Gyraulus marocana sp. nov., a new freshwater snail species (Mollusca, Gastropoda, Planorbidae) from Morocco

A new planorbid gastropod species is described: Gyraulus marocana sp. nov. It can be distinguished from other known species by its regularly striated ivory shell, with four whorls separated by a deep suture, prostate gland with 20 diverticula, phallotheca twice as long as the preputium and its orange stylet. The new species was found in the northern part of Morocco, in Lake Zerrouka, a Protected Area, being also a site of ecological and biological interest (known as SIBE). It is located in the Middle Atlas massif, which is a geographical barrier known for its other endemic molluscs.

Desain Layanan E-Surat untuk Desa Waru Barat, Pamekasan, Madura menggunakan QR-Code

<p class="Abstrak">Pelayanan dokumen resmi melalui media internet atau e-surat mulai diadopsi pemerintah karena lebih sederhana, cepat, murah dan aman. Penerapan e-surat ini akan sangat berguna terutama bagi Desa Waru Barat, Kabupaten Pamekasan, Madura yang sebagian warganya berdomisili di luar kota atau bahkan di luar negeri. Para warga desa ini seringkali membutuhkan pelayanan surat untuk berbagai keperluan administrasi tanpa terkendala perbedaan waktu dan jarak. Sementara itu, Pemerintah Desa juga ingin meningkatkan pelayanan surat menyurat kepada warganya secara efisien namun tetap menjaga keamanan dan keabsahan dokumen. Oleh karena itu, penelitian ini bertujuan merancang dan membangun aplikasi e-surat untuk Desa Waru Barat dengan menggunakan QR Code. Hasil evaluasi fungsionalitas menunjukkan bahawa aplikasi berhasil membuat dokumen surat dengan QR Code yang unik untuk menjaga keamanan dan keabsahan setiap surat. Sementara itu hasil user acceptance testing dengan melibatkan perangkat desa dan warga masyarakat sebagai pengguna utama menunjukkan tingkat dayaguna dan penerimaan sangat tinggi masing-masing 97,2% dan 95,6%. Dari hasil di atas, dapat disimpulkan bahwa penerapan aplikasi e-surat ini terbukti sangat berguna bagi pemerintah dan warga desa terutama yang berdomisili di luar desa. Berdasarkan hasil evaluasi flowmap menunjukan bahwa implementasi e-surat terbukti dapat membuat proses administrasi surat menyurat lebih sederhana, cepat, menghilangkan kendala jarak dan menghemat sumber daya (biaya, waktu dan utilitas) dibandingkan dengan proses sebelum adanya aplikasi ini. Selain implikasi praktis di atas, kontribusi penelitian ini khsusnya dalam bidang TI, yang dapat diadopsi penelitian masa depan, adalah arsitektur sistem dan aplikasi e-Surat dengan algoritma yang mampu membangkitkan QR Code yang unik untuk menjaga keamanan dan keabsahan dokumen.</p><p class="Abstrak"><strong><em><br /></em></strong></p><p class="Abstrak"><strong><em>Abstract</em></strong></p><p class="Judul2"><em>The process of providing certificates using internet to the citizens, known as e-certificate has increased. This is because e-certificate offers streamlined and faster process yet secure. Therefore, e-certificate seems to be useful especially for Waru Barat Village authority, Pamekasan District, Madura, whose people mostly work outside or even overseas. Eventually, they often need to obtain certificates from the authority for various purposes. On the other hand, the authority is keen to speeding up the delivery of the document but still pay attention to the validity and security. Therefore, this research attempted to design and develop e-certificate for Waru Barat Village using QR Code. The functionality testing showed the application successfully generated e-certificate along with the unique QR Code to secure and maintain the validity of the document. The user acceptance testing involving village staffs and people as the primary users indicated the overall score are 97.2% and 95.6% respectively. This implies that the application proofed to be useful and usable according to the staffs and especially to those who live outside the village. Another flow-map evaluation also showed that the implementation of e-certificate was able to make the administrative process more streamlined, faster, remove geographical barrier, save the resources (cost, time and utility). Despite these practical implication, the contribution of this research, especially to the IT discipline which could be adopted in the future study, is the system architecture and e-certificate application along with the algorithm for generating unique QR Code to ensure the security and validity of the document. </em></p><p class="Abstrak"><strong><em><br /></em></strong></p><p class="Abstrak"><strong><em><br /></em></strong></p>

A case of allopatric speciation in the Central System (Iberian Peninsula): Leistus elpis sp. nov., a sibling species of Leistus constrictus (Coleoptera, Carabidae)

The aim of this work was to demonstrate that the Leistus (Leistus) constrictus Schaufuss 1862 populations from Sierra de Ayllón belong to a new sibling species of the true L. (L.) constrictus from Sierra de Guadarrama. We describe Leistus (Leistus) elpis sp. nov. The species were separated by the study of external morphology of qualitative characters, especially male genitalia, and quantitative characters (morphometric analysis). In L. (L.) constrictus the apical lamina of the aedeagus appears to be a long gutter flanked by lateral ridges with an open truncation in its anterior part; in L. (L.) elpis sp. nov. the apical lamina is completely ridged, even in the anterior part, forming a kind of labial thickening, enclosing the median lobe, and giving the apex a clearly closed and pointed outline. It is not possible, or very difficult, to distinguish between females of L. (L.) constrictus and females of L. (L.) elpis sp. nov., based on their external anatomy as they are practically identical. The female genitalia do not offer taxonomic information for discriminating between the species using the genital armour or the structure of the spermathecal complex. However, subtle differences were found through morphometric analysis, as well as for males of both species. Field surveys suggest that the pass Puerto de Somosierra is the geographical barrier that has led to this allopatric speciation.

The role of the Andean uplift as an asymmetrical barrier to gene flow in the Neotropical leaf-cutting ant Atta cephalotes

Neotropical diversification by the Andean uplift is typically addressed on a large evolutionary scale (e.g. speciation), even though many species are still distributed in both sides of the mountains. The three parallel mountain ranges in the northern Andes (Colombia) impose a major geographical barrier to species' migration from South to Central America. How important these barriers are for conspecific diversification of cross-Andean species such as the leaf-cutting ants remains largely unknown. To answer this question, we studied the mtCOI gene of Atta cephalotes, the most widely distributed leaf-cutting ant species. Our hierarchical analyzes evidenced substantial genetic structure among regions and populations, suggesting a more complex biogeographical history of Andean populations than previously thought. These mountains seem to isolate Central American and Western Colombian populations from the rest of A. cephalotes in South America. Population and migration modelling are consistent with the origin of this species in South America and a major role of the Eastern cordillera as a geographical barrier to historical gene flow, restricting dispersion from north to south. These findings provide insights into the role of the Andean uplift as barrier to gene flow and, eventually, implications for monitoring and designing management strategies for leaf-cutting ants.

Koala Retrovirus in Northern Australia Shows a Mixture of Stable Endogenization and Exogenous Lineage Diversification within Fragmented Koala Populations

The koala population in northern Australia has become increasingly fragmented due to natural and man-made barriers and interventions. This situation has created a unique opportunity to study both endogenous and exogenous koala retrovirus (KoRV). To determine the impact that population isolation has had on KoRV diversity in Queensland, 272 koalas from six fragmented koala populations were profiled for their KoRV provirus across two natural biogeographical barriers (the St Lawrence Gap and the Brisbane Valley Barrier), one man-made geographical barrier (the city of Brisbane) and two translocation events (the single movement of koalas to an island and the repeated movement of koalas into a koala sanctuary). Analysis revealed that all koalas tested were KoRV-A positive, with 90 - 96% of the detected KoRV provirus from each koala representing a single, likely endogenous, KoRV-A strain. The next most abundant proviral sequence was a defective variant of the dominant KoRV-A strain, accounting for 3 – 10% of detected provirus. The remaining KoRV provirus represented expected exogenous strains of KoRV and included geographically localized patterns of KoRV-B, -C, -D, -F, -G, and -I. These results indicate that lineage diversification of exogenous KoRV is actively ongoing. In addition, comparison of KoRV provirus within known dam-sire-joey family groups from the koala sanctuary revealed that joeys consistently had KoRV proviral patterns more similar to their dams than their sires in KoRV-B, -C and -D provirus composition. Collectively, this study highlights both the consistency of endogenous KoRV and the diversity of exogenous KoRV across the fragmented koala populations in northern Australia. IMPORTANCE KoRV infection has become a permanent part of koalas in northern Australia. With KoRV presence and abundance linked to more severe chlamydial disease and neoplasia in these koalas, understanding how KoRV exists throughout an increasingly fragmented koala population is a key first step in designing conservation and management strategies. This survey of KoRV provirus in Queensland koalas indicates that endogenous KoRV provirus is ubiquitous and consistent throughout the state while exogenous KoRV provirus is diverse and distinct in fragmented koala populations. Understanding the prevalence and impact of both endogenous and exogenous KoRV will be needed to ensure a future for all koala populations.

Teaching practice for pandemic times and the empowerment of audiovisual didactic sequences

Closed gates and students away from classrooms consist of scenarios with thou- sands of schools in different countries, showing all the zeal we must have with teaching, which was opened wide by the indirect relationship between Education and Coronavirus. It is a frightening and troubling panorama, not only in health but also in teaching impacts. The learning process can and should hap- pen outside the classroom, and the pandemic accelerated this understanding. Technology support is fundamental for this to happen, eliminating any physical or geographical barrier of communication and interaction. However, the technological tools go further. Educational technologies are the leading solution to our situation and have the most significant potential for teaching children and young people. It is an opportunity to reframe Education and think of more effective ways to develop new children and young people. However, there is no ready recipe. Several frameworks for creating can guide audiovisual didactic sequences are not entirely descriptive in practice, applicability, or evaluation. Therefore, this work has its starting point the instructional design to supply this development, with other frameworks within its phases, allowing a better understanding of the objectives and greater ease in developing the instructional material. The results show that students well accept this new proposal.

A new cryptic species of Pithecopus (Anura, Phyllomedusidae) in north-eastern Brazil

The genus of Neotropical frogs Pithecopus includes 11 species occurring east of the Andes from southern Venezuela to northern Argentina. Recent genetic approaches pointed out an unusual genetic diversity among populations from localities in north-eastern Brazil recognized as P. nordestinus. In fact, one of these studies confirmed the hypothesis that the São Francisco River acted as an effective geographical barrier during vicariant events in the evolutionary history of P. nordestinus, resulting in two principal, highly divergent clades. Herein we formally describe this divergent clade as a new cryptic species of Pithecopus from north-eastern Brazil, the sister clade of P. nordestinus. It differs from other species of Pithecopus, except for P. azureus and P. nordestinus, by its small body size, lack of the reticulate pattern on flanks, smaller head width, and advertisement calls generally composed of a three-pulsed core.