Where Fossils Dare and Males Matter: combined morphological and molecular analysis untangles the evolutionary history of the spider ant genus Leptomyrmex Mayr (Hymenoptera : Dolichoderinae)

2017 ◽  
Vol 31 (6) ◽  
pp. 765 ◽  
Author(s):  
Phillip Barden ◽  
Brendon Boudinot ◽  
Andrea Lucky
Keyword(s):  
Evolutionary History ◽  
Morphological Evolution ◽  
Sister Group ◽  
Morphological Characters ◽  
Fossil Material ◽  
First Case ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Surprising Discovery

The distinctive ant genus Leptomyrmex Mayr, 1862 had been thought to be endemic to Australasia for over 150 years, but enigmatic Neotropical fossils have challenged this view for decades. The present study responds to a recent and surprising discovery of extant Leptomyrmex species in Brazil with a thorough evaluation of the Dominican Republic fossil material, which dates to the Miocene. In the first case study of direct fossil inclusion within Formicidae Latreille, 1809, we incorporated both living and the extinct Leptomyrmex species. Through simultaneous analysis of molecular and morphological characters in both Bayesian and parsimony frameworks, we recovered the fossil taxon as sister-group to extant Leptomyrmex in Brazil while considering the influence of taxonomic and character sampling on inferred hypotheses relating to tree topology, biogeography and morphological evolution. We also identified potential loss of signal in the binning of morphological characters and tested the impact of parameterisation on divergence date estimation. Our results highlight the importance of securing sufficient taxon sampling for extant lineages when incorporating fossils and underscore the utility of diverse character sources in accurate placement of fossil terminals. Specifically, we find that fossil placement in this group is influenced by the inclusion of male-based characters and the newly discovered Neotropical ‘Lazarus taxon’.

Scales and Units

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathryn M. de Luna
Keyword(s):  
Language Change ◽  
Historical Linguistics ◽  
Bantu Languages ◽  
The North ◽  
First Case ◽  
Linguistic Evidence ◽  
River Region ◽  
History Of ◽  
Alternative Approaches

This chapter uses two case studies to explore how historians study language movement and change through comparative historical linguistics. The first case study stands as a short chapter in the larger history of the expansion of Bantu languages across eastern, central, and southern Africa. It focuses on the expansion of proto-Kafue, ca. 950–1250, from a linguistic homeland in the middle Kafue River region to lands beyond the Lukanga swamps to the north and the Zambezi River to the south. This expansion was made possible by a dramatic reconfiguration of ties of kinship. The second case study explores linguistic evidence for ridicule along the Lozi-Botatwe frontier in the mid- to late 19th century. Significantly, the units and scales of language movement and change in precolonial periods rendered visible through comparative historical linguistics bring to our attention alternative approaches to language change and movement in contemporary Africa.

scholarly journals Colonial Values and Asylum Care in Brazil: Reclaiming the Streets Through Carnival in Rio de Janeiro

2020 ◽  
pp. 155-161
Author(s):  
Julia Evangelista ◽  
William A. Fulford
Keyword(s):  
Local Community ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Colonial History ◽  
Self Confidence ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Mental Well Being ◽  
The City

AbstractThis chapter shows how carnival has been used to counter the impact of Brazil’s colonial history on its asylums and perceptions of madness. Colonisation of Brazil by Portugal in the nineteenth century led to a process of Europeanisation that was associated with dismissal of non-European customs and values as “mad” and sequestration of the poor from the streets into asylums. Bringing together the work of the two authors, the chapter describes through a case study how a carnival project, Loucura Suburbana (Suburban Madness), in which patients in both long- and short-term asylum care play leading roles, has enabled them to “reclaim the streets,” and re-establish their right to the city as valid producers of culture on their own terms. In the process, entrenched stigmas associated with having a history of mental illness in a local community are challenged, and sense of identity and self-confidence can be rebuilt, thus contributing to long-term improvements in mental well-being. Further illustrative materials are available including photographs and video clips.

Wood anatomy of the Mascarene Dombeyoideae: Systematic and ecological implications

IAWA Journal ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 32 (4) ◽  
pp. 493-519 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anaïs Boura ◽  
Timothée Le Péchon ◽  
Romain Thomas
Keyword(s):  
Evolutionary History ◽  
Wood Anatomy ◽  
Sister Group ◽  
Biological Data ◽  
Sister Group Relationship ◽  
Anatomical Features ◽  
Ecological Implications ◽  
History Of ◽  
Mascarene Islands ◽  
Almost All

The Dombeyoideae (Malvaceae) are one of the most diversified groups of plants in the Mascarene Islands. Species of Dombeya Cav., Ruizia Cav. and Trochetia DC. are distributed in almost all parts of the archipelago and show a wide diversity in their growth forms. This study provides the first wood anatomical descriptions of 17 out of the 22 Mascarene species of Dombeyoideae. Their wood anatomy is similar to that of previously described species: wide vessels, presence of both apotracheal and paratracheal parenchyma, and storied structure. In addition, we also found a second wood anatomical pattern with narrower vessels, high vessel frequency and thick-walled fibres. The two aforementioned wood patterns are considered in a phylogenetic context and used to trace the evolutionary history of several wood anatomical features. For example, the pseudoscalariform pit arrangement supports a sister group relationship between Trochetia granulata Cordem. and T. blackburniana Bojer ex Baker and may be a new synapomorphy of the genus Trochetia. Finally, wood variability is evaluated in relation to geographic, climatic and biological data. Despite the juvenile nature of some of the specimens studied, we discuss how the habit, but also factors related to humidity, influence the variability observed in the Mascarene Dombeyoideae wood structure.

A Conceptual Framework for Evaluating Joint Venture Opportunities between Hospitals and Physicians

1989 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 204-212 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carol K. Jacobson
Keyword(s):  
Conceptual Framework ◽  
Joint Venture ◽  
Transaction Cost Economics ◽  
Regulatory Environment ◽  
Strategic Decisions ◽  
Health Care Managers ◽  
Subsequent Formation ◽  
First Case ◽  
The Impact

A Conceptual Framework for Evaluating Joint Venture Opportunities Between Hospitals and Physicians This paper reviews the changes in the competitive and regulatory environment and examines the impact of those changes on the relationships between hospitals and physicians. Transaction cost economics (TCE) provides a conceptual framework for examining the emergence of closer linkages between hospitals and physicians than the traditional independent hospital and medical staff organisations. TCE predicts that as investments in support of transactions become more specialised, closer linkages are more efficient. To illustrate, two case studies of successful hospital-physician joint ventures are presented. The first case study describes a joint venture between hospitals and physicians to purchase durable medical equipment. The second case describes the breakdown of an informal arrangement and the subsequent formation of a joint venture to organise a clinical programme. The discussion reports the rationale for choosing these structural arrangements and their key features, pointing out how TCE would account for the decision to establish a joint venture. The conclusion discusses the implications of this argument for the strategic decisions of health care managers.

Empirical Study on Adoption of Islamic Banking System Using Quantitative Method:A Case Study of Afghanistan

10.26414/a169 ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Khatera Naseri ◽  
Ashurov Sharofiddin
Keyword(s):  
Diffusion Of Innovation ◽  
Banking System ◽  
Relative Advantage ◽  
Islamic Banking ◽  
Product Knowledge ◽  
Diffusion Of Innovation Theory ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Impact

Although the background of the banking system goes back as far as 1933, Islamic finance isstill new in Afghanistan. The history of the firstfull-fledged Islamic bank began asrecently as 2018 with the conversion ofBakhtarBank, a conventional bank, to the IslamicBank of Afghanistan (IBA). There have been numerousstudies done worldwide, but no empiricalstudy has examined the subject of Islamic banking adoption in the specific context of Afghanistan. Therefore, this presentstudy investigatesthe adoption ofIslamic banking in Afghanistan, using a case study of Herat province, based on Rogers’ (1983) Diffusion of Innovation Theory, to determine the impact of awareness,productknowledge,religiosity,relativeadvantage,compatibility, and complexity on the adoption of Islamic banking. A quantitative approach to the stratified convenience sampling method was used in this study. Questionnaires were distributed to 334 bank customers and the responses analyzed using SPSS v22. The multiple regression analysis finding indicated that product knowledge, relative advantage, and religiosity significantly and positively influenced the adoption of Islamic banking. It is suggested that the government and financial institutions should support Islamic banking with beneficial policies and initiatives to enhance the knowledge of the public about the significance of Islamic banking activities.

Opera Inside and Out

2021 ◽  
pp. 227-268
Author(s):  
Katharine Ellis
Keyword(s):  
New Music ◽  
Musical Identity ◽  
Paris Opera ◽  
First Case ◽  
History Of

In three main sections, the discussion takes the reader from standard municipal opera in town theaters to the new phenomenon of open-air opera that started fitfully in the late 1860s but which became fashionable and important for decentralist and regionalist reasons from around 1900 onward. In the first case study, Wagner’s Lohengrin is detoxified in 1891 via seven municipal French stages, in advance of its successful appearance at the Paris Opéra. This provincial coup nevertheless indicates the stranglehold of French repertorial centralization, since it was possible only because Wagner was already embarrassingly famous and the violent history of his reception in Paris had paralyzed the capital’s ability to function as normal. Lohengrin was acclaimed in Lille as “local” but contained no audible couleur locale. It was through such “marked” music that opera acted as a vector for the “picturesque” presentation of the French provinces. Changing critical and audience attitudes to couleur locale from the 1830s onward prepared the conditions necessary for the development of regionalist operatic commentary, especially in Brittany and Provence. Identity, whether local and/or national, could also be enacted by audiences attending festival and commemorative performances of opera and stage spectacle in open-air venues. Catalyzed by performances at Orange, a tradition of open-air opera presented a distillation of meridional musical identity from around 1900 in ancient classical venues and their modern equivalents, while the new music it spawned remained stubbornly difficult to transplant to Paris.

Ancient Bug Bites on Ancient Plants Record Forest Ecosystem Response to Environmental Perturbations

2013 ◽  
Vol 19 ◽  
pp. 157-174 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ellen D. Currano
Keyword(s):  
Trophic Interactions ◽  
Insect Herbivory ◽  
Fossil Flora ◽  
Local Perturbation ◽  
Insect Damage ◽  
Ecosystem Response ◽  
Insect Feeding ◽  
First Case ◽  
The Impact

Leaf-compression fossils with insect feeding traces are unique in providing rich, direct evidence of two levels in a fossil food web. Plant-insect associations dominate terrestrial trophic interactions, emphasizing the need to understand their ecological and evolutionary history. This paper first discusses methods of recognizing insect herbivore damage on fossil leaves and quantifying fossil insect herbivory. By conducting an unbiased insect damage census, damage frequency (percent of leaves with insect feeding damage), percent of leaf surface area removed by insects, and damage diversity (the number of discrete damage morphotypes, or DTs, found on a fossil flora or individual host plant) can all be measured. Three examples of responses of past plant-insect trophic interactions to environmental stresses are examined. In the first case study, late Oligocene fossil floras from Ethiopia document forest response to local perturbation and key characteristics to recognize disturbance in the plant fossil record. The second case study considers the terrestrial ecosystem response to the catastrophic global perturbation at the Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary. In the third case study, the impact of past global warming events—including the Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum—on insect herbivory is discussed. Productive avenues for further research include: insect damage studies conducted outside the North American Cretaceous and Paleogene, actualistic and taphonomic studies of insect herbivory, and tighter collaboration across paleobotany, paleoentomology, botany, and entomology.

E pluribus unum? Language diversity and the harmonization of company law in the European Union

2019 ◽  
Vol 26 (5) ◽  
pp. 669-690
Author(s):  
Federico M Mucciarelli
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Company Law ◽  
Language Diversity ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Freedom Of Establishment ◽  
First Case ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Impact

This work addresses the impact of language diversity and nation-specific doctrinal structures on harmonized company law in the EU. With this aim, two emblematic case studies will be analysed. The first case study is related to the definition of ‘merger’ adopted in the Company Law Directive 2017/1132 (originally in the Third Company Law Directive and the Cross-Border Merger Directive); by relying on the example of the SEVIC case decided by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), it will be shown that scholars’ and courts’ conception of the definition of ‘merger’ varies according to own domestic doctrinal structures. The second case study is related to the notion of ‘registered office’, which is key for establishing the scope of several harmonizing provisions and the freedom of establishment; this paper analyses terminological fluctuations across language versions of EU legislation and the impact of domestic taxonomies and legal debates upon the interpretation of these notions. These case studies show that company law concepts, despite their highly technical nature, are influenced by discourse constructions conducted within national interpretative communities, and by the language used to draft statutory instruments and discuss legal issues. The task of the CJEU is to counterbalance these local tendencies, and yet it is unlikely that doctrinal structures, rooted in national languages and legal cultures, will disappear.

scholarly journals Current perspectives on the evolution of birds

2008 ◽  
Vol 77 (2) ◽  
pp. 109-116 ◽  
Author(s):  
Per G.P. Ericson
Keyword(s):  
Evolutionary History ◽  
Genetic Data ◽  
Morphological Characters ◽  
Current Understanding ◽  
Sources Of Information ◽  
Theropod Dinosaurs ◽  
History Of ◽  
Evolution Of Birds ◽  
The Many ◽  
Rapid Radiations

The paper summarizes the current understanding of the evolution and diversification of birds. New insights into this field have mainly come from two fundamentally different, but complementary sources of information: the many newly discovered Mesozoic bird fossils and the wealth of genetic analyses of living birds at various taxonomic levels. The birds have evolved from theropod dinosaurs from which they can be defined by but a few morphological characters. The early evolutionary history of the group is characterized by the extinctions of many major clades by the end of the Cretaceous, and by several periods of rapid radiations and speciation. Recent years have seen a growing consensus about the higher-level relationships among living birds, at least as can be deduced from genetic data.

A new feather mite species of the genus Neumannella Trouessart, 1916 (Analgoidea, Dermoglyphidae) from the Red-winged Tinamou Rhynchotus rufescens (Temminck, 1815) (Aves, Tinamiformes) with remarks to the evolution of host-parasite associations of the genus

2014 ◽  
Vol 59 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacek Dabert
Keyword(s):  
New Species ◽  
Evolutionary History ◽  
Morphological Characters ◽  
Mite Species ◽  
Feather Mite ◽  
History Of ◽  
Host Parasite ◽  
Reconciliation Method ◽  
A New Species ◽  
Mite Family

AbstractNeumannella skorackii, a new species of the feather mite family Dermoglyphidae (Acari, Astigmata) is described from the Red-winged Tinamou Rhynchotus rufescens (Temminck, 1815) (Aves, Tinamiformes) from Paraguay and a key to all known species of the genus is provided. The phylogenetic relationships (MP analysis of 25 morphological characters) between Neumannella species along with the evolutionary history of host-parasite associations revealed by Jungle reconciliation method are reconstructed. Relatively low cospeciation contribution to the recent host-parasite associations is discovered.

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