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Amber Coniopterygidae.
No full text20 p. : ill. (some col.) ; 26 cm.The genus Spiloconis Enderlein is comprised of six Recent Asian and Pacific species, ranging from Sri Lanka (and possibly Madagascar) in the west to eastern Australia and Fiji in the east. Two species previously described in Miocene amber from the Dominican Republic, Spiloconis glaesaria Meinander and S. oediloma Engel and Grimaldi, are redescribed for some details. Spiloconis eominuta Grimaldi and Engel, new species, is described in earliest Eocene Cambay amber from Gujarat, India, which has well-preserved male terminalia. Neoconis paleocaribis Grimaldi and Engel, new species, is described from Dominican amber; this Recent genus is known from the southern United States and neotropics. The fossil Spiloconis may have significant biogeographic implications, but definitive determination of this requires a phylogenetic analysis of the 16 Recent genera in the monophyletic subfamily Aleuropteryginae. A Dominican amber-Australasian distribution pattern is known for 18 genera of insects in myriad orders (including Spiloconis), which are briefly reviewed
Larval development and nesting biology of Lithurgus.
No full text20 pages : illustrations (some color) ; 26 cmAnnounced herein is the discovery of a nesting site of Lithurgus (Lithurgus) chrysurus Fonscolombe (Megachilidae: Megachilinae: Lithurgini), an adventive solitary bee of Western Palearctic origin that had first been detected in North America in the mid-1970's and thought to have become extinct locally since then. The occurrence of the new nesting site in eastern Pennsylvania, close to the point of first discovery in New Jersey, suggests its persistent but low presence over the past 35 years. Several previous papers offered insight into nests of this species, which bores into dead wood to nest, and described its larva and pupa. The current investigation reveals new information concerning nest architecture, nest closure, its cocoon structure and functions, and anatomy of its mature larva. Its larva is compared with that of L. (Lithurgopsis) apicalis Cresson (a congener in another subgenus) and with that of Trachusa larreae (Cockerell) with consideration of how body vestiture and anatomy function to permit mature megachilid larvae to move in the confines of their brood cells
Noonops.
No full text48 pages : illustrations (some color) ; 26 cm. Part of the oonopid PBI project. Cf. acknowledgments.A new genus, Noonops, is established to contain 23 species of soft-bodied, New World oonopine spiders that differ from those of Oonops Templeton and similar genera in having the male palpal bulb fused to the cymbium, and from those of Wanops Chamberlin and Ivie and Oonopoides Bryant in having shorter legs. Six specific names are transferred from Oonops to Noonops: O. floridanus (Chamberlin and Ivie) from Florida and Georgia (chosen as the type species), O. gertschi Chickering from the Bahama Islands (which is placed as a junior synonym of N. floridanus), O. furtivus Gertsch from Texas and Tamaulipas, O. sonora Gertsch and Davis from Arizona, California, Sonora, Baja California, and Baja California Sur, O. puebla Gertsch and Davis from Puebla, and O. chilapensis Chamberlin and Ivie from Guerrero. Males of N. sonora and females of N. furtivus are described for the first time; 18 new species are described: N. ocotillo, N. mortero, N. joshua, N. skinner, N. coachella, and N. californicus from Arizona and southern California and N. willisi, N. mesa, N. naci, N. tarantula, N. miraflores, N. culiacan, N. taxquillo, N. chapul, N. beattyi, N. iviei, N. tonila, and N. minutus from Mexico
American Museum of Natural History charter
Get PDF[4] p., 35 x 21 cm., with envelope (28 cm.) ; mss. (black ink on ruled paper). Affidavit of correct transcription on slip affixed at end of text to p. [4], signed by the deputy Secretary of State.Transcription of text: The people of the State of New-York, represented in Senate and its Assembly do enact as follows: Section 1, John David Wolfe, Robert Colgate, Benjamin H. Field, Robert . Stuart, Adrian Iselin, Benjamin B. Sherman, William A. Haines, Theodore Roosevelt, Howard Potter, William T. Blodgett, Morris K. Jesup, D. Jackson Steward, J. Pierpont Morgan, Anson G.P. Dodge, Charles A. Dana, Joseph H. Choate and Henry Parish, and such persons as may hereafter become members of the Corporation hereby created ["are hereby created" above line] a body corporate, by the name of The American Museum of Natural History," to be located in the City of New-York, for the purpose of establishing and maintaining in said City a museum and library of natural history; of encouraging and developing the study of natural sciences; of advancing the general knowledge of kindred subjects, and to that end of furnishing popular instruction and recreation. [Section] 2. Said corporation shall have power to make and adopt a constitution and by-laws, and to make rules and regulations for the admission, suspension and expulsion of its members, and their government, the number and election of its officers, and to define their duties, and for the safe keeping of its property, and, from time to time, to alter and modify such constitution, by-laws, rules and regulations. Until an election shall be held, pursuant to such constitution and by-laws, the persons named in the first section of this act shall be and are hereby declared to be the trustees and managers of said corporation and its property. [Section] 3. The said corporation may purchase and hold or lease any real and personal estate necessary and proper for the purpose of its incorporation, provided they shall not hold real estate which shall exceed one hundred thousand dollars in value. [Section] 4. Said corporation shall possess the general powers and be subject to the restrictions and liabilities prescribed the third title of the eighteenth chapter of the first part of the revised statutes. [Section] 5. This act shall take effect immediately
Cretaceous ant Haidomyrmex Dlussky.
No full text16 p. : ill. (some col.) ; 26 cm.The discovery of two distinct, near-complete specimens belonging to the Cretaceous ant genus Haidomyrmex Dlussky prompts a detailed description and discussion of a remarkable mandibular morphology. The specimens, preserved in 98 million-year-old amber from northern Myanmar, are described here as Haidomyrmex scimitarus, n. sp., and Haidomyrmex zigrasi, n. sp., with diagnostic differences provided between them as well as with H. cerberus Dlussky (also in Burmese amber). Relationships and comparisons of H. scimitarus, H. zigrasi, H. cerberus, and the recently described Haidomyrmodes mammuthus Perrichot from Cretaceous French amber are also discussed. Haidomyrmex was probably arboreal, cursorial, and a specialized trap-jaw predator, utilizing its enormous mandibles and cranial morphology in concert to capture prey. Mandibles appear to have moved in a plane oblique to the dorsoventral and horizontal axes of the body, unlike the lateral-plane movement of modern ants. The additions of these new fossils provide insight into some of the earliest yet surprisingly specialized ants that roamed the earth
Puan, a new genus of goblin spiders.
No full text22 p. : ill. ; 26 cm. Part of the oonopid PBI project. Cf. introd.A new genus of Oonopidae, Puan, is described from Argentina. The genus exhibits several features also found in orsolobids, including a well-sclerotized sperm duct and an H-shaped eye pattern. Puan resembles the oonopid genus Unicorn Platnick and Brescovit but differs in male palpal morphology. In addition, males lack the clypeal horn characteristic of Unicorn. Two new species, P. chechehet and P. nair, are described from the southwestern mountains of Buenos Aires Province. Complex copulatory bulbs are the principal characteristic of these species and could be a synapomorphy for the genus
Dromaeosaurid systematics and evolution.
Get PDF206 p. : ill. (some col.), maps ; 26 cm.Coelurosauria is the most diverse clade of theropod dinosaurs. Much of this diversity is present in Paraves--the clade of dinosaurs containing dromaeosaurids, troodontids, and avialans. Paraves has over 160 million years of evolutionary history that continues to the present day. The clade represents the most diverse living tetrapod group (there are over 9000 extant species of Aves--a word used here as synonomous with "bird"), and it is at the root of the paravian radiation, when dromaeosaurids, troodontids, and avialans were diverging from one another, that we find the morphology and soft tissue changes associated with the origin of modern avian flight. Within the first 15 million years of known paravian evolutionary history members of this clade exhibited a difference of nearly four orders of magnitude in body size, a value that is similar to the extreme body size disparity present today in mammalian carnivorans, avians, and varanoid squamates. In this respect, Paraves is an important case study in characterizing the patterns, processes, and dynamics of evolutionary size change. This last point is of particular interest because of the historical significance placed on the role of body size reduction in the origin of powered avian flight. Our study reviews and revises the membership of Dromaeosauridae and provides an apomorphy-based diagnosis for all valid taxa. Of the currently 31 named dromaeosaurid species, we found 26 to be valid. We provide the most detailed and comprehensive phylogenetic analysis of paravians to date in order to explore the phylogenetic history of dromaeosaurid taxa. The general pattern of paravian relationships is explored within the broader context of Coelurosauria with an emphasis on sampling basal avialans, because of their importance for character optimizations at the base of Paraves. A large dataset was constructed by merging two datasets, one examining coelurosaur relationships broadly (based on previous TWiG datasets) and the other examining avialan relationships specifically (Clarke et al., 2006). This merged dataset was then significantly revised and supplemented with novel character analysis focusing on paravian taxa. During character analysis, particular attention was given to basal members of Dromaeosauridae, enigmatic basal paravians such as Jinfengopteryx elegans and Anchiornis huxleyi, and the incorporation of new morphological information from two undescribed troodontid species from the late Cretaceous of Mongolia. A final dataset of 474 characters scored for 111 taxa was used to address paravian evolution. This dataset is important in that it bridges a phylogenetic gap that had persisted between studies on birds and studies on all other coelurosaurs. Most scorings in this matrix were based on the direct observation of specimens. All most parsimonious trees recovered in the cladistic analysis support the monophyly of Paraves, Troodontidae, Dromaeosauridae, and Deinonychosauria. A new clade of basal troodontids is discovered including two undescribed Mongolian troodontids and Jinfengopteryx elegans. Xiaotingia and Anchiornis form a clade at the base of Troodontidae. Recently proposed relationships within Dromaeosauridae are further supported and a succession of clades from Gondwana and Asia form sister taxa to a clade of Laurasian dromaeosaurids. Avialan monophyly is strongly supported with Archaeopteryx, Sapeornis, Jeholornis, and Jixiangornis forming the successive sister taxa to the Confuciusornis node. This topology supports a more basal position for Sapeornis than previous phylogenetic analyses and indicates a progressive acquisition of a fully "avian" shoulder morphology
New species of Melanophryniscus.
No full text31 p. : ill. (some col.) ; 26 cm.We describe a new species of bufonid from a lowland, sandy soil, restinga habitat in the state of Espírito Santo, southeastern Brazil. Based on the shared occurrence of putative morphological synapomorphies of Melanophryniscus and the results of a phylogenetic analysis of DNA sequences of a broad sample of bufonids, and other anurans, we assign the new species to Melanophryniscus. The new species possesses several peculiar character states that distinguish it from all other Melanophryniscus including, but not limited to: fingers II, III, and V much reduced; nuptial pad with few enlarged, brown-colored spines on medial margin of finger II; seven presacral vertebrae, the last fused with the sacrum; and ventral humeral crest prominent, forming a spinelike projection
Monophyly of Monobia and Montezumia.
No full text23 p. : ill. (chiefly col.) ; 26 cm.A concept of the higher-level phylogeny of the Eumeninae remains elusive. As such, the naturalness of several genera occurring in the Neotropical region is doubtful, including Monobia and Montezumia. Morphological data were used to infer the phylogenetic relationships among the species groups within both genera, as well as to test their monophyly. Analyses recovered Monobia and Montezumia as monophyletic as long as Montezumia arizonensis and Montezumia aurata were included in Monobia. Most species groups proposed by Willink in 1982 were also recovered as monophyletic. Three new combinations are proposed in congruence with the phylogenetic results: Monobia arizonensis, new combination, Monobia aurata, revised combination, and Monobia oaxaca, new combination. An additional new species is described: Monobia goiana Hermes, new species
Therocephalians from Antarctica.
No full text19 p. : ill. (some col.), map ; 26 cm.We reevaluate the taxonomic status of therocephalian fossils recovered from the lower Fremouw Formation (Lower Triassic) of the central Transantarctic Mountains, Antarctica. The material, which includes mostly fragmentary juvenile specimens, is reidentified using an apomorphy-based approach. We recognize the presence of three higher-level taxa: Eutherocephalia, Akidnognathidae, and Baurioidea. The only genus-level identification is for a partial lower jaw and pterygoid tentatively attributed to the baurioid, Ericiolacerta parva. An indeterminate theriodont partial skull is reassigned to the therocephalian family Akidnognathidae. The holotypes of Pedaeosaurus parvus and Rhigosaurus glacialis are represented by indeterminate juvenile baurioids and, in the absence of clear autapomorphies, are considered nomina dubia. The results of the taxonomic revision indicate that the therocephalian fauna of Antarctica lacks endemic genera and thus corresponds to that of the Triassic Lystrosaurus Assemblage Zone fauna of South Africa's Karoo Basin. More generally, we consider the southern Gondwanan basins of South Africa and Antarctica to sample a broadly distributed Lower Triassic tetrapod fauna, although the latter basin documents the first occurrence of several taxa (e.g., Kombuisia, Palacrodon). More precise (i.e., species-level) identifications are needed to better constrain the biogeographic signal for therocephalians, but the presence of juveniles strongly suggests that this group of therapsids, like dicynodonts, were year-round high-latitude inhabitants during early Triassic times