Monarch butterfly wing morphology varies substantially throughout their global range, both between resident and migratory populations and also within the migratory North American population. Here, we ...use a dataset comprising more than 1800 North American individuals collected between 1878-2017 to characterize the factors shaping continent-wide patterns of wing morphological variation. North American overwintering butterflies have forewings that are approximately 4.4% larger than those collected in summer breeding areas. Monarchs overwintering in Mexico have forewings that are approximately 1.8% larger than monarchs overwintering in California, conducive to the idea that migration distance is positively correlated with wing area. We find evidence for a latitudinal cline within North America, such that butterflies collected at higher latitudes have significantly larger and more elongated forewings. We also find a significant increase of approximately 4.9% in forewing area between 1878-2017, but no difference through time in wing elongation. This result is corroborated by a reanalysis of a recently published dataset of more than 600 butterflies from Mexican overwintering sites. We discuss possible reasons for this increase in wing size through time, including northward shifts in the monarch’s breeding range and changes in relative abundance of milkweed hosts, and present experimental data addressing the influence of larval host plant on adult wing morphology. Our analysis suggests that (1) migration is indeed an important selective force for monarch wing morphology; (2) wing size has increased through time in North America; (3) factors such as host plant identity must be considered to fully understand monarch wing morphological variation.
Rove beetles (Staphylinidae) are a diverse insect group, especially in the Neotropical region. At the same time, this fauna remains significantly understudied. During our visits to museum ...collections, we encountered numerous specimens of undescribed species representing the Neotropical genus Neolindus Scheerpeltz, 1933 which was earlier thought to be rare. To address the knowledge gap in the genus, we studied the museum material that resulted in descriptions of 21 new species. Our work involves the redescription of the genus, descriptions of the new species, and an updated identification key to 39 previously described and new species. The newly described species are Neolindus bicornis Guzman, Tokareva & Żyła sp. nov., N. elegans Guzman, Tokareva & Żyła sp. nov., N. longithorax Guzman, Tokareva & Żyła sp. nov., N. luxipenis Guzman, Tokareva & Żyła sp. nov., N. maya Guzman, Tokareva & Żyła sp. nov., N. minutus Guzman, Tokareva & Żyła sp. nov., N. napo Guzman, Tokareva & Żyła sp. nov., N. niger Guzman, Tokareva & Żyła sp. nov., N. ornatus Guzman, Tokareva & Żyła sp. nov., N. parahermani Guzman, Tokareva & Żyła sp. nov., N. paraplectrus Guzman, Tokareva & Żyła sp. nov., N. parasinuatus Guzman, Tokareva & Żyła sp. nov., N. parautriensis Guzman, Tokareva & Żyła sp. nov., N. pseudosensillaris Guzman, Tokareva & Żyła sp. nov., N. sauron Guzman, Tokareva & Żyła sp. nov., N. sibyllae Guzman, Tokareva & Żyła sp. nov., N. triangularis Guzman, Tokareva & Żyła sp. nov., N. tropicalis Guzman, Tokareva & Żyła sp. nov., N. utriensis Guzman, Tokareva & Żyła sp. nov., N. volkeri Guzman, Tokareva & Żyła sp. nov., and N. yotokae Guzman, Tokareva & Żyła sp. nov. This research emphasises the importance of museum collections in advancing taxonomy and enriching biodiversity knowledge. With these contributions, the known number of species of Neolindus reaches 60, thereby enhancing data on the Neotropical rove beetles diversity. Additionally, we provide several new country records for the genus (Guyana, Mexico, Nicaragua, and Suriname), which widen its distribution, and new occurrence records for the described species of Neolindus, N. agilis Herman, 1991; N. apiculus Herman, 1991; N. basisinuatus Herman, 1991; N. campbelli Herman, 1991; N. cuneatus Herman, 1991; N. hermani Asenjo, 2011; N. irmleri Asenjo, 2011; N. lodhii Herman, 1991; N. procarinatus Herman, 1991; N. punctogularis Herman, 1991; and N. retusus Herman, 1991.
Malaria is a disease of global significance. Ongoing changes to the earth's climate, antimalarial resistance, insecticide resistance, and socioeconomic decline test the resilience of malaria ...prevention programs. Museum insect specimens present an untapped resource for studying vector-borne pathogens, spurring the question: Do historical mosquito collections contain
DNA, and, if so, can museum specimens be used to reconstruct the historical epidemiology of malaria? In this Perspective, we explore molecular techniques practical to pathogen prospecting, which, more broadly, we define as the science of screening entomological museum specimens for human, animal, or plant pathogens. Historical DNA and pathogen prospecting provide a means of describing the coevolution of human, vector, and parasite, informing the development of insecticides, diagnostics, therapeutics, and vaccines.
En este trabajo se identifican taxonómicamente 191 motivos zoomorfos de cerámica provenientes de las tierras bajas del Río Paraná (nordeste de Argentina), para luego comparar este registro ...iconográfico con el registro zooarqueológico disponible, a fin de cotejar los animales representados en el arte prehispánico con aquellos efectivamente consumidos. La muestra analizada procede de colecciones de museo y excavaciones propias, y fue recuperada en sitios ocupados por cazadores-recolectores complejos cuyo rango cronológico oscila entre los 1056 + ó - 47 y 488 + ó - 24 años sup.14C AP. Los resultados indican una discordancia entre la fauna habitualmente explotada como recurso alimenticio (peces, pequeños roedores y cérvidos) y aquella frecuentemente representada en la iconografía (aves, felinos, carpinchos y ofidios). Este estudio intenta aportar al conocimiento de la interacción humano-animal y profundizar acerca de los roles simbólicos de algunas especies faunísticas entre las sociedades de pequeña escala que habitaron el área durante el Holoceno Tardío.
Since the end of the 19th century, the circumpolar fauna of freshwater Mollusca has not been reviewed despite the substantial increase of knowledge on this subject. A review of the freshwater ...mollusks of the Arctic based on an analysis of published data, own results and examination of museum collections is presented. 104 species of Mollusca have been registered, which constitutes less than 2% of the global diversity. The actual diversity of the Circumpolar freshwater molluscs may lie between 100 and 120 species. No endemic taxa are found in the Arctic. The most species-rich Arctic subregion is Siberia, whereas the North America maintains the poorest fauna. The aquatic malacofauna of Beringia is similar to that of North America, and Beringia as a biogeographic region constitutes a part of the Nearctic. The ways of formation of the Circumpolar malacofauna are discussed, with evaluation of dispersal, adaptation, and environmental filtering as the faunogenesis factors. The number of non-alien species in the Circumpolar freshwater malacofauna remains very low, and only one reliable occurrence of an alien species is known. Among the Arctic molluscs only three have a conservation status other than ‘least concern’ or ‘data deficient’, whereas most resident species are widespread and abundant.
This article provides the first comprehensive description of pottery production in the Kei islands of eastern Indonesia, based on field data collected mainly in 1981 and on museum collections in the ...UK and the Netherlands. The account is situated in what we know of the dynamics of trading systems that existed in the Moluccan islands between 1500 and 2000. Kei pottery is widely thought to be the successor of a tradition established in the Banda islands that was extinguished with the 1621 Dutch massacre, but re-established at several sites in the Kei islands by Banda migrants after this date. These claims are critically examined using ethnographic and archaeological data, and an attempt made to compare the production and trading patterns of pottery in the 'Banda zone' before and after 1621.
The Channel Islands of California have received much attention from researchers, in part, due to the long occupation history of the islands that spans at least 13,000 years. The Northern Channel ...Islands have played an important role in our understanding of early coastal adaptations and development of complexity among maritime adapted peoples; however, this is only part of the picture. The Southern Channel Islands, located approximately 90 km south of the Northern Channel Islands, have a similar occupational history to their northern counterparts, but exist in a very different environmental and geographic context. Occupants on each island would have faced marine and terrestrial environments that could be vastly different based on issues such as fluctuating sea temperatures, fresh water accessibility, and plant, animal, and marine shell seasonality. The coastal adaptations along all the Channel Islands reflected these differences. Understanding variation on the Channel Islands archipelago can be realized by comparing and contrasting multiple types of environmental and material data from trans-Holocene sites, archaeological deposits that present continuous data sequences over a wide time span of the Holocene. One such site from San Clemente Island in the southern portion of the archipelago is Eel Point. Previous excavations at this site resulted in a rich array of cultural material; however, recent research has shown major portions of the collections have not yet been processed, are unanalyzed, or are under-analyzed. Specifically the groundstone and archaeobotanical assemblages have not been comprehensively analyzed or reported on, but are integral to understanding not only subsistence strategies, but also technological development and island paleo and historical ecology. These data form the basis for an inter-island comparative approach to understand long-term human-environmental interactions and impacts to ancient ecosystems on the Channel Islands archipelago. This study focuses on leveraging these under-analyzed and unanalyzed data to present on the variation in adaptions on the archipelago and to demonstrate the relevance of multi-island studies for considering the cultural impacts of climatic change in Mediterranean environments.
Scientific collections are crucial to understanding the biological and cultural diversity of the Earth. Anthropological collections document the human experience and the interactions between people, ...ecosystems, and organisms. Unfortunately, anthropological collections are often poorly known by the public and face a variety of threats to their permanent care and conservation.
Anthropological collections are endangered and underappreciated assets to science and society.
Anthropological collections can be used to address and understand major global problems.
Changes are needed in how anthropological collections are managed, regulated, and viewed.
Abstract
The Late Jurassic ichthyosaur Nannopterygius is among the poorest known, with the only skeleton, NHMUK PV 46497, on display in the Natural History Museum, London and, therefore, difficult to ...access. This holotype specimen is here reassessed. The newly obtained data have enabled the identification of several additional specimens of Nannopterygius in museum collections across the UK. Furthermore, all the material of Russian ichthyosaurs previously referred to genera Paraophthalmosaurus and Yasykovia, and considered as junior synonyms of Ophthalmosaurus in the majority of subsequent works, are also reassessed. Both these genera are synonymized with Nannopterygius with preservation of the two from six originally erected species: Nannopterygius saveljeviensis comb. nov. and Nannopterygius yasykovi comb. nov. Additionally, a new species from the Berriasian of Arctic (Svalbard and Franz Josef Land) is proposed. To resolve the phylogenetic relations within Ophthalmosauria, a revised dataset, including 44 taxa and 134 characters, 20 of which are new, was compiled. The results of a phylogenetic analysis places Nannopterygius spp. as sister to Arthropterygius spp. within Ophthalmosaurinae. Thus, the lineage of Nannopterygius was among several ophthalmosaurine lineages that crossed the Jurassic–Cretaceous boundary and, similarly to Arthropterygius, survived the Jurassic–Cretaceous transition at high latitudes.
Bumble bees are declining worldwide, their vital ecosystem services are diminishing and underlying mechanisms are species specific and multifaceted. This has sparked an increase in long-term ...assessments of historical collections that provide valuable information about population trends and shifts in distributions. However, museums specimens also contain important ecological information, including rarely measured morphological traits. Trait-based assessments of museums specimens provide additional information on underlying mechanisms of population trends, by tracking changes over time. Here, we used museum specimens of four
Bombus
species, spanning a timeframe of 125 years to: (i) compare body size of declining and increasing species, (ii) assess intra-specific trends over the last century, and (iii) investigate shifts in geographical distribution over time. We found that declining
Bombus
species were larger than increasing ones. All four species were smaller in current time than a century ago. Intra-specific size declines were more pronounced for larger-bodied species. With our sampling, declining and increasing species showed an upward shift in elevation, and declining species showed an additional geographic shift in recent times as compared to historic records. Intra-specific body size declines may represent species adaptation to unfavorable environmental conditions, and may be a useful metric to complement traditional species vulnerability assessments. We highlight the utility of incorporating trait-based assessments into future studies investigating species declines.
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