On two enigmatic spiders (Araneae: Cybaeidae & Phrurolithidae) from the Russian Far East

Cybaeota Chamberlin & Ivie, 1933, a genus previously known only in the Nearctic, has been found in the Maritime Province of Russia for the first time. It is represented by a new species, C. wesolowskae sp. nov. (♂♀), which is close to the generotype, C. calcarata (Emerton, 1911). Additionally, a new species, Phrurolithus lindemanni sp. nov. (♀), is described from the Maritime Province as well. It has unusually light colouration in comparison to other congeners. Trans-Pacific disjunctive ranges on species, genus and family levels in arthropods are briefly discussed.

Origins

This chapter argues that the polarization of Texas and California can be traced to their origins. The chapter examines the two states’ common experiences as possessions of Spain and Mexico; their mid-nineteenth century American settlement, conquest, and admission as states; and their opposite positions on the questions of slavery and secession. Although the two origin stories have similarities, they also bear crucial differences. Texas’s bloody independence struggle and its decade-long career as an independent nation were different from California’s experience as a remote maritime province inundated by a global gold rush and its rapid admission to the Union. Most critically, Texas was settled by American southerners and was oriented toward the South, while California was settled by migrants from across the nation and around the world and was oriented toward the North. These differences became imprinted in the states’ identities and helped shape their futures.

A new species of Tekellina (Araneae, Araneoidea) from the Russian Far East

A new species, Tekellina yoshidai sp. n., is described based on the holotype female from the Maritime Province of Russia. It is the first record of the genus in Russia and the northernmost record in the entire range. The new species is most similar to T. sadamotoi Yoshida & Ogata, 2016 from Japan. Figures are provided for both species. The male palp of T. sadamotoi was studied with a SEM. It was found that palpal sclerites in T. sadamotoi and other Tekellina species are incorrectly homologized. Judging from the structure of the male palp and the female palpal claw, Tekellina seems to be misplaced in Theridiidae and belongs elsewhere.

Denouement Of Borders

This chapter examines Soviet and Japanese disputes over the Korean population in the Maritime Province from the 1920s to 1945. It shows that heightened geopolitical tensions in Northeast Asia resulted in a renewed effort on the part of the Soviet Union to institute citizenship, migration and resettlement, and cultural policies among Koreans. Tensions inside the Maritime also escalated in the late 1920s and 1930s due to collectivization efforts and the Great Terror. Soviet policies culminated in the 1937 forced deportation of Koreans to Central Asia. The chapter argues that the deportation was an extreme attempt by the Soviet state to align its authority over territory and people in a sensitive border region. The chapter ends with a discussion of Korean migration, citizenship, and the border region between Russia, North Korea, and China after 1945.

Civilizational Border

This chapter examines Russian officials’ debates and policies regarding Koreans in the Maritime Province from 1880 to the 1920s. It sees these policies as part of a broader project to revise the practice of plural jurisdiction, in which the empire ruled its vast territories and peoples through a flexible legal regime. Amidst a growing wave of nativist sentiment, officials aimed to standardize the privileges respectively held by subjects and foreigners and to institutionalize borders. In the Russian Far East, suspicions about the interference of the Korean, Chinese, and Japanese governments led officials to categorize the resident Korean population as subjects and aliens, experiment with policies to ban the settlement of Koreans in the border region, institute border and passport laws, and discuss the benefits and dangers of continued Asian migration to Russia. The chapter further explores how Koreans subverted these laws and policies to their own ends.

Paleodietary Patterns of the Cherepakha 13 Site Population (Early Iron Age) in Primorye (Maritime) Province, Russian Far East, based on Stable Isotope Analysis

ABSTRACTNew paleodietary data were obtained after the discovery and excavation in 2015–2017 of the Cherepakha 13 site in the southern part of Primorye (Maritime) Province in far eastern Russia. The site is located near the coast of Ussuri Bay (Sea of Japan) and belongs to the Yankovsky cultural complex of the Early Iron Age 14C-dated to ca. 3000 BP (ca. 1200 cal BC). The stable isotope composition of the bone collagen for 11 humans and 30 animals was determined. For humans, the following values (with±1 sigma) were yielded: δ13C=–10.2±0.8‰; and δ15N=+12.4±0.3‰. The majority of terrestrial animals show the usual isotopic signals: δ13C=–19.4 ÷ –23.3‰; and δ15N=+4.6÷+6.6‰ (for wolves, up to +10.1‰); dogs, however, have an isotopic composition similar to humans: δ13C= –11.7±1.2‰; and δ15N=+12.4±0.4‰. Marine mammals have common values for pinnipeds: δ13C=–13.7 ÷ –14.6‰; and δ15N=+17.4 ÷ +18.0‰. The main food resources for the population of Cherepakha 13 site were (1) marine mollusks, fish, and mammals; and (2) terrestrial mammals; and possibly C4 plants (domesticated millets).