Morphological Variation and Speciation of Acavidae Family: A Case Study from Fossil and Living Species of Batadombalena Cave Pre-historic Site in Sri Lanka

Author(s):  
Aravinda Ravibhanu Sumanarathna ◽  
Buddhika Madurapperuma ◽  
Janaka Kuruppuarachchi ◽  
Jinadasa Katupotha ◽  
S.M.K. Abeywardhana ◽  
...  

AbstractA sufficient knowledge on prehistoric culture and habitat of earliest Homo sapiens (Balangoda man) is available in Batadomba-lena cave, a noticeable rock shelter in lowland rainforest of southwestern Sri Lanka goes upto Pleistocene and Holocene eras. Late Pleistocene inhabitants of Batadombalena cave’s foraged for a broad spectrum of plant and mainly arboreal animal resources such as, monkeys, squirrels and rainforest snails etc. Archaeo-faunal evidence would help to describe the prehistoric man eating behavior as well as availability of nature pre-historic flora, fauna and environmental status. The family Acavidae is very sensitive to climatic variations, hence used as a bio-indicator to describe the variations of paleo-climatic nature. This study examined the morphological features of 20 samples of Acavidae family (living/fossil samples of Acavus superbus, and sub fossil samples of Oligospira waltoni) collected from soils by digger method in 2005 and compared with 20 samples from the same area at presently available. The shell characters of snails such as, height, width, diameter of mouth, thickness of lip, and angular of axis were measured and subjected to multivariate analysis to understand how climatic variability and nature of paleo-diet contribute survival of Acavidae species. Results showed that Acavus superbus living species had large shell characteristics than the sub fossils. Results of similar study in the same climatic status in 2000 showed that the shell measurements of Acavus superbus are relatively larger than both living and sub fossils in Batadobalena cave. Ordination diagram derived from species shell characteristics showed that Acavus superbus living species grouped as scattered /diffuse clusters, while sub fossil species grouped as a single cluster at the center of the ordination diagram. It is imply a trend of speciation /diversification of Acavus species from Pleistocene era to date. Multivariate analyses prove that, a strong positive correlation of species characteristics, such as height (r = 0.62), thickness of lip (r = 0.544) and angular of axis (r = 0.744), and a strong negative relationship (r = 0.832) for shell width for the species were observed. Our results are useful to compare with other fossil snails to see whether the climate change influence for changing body size. In conclusion, palaeo-environment, and present environment variation has been occurred in minimum way without much changes to observed Acavidae species compositions present and past.

2012 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 131-138 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robin J. Smith ◽  
Jimin Lee ◽  
Yong Geun Choi ◽  
Cheon Young Chang ◽  
Jean-Paul Colin

Abstract. The non-marine ostracod genus Frambocythere Colin, 1980 (Limnocytheridae, Timiriaseviinae) had a previously known stratigraphical range from the Albian (Lower Cretaceous) through to the Lutetian (middle Eocene). However, during surveys of Seongryu Cave in Uljin-gun Province, South Korea, specimens of an extant species of Frambocythere were recovered. This extends the stratigraphic range of the genus by more than 40 million years to the present, and the species is, therefore, considered to be a relict ‘living fossil’. This newly described species is most similar in morphology to Frambocythere gr. tumiensis (Helmdach, 1978), reported from Thanetian (Paleocene) deposits of the Paris Basin. The living species was found in the hypogean realm, in contrast to the fossil species, which were all epigean. It is hypothesized that, like the genus Kovalevskiella Klein, 1963, which belongs to the same lineage, Frambocythere migrated from epigean to hypogean habitats.


2020 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Adiqa Kiani ◽  
Ejaz Ullah ◽  
Khair Muhammad

The main objective of this study is to investigate the impact of poverty, globalization, and environmental degradation on economic growth in the selected SAARC countries. This study is employed panel Autoregressive Distributive Lag (ARDL) technique for empirical analysis using selected SAARC regions including India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka over the period of 1980 to 2018. Globalization impacts economic growth positively and significantly.  In addition to this the significant negative relationship is found between population and economic growth. The results show that poverty is positively related with environmental degradation. Furthermore, the results indicate that globalization is positively and significantly associated with environmental degradation in the SAARC region. Finally, the results show that urbanization is positive and significantly associated with environmental degradation, which could be the serious concerns for the policy makers to control.


2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (11) ◽  
Author(s):  
ARDO TANJUNG ◽  
H.T.S.S.G. SARAGIH ◽  
TRIJOKO ◽  
H.P. SOENARWAN ◽  
S. WIDIANTO ◽  
...  

Abstract. Tanjung A, Saragih HTSSG, Trijoko, Soenarwan HP, Widianto S, Mahardhika IWS, Daryono BS. 2019. Polymorphism of myostatin gene and its association with body weight traits in a hybrid of GAMA chicken (Gallus gallus domesticus Linn. 1758). Biodiversitas 20: 3207-3212. An experiment was conducted to detect SNP of the myostatin gene and its association with the body weight of hybrid chicken crossbreed from F1 Kamper and BC1 Broiler. Four F1 Kamper hens were crossbred with BC1 Broiler rooster. Day old chick (DOC) hatched were maintained for 49 days with body weight measurement every seven days. The blood samples from 49 days old chicken were taken for DNA isolation by Chelex 5% method and then amplification of the myostatin gene. PCR products were sequenced, and sequence alignment was performed using Clustal Omega to obtain SNP. The SNP obtained was analyzed by the Pearson correlation test with the body weight of forty nine-days-old chickens. The body weight of the hybrid chicken is higher than of Pelung chicken but lower than the Broiler. There are 7 SNPs in myostatin gene exons included 2 Adenine insertions, 1 Guanine deletion, and four substitutions (C2244G, G2283A, T4842G, G7378T) that yield nine haplotypes. Six haplotypes had different protein sequences with Myostatin protein, while three haplotypes were identical to Myostatin protein. The correlation analysis showed that there was a strong positive correlation (r = 0.736) between normal Myostatin protein and mutant to chicken body weight at 49-days-old. Adenine insertion to nucleotide 2099-2100 of myostatin gene had a very strong positive correlation (r = 0.800) to 49-days-old chicken body weight, although T4842G substitution had a strong negative relationship (r = -0.773) to 49-days-old chicken body weight. Adenine insertion to nucleotide 2099-2100 of myostatin gene could be a genetic marker of heavier body weight of the hybrid chicken.


1984 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. 182-198
Author(s):  
Catherine Badgley

The evolutionary history of humans is well understood in outline, compared to that of many other groups of mammals. But human evolution remains enigmatic in its details, and these are compelling both scientifically and personally because they relate to the biological uniqueness of humans. Humans are placed in the primate family Hominidae, which, in traditional classifications, contains a single living species, Homo sapiens. The closest living relatives of humans are great apes: the chimpanzees Pan paniscus and Pan troglodytes, the gorilla Gorilla gorilla, and the orangutan Pongo pygmaeus. These apes have traditionally been placed in the family Pongidae as the sister group of Hominidae. Living Hominidae and Pongidae, together with Hylobatidae (gibbons) comprise the modern representatives of the primate suborder Hominoidea.


Genes ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 38 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dehuai Luo ◽  
Yanping Li ◽  
Qingyuan Zhao ◽  
Lianpeng Zhao ◽  
Arne Ludwig ◽  
...  

Order Acipenseriformes contains 27 extant species distributed across the northern hemisphere, including so-called “living fossil” species of garfish and sturgeons. Previous studies have focused on their mitochondrial genetics and have rarely used nuclear genetic data, leaving questions as to their phylogenetic relationships. This study aimed to utilize a bioinformatics approach to screen for candidate single-copy nuclear genes, using transcriptomic data from sturgeon species and genomic data from the spotted gar, Lepisosteus oculatus. We utilized nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and degenerate primers to identify nuclear protein-coding (NPC) gene markers to determine phylogenetic relationships among the Acipenseriformes. We identified 193 nuclear single-copy genes, selected from 1850 candidate genes with at least one exon larger than 700 bp. Forty-three of these genes were used for primer design and development of 30 NPC markers, which were sequenced for at least 14 Acipenseriformes species. Twenty-seven NPC markers were found completely in 16 species. Gene trees according to Bayesian inference (BI) and maximum likelihood (ML) were calculated based on the 30 NPC markers (20,946 bp total). Both gene and species trees produced very similar topologies. A molecular clock model estimated the divergence time between sturgeon and paddlefish at 204.1 Mya, approximately 10% later than previous estimates based on cytochrome b data (184.4 Mya). The successful development and application of NPC markers provides a new perspective and insight for the phylogenetic relationships of Acipenseriformes. Furthermore, the newly developed nuclear markers may be useful in further studies on the conservation, evolution, and genomic biology of this group.


1986 ◽  
Vol 60 (4) ◽  
pp. 968-970 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan J. Becker

The genus Ardea includes all living species of large herons. Brodkorb (1963) listed five fossil species of Ardea, and only one fossil species has since been described. Of these six, only two are unquestionably members of the genus Ardea. Ardea brunhuberi von Ammon, 1918, from the Upper Miocene Brown Coal Formation, Württemburg, Germany, was moved by Brodkorb (1980) to the Phalacrocoracidae as Phalacrocorax brunhuberi. Brodkorb (1980) considered A. lignitum Giebel, 1860, from the Sarmatian Brown Coal of Rippersroda, Thuringia, Germany, to be a large owl in the genus Bubo. Olson (1985) similarly regards A. perplexa from the Astaracian of Sansan, France, to be a large owl, possibly in the genus Bubo. The type of Ardea aureliensis Milne-Edwards, 1871, from the Oreleanian of Suevres, France, has never been illustrated or restudied and its affinities need to be confirmed (Olson, 1985). The valid fossil species are Ardea polkensis Brodkorb, 1955, from the late Hemphillian Bone Valley Mining District, Florida, and A. howardae Brodkorb, 1980, from the Plio/Pleistocene Shungura Formation, Omo Basin, Ethiopia. A large species of Ardea is also known from the late Clarendonian Love Bone Bed local fauna, Florida, but is based on material too fragmentary for specific identification (Becker, 1985). This note reports the earliest certain occurrence of Ardea now known.


Genetica ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 122 (3) ◽  
pp. 269-276 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zican He ◽  
Jianqiang Li ◽  
Qing Cai ◽  
Xiaodong Li ◽  
Hongwen Huang

2013 ◽  
Vol 21 (02) ◽  
pp. 153-174 ◽  
Author(s):  
XIAOHUA LIN ◽  
ALAN CARSRUD ◽  
KALINGA JAGODA ◽  
WANQING SHEN

This study examines the factors influencing the intention of students to start up a new venture. Using both the "Theory of Planned Behavior" and "Theory of Reasoned Action", a model is tested using survey data collected from 353 undergraduate business students in Sri Lanka. Results of structural equation modeling show entrepreneurial intentions are positively influenced by perceived behavioral control and macro-environment support. However, the effects of attitudes towards entrepreneurship and subjective norms were not significantly related to intentions. Interestingly, beliefs about entrepreneurship had a negative relationship with attitudes toward entrepreneurship. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed in the context of developing countries like Sri Lanka.


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