Vice-anvil use in nut processing by two Corvus species

Woodpeckers and certain passerine species secure encased food in the environment in various ways to facilitate the extraction of the contents with their bills. They do this by securing the food items in locations such as crevices and holes, newly defined in this paper as ‘vice-anvils’. Here I report that free-living New Caledonian crows (Corvus moneduloides) and rooks (Corvus frugilegus, in New Zealand) also use vice-anvils to process candlenuts and walnuts, respectively. New Caledonian crows placed candlenut sections in vice-anvils to aid kernel extraction, after the candlenuts had been dropped onto an anvil to break them open. In contrast, rooks used vice-anvils to secure walnuts while they broke the shell with their bills. Long-term use by rooks of a vice-anvil in a tree had produced a ‘purpose-made’ nut-cracking site. My findings extend the persistent use of specific vice-anvils to Corvus species and further demonstrate their innovative and flexible foraging behaviour.     

ACUTE EFFECTS OF MOVEMENT VELOCITY ON BLOOD LACTATE AND GROWTH HORMONE RESPONSES AFTER ECCENTRIC BENCH PRESS EXERCISE IN RESISTANCE-TRAINED MEN

This study aimed to compare the effects of different velocities of eccentric muscle actions on acute blood lactate and serum growth hormone (GH) concentrations following free weight bench press exercises performed by resistance-trained men. Sixteen healthy men were divided into two groups: slow eccentric velocity (SEV; n = 8) and fast eccentric velocity (FEV; n = 8). Both groups performed four sets of eight eccentric repetitions at an intensity of 70% of their one repetition maximum eccentric (1RMecc) test, with 2-minute rest intervals between sets. The eccentric velocity was controlled to 3 seconds per range of motion for SEV and 0.5 seconds for the FEV group. There was a significant difference (P < 0.001) in the kinetics of blood lactate removal (at 3, 6, 9, 15, and 20 min) and higher mean values for peak blood lactate (P = 0.001) for the SEV group (9.1 ± 0.5 mM) compared to the FEV group (6.1 ± 0.4 mM). Additionally, serum GH concentrations were significantly higher (P < 0.001) at 15 minutes after bench press exercise in the SEV group (1.7 ± 0.6 ng · mL⁻¹) relative to the FEV group (0.1 ± 0.0 ng · mL⁻¹). In conclusion, the velocity of eccentric muscle action influences acute responses following bench press exercises performed by resistance-trained men using a slow velocity resulting in a greater metabolic stress and hormone response.     

Character state‐based taxa erected to accommodate fossil and extant needle stoneflies (Leuctridae – Leuctrida tax.n.) and close relatives

In order to accommodate a newly discovered fossil specimen related to a subset of extant needle stoneflies (Leuctridae sensu Zwick, 2000), we provide a comparative analysis of the wing venation of these insects, and of their close relatives, primarily based on extant material. A number of character states potentially supporting monophyletic taxa are identified, and are used to erect taxon names under the cladotypic nomenclatural procedure. We introduce a new standard definition in which the mention of the antonym of the defining character state is applied. The proposed taxa, and taxa inclusiveness, are as follows: Nemouromorpha > Capniida/Leuctrida/‘Nemouridae s.l.’, and Leuctrida > Exeleuctrida > Mioleuctrida & Eleuctrida > Collaleuctrida. This scheme allowed us to tentatively accommodate several fossil species described earlier and the new specimen, left undetermined at the genus and species levels, but assigned to Collaleuctrida. To optimize retrieval of hierarchical information, we introduce the use of ‘nec’ (Latin for ‘but not’) into the taxonomic address to indicate exclusion from a taxon. For example, Mioleuctrida nec Collaleuctrida ?yehae indicates that ?yehae can be assigned to Mioleuctrida but can also be conclusively excluded from Collaleuctrida. Based on the investigated case, it is finally argued that the cladotypic nomenclatural procedure is optimal regarding name use and numbers, and allows adequate treatment of homoplasy.