The first egg of Jerdon's courser Rhinoptilus bitorquatus and a review of the early records of this species

2014 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 75-93 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan G. Knox

For most of the twentieth century, Jerdon's courser (Rhinoptilus bitorquatus) was thought to be extinct until it was rediscovered in 1986. Since then, despite much research, the bird remains poorly known. A Critically Endangered southern Indian endemic, recorded from a restricted area of about 50 square kilometres, its nocturnal habits, infrequent vocalizations, scrub-jungle habitat and low population size make it difficult to observe. Almost nothing is known about its breeding or ecology. Its nest has never been seen by an ornithologist. The first known egg of the species was recently discovered in a collection at the University of Aberdeen and its identity confirmed by DNA analysis. It had been collected by Ernest Gilbert Meaton, a veterinary surgeon at the Kolar Gold Fields, east of Bangalore. He probably obtained it in 1917, within 100 km of Kolar. Meaton's egg collection was purchased by George Falconer Rose, a successful expatriate Scot working in Calcutta, and given to Aberdeen Grammar School in 1919. In the 1970s, the school gave the collection to the University of Aberdeen, where the egg was discovered in 2008. This paper collates and reviews the early records of Jerdon's courser and examines the provenance of the egg. The type specimen of the courser now appears to be lost, but five other specimens exist in collections.

2019 ◽  
Vol 35 (03) ◽  
pp. 195-208
Author(s):  
Silvia Mei

Brevity in experimental Italian theatre is not merely an expressive dimension of scenic creation, but a forma mentis, a conceptual vocation of young companies. The 2000s produced a minor theatre in Italy – first because of the reduced stage size, and second because of the brevity of works such as installation pieces. Moving from the linguistic disintegration of the historical avant-gardes of the twentieth century, this theatre is especially inspired by the visual arts, even though its historical roots remain fragmented and art is still seen in the synthetic language of modern dance and Futurist variety. Short forms actually become a tool for crossing artistic genres and languages. Starting from Deleuze’s and Guattari’s philosophical concept of minor literature, in this article Silvia Mei explores and analyzes work by such Italian contemporary companies as gruppo nanou, Città di Ebla, Anagoor, Opera, ErosAntEros, and Teatro Sotterraneo – all representative of what can be called installation theatre, a new theatrical wave that crosses the boundaries and specificities of artistic language, leading to the deterritorialization of theatre itself, a rethinking of the artistic work as well as its relationship with the audience. Silvia Mei is Adjunct Professor of the History of Theatre Directing and Theatre Iconography at the University of Bologna, having been a Research Fellow at the University of Turin. Her recent publications include ‘La terza avanguardia: ortografie dell’ultima scena italiana’, in Culture Teatrali, No. 14 (2015), and Displace Altofest (Valletta: Malta 2018 Foundation).


Phytotaxa ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 266 (1) ◽  
pp. 27 ◽  
Author(s):  
ANTHONY R. MAGEE ◽  
ODETTE E. CURTIS ◽  
B-E. VAN WYK

Extensive field surveys of the Critically Endangered Central and Eastern Rûens Shale Renosterveld have uncovered that Notobubon striatum, as currently circumscribed, comprises two distinct species. Upon careful examination of the type material it has become clear that names exist for both species. The type specimen of N. striatum clearly matches the lesser known species, a large shrub, ca. 1 m. tall, with a powerful anise-scent and which is restricted to the banks of seasonal rivers and watercourses in the Central and Eastern Rûens Shale Renosterveld. The second and better known entity, with a wider distribution, corresponds to the type material of Dregea collina Ecklon & Zeyher. As such, a new combination, Notobubon collinum (Ecklon & Zeyher) Magee, is here made to accommodate this taxon, restricted to dry quartz and silcrete patches or outcrops in Eastern Rûens Shale Renosterveld. In their revised circumscriptions N. striatum and N. collinum are readily distinguished by habit, scent, leaf size and division, as well as leaf lobe shape and sepal size. Comprehensive descriptions of both species are provided, together with notes on their ecology and conservation status, and the existing key to the species of Notobubon updated. This brings the number of recognised species in the genus to thirteen.


2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 251-268 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cristela Garcia-Spitz ◽  
Kathryn Creely

How are ethnographic photographs from the twentieth century accessed and represented in the twenty-first century? This report from the Tuzin Archive for Melanesian Anthropology at the University of California San Diego Library provides an overview of the photographic materials, arrangements and types of documentation in the archive, followed by summaries of specific digitization projects of the photographs from physician Sylvester Lambert and anthropologists Roger Keesing and Harold Scheffler, among others. Through the process of digitization and online access, ethnographic photographs are transformed and may be discovered and contextualized in new ways. Utilizing new technologies and forming broad collaborations, these digitization projects incorporate both anthropological and archival practices and also raise ethical questions. This is an in-depth look at what is digitized and how it is described to re/create meaning and context and to bring new life to these images.


Author(s):  
Sadik Haci

The study follows the life and scientific trajectories of the turkologist Hasan Eren from the town of Vidin, lecturer at the University of Ankara, editor and author of various dictionaries, including the first etymological dictionary of the Turkish language. It traces the preparation and growth of the world-famous Turkish linguist and lexicologist, who left Bulgaria to study and after his exceptional training among Hungarian orientalists such as Gyula Németh he grew up as one of the most famous Turkish scholars in the field of llinguistics. This study presents the conditions and possibilities for Turkish intelligentsia in Bulgaria in the twentieth century.


Journeys ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 83-92

Randy Malamud, The Importance of Elsewhere: The Globalist Humanist Tourist. Chicago/Intellect, The University of Chicago Press, 2018, vii + 236 pp., ISBN-13: 978-1783208746, $29.50 (paperback).Mark Rice, Making Machu Picchu: The Politics of Tourism in Twentieth Century Peru (Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 2018), xvi + 253 pp., ISBN 978-1-4696-4353-3, $28.75 (paperback).Jeffrey Mather, Twentieth-Century Literary Encounters in China: Modernism, Travel, and Form (New York: Routledge, 2020), ix + 182 pp., ISBN 978-1-03-208815-0, US $48.95 (paperback).


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