Dona Barbara, from an Amazon Ogress to a Loving Mother: A Tale of Revenge and Love

Venezuelan novelist Romulo Gallegos’ novel Dona Barbara (1929) is set in Venezuelan llanos and it depicts the conflict between barbarism and civilization that is represented by the figure of an amazon ogress and the figure of a good mother of the same woman named Dona Barbara. The specific setting of the novel, the Altamira ranch is a huge estate in the wildest section of the Arauca River basin of Venezuela, a ranch that was established early in the history of the country’s cattle business. Altamira gets neglected by its owner for years until Santos Luzardo, the successor of the ranch, a lawyer and a Ph. D. from the University of Carcass arrives there and tries to set the anarchy in order. On the other hand, the Altamira ranch borders the El Miedo ranch, owned by a ruthless woman, an amazon named Dona Barbara, who becomes the owner of the ranch by the use of tricks and treachery. Dona Barbara tries to expand her ranch by trespassing the neighboring ranches with the forces of witchcraft, superstition and deceit. As Skurski calls her, “a personification of rural despotism” (617), she rules the llanos for pelf and power with revenge from men as her central motive. Brian Gollnick comments on this conflict as “Santos Luzardo triumphing through a plan to rationalize territorial organization and agriculture under an enlightened authority which contrasts to Dona Barbara’s black magic and despotic charisma” (450). Thus, the novel establishes two lines, in the beginning, the line of civilization represented by Santos Luzardo and the line of barbarism represented by Dona Barbara. The novelist has associated the line of barbarism with the ogress figure and civilization with the mother figure of the same woman, Dona Barbara.

First records of Thyroptera lavali (Chiroptera, Thyropteridae) for the Guiana Shield with an updated distribution of Thyroptera species in Venezuela

The genus Thyroptera is composed of small insectivorous bats widely distributed in the Neotropics. Thyroptera lavali is an Amazonian species distributed in lowland rainforests of Peru, Ecuador and Brazil and in the Venezuelan Eastern Llanos. The goal of this study was to document new records of T. lavali for Venezuela and update the geographic distribution of Thyroptera species in that country. Based on specimens deposited in Venezuelan museums, we report the first record of T. lavali for the Guiana Shield and the second record for the Venezuelan Llanos. The external and cranial measurements of the analyzed specimens fall within the range previously reported for T. lavali; likewise, the qualitative characters are similar to what is known for the species. Additionally, derived from a search of records in databases, we report the first specimens of Thyroptera discifera for the Orinoco river basin. We confirm the presence of three species in Venezuela: T. discifera, distributed in the Cordillera de la Costa and Central and Western Llanos; Thryoptera tricolor, occurring in the Andes, Deltaic System and the Guiana Shield and T. lavali, recorded in the Eastern Llanos, Deltaic System and the Guiana Shield.

An Optical luminescence chronology for late Pleistocene aeolian activity in the Colombian and Venezuelan Llanos

The lowland savannas (Llanos) of Colombia and Venezuela are covered by extensive aeolian landforms for which little chronological information exists. We present the first optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) age constraints for dunes in the Llanos Orientales of lowland Colombia and new ages for dunes in the Venezuelan Llanos. The sampled dunes are fully vegetated and show evidence of post-depositional erosion. Ages range from 4.5 ± 0.4 to 66 ± 4 ka, with the majority dating to 27–10 ka (Marine Isotope Stage 2). Some dunes accumulated quickly during the last glacial maximum, although most were active 16–10 ka. Accretion largely ceased after 10 ka. All dunes are elongated downwind from rivers, parallel with dry season winds, and are interpreted as source-bordering features. As they are presently isolated from fluvial sediments by gallery forest it is proposed that activity was associated with a more prolonged dry season, which restricted gallery forest, leading to greater sediment availability on river shorelines. Such variability in dry season duration was potentially mediated by the mean latitude of the ITCZ. The cessation of most dune accretion after ca. 10 ka suggests reduced seasonality and a more northerly ITCZ position, consistent with evidence from the Cariaco Basin.

Comparative feeding ecology and habitats use of Crenicichla species (Perciformes: Cichlidae) in a Venezuelan floodplain river

Feeding behavior and habitat use of two species of pike cichlids, or mataguaros, (Crenicichla lugubris and C. aff. wallacii) were studied in the río Cinaruco, a floodplain river in the Venezuelan llanos. We examined 309 individuals of C. lugubris and 270 individuals of C. aff. wallacii from both the main channel and lagoons throughout the falling-water phase of the annual hydrological cycle. Crenicichla lugubris was common within habitats that contained rocks or woody debris, whereas C. aff. wallacii was more abundant in lagoons than the main channel, especially within shallow areas containing leaf litter. Although we did not capture C. aff. wallacii in rocky shoals, they sometimes were observed in these habitats. Crenicichla lugubris was larger than C. aff. wallacii (198.4 mm and 44.6 mm, respectively). Analysis of stomach contents showed that larger specimens (> 100 mm SL) C. lugubris fed mostly on small fishes (e. g. characids, cichlids), but juveniles (< 100 mm SL) consumed mostly aquatic insects, fish scales, and shrimps. Crenicichla aff. wallacii fed on aquatic insects and other invertebrates associated with leaf litter substrates.