Back from the dead II: Thyreophora cynophila (Panzer, 1798) (Diptera: Piophilidae) resurfaces in France after a 183-year-long absence

Summary

Last seen in France in 1836 by Robineau-Desvoidy, the orange-headed necrophagous fly Thyreophora cynophila (Panzer, 1798) has long been considered as extinct. However, it was rediscovered in 2010 in Spain. We report its first sighting in France after a 183-year-long absence. In February 2019, four specimens were collected in southern France (Saint-Paul-de-Jarrat, Ariège), in the Pyrenees.     

When molecules and morphology concur: the ‘Gondwanan’ midges (Diptera: Chironomidae)

A phylogeny of the Chironomidae subfamily Podonominae, significant in the history of phylogenetic biogeography, is estimated from an analysis of four genes. Fragments of two ribosomal genes (18S and 28S), one nuclear protein‐coding gene (CAD), and one mitochondrial protein‐coding gene (COI) were sequenced from specimens representing 13 of 15 genera, and analysed using mixed model Bayesian and maximum likelihood inference methods. Podonominae is monophyletic and sister to Tanypodinae – the shared development of the larval ligula is synapomorphic and diagnostic. Tribe Podonomini is monophyletic with the inclusion of Trichotanypus; tribe Boreochlini is a grade. Monophyly is confirmed for the genera Podonomus Philippi, Podonomopsis Brundin, Podochlus Brundin, Archaeochlus Brundin and Austrochlus Cranston, Edward & Cook: Parochlus Enderlein becomes monophyletic through the inclusion of Zelandochlus Brundin ( n.syn. ) with its type species, P. latipalpis (Brundin) n.comb. The ‘mandibulate’Archaeochlus plus Austrochlus is monophyletic with nonmandibulate Afrochlus weakly supported as a member of, or sister to, the African Archaeochlus. Subtending this group is Lasiodiamesa, although it associates in some analyses with the sister group Tanypodinae. Generic relationships coincide with those proposed based on morphology, particularly as understood via all life history stages of some problematic (autapomorphic, adult‐based) taxa. Divergence time analysis (beast ) allows inference of Mesozoic diversification of higher taxa in Podonominae, of appropriate timing for fragmentation of Gondwana, post‐African divergence, to have caused vicariance. Shallower nodes (within genera) imply both younger vicariance involving Antarctica and some recent dispersal, including southern to northern hemisphere movement in the New World. New Zealand taxa test controversial biogeographical relationships and show proximity to southern South America without direct Australian sister taxon pairs: dating implies persistence of midges through the ‘Oligocene’ bottleneck.     

‘Cats give funerals to rats’: making the dead modern with lament

This article compares funeral laments in a Tibeto‐Burman‐speaking community in Yunnan, China, from two periods: the early 1990s, after ritual revitalization was thoroughly underway, and 2011, after this community had come into more intimate contact with the modernity‐obsessed cultures of urban and semi‐urban China. Laments fashion grief in a public setting by conceptualizing the dead and their relations with the living in vivid poetic language. Laments from the early 1990s described these relations as a circuit of suffering, in which children returned a debt of suffering they owed their parents after the latter's deaths. By 2011, innovative lamenters had reorientated their understanding of suffering to be personal, internal, and intimate. The dead became more ‘modern’, allowing the living, defined largely by their relations with the dead, to participate in ‘modernized’ forms of authentic, sincere emotional expression.     

Ultrastructure of the single-chamber stemmata of Arge pagana (Panzer, 1798) (Hymenoptera: Argidae)

Stemmata are peculiar visual organs of most larvae in holometabolous insects. In Hymenoptera, Symphyta larvae exclusively possess a pair of stemmata, whose cellular organizations have not been thoroughly elucidated to date. In this paper, the morphology and fine structure of stemmata were investigated in the large rose sawfly Arge pagana (Panzer, 1798) using light and electron microscopy. The larvae possess a pair of stemmata, which belong to the “unicorneal composite eye” or single-chamber stemmata. Each stemma is composed of a biconvex cornea lens, a layer of corneagenous cells, numerous pigment cells, and hundreds of retinula cells. According to the number of retinula cells forming a rhabdom, the stemma can be divided into two regions, the larger Region I and the smaller Region II. The former occupies the largest area of the stemma and contains the majority of rhabdoms, each of which is formed by the rhabdomeres of eight retinula cells. The latter occupies a narrow posterior margin, where each rhabdom consists of nine retinula cells. Based on the different cellular organizations of rhabdoms, the stemma of Argidae is likely developed by the fusion of two types of ommatidial units.     

Equivocal locations: being ‘red’ in ‘Red Bologna’

This article addresses a classic ethnographic problem in the study of Italy: how is it that people can subscribe simultaneously to seemingly contradictory ideologies, such as Catholicism and Communism? It does so by describing examples from Italy's ‘showcase city’ of the left, ‘Red Bologna’, in which to be ‘red’ is ubiquitous but each person's ‘red’ is a different thing: being ‘red’ (differently) is the idiom in which real political distinctions are expressed over issues like religion or immigration. In parallel, I discuss the relationship between the ‘field’ as a location and the ‘field’ as a conceptual topic. My account replicates internal ethnographic differences at the analytical level by highlighting the differences between being left‐wing in Bologna and its meaning as a concept in anthropology. Hence the ‘equivocal location’: a field‐site that is productively different, from what an inexperienced ethnographer expected from it, from conceptual discussions in anthropology, and from itself.     

Exceptionally well‐preserved vegetal remains from the Upper Cretaceous of ‘Lo Hueco’, Cuenca,Spain

Vegetal remains are considered labile structures that quickly become decayed in ecosystems. However, certain lignified tissues (woody plants) can largely resist decomposition, becoming sometimes exceptionally well preserved. At the Upper Cretaceous site of ‘Lo Hueco’ (Cuenca, Spain), those woody remains (trunks and branches) with resinous material in the inner tracheids and parenchyma cells that were buried rapidly under anoxic conditions experienced a low degree of maturation, becoming exceptionally well preserved. Those woody remains deposited under oxic conditions (sub‐aerial or sub‐aquatic exposure) were more intensely biodegraded and subsequently carbonified, partially or completely mineralized in gypsum and covered by a ferruginous crust. These two modes of preservation are scarce, with silicification or carbonification processes much more common, and both can be considered as ‘exceptional preservation’. Other vegetal remains, such as carbonified leaves, stems and roots, were collected in the site. The different modes of preservation depend directly on: depositional micro‐environment (sandy distributary channel, muddy flood plain); and type (trunk, branch, stem, leave, root) and state (presence or absence of resinous material) of the material. The great abundance and diversity of fossils in ‘Lo Hueco’ identify it as Konzentrat‐Lagerstätten, sequentially formed by alternated events of flooding and drying depositional events, but the exceptional quality and rarity of determinate vegetal macroremains preservation suggest that certain deposits of this site can be considered as conservation deposits.     

‘Dancing the image’: materiality and spirituality in Andean religious ‘images’

In the Christian tradition, representing the divine has often been considered both an impossible and yet necessary endeavour rooted in the human need in certain moments of weakness to visualize God. In this article, based on research findings from fieldwork carried out with urban indigenous groups in La Paz, Bolivia, I suggest that the articulation of local and Catholic representational traditions and practices has produced an understanding of the religious image not so much as an object of detached contemplation or a reference to a religious symbol but rather as an energized element which physically shapes the relationship and exchange between the material and the spiritual world. I suggest that through a study of Andean religious images we may be able to produce an alternative ontological perspective on the relationship between the spiritual, material, and living worlds.

Résumé

Dans la tradition chrétienne, la représentation du divin est souvent considérée comme une gageure impossible et pourtant nécessaire, motivée par la nécessité humaine de visualiser Dieu dans les moments de faiblesse. À partir des matériaux de terrain obtenus auprès de groupes autochtones urbains à La Paz, en Bolivie, l'auteur suggère ici que l'articulation des traditions et pratiques de représentation locales et catholiques a conduit à concevoir l'image religieuse moins comme un objet de contemplation détachée ou une référence à un symbole religieux que comme un élément chargé d'énergie, qui donne physiquement forme à la relation et aux échanges entre le monde matériel et le monde spirituel. L'article suggère qu'à travers l'étude des images religieuses andines, on pourrait élaborer un autre point de vue ontologique sur la relation entre les mondes spirituel, matériel et vivant.     

Nations and Tribes ‘Within’: Emerging Aboriginal ‘Nationalisms’ in Katherine

Throughout Australia, many Aboriginal responses to the legislative and administrative pressures of the native title regime have been couched in a nation‐building idiom expressed through legally incorporated Aboriginal associations. The membership criteria of these umbrella associations are often derived from definitions of the ‘tribe’ or ‘language group’. Yet, in a kind of Balkanisation, those who see themselves as marginalised to positions of uncertainty on the peripheries of the nation often seek to establish their own independent corporations on the basis of exclusive ties to specific areas of land within it, in search of greater recognition and in competition for scarce resources. In Katherine, in the Northern Territory of Australia, the administrative and legislative gaze of the State, particularly the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976, brought into focus a Jawoyn ‘tribe’, soon to express itself in the idiom of nationhood, closely followed by a Wardaman ‘tribe’ and ‘nation’. More recently, a native title gaze has now brought into focus ‘new’ configurations of kindred clusters, apparently located on the ‘peripheries' of the Jawoyn and Wardaman nations, and named and valued them as Dagoman. This paper discusses the processes associated with an emerging, but seemingly already fragmenting, Dagoman nation. It argues that divergent and changing Aboriginal subjectivities disrupt what might be seen as mimetic processes as Aboriginal people employ strategies of transforming essentialist representations of their collective selves in changing conditions of possibility.     

Theraphosidae phylogeny: relationships of the ‘Ischnocolinae’ genera (Araneae,Mygalomorphae)

The mygalomorph spider subfamily ‘Ischnocolinae’ was originally established as a group based on the presence of divided tarsal scopula. Later, the divided condition of the scopula was considered the plesiomorphic state, which could not support the monophyly of ‘Ischnocolinae’. In Raven 1985, the subfamily was considered paraphyletic, pending a phylogenetic analysis to reinvestigate monophyletic groups. This study comprises such a phylogenetic analysis, based on morphological data, that includes representatives of all genera currently included in ‘Ischnocolinae’ as well as representatives of all other nine Theraphosidae subfamilies (Thrigmopoeinae, Ornithoctoninae, Eumenophorinae, Stromatopelminae, Harpactirinae, Selenogyrinae, Theraphosinae, Aviculariinae and Selenocosmiinae). The family Theraphosidae is considered monophyletic and expanded to include three additional genera previously considered as possible Barychelidae, namely Brachionopus (as Harpactirinae), Trichopelma and Reichlingia (as Ischnocolinae sensu stricto) while ‘Ischnocolinae’ as previously defined does not appear as monophyletic. However, two monophyletic groups were defined as subfamilies to include some former ‘Ischnocolinae’ representatives. The first group includes Acanthopelma rufescens, Trichopelma nitidum, Reichlingia annae, Ischnocolus spp., Holothele rondoni, Holothele culebrae and Holothele aff culebrae and is hereby named as Ischnocolinae (sensu stricto). The other subgroup comprises Sickius longibulbi, Holothele incei, Holothele aff incei, Guyruita spp., Schismatothele lineata, Hemiercus modestus, Holothele colonica and Holothele sp., together established as Schismatothelinae subfam. nov. Several genera included in former ‘Ischnocolinae’ appear as monophyletic (Catumiri, Oligoxystre, Heterothele, Nesiergus, Chaetopelma, Ischnocolus, Guyruita and Plesiophrictus). However, the genera Holothele, Schismatothele and Hemiercus deserve more attention in order to evaluate their intrarelationships and inclusion of species.     

Multilocus sequence analysis (MLSA) of ‘Rickettsiella costelytrae' and ‘Rickettsiella pyronotae’, intracellular bacterial entomopathogens from New Zealand

Aims

Larvae of scarab beetles live in the soil and are frequently hosts for microbial pathogens. In New Zealand, larvae of the grass grub, Costelytrae zealandica (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae), and manuka beetles, Pyronota spp. (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae), have been collected from field populations showing loss of vigour and a whitened appearance. Diagnosis indicated an intracellular infection of fat body tissues by Rickettsiella‐like micro‐organisms. Rickettsiella bacteria are under evaluation as a possible new source of insect bio‐control agents for important agricultural pests as, e.g. scarabaeid and elaterid larvae. The present study aimed at the unequivocal molecular taxonomic identification and comparison of the bacteria associated with Costelytra and Pyronota.

Methods and Results

Electron microscopy and phylogenetic reconstruction using a multilocus sequence analysis approach based on the 16S ribosomal RNA gene together with four protein‐encoding markers (ftsY, gidA, rpsA, and sucB) demonstrated that both bacteria from New Zealand are phylogenetically closely related, but not identical, and belong to the taxonomic genus Rickettsiella.

Conclusions

The bacteria under study should be referred to as pathotypes ‘Rickettsiella costelytrae’ and ‘Rickettsiella pyronotae’, respectively. Moreover, on the basis of the currently accepted systematic organization of the genus Rickettsiella, both pathotypes should be considered synonyms of the nomenclatural type species, Rickettsiella popilliae.

Significance and Impact of the Study

The study demonstrates that Rickettsiella bacteria are geographically widespread pathogens of scarabaeid larvae. Implications of the phylogenetic findings presented for the stability of host adaptation by Rickettsiella bacteria are critically discussed.     

Mechanisms of phytohaemagglutinin (PHA) stimulation of normal human lymphocytes: ‘trigger’, ‘push’ or both?

Abstract. The growth in volume of human peripheral blood lymphocytes after stimulation with various concentrations of PHA was measured with an electronic particle counter. The percentage of growing cells and averaged values describing their growth rates during the elapsed period of culture were estimated by fitting to the observed data the volume distributions derived from a mathematical model. With sub-optimal doses, the percentage of cells stimulated, and their incremental growth rate, increased with increasing dose of PHA, but the time-course of recruitment into the G₁-phase was similar with all PHA concentrations studied. The results provide strong support for the 'trigger' hypothesis that there is a distribution of stimulation thresholds within the lymphocyte population: consequently, increasing mitogen concentration will be expected to result in increased numbers of responding cells within the suboptimal concentration range.     

Synchrotron analysis of a ‘mummified’ salamander (Vertebrata: Caudata) from the Eocene of Quercy,France

An incomplete ‘mummy’ from the Phosphorites du Quercy (presumed Eocene) was identified as a salamander during the 19^th century. The specimen has now been computed tomography (CT) scanned, and this revealed the incomplete skeleton (with perfectly preserved bones) and soft tissues (lung). The fossil represents a new, well‐characterized taxon. Despite the absence of the skull, several features allow a phylogenetic analysis. The fossil belongs to pseudosaurian caudates; it is tentatively assigned to the Salamandridae, although affinities with Plethodontidae cannot be definitely ruled out.     

A ‘giant’ purgatoriid (Plesiadapiformes) from the Paleocene of Montana,USA: mosaic evolution in the earliest primates

Ursolestes perpetior gen. et sp. nov. is a large purgatoriid plesiadapiform primate from the middle/late Puercan (earliest Paleocene) Simpson Quarry, Montana, USA. It differs from Purgatorius Van Valen and Sloan, 1965, the only other known purgatoriid and the oldest discovered primate, in its substantially larger body size as inferred from the dimensions of the known parts of its dentition, while resembling Purgatorius in possessing a large lower canine, unreduced p1, and in the upper molars, a protocone twist and weakly developed postprotocone fold; moreover, the m3 of U. perpetior possesses an expanded, plesiadapiform‐like posterior lobe of the talonid that supports the hypoconulid. The large lower canine and the greater development of trenchant molar crests suggest that U. perpetior was more insectivorous, differing appreciably from the omnivorous niche long hypothesized for Purgatorius and purportedly marking the insectivore–primate transition. Hence, U. perpetior adds significant new knowledge regarding the breadth of the adaptive zone occupied by purgatoriids in their position at the very beginnings of primate evolution.     

‘Black’ and ‘white’ death: burials in a time of Ebola in Freetown,Sierra Leone

The article examines experiences of the 2014‐15 Ebola crisis in Freetown, Sierra Leone, through an analysis of the performance of burials. While most of the city's residents had no contact with the virus, ‘Ebola’ was inescapable, owing to the onerous state of emergency regulations imposed by national and international authorities. All burials, regardless of the cause of death, were to be performed by newly established official teams operating according to unfamiliar biomedical and bureaucratic protocols. Burials became emblematic of the crisis through presenting a conflict between local practices and novel procedures, which was coded locally in a complex racial language of ‘black’ and ‘white’, recalling a long regional history of violent integration into the Atlantic World. Building on long‐standing anthropological discussion on the relationship between ‘good’ death and social order, the article explores how burials became sites around which opposing ‘orders’ were experienced, negotiated, and reconciled in locally meaningful ways.     

‘Not anymore,not yet’: Australian–Hungarians rediscover the ‘old‐new’ Hungary

This article examines the return visits of Australian‐Hungarians to their homeland after 1989 and the different types of homecoming experiences after an extended period of separation. The focus of the paper is returnees’ perceptions of changes to Hungary or lack thereof. I analyse the distinction between the ‘desired/nostalgic past’, which Hungarian returnees nurtured during the decades of separation and expected to rediscover upon return, and the ‘disdained past’ of the Communist dictatorship, which they had fled and hoped never to encounter again. The findings demonstrate that people interpret both past and present in relation to hopes, expectations and disappointments situated within particular nationalist imaginaries, political projects and ideological prisms. This allows us to analyse the nexus between local, national and diasporic belonging through post‐socialist identities, orientations toward democracy and understandings of ‘nation’.     

Length–weight relationship and condition factor of wild,grow‐out and ‘loose‐shell affected’ giant tiger shrimp,Penaeus monodon (Fabricius, 1798) (Decapoda: Penaeidae)

Length–weight relationships and condition factors of wild, cultured, and cultured loose‐shell affected Penaeus monodon (2,609 specimens total) were studied from March to August 2007. The regression equation for healthy cultured shrimps was log W = ?1.811 + 2.721 log L (r² = 0.71); log W = ?1.444 + 2.485 log L (r² = 0.91) for wild shrimps; and log W = ?1.112 + 2.237 log L (r² = 0.92) for loose‐shell affected shrimps. All shrimps showed negative allometric growth, although ancova indicated significant differences (P < 0.05) among them. This study presents the first known reference dealing with LWRs and condition factors of cultured, wild and loose‐shell affected P. monodon.     

Erratum to ‘Oberonia manipurensis sp. nov. (Orchidaceae) from Manipur,India’

The type citation of the validly published name Oberonia manipurensis Chowlu, Nanda, A. N. Rao, Angela, Bishwajit & Akimpou was imprecisely given in Chowlu et al. (2015) and is corrected here.