Assessment and conservation status of an endemic bee in a diversity hotspot (Hymenoptera, Melittidae, Dasypoda)

Wild bees represent a global group of highly diversified insect pollinators, nowadays concerningly well known for their widespread observed patterns of decline. Amongst them is the genus Dasypoda, a widespread Palearctic clade of solitary bees generally poorly represented in entomological collections. Among the 39 accepted species of the genus, 35 are known by both sexes, and a large number of taxa are still known by a low number of specimens. The recently described taxon Dasypoda (Heterodasypoda) michezi Radchenko, 2017 endemic to southern Portugal is just such a case. The species was described from two male specimens, but no female material has been known to date. Here, we provide the first description of the female of D. michezi, collected close to the locus typicus in southern Portugal along with a series of conspecific males. Sex pairing is proposed based on the sympatry of the male and female specimens and on the similar morphology of non-sexual dimorphic traits and on the barcode of a fragment of Cytochrome Oxidase I. We provide high quality imaging of both sexes of D. michezi to help future identification of the species and present a key for all known species of the subgenus Heterodasypoda. We finally propose an IUCN status for D. michezi and discuss the conservation of such geographically restricted species in the current context of global change.

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Possible Epigenetic Origin of a Recurrent Gynandromorph Pattern in Megachile Wild Bees

Insects ◽

10.3390/insects12050437 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 (5) ◽

pp. 437

Author(s):

Daniele Sommaggio ◽

Giuseppe Fusco ◽

Marco Uliana ◽

Alessandro Minelli

Keyword(s):

Current Knowledge ◽

Sex Differentiation ◽

General Pattern ◽

Body Parts ◽

Wild Bees ◽

Male And Female ◽

Female Phenotype ◽

In The Wild ◽

Gene Transcripts ◽

Individual Body

Gynandromorphs, i.e., individuals with a mix of male and female traits, are common in the wild bees of the genus Megachile (Hymenoptera, Apoidea). We described new transverse gynandromorphs in Megachile pilidens Alfkeen, 1924 and analyze the spatial distribution of body parts with male vs. female phenotype hitherto recorded in the transverse gynandromorphs of the genus Megachile. We identified 10 different arrangements, nine of which are minor variants of a very general pattern, with a combination of male and female traits largely shared by the gynandromorphs recorded in 20 out of 21 Megachile species in our dataset. Based on the recurrence of the same gynandromorph pattern, the current knowledge on sex determination and sex differentiation in the honey bee, and the results of recent gene-knockdown experiments in these insects, we suggest that these composite phenotypes are possibly epigenetic, rather than genetic, mosaics, with individual body parts of either male or female phenotype according to the locally expressed product of the alternative splicing of sex-determining gene transcripts.

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Changes in care in the fourth trimester in Ireland: 2010–2020

British Journal of Midwifery ◽

10.12968/bjom.2021.29.12.683 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 29 (12) ◽

pp. 683-691

Author(s):

Jean Doherty ◽

Mary Brosnan ◽

Lucille Sheehy

Keyword(s):

Negative Impact ◽

Maternity Hospital ◽

Care Needs ◽

High Quality ◽

Midwifery Care ◽

Hospital Stays ◽

Current Context ◽

Discharge From Hospital ◽

The Impact

Background There has been a shift in maternity care over the past decade. The changes encountered by postnatal ward staff and the impact of these changes on women postnatally requires exploration. This study aimed to ascertain midwives' and healthcare assistants' perspectives of the changes in postnatal care and challenges to providing care in the current context. Methods This was a qualitative study involving two focus groups of 15 midwives and healthcare assistants from an Irish urban maternity hospital. The participants' responses were analysed thematically. Results Changes in women's clinical characteristics, including increased comorbidities and caesarean section rates, were highlighted as creating additional care needs. Furthermore, additional midwifery tasks and clinical protocols as well as shorter hospital stays leave little time for high-quality, woman-centred care. Participants highlighted a negative impact on maternal health from limited follow-up midwifery care in the community. Conclusions With additional midwifery duties and a reduction in time to complete them, additional community midwifery care is key to providing high-quality follow-on care after postnatal discharge from hospital.

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The Wryneck

10.53061/vhkc7954 ◽

2022 ◽

Author(s):

Gerard Gorman

Keyword(s):

Natural History ◽

Head And Neck ◽

Conservation Status ◽

High Quality ◽

Wide Audience ◽

Insect Prey ◽

Citizen Scientist ◽

Cultural Symbolism

This book details the natural history and cultural symbolism of a most unusual woodpecker – a species that neither excavates nest holes in trees, nor bores into wood to find insect prey. The elusive Wryneck is best renowned for performing a twisting, writhing head and neck display when threatened, but this ground-breaking study reveals many more secrets of its behaviour and evolution. Detailed information is presented on the species' origins, taxonomy, anatomy, appearance, moult, calls, distribution, conservation status, habitats, movements, breeding, diet and relationships, along with a chapter on its closest relative, the Red-throated Wryneck. The text is richly illustrated throughout with high quality photographs as well as sound spectrograms. This all-encompassing and engaging account has been written for a wide audience, whether professional ornithologist, citizen scientist, amateur birder, woodpecker aficionado and simply someone who wishes to learn more about this curious and remarkable bird.

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Lightweight males of Podisus nigrispinus (Heteroptera: Pentatomidae) neglect lightweight females due low reproductive fitness

Brazilian Journal of Biology ◽

10.1590/1519-6984.11515 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 77 (2) ◽

pp. 267-276 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

A. I. A. Pereira ◽

R. B. Silva ◽

W. S. Tavares ◽

J. B. Malaquias ◽

J. C. Zanuncio

Keyword(s):

Stink Bugs ◽

High Quality ◽

Gossypium Hirsutum L ◽

Nymphal Stage ◽

Male And Female ◽

Food Shortages ◽

Quality Diet ◽

Males And Females ◽

Heteroptera Pentatomidae ◽

Coleoptera Tenebrionidae

Abstract Sexual choice by male stink bugs is important because females that experience food shortages lay fewer eggs with lower viability compared with well-fed females. In this study, we investigated whether Podisus nigrispinus (Dallas) (Heteroptera: Pentatomidae) males fed with a low-quality diet during its nymphal stage show selectivity for sexual partners resulting in high-quality progeny. Lightweight males and females were obtained from nymphs fed weekly with Tenebrio molitor L. (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae) pupae. By contrast, heavyweight males and females were fed three times a week and received an extra nutritional source: cotton leaves, Gossypium hirsutum L. (Malvaceae). Lightweight males preferred to mate with heavy females (77.78 ± 14.69%), whereas heavyweight males did not discriminated between light or heavyweight females. Females mated with lightweight males showed similar levels of reproduction to those mated with heavyweight males. The results provide an indication of the importance of male and female body weight for sexual selection in Asopinae stink bugs.

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Miniature Spatial Heterodyne Raman Spectrometer with a Cell Phone Camera Detector

Applied Spectroscopy ◽

10.1177/0003702816665127 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 71 (5) ◽

pp. 988-995 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Patrick D. Barnett ◽

S. Michael Angel

Keyword(s):

Cell Phone ◽

Diffraction Gratings ◽

Standard Cell ◽

High Quality ◽

Charge Coupled Device ◽

Raman Spectrometer ◽

A Cell ◽

Cooled Ccd ◽

Ccd Detectors ◽

Quality Imaging

A spatial heterodyne Raman spectrometer (SHRS) with millimeter-sized optics has been coupled with a standard cell phone camera as a detector for Raman measurements. The SHRS is a dispersive-based interferometer with no moving parts and the design is amenable to miniaturization while maintaining high resolution and large spectral range. In this paper, a SHRS with 2.5 mm diffraction gratings has been developed with 17.5 cm−1 theoretical spectral resolution. The footprint of the SHRS is orders of magnitude smaller than the footprint of charge-coupled device (CCD) detectors typically employed in Raman spectrometers, thus smaller detectors are being explored to shrink the entire spectrometer package. This paper describes the performance of a SHRS with 2.5 mm wide diffraction gratings and a cell phone camera detector, using only the cell phone’s built-in optics to couple the output of the SHRS to the sensor. Raman spectra of a variety of samples measured with the cell phone are compared to measurements made using the same miniature SHRS with high-quality imaging optics and a high-quality, scientific-grade, thermoelectrically cooled CCD.

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High Quality Imaging for Space VLBI Observations with Ultra High Angular Resolution

Symposium - International Astronomical Union ◽

10.1017/s0074180900221694 ◽

2001 ◽

Vol 205 ◽

pp. 430-431

Author(s):

Sergey Likhachev

Keyword(s):

Angular Resolution ◽

High Angular Resolution ◽

High Quality ◽

Vlbi Observations ◽

Quality Imaging

This presentation focuses on the problems associated with obtaining high quality images from a high orbiting space VLBI (SVLBI) mission. SVLBI intensifies and magnifies all imaging problems, making these problems clearer to understand, though much harder to solve.

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Negating the Gender Citation Advantage in Political Science

Political Science and Politics ◽

10.1017/s1049096517000014 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 50 (02) ◽

pp. 448-455 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Amy L. Atchison

Keyword(s):

Open Access ◽

Gender Bias ◽

Academic Publishing ◽

High Quality ◽

High Quality Research ◽

Quality Research ◽

Male And Female ◽

Research Areas ◽

Considerable Research ◽

Citation Advantage

ABSTRACTOpen-access (OA) advocates have long promoted OA as an egalitarian alternative to traditional subscription-based academic publishing. The argument is simple: OA gives everyone access to high-quality research at no cost. In turn, this should benefit individual researchers by increasing the number of people reading and citing academic articles. As the OA movement gains traction in the academy, scholars are investing considerable research energy to determine whether there is an OA citation advantage—that is, does OA increase an article’s citation counts? Research indicates that it does. Scholars also explored patterns of gender bias in academic publishing and found that women are cited at lower rates in many disciplines. Indeed, in many disciplines, men enjoy a significant and positive gender citation effect (GCE) compared to their female colleagues. This article combines these research areas to determine whether the OA citation advantage varies by gender. Using Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney (WMW) tests, the nonparametric analog to the independent samples T-test, I conclude that OA benefits male and female political scientists at similar rates. Thus, OA negates the gender citation advantage that typically accrues to male political scientists.

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Reptiles of the NSW Murray Catchment

10.1071/9780643098213 ◽

2010 ◽

Cited By ~ 11

Author(s):

Damian Michael ◽

David Lindenmayer

Keyword(s):

Catchment Area ◽

New South ◽

Conservation Status ◽

High Quality ◽

Distribution Maps ◽

South Wales ◽

Reptile Species ◽

Farming Landscapes ◽

Distinguishing Features

This is an easy to use field guide for identifying the 80 reptile species currently known to occur in the Murray catchment area of New South Wales. Illustrated with high quality colour photographs, the book describes the key distinguishing features of each reptile and includes details on habitats and conservation status. Uniquely, it has a detailed chapter on how to conserve reptiles and manage key habitats, providing landholders and natural resource agencies with the knowledge to help conserve reptiles in agricultural farming landscapes. The up-to-date distribution maps are based on 10 years of extensive surveys and research on reptiles in the Murray catchment. The final chapter includes a section on similar looking species to further enable readers to accurately and quickly identify difficult species. Reptiles of the NSW Murray Catchment promotes a broad appreciation of reptiles in the region, and is a must-have for natural history enthusiasts.

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