A Possible New Class of Prehistoric Musical Instruments from New England: Portable Cylindrical Lithophones

2013 ◽  
Vol 78 (3) ◽  
pp. 520-535 ◽  
Author(s):  
Duncan Caldwell

AbstractWith one exception, which has been described as a suspended “kiva bell,” long stone rods have been interpreted throughout the archaeological literature of North America as whetstones or pestles. Two particularly long rods in a collection of prehistoric artifacts from New England raise questions as to the real use of some of these objects. The prevailing interpretations of the two artifacts may be incorrect, or at least incomplete, because the rods lack the kinds of wear that are found on most whetstones or pestles. They also have different acoustical properties from true pestles, which are usually shorter, and are identical in materials, acoustics, and form to probable prehistoric lithophones from the Old World, which can be played on the lap. The identification of the pair of rods as good candidates for being the first known cylindrical, two-toned prehistoric lithophones from New England introduces a new avenue for the study of fossil sounds and rituals in both the region and continent because it is likely that similar artifacts will be examined for characteristic wear, tested acoustically, and recognized as the objects of prestige and ceremony that they may have been in their role as un-suspended musical instruments.

1903 ◽  
Vol 35 (11) ◽  
pp. 295-302
Author(s):  
E. M. Walker

Podisma (Latr.) is a particularly interesting genus of Melanopli, since it is the only one of that immense group that occurs in the Old World, where, indeed, it is represented by considerably more described species than it is in North America. It is also of interest from its distinctly boreal and alpine distribution, being almost peculiar to high latitudes or altitudes. It is a circumpolar genus, inhabiting the mountains and boreal parts of Europe, Asia and North America, a larger number of species having been described from Europe than elsewhere.


2018 ◽  
Vol 24 (9) ◽  
pp. 1511-1523 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antreas Kantaros ◽  
Olaf Diegel

Purpose This paper aims to discuss additive manufacturing (AM) in the context of applications for musical instruments. It examines the main AM technologies used in musical instruments, goes through a history of musical applications of AM and raises the questions about the application of AM to create completely new wind instruments that would be impossible to produce with conventional manufacturing. Design/methodology/approach A literature research is presented which covers a historical application of AM to musical instruments and hypothesizes on some potential new applications. Findings AM has found extensive application to create conventional musical instruments with unique aesthetics designs. It’s true potential to create entirely new sounds, however, remains largely untapped. Research limitations/implications More research is needed to truly assess the potential of additive manufacturing to create entirely new sounds for musical instrument. Practical implications The application of AM in music could herald an entirely new class of musical instruments with unique sounds. Originality/value This study highlights musical instruments as an unusual application of AM. It highlights the potential of AM to create entirely new sounds, which could create a whole new class of musical instruments.


2007 ◽  
Vol 73 (21) ◽  
pp. 7114-7117 ◽  
Author(s):  
Siobain Duffy ◽  
Edward C. Holmes

ABSTRACT A phylogenetic analysis of three genomic regions revealed that Tomato yellow leaf curl virus (TYLCV) from western North America is distinct from TYLCV isolated in eastern North America and the Caribbean. This analysis supports a second introduction of this Old World begomovirus into the New World, most likely from Asia.


ZooKeys ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 984 ◽  
pp. 59-81
Author(s):  
Cory S. Sheffield ◽  
Ryan Oram ◽  
Jennifer M. Heron

The bumble bee (Hymenoptera, Apidae, Bombini, Bombus Latreille) fauna of the Nearctic and Palearctic regions are considered well known, with a few species occurring in both regions (i.e., with a Holarctic distribution), but much of the Arctic, especially in North America, remains undersampled or unsurveyed. Several bumble bee taxa have been described from northern North America, these considered either valid species or placed into synonymy with other taxa. However, some of these synonymies were made under the assumption of variable hair colour only, without detailed examination of other morphological characters (e.g., male genitalia, hidden sterna), and without the aid of molecular data. Recently, Bombus interacti Martinet, Brasero & Rasmont, 2019 was described from Alaska where it is considered endemic; based on both morphological and molecular data, it was considered a taxon distinct from B. lapponicus (Fabricius, 1793). Bombus interacti was also considered distinct from B. gelidus Cresson, 1878, a taxon from Alaska surmised to be a melanistic form of B. lapponicus sylvicola Kirby, 1837, the North American subspecies (Martinet et al. 2019). Unfortunately, Martinet et al. (2019) did not have DNA barcode sequences (COI) for females of B. interacti, but molecular data for a melanistic female specimen matching the DNA barcode sequence of the holotype of B. interacti have been available in the Barcodes of Life Data System (BOLD) since 2011. Since then, additional specimens have been obtained from across northern North America. Also unfortunate was that B. sylvicola var. johanseni Sladen, 1919, another melanistic taxon described from far northern Canada, was not considered. Bombus johanseni is here recognized as a distinct taxon from B. lapponicus sylvicola Kirby, 1837 (sensuMartinet et al. 2019) in the Nearctic region, showing the closest affinity to B. glacialis Friese, 1902 of the Old World. As the holotype male of B. interacti is genetically identical to material identified here as B. johanseni, it is placed into synonymy. Thus, we consider B. johanseni a widespread species occurring across arctic and subarctic North America in which most females are dark, with rarer pale forms (i.e., “interacti”) occurring in and seemingly restricted to Alaska. In addition to B. johanseni showing molecular affinities to B. glacialis of the Old World, both taxa also inhabit similar habitats in the arctic areas of both Nearctic and Palearctic, respectively. It is also likely that many of the specimens identified as B. lapponicus sylvicola from far northern Canada and Alaska might actually be B. johanseni, so that should be considered for future studies of taxonomy, distribution, and conservation assessment of North American bumble bees.


Author(s):  
Stephan M. Blank ◽  
Katja Kramp ◽  
David R. Smith ◽  
Yuri N. Sundikov ◽  
Meicai Wei ◽  
...  

Megaxyela Ashmead, 1898 comprises 13 species, four of which are described as new and one is removed from synonymy: Megaxyela euchroma Blank, Shinohara & Wei sp. nov. from China (Zheijang), M. fulvago Blank, Shinohara & Wei sp. nov. from China (Hunan, Jiangsu, Zhejiang), M. inversa Blank & D.R. Smith sp. nov. from the USA (West Virginia), M. langstoni Ross, 1936 sp. rev. from the eastern USA, and M. pulchra Blank, Shinohara & Sundukov sp. nov. from China (Hubei, Jilin, Liaoning, Shaanxi, Tibet), South Korea (Kangwon-do) and Russia (Primorskiy Kray). The male of M. parki Shinohara, 1992 is described for the first time. A lectotype is designated for M. gigantea Mocsáry, 1909. A cladogram, based on COI sequences of seven species, is presented and interpreted in view of selected morphological characters. Records of M. fulvago sp. nov. from Hunan and of M. pulchra sp. nov. from Tibet extend the known distribution of Megaxyela in the Old World 600 kilometers farther south and 2500 kilometers farther west than previous records.


1835 ◽  
Vol 125 ◽  
pp. 355-358 ◽  

The Fourth Memoir, published in my Zoological Researches and Illustrations, No. III. page 69, &c., having first made known the real nature of the Cirripedes , the key of which remained concealed in their metamorphosis, it might have been expected that some naturalist favourably situated to investigate the oceanic tribe of these animals, would have been the first to make the same discovery in regard to these, and thereby complete their natural history. It was scarcely to be expected that the honour of this discovery also should be reserved for the author, fixed to one spot, where none of them naturally exist, and are but casually thrown upon our shores by the waves of the Atlantic, attached to pieces of wreck, or brought into port fixed to the bottoms of ships returning from distant voyages. Fortunately, however, two ships of this description came into this harbour (Cork), one from the Mediterranean, the other from North America, which, not being sheathed with copper, had their bot­toms literally covered with Barnacles of the three genera of Lepas , Cineras , and Otion ; and having persons employed expressly for the purpose, numbers of these were brought alive in sea water, amongst which were many with the ova in various stages of their progress, and some ready to hatch, which they eventually did in prodigious numbers, so as to enable him to add the proof of their being, like the Balani, natatory Crusta­cea in their first stage , but of a totally different facies and structure; a circumstance which determines the propriety of the separation of the Cirripedes into two tribes, and evinces the sagacity of Mr. MacLeay in being the first to indicate that these two tribes, the Balani and Lepades , were not so closely related as generally supposed. The larvæ of the Balani , described in Memoir IV. under the external appearance of the bivalve Monoculi ( Astracoda ), have a pair of pedunculated eyes, more numerous and more completely developed members, approximating to those of Cyclops , and of the perfect Triton ; while, in the present type, or Lepades , the larva resembles some­what that of the Cyclops , which Müller, mistaking for a perfect animal, named Amymone , and which can be shown to he common to a great many of the Entomostraca ; or the resemblance is still more striking to that of the Argulus Armiger of Latreille, which, in fact, is but an Amymone furnished with a tricuspidate shield at the back.


1974 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 135-136 ◽  
Author(s):  
Walter S. Newman

AbstractSnow's thesis that shellfish were not eaten by archaic peoples of North America until A.D. 1 is questioned.


Zootaxa ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 968 (1) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
GIUSEPPE M. CARPANETO ◽  
ROBERTO MIGNANI

A remarkable new species, Odonteus gandhara Carpaneto & Mignani, n. sp., is described from northern Pakistan. The holotype (adult male) and the paratype (adult female) are illustrated and compared with O. armiger (Scopoli, 1772) and O. orientalis Mittal, 1998, the only two species of this genus recognized in the Old World. Both O. armiger and O. orientalis have the eye not completely divided by the canthus and have a sensory area on the external side of the last antennomere (this character has never been discussed in the literature until now). These two character states in O. armiger and O. orientalis compel emendations to the definition of the genus. The new species has a great zoogeographical relevance because similar species occur in North America (O. obesus LeConte, 1859 and O. falli Wallis, 1928), and probably represents a relict species endemic to the Himalayan range.


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