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Stelis ater.
No full text38 p. : ill. (some col.) ; 26 cm.
"March 23, 2011."Herein we provide the first account of the nesting biology of Osmia (Helicosmia) chalybea Smith and of its cleptoparasite Stelis (Stelis) ater Mitchell, a newly confirmed host association. The nesting behavior of O. chalybea is similar to what is known about other members of the subgenus Helicosmia, but novel information concerning egg eclosion and cocoon structure and function are reported. Eggs of S. ater were discovered both on the front surface of the host provisions as well as deeply buried in the pollen-nectar mixture. From numerous observations, larval S. ater attacks host immatures or conspecifics whenever encountered. Because young larvae are unable to crawl (perhaps a family characteristic), the hospicidal individual may be in its third to fifth stadium or even in its second stadium, although none of the latter was certainly identified. Although usually a single cleptoparasitic egg or larva was found in a cell, two or three were occasionally observed there. The cocoon of S. ater was also examined closely. Although its construction differs in a number of ways from that of the host cocoon, the functions of both seem to be the same, i.e., excluding parasitic/parasitoid arthropods and preventing desiccation while allowing exchange of air with the outside through complex filtering devices at the front ends of cocoons. Known parasites/parasitoids in the area of study include the minute parasitoid wasp Melittobia digitata Dahms (Eulophidae) and the parasitic mite Chaetodactylus rozeni Klimov and O'Connor (the latter recovered from adults of O. chalybea). The nearly airtight cocoon fabric of both bee cocoons presumably assists immatures in maintaining their water balance through their many months of confinement. Ovarian statistics for both species are presented and compared with congeners, and their eggs/mature oocytes are described. Both have five larval instars. Comparative taxonomic descriptions of last larval instars are presented, and mandibular shapes of other larval instars are diagrammed
Vespinae of Yunnan.
No full text10 p. ; 26 cm.
"April 19, 2011."In recent years, five new species of Vespinae have been described from Yunnan Province, China. A thorough assessment of these taxa, including study of color differences and compilation of measurements of specimens from six entomological collections, shows that the new taxa are merely variants of existing, nominal species. Thus, all five are synonymized here, as follows: Vespa hekouensis Dong and Wang, and Vespa maguanensis Dong = Vespa analis Fabricius; Vespula yulongensis Dong and Wang = Vespula flaviceps (Smith); Vespula nujiangensis Dong and Wang = Vespula orbata (du Buysson); and Vespula gongshanensis Dong = Vespula rufa (Linnaeus), all new synonymy. The synonymies bring the current number of vespine species recognized worldwide to 67
Systematics of Vampyrodes.
No full text35 p. : ill. (some col.), map ; 26 cm.
"April 20, 2011."The Neotropical bat genus Vampyrodes (Chiroptera: Phyllostomidae: Stenodermatinae) is widely distributed from southern Mexico to southeastern Brazil. Long thought to be monotypic, V. caraccioli Thomas, 1889, was recognized by previous authors as including two subspecies with the nominate form inhabiting South America south and east of the Andes, and another subspecies, V. c. major Allen, 1908, occurring west and north of the Andes. Reexamination of these forms using molecular and morphological methods supports recognition of these lineages as distinct at the species level. We here provide amended descriptions and diagnoses for these taxa. We also report for the first time an example of perikymata (incremental growth lines that appear on the surface of dental enamel as a series of grooves) in Chiroptera. Presence of distinct perikymata is a synapomorphy of the genus Vampyrodes
Heptaxodontid basicrania and relationships.
No full text70 p. : ill. (some col.) ; 26 cm.What, if much of anything, are "Antillean heptaxodontids"? Over the course of nearly a century and a half, these caviomorph rodents, with their distinctive quasilamellar cheek teeth and generally large body size, have been diversely regarded as members of Chinchilloidea, or Cavioidea, or Octodontoidea; as distinct enough to warrant their own family or subfamily, or as no more than an offshoot within Dinomyidae or Capromyidae; and as having diverged from other caviomorph clades as early as the Oligocene, or as recently as the late Neogene. Similar uncertainties concern the taxonomic content of the group. It has been repeatedly suggested that the Antillean Heptaxodontidae as usually organized may be paraphyletic, but no adequate character-based arguments have appeared that might form a strong basis for reassessment. This paper attempts to arrive at some serviceable solutions to the heptaxodontid problem by utilizing the character-rich domain of the auditory region. Thus Amblyrhiza inundata (St. Martin/Anguilla) and Elasmodontomys obliquus (Puerto Rico), the chief subjects of this contribution, have traditionally been regarded as closely related on the basis of dental features. Yet certain basicranial characters, analyzed here for the first time, reveal that Amblyrhiza possesses derived features of bullar development and middle-ear vascularization that are found in this specific combination only in Chinchilloidea. These features are also seen in the Mio-Pliocene Patagonian taxon Eumegamys, reinforcing the position that it belongs in this grouping as well. The basicranial morphology of Elasmodontomys is rather primitive, and where it should be placed cladistically remains indeterminate, although its likeliest position is within Octodontoidea. Although it is taken for granted that no single set of morphological features will satisfactorily capture relationships throughout a large group like Caviomorpha, the absence of basicranial characters in most morphology-based systematic discussions of these rodents is glaring. The results reported here, while suggestive in their own right, should now be tested against much larger datasets
AMNH type specimens Zosteropidae and Meliphagidae.
No full text193 p. ; 26 cm.This ninth part of "Type specimens of birds in the American Museum of Natural History" includes taxa in the families Zosteropidae and Meliphagidae in Volume 12 of the Check-list of birds of the world, by James L. Peters and subsequent authors. The original description of each taxon has been consulted unless otherwise noted, modern names and coordinates are given for type localities when possible, currently accepted names for the taxa are included, and comments on taxonomic history are provided. In Part 9, 445 names are treated; types of 22 of these are not in AMNH or were not found. This part of the type list, as well as all previous parts, are searchable and available for download from the AMNH Library website: http://digitallibrary.amnh.org/dspace/
The plaza and palace complex.
No full text234 p. : ill., maps ; 26 cm.This volume represents the first in a series of publications detailing the archaeological research conducted by Craig Morris and his colleagues at Huánuco Pampa, an Inka provincial administrative center located in highland Peru. The site offers a unique opportunity to study Inka urbanism, and the present publication discusses the form and function of Inka cities, as well as the extent to which the Andean urban form could be coopted by the Spanish empire after the conquest of the Inkas. Open spaces and special state compounds were key components of Inka administrative centers, and attention is given to the archaeological remains found in and around the central plaza at Huánuco Pampa. Buildings on the plaza were probably used by local provincial groups for festive and ceremonial activities presided over by Inka officials. While the central plaza provided space for a broad provincial constituency, a series of smaller open spaces in the Zone IIB administrative palace offered more exclusive areas for encounters between provincial and Inka elites. After discussing Inka palace compounds, the archaeological focus turns to excavations inside structures and in exterior spaces in the palace, revealing patterns of access and degrees of status in the transit from accessible administrative spaces to restricted residential ones. An appendix to the volume provides a detailed description of the analysis of ceramic artifacts from excavations at Huánuco Pampa. CONTENTS: Introduction : Reconstructing Inka urbanism and provincial administration -- Interdisciplinary perspectives on the Inka city -- Inka central plazas -- The colonial occupation of the central plaza at Huánuco Pampa -- Form and function of Inka palace complexes -- An administrative palace at Huánuco Pampa -- Building summaries from Zone IIB-1 -- Building summaries from Zone IIB-2a -- Building summaries from Zone IIB-2b and IIB-2c -- Building summaries from Zone IIB-3 -- Building summaries from Zone IIB-4 -- Comparing plaza spaces at Huánuco Pampa -- References -- Appendix : The ceramics of Huánuco Pampa
Mission and Pueblo Santa Catalina de Guale, St. Catherines Island, Georgia (USA) : a comparative zooarchaeological analysis. (Anthropological papers of the American Museum of Natural History, no. 91)
Get PDF275 p. : ill. (some col.), maps ; 26 cm.
"Issued February 16, 2010."
Includes bibliographical references (p. 201-223).This volume considers the zooarchaeological evidence for animal use by Spaniards and the Guale people during the First Spanish period (a.d. 1565-1763) on St. Catherines Island, Georgia (USA). The focus is on a combined archaeofaunal assemblage containing 70,324 specimens and the remains of an estimated 510 vertebrate individuals associated with Mission Santa Catalina de Guale. This Spanish mission operated on the island from the 1580s until 1680 in a province known as Spanish Florida. Spanish Florida formerly encompassed portions of the present-day states of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina, and was the first sustained European colonial enterprise north of Mexico. For many years the rich Spanish heritage of the southeastern United States was neglected as a field of study. Spanish colonists themselves often characterized Spanish Florida as a place of poverty, neglect, and ruin. Over the last 30 years, however, archaeologists have demonstrated that this concept of the colony cannot be accurate. Instead of a poverty-stricken Spanish outpost dependent upon imported goods and institutions, archaeologists find that a complex, multiethnic community existed; one in which pre-Hispanic and Spanish traditions merged to form a new relationship with the cultural and natural environments. The study of animal remains from towns and Roman Catholic missions in Spanish Florida highlights the dynamic interchange between natives and immigrants that resulted in new subsistence patterns blending native and immigrant foodways while taking advantage of the local resource base. Instead of a single, inept, transient Spanish government dominating an invisible or resistant native population, we must now think of Spanish Florida as a place where resilient Native Americans developed new patterns of animal use while influencing the diet and exploitation strategies of immigrants from Europe, Asia, and Africa.
TABLE OF CONTENTS: The setting -- The cultural geography of Santa Catalina de Guale / David Hurst Thomas -- Pre-Hispanic subsistence patterns in the southern Georgia Bight -- First Spanish period vertebrate use in St. Augustine and in Apalachee and Timucua provinces -- First Spanish period vertebrate use at Mission Santa Catalina de Guale -- Variability in first Spanish period animal use within Pueblo Santa Catalina de Guale -- An interpretation of Guale hunting strategy based on white-tailed deer increment structures -- Diet, exploitation strategies, and economic contributions in Spanish colonial settings -- Appendix A. Zooarchaeological methods and materials -- Appendix B. The natural history of the southern Georgia Bight and the Carolina Province -- Appendix C. Species lists for the cocina (structure 2), garden/well (structure 2/4), and the friary (structure 4) at Mission Santa Catalina de Guale -- Appendix D. Vertebrate fauna from the auger survey and miscellaneous context assemblages -- Appendix E. Assessing density-mediated attrition in white-tailed deer remains -- Appendix F. Measurements from Convento de San Francisco, Mission Santa Catalina de Guale, Pueblo Santa Catalina de Guale (south and north), and Santa Catalina de Guale auger survey and miscellaneous contexts
Language as Kluge
No full text01 hr 09 minThe idea of humans as rational and optimal creatures is making a comeback. But Gary Marcus, psychology professor and director of the NYU Center for Child Language, delivers the 80th Annual James Arthur Lecture during which he argues that the mind in general, and language in particular, might be better seen as what engineers call a kluge: clumsy and inelegant, but still remarkably effective