scholarly journals Cytogenetics of entelegyne spiders (Arachnida, Araneae) from southern Africa

2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 107-138
Author(s):  
František Šťáhlavský ◽  
Martin Forman ◽  
Pavel Just ◽  
Filip Denič ◽  
Charles R. Haddad ◽  
...  

Spiders represent one of the most studied arachnid orders. They are particularly intriguing from a cytogenetic point of view, due to their complex and dynamic sex chromosome determination systems. Despite intensive research on this group, cytogenetic data from African spiders are still mostly lacking. In this study, we describe the karyotypes of 38 species of spiders belonging to 16 entelegyne families from South Africa and Namibia. In the majority of analysed families, the observed chromosome numbers and morphology (mainly acrocentric) did not deviate from the family-level cytogenetic characteristics based on material from other continents: Tetragnathidae (2n♂ = 24), Ctenidae and Oxyopidae (2n♂ = 28), Sparassidae (2n♂ = 42), Gnaphosidae, Trachelidae and Trochanteriidae (2n♂ = 22), and Salticidae (2n♂ = 28). On the other hand, we identified interspecific variability within Hersiliidae (2n♂ = 33 and 35), Oecobiidae (2n♂ = 19 and 25), Selenopidae (2n♂ = 26 and 29) and Theridiidae (2n♂ = 21 and 22). We examined the karyotypes of Ammoxenidae and Gallieniellidae for the first time. Their diploid counts (2n♂ = 22) correspond to the superfamily Gnaphosoidea and support their placement in this lineage. On the other hand, the karyotypes of Prodidominae (2n♂ = 28 and 29) contrast with all other Gnaphosoidea. Similarly, the unusually high diploid number in Borboropactus sp. (2n♂ = 28) within the otherwise cytogenetically uniform family Thomisidae (mainly 2n♂ = 21–24) supports molecular data suggesting a basal position of the genus in the family. The implementation of FISH methods for visualisation of rDNA clusters facilitated the detection of complex dynamics of numbers of these loci. We identified up to five loci of the 18S rDNA clusters in our samples. Three different sex chromosome systems (X0, X1X20 and X1X2X30) were also detected among the studied taxa.

Author(s):  
Caroline Durand

Al-Qusayr is located 40 km south of modern al-Wajh, roughly 7 km from the eastern Red Sea shore. This site is known since the mid-19th century, when the explorer R. Burton described it for the first time, in particular the remains of a monumental building so-called al-Qasr. In March 2016, a new survey of the site was undertaken by the al-‘Ula–al-Wajh Survey Project. This survey focused not only on al-Qasr but also on the surrounding site corresponding to the ancient settlement. A surface collection of pottery sherds revealed a striking combination of Mediterranean and Egyptian imports on one hand, and of Nabataean productions on the other hand. This material is particularly homogeneous on the chronological point of view, suggesting a rather limited occupation period for the site. Attesting contacts between Mediterranean merchants, Roman Egypt and the Nabataean kingdom, these new data allow a complete reassessment of the importance of this locality in the Red Sea trade routes during antiquity.


2021 ◽  
Vol 70 (2) ◽  
pp. 125-134
Author(s):  
Jozef Oboňa ◽  
Paul L. Th. Beuk ◽  
Kateřina Dvořáková ◽  
Libor Dvořák ◽  
Patrick Grootaert ◽  
...  

Abstract In total 65 Diptera species from 20 families (Anisopodidae (2 spp.), Asilidae (1), Bibionidae (1), Clusiidae (1), Culicidae (8), Dolichopodidae (7), Drosophilidae (4), Dryomyzidae (1), Empididae (2), Heleomyzidae (5), Hybotidae (5), Lauxaniidae (4), Limoniidae (9), Opomyzidae (2), Pallopteridae (2), Psychodidae (6), Rhagionidae (2), Scatopsidae (1), Trichoceridae (1) and Ulidiidae (1)) were recorded. The species Drapetis flavipes Macquart, 1834 (Hybotidae), is recorded for the first time in Slovakia. Ten species belong among uncommon or rare (namely: Atypophthalmus (Atypophthalmus) inustus (Meigen, 1818), Calliopum splendidum Papp, 1978, Dioctria linearis (Fabricius, 1787), Cheilotrichia (Empeda) neglecta (Lackschewitz, 1927), Chrysopilus asiliformis (Preyssler, 1791), Ochlerotatus (Ochlerotatus) nigrinus (Eckstein 1918), Philosepedon (Philosepedon) austriacum Vaillant, 1974, Suillia variegata (Loew, 1862), Toxoneura modesta (Meigen, 1830) and Trichomyia urbica Curtis, 1839). On the other hand, two invasive species are also reported. Drosophila (Sophophora) suzukii (Matsumura, 1931) is an invasive crop pest and Aedes (Finlaya) japonicus japonicus (Theobald, 1901) is an invasive biting pest, a potential vector for various diseases. City parks are also important from the point of view of Diptera biodiversity and more attention needs to be paid to them.


Author(s):  
Elena A. Andrushchenko ◽  

D.S. Merezhkovsky’s play “Romantics” (1917) rarely attracts a researcher’s interest, although it is a notable attempt to revisit the rich material on the family history of the Bakunins contained in A.A. Kornilov’s work “Mikhail Bakunin’s young years. From the history of Russian romanticism” (1915). Merezhkovsky’s “bookishness” in the play is apparent in the creation of the idyllic image of Pryamukhino, where he relied on Kornilov’s book and composed a stylization, in which he handled “someone else’s” text and “point of view”. The stylization is reflected in the “estate topos”, which acts as a decoration for the characters’ intellectual aspirations. Coupled with intertext and mythopoetics, it establishes a myth of the intelligentsia’s religious communality, which Merezhkovsky had been developing in his fiction and public writings of those years. These have common motives of paradise, sacrifice, celibacy, unconscious Christianity, duality, detachment. The properties of the “estate topos” in “Romantics” are such that, on the one hand, it is related to the source, while on the other hand each of its elements is integrated into a particular sequence identifiable by its purpose in “estate” literature. This purports to reflect the reality, but is actually the reflection of its reflection; it binds the events to a concrete time and space, yet also affirms the idea of a timeless, universal realization, which is in line with Merezhkovsky’s mythopoetic creative consciousness.


2021 ◽  
Vol 78 ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
Pim H Van Caspel ◽  
Axel Dalberg Poulsen ◽  
Michael Möller

Chromosome counts were obtained from six species of Costaceae from Asia. Our count of 2n = 18 for Cheilocostus speciosus confirms previous counts, and the other five counts have been made for the first time (Cheilocostus borneensis, Cheilocostus globosus, Cheilocostus sopuensis, Costus muluensis and Paracostus sp.). These chromosome counts reveal two somatic numbers, 2n = 18 and 2n = 36, of which the former is a new diploid number for the genus Paracostus. A comprehensive review of existing counts was conducted through literature and database searches. Mapping of these on a published comprehensive phylogenetic tree suggests that the diploid count of 2n = 18 is probably ancestral in the Costaceae, with repeated parallel evolution of tetraploidy and one case of octoploidy. The existence of triploid counts in several lineages harbouring polyploids suggests that diploids and tetraploids may exist in close proximity, and that crosses or meioticirregularities may lead to triploid genotypes occurring frequently.


1954 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 133-142 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luigi Gedda ◽  
Adele Pignatelli

SUMMARYThe Authors have studied two sibs, 20 and 6 years of age respectively, which show hereditary cheratosis of the palms and sales, with spots of cheratosis in other loci too, in addition to dental dystrophia and expulsive gingivitis.From the genetical point of view the most important factor is that neither parent is affected by the condition which on the other hand is generally considered as dominant.The Authors suppose that the morbid genotype comes from the father's side of the family tree.


Author(s):  
Isabel Cristina Chacón Gómez ◽  
Nadiezhda Santodomingo ◽  
Javier Reyes ◽  
Camilo Ernesto Andrade Sossa

Four samples of octocorals in the family Chrysogorgiidae are described (Chrysogorgia desbonni, C. elegans and C. thyrsiformis and Trichogorgia lyra), collected in the Colombian Caribbean during the explorations INVEMAR–Macrofauna I and II. The three Chrysogorgia species were found between depths of 160 and 516 m, while T. lyra was collected in shallow waters between depths of 20 and 150 m, both bathymetric ranges which had not been widely studied in the country before, making this a particularly interesting study. Furthermore, nearly 50 species of various octocorals have been identified based on studies of this type. Chrysogorgia thyrsiformis is recorded for the first time for Colombian Caribbean. In the other hand, geographic distribution and bathymetric ranges are indicated for all these species in the Caribbean and particularly Colombia.


2005 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 129-132 ◽  
Author(s):  
Reimer Kornmann

Summary: My comment is basically restricted to the situation in which less-able students find themselves and refers only to literature in German. From this point of view I am basically able to confirm Marsh's results. It must, however, be said that with less-able pupils the opposite effect can be found: Levels of self-esteem in these pupils are raised, at least temporarily, by separate instruction, academic performance however drops; combined instruction, on the other hand, leads to improved academic performance, while levels of self-esteem drop. Apparently, the positive self-image of less-able pupils who receive separate instruction does not bring about the potential enhancement of academic performance one might expect from high-ability pupils receiving separate instruction. To resolve the dilemma, it is proposed that individual progress in learning be accentuated, and that comparisons with others be dispensed with. This fosters a self-image that can in equal measure be realistic and optimistic.


2014 ◽  
Vol 58 (1) ◽  
pp. 13-22
Author(s):  
Roman Wituła ◽  
Edyta Hetmaniok ◽  
Damian Słota

Abstract In the paper we present the selected properties of composition relation of the convergent and divergent permutations connected with commutation. We note that a permutation on ℕ is called the convergent permutation if for each convergent series ∑an of real terms, the p-rearranged series ∑ap(n) is also convergent. All the other permutations on ℕ are called the divergent permutations. We have proven, among others, that, for many permutations p on ℕ, the family of divergent permutations q on ℕ commuting with p possesses cardinality of the continuum. For example, the permutations p on ℕ having finite order possess this property. On the other hand, an example of a convergent permutation which commutes only with some convergent permutations is also presented.


2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
D.G. Shah ◽  
D.N. Mehta ◽  
R.V. Gujar

Bryophytes are the second largest group of land plants and are also known as the amphibians of the plant kingdom. 67 species of bryophytes have been reported from select locations across the state of Gujrat. The status of family fissidentaceae which is a large moss family is being presented in this paper. Globally the family consists of 10 genera but only one genus, Fissidens Hedw. has been collected from Gujarat. Fissidens is characterized by a unique leaf structure and shows the presence of three distinct lamina, the dorsal, the ventral and the vaginant lamina. A total of 8 species of Fissidens have been reported from the state based on vegetative characters as no sporophyte stages were collected earlier. Species reported from the neighboring states also showed the absence of sporophytes. The identification of different species was difficult due to substantial overlap in vegetative characters. Hence a detailed study on the diversity of members of Fissidentaceae in Gujarat was carried out between November 2013 and February 2015. In present study 8 distinct species of Fissidens have been collected from different parts of the state. Three species Fissidens splachnobryoides Broth., Fissidens zollingerii Mont. and Fissidens curvato-involutus Dixon. have been identified while the other five are still to be identified. Fissidens zollingerii Mont. and Fissidens xiphoides M. Fleisch., which have been reported as distinct species are actually synonyms according to TROPICOS database. The presence of sexual reproductive structures and sporophytes for several Fissidens species are also being reported for the first time from the state.


2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (01) ◽  
Author(s):  
Shlesha Singh ◽  
Mrinalini Pandey

Organizations are these days realizing the importance of women in the workforce and to tap that talent, organizations are now-a-days putting extra efforts. Workplaces were designed keeping men in mind and which has been intercepting women from continuing the competitive jobs and career along with the family responsibilities. On the other hand, there are various workplace barriers which are adding to the other problems. Women face several barriers at the workplace like sexual harassment, glass ceiling and gender stereotype.


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