Elongation as a factor in artefacts of humans and other animals: an Acheulean example in comparative context

Elongation is a commonly found feature in artefacts made and used by humans and other animals and can be analysed in comparative study. Whether made for use in hand or beak, the artefacts have some common properties of length, breadth, thickness and balance point, and elongation can be studied as a factor relating to construction or use of a long axis. In human artefacts, elongation can be traced through the archaeological record, for example in stone blades of the Upper Palaeolithic (traditionally regarded as more sophisticated than earlier artefacts), and in earlier blades of the Middle Palaeolithic. It is now recognized that elongation extends to earlier Palaeolithic artefacts, being found in the repertoire of both Neanderthals and more archaic humans. Artefacts used by non-human animals, including chimpanzees, capuchin monkeys and New Caledonian crows show selection for diameter and length, and consistent interventions of modification. Both chimpanzees and capuchins trim side branches from stems, and appropriate lengths of stave are selected or cut. In human artefacts, occasional organic finds show elongation back to about 0.5 million years. A record of elongation achieved in stone tools survives to at least 1.75 Ma (million years ago) in the Acheulean tradition. Throughout this tradition, some Acheulean handaxes are highly elongated, usually found with others that are less elongated. Finds from the million-year-old site of Kilombe and Kenya are given as an example. These findings argue that the elongation need not be integral to a design, but that artefacts may be the outcome of adjustments to individual variables. Such individual adjustments are seen in animal artefacts. In the case of a handaxe, the maker must balance the adjustments to achieve a satisfactory outcome in the artefact as a whole. It is argued that the need to make decisions about individual variables within multivariate objects provides an essential continuity across artefacts made by different species.     

Pterotylenchus cecidogenus n. gen., n. sp., a New Stem-gall Nematode Parasitizing Desmodium ovalifolium in Colombia

Pterotylenchus cecidogenus n. gen., n. sp. from stem-galls of Desmodium ovalifolium Wall. in Colombia is described and illustrated. The new genus belongs to Anguinidae and is related to Orrina Brzeski, 1980 but is unique in having large vulval flaps. P. cecidogenus has females with body 0.59-0.8 mm long, stylet 9-11 μm long, no median oesophageal bulb, a crustaformeria of 32-36 cells, a short post-vulval uterine sac, and a conical pointed tail.     

中国科学院微生物研究所菌物标本馆馆藏菌寄生属Hypomyces标本的分类研究

对中国科学院微生物研究所菌物标本馆保存的菌寄生属标本进行了分类学方面的清理和订正,鉴定出9个种,其中大孢菌寄生H. marcrosporus、丝层菌寄生H. subiculosus和侧毛斑菌寄生H. tegillum为中国新记录种。     

The Esophageal Glands of Pratylenchus Filipjev and Apratylenchoides belli n. gen. n. sp. (Nematoda: Tylenchoidea)

The esophageal glands in the genus Pratylenchus occur in a large, single ventral lobe except for four populations in which a few specimens had the glands located dorsally. Apratylenchoides belli n. gen. n. sp. in the subfamily Radopholinae is proposed for a species having two esophageal glands in a large dorsal lobe and one gland in a smaller, shorter ventral lobe.     

Heterodera longicolla,n. sp. (Nematoda: Heteroderidae) from Buffalo-grass (Buchlo? dactyloides) in Kansas

Heterodera longicolla n. sp., a member of the H. goettingiana group, is described and illustrated from roots of buffalo-grass, Buchloë dactyloides (Nutt.) Engelm., in Manhattan, Kansas. This new abullate species, having second-stage larvae with only three lines in the lateral field, is most closely related to H. cyperi Golden, Rau & Cobb, 1962, but differs particularly in having a shorter stylet in larvae, males and females; in possessing only three annules on the head of larvae and males; in having a shorter tail in larvae; and by the presence on cysts of a small anus without a circum-anal pattern.     

Plain faces are more expressive: comparative study of facial colour,mobility and musculature in primates

Facial colour patterns and facial expressions are among the most important phenotypic traits that primates use during social interactions. While colour patterns provide information about the sender''s identity, expressions can communicate its behavioural intentions. Extrinsic factors, including social group size, have shaped the evolution of facial coloration and mobility, but intrinsic relationships and trade-offs likely operate in their evolution as well. We hypothesize that complex facial colour patterning could reduce how salient facial expressions appear to a receiver, and thus species with highly expressive faces would have evolved uniformly coloured faces. We test this hypothesis through a phylogenetic comparative study, and explore the underlying morphological factors of facial mobility. Supporting our hypothesis, we find that species with highly expressive faces have plain facial colour patterns. The number of facial muscles does not predict facial mobility; instead, species that are larger and have a larger facial nucleus have more expressive faces. This highlights a potential trade-off between facial mobility and colour patterning in primates and reveals complex relationships between facial features during primate evolution.     

Heterodera canadensis n. sp. (Nematoda: Heteroderidae) from Spike-Rush (Eleocharis acicularis (L.) R. &S.) in Quebec,Canada

Heterodera canadensis n. sp. is described and illustrated from the roots of spike-rush, Eleocharis acicularis (L.) R. &S., in Deschenes, Quebec. This new abullate species is related to Heterodera graminophila Golden and Birchfield, 1972, but differs significantly in cyst shape, cone top structures, body length of the second-stage larva (520-600 μm, vs. 380-400 for H. graminophila) and tail length (110-120 μm, vs. 57-67 for H. graminophila). A taxonomic key based on cyst and second-stage larva characters is provided for identification of the fifteen species in the Heterodera goettingiana group.     

New notharctine (primates,adapiformes) skull from the Uintan (middle Eocene) of San Diego County,California

A new genus and species of notharctine primate, Hesperolemur actius, is described from Uintan (middle Eocene) aged rocks of San Diego County, California. Hesperolemur differs from all previously described adapiforms in having the anterior third of the ectotympanic anulus fused to the internal lateral wall of the auditory bulla. In this feature Hesperolemur superficially resembles extant cheirogaleids. Hesperolemur also differs from previously known adapiforms in lacking bony canals that transmit the internal carotid artery through the tympanic cavity. Hesperolemur, like the later occurring North American cercamoniine Mahgarita stevensi, appears to have lacked a stapedial artery. Evidence from newly discovered skulls of Notharctus and Smilodectes, along with Hesperolemur, Mahgarita, and Adapis, indicates that the tympanic arterial circulatory pattern of these adapiforms is characterized by stapedial arteries that are smaller than promontory arteries, a feature shared with extant tarsiers and anthropoids and one of the characteristics often used to support the existence of a haplorhine-strepsirhine dichotomy among extant primates. The existence of such a dichotomy among Eocene primates is not supported by any compelling evidence. Hesperolemur is the latest occurring notharctine primate known from North America and is the only notharctine represented among a relatively diverse primate fauna from southern California. The coastal lowlands of southern California presumably served as a refuge area for primates during the middle and later Eocene as climates deteriorated in the continental interior. Hesperolemur probably was an immigrant taxon that entered California from either the northern (Wyoming/Utah) or southern (New Mexico) western interior during the middle Eocene © 1995 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

Asian Primate Classification

In the foreseeable future there is little likelihood of achieving consensus on the number of Asian primate genera and species, and their subspecific composition. There is a more realistic hope of reaching agreement on the number of recognizable subspecies. The latter objective is more urgent because in order to reliably assess generic and specific numbers, it is essential that effective conservation measures are implemented for as many subspecies as possible. This cannot be comprehensively accomplished until their validity is assessed and they are satisfactorily established and defined. The Asian primate classification that we present is the outcome of electronic communication among the co-authors after a workshop, which was especially convened to attempt to determine the number of recognizable primate subspecies and to identify potentially recognizable subspecies. The generic and specific arrangement is a compromise that does not necessarily reflect the individual views of the co-authors: 183 subspecies in 77 species in 16 genera. The 31 subspecies allotted a low credibility rating are almost balanced by the 22 scientifically unnamed populations that may warrant subspecific status.     

采自长白山的盔孢菌属真菌新记录

报道采自吉林省长白山地区的盔孢菌属Galerina中国新记录真菌4种,即头囊盔孢菌Galerina oregonensis、盖条盔孢菌Galerina pistillicystis、滑孢盔孢菌Galerina stagnina和矮盔孢菌Galerina uncialis,并提供详细的形态描述和线条图。研究标本存放在吉林农业大学菌物标本馆（HMJAU）。     

Xiphidorus amazonensis n. sp. (Nematoda: Longidoridae) from the Brazilian Amazon Basin

Xiphidorus amazonensis n. sp. was found in the rhizospheres of Jatropha curcas, Musa sp., Anona muricata, Cassia tora, Panicum laxum, Paspalum fasciculatum, Aeschynomene sensitiva, Saccharum officinarum, Manihot esculenta, Abelmoschus esculentus, Tamarindus indica, Mangifera indica, Vigna unguiculata, Zea mays, Commelina sp., Cyperus rotundus, Fimbristylis miliacea, Citrus sinensis, and Eichhornia crassipes on the Amazon River island of Xiborena, approximately 40 km southeast of Manaus, capital of the State of Amazonas. The type habitat is flooded annually for about 6 months by the Amazon River. Xiphidorus amazonensis n. sp. differs from the closely related species Xiphidorus yepesara Monteiro, 1976 by the larger size, by a, b, and c values, and by the rounded tail terminus. It also resembles Xiphidorus tucumanensis Chaves and Coomans, 1984, but can be distinguished by its larger size, larger a, b, and c values, more conical female tail, bilobed amphidial pouch, and the presence of a spermatheca full of sperm.