymorphic loci. Paternity for 2 individuals sharing the same mother and 5 potential fathers was established by investigating 6 polymorphic loci. Additionally, the primers developed yield amplicons of the expected size from other crane species with greater than 90% success. Therefore, the markers we have developed will be useful for addressing questions about the captive management, population structure, and phylogeography of all cranes.



Hardy, C.R. and R.B. Faden. 2004. Plowmanianthus, a new genus of Commelinaceae with five new species from tropical America. Systematic Botany 29: 316-333.

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Helgen, K.M. 2001. First record of Rattus rattus in Botswana. Mammalian Biology 66: 60-62.

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Helgen, K.M. and D.E. Wilson. 2001. Additional material of the enigmatic golden mole Cryptochloris zyli, with notes on the genus Cryptochloris (Mammalia: Chrysochloridae). African Zoology 36(1): 110-112.

ABSTRACT: Van Zyl's golden mole (Cryptochloris zyli) is a distinctive but little-known species from the northwestern Cape Province of South Africa. Many authors have mentioned that it is known only by the holotype. Two other specimens are now known to exist; one was discovered in the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University, and the other, which has been mentioned in publication but overlooked, is in the Natural History Museum in London. Differentiation of C. zyli from sympatric chrysochlorids, and from its congener C. wintoni, are discussed.


Helgen, K.M. and D.E. Wilson. 2002. The bats of Flores, Indonesia, with remarks on Asian Tadarida. Breviora 511: 1-12.

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Helgen, K.M. and D.E. Wilson. 2002. The history of the raccoons of the West Indies. The Journal of the Barbados Museum & Historical Society XLVIII: 1-11.

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Helgen, K.M. and D.E. Wilson. 2003. Taxonomic status and conservation relevance of the raccoons (Procyon spp.) of the West Indies. The Zoological Society of London 259: 69-76.

ABSTRACT: Raccoons Procyon spp. from New Providence Island in the Bahamas and from Barbados and Guadeloupe in the Lesser Antilles, have traditionally been recognized as distinctive species endemic to their respective islands, All three of these "species" currently possess official conservation status of high concern. Bahamian and Guadeloupean raccoons are recognized as endangered species by the World Conservation Union (IUCN), which also considers the Barbados raccoon to be a recently extinct West Indian mammal. However, historical, biogeographic, genetic and morphological evidence demonstrate that all three West Indian raccoon populations are the result of human-sponsored introductions from the eastern U.S.A. that have occurred in the past few centuries. Accordingly, these animals should not be considered either conservation priorities or recent losses of biodiversity in the Caribbean. Instead, they may actually represent ecological threats to the insular ecosystems on their respective islands. Procyonid conservation goals must be re-examined and updated accordingly.


Helgen, K. M., and D. E. Wilson. 2005. A systematic and zoogeographic overview of the raccoons of Mexico and Central America. Pp. 219-234, in Sanchez-Cordero, V., and R. Medellin, eds. Contribuciones Mastozoologicas en homenaje a Bernardo Villa. Instituto de Biologia e Instituto de Ecologia, UNAM., Mexico city. 500 pp.

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Heyer, W.R., J.M. Garcia-Lopez, and A.J. Cardoso. 1996. Advertisement call variation in the Leptodactylus mystaceus species complex (Amphibia: Leptodactylidae) with a description of a new sibling species. Amphibia-Reptilia 17: 7-31.

ABSTRACT: Whereas morphological analysis of populations recognized as Leptodactylus mystaceus indicates there is one species with modest geographic variation, analysis of advertisement calls indicates there are at least two or perhaps three species involved. The differences found in advertisement calls are sufficient to act as species isolating barriers to recognize at least two species, which action is taken. A consequent result is the description of a new sibling species. The significance of sibling species in the genus Leptodactylus is discussed briefly.


Heyer, W.R. and L.M. Hardy. 1991. A new species of frog of the Eleutherodactylus lacrimosus assembly from Amazonia, South America (Amphibia: Anura: Leptodactylidae). Proc. Bio. Soc. Wash. 104(3): 436-447.

ABSTRACT: Eleutherodactylus zimmermanae, new species, is described from the Amazon Basin of South America. Because of the biological and nomenclatural complexity of frogs of the Eleutherodactylus lacrimosus assembly, a neotype is designated for Cyclocephalus lacrimosus Jimenez de la Espada, 1875.


Heyer, W.R. and A.M. Munoz. 1999. Validation of Eleutherodactylus crepitans Bokermann, 1965, Notes on the Types and Type Locality of Telatrema heterodactylum Miranda-Ribeiro, 1937, and Description of a New Species of Eleutherodactylus from Mato Grosso, Brazil (Amphibia: Anura: Leptodactylidae). Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash. 112(1): 1-18.

ABSTRACT: Examination of the types of Eleutherodactylus crepitans Bokermann, 1965, indicates that they represent a valid species, which should be removed from the synonymy of Eleutherodactylus fenestratus (Steindachner 1864). Eleutherodactylus crepitans is only known from the type material. Certain features of the types of Telatrema heterodactylum Miranda-Ribeiro, 1937, are described and the type locality clarified. Analysis of the advertisement call and morphology of a series of specimens represent a species distinct from E. fenestratus (Steindachner 1864), for which no name is available. We describe this new species as Eleutherodactylus dundeei. The frog fauna of Chapada dos Guimarães contains four distinct historical units: cerrado, chaco, Amazonian hylaea, and endemic.


Heyer, W.R., and Y.R. Reid. 2003. Does advertisement call variation coincide with genetic variation in the genetically diverse frog taxon currently known as Leptodactylus fuscus (Amphibia: Leptodactylidae)?. Ann. Brazilian Acad. Sci. 75(1): 39-54.

ABSTRACT: The frog Leptodactylus fuscus is found throughout much of South America in open and disturbed habitats. Previous study of genetic differentiation in L. fuscus demonstrated that there was lack of genetic exchange among population units consistent with multiple species, rather than a single species. We examine advertisement vocalizations of L. fuscus to determine whether call variation coincides with genetic differentiation. Calls were analyzed for 32 individual frogs from 25 localities throughout the distributional range of L. fuscus. Although there is variation in calls among geographic samples, call variation is not concordant with genetic variation or geographic distance and the call variation observed is less than that typically found among other closely related species of Leptodactylus. This study is an example of the rare pattern of strong genetic differentiation unaccompanied by salient differences in advertisement calls. The relative infrequency of this pattern as currently understood may only reflect the lack of detailed analyses of genetic and acoustic differentiation within population systems currently understood as single species with substantial geographic distributions.


Heyer, W.R., and A.S. Thompson. 2000. Leptodactylus rugosus Noble. Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles 708: 1-5.

ABSTRACT: Taxonomic description of Leptodactylus rugosus Noble. No subspecies are currently recognized.


Heyer, W.R. and A.J. Wolf. 1989. Physalaemus crombiei (Amphibia: Leptodactylidae), a new frog species from Espirito Santo, Brazil with comments on the P. signifer group. Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington 102(2): 500-506.

ABSTRACT: Physalaemus crombiei, a new species of the P. signifer group, is described from the State of Espirito Santo, Brazil. Members of this group are most easily distinguished from each other by advertisement call, although morphological differences also exists. The relationships and other distributions of members of this species group are not well understood at the present.


Hoffman, B. 1989. Latin America and the Caribbean Botanical Workshop. Biological Conservation Newsletter 77: 1.

ABSTRACT: During July 1981, the Smithsonian Institution's Biodiversity of the Guianas Program and the Department of Botany hosted a Latin American and Caribbean botanical workshop at the U.S. National Herbarium. Twenty-two participants from 15 different countries gathered to discuss and learn about museum research, collections management, systematics and conservation. The workshop was judged to be a great success by those involved. The participants returned to their institutions with a great wealth of literature and new ideas. The interaction is expected to have a lasting effect, thus increasing the professionalism and cooperation among Latin American, Caribbean and U.S. insititutions and facilitating research efforts.


Holcomb, M., Pandolfi, J.M., Macintyre, I.G., and Budd, A.F. 2004 Use of X-radiographs to distinguish members of the Montastraea annularis reef-coral species complex. Hydrobiologia, vol 530/531 p 211-222.

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Houston, R.M. and B.T. Huber. 1998. Evidence of photosymbiosis in fossil taxa? Ontogenetic stable isotope trends in some Late Cretaceous planktonic foraminifera. Marine Micropaleontology 34: 29-46.

ABSTRACT: Stable isotope analyses were performed on ontogenetic dissections of four taxa of low latitude Late Cretaceous planktonic foraminifera from DSDP Hole 390A. The species studied include Planoglobulina acervulinoides, Planoglobulina multicamerata, Pseudoguembelina palpebra, and Racemiguembelina fructicosa. 18O and 13C data indicate a deeper surface water paleohabitat for P. multicamerata than the other three taxa, and ontogenetic increases in 18O values suggest all these taxa underwent vertical migrations from shallow to deeper surface waters. Changes in 13C values through ontogeny include sharp increases in 13C composition in the juvenile size intervals, a decrease in the rate of 13C change through intermediate size intervals, and reversals to a negative trend in 13C values in terminal size intervals. The intermediate and terminal growth changes in 13C signals are similar to ontogenetic trends observed in some extant and Paleogene planktonic foraminifera and may result from decreasing metabolic rates through ontogeny or endosymbiont digestion prior to gametogenesis. The ontogenetic 13C increases of 1.04%, 0.76%, 0.83%, and 0.77% in R. fructicosa, P. palpebra, P. acervulinoides, and P. multicamerata, respectively, may indicate the presence of photosymbionts. However, our review and critique of the current literature discussing photosymbiont effects on stable isotope values in living and fossil planktonic foraminifera suggest that conclusions regarding the presence of photosymbionts in fossil taxa may be more equivocal than previously thought.


Houston, R.M., B.T. Huber, and H.J. Spero. 1999. Size-related isotopic trends in some Maastrichtian planktic foraminifera: methodological comparisons, intraspecific variability, and evidence for photosymbiosis. Marine Micropaleontology 36: 169-188.

ABSTRACT: The serial test dissection and sieve fraction methods for determining the pattern of size-related change in oxygen and carbon isotopic ratios are compared using four Late Cretaceous planktic foraminifer species (Racemiguembelina fructicosa, Planoglobulina acervulinoides, Planoglobulina multicamerata, and Pseudoguembelina palpebra) from a subtropical site in the North Atlantic (DSDP Hole 390A). Despite the extra labor required, we identify several clear advantages of the dissection method, including: (1) it provides a means of obtaining size-dependent changes in isotopic signatures that are unequivocally ontogenetic, whereas isotopic variation observed from sieve-separated size fractions could be ontogenetic or ecotpic; (2) the taxonomic identity of smaller sized specimens using the dissection method is unequivocal, whereas species identification is increasingly ambiguous in smaller size fractions using the sieve method; (3) it reveals a greater total range and a greater complexity in the pattern of ontogenetic change in stable isotopic values, whereas the sieve method averages the isotopic signal across the entire ontogenetic range preserved within the whole tests that are used. Our results from serial dissections demonstrate that among the species analyzed, R. fructicosa and P. acervulinoides yield relatively negative adult 180 values, a large size-related change in 13C values (1.32 and 2.05%, respectively), and virtually no correlation between size-related 13C and 18O values. On this basis we suggest that these were photosymbiotic species that inhabited relatively shallow surface waters. Evidence for photosymbiosis is not as compelling for P. palpebra, as this species yields a 1.06% shift in 13C and relatively negative 18O values in adult chambers, but much stronger correlation between size-related 13C and 18O values (r^2 = 0.40) than in R. fructicosa and P. acervulinoides. Planoglobulina multicamerata yields the most positive adulat 18 O values of the species studied, a strong covariance between size-related 13C and 18O values (r^2 = 0.77), and a 0.97% shift in 13C composition during ontogeny. We conclude that this species lacked photosymbionts and migrated to a deeper surface water paleohabitat as it increased in size. Single specimen analyses of tightly constrained size fractions reveal a high degree of intraspecific variation. 13C and 18O values vary by up to 0.70 and 0.28% in R. fructicosa, 1.41 and 0.80% in P. acervulinoides, 0.66 and 0.82% in P. palpebra, and 0.18 and 0.33% in P. multicamerata, respectively. Such a range of isotopic variation has been observed in modern day planktic foraminifer assemblages, and likely results from growth of individuals during different phases of the seasonal cycle and / or the kinetic effect of intraspecific variation in shell calcification rates. As suggested by other investigators, large sample sizes should be analyzed to provide the most reliable correlation of stable isotopic stratigraphic records.


Ivanova, N., P.T. DePriest, V.K. Bobrova, and A.V. Troitsky . 1999. Phylogenetic analysis of the lichen family Umbilicariaceae on the basis of nuclear SSU, ITS1, 5.8S and ITS2 rDNA sequences. Lichenologist 31: 477-489.

ABSTRACT: The lichen family Umbilicariaceae is accepted by most lichenologists as consisting of two genera, Lasallia and Umbilicaria. The monophyly of these two genera was examined by phylogenetic analyses of nucleotide sequences of ITS1 and ITS2 rDNA. Sequences of these regions from three Lasallia and 17 Umbilicaria species were aligned to those of seven representatives of the outgroup taxa including Eurotiales, Onygenales and Caliciales (Mycocaliciaceae) and subjected to maximum parsimony, maximum likelihood and neighbour-joining analyses. The resulting phylogenetic hypotheses supported the monophyly of the representative species of Lasallia. However, the species of Umbilicaria did not form a monophyletic sister-group to Lasallia due to the basal placement of other Umbilicaria species in some analyses. Based on these analyses, if Lasallia is recognized as a separate genus then Umbilicaria appears to be paraphyletic. Although further taxon sampling is required ro resolve the monophyly of Umbilicaria, for the present we recommend retaining the current treatment of Lasallia as separate from Umbilicaria.


Jackson, K. and T. Fritts. 1995. Evidence from tooth surface morphology for a posterior maxillary origin of the proteroglyph fang. Amphibia-Reptilia 16: 273-288.

ABSTRACT: Although the front-fanged venom delivery system of the Elapidae is believed to be derived from an aglyphous or opisthoglyphous colubroid ancestor, opinion is divided as to the end of the maxilla on which the proteroglyph fang (a) a grooved posterior fang which migrated anteriorly, or (b) an enlarged anterior tooth which secondarily developed a groove for the conduction of venom. The surface morphology of the maxillary teeth of colubrid genera was examined using scanning electron microscopy. Ridges present on the lingual and labial surfaces of anterior maxillary teeth and on the anterior and posterior surfaces of posterior maxillary teeth were identified as morphological markers of potential value in distinguishing the anterior and posterior maxillary teeth of of colubroid snakes, and in determining the origin of the proteroglyph fang. Patterns of ridges on the surfaces of elapid fangs examined were found to be consistent with the hypothesis that the evolutionary precursor of the proteroglyph fang was an opisthoglyph fang which migrated anteriorly.


Jackson, K. and T.H. Fritts. 1996. Observations of a grooved anterior fang in Psammodynastes pulverulentus: does the mock viper resemble a protoelapid? Journal of Herpetology 30(1): 128-131.

ABSTRACT: Greene (1989) presented an analysis of the defensive behavior and feeding habits of the Asian mock viper, Psammodynastes pulverulentus, and reviewed evidence that having enlarged teeth were morphological adaptations that facilitated the handling of hard-bodied prey. Greene noted that studies of the mock viper could be important to synthetic considerations of snake evolution, especially in evaluating the hypothesis that proteroglyphous snakes developed venom-conducting fangs from anterior maxillary teeth, rather than from enlarged grooved teeth of the posterior maxilla so widespread in colubrid taxa. Greene concluded that in the mock viper, venom was conducted by the enlarged and grooved teeth located at the posterior end of the maxilla. While examining the teeth of a dried skull of Psammodynastes pulverulentus, we detected what appeared to be grooves on the enlarged teeth of the maxilla, and subsequently used scanning electron microscopy to determine details of the tooth morphology. The association of grooves, capable of conducting venom into the tissue of prey, with the enlarged anterior teeth of this species could shed new light on the morphological complex presumed to be adaptive for consuming hard-bodied prey.


Janovec, J. and H. Robinson. 1997. Charadranaetes, a new genus of the Senecioneae (Asteraceae) from Costa Rica. Novon 7: 162-168.

ABSTRACT: A new genus of the Senecioneae, Asteraceae, from Costa Rica, Charadranaetes, is described based on Senecio durandii Klatt, characterized by an obnoxious odor emitted by crushed parts, elongate linear corolla lobes that are not recurved, and a prominently rounded style apex that bears little or no apical coma. A key to the genera of Senecioneae in Costa Rica is furnished.


Jaramillo, M.A. and W.J. Kress. 1997. Phylogenetic relationships of the genera of the family Costaceae. Bulletin of the Heliconia Society 9(1/2): 5-8.

ABSTRACT: Costacea is a pantropical family with four genera: Costus, Dimerocostus, Monocostus and Tapeinochilos. No previous attempts have been made to reconstruct the phylogenetic relationships of the genera in the family. A cladistic analysis of the genera using morphological data and DNA sequences from rbcL cpDNA and 18S rDNA genes were performed. Different analyses were executed with morphological data only as well as combining morphological and molecular data. A combined phylogeny is proposed that places Tapeinochilos as the basal genus with a terminal clade formed by Dimerocostus and Monocostus.


Jarrin, P. 2001. Mamiferos en La Niebla. Otonga, un Bobque Nublado del Ecuador. Museo de Zoologia. Centro de Biodiversidad y Ambiente. Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Ecuador. 244pp.

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Jarrin-V, P. 2003. An unusual record of Peropteryx macrotis (Chiroptera: Emballonuridae) in the Andean highlands of Ecuador. Mammalia: 67(4): 613-615.

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Jordan, M.A. and G.H. Rodda. 1994. Identification of sex in Boiga irregularis; implications for population dynamics in Guam. Journal of Herpetology 28(3): 381-384.

ABSTRACT: The brown tree snake (Boiga irregularis), an introduced species on the island of Guam, has been implicated in the expiration of most of that island's native bird fauna and contributing to the decline of lizard and small mammal populations. Extensive efforts are underway to develop a method of eliminating the snake from Guam and stopping its spread to equally susceptible Pacific islands. Differential survival among sexes or age groups may indicate ecological stresses. Male-skewed sex ratios and sexual dimorphism has been proposed for B. irregularis on Guam. In this study we extend those observations and test the validity of field sexing of snakes. The study found the probing techinique may not be a reliable method for assigning sex in B. irregularis; great care must be taken if probing is to be used. The results showed male-skewed sex ratios are not present in B. irregularis populations on Guam. Our study shows that B. irregularis populations on Guam are experiencing demographic and morphometric changes. Adult females have become rarer in northern sites and less robust across the island. One factor responsible for this situation appears to be the decline of endothermic prey subsequent to the eruption of the introduced snake on Guam. These changes suggest a tactic for reducing the population density of the snake.


Kalb, H.J. and G.R. Zug. 1989. Skeletochronological age estimates for juvenile Lepidochelys kempii from Atlantic coast of North America. NOAA Tech. Memo. NMFS-SEFC-232: 271-273.

ABSTRACT: Kemp's ridleys are the smallest living sea turtles; adults average 646 mm in carapace length (range 595-750 mm). This small adult size suggests that these turtles attain sexual maturity at a younger age than any of the other living sea turtles. Data on growth rates of recaptured nesting females and of captive-raised hatchlings provide variable estimates of age at sexual maturity: 5.5 years (Marquez 1973), ~6 years (Pritchard and Marquez 1973), and 8-9 years (Marquez et al. 1981). The salvage of juvenile ridleys from the eastern seaboard of the United States (Long Island, Chesapeake Bay, Cuberland Island) provided an opportunity to use the skeletochronological technique to estimate the ages and to develop growth curves for free-living Lepidochelys kempii.


Kalb, H.J. and G.R. Zug. 1990. Age estimates for a population of American Toads, Bufo americanus (Salientia: Bufonidae), in Northern Virginia. Brimleyana 16:79-86.

ABSTRACT: Age estimation by skeletochronology was made on adult female and male Bufo americanus from a small population in northern Virginia. This breeding population consisted predominantly of males 3-4 years old and females 4-5 years old. Size and age were not closely correlated, i.e., the larger toads were not necessarily older. Large males did not appear to have an advantage over the small in mating; average SVL of amplectic males (64.5 mm) was similar to that of calling males (64.8 mm). First breeding occurred in late March or early April and appeared dependent upon water temperatures greater than 11 C in breeding ponds.


Kosnik, M. 1997. Byzantia: A new genus (Gastropoda: Neritopsidae) from the Permian of West Texas. Journal of Paleontology 71(1): 53-56.

ABSTRACT: This paper describes Byzantia obliqua, new genus and species. Byzantia ia a small, distinctively ornamented, gastropod genus from the middle Permian (Leonardian-Guadalupian) of west Texas. This provides further evidence of the diversity of the Neritacea in the middle Permian and of the diverse endemic fauna of west Texas.


Krabbenhoft, T. and T.A. Munroe. 2003. Symphurus bathyspilus: A cynoglossid flatfish (Pleuronectiformes: Cynoglossidae) from deep-waters of the Indo-West Pacific. Copeia (4): 810-817.

ABSTRACT: Symphurus bathyspilus, which attains standard lengths up to 121 mm, is described on the basis of 84 specimens collected in deep waters (248-500 m) in the Philippine Archipelago and off Indonesia. This species is characterized by the combination of a predominant 1-2-2 pattern of interdigitation of dorsal pterygiophores and neural spines; 14 caudal-fin rays; 91-100 dorsal-fin rays; 78-87 anal-fin rays; 50-54 total vertebrae; five hypurals; black peritoneum; uniformly bright reddish-brown (freshly captured) to darker reddish-brown ocular side sometimes with faint incomplete cross-bands; uniformly yellowish to straw-colored blind side with numerous small reddish-brown speckles overlying regions of proximal pterygiophores of the blind sides of the dorsal and anal fins; with dorsal and anal fins darker reddish-brown anteriorly, gradually fading to a pale reddish color in their posterior regions; and with the outer surface of the ocular-side opercle yellowish with reddish-brown speckles. Among congeners, the new species is most similar in some meristic features to those of Symphurus woodmasoni but differs markedly in its ocular- and blind-side coloration, in the pigmentation of its dorsal, anal, pelvic, and caudal fins and its yellowish and speckles ocular-side outer opercular surface.


Krupnick, G.A. and J. Rubis. 2002. Plant richness and endemism in the Indo-Pacific: Dipterocarpaceae. Pp. 92-98. In: Wikramanayake, E., E. Dinerstein, C. J. Loucks, et al. Terrestrial Ecoregions of the Indo-Pacific. Island Press, Washington.

ABSTRACT: Determining plant richness and endemism to the 866 terrestrial ecoregions is a challenging task, considering that approximately 300,000 flowering plant species exist in the world today. Range maps typically are unavailable for the majority of plant species, so data must be extracted from published literature and herbaria collections. Records normally provide information about the collection sites and where the plant was observed or collected; therefore, we must estimate the entire range of each species. The laborious endeavor of categorizing plants by ecoregion is essential because the distributions of invertebrates, by far the most abundant terrestrial species, often are tied to the range occupied by their host plants. For botanists to make a major contribution to setting global and regional priorities for conservation, we must make the effort to map plant richness and endemism to complement similar efforts completed for vertebrates.


Lassieur, S. and D.E. Wilson. 1989. Lonchorhina aurita. Mammalian Species 347: 1-4.

ABSTRACT: Taxonomic description of the species Lonchorhina aurita. Order Chiroptera, Suborder Microchiroptera, Family Phyllostomidae, Subfamily Phyllostominae, Genus Lonchorhina. The genus Lonchorhina contains four species.


Maina, S.L., L.A. Pray and R.A. DeFilipps. 1988. A Historical Note on the Endangered Santalum boninensis (Santalaceae) of the Ogasawara Islands: Early Reports by Takasi Tuyama. Atoll Research Bulletin 319: 19-24.

ABSTRACT: Santalum boninensis (Nakai) Tuyama is an endangered plant species of the Ogasawara (Bonin) Islands of Japan. The early reports of this species made by the Japanese botanist Takasi Tuyama (1939, 1940) are presented for the first time in the English language, including his comments on the urgent need for conservation of the species.


McCleary, R.J.R. and R.W. McDiarmid. 1993. Phyllorhynchus decurtatus (Cope): Spotted Leaf-nosed snake. Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles 580: 1-7.

ABSTRACT: Taxonomic description of the species Phyllorhynchus decurtatus or spotted leaf-nosed snake. Five subspecies are currently recognized: decurtatus, arenicola, norrisi, nubilus, and perkinsi.


McDiarmid, R.W. and S.H. Folke. 1991. Tantilla bocourti. Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles 526: 1-3.

ABSTRACT: Taxonomic description of the Tantilla bocourti or more commonly known as Gunther Bocourt's black-headed snake. No subspecies are currently recognized.


McDiarmid, R.W. and R.J.R. McCleary. 1993. Phyllorhynchus Stejneger: Leaf-nosed snakes. Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles 579: 1-5.

ABSTRACT: Taxonomic description of the genus Phyllorhynchus. Two species are recognized: browni (four subspecies: browni, fortitus, klauberi, and lucidus) and decurtatus (five subspecies: decurtatus, arenicola, norrisi, nubilus, and perkinsi).


Meisner (Downing), A. 2001. Phylogenetic systematics of the viviparous halfbeak genera Dermogenys and Nomorhamphus (Teleostei: Hemiramphidae: Zenarchopterinae). Zool. J. Linnean Soc. 133:199-283.

ABSTRACT: Among the 13 genera and over 100 species of halfbeaks, three genera - Dermogenys, Nomorhamphus and Hemirhamphodon - are internally fertilized and viviparous. These genera belong to a more inclusive clade, the Zenarchopterinae, that also includes Zenarchopterus, inferred to be internally fertilized and to lay fertilized eggs, and the monotypic Tondanichthys, also inferred to be internally fertilized. Whereas the Hemiramphidae are distributed worldwide, internally fertilized halfbeaks are restricted to Southeast Asia. Recent data from histological surveys of the gonads of both males and females as well as embryonic modifications associated with viviparity have been combined here with osteological characters in a phylogenetic analysis. Results indicate overwhelming support for a sister-group relationship between Hemirhamphodon and (Dermogenys+Nomorhamphus). Monophyly of the Dermogenys+Nomorhamphus clade is also well supported. These results confirm earlier suggestions that Dermogenys, as previously defined, is paraphyletic. Within the Dermogenys+Nomorhampus clade, two monophyletic clades are supported: one comprises ten species including four new species (Dermogenys bruneiensis, Dermogenys robertsi, Dermogenys palawanensis and Dermogenys collettei) and the other comprises 13 species including three undescribed species (Nomorhamphus rossi, Nomorhamphus pinnimaculata and Nomorhamphus manifesta). Diagnoses for the species of Dermogenys and Nomorhamphus, as well as a natural classification for the included species, are presented.


Meisner (Downing), A. and B.B. Collette. 1998. A new species of viviparous halfbeak, Dermogenys bispina (Teleostei: Hemiramphidae) from Sabah (North Borneo). Raffles Bull. Zool. 46(2): 373-380.

ABSTRACT: The genus Dermogenys Kuhl & van Hasselt in van Hasselt, 1823, is a group of small viviparous, atherinomorph fishes distributed throughout fresh and brackish waters of southeast Asia. Dermogenys bispina is distinguished from all other species of Dermogenys by: mature males with thick, unsegmented, dorsally curved spiculus; presence of second set of smaller spines on distal tip of spiculus; and females with melanophores directly anterior to anal fin arranged into wide U extending anteriorly, on either side of the genital papilla, to level of the anus. As part of an ongoing revision of Dermogenys and the closely related nominal genus Nomorhamphus, undescribed species in both genera have been discovered. This paper describes a new species of Dermogenys, D. bispina, from Sabah (North Borneo). Results from previous histological surveys of the gonads of both males and females suggest that this new species may have a close phylogenetic relationship to populations from southern Kalimantan, Sumatra, Palawan, Culion, and the southwestern arm of Sulawesi [Sulawesi Selatan].


Meisner (Downing), A. and B.B. Collette. 1999. Generic relationships of the internally-fertilized southeast Asian halfbeaks (Hemiramphidae: Zenarchopterinae). Proc. 5th Indo-Pac. Fish Conf., Nouméa, 1997, Soc. Fr. Ichtyol.: 69-76.

ABSTRACT: There is strong support for a monophyletic group, here recognized as the subfamily Zenarchopterinae Fowler, 1934, containing all five genera of internally-fertilized halfbeaks. Three genera, Hemirhamphodon, Nomorhamphus, and Dermogenys, are known to be internally fertilized and viviparous. Zenarchopterus (with about 20 species) and the monotypic genus Tondanichthys also appear to be internally fertilized but are apparently oviparous. A sister-group relationship between Dermogenys and Nomorhamphus is supported by modifications of the anal fin in males. Support is also strong for a sister-group relationship between Hemirhamphodon and (Dermogenys + Nomorhamphus). Monophyly of (Dermogenys + Nomorhamphus) is also well supported. Dermogenys, as currently constituted, appears to be paraphyletic. Within the group comprised of (Dermogenys + Nomorhamphus), two monophyletic groups are supported by new characters of sperm bundle morphology and modifications associated with viviparity. One clade comprises nine species of Dermogenys, including the type species, D. pusilla, and five undescribed species, and the other clade seven species of Dermogenys and four species of Nomorhamphus, including the type species, N. celebensis, and four undescribed species.


Meisner (Downing), A. and K.D. Louie. 2000. Nomorhamphus kolonodalensis, a new species of viviparous halfbeak from Sulawesi (Teleostei: Hemiramphidae). Ichthyol. Explor. Freshwaters 11: 361-368.

ABSTRACT:


Melson, W.G., J.T. Haynes, T. O'Hearn, R. Hubbell, K.E. Goggin, D.R. Locke, and D. Ross. 1998. K-Shales of the Central Appalachian Paleozoic: Properties and Origin. Shales and Mudstones II: 143-159.

ABSTRACT: Mississippian to Ordovician mudrocks of the Central Appalachia are potassium rich (termed here K-shale: K2O greater than about 5%weight present and K2O >> Na2O) as revealed by electron-microprobe scan analysis of 101 samples. The shales (fissile) and mudstones (non-fissile) have a decreasing maximum K2O content with decreasing age. Cambrian shales and phyllites have the highest K2O content reflecting the presence of phegite to mixed-layer, illite-smectide (I/S). The Ordovician through Mississippian samples can can be closely approximated as a three-component mixture of quartz, calcite, and an I/S. In this time series of shales, the decreasing K-content is to a large extent controlled by a decreasing amount of I/S. The shales of the Permo-Carboniferous molasse are not K-shales, and their K-content reflects mainly unmodified detrital K-minerals, including biotite and muscovite sources.


Mikhailova, T.B. 2001. Cartographic analysis of the red fox distribution in European Russia. Vestnik, Moscow Inst. Geography 5(6): 26-33.

ABSTRACT: The aim of this research is to evaluate the comparability of data derived from different methods: the winter transect count (WTC) of the red fox's tracks, summer count of fox litters in dens and fur catch data. All of these methods contain errors but specific in every particular case. Despite these errors we have found the general regularities of the red fox's population distribution in European Russia proved by all methods. The general trend of population growth is from the north southward with maximum values in the northern deserts of the Lower Volga River and in Pre-Caucasian steppes. The agricultural development has resulted in the northward shift of the distributional optimum as far as the southern taiga subzone.
Uneven distribution of the red fox population from the west eastward is also observed. Everywhere the indexes are higher in the west. Only in caucauses the indexes are maximal in eastern part of the mountains. Urbanisation does not give negative influence on the red fox population density. On the contrary the Moscow region as well as Rostov and Krasnodar krai are characterized by highest density of population.


Moran, E. and V.A. Funk. 2006. A revision of Erato (Compositae: Liabeae). SYstematic Botany 31(3) 597-609.

ABSTRACT:


Muchhala, N. and P. Jarrin-V. 2002. Flower Visitation by Bats in Cloud Forests of Western Ecuador. Biotropica 34(3): 387-395.

ABSTRACT: The importance of bat pollination has been demonstrated for many plant species. Yet this mutualism has rarely been studied on a community-wide level. In this paper we present results of a yearlong study of a bat-flower community in cloud forests on the western slopes of the Ecuadoran Andes. Of eight plant-visiting bat species caught, only Anoura caudifera and A. geoffroyi were carrying pollen. These species of Anoura supplement their diets with insects. Unlike glossophagines in other environments, however, which switch completely to frugivorous or insectivorous diet during certain seasons, they are nectarivorous year-round and were never found with seeds or fruit pulp in their feces. Of the 13 morphotypes of pollen carried by the bats, 11 were identifed to genus and 7 to species. Floral characteristics of all these plants fit the traditional chiropterophilous syndrom well. Our study represents the first direct evidence of bat pollination for those plants identifed to species, including four species of Burmeistera (Campanulaceae), as well as the first record of bat pollination for a plant of genus Mariania (Melastomataceae). While overlap in the diets to two Anoura was high, significant differences in visitation frequencies to particular plant species were detected. The larger bat species(A. geoffroyi) preferred large flowers, whereas the smaller species (a. caudifera) preffered small flowers.



Muchhala, N. and T.A. Munroe. 2004. A new species of Soleichthys (Soleidae: Pleuronectiformes) from tropical seas off northern Australia. Ichthyol. Res. 51: 57-62.

ABSTRACT: Soleichthys maculosus, described from six specimens collected in shallow waters (37-63 m) off northern Australia, is readily distinguished from congeners by its unique ocular-side pigmentation featuring numerous, conspicuous white spots and blotches nearly as large as the eye diameter on a uniformly dark brown background without any crossbands, and in having two elongated, ocular-side pectoral-fin rays, with the second dorsalmost ray longer than the first, and without scales on the pectoral-fin rays. Soleichthys maculosus is most similar to S. siammakuti, a poorly-known species collected in the Gulf of Thailand, but differs from S. siammakuti in having the second dorsalmost ocular-side pectoral-fin ray longer than the first (vs. first ocular-side pectoral-fin ray longer in S. siammakuti), and in having different ocular-side pigmentation than that of S. siammakuti, which features yellow spots on dorsal and anal fins, two conspicuous white spots arranged in longitudinal series on the lateral line, and also a series of nine, light brown crossbands on a dark brown body.


Munroe, T.A., and B.S. Marsh. 1997. Taxonomic status of three nominal species of Indo-Pacific symphurine tonguefishes (Symphurus: Cynoglossidae: Pleuronectiformes). Ichthyol. Res. 44(2): 189-200.

ABSTRACT: The taxonomic status of three rarely captured, nominal species of Indo-Pacific symphurine tonguefishes , Symphurus trifasciatus (Alcock, 1894), S. microrhynchus (Weber, 1913), and S. holothuriae Chabanaud, 1948, is resolved. Symphurus microrhynchus, previously known only from three specimens, is redescribed based on 12 specimens. Symphurus holothuriae, previously reported only from the holotype, is a junior subjective synonym of S. microrhynchus. Symphurus trifasciatus is redescribed based on six specimens, including the lectotype designated in this study. Symphurus microrhynchus is distinguished from congeners by a combination of meristic features, head and opercle shape, dorsal-fin position, and features of its pigmentation. The species occurs in relatively shallow tropical waters from Zanzibar through French Polynesia (the only reported occurrence of a shallow-water Symphurus from a locality on the Pacific Plate), including Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Vietnam, and northwestern Australia. Symphurus trifasciatus, known from deep waters along both coasts of the Indian subcontinent and adjacent waters, has an overall similarity in body shape and meristic features reminiscent of those in S. microrhynchus, but differs notably in having a longer and wider head, a distinctive opercle shape, number of scale rows on the head, and pigmentation pattern.



Munroe, T.A. and S.B. Menke. 2004. Two new soleid flatfishes (Pleuronectiformes: Soleidae: Soleichthys) from Australian waters, with a re-description of Soleichthys microcephalus (Gunther). Records of the Australian Museum 56(2): 247-258.

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Nemeth (Henriques), D. 1994. Systematics and distribution of the fishes of the family Champsodontidae (Teleostei: Perciformes), with descriptions of three new species. Copeia 1994: 347-371.

ABSTRACT: This revision of the family Champsodontidae recognizes a single genus, Champsodon Gunther, and 13 species. Of 13 previously described forms, ten are considered valid: C. nudivittis (Ogilby) from the Philippines to Australia, and Madagascar; C. atridorsalis Ochiai and Nakamura from Tonking Bay, Vietnam, to Australia; C. vorax Gunther from the Maldives, China Seas, and Philippines to Australia; C. snyderi Franz, Japan to southeastern Australia; C. capensis Regan, western Indian Ocean, from Kenya and the Seychelles to South Africa; C. fimbriatus Gilbert, Hawaiian Islands; C. guentheri Regan and C. longipinnis Masubara and Amaoka, Japan to Australia; C. omanensis Regan, Arabian Sea; and C. sechellensis Regan, Seychelles and south along the Mascarene Ridge. In addition, three new species are described: C. sagittus n. sp. from Australia, New Guinea, and the Philippines; C. pantolepis n. sp. from Japan and western Australia; and C. machaeratus n. sp. from eastern Australia. Synonymies, diagnoses, and descriptions are given for all taxa; known geographic distribution of each species plotted; and a key to species of the family is provided.


Obee, E.M. and V.A. Funk. 1993. Population variation in the high elevation Andean species, Werneria nubigena (Compositae; Senecioneae). Bull. Ecol. Soc. Amer. 74: 337.

ABSTRACT:


Ober, H. and C.B. Robbins. 1995. Daubentonia madagascariensis. Mammalian Species.

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Olson, S.L. and K.G. Eller. 1989. A new species of painted snipe (Charadriiformes: Rostratulidae) from the Early Pliocene at Langebaanweg, southwestern Cape Province, South Africa. Ostrich 60: 118-121.

ABSTRACT: A new species of Rostratula, intermediate in size between the two living species, is described from deposits of the early Pliocene Varswater Formation at Langebaanweg, Cape Province, South Africa. This constitutes the first valid fossil record for the family Rostratulidae. The fossil species may represent an extinct endemic African lineage. Its presence at Langebaanweg indicates at least temporary presence of freshwater marshes or swamp.


Owsley, D., K. Bruwelheide, L.W. Cartmell, L.E. Burgess, S. Chang, S.J. Foote, and N. Fielder. 2004. The Man in the iron coffin: an interdisciplinary effort to name the past. Journal of Historical Archaeology.

ABSTRACT: The examination of a cast iron coffin from the Mason family cemetery at Pulaski, Tennessee, offered an exceptional opportunity to study relatively well-preserved human remains, associated artifacts, and the coffin itself. Only a few studies of cast iron coffins and their contents have incorporated the results of interdisciplinary research in the interpretation of the burial and the remains. The investigation is based on the use of a developing protocol that promotes the collection of relevant information from several disciplines when evaluating cast iron coffins and their contents. Multiple lines of evidence identified the remains as those of Isaac Newton Mason, a private in the 1st Tennessee Confederate Cavalry Regiment, and provided a detailed and intimate glimpse into the past.



Parenti, L.R. and A.L. Downing Meisner. 2003. Fishes of the Belait River, Brunei Darussalam, Borneo. Brunei Museum Journal 10: 3-40.

ABSTRACT:


Parenti, L.R. and K.D. Louie. 1998. Neostethus djajaorum, new species from Sulawesi, Indonesia, the first Phallostethid fish (Teleostei: Antherinomorpha) known from East of Wallace's Line. The Raffles Bulletin of Zoology 46(1): 139-150.

ABSTRACT: Neostethus djajaorum, new species, is decribed from specimens from the Gowa District near Ujung Pandang, Sulawesi. It is hypothesized to be most closely related to Neostethus robertsi from Luzon I, and Neostethus palawanenis from Palawan and Cayo Is., the Philippines, with which it shares a distinctive, bifid or claw-shaped second ctenactinial bone in the intromittent organ of males. Neostethus djajaorum is distinguished from its closest relatives by the shape of the claws and the extent of a bony projection and fleshy profile on the ventral margin of the first ctenactinium that abuts the claw. It is the first species in the distinctive atherinomorph fish family Phallostethidae known from east of Wallace's Line and from Sulawesi. The inferred ancestral distribution of the new species and its close relatives is coincidental, in part, with limits of a a now geographically dispersed ancient island-arc system, the Sumba block or terrane, that comprises west Mindanao, northern Borneo (plus Palawan), east Kalimantan, the southwestern arm of Sulawesi, and part of Java and the lesser Sunda Islands. The coastal and freshwater Phallostethidae and its sister taxon, the marine shorefish Dentathirinidae, have largely complementary (allopatric) distribution patterns that overlap (are sympatric) in northeastern Borneo and the Philippines, including portions of the Sumba terrane.


Parenti, L.R. and K.R. Thomas. 1998. Pharyngeal Jaw Morphology and Homology in Sicydiine Gobies (Teleostei: Gobiidae) and Allies. Journal of Morphology 237: 257-274.

ABSTRACT: An extremely large number of fifth ceratobranchial teeth, with highly modified, striated, and hooked tips were observed in the central and western Pacific sicydiine goby genus Stiphodon. A scanning electron microscopic study of the form and arrangement of fifth ceratobranchial teeth was conducted to assess the distribution of these modifications in sicydiine gobies and their putative close relatives. Our goals were to explore a new set of characters in goboid systematics, to test sicydiine monophyly, and to test hypothesis of relationships of sicydiine gobies. Sicydiines are hypothesized herein to be most closely related to the western Pacific Tukugobius and Rhinogobius, freshwater genera with which they share thickened pelvic-fin rays, no teeth on the anterior portion of the fifth ceratobranchial bones, fifth ceratobranchial teeth with differentiated and striated tips, and overlapping anterior rami of the fifth ceratobranchial bones. The latter two characters occur in some, but not all, sicydiines. The pantropical freshwater goby Awaous, often classified with sicydiines, is not considered the closest relative of the subfamily. The highly modified fifth ceratobranchials of Stiphodon are similar to, and concluded here to be homoplasious with, those of the mudflat-dwelling New World goby Evorthodus and the Indo-west Pacific oxudercine gobies, represented in this study by Pseudapocryptes.


Parham, J.F., C.K. Dodd, and G.R. Zug. 1996. Skeletochronological age estimates for the Red Hills salamander, Phaeognathus hubrichti. J. Herpetol. 30(3): 401-404.

ABSTRACT: Phaeognathus hubrichti is a cryptic desmognathine salamander confined to moist, hardwood forested ravines of the Red Hills of south-central Alabama. Studying the LAG of the humerus revealed a significant correlation between size and age. Because size and age are correlated, and because our oldest individual is among the largest Phaeognathus known, it is unlikely that individuals live much longer than eleven years. Use of a regression model predicts that females mature at 6+ years. Based on the sample, we estimate sexual maturity probably occurs at 5 to 6 years of age. Like most salamanders, Phaeognathus males mature at a smaller size than the females. Direct extrapolation from the regression model predicts that males may mature as early as one year of age. This prediction is certainly incorrect and emphasizes the necessity for age-estimates for younger individuals and the use of a nonlinear growth model.


Parham, J.F. and G.R. Zug. 1996. Chelonia agassizii - valid or not? Marine Turtle Newsletter 72: 2-5.

ABSTRACT: Our title asks two questions. First, a biological question: do the eastern Pacific populations of the green sea turtle (colloquially known as the black turtle, tortuga negra, or tortuga prieta) represent a different species from the western Pacific and other populations of Chelonia? Second, a nomenclatural question: if the eastern Pacific populations are a distinct species, is Chelonia agassizii the correct name? We cannot fully answer the biological question in this forum. Although recent studies provide strong hints to the resolution of specific status of the eastern Pacific Chelonia, the data do not provide an unequivocal solution. A complete answer to the nomenclatural question requires a full resolution of the biological one, i.e., the phylogenetic affinities of the various Pacific populations. Nevertheless, owing to the increase of the use of the specific name Chelonia agassizii, a review of the problem seems essential at this time.


Parham, J.F. and G.R. Zug. 1996. Skeletochronology of loggerhead sea turtles -- a reassessment. NOAA Tech. Memo. NMFS-SEFSC-387: 236.

ABSTRACT: Zug et al. (1986) examined the skeletal elements of loggerhead sea turtles from Cumberland Island, Georgia in an attempt to estimate ages using skeletochronology. This study reexamines and expands that data set with the intent to develop a more robust estimate for average age at sexual maturity. In addition to the Average Width protocol used in Zug et al. (1986), this study introduces two new techniques, the Regression and Correction protocol to estimate the number of growth layers lost to reorption. The Correction protocol is determined to generate the most accurate age estimates. Using the average age of nesting females as an approximation of the average size at sexual maturity, this study estimates the average age at sexual maturity to be between 20 and 24 years. This estimate is comparable to those of other studies that use a size of maturity that is based on the average adult.


Parham, J.F. and G.R. Zug. 1997. Age and growth of Loggerhead Sea Turtles (Caretta caretta) of coastal Georgia: an assessment of skeletochronological age-estimates. Bulletin of Marine Science 61(2): 287-304.

ABSTRACT: Loggerhead sea turtles stranded on Cumberland Island (CI), Georgia provide skeletal samples to estimate the ages of individual turtles by skeletochronology. An initial study in 1996 used an average-thickness of humeral crossection protocol to estimate individual ages and the minimum carapace length (CL) of nesting females to predict the average age at sexual maturity for the CI sample. The original data and two new CI samples are analyzed by average-thickness, correction-factor, and regression-growth protocols to reassess the original age estimates, to test the reliability of the three protocols, and to predict growth rate and age of sexual maturity. All protocols show moderate to high variation in one or more steps of calculations of the age-estimates. The lowest variation occurs in the correction-factor protocol, and this protocol's assumption for the estimation of the number of resorbed growth layers matches best the observed pattern of bone growth in Caretta. The skeletochronological results show growth patterns (von Bertalanffy model) with asymptotes of 96-117 cm curved carapace length (CCL) and growth coefficients of 0.040 - 0.106 for the CI samples. These patterns predict sexual maturity occurring from 20-63 yr, assuming 92 cm (SCL) as the mean size at sexual maturity. Growth rate estimates range from 30-40 mm yr^-1 for 40-49 cm SCL turtles to 10-35 mm yr^-1for 80-89 cm straight carapace length (SCL) turtles.


Pogue, M.G. and A.C. Laughlin. 2002. A revision of the Genus Bulia Walker (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae). Journal of the Lepidopterists' Society 56(3): 129-150.

ABSTRACT: A phylogenetic revision of the genus Bulia Walker is provided and includes a key to species, descriptions, illustrations of adults, both male and female genitalia, and distribution maps. The relationships among the five species of Bulia are based on an analysis of 16 characters. The monophyly of Bulia is supported by 7 nonhomoplasious synapomorphies. Arsisca bolinalis Walker 1866 is proposed as a new synonym of Bulia confirmans (Walker) 1958 and Bulia morelosa Richards 1941 as a new synonym of Bulia similaris Richards 1936. Larval host plants are recorded for the first time for Bulia confirmans, on Jatropha gossypiifolia (L.) (Euphorbiaceae), and for Bulia mexicana (Behr), on Prosopis juliflora (Sw.) DC. (Fabaceae).


Presswell, B., S.H. Weitzman, and T. Bergquist. 2000. Skiotocharax meizon, A new genus and species of fish from Guyana with a discussion of its relationships (Characiformes: Crenuchidae). Ichthyological Exploration of Freshwaters 11(2): 175-192.

ABSTRACT: Skiotocharax meizon, new genus and species, is described from four localities in Guyana, South America. The new species has several of the features that diagnose the Characidiinae, although in some respects it appears less derived than other genera in the subfamily. While not a miniature fish (it reaches at least 32.1 mmSL), S. meizon has a highly reduced dorsal portion of the pectoral girdle comparable only to that of the miniature Odontocharacidium aphanes among the Characidiinae. Skiotocharax meizon also has a reduced laterosensory canal system of the head, lateral line, and head bones. These are consistent with reductive features common in paedomorphic fishes. Entering the characters of this new genus and species into a matrix, including the taxa and characters used by Buckup to produce a strict consensus cladogram of characidiine relationships resulted in placement of Skiotocharax as a sister group to Odontocharacidium. The relationships of the relatively newly described genus and species Geryichthys sterbai among the species and genera of the Characidiinae need phylogenetic analysis. However, no attempt was made to include this taxon in our analysis because no specimens were available for study at this time and the original description lacked some of the critical osteological information needed for such a study.


Price, N.A. , B.T. Huber, and K.G. MacLeod. 2004. Planktonic foraminiferal turnover and paleoceanographic change across the Aptian-Albian Boundary in the subtropical North Atlantic. Journal of Paleooceanography.

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Puente, R. 1994. Map: Gomez Far¡as Region and El Cielo Biosphere Reserve, In Davis, S., Heywood, V., and Herrera-MacBryde, O. Centres of Plant Diversity: A guide and strategy for their conservation Volume 3.

ABSTRACT:


Puente, R. and R.B. Faden. 2001. Commelinaceae Spiderwort Family. Journal of the Arizona-Nevada Academy of Science 33(1): 19-26.

ABSTRACT: Annual or perennial herbs, glabrous to sparsely pubescent. LEAVES alternate, distichous or spirally arranged, the sheaths closed, the blade simple, the margins entire. INFLORESCENCES terminal or terminal and axillary cymes subtended by bracts or enclosed in spathes. FLOWERS perfect and staminate, actinomorphic or zygomorphic; sepals 3, usually subequal, distinct or connate; petals 3, deliquescent, distinct, equal or unequal; stamens 6, all fertile or some staminodial, the filaments glabrous or bearded, the anthers with longitudinal dehiscence; ovary superior, 2-3 locular, 1-several ovulate, the ovules 1-seriate, the style simple, usually slender, the stigma simple or rarely slightly 3-lobed. FRUITS capsules, loculicidal. SEEDS 1-several, the hilum dot-like or linear. -- 41 genera, ca. 650 spp., mostly tropical and subtropical.


Quinn, T. 1988. Binational conservation project. Biological Conservation Newsletter 65:1.

ABSTRACT: The FLORUTIL Conservation Project involves the study and conservation of useful threatened flora occurring in the states of Mexico and the United States. Initiated by the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix, Arizona, it represents an effort to combine botanical data with cultural information for the conservation of endemic plants and indigenous peoples' knowledge of those plants. Some results of the FLORUTIL program include detailed analyses of the necessary procedure for their in situ preservation. It is hoped that an expansive and detailed information base of plant habitats and native knowledge will provide further impetus for conservation efforts by the native borderland tribes and by U.S. and Mexican governmental agencies.


Rao, N. and W.N. Mathis. 1995. A revision of the shore-fly genus Rhysophora Cresson (Diptera: Ephydridae). Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington 97: 666-688.

ABSTRACT: The new world genus Rhysophora Cresson, now placed in the tribe Discomyzini (subfamily Discomyzinae), is revised. Four species, including R. griseola (type locality: Costa Rica. Guanacaste: Colorado), which is newly described, are included. The phylogenetic relationships of the species of Rhysophora are reanalyzed, and brief comments are provided on the relationships of the genus within the tribe. A key to the genera of the tribe is included.


Roalson, E.H., A.E. Senters, L.E. Skog, and E.A. Zimmer. 2002. A morphological cladistic analysis of the neotropical flowering plant genus Gasteranthus (Gesneriaceae). Systematic Botany 27(3): 573-591.

ABSTRACT: Gasteranthus (Gesneraceae; Beslereae) includes 38 species restricted to the New World tropics. The genus has a limited distribution in Central and South America, with a center of diversity in western Ecuador. This study investigates cladistic relationships among species of Gasteranthus using floral and vegetative morphological data. Corolla shape in Gasteranthus ranges from funnelform to urceolate and ventricose, with additional variation in corolla spur and corolla ventral pouch morphology. Our analysis revealed that there were likely single primary innovations of the three major corolla types although only one of the three types forms a monophyletic group. Apparently, ventricose corollas were derived from funnelform corollas and urceolate corollas were derived from ventricose corollas, making the funnelform and ventricose corolla groups both paraphyletic. Spurs have been lost twice in Gasteranthus. Conspicuousness of stomatal clusters is quite homoplastic given the phylogenetic hypothesis.


Robbins, R.K. and M. Duarte. 2005. Phylogenetic analysis of Cyanophrys Clench, a Synopsis of its species, and the potentially threatened C. Bertha (Jones) (Lycaenidae: Theclinae: Eumaeini) . Proc. Entomol. Soc. Wash. 107(2): 398-416.

ABSTRACT: A species level phylogenetic analysis of Cyanophrys Clench was performed using 14 characters of the frons, wing venation, wing shape, androconia, and genitalia. There were 15 most parsimonious cladograms, and a successive weighting iteration resulted in three of these 15. Cyanophrys is characterized in this paper by two hypothesized synapomorphies (an expanded hindwing anal lobe that is tan-brown and a pair of dorsal brush organs), and adults can be readily identified in the field. Cyanophrys has been divided into Plesiocyanophrys K. Johnson, Eisele and MacPherson, Apophrys K. Johnson and Le Crom, Antephrys K. Johnson, Eisele and MacPherson, Mesocyanophrys K. Johnson and Cyanophrys (as delimited in Johnson and Le Crom 1997a), but only the monotypic Antephrys is monophyletic on the most parsimonious cladograms. A synopis of Cyanophrys species includes notes on their distribution, habitat, identification, nomenclature, larval food plants, and male behavior.Cyanophrys bertha, which occurs in moist evergreen and seasonally deciduous forests in mountains of southern Brazil from 800 to 1,400m elevation, has been proposed for threatened status. It is "cladistically distinct" (sensu Vane-Wright et al. 1991) in that its sister is a lineage of five montane species or seven primarily lowland species.


Robinson, H. and A.J. Moore. In press. New species and new combinations in Rhysolepis (Heliantheae: Asteraceae). Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash. 117.

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Robinson, H. and D.C. Taylor. 1999. The Status of the Pitcairnioid Genera of the Bromeliaceae. Harvard Papers in Botany 4(1):195-202.

ABSTRACT: Recent history of studies in the Bromeliaceae, Pitcairnioideae is reviewed with emphasis on the changes since the 1974 monograph by L.B. Smith. A basic subdivision in the Pitcairnioideae, based on leaf cross-section, first proposed in 1969, is reintroduced. The tribal divisions of Varadarajan and Gilmartin are discussed and rejected. Only two tribes are recognized, the Pitcairnieae (including the Brocchinieae and Puyeae) and a new tribe, Dyckieae. The latter is proposed for the series of genera lacking a sharp line of demarcation in leaf cross-section between the chlorenchyma and adaxial water storage tissue, Deuterocohnia, Dyckia, Encholirium and Hechtia. Two keys are provided, one based primarily on traditional characters used by Lyman B. Smith, the other initially using the leaf cross-section to divide the subfamily into the Pitcairnieae and Dyckieae. Navia plowmanii is transferred to Steyerbromelia.


Rosenshein E.B., M.A. Ivanova, T.L. Dickinson, T.J. McCoy, D.S. Lauretta, Y. Guan, L.A. Leshin and G.K. Benedix. 2006. Oxide-bearing and FeO-rich clasts in aubrites. Meteoritics and Planetary Science 41, 495-503.

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Runestad, J.A., C.B. Ruff, J.C. Nieh, R.W. Thorington and M. Teaford. 1993. Radiographic Estimation of Long Bone Cross-Sectional Geometric Properties. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 90: 207-213.

ABSTRACT: Because of their biomechanical significance, cross-sectional geometric properties of long bone diaphyses (areas, second moments of area) have been increasingly used in a number of form/function studies, e.g., to reconstruct body mass or locomotor mode in fossil primates or to elucidate allometric scaling relationships among extant taxa. In the present study, we test whether these biomechanical section properties can be adequately estimated using biplanar radiographs, as compared to calculations of the same properties from computer digitization of cross-sectional images. We are particularly interested in smaller animals, since the limb bone cortices of these animals may not be resolvable using other alternative noninvasive techniques (computed tomography). The test sample includes limb bones of small (25-5,000 g) relatively generalized quadrupedal mammals - mice, six species of squirrels, and Macaca fascicularis. Results indicate that biplanar radiographs are reasonable substitues for digitized cross-sectional images for deriving areas and second moments of area of midshaft femora and humeri of mammels in this size range. Potential application to a variety of questions relating to mechanical loading patterns in such animals is diverse.



Runyan, A.M. and D.R. Hunt. In press. Dental disease: the root of all evil? Skeletal analysis of the relationship between periodontal and systemic disease. International Journal of Dental Anthropology.

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Saarela, J.M., P.M. Peterson, R.J. Soreng, and R.E. Chapman. 2003. A taxonomic revision of the eastern North American and eastern Asian disjunct genus Brachyelytrum (Poaceae): evidence from morphology, phytogeography and AFLPs. Systematic Biology 28(4): 674-692.

ABSTRACT: A combination of morphological, phytogeographical, and molecular AFLP data support the recognition of three distinct species in the eastern North American and eastern Asian disjunct genus Brachyelytrum: B. japonicum, B. erectum, and B. aristosum. Brachyelytrum japonicum is confined to eastern Asia and is characterized by narrow leaf blades (0.5--0.8 cm wide), long lower glumes (0.2--2.0 mm long), and long rachillas (6.8--8.8 mm long). Brachyelytrum erectum is distributed throughout much of the eastern United States from northwestern Minnesota south to central Louisiana, east to northern Florida and north to northeastern New York. Brachyelytrum erectum is characterized by long hispid hairs (0.2--0.9 mm long) on the veins of the lemma, wide lemmas (0.8--1.8 mm wide), and a highly conspicuous lemma mid-vein. Brachyelytrum aristosum has a more northern distribution occurring in southern Canada from southern Ontario east to Newfoundland, the northern adjacent United States and south through the Appalachian mountains to northwestern North Carolina. Brachyelytrum aristosum is characterized by short scaberulous hairs (0.06--0.2 mm long) on the lemma and narrow lemmas (0.7--1.4 mm wide) that are weakly veined. We include a key to the taxa, synonymies, descriptions, and representative specimens. This study represents a recent monographic study of an eastern North American and eastern Asian genus.


Saluke, S.V. and M.G. Pogue. 2000. Resolution of the Elaphria festivoides (Guenée) species complex (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae). Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington 102(2): 233-270.

ABSTRACT: A new species, Elaphria cornutinis, of the Elaphria festivoides Guenee species complex is described and illustrated. E. festivoides is redescribed and variation within the species discussed. Elaphria cornutinis can be distinguished from E. festivoides by the darker ground color of the forewing and more distinct orbicular and claviform spots. The male has an abdominal hair pencil, a gradually narrowing valve, and a narrower uncus than in that of E. festivoides. Elaphria festivoides is widely distributed from southern Canada to southern Texas and Florida, west to eastern British Columbia, Colorado, and New Mexico. Elaphria cornutinis overlaps the distribution of E. festivoides from Maryland south to Alabama and west to Oklahoma and Missouri. A total of 796 specimens were studied, with 41 specimens of E. festivoides and 15 specimens of E. cornutinis dissected for genitalic examination.


Schlamp, J. 1991. Review: Canadian Biodiversity Journal. Biological Conservation Newsletter 98: 2.

ABSTRACT: The Canadian Museum of Nature recently released the first issue of its new quarterly bulletin, Canadian Biodiversity. The stated goals of the bulletin are to publish articles on biodiversity, bridge the gap between professional disciplines and the public, circulate news on Canadian and world biodiversity, express views on the needs and values of biodiversity research, discuss methods, principles, and ethics of biodiversity conservation, and review books and major articles on biodiversity and indeed the first issue goes far towards meeting all these goals. I found this to be a refreshing new publication with articles and news not repeated in other popular journals.


Schultz, T.R., S.A. Solomon, U.G. Mueller, P. Villesen, J.J. Boomsma, R.M.M. Adams, and B. Norden. 2002. Cryptic speciation in the fungus-growing ants Cyphomyrmex longiscapus Weber and Cyphomyrmex muelleri Schultz and Solomon, new species (Formicidae: Attini). Insectes Sociaux 49: 331-343.

ABSTRACT:Nesting in abundance on stream embankments in the wet forests of Panama, the fungus-growing ant Cyphomyrmex longiscapus sensu lato has become a model organism for the study of behavior, ecology, mating frequency, cultivar specificity, pathogenesis, and social parasitism in the attine agricultural symbiosis. Allozyme markers, morphology, and other evidence indicate that C. longiscapus s.l. is in fact a complex of two species, one of which is new to science and described here as Cyphomyrmex muelleri Schultz and Solomon, new species. Although both species occur sympatrically in the same microhabitats and are ecologically, behaviorally, and morphologically quite similar, they consistently cultivate two distantly related fungal symbionts. Thus, each of the two sibling ant species is specialized on a distinct cultivar species, contradicting the conclusions of a previous study. Information is provided for reliably separating the two ant species; morphometrics, ecology, behavior, biogeography, and natural history are summarized. Possible evolutionary mechanisms underlying cryptic speciation in C. longiscapus s.l. are discussed.


Seago, A. and S.W. Lingafelter. 2003. Discovery of Crepidodera bella Parry (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae: Alticini) in Maryland and redescription. Journal of the New York Entomological Society. 111(1): 51-56.

ABSTRACT: Crepidodera bella Parry (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae: Alticini), previously known only from Florida, South Carolina, Alabama, and Louisiana, is discovered in central Maryland. This species is sympatric with C. browni Parry on Salix nigra growing along swamps in the McKee-Besher Wildlife Management Area (39E04'30"N, 77E23'00"W). Morphological features of the integument and genitalia are described and compared to C. browni.


Siaca, R.A., T.H. Fritts, and C. Marquez. 1996. Patrones de crecimiento de las tortugas gigantes de la Isla de Pinzon, Galapagos. Actas II Congreso Latinoamericano de Herpetologia, Merida, Venezuela, October 1990. pp. 121-130. In: Pefaur, J.E. (editor) Herpetologia Neotropical. Universidad de Los Andes, Merida, Venezuela.

ABSTRACT: Geochelone ephippium es una de las especies de tortugas gigantes descritas en el archipielago de Galapagos y la unica que habita en la isla de Pinzon. Esta isla se caracteriza por su pequena extension territorial, baja elevacion y flora xerofitica. Sur poblacion de tortugas gigantes se ha visto amenazada por la introduccion accidental de ratas por lo cual el Servicio del Parque Nacional Galapagos ha desarrollado un programa de manejo en cautividad de tortugas jovenes con el fin de estabilizar la poblacion. El programa consiste en la proteccion de jovenes retenidos en cautividad hasta cumplidos los cuatro o cinco anos de edad, momento en el cual se incorporan a la poblacion en libertad. Mediante el seguimiento de ejemplares puestos en libertad, de edades conocidas durante un periodo de viente anos, se ha podido determinar que esta especie alcanza la madurez sexual entre los doce y quince anos. Se ha establecido tambien que el crecimiento despues de la madurez en los machos es la causa de la diferencia de tamano entre sexos.


Siaca, R.A. and T.H. Fritts. 1995. Patrones de crecimiento de las tortugas gigantes (Geochelone ephippium) de la Isla de Pinzon, Galapagos. Rev. Acad. Colomb. Cienc. 19(75): 741-744.

ABSTRACT: Geochelone ephippium is one of fourteen giant tortoise species described from the Galapagos Archipelago, and the only one that inhabits Pinzon island. This island is characterized by its low extension, low elevation, and xeric climate. The population of Pinzon giant tortoises has been menaced by the introduction of rats. For this reason, the National Park Service of Galapagos has developed a captive rearing program in order to stabalize the population. The Conservation program consists of retaining juvenile tortoises in captivity until five years of age, time in which predation by rats and starvation are minimized. For twenty years, results from growth collection data in known age tortoises shows that this species reaches sexual maturity between twelve and fifteen years of age. Also, it has been established that the continuous growth in males after reaching sexual maturity is the cause of the difference in size between sexes.


Skog, L.E. and F.F. de Jesus. 1997. A Review of Resia (Gesneriaceae). Biollania 6: 515-525.

ABSTRACT: The poorly-known and rarely-collected genus Resia, is reviewed in light of recent collections, and a new subspecies, Resia ichthyoides subsp. bracteata, is described and illustrated from Colombia.


Spencer, M.A. and L.B. Smith. 1991. Pitcairnia funkiae, a new species from Costa Rica. Journal of the Bromeliad Society 41(5): 214-215.

ABSTRACT: Volcán Arenál is one of seven active volcanoes in central Costa Rica. In 1983, the Smithsonian Institution, in collaboration with the Instituto Nacionál de Biodiversidád of Costa Rica, initiated a project to study the volcanology and biology of that volcano. One aspect of the project was to study the flora. While examining Bromeliaceae specimens that she had collected, Dr. Vicki Funk, a curator at the Smithsonian, discovered a new species of Pitcairnia.


Taylor, D.C., and H. Robinson. 1999. A rejection of Pepinia (Bromeliaceae: Pitcairnioideae) and taxonomic revisions. Harvard Papers in Botany 4(1): 203-217.

ABSTRACT: The recent generic subdivision of Pitcairnia L'Her., and recognition of an expanded segregate genus Pepinia Brong. in André by Varadarajan and Gilmartin is rejected. The stated difference between the genera was seed structure, alate or naked in Pepinia and bicaudate in typical Pitcairnia. Analysis of the seeds shows a more complex seed variation, varying from the amphigenus cortication of Pitcairnia aphelandriflora Lem. (subg. Pepinia) to the narrowly winged and bicaudate form of typical Pitcairnia and the broadly alate form of many South American species. Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) is employed to illustrate the gradation. Seed variation, by itself, proves unreliable for the proposed generic delimitation. Other characters against which the seed character is tested include the arrangements of chlorenchyma, and adaxial or abaxial water storage tissue adjacent to vascular bundles as seen in cross sections of Pitcairnia leaves. The latter anatomical structures are considered significant and unlikely to have evolved more than once in the broad concept of Pitcairnia. The different foliar modifications occur in both proposed subgenera based on seed type with little correlation to seed variation. As a result, the genus Pepinia is returned to the synonomy of Pitcairnia without distinction at the subgeneric level. Forty-two species that have been transferred to Pepinia are listed with their proper names in Pitcairnia with six new combinations and two required new names.


Thorington, R. W., Jr., K. Darrow, and A.D.K. Betts. 1997. Comparative myology of the forelimb of squirrels (Sciuridae). Journal of Morphology 234: 155-182.

ABSTRACT: The musculature of the shoulder, arm, and forearm was studied in 19 genera of squirrels, representing the Pteromyinae (flying squirrels) and all 7 tribes of the Sciurinae (tree and ground squirrels ). The objective was to locate derived anatomical features of functional or phylogenetic significance and to determine how much morphological variation underlies the diverse locomotor behavior of squirrels, which includes terrestrial and arboreal bounding, climbing, digging, and gliding. The fossil evidence suggests that arboreality is primitive for squirrels, and in fact tree squirrels appear to represent the primitive sciurid morphology. Ground squirrels are less uniform and exhibit a few derived features, including a clavobrachialis muscle not seen in other squirrels. Pygmy tree squirrels, which have evolved independently in three tribes, exhibit convergence of forelimb anatomy, including the loss or reduction of several muscles in the shoulder and forearm. The forelimb anatomy of flying squirrels is the most derived and differs from that of tree squirrels in details of shoulder, arm, and forearm musculature. Some of these muscular differences among squirrels have phylogenetic significance, being shared by closely related genera, but none has significance above the tribal level. Many of the differences suggest a variety of changes in function that are amenable to further study.


Torres-Meija, M. and R.P. Vari. 2005. New species of Creagrutus (Teleostei: Characiformes: Characidae) from the Río Magdalena basin, Colombia. Copeia 2005 :812-817.

ABSTRACT: A new species of Creagrutus from the Rý´o Magdalena basin, Colombia, is described. This species is distinguished from all congeners by a combination of morphometric, meristic, and morphological features. The species is the first member of the genus known to have breeding tubercles with keratinized caps. The phylogenetic position of the new species and various aspects of its ecology and behavior are discussed.


Vari, R.P. and T.A. Blackledge. 1996. New Curimatid, Cyphocharax laticlavius (Ostariophysi, Characiformes), from Amazonian Ecuador, with a Major Range Extension for C. gouldingi. Copeia 1: 109-113.

ABSTRACT: Cyphocharax laticlavius, new species, is described from Amazonian Ecuador. It is distinguished from congeners by the combination of a dark midlateral stripe originating at the hypural joint and extending to at least the vertical line through the midbase of the dorsal fin, possession of 31 or 32 pored lateral-line scales, and by the extreme reduction of the sixth infraorbital. The distribution of Cyphocharax gouldingi, previously known only from the eastern portions of the Amazon basin and adjoining drainages of Brazil, is extended to Ecuador.


Vohringer, C. 1987. Book review: Audubon Wildlife Report 1987. Biological Conservation Newsletter 58: 2-3.

ABSTRACT: The Audubon Wildlife Report 1987 proves to be a useful repository of the wildlife conservation events of the preceding year. The Report 1987 follows tradition of the past reports in its goal, design, and future outlook. The goal is to combine a diversity of data concerning the federal wildlife-policy administration and to make this data easily accessible to anyone interested in wildlife conservation. This book provides the reader with a wealth of descriptions, places, and persons to contact for more information or for action on the problems of wildlife conservation.


Vohringer, C. 1988. Book review: Conservation and management of rare and endangered plants. Biological Conservation Newsletter 59/60: 2-3.

ABSTRACT: Conservation and Management of Rare and Endangered Plants, edited by Thomas S. Elias, is a compilation of the orations given at the 1986 conference in Sacramento of the California Native Plant Society (CNPS). This book is a result of CNPS' attempt to provide an information exchange for all involved in rare plant conservation. The papers are grouped under four general topics: background; legal aspects of plant conservation; the plants, habitats and related studies; and management, conservation and education. The book is informative and easy to read.


Wilf, P., C.C. Labandeira, K.R. Johnson, P.D. Coley, and A.D. Cutter.2001. Insect herbivory, plant defense, and early Cenozoic climate change. PNAS 98(11): 6221-6226.

ABSTRACT: Insect damage on fossil leaves from the Central Rocky Mountains, United States, documents the response of herbivores to changing regional climates and vegetation during the late Paleocene (humid, warm temperate to subtropical, predominantly deciduous), and middle Eocene (seasonally dry, subtropical, mixed deciduous and thick-leaved evergreen). During all three time periods, greater herbivory occurred on taxa considered to have short rather than long leaf life spans, consistent with studies in living forests that demonstrate the insect resistance of long-lived, thick leaves. Variance in herbivory frequency and diversity was highest during the middle Eocene, indicating the increased representation of two distinct herbivory syndromes: one for taxa with deciduous, palatable foliage, and the other for hosts with evergreen, thick-textured, small leaves characterized by elevated insect resistance. Leaf galling, which is negatively correlated with moisture today, apparently increased during the middle Eocene, whereas leaf mining decreased.


Woodman, N., and J.P.Morgan. 2005. Skeletal morphology of the forefoot in shrews (Mammalia: Soricidae) of the genus Cryptotis, as revealed by digital x-rays. Journal of Morphology 266:60–73.

ABSTRACT:Variation in the forefoot skeleton of smalleared shrews (family Soricidae, genus Cryptotis) has been previously documented, but the paucity of available skeletons for most taxa makes assessment of the degrees of intraspecific and interspecific variation difficult. We used a digital X-ray system to extract images of the forefoot skeleton from 101 dried skins of eight taxa (seven species, including two subspecies of one species) of these shrews. Lengths and widths of each of the four bones of digit III were measured directly from the digital images, and we used these data to quantify variation within and among taxa. Analysis of the images and measurements showed that interspecific variation exceeds intraspecific variation. In fact, most taxa could be distinguished in multivariate and some bivariate plots. Our quantitative data helped us define a number of specific forefoot characters that we subsequently used to hypothesize evolutionary relationships among the taxa using the exhaustive search option in PAUP, a computer program for phylogenetic analysis. The resulting trees generally concur with previously published evolutionary hypotheses for small-eared shrews. Cryptotis meridensis, a taxon not previously examined in recent phylogenies, is rooted at the base of the branch leading to the C. mexicana group of species. The position of this species suggests that the mostly South American C. thomasi group shares an early ancestor with the C. mexicana group.


Yoder, C., D. Ubelaker, and J.F. Powell. 2001. Examination of variation in sternal rib end morphology relevant to age assessment. Journal of Forensic Science 46(2): 223-227.

ABSTRACT: The morphology of the sternal end of the right fourth rib has been proffered as an accurate age assessor in skeletonized individuals of both sexes. This technique was tested for its applicability on left and right II, III, V-IX. Tests were performed between phase scores obtained from right and left ribs; right rib IV phase scores and scores obtained from the others in the right rib series; and between right rib IV scores and a composite score composed of the average of an individual's phase scores (omitting rib IV). Left ribs IV-IX were found not to vary significantly from their right counterparts. Although only right rib II was found to vary significantly from rib IV, use of the other ribs in the series should be undertaken with caution due to the questions concerning their statistical significance. A composite score is therefore recommended for use instead.


Zermoglio, M.F. and V.A. Funk. 1997. A new species of Chrisactinium (Asteraceae, Liabeae) from Chichapoyas, Peru. BioLlania, Edicion Especial 6: 565-571.

ABSTRACT: A new species of Chrysactinium (Asteraceae: Liabeae) is described from the department of Amazonas in northern Peru. This new species is named after it's collector, John J. Wurdack. Also provided is an illustration of the new species and keys (in English and Spanish) to all the species of the genus.


Zug, G.R., and R.F. Glor. 1998. Skeletochronological age estimates of Green seaturtles living in a Florida developmental habitat. Mem. Resum. 18th Int. Seaturtle Symp.: 97.

ABSTRACT: Juvenile Caretta caretta (44-92 cm SCL) and Chelonia mydas (30-75 cm SCL) occur year around in the Indian River Lagoon system of eastern Florida. An extraordinary cold snap in December 1989 caused a major cold-stunning event in the lagoon. Over 150 seaturtles were rescued and their rehabilitation attempted. About one third of the C. mydas did not survive the cold-shock; these turtles offered an opportunity to use skeletochronology to estimate their ages and examine the age structure of C. mydas in this developmental habitat. The sample contains individuals ranging from 28-74 cm SCL with estimated ages of 3-14 yr. The age estimates suggest the following hypothetical life cycle for Florida-Atlantic Chelonia mydas. The pelagic phase lasts a minimum of 3 years, although 5 to 7 years is the most likeley common duration. The juveniles then return to coastal water (nearshore and estuarine habitats) and join foraging assemblages in developmental habitats. Individuals remain in these developmental habitats for 6-10 years, although likely not at the same locality, and depart these habitats for subadult-adult feeding grounds somewhere in the Caribbean at ages of 12-14 yr and at 60-75 cm SCL.


Zug, G.R. and R. Glor. 1999. Estimates of age and growth in a population of green seaturtles (Chelonia mydas) from the Indian River lagoon system, Florida: a skeletochronological analysis. Canad. J. Zoology. [1998] 76: 1497-1506.

ABSTRACT: The Indian River lagoon system harbors a dynamic population of juvenile green sea turtles (Chelonia mydas). This foraging or developmental population occupies the lagoon year-round and periodically experiences cold-stunning events that kill a portion of the population. A sample of 59 C. mydas (28-74 cm straight carapace length) from the December 1989 cold-stunning event was aged by skeletochronology, yielding age estimates of 3-14 years. Mean growth-rate estimates range from 30 to 52 mm/year for most age and size classes, with means for the 6- to 11-year age classes (44-49 mm/year) not significantly different but greater than those of the youngest and oldest classes (3-5 and 12 years old, respectively) (32-38 mm/year). Because of the lack of adults and near-adults in the sample, growth models (e.g., Gompertz) do not yield biologically realistic asymptotes, hence they do not provide accurate estimates of age at sexual maturity. The age estimates suggest that the western Atlantic C. mydas change from a pelagic to a neritic life predominantly as 5- to 6-year-olds and, in central Florida, juveniles may live in a developmental habitat for 6 or more years.


Zug, G.R. and H.J. Kalb. 1989. Skeletochronological age estimates for juvenile Lepidochelys kempii from Atlantic coast of North America. Proc. 9th Ann. Workshop Sea Turtle Conserv., NOAA Technical Memorandum NMFS-SEFC-232: 271-273.

ABSTRACT: Kemp's ridleys are the smallest living sea turtles; adults average 646mm in carapace length (range 595-750mm). This small adult size suggests that these turtles attain sexual maturity at a younger age than any of the other living sea turtles. Data on the growth rates of recaptured nesting females and captive-raised hatchlings provide variable estimates of age at sexual maturity. The salvage of juvenile ridleys from the eastern seaboard of the United States provide an opportunity to use the skeletochronological technique to estimate the ages and to develop growth curves for free-living Lepidochelys kempii.


Zug, G.R. and H.J. Kalb. 1991. Estimates of age and growth in Lepidochelys kempii from skeletochronological data. Proc. 10th Ann. Workshop Sea Turtle Conserv., NOAA Technical Memorandum NMFS-SEFC-278: 285-286.

ABSTRACT: Kemp's ridleys are the smallest living sea turtles; adults average 646mm in carapace length. This small adult size suggests that these turtles attain sexual maturity at a younger age than any of the other living sea turtles. Data on growth rates of recaptured nesting females and of captive-raised hatchlings provide variable estimates of age at sexual maturity. The salvage of juvenile ridleys from the eastern seaboard of the United States provided an opportunity to use skeletochronological technique to estimate the ages and to develop growth curves for free living Lepidochelys kempii.


Zug, G.R., H.J. Kalb, and S. Luzar. 1997. Age and growth in wild Kemp's Ridley seaturtles Lepidochelys kempii from skeletochronological data. Biol. Conserv. 80: 261-268.

ABSTRACT: Skeletochronological analysis provides age estimates, not actual ages, for seaturtles. Unlike age and growth data from captive and headstart turtles, these estimates predict the actual patterns of age and growth in free-living turtles. A moderate-sized sample of 69 Lepidochelys kempii, salvaged from the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of the USA, had straight-line carapace lengths (SCL) of 188-720mm and age estimates of 2-15 years. The von Bertalanffy growth model provides the best fit for age-estimate and size data and predicts maturity between 11 and 16 years, depending on the body size of selected to represent sexual maturity. The logistic growth model suggests later maturity of 13-19 years. Comparison of the Atlantic and Gulf components of the sample suggests a faster growth rate for Ridleys in the Gulf of Mexico, although the size of the subsamples are too small for this interpretation to be reliable without additional data. Our age and growth estimates indicate that some members of the early cohorts of headstart Ridleys are mature and may have nested already.


Zug, G.R. and J.F. Parham. 1996. Age and growth in leatherback turtles, Dermochelys coriacea (Testudines: Dermochelyidae): a skeletochronological analysis. Chelonian Conserv. Biol. 2(2): 231-236.

ABSTRACT: Leatherbacks are the largest living turtles and grow faster than the smaller, hard-shelled sea turtles (Cheloniidae). Age estimates derived from a skeletochronological analysis of sclerotic ossicles from 15 adult leatherbacks and two juveniles ranged between 8.8 and 22.9 years for the adults, and less than a year and slightly over a year old for the juveniles. These age estimates analyzed by the von Bertalanffy growth model predict maturity on the average at 13-14 years for females, a minimum age at maturity of 5-6 years, and juvenile growth rates ranging between 8.6 to 39.4 cm per year. For conservation management purposes, 9 years is a likely minimum age for maturity based on the youngest adult in the sample.


Zug, G.R. and J.F. Parham. 1997. Age and growth of the leatherback Dermochelys coriacea Proc. 16th Ann. Sea Turtle Symposium. NOAA Tech. Memo. NMFS-SEFSC 412:158.

ABSTRACT: Leatherbacks are the largest turtles and grow faster than the smaller, hard-shelled sea turtles (Cheloniidae). Age estimates derived from a skeletochronological analysis of sclerotic ossicles from 15 adult leatherbacks and two juveniles ranged between 8.8 and 22.9 years for the adults, and less than a year and slightly over a year old for the juveniles. These age estimates analyzed by the von Bertalanffy growth model predict maturity on the average at 13-14 years for females, a minimum age at maturity of 5-6 years, and juvenile growth rates ranging between 8.6 to 39.4cm per year. For conservation management purposes, 9 years is a likely minimum age for maturity based on the youngest adults in the sample.


PRESENTATIONS with ABSTRACTS


Albright, A.L. and M.A. Wise. 2000. Epidote in granitic pegmatites of the Rincon pegmatite district, southern California. Geological Society of America, Abstracts with Program.

ABSTRACT:


Angarita, H.E. 2001. Diferenciacion de los murciélagos Platyrrhinus de Colombia (Chiroptera: Phyllostomidae). II Congreso Colombiano de Zoologia.

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Baldwin, C.C., A. Hankins and A. Mauke. 2004. Morphological investigations of Atlantic Ophioblennius (Teleostei: Blenniidae). Joint Meeting of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists, Norman, OK. 26 - 31 May.

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Brandley, M. 2002. The phylogenetic history of the Anolis cristatellus group: a morphological and molecular analysis using frequency parsimony and maximum likelihood methods. 2002 meeting of the Society of Systematic Biologists and the Society for the Study of Evolution, Champaign-Urbana, IL.

ABSTRACT:


Campos, N.D. and P. Molloy. 2000. Identifying Etowah site funerary objects based on material criteria. American Archaeology Meetings.

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Cisneros-Heredia, D.F. and R.W. McDiarmid. 2004. Observations on the taxonomy, distribution, and conservation status of the centrolenids from Ecuador (Anura: Centrolenidae). Joint Meeting of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists, Norman, OK, 26-31 May.

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Cowan, K.A., and T.J. McCoy. 1998. Mass equivalence and brecciation in the Mt. Padbury mesosiderite. In Lunar and Planetary Science XXIX, Abstract #1194, Lunar and Planetary Institute, Houston, Texas, March 1998. (CD-ROM).

ABSTRACT: Dodd [1,2] first suggested that an apparent sorting of chondrules by size may have resulted from aerodynamic drag during parent body accretion. Since that time, researchers have argued that aerodynamic size sorting may have played a role in determining chondrule distributions among chondrite types [3,4]. More recently, mass equivalence of chondrules and metal-sulfide grains in the L4 chondrite Bjurböle has been invoked as evidence for sorting by mass during accretion in the nebula [5]. To date, the question of whether similar sorting can be achieved during parent body processes (e.g. impact brecciation or melting) has not been critically assessed. Mesosiderites, with their complex history of igneous processing and impact events on a parent asteroid, provide such a test. Metal and silicate clasts within the subgroup 1A mesosiderite Mt. Padbury were studied to test for metal-silicate mass equivalence, as well as to further constrain the brecciation history of this meteorite.


Dehn, G.A. and T.J. McCoy. 1998. The formation history of the Bencubbin meteorite: A macroscopic analyses. In Lunar and Planetary Science XXIX, Abstract #1193, Lunar and Planetary Institute, Houston, Texas, March 1998.(CD-ROM).

ABSTRACT: Bencubbin is an enigmatic stony-iron meteorite composed of subequal proportions of Fe, Ni metal clasts and ferromagnesian silicates. Originally classified as a mesosiderite [1], a variety of studies over the last 30 years have revealed that Bencubbin has had a complex history. Evidence for a history related to nebular processing includes the similarity between the dominant silicate particles and barred olivine chondrules [2,3], chemical trends within the metal suggestive of nebular condensation [4] and a bulk composition similar to chondrites [5]. It is clear, however, that Bencubbin also has experienced a prolonged parent body history, as evidenced by the deformation (both elongation and alignment) of the metal clasts [e.g., 4]. Further, Bencubbin contains foreign clasts indicative of brecciation and mixing [5]. This conflicting evidence has lead to two schools of thought about the origin of Bencubbin. Bencubbin's components may have formed in the solar nebula with later brecciation and minor melting, or Bencubbin may have formed via impact melting on a chondritic parent body [3]. A review of these two models by [3] clearly favors the former. Since the 1970's, several authors have suggested that nebular components may have experienced size or mass sorting due to aerodynamic drag during accretion of chondritic parent bodies [6-10]. Size or mass sorting has been documented in several CR and ordinary chondrites, although it is unclear whether this mechanism acted in the formation of all chondrites [8] or is a property unique to meteorites formed through nebular processes [11]. We have undertaken a macroscopic study of metal and silicate particles in the Bencubbin meteorite to further elucidate the role of mass or size sorting in the formation of this enigmatic meteorite, as well as to document the deformation which this meteorite has experienced.


Diaz, R. and K. de Queiroz. 2003. Phylogenetic relationships among corytophanine iguanid lizards inferred from morphological characters. SACNAS national conference, Albuquerque, NM. October 2003.

ABSTRACT: Corytophanine lizards are unique within the Iguanidae in having head crests and casques supported by the posterior extension of the parietal bone as well as having lateral fringes of skin along their hind digits which allots them added surface area aiding them in their bipedal locomotion across the surface of water. Their neotropical distribution extends from Mexico to Colombia, with its main concentration in Central America. Three genera of corytophanines have traditionally been recognized, Basiliscus (four species), Corytophanes (three species), and Laemanctus (two species). The crests also appear to develop after birth and are more pronounced in male than in female Basiliscus; in contrast, they develop in the embryos and are of comparable size in males and females of Corytophanes and Laemanctus. The function of the head crests is not yet well understood. The phylogenetic relationships among the species of corytophanine lizards will be estimated using morphological characters. Characters will be obtained from the literature and verified and supplemented using museum specimens. Phylogenetic relationships will be estimated from those data using parsimony and likelihood methods and compared with estimates based on molecular data. Combined analyses of morphological and molecular data will also be performed. Constrained phylogenetic analyses will be used to test various hypotheses about the systematics and evolution of corytophanine lizards, including hypotheses about the monophyly of various groups, the evolution of head ornamentation, and historical biogeography.


Faden, R.B. and K. Inman. 1996. Leaf anatomy of the African genera of Commelinaceae: Anthericopsis and Murdannia. Proceedings of the XIVth AETFAT Congress, 22 - 27 August 1994, Wageningen, The Netherlands. p. 467-471.

ABSTRACT: Leaf anatomy of Anthericopsis sepalosa and nine species of Murdannia was studied using scanning electron microscopy, paraffin embedded sections, whole leaf clearings, and epidermal scrapes. Anthericopsis was distinctive because of its attenuate margin with basal tannin cells and a broad, discontinuous, adaxial hypodermis, and generally marginal sclerenchyma. Both genera showed several apparently synapomorphic characters, such as lack of a thick midrib, presence of a broad adaxial hypodermis, and a tappered margin, that separated them from other genera of the tribe Commelineae. The anatomical support morphological data that show a phylogenetic relationship between the two genera.


Fuentes S. and D.H. Erwin. 2000. Biogeography and Stratigraphy of the Neoproterozoic Ediacaran Fauna. Geological Society of America, Abstracts with Program.

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Gargas, A., P.T. DePriest, and N. Ivanova. 1993. Extracting DNA and amplifying rDNA from glacier-covered lichens. Paper presented, Ancient DNA, 2nd International Conference, Washington, DC, October 1993.

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Gargas, A., P.T. DePriest, and N. Ivanova. 1994. Glacier- covered lichens: Sources of ancient DNA. Paper presented, Fifth International Mycological Congress, Vancouver, BC, August 1994.

ABSTRACT:


Gargas, A., P.T. DePriest, and N. Ivanova. 1994. Glacier- covered lichens: Sources of ancient DNA. Paper presented, Annual AIBS Meeting, Knoxville, TN, August 1994.

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Greenfest, E.F. and C.C. Labandeira. 1997. Insect folivory on a Lower Permian (Sakmarian) riparian flora from north-central Texas. Geological Society of America, Abstract with Program 29(6): 262.

ABSTRACT: The Coprolite Bone Bed flora from Archer County in north-central Texas is of Early Permian (Sakmarian) age and occurs in a mottled silty claystone, interpreted as a perennial pond deposit within a river floodplain facies. Preservation is variable but sufficiently informative to reveal details of foliar response to trauma, including insect consumption, abiotic damage, and fungal attack. The level of insect folivory represented in the study are exceptionally low by modern standards. These data are also approximately tenfold less than a somewhat younger (Artinakian), gigantopterid-dominated locality in nearby Baylor County. Both studies provide evidence that pteridosperms and closely related taxa with broad, planated leaves were preferentially targeted by insects.


Hensley T., and J. Luhr. 2000. Regional Geochemical Variation of the Central American Volcanic Arc: Tectonic Parameters Affecting Magma Chemistry. Geological Society of America, Abstracts with Program.

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Hissong, E.N. and M.A. Wise. 1994. Alteration of amphibole and plagioclase and associated pegmatites from the Virginia Piedmont. Geological Society of America, Abstract with Program 26(4): 20.

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Holladay, L. and B. Huber. 2001. Ontogenetic morphometric comparison of middle-late Eocene pseudohastigerinid planktonic foraminifera using X-radiograph image analysis. Geological Society of America, Abstracts with Programs. November 2001.

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Ivanova, N., A. Gargas, and P.T. DePriest. 1995. Glacier-covered lichens: Sources of ancient DNA. Poster presented, American Bryological and Lichenological Society Meeting, Jasper, Alberta, August 1995, Abstract, MSA Newsletter.

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Johnson, J.J., E.P. Vicenzi, and S.D. Whittaker. 2003. A microchemical investigation of fossilized wood: Biological preservation and the influence of mineralization. Western Inter-University Geological Conference, Vancouver, BC.

ABSTRACT: The degree of structural change in fossilized wood may be directly linked to the minerals that replace the cellular structure. Improved knowledge of the amount of biological structure that can be preserved in the process of petrifaction of easily recognized organisms increases the chances of identifying microorganisms in other geological samples. As the project deals with both biological organisms and minerals, four things were taken into consideration: species of plant, amount of decay, and minerals present, and the most suitable imaging technique(s) for each specimen. Of the six fossil wood specimens that were analyzed in this study, two were identified to the genus level, Callixylon sp., an extinct conifer, and Salix sp. the common willow, both were remarkably well preserved. The remaining four specimens were unidentifiable as decay was too far progressed prior to mineralization. The ages of the specimens ranged from Miocene-Pliocene to Devonian. Nine minerals were identified in the six samples. The specimens have one dominant mineral, and may have up to four additional accessory minerals. The dominant minerals were chalcedony (SiO2), opal (SiO2onH2O), hematite (FeO2), dolomite (CaMg(CO3)2), limonite (FeOHo nH2O), and apatite (Ca5(PO4)3(OH,F,Cl), and may also occur as accessory minerals. The remaining three minerals occurring only as accessory minerals were pyrite (FeS2), calcite (CaCO3), and barite (BaSO4). Generally, specimens mineralized with common mineralizing agents such as chalcedony, apatite, or calcite more faithfully retain the original cellular structure than specimens that were mineralized with more rare minerals such as hematite or limonite. Determination of the amount of structure preserved and by which minerals, was accomplished through the use of seven imaging techniques. A structure that may be clearly visible in one technique, may be completely obscured in another, this validates the need for complimentary techniques. Light-based methods included: transmitted, reflected and polarized light microscopy. Electron-based methods included: back scattered electron imaging and x-ray mapping using the scanning electron microscope, charge-contrast imaging using the environmental scanning electron microscope, and cathodoluminescence imaging using a cathodoluminoscope.


Kirkpatrick, T.S. and M.A. Wise. 1995. Chemistry, texture and mineralogy of fine-grained lepidolite bodies from zoned rare-element granitic pegmatites. Geological Society of America, Abstract with Program 27: 469.

ABSTRACT: The mineral modes and bulk chemistry of lepidolite-rich units residing within zoned, Li-rich rare-element granitic pegmatites have rarely been studied in detail. Textures, modal compositions and bulk chemistries of lepidolite-bearing assemblages from the following pegmatite localities were examined: Mt. Mica and Black Mountain, Maine; Swanson Lithia Mine and Strickland Quarry, Connecticut; Tin Mountain, South Dakota; Brown Derby, Colorado; Douglas Mine, Stewart Lithia Mine and Tourmaline King Mine, California; Tanco and Silver Leaf, Manitoba; and McAvoy Lake, Northwest Territories. Fine grained ledipolite masses contain diverse textural relationships among their basic mineral assemblages which include lepidolite, quartz and albite. Tourmaline and Nb-Ta oxide minerals may be present in minor amounts. Average grain size for the lepidolite varies from 1mm-3mm. The contacts between the albite, quartz and generally anhedral to subhedral lepidolite intergrowths vary from sharp to gradational. The modal abundances of these minerals determined by 300-4200 point counts per sample are highly variable. Lepidolite content ranges from 41.45-100%; quartz 0-58.93%; albite 0-41.99%; tourmaline 0-5.41%; and opagues 1%. Bulk trace element chemistry indicates that the lepidolite-bearing assemblages are highly fractionated.


Langer, K.E. and M.A. Wise. 1995. The development of amazonite in the Morefield pegmatite, Amelia, Virginia. Geological Society of America, Abstract with Program 27: 470.

ABSTRACT: Amazonite is a prominent constituent of the Morefield pegmatite located in the Amelia pegmatite district, central Virginia. This mineralogically complex pegmatite belongs to the muscovite class of granitic pegamtites and host mineral assemblages which suggest a comibined LCT (Li-Cs-Ta) and NYF (Nb-Y-F) geochemical signature. Petrographic and chemical studies of K-feldspar were used to examine the process by which amazonite originates. It is believed that amazonite develops as the result of the alteration of orignially white or tan perhitic microcline. The amazonitization process involves the flow of residual aqueous fluids along fractures and cleavage planes within already formed Pb-enriched microcline crystals. Restricted penetration of fluids into the crystal may have been responsible for the patchy color of some of the amazonite. Characteristics which correspond to increasing color intensity are 1) the decrease in size and texture of albite lamellae within perhitic amazonite, and 2) an overall decrease in Pb content. The trace element chemistry of amazonite reveals increases in Rb, Cs, Ga and Tl with increasing pegmatite fractionation. Lead content varies from 245 to 437 oom and show no correlation with the Rb, Ga and Tl trends with increasing fractionation. Even though Pb shows an overall decrease with increasing color intensity, it behaves rather erratically within individual crystals. Single crystals which display both tan and green colors typically show a strong correlation of decreasing Pb with increasing Cs, while in crystals of a single green color, the Pb content increases with increasing Cs.


Locke, D.R., W.G. Melson, J.T. Haynes, K.E. Goggin, and T. O'Hearn. 1997. Air-fall Tephra incorporated in Shale of the Middle Ordovician Edinburg Formation at the Classic Tumbling Run Section: The Mineralogical Record of Early Taconian Volcanism in the Central Appalachians. Geological Society of America, Abstract with Program 40: A-114

ABSTRACT: Potassic shale (up to 7.5wt.%) in the Edinburg Formation, near Strasburg, Virginia, is petrogenetically related to illitic clay-rich K-bentonites. Eleven (ordovician) K-bentonite beds are chemically distinct limestone, but shales bear a signature of altered volcanic ash. Heavy liquid separations of K-bentonite yield volcanogenic and authigenic minerals that reveal volcanism and diagenetic/low grade metamorphic alteration of vitric ash layers. Separation of of bentonitic shale yielded pristine euhedral volcanogenic heavy minerals. These include zircon, apatite, and rutile that is pseudomorphic after limenite. These minerals characterize the volcanic contribution from airborne ash which mixed with terrigenous and limy muds of the Ordovician sea. This suggests that much more volcanic material is preserved in bentonitic shale than in distinct K-bentinites. The fine-grain size (0.07 - 0.10 mm) of the phenocrysts in K-bentonites and bentonitic shale indicate a distant source, perhaps hundreds of kilometers away. Inherited cores in zircon from K-bentonites suggest that the source volcanoes lay to the east on an island arc that developed on continental crust near the eastern margin of Laurentia.


Maloney, J. and M. Wise. 2005. Cathodoluminescence study of feldspars from the Black Mountain pegmatite, Maine.

ABSTRACT: The Black Mountain pegmatite, located in Oxford county, Maine, is an internally zoned granitic pegmatite that contains many replacement features that are caused by late-stage fluids. The reaction of the residual fluids with other minerals can be observed using the cathodoluminescence (CL). Albite commonly replaces pre-existing minerals, and occurs in three varieties in the pegmatite: saccharoidal albite, cleavelandite, and blocky albite. With the exception of blocky albite, each variety replaces other minerals (potassium feldspar, quartz, muscovite, lepidolite, and spodumene) in all zones of the pegmatite. The principal feature that is observed in the albite is the reduction of luminescence wherever replacement occurs. The exact reason for this is still not known, but there are several possibilities that can be considered: 1) the incorporation of a quenching agent in the albite during the replacement process, 2) the reduction of activators (Ti4+, Mn2+. Fe2+, Fe3+) in albite during the breakdown of replaced minerals, and 3) an increase in the amount of activating elements leading to concentration quenching in the albite.

McCoy T.J., E.B. Rosenshein and T.L. Dickinson. 1999. A unique oxide-bearing clast in the aubrite Allan Hills 84008: Evidence for oxidation during magmatic processes. In Lunar and Planetary Science XXX. (CD-ROM).

ABSTRACT: Aubrites contain an array of minerals in which normally lithophile elements (e.g., Si, Ca, Mn) occur as siderophile and chalcophile elements. Most notably, a range of sulfides including oldhamite (CaS), daubreelite (FeCr2S4), alabandite (MnS), djerfisherite (K3CuFe12S14) and titanoan troilite (FeS) occur. Also present are Si-bearing Fe, Ni metal, silicides, phosphides, and nitrides. This mineral assemblage points to formation of aubrites in an extremely reducing enviornment, perhaps as much as five log units below iron-wüstite in oxygen fugacity [1]. We have initiated a study of sulfide-bearing clasts in aubrites [2] in an attempt to further clarify their igneous histories. During the course of this work, we have discovered an unusual, oxide-bearing clast that may suggest local oxidation occured on the aubrite parent body during magmatism.


McPherson, T. 2001. Phylogenetic analysis of Rebinea Razowski and Eliachna Razowski (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae: Euliini). The Biodiversity of Guyana: a global perspective for the future. Georgetown, Guyana. 7 - 10 October 2001. Poster. Abstract with program.

ABSTRACT: The two genera Rebinea Razowski and Eliachna Razowski are redescribed with supplemental information. As presently defined, Rebinea is represented by a single species, R. erebina (Butler 1883), with the synonym Arotrophora balsamoides (Meyrick 1931). Rebinea is known from south central Chile and south eastern Argentina, in areas ranging in elevation from 50m to 1300m, in coastal and mountainous areas. As presently defined, Eliachna is represented by three species: E. chileana Razowski 1999; Eliachna attenuana Brown and McPherson, new species, Eliachna ovata Brown and McPherson, new species. Eliachna is known from south central Chile and southern Argentina, in areas ranging in elevation from 50m to 1700m, in coastal and mountainous areas. Rebinea and Eliachna appear to be sister groups based primarily on similarities between male genitalia.


Meagher, B. 2003. Looking south of Iceland through volcanic glasses. SACNAS national conference, Albuquerque, NM, October, 2003.

ABSTRACT: Iceland has been hypothesized to not only be a hot spot but also a wet spot. This would mean that water contents of Mid Ocean Ridge Basalts (MORBs) would increase as Iceland is approached along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge from the south. To test this hypothesis twenty-eight samples were obtained from the Smithsonian Sea-Floor Glass Collection. The majority of these samples run along the Reykjanes Ridge just south of Iceland. These samples were analyzed for H2O using Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy. Upon analyzing the results of this method, it was found that H2O increases as Iceland is approached from the South along the Reykjanes Ridge. Similar increases can also be seen in the abundances of K2O and P2O5. This is what was expected since K (potassium), H (hydrogen), and P (phosphorus) are all incompatible elements in basaltic systems. One way to explain this increase in incompatible elements is to argue that there is a lower percent of melting happening beneath Iceland compared to the southern Reykjanes Ridge. However, since Iceland is known to be a very active hot spot, where anomalously large volumes of magma have erupted, the idea of lowering the percent melting to provide an explanation for the abundance of incompatible elements does not make sense. The logical alternative explanation is that the Icelandic hot spot must come from an enriched mantle source, in turn showing that Iceland is indeed not only a hot spot but also a wet spot.


Menefee, M. 1993. Phylogenetic implications of the facial morphology of the sperm whales (Cetaceae: Odontocedi: Physeteridae). Proceedings from the 10th Biannual Conference on the Biology of Marine Mammals, Galveston, TX, November 1993. Abstract: p. 76.

ABSTRACT: The sperm whales are the oldest family of Odontoceti with extant representatives. Numerous taxa have been described but little has been done in resolving the relationships between them. All sperm whales (fossil and Recent) have the basining of the skull associated with the spermaceti organ. Considerable variation occurs within the facial basin and adjacent areas. Two subfamilies are recognized: the Physeterinae (true sperm whales) and the Kogiinae (pigmy sperm whales). The Kogiinae are highly derived and diverged from the Physeterine line in the mid-Miocene. The lineage giving rise to the Recent Physeter includes Aulophyseter. The widening of the facial basin, small temporal fossae, and marked reduction of maxillary dentition characterize this lineage. On the basis of facial characters, a phylogeny of the physeterids will be proposed.


Norenburg, J.L., F. Crandall, and A. White. 1992. New supra-littoral hoplonemertines from Florida. American Zoologist 32(5): 136A.

ABSTRACT: A few nemertine species are supra-littoral or terrestrial, at least for their adult phase. These occur in tropical, subtropical, and mild temperate regions. They have been thought to be an "island phenomenon" (which embraces Australian species), but a species native to several sites along the U.S. Pacific Coast is a clear exception. We present evidence here for another continental species, a new species from Florida's Indian River. Moore & Gibson (1981. J. Zool., Lond. 194:175-201) divided known "terrestrial" nemertines into two clades, Groups 1 & 2. The new species belongs to the Group-1 genus Pantinonemertes, with which it shares: "binucleate flame cells" with circumferential "support bars," bilayered rhynchocoel musculature, a single vascular plug, and a frontal furrow that extends horizontally along the anterior cephalic margin and leads into a frontal organ -- the latter, in this species, apparently the most elaborate known for the genus. The new species resembles P. agricola from Bermuda but differs in being gonochoric and oviparous. It co-occurs with a Group-2 "island" species, Leptonemertes cf chalicophora. not recorded previously from Florida. The known distribution of Group-1 species suggests an ancient origin for the group, with islands appearing to be only incidental to its evolution.


Norenburg, J.L., A.D. Rogers, C. Bustamante, and J.D. Ferraris. 1996. Molecular phylogeny in species of the nemertean genus Lineus. American Zoologist 34(5): 98A.

ABSTRACT: The genus Lineus, at about 100 species, is one of the largest in the phylum Nemertea. It is a recognized artificial assemblage, but difficulty in identifying phylogenetically informative morphological characters clouds systematic work. We used nucleotide sequence data of two fragments of ribosomal DNA, nuclear 28s (300bp) and mitochondrial 16s (500bp), to begin examining intra- and interspecific genetic relationships in the genus. The study included intertidal populations of L. ruber and L. viridis, widely distributed and abundant species, both from the NE and NE Atlantic, L. socialis (NW Atlantic), L. sanguineus and L. nigricans (both NE Atlantic): Cerebratulus lacteus was used as an outgroup. The latter three Lineus were recently synonymized and transferred to another genus (Riser, in press, Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash.). Our results bolster Riser's assertion that they are a monophyletic unity, although this may be as three species in a different genus. Lineus ruber and L. viridis comprise a monophyletic unit that includes some strongly variant individuals: the latter may represent a cryptic species previously recognized with allozyme criteria by Rogers et. al. (in press). The five Lineus species remain a monophyletic unit when the outgroup is included but not designated.


Obordo, C., L. Burrows, and C. Labandeira. 1994. Insect-mediated herbivory from the Late Pennsylvanian and Early Permian red-bed floras of north-central Texas. Geological Society of America, Abstracts with Programs 26(7): A-59.

ABSTRACT: Recent attention has focused on the diversity of insects in the fossil record and their role in generating biodiversity in terrestrial ecosystems. The evolution of this biodiversity has been traditionally contextualized by the Expanding Resources Hypothesis, which holds that ecologic units (such as functional-feeding-groups or dietary guilds) incrementally accumulate during geological time as ecosystems evolve. In contrast to this received view, the Ecological Saturation Hypothesis posits a geochronologically early and rapid rise of ecological units in ecosystem development, followed by maintenance of these units through time without substantive additions or subtractions. To test these competing hypotheses, qualitative assignments and quantitative measures of plant-insect interactions are being determined for selected well-preserved floras from four time periods. For each flora we ascertained (1) the variety of insect function-feeding-groups present, such as external foliage feeders, leaf miners, gallers and wood-borers, (2) the frequency of herbivore atta