1,721,005 research outputs found
Non aggressive behavioural interaction in larvae of the ground beetle species Chlaenius velutinus (Coleoptera : Carabidae)
No full textLarvae of the Chlaenius velutinus (Duftschmidt 1812) search for prey on the surface of humid river banks, with their flexible cerci held upright on their back. They live in dense populations in temporary habitats, where mutual encounters are usual. Laboratory observations demonstrate active cerci interactions between conspecific larvae. The behaviour on encounter of C velutinus larvae is described and the frequencies and sequence of 3 types of behaviour involving the cerci are analysed. This behaviour is thought to be a mutual interaction behaviour through which the larvae lower their aggressiveness avoiding cannibalism
Wohlfahrtiosis in italy: A case in a puppy and overview of geographical distribution
No full textThe report describes a case of urogenital myiasis in a puppy, Canis lupus familiaris (Carnivora: Canidae) caused by Wohlfahrtia magnifica (Diptera: Sarcophagidae) in Calabria, southern Italy. This species is an obligatory agent of myiasis in human and other warm-blooded vertebrates. The puppy was healthy and was not living near farm animals, usual hosts of this flesh fly. An overview of cases of human and animal myiasis caused by W. magnifica in Italy and of data and specimens documented in entomology museum collections is also reported
Severe post mortem damages by ants on a human corpse
No full textAnts are known to colonize corpses during all stages of decomposition. Since they are also known to predate necrophagous insects, they may affect forensic investigations not only because of possible misinterpretations of skin lesions but also because of removal of dipteran and coleopteran colonizers. We report a case of skin damages on a human corpse found in late spring in a suburban area of Cosenza (Region Calabria, Southern Italy) caused by activity of Tapinoma nigerrimum (Nylander) (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). During external examination on site and autopsy, numerous ants were observed feeding on the body but no other insect species was found. We discuss the appearance of skin lesions, the possible role of T. nigerrimum in interfering with colonization by necrophagous insects and its consequences on forensic investigations
What is going on between aposematic carabide beetles? The case of Anchomenus dorsalis (Pontoppidan, 1763) and Brachinus sclopeta (Fabricius, 1792) (Coleoptera, Carabidae)
Full text linkInterspecific aggregations among insects are quite common, but not among carabid beetles. Moreover, aggregations of aposematic species, and morphologically similar beetles such as Anchomenus dorsalis and Brachinus sclopeta are even rarer. Most interestingly, in these aggregations, we observed a peculiar rubbing behaviour of A. dorsalis towards B. sclopeta. In this study we aimed (i) to verify if A. dorsalis displays the rubbing behaviour towards non-aposematic species, (ii) to describe in detail and to quantify this behaviour between A. dorsalis and B. sclopeta, and (iii) to verify if previous experience of inter-specific gregariousness with the same species may exert some effects on the frequency of the rubbing display.
We have investigated the qualitative and quantitative characteristics of rubbing behaviour towards aposematic and non-aposematic carabide beetle species, and then we used A. dorsalis and B. sclopeta as model species. We tested the rubbing of A. dorsalis towards B. sclopeta with either solitary A. dorsalis or in A. dorsalis coming from monospecific (A. dorsalis) or from heterospecific (A. dorsalis and B. sclopeta) aggregations. We finally tested the effectiveness of the B. sclopeta cuticular odour in eliciting rubbing from A. dorsalis by presenting olfactory dummies (special paper) either soaked with water or after it had previously been placed in a monospecific group of B. sclopeta for 15 days.
First of all, we found important differences in the occurrence of rubbing behaviour towards aposematic and non-aposematic species, as A. dorsalis displayed the rubbing only towards the former. Secondly, rubbing frequency depended on the pre-test conditions (isolated, mono- or heterospecific aggregations) of the tested A. dorsalis individuals, as no rubbing occurred in individuals coming from heterospecific aggregations. The paper presentation tests demonstrated that the odour of B. sclopeta was sufficient to provoke rubbing in A. dorsalis.
We conclude that aggregation in these species of carabid beetles may influence their anti-predatory defences possibly increasing the effectiveness of the aposematic (warning) signals.
More work is needed to delineate in detail the evolutionary significance of this behaviour, focusing on the possibility that interspecific aggregations may not be so rare in ground beetles, and that this positive interaction could involve a larger number of species and genera, at least in wet, sun-exposed and open land habitat types
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Peace in ground-beetle larvae: non-aggressive outcome in Chlaenius spp. larvae interactions
No full textCannibalism reduces the number of competitors and provides high-quality food, but it may have costs related to the risk of injury, disease/parasite transmission and reduction of inclusive fitness. Carabid larvae are usually very aggressive, with very low, tolerance of conspecifics. Thus cannibalism is common. We investigated aggressive and cannibalistic behaviour in the larvae-of eight ground beetle species, especially Chlaenius velutinus and Chlaenius spoliatus whose larvae have long articulated cerci. Chlaenius species live in dense populations with frequent intra-specific encounters, whereas encounters are rare in the other species. Dyads of conspecific larvae of the eight ground beetles species were tested for aggressive and cannibalistic behaviour. Unlike the other six species, larvae of the two Chlaenius species avoid cannibalism, possibly as a consequence of a behavioural display involving cerci interactions. This display was never recorded in conspecific larval interactions of the other species. Instead, cannibalism consistently occurred (20 to 50%) following aggressive interactions (1.2 to 2.6 attacks/event). The non-aggressive outcome in Chlaenius larval interactions contrasts with the high aggressiveness (35 to 85% of trials) shown by the other species. This suggests the presence of an inhibitory mechanism in the Chlaenius species. The cerci interaction probably inhibits cannibalism via intra-specific recognition; this behaviour may have evolved under the pressure of ecological factors (resource abundance and dispersion, larvae-density, frequency of encounters). In Chlaenius spp. ecological constraints may have led to an inconvenient costs/benefits trade-off, while in other species-they did not exert negative pressure on the occurrence of cannibalism
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Full text linkWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
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