Body size and host plant specialization: a relationship from a community of herbivorous insects on Ficus from Papua New Guinea

1999 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 315-328 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vojtech Novotny ◽  
Yves Basset
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Host Specificity ◽  
Papua New Guinea ◽  
New Guinea ◽  
The Body ◽  
Large Species ◽  
Insect Communities ◽  
Feeding Mode ◽  
Lowland Rain Forest ◽  
Host Plant Specialization

The relationships between body size and host specificity were studied in leaf-chewing and sap-sucking insect communities, including 792 species, feeding locally on 15 species of Ficus in a lowland rain forest in Papua New Guinea. A negative correlation between body size and host specificity, i.e., the tendency for large species to feed on numerous Ficus hosts and those smaller to have a more restricted host range, was found within both the sap-sucking and the leaf-chewing community. A more detailed analysis, which divided herbivorous species into three sap-sucking and four leaf-chewing guilds, revealed that the correlation between body size and host specificity was caused by differences in these traits between the guilds, while no such correlation was detected within any of the guilds. As the changes in feeding mode, defining various guilds, were unique evolutionary events, it is uncertain whether there is a functional relationship between feeding mode, body size and host specificity, or whether their correlation is only coincidental. It is suggested that, in the sap-sucking community at least, the positive body size versus host specificity correlation is a coincidental by-product of the causal relationship between the feeding mode and both the body size and host specificity. The causes of analogous patterns in a leaf-chewing community require further investigation. Methodological problems in the analysis of tropical insect communities, dominated by rare species, are discussed.

Yams and megapode mounds in the lowland rain forest of Papua New Guinea

Human Ecology ◽  
1990 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 177-185 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter D. Dwyer ◽  
Monica Minnegal
Keyword(s):  
Papua New Guinea ◽  
Rain Forest ◽  
New Guinea ◽  
Lowland Rain Forest

scholarly journals Tachinobia repanda (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae) From Egg Sacs of a Colonial Spider, Cyrtophora moluccensis (Araneae: Araneidae) in Papua New Guinea

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Zoya A Yefremova ◽  
Yael Lubin
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Papua New Guinea ◽  
New Guinea ◽  
First Record

Abstract We report the discovery of the wasp Tachinobia repanda Bouček collected from egg sacs of the colonial spider Cyrtophora moluccensis (Doleschall) in Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea (PNG) by Lubin, Y.D. in 1980. This is the first record of T. repanda from egg sacs of a colonial spider. The likely host of this eulophid wasp was the larvae of a sarcophagid fly that parasitizes the egg sacs of these spiders. The 67 T. repanda collected were all females and varied little in body size. We suggest that this species is a gregarious hyperparasitoid.

Insides and emotion in Koromu

2002 ◽  
Vol 10 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 243-270 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carol Priestley
Keyword(s):  
Papua New Guinea ◽  
New Guinea ◽  
The Body ◽  
Linguistic Understanding ◽  
The Relationship

This paper describes several emotion expressions in Koromu, a language of Papua New Guinea. As in other languages, emotions can be expressed by reference to body events and processes. Bodily images are used for common and pertinent emotion expressions in Koromu and the alternative grammatical constructions in which some of these expressions occur enable speakers to express varying emotions while still indicating that there are shared semantic components between the expressions. In addition, as the emotion expressions are examined and their meanings explicated, a number of universal concepts and components of meaning can be observed. A study of these language specific expressions therefore contributes to a cross-linguistic understanding of the relationship between emotion and the body.

Primary productivity, deoxygenation, and the Gulliver-absence effect determine bivalve body size following the end-Permian mass extinction

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melanie Tietje ◽  
William J. Foster ◽  
Jana Gliwa ◽  
Clara Lembke ◽  
Autumn Pugh ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Ocean Circulation ◽  
Mass Extinction ◽  
The Body ◽  
Large Species ◽  
Mass Extinctions ◽  
Shell Size ◽  
Body Sizes ◽  
Permian Mass Extinction ◽  
The Impact

<p> The impact of mass extinctions on the body sizes of animals has received considerable attention and debate, as to whether the reduced size of post-extinction organisms is due to the selective extinction of large species, absence of large species as a stochastic effect of low-diversity faunas, or a size decrease within surviving genera and species. Here, we investigated the body sizes of bivalves following the end-Permian mass extinction event and show that the shell size increase of bivalve genera was driven by both evolutionary and ecophenotypic responses. First, some genera show significant increases in body size with the evolution of new species. Further, the same genera record significant within-species increases in average and maximum body size into the late Induan, indicating that ecophenotypic changes were also involved on long-term body size trends. These increases are associated with invigorated ocean circulation, improved oxygenation of the seafloor, and probably increased food supply.</p>

A new morphologically cryptic species of forest frog (genus Platymantis) from New Britain Island, Bismarck Archipelago

Zootaxa ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 1334 (1) ◽  
pp. 45 ◽  
Author(s):  
RAFE M. BROWN ◽  
STEPHEN J. RICHARDS ◽  
JEET SUKUMARAN ◽  
JOHANNES FOUFOPOULOS
Keyword(s):  
New Species ◽  
Body Size ◽  
Cryptic Species ◽  
Papua New Guinea ◽  
Sexual Size Dimorphism ◽  
New Guinea ◽  
Advertisement Call ◽  
Size Dimorphism ◽  
New Britain ◽  
A New Species

We describe a new species of forest frog in the genus Platymantis from New Britain Island, Bismark Archipelago, Papua New Guinea. The new species is a morphologically cryptic form that has masqueraded for almost four decades under the name P. schmidti (formerly P. papuensis schmidti, Brown & Tyler, 1968). The new species is microsympatric with the geographically widespread P. schmidti at two known localities. We diagnose the new species on the basis of its distinctive advertisement call and slight but consistent differences in body size and proportions. Calling males of the new species appear to prefer more elevated perches than do males of P. schmidti and the new species may exhibit a greater extent of sexual size dimorphism.

Ant-tended scale insects (Hemiptera: Coccidae: Myzolecanium) within lowland rain forest trees in Papua New Guinea

1993 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 81-91 ◽  
Author(s):  
Penny J. Gullan ◽  
Ralf C. Buckley ◽  
Philip S. Ward
Keyword(s):  
Papua New Guinea ◽  
Rain Forest ◽  
Host Plants ◽  
New Guinea ◽  
Scale Insects ◽  
Forest Trees ◽  
Lowland Rain Forest ◽  
Plant Associations ◽  
Host Trees

ABSTRACTEight species of Myzolecanium Beccari (Hemiptera: Homoptera: Coccoidea: Coccidae) are reported from ant nests in stem cavities of living lowland rain forest trees in Papua New Guinea. The coccids are confined to this microhabitat but are associated with a taxonomically broad range of ants and host trees. Attendant ants belonged to six species in three genera and two subfamilies: Anonychomyrma Donisthorpe (Dolichoderinae), Crematogaster Lund (Myrmicinae) and Podomyrma F. Smith (Myrmicinae). Host plants belonged to at least five families and included both apparently specialized (with domatia) and unspecialized species. Saplings containing the nests of Anonychomyrma scrutator (F. Smith), Anonychomyrma sp. 1 and Podomyrma laevifrons F. Smith were dissected and the structure of nest chambers and their contents recorded. Only some chambers had entrance holes, but many were interconnected by transverse passages. The coccids were in low numbers and fairly evenly distributed between ant-occupied chambers. The characteristics of the Myzolecanium-ant association, the role of the coccids as trophobionts, and the nature of the plant associations are discussed. Taxonomically, new combinations are proposed by P. J. Gullan for three species previously placed in Cryptostigma Ferris: Myzolecanium endoeucalyptus (Qin & Gullan), M. magnetinsulae (Qin & Gullan), and M. robertsi (Williams & Watson).

scholarly journals The type of forest edge governs the spatial distribution of different-sized ground beetles

2020 ◽  
Vol 66 (Suppl.) ◽  
pp. 69-96
Author(s):  
Tibor Magura ◽  
Gábor L. Lövei
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Human Disturbance ◽  
Forest Edge ◽  
Ground Beetles ◽  
The Body ◽  
Large Species ◽  
Forest Edges ◽  
Small Species ◽  
Natural Processes ◽  
Species Tolerance

Worldwide human-induced habitat fragmentation intensifies the emergence of forest edges. In addition to these edges, there are edges evolved by natural processes. Edge-maintaining processes (natural vs. anthropogenic) fundamentally determine edge responses, and thus edge functions. Species with various traits show fundamentally different edge response, therefore the trait-based approach is essential in edge studies. We evaluated the edge effect on the body size of ground beetles in forest edges with various maintaining processes. Our results, based on 30 published papers and 221 species, showed that natural forest edges were impenetrable for small species, preventing their dispersal into the forest interiors, while both the medium and the large species penetrated across these edges and dispersed into the forest interiors. Anthropogenic edges maintained by continued human disturbance (agriculture, forestry, urbanisation) were permeable for ground beetles of all size, allowing them to invade the forest interiors. Overwintering type (overwintering as adults or as larvae) was associated with body size, since almost two-thirds of the small species, while slightly more than a third of both the medium and the large species were adult overwintering. Based on this, size-dependent permeability of natural edges may be related to overwintering type, which basically determines species tolerance to human disturbance.

scholarly journals A striking new species of Papuan groundsnake (Stegonotus: Colubridae) from southern Papua New Guinea, with a dichotomous key to the genus in New Guinea

Zootaxa ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 4926 (1) ◽  
pp. 26-42
Author(s):  
MARK O’SHEA ◽  
STEPHEN J. RICHARDS
Keyword(s):  
New Species ◽  
Papua New Guinea ◽  
River Basin ◽  
New Guinea ◽  
Temporal Scale ◽  
The Body ◽  
Colour Pattern ◽  
Dichotomous Key ◽  
Dark Pigmentation ◽  
A New Species

We describe a new species of groundsnake of the genus Stegonotus (Colubridae) from the Purari River basin in Gulf Province, Papua New Guinea. The new species can be most readily distinguished from all other New Guinean Stegonotus by its unique dorsal colour pattern which consists of a dark head and creamy-white anterior one third to two thirds of the body, grading into increasingly dense dark pigmentation on the posterior of the body and tail. It is most similar to S. iridis from the Raja Ampat Archipelago off western New Guinea, but that species has a different pattern of pigmentation dorsally, has a lower ventral scale count (198–211 vs. 229–239), and exhibits a different temporal scale arrangement. The description of S. aplini sp. nov. brings to fourteen the number of Stegonotus species described from New Guinea. A dichotomous key to described species in the New Guinea region is provided. 

Returning Pipelines to Service Following a Mw7.5 Earthquake: Papua New Guinea Experience

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Albrecht ◽  
Rhys-Sheffer Birthwright ◽  
John Calame ◽  
Justin Cloutier ◽  
Michael Gragg
Keyword(s):  
Stress State ◽  
Papua New Guinea ◽  
Joint Venture ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Resource Constraints ◽  
Mineral Resources ◽  
New Guinea ◽  
The Body ◽  
Field Inspection ◽  
Field Team

Abstract The Papua New Guinea Liquefied Natural Gas (PNG LNG) project is a joint venture with participation by ExxonMobil, Oil Search Limited (OSL), Kumul Petroleum, Santos, JX Nippon Oil and Gas Exploration and Mineral Resources Development Company, and began production in 2014. As described in a previous IPC paper, the project, operated by ExxonMobil PNG Limited (EMPNG) sustained a M7.5 earthquake and approximately 300 aftershocks in 2018, epicentered directly under key facilities. Around 150 km of high-pressure gas and condensate pipelines in the rugged PNG highlands were affected but did not lose containment or pressure. Immediately following the M7.5 event, EMPNG began efforts to assess and inspect the pipelines in order to ensure public safety, and, at the appropriate time, restore LNG production. The technical efforts took place along the pipeline Right of Way (ROW) in a remote jungle environment, which, following the earthquake, was also a disaster zone in which the few available resources were prioritized towards humanitarian relief. Due to resource constraints, the pipeline field inspection team typically numbered only two or three specialists. The inspection team drew heavily on analysis work, ongoing since project startup in 2014 and in progress when the earthquake occurred, that simulated the condition of the ROW and pipe stress state following earthquake events similar in magnitude to what actually occurred. The body of existing analysis work allowed the field team to compare aerially observed ROW ground movements to previously modeled cases, and rapidly infer pipe stress state without actually measuring pipe deformation on the ground. Due to resource constraints, that latter activity, if required before startup, would have significantly delayed project restart. The worldwide network of technical resources that had been assisting with ongoing simulations was quickly re-directed to analyzing actual observed ground deformations, efficiently supporting the small field team from outside the disaster zone. After restart, field inspection activities continued, observations were categorized, and an Earthquake Recovery (EQR) organization was initiated to execute ROW repairs. Just as the initial inspection work was aided by pre-earthquake analyses, EQR activities have been expedited by the extensive ROW maintenance program that had been ongoing prior to the earthquake. This paper and accompanying oral presentation present details of the inspection and recovery, and show that the extensive simulations, preparations and maintenance programs supported by EMPNG during project operations prior to the earthquake enabled a rapid and efficient response when the earthquake actually occurred, and thus provided enormous value to the business.

scholarly journals The body in expressions of emotion: Kuot

2002 ◽  
Vol 10 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 159-184 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Papua New Guinea ◽  
New Guinea ◽  
The Body ◽  
Body Parts ◽  
Psychological States ◽  
Austronesian Language ◽  
Form Part

This contribution examines the use of body terms in expressions of emotion in Kuot, a non-Austronesian language of New Ireland, Papua New Guinea. It is found that expressions involving the word for ‘stomach’,daləp, correspond mainly to what we would consider to be psychological states, while expressions making use ofneip‘skin; body’ are largely concerned with physical states. Some other body parts also form part of emotive expressions.

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