The genus Capsicum (Solanaceae) in Africa

Bothalia ◽  
1983 ◽  
Vol 14 (3/4) ◽  
pp. 845-848 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. H. Eshbaugh

The genus Capsicum (Solanaceae) includes approximately 20 wild species and 4-5 domesticated taxa commonly referred to as ‘chilies’ or ‘peppers’. The pre-Colombian distribution of the genus was New World. The evolutionary history of the genus is now envisaged as including three distinct lines leading to the domesticated taxa. The route of Capsicum to the Old World is thought to have followed three different courses. First, explorers introduced it to Europe with secondary introduction into Africa via further exploratory expeditions; second, botanical gardens played a major role in introduction; and third, introduction followed the slave trade routes. Today, pepper production in Africa is of two types, vegetable and spice. Statistical profiles on production are difficult to interpret, but the data available indicate that Nigeria, Egypt, Tunisia and Ghana are the leading producers. Production is mainly a local phenomenon and large acreage is seldom devoted to the growing of peppers. The primary peppers in Africa are C.  annuum and C.  frutescens.

Author(s):  
Sabrina Simon ◽  
Harald Letsch ◽  
Sarah Bank ◽  
Thomas R. Buckley ◽  
Alexander Donath ◽  
...  

The Auk ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 118 (4) ◽  
pp. 874-887 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin P. Johnson ◽  
Selvino de Kort ◽  
Karen Dinwoodey ◽  
A. C. Mateman ◽  
Carel ten Cate ◽  
...  

Abstract Evolutionary history of the dove genus Streptopelia has not been examined with rigorous phylogenetic methods. We present a study of phylogenetic relationships of Streptopelia based on over 3,600 base pairs of nuclear and mitochondrial gene sequences. To test for monophyly of Streptopelia, we used several other columbiform taxa, including Columba (Old and New World), Macropygia, Reinwardtoena, and the enigmatic Pink Pigeon (Nesoenas mayeri). On the basis of our analyses, Streptopelia (as currently defined) is not monophyletic; Nesoenas mayeri is the sister species to S. picturata, resulting in paraphyly of Streptopelia. Three main clades of Streptopelia are identified: (1) S. chinensis plus S. senegalensis, (2) S. picturata plus Nesoenas mayeri, and (3) all other species of Streptopelia. It is unclear whether those clades form a monophyletic group to the exclusion of Old World Columba, but several analyses produce that result. Species of Old World Columba are closely related to Streptopelia, with species of New World Columba clustering outside that group. Taxonomic changes suggested by our results include merging Nesoenas with Streptopelia and changing the generic name for New World Columba species to Patagioenas. Vocal similarities between S. picturata and N. mayeri are striking, given the general diversity of vocalizations in other species.


1955 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 517-539
Author(s):  
Richard M. Morse

Latin americanists have in recent years become increasingly concerned with constructing the basis for a unified history of Latin America. Frequently this enterprise leads them to contemplate the even larger design of a history of the Americas. While the New World may still be, in Hegel’s words, “a land of desire for all those who are weary of the historical lumber-room of old Europe,” it is now recognized as having an independent heritage; its history is no longer experienced as “only an echo of the Old World.”


2006 ◽  
Vol 3544 (1) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
ROBERT G. MOYLE ◽  
R TERRY CHESSER ◽  
RICHARD O. PRUM ◽  
PETER SCHIKLER ◽  
JOEL CRACRAFT

2018 ◽  
Vol 115 (50) ◽  
pp. E11790-E11797 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amine Namouchi ◽  
Meriam Guellil ◽  
Oliver Kersten ◽  
Stephanie Hänsch ◽  
Claudio Ottoni ◽  
...  

Over the last few years, genomic studies on Yersinia pestis, the causative agent of all known plague epidemics, have considerably increased in numbers, spanning a period of about 5,000 y. Nonetheless, questions concerning historical reservoirs and routes of transmission remain open. Here, we present and describe five genomes from the second half of the 14th century and reconstruct the evolutionary history of Y. pestis by reanalyzing previously published genomes and by building a comprehensive phylogeny focused on strains attributed to the Second Plague Pandemic (14th to 18th century). Corroborated by historical and ecological evidence, the presented phylogeny, which includes our Y. pestis genomes, could support the hypothesis of an entry of plague into Western European ports through distinct waves of introduction during the Medieval Period, possibly by means of fur trade routes, as well as the recirculation of plague within the human population via trade routes and human movement.


2016 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 777-789 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Supriya ◽  
M. Rowe ◽  
T. Laskemoen ◽  
D. Mohan ◽  
T. D. Price ◽  
...  

2011 ◽  
Vol 41 (3) ◽  
pp. 387-396 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Brown ◽  
Gabriel Paquette

The independence of Latin America from colonial rule in the first decades of the nineteenth century is generally held to have broken the bonds which had linked Europe to the Americas for three centuries. This article contends that a re-examination of the decade of the 1820s reveals the persistence, as well as the reconfiguration, of connections between the Old World and the New after the dissolution of the Iberian Atlantic monarchies. Some of these multi-faceted connections are introduced and explored, most notably commercial ties, intellectual and cultural influences, immigration, financial obligations, the slave trade and its suppression, and diplomatic negotiations. Recognition and appreciation of these connections has important consequences for our understandings of the history of the Atlantic World, the ‘Age of Revolutions’, and Latin American Independence itself.


2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen M Baca ◽  
Andrew E Z Short

Abstract Notomicrinae (Coleoptera: Noteridae) is a subfamily of minute and ecologically diverse aquatic beetles distributed across the Southeast Asia, Oceania, and the Americas. We investigate the evolution of Notomicrinae and construct the first species-level phylogeny within Noteridae using five nuclear and mitochondrial gene fragments. We focus on the genus Notomicrus Sharp (Coleoptera: Noteridae), sampling 13 of the 17 known Notomicrus species and an additional 11 putative undescribed species. We also include Phreatodytes haibaraensis Uéno (Coleoptera: Noteridae). Datasets are analyzed in Maximum Likelihood and Bayesian frameworks. With these, we 1) estimate divergence times among notomicrine taxa and reconstruct the biogeographical history of the group, particularly testing the hypothesis of Gondwanan vicariance between Old World and New World Notomicrus; 2) additionally, we assess ecological plasticity within Notomicrinae in the context of the phylogeny; and 3) finally, we test the monophyly of tentative species groups within Notomicrus and place putative new taxa. We recover a monophyletic Notomicrinae, with Phreatodytes sister to Notomicrus. We estimate the crown age of Notomicrinae to be ca. 110 Mya. The crown age of Notomicrus is recovered as ca. 75 Mya, there diverging into reciprocally monophyletic Old and New World clades, suggesting Gondwanan vicariance. Our phylogenetic estimate indicates a strong degree of ecological plasticity within Notomicrinae, with habitat switching occurring in recently diverging taxa. Finally, we recover five main species groups in Notomicrus, one Old World, Four New World, with tentative affirmation of the placement of undescribed species.


2000 ◽  
Vol 74 (3) ◽  
pp. 1578-1586 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rui Mang ◽  
Jolanda Maas ◽  
Antoinette C. van der Kuyl ◽  
Jaap Goudsmit

ABSTRACT To study the evolutionary history of Papio cynocephalus endogenous retrovirus (PcEV), we analyzed the distribution and genetic characteristics of PcEV among 17 different species of primates. The viral pol-env and long terminal repeat and untranslated region (LTR-UTR) sequences could be recovered from all Old World species of the papionin tribe, which includes baboons, macaques, geladas, and mangabeys, but not from the New World monkeys and hominoids we tested. The Old World genera Cercopithecus andMiopithecus hosted either a PcEV variant with an incomplete genome or a virus with substantial mismatches in the LTR-UTR. A complete PcEV was found in the genome of Colobus guereza—but not in Colobus badius—with a copy number of 44 to 61 per diploid genome, comparable to that seen in papionins, and with a sequence most closely related to a virus of the papionin tribe. Analysis of evolutionary distances among PcEV sequences for synonymous and nonsynonymous sites indicated that purifying selection was operational during PcEV evolution. Phylogenetic analysis suggested that possibly two subtypes of PcEV entered the germ line of a common ancestor of the papionins and subsequently coevolved with their hosts. One strain of PcEV was apparently transmitted from a papionin ancestor to an ancestor of the central African lowland C. guereza.


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