Taxonomy of Venezuelan white-tailed deer (Odocoileus, Cervidae, Mammalia), based on cranial and mandibular traits

1999 ◽  
Vol 77 (4) ◽  
pp. 632-645 ◽  
Author(s):  
Misael Molina ◽  
Jesús Molinari

North and South American white-tailed deer are deemed to be a single species, Odocoileus virginianus. We used principal components and cluster analyses to compare crania and mandibles of Venezuelan and North American forms. We found that (1) Venezuelan and North American Odocoileus differ greatly from each other; (2) differentiation of groups within Venezuela exceeds that within North America; (3) the most divergent Venezuelan Odocoileus are those from Margarita Island and the Mérida Andean highlands; (4) the Margaritan Odocoileus does not differ in mandibular shape from its lowland congeners, but differs appreciably from other Venezuelan Odocoileus in having smaller mandibles and in cranial-mandibular characters; (5) the Mérida Andean Odocoileus contrasts markedly with other Venezuelan congeners in mandibular shape and cranial characters; (6) the remaining Venezuelan Odocoileus constitute a single group; (7) within this group, individuals from the Caribbean coast have larger mandibles and differ in some cranial characters. Thus, we propose that (a) Venezuelan and other Neotropical Odocoileus are not conspecific with O. virginianus; (b) Margaritan and Andean forms are distinct species: Odocoileus margaritae and Odocoileus lasiotis, respectively; (c) the remaining Venezuelan forms must be included within one species, Odocoileus cariacou; (d) Caribbean coast Odocoileus may represent an undescribed subspecies of O. cariacou.

2021 ◽  
Vol 23 (5) ◽  
pp. 1563-1576 ◽  
Author(s):  
Phillip J. Haubrock ◽  
Gordon H. Copp ◽  
Iva Johović ◽  
Paride Balzani ◽  
Alberto F. Inghilesi ◽  
...  

AbstractThe North American channel catfish Ictalurus punctatus has been introduced to several locations in Europe but has received little or no scientific study despite its invasive attributes, including prolific reproduction, tolerance to a wide range of conditions, opportunistic feeding, at least partial ‘predator release’, and some evidence of environmental impacts (e.g. disease transmission). To assess the species’ potential invasiveness and the likely risks to native species and ecosystems in Europe, available literature from both North America and Europe was reviewed and used to carry out risk screenings of the species for the risk assessment areas, North and South Italy, using the Aquatic Invasiveness Screening Kit (AS-ISK), which was followed by a more detailed evaluation (for both North America and Europe) of the species’ potential impacts using the Environmental Impact Classification of Alien Taxa (EICAT) assessment protocol. The AS-ISK score indicated that channel catfish is likely to pose a high risk of being invasive in both North and South Italy, with EICAT scores indicating “Major” impacts for both North America and Europe, at high and medium confidence levels, respectively. The present results emphasise the urgent need to carry out in-depth studies on introduced populations of this species to understand better its invasive potential so as to inform management decisions on the appropriate control or eradication measures for invaded water bodies.


Author(s):  
Matheus Almeida Souza ◽  
Daniel Goble ◽  
Paige Arney ◽  
Edgar Ramos Vieira ◽  
Gabriela Silveira-Nunes ◽  
...  

This study aimed to characterize the risk of falling in low, moderate and high risk participants from two different geographical locations using a portable force-plate. A sample of 390 older adults from South and North America were matched for age, sex, height and weight. All participants performed a standardized balance assessment using a force plate. Participants were classified in low, moderate and high risk of falling. No differences were observed between South and North American men, nor comparing North American men and women. South American women showed the significantly shorter center of pressure path length compared to other groups. The majority of the sample was categorized as having low risk of falling (male: 65.69 % and female: 61.87 %), with no differences between men and women. Also, no differences were found between North vs. South Americans, nor for falls risk levels when male and female groups were compared separately. In conclusion, South American women had better balance compatible with the status of the 50-59 years’ normative age-range. The prevalence of low falls risk was ~ 61-65 % and the prevalence of moderate to high risk was ~ 16-19 %. The frequency of fall risk did not differ significantly between North and South Americans, nor between males and females.


1969 ◽  
Vol 47 (3) ◽  
pp. 353-368 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert R. Ireland

A taxonomic study was made of several North American taxa in the genus Atrichum. The primary emphasis was on the Canadian taxa and a key to the six species (A. altecristatum, A. angustatum, A. crispum, A. oerstedianum, A. selwynii, A. undulatum) and one variety (A. undulatum var. gracilisetum) of the country is presented. Atrichum oerstedianum, which has been confused with A. undulatum, is added to the moss flora of the United States and Canada. The distribution of A. crispum is clarified and a detailed study of the species revealed new morphological characters that are useful to distinguish it. A variety of A. undulatum, the var. altecristatum, is raised to the rank of a species and morphological and distributional data are given to support the status of A. selwynii as a distinct species. The first chromosome counts are reported for A. selwynii (n = 7) and A. altecristatum (n = 14). Detailed descriptions are provided for A. altecristatum, A. crispum, A. oerstedianum, and A. selwynii.


2019 ◽  
Vol 88 (3) ◽  
pp. 751-753
Author(s):  
Jon Sensbach

Between roughly 1500 and nearly the end of the nineteenth century, slave traders sent more than twelve million enslaved Africans to the Americas. It is no secret that Christianity was deeply complicit with the rise of the plantation system that created the lethally voracious demand for forced labor. Two basic questions have preoccupied historians studying the links between religion and slavery: why did Christianity become an ideological bulwark for human bondage; and why did enslaved Africans and their descendants begin to embrace a religion so friendly to slavery, inverting it into a spiritual vernacular of liberation and transcendence? Whereas historians of Atlantic world Protestantism have mostly probed these questions in their North American contexts, Katherine Gerbner's book, Christian Slavery: Conversion and Race in the Protestant Atlantic World, shifts the focus to the Caribbean of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Protestant missionaries there began proselytizing among enslaved Africans at least half a century earlier than in North America, creating connections between race, religion, and slavery that would prove perniciously durable across both time and region. In this forum, four distinguished scholars consider the implications of Gerbner's work.


1999 ◽  
Vol 64 (2) ◽  
pp. 215-230 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juliet E. Morrow ◽  
Toby A. Morrow

This paper examines geographic variation in fluted point morphology across North and South America. Metric data on 449 North American points, 31 Central American points, and 61 South American points were entered into a database. Ratios calculated from these metric attributes are used to quantify aspects of point shape across the two continents. The results of this analysis indicate gradual, progressive changes in fluted point outline shape from the Great Plains of western North America into adjacent parts of North America as well as into Central and South America. The South American “Fishtail” form of fluted point is seen as the culmination of incremental changes in point shape that began well into North America. A geographically gradual decline in fluting frequency also is consistent with the stylistic evolution of the stemmed “Fishtail” points. Although few in number, the available radiocarbon dates do suggest that “Fishtail” fluted points in southern South America are younger than the earliest dates associated with Clovis points in western North America. All of these data converge on the conclusion that South American “Fishtail” points evolved from North American fluted points.


1998 ◽  
Vol 76 (10) ◽  
pp. 1812-1817 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sue Porebski ◽  
Paul M Catling

To improve the intraspecific classification of Fragaria chiloensis (L.) Duchesne, 35 plants including 5 North American ssp. lucida, 15 North American ssp. pacifica, and 15 South American ssp. chiloensis were analysed using random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPDs). From 100 primers screened, 12 were selected providing 62 scorable polymorphic bands. The phenogram (cophenetic correlation, r = 0.99) based on UPGMA clustering of Jaccard's coefficients revealed a clear division between North American and South American plants, but only partial separation was shown between the two North American subspecies. This is the first comprehensive molecular evidence for major genetic divergence between the North American and South American subspecies of F. chiloensis and suggests greater genetic variation within the Canadian material of the North American ssp. pacifica than within the South American ssp.chiloensis. These findings strongly support protection and utilization of wild Canadian Fragaria germplasm for crop improvement.Key words: strawberry, Fragaria chiloensis, ssp. chiloensis, ssp. pacifica, ssp. lucida, RAPD, variation, germplasm, Canada, United States, Chile.


Phytotaxa ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 203 (1) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arve Elvebakk ◽  
ANA ROSA FLORES ◽  
JOHN MICHAEL WATSON

Calandrinia caespitosa is one of seven species currently recognized in Calandrina sect. Acaules. It has been interpreted by all recent studies to represent a single species with variable flower colours. It is here shown that, on the contrary, this entity is a complex which includes four distinct species. C. caespitosa inhabits depressions at elevations between 2500 and 4000 m in the Andes mountains between 29º S and 36º S. It is morphologically characterized in having 6–8 ellipsoid, flamboyant red petaloids, yellowish-green towards the base. Its typification is discussed, while the synonyms C. diffusa and C. densiflora are neotypified on specimens preserved at K. C. skottsbergii grows in dry, gravelly mountains in central Patagonia from ca. 38–47o S. It has 6–12 petaloids which are truncate and longer and broader than those of C. caespitosa, orange or rarely yellow, and capsules much larger than those of C. caespitosa. A deviating species pair occurs in southern Patagonia: C. fuegiana with white or pinkish petaloids and C. ranunculina with yellow petaloids. The latter species is described in this study as new to science. Both C. fuegiana and C. ranunculina share a rather small, weakly zygomorphic perianth with 2+4 petaloids which open for a short period, and then close to allow for self-pollination when the anthers move towards the stigma. This is interpreted here as an adaptation to the very strong winds prevailing in their habitats. C. fuegiana grows in screes and snow beds in the high mountains from 47º S to near 52o S, in addition to an isolated distribution area further south in the mountains near Lago Fagnano in Tierra del Fuego at c. 54o 30′ S. Its capsules are large and similar to those of C. skottsbergii, except that they curve distinctly when mature. C. ranunculina, on the other hand, has adapted to the lowland steppes of southern Patagonia (49º to 54º S), and has very distinct, short and urn-shaped capsules with strongly recurving valves. No hybrids between these species have been detected where any of them meet. A distribution map and a table including comparison of 30 characters between the species are also presented, as well as SEM images of seeds, which also differ morphologically between the species.


2002 ◽  
Vol 80 (12) ◽  
pp. 2207-2217 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel E Galazzo ◽  
Selvadurai Dayanandan ◽  
David J Marcogliese ◽  
J Daniel McLaughlin

The systematics of Diplostomum species, common intestinal parasites of piscivorous birds, has long been problematic, owing to phenotypic plasticity and the paucity of morphological features that are often subject to age- and host-induced variation. We sequenced the ITS1–5.8S–ITS2 regions of the rDNA from adult Diplostomum huronense, Diplostomum indistinctum, and Diplostomum baeri obtained from experimentally infected ring-bill gulls (Larus delawarensis) and compared them with partial ITS1 sequences from several species of Diplostomum in GenBank. The three North American species were distinguishable on the basis of ITS sequences. Sequences from D. huronense differed from those of D. indistinctum at 12 sites in ITS1 and 4 sites in ITS2, supporting morphological and morphometric data that indicate the two are distinct species. Sequences of D. huronense and D. indistinctum differed from those of D. baeri at 27 and 24 sites, respectively, in ITS1 and 15 and 12 sites, respectively, in ITS2. Phylogenetic analysis of partial ITS1 sequences revealed that the North American and European species of Diplostomum formed separate groups, with the former being basal to the latter. The results indicated that D. huronense and D. indistinctum from North America are distinct from Diplostomum spathaceum and other similar species from Europe. Furthermore, sequences from specimens identified as D. baeri from North America differed from those of D. baeri from Europe by 3.8% in ITS1 (23 sites). While morphologically similar, the two are not conspecific. Sequences of the North American species have been deposited in GenBank (AY 123042–123044).


1987 ◽  
Vol 94 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 333-335
Author(s):  
Lynn Siri Kimsey

The chrysidid tribe Elampini comprises a diverse group of genera. There are a number of small (1-3 species) highly derived genera in this group. Nearly all of these occur in 2 regions, southwestern North America and the area comprising the Middle East, southern USSR and North Africa. The small North American genera are Hedychreides Bohart, Microchridium Bohart, Minymischa Kimsey, Pseudolopyga Bodenstein and Xerochrum Bobart. Those in the latter region include: Haba Semenov, Prochridium Linsenmaier and the new genus, Adelopyga, described below. One genus, Muesebeckidium Krombein, occurs in both North and South America.The following abbreviations are used: F = flagellomere, MOD = midocellus diameter, PD = puncture diameter, Rs = forewing radial sector, and S = gastral sternum.


ZooKeys ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 683 ◽  
pp. 51-138 ◽  
Author(s):  
Salvatore S. Anzaldo

The thirty-nine extant genera of Conoderinae known to occur in North America, Central America, and the Caribbean are reviewed based on external morphology. An identification key is provided along with diagnoses, distributions, species counts, and natural history information, when known, for each genus. Morphological character systems of importance for weevil classification are surveyed, potential relationships among the tribes and genera are discussed, and groups most in need of taxonomic and phylogenetic attention are identified. The following genera are transferred to new tribes: Acoptus LeConte, 1876 from the Lechriopini to the Othippiini(new placement) and the South American genus Hedycera Pascoe, 1870 from the Lechriopini to the Piazurini(new placement). Philides Champion, 1906 and Philinna Champion, 1906 are transferred from the Lechriopini to Conoderinaeincertae sedis(new placement) although their placement as conoderines is uncertain. The species Copturomimus cinereus Heller, 1895 is designated as the type species of the genus Copturomimus Heller, 1895.


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