scholarly journals Emotions triggered by live arthropods shed light on spider phobia

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Frynta ◽  
Markéta Janovcová ◽  
Iveta Štolhoferová ◽  
Šárka Peléšková ◽  
Barbora Vobrubová ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Spider Phobia ◽  
Apparent Paradox ◽  
Arthropod Species ◽  
Original Stimulus ◽  
Animal Phobias ◽  
Cohesive Group ◽  
Close Relatives ◽  
Shed Light ◽  
Real Danger

AbstractSpiders are mostly harmless, yet they often trigger high levels of both fear and disgust, and arachnophobia (the phobia of spiders) ranks among the most common specific animal phobias. To investigate this apparent paradox, we turned to the only close relatives of spiders that pose a real danger to humans: scorpions. We adopted a unique methodology in order to assess authentic emotions elicited by arthropods. Over 300 respondents were asked to rate live specimens of 62 arthropod species (including spiders, scorpions, cockroaches, and other insects) based on perceived fear, disgust, and beauty. We found that species’ scores on all three scales depended on the higher taxon as well as on body size. Spiders, scorpions, and other arachnids scored the highest in fear and disgust, while beetles and crabs scored the highest in beauty. Moreover, all chelicerates were perceived as one cohesive group, distinct from other arthropods, such as insects or crabs. Based on these results, we hypothesize that the fear of spiders might be triggered by a generalized fear of chelicerates, with scorpions being the original stimulus that signals danger.

scholarly journals The paradox of being on the glass cliff: why do women accept risky leadership positions?

2018 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 397-426 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maral Darouei ◽  
Helen Pluut
Keyword(s):  
Decision Makers ◽  
Risk Averse ◽  
Job Seekers ◽  
Leadership Positions ◽  
Apparent Paradox ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Working Adults ◽  
Glass Cliff ◽  
Shed Light

PurposeRecent evidence from glass cliff research suggests that women are more willing than men to accept risky leadership positions. The purpose of this paper (based on three studies) is to reveal and resolve the apparent paradox that women are more risk averse than men yet end up in risky leadership positions.Design/methodology/approachIn Study I, risk attitudes of 125 participants were surveyed to understand gender differences in risk taking. In two experimental vignette studies, 119 university students (Study II) and 109 working adults (Study III) were offered a leadership position in either a risky or successful company and asked to rate their willingness to accept the job.FindingsTogether, the results showed that although women are generally more risk averse than men, women who scored low on career self-efficacy were more likely to perceive a risky job as a promotional opportunity and were therefore more willing to accept such a job. These findings shed light on the role of women’s career decision making in the glass cliff phenomenon.Originality/valueGlass cliff research has focused almost exclusively on organizational decision makers. The authors aim to better understand the glass cliff phenomenon by incorporating the perspective of job seekers.

scholarly journals Phylogenomic Variation at the Population-Species Interface and Assessment of Gigantism in a Model Wolf Spider Genus (Lycosidae, Schizocosa)

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
James Starrett ◽  
Ashley Bui ◽  
Rowan McGinley ◽  
Eileen A Hebets ◽  
Jason E Bond
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Size Variation ◽  
Wolf Spider ◽  
Similar Species ◽  
Machine Learning Approach ◽  
Population Structuring ◽  
Phylogenetic Framework ◽  
Genetic Clustering ◽  
Close Relatives ◽  
And Behavior

Abstract Animal body size has important evolutionary implications. The wolf spider genus Schizocosa Chamberlin, 1904 has developed as a model for studies on courtship, with visual and vibratory signals receiving attention; however, body size has never been carefully evaluated. Although species of Schizocosa can be distinguished from their close relatives by differences in genitalic structures, male ornamentation, and behavior, some species are morphologically similar, making diagnosis, and identification difficult. Evaluation of species boundaries using genetic data across Schizocosa is limited. The similar species S. maxima Dondale & Redner, 1978 and S. mccooki (Montgomery, 1904) are separated predominantly on the basis of size differences, with S. maxima being larger. We evaluate the evolution of size in these two Schizocosa species distributed in western North America, where gigantism of S. maxima is hypothesized to occur, particularly in California. We sampled subgenomic data (RADseq) and inferred the phylogeny of S. mccooki, S. maxima, and relatives. We apply a variational autoencoder machine learning approach to visualize population structuring within widespread S. mccooki and evaluate size within the context of a comparative phylogenetic framework to test the hypotheses related to genetic clustering of populations and gigantism. Our data show S. mccooki populations are not genealogically exclusive with respect to S. maxima. Likewise, S. maxima individuals are not recovered as a lineage and do not form an isolated genetic cluster, suggesting that the observed differences in size cannot be used to accurately delimit species. The cause of gigantism in S. maxima remains unexplained, but provides a framework for future studies of size variation and speciation.

scholarly journals Multi-modal locomotor costs explain sexual size but not shape dimorphism in a leaf-mimicking insect

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Romain P. Boisseau ◽  
Thies H. Buscher ◽  
Lexi J. Klawitter ◽  
Stanislav N. Gorb ◽  
Douglas J. Emlen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Body Shape ◽  
Large Body ◽  
Flight Performance ◽  
Large Body Size ◽  
Empirical Measures ◽  
Substrate Adhesion ◽  
Flight Costs ◽  
Lift And Drag ◽  
Shed Light

In most arthropods, adult females are larger than males, and male competition is a race to quickly locate and mate with scattered females (scramble competition polygyny). In this context, smaller males may be favored due to more efficient locomotion leading to higher mobility during mate searching while larger males may benefit from increased speed and higher survivorship. Understanding how body size affects different aspects of the locomotor performance of males is therefore essential to shed light on the evolution of this widespread mating system. Using a combination of empirical measures of flight performance and substrate adhesion, and modelling of body aerodynamics, we show that large body size impairs both flight and landing (attachment) performance in male leaf insects (Phyllium philippinicum), a species where relatively small and skinny males fly through the canopy in search of large sedentary females. Smaller males were more agile in the air, ascended more rapidly during flight, and had a lower risk of detaching from the substrates on which they walk and land. Our models revealed variation in body shape affected body lift and drag, but tradeoffs with weight meant that effects were negligible, suggesting that flight costs do not explain the evolution of strong sexual dimorphism in body shape in this species.

Sergei Prokofiev. Relatives

10.34690/147 ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 28-37
Author(s):  
Наталия Савкина
Keyword(s):  
The State ◽  
Sergei Prokofiev ◽  
Close Relatives ◽  
Artistic Values ◽  
Finance Department ◽  
Personal Strategy ◽  
Shed Light ◽  
Bolshoi Theater ◽  
The Revolution

Обнародованные несколько лет тому назад сведения об арестах близких родственников Прокофьева и о полученных ими тюремных сроках открыли много нового в биографии и личности композитора. Так, стало очевидно, что он был прекрасно осведомлен о массовых репрессиях и жестокой политической цензуре в СССР, когда принимал решение вернуться на родину. Композитор должен был разработать особые авторские стратегии, маневрировать между факторами художественными и требованиями конъюнктуры. Представленные в статье письма шире знакомят с родными композитора; так, они проливают свет на жизнь в первые годы революции семьи Катениных, выводят на сцену действия одну из родственниц Прокофьевых, жившую в Германии, - Марию Рейн. В ряду самых пронзительных документов прокофьевского эпистолярия - письмо тетушки, Екатерины Григорьевны Раевской, которая сообщает об аресте дочери. Обогащают прокофьевское подполье записки композитора из Франции в финансовый отдел Большого театра и ГАТОБ (ныне Мариинский театр) с напоминаниями о необходимости отправить деньги его родственникам в СССР. Композитор в течение многих лет материально поддерживал три семьи своих репрессированных или попавших в жестокую нужду родных. Публикуемая здесь записка - только одна из очень большого количества таких напоминаний. The information about the arrests and jail sentences of Prokofiev's close relatives has been promulgated some years ago, and it revealed many new things about the composer's biography and personality. That is, it became clear, that he was fully aware of mass repressions and harsh political censorship in the USSR at the time he was deciding to return to the motherland. The composer had to shape his own personal strategy to maneuver between artistic values and the circumstances demand. The letters presented in the article introduce in greater detail the composer's relatives. So, they shed light upon the life of the Katenins family during the Revolution first years; they bring into view one relative living in Germany-Maria Rein. One of the most vibrant items of Prokofiev's correspondence is the letter from his aunt, Ekaterina Grigorievna Raevsky, who reported about her daughter being arrested. Prokofiev's quiet correspondence is enriched by his notes from France to the Bolshoi Theater finance department and to the State Academic Theatre of Opera and Ballet (St. Petersburg), reminding them to send money to his relatives in the USSR. For many years Prokofiev supported three families of relatives, who were purged or in need. The note published here is just one of many such reminders.

Phylogenetic relations of the dinoflagellate Gymnodinium baicalense from Lake Baikal

2013 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 366-373 ◽  
Author(s):  
Natalia Annenkova
Keyword(s):  
Lake Baikal ◽  
Biodiversity Hotspot ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Ancient Lake ◽  
Phylogenetic Relations ◽  
The Arctic Ocean ◽  
Colonization Patterns ◽  
Close Relatives ◽  
Biological Methods ◽  
Shed Light

AbstractFreshwater dinoflagellates still remain poorly studied by modern biological methods. This lack of knowledge prevents us from understanding the evolution and colonization patterns of these ecologically important protists. Gymnodinium baicalense is the most abundant, and possibly endemic, planktonic dinoflagellate from the ancient Lake Baikal. This dinoflagellate species blooms in the spring under the ice. This study analyzed the origin of this Baikalian dinoflagellate using three markers (two ribosomal and one mitochondrial DNA). It was found that this species is a true member of the order Gymnodiniales and has close relatives in the glacial melt waters of the Arctic Ocean. It seems that G. baicalense has diversified relatively recently from the arctic marine gymnodinioids. These results shed light on dinoflagellate biogeography and their colonizations in Lake Baikala biodiversity hotspot.

scholarly journals A synthesis of major environmental-body size clines of the sexes within arthropod species

Oecologia ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 190 (2) ◽  
pp. 343-353 ◽  
Author(s):  
Curtis R. Horne ◽  
Andrew G. Hirst ◽  
David Atkinson
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Arthropod Species

scholarly journals The Paradox Between Political Islam and Islamic Political Parties: The Case of West Sumatera Province

2012 ◽  
Vol 50 (2) ◽  
pp. 329
Author(s):  
Adri Wanto
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Political Islam ◽  
Apparent Paradox ◽  
Religious Intolerance ◽  
Strategic Model ◽  
West Sumatra ◽  
Societal Level ◽  
Islamic Political Parties ◽  
Shed Light

<p>The aim of this paper is to explain the apparent paradox between political Islam and Islamic political parties in Indonesia. On one hand, the support for Islamic political parties is in decline, while, on the other religious intolerance and the implementation of local regulations based on the shari’ah laws have increased in many provinces. This paper argues that political Islam and Islamic political parties are not synonymous. Moreover, the aim of achieving an ideal society according to an Islamist’s vision and their religious interpretations does not only by adopt a top-down strategic model through participation in formal politics but also by using bottom-up strategic model by focusing on the societal level. By adopting gradualist approaches, hardliner Islamist ideas disseminate peacefully in Indonesia today. This study will focus on West-Sumatra as a case study, considering West Sumatra is one of the most widely province issued the shari’ah laws in Indonesia. This article will shed light on local and often underestimated dynamics.</p><p>[Artikel ini menjelaskan paradoks antara Islam politik dan partai politik Islam di Indonesia. Jika pada satu sisi, dukungan terhadap partai politik Islam menurun, namun pada sisi berbeda tingkat intoleransi dan angka peraturan daerah berbasiskan syariah meningkat. Karena itu, artikel ini berargumen bahwa Islam politik dan partai politik Islam tidak selalu sejalan. Selain itu, cita-cita untuk mewujudkan masyarakat yang Islami tidak melulu harus diwujudkan dari atas-ke-bawah melalui partisipasi politik, namun juga dari bawah-ke-atas, yakni menitikberatkan pada level masyarakat. Dengan strategi gradual -perlahan-lahan-, gagasan fundamentalis Islam tanpa sadar telah menginfiltrasi. Artikel ini menjelaskan Sumatra Barat sebagai studi kasus persoalan di atas. Pilihan Sumatra Barat berdasarkan pada realitas bahwa di propinsi inilah, perda shari’ah paling banyak diberlakukan. Artikel ini akan berkontribusi pada diskusi mengenai politik lokal dan dinamikanya.]</p>

scholarly journals Introgression of wing pattern alleles and speciation via homoploid hybridization in Heliconius butterflies: a review of evidence from the genome

2013 ◽  
Vol 280 (1752) ◽  
pp. 20122302 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew V. Z. Brower
Keyword(s):  
Apparent Paradox ◽  
Closely Related Species ◽  
Adaptive Introgression ◽  
Wing Patterns ◽  
Interspecific Recognition ◽  
Homoploid Hybrid ◽  
Aposematic Signals ◽  
Close Relatives ◽  
Allelic Differentiation ◽  
Trait Introgression

The diverse Müllerian mimetic wing patterns of neotropical Heliconius (Nymphalidae) have been proposed to be not only aposematic signals to potential predators, but also intra- and interspecific recognition signals that allow the butterflies to maintain their specific identities, and which perhaps drive the process of speciation, as well. Adaptive features under differential selection that also serve as cues for assortative mating have been referred to as ‘magic traits’, which can drive ecological speciation. Such traits are expected to exhibit allelic differentiation between closely related species with ongoing gene flow, whereas unlinked neutral traits are expected to be homogenized to a greater degree by introgression. However, recent evidence suggests that interspecific hybridization among Heliconius butterflies may have resulted in adaptive introgression of these very same traits across species boundaries, and in the evolution of new species by homoploid hybrid speciation. The theory and data supporting various aspects of the apparent paradox of ‘magic trait’ introgression are reviewed, with emphasis on population genomic comparisons of Heliconius melpomene and its close relatives.

scholarly journals Narrow safety margin in the phyllosphere during thermal extremes

2019 ◽  
Vol 116 (12) ◽  
pp. 5588-5596 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sylvain Pincebourde ◽  
Jérôme Casas
Keyword(s):  
Heat Waves ◽  
Safety Margin ◽  
Thermal Limit ◽  
Apparent Paradox ◽  
Feeding Mode ◽  
Thermal Limits ◽  
Single Leaf ◽  
Arthropod Species ◽  
Species Vulnerability ◽  
Leaf Transpiration

The thermal limit of ectotherms provides an estimate of vulnerability to climate change. It differs between contrasting microhabitats, consistent with thermal ecology predictions that a species’ temperature sensitivity matches the microclimate it experiences. However, observed thermal limits may differ between ectotherms from the same environment, challenging this theory. We resolved this apparent paradox by showing that ectotherm activity generates microclimatic deviations large enough to account for differences in thermal limits between species from the same microhabitat. We studied upper lethal temperature, effect of feeding mode on plant gas exchange, and temperature of attacked leaves in a community of six arthropod species feeding on apple leaves. Thermal limits differed by up to 8 °C among the species. Species that caused an increase in leaf transpiration (+182%), thus cooling the leaf, had a lower thermal limit than those that decreased leaf transpiration (−75%), causing the leaf to warm up. Therefore, cryptic microclimatic variations at the scale of a single leaf determine the thermal limit in this community of herbivores. We investigated the consequences of these changes in plant transpiration induced by plant–insect feedbacks for species vulnerability to thermal extremes. Warming tolerance was similar between species, at ±2 °C, providing little margin for resisting increasingly frequent and intense heat waves. The thermal safety margin (the difference between thermal limit and temperature) was greatly overestimated when air temperature or intact leaf temperature was erroneously used. We conclude that feedback processes define the vulnerability of species in the phyllosphere, and beyond, to thermal extremes.

Maddalena Nerli and Cosimo Tornabuoni: A Couple's Narrative of Family History in Early Modern Florence

1992 ◽  
Vol 45 (2) ◽  
pp. 312-339 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giulia Calvi
Keyword(s):  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
Early Modern ◽  
Physical Space ◽  
Social World ◽  
Virgin Mary ◽  
Material Objects ◽  
Concrete Material ◽  
The Social ◽  
Close Relatives ◽  
Shed Light

Trying to trace seventeenth-century Florentine family memoirs, I came upon a manuscript journal entirely written by a woman. Its frontispiece bore a date, 1623, and a heading: “In the name of God, the glorious Virgin Mary and all the saints of the Heavenly Court of Paradise, this book is the journal of signora Maddalena Nerli Tornabuoni, and in it she will keep a record of all her daily accounts starting from this very day in March 1623.“As the title specified, it was mainly an account book that covered twenty years of Maddalena's widowed life up to her death in 1641. Going carefully through its pages made me begin to perceive the boundaries of a domestic world organized and governed by a middle-aged urban patrician woman. It shed light on the social world she lived in, one of children, servants, close relatives, and sharecroppers; on the concrete material objects she was surrounded by—linens, foodstuffs, furniture, clothes, devotional items; and on the physical space she occupied—city and country homes, the district of S. Maria Novella and S. Giovanni in Florence.

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