The Science of Nature最新文献

{"title":"Cohesion depends on kinship but no permanent leadership in larval societies of a Neotropical butterfly","authors":"Daniela Rodrigues,&nbsp;Felipe Lee Pinheiro Machado","doi":"10.1007/s00114-023-01877-2","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00114-023-01877-2","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>In gregarious species, coordinated responses to environmental stimuli are important for a successful habitat and/or food selection. In this sense, maintenance of group cohesion after stochastic disturbances and during collective movements is expected to be advantageous, as is the existence of group leaders. Through laboratory experiments, we examined whether clusters of early instars of <i>Mechanitis polymnia casabranca</i> have both leaders and followers, as well as whether larvae are able to reaggregate depending on neighbors’ degree of kinship. In the leadership experiment, clusters of second and third instars were placed in a trail arena having a stimulus leaf at its ending point. Every larva moving ahead from the group was recorded as a leader, and the remaining ones were followers. We also examined whether leaders were temporary or permanent. Of the 195 larvae tested, 22 were permanent leaders (11.28%), 71 larvae were assigned as temporary leaders (36.41%), and 102 larvae never behaved as leaders (52.31%). In the larval cohesion experiment, three treatments were assigned: (i) sibling larvae reared and tested together, (ii) sibling larvae separated after eclosion and tested together, and (iii) non-sibling larvae reared separated and tested together. Sibling larvae reaggregated significantly more compared to non-siblings, regardless of whether they were reared together or separately. Our results show that early instars of <i>M. polymnia casabranca</i> from the same egg cluster are able to recompose aggregations after disrupting disturbances and that group decision-making is mostly dependent on transient leaders.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":794,"journal":{"name":"The Science of Nature","volume":"110 5","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.954,"publicationDate":"2023-09-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"10277384","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Osmophores and petal surface traits in Bignonieae species","authors":"Karise Mamede Macedo,&nbsp;Priscila Tunes,&nbsp;Letícia de Almeida Gonçalves,&nbsp;Yve Canaveze,&nbsp;Elza Guimarães,&nbsp;Silvia Rodrigues Machado","doi":"10.1007/s00114-023-01873-6","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00114-023-01873-6","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h2>Abstract </h2><div><p>This study characterizes the osmophores and corolla traits in 18 species of Bignonieae Dumort., a Bignoniaceae tribe occurring in the Cerrado, a neotropical savanna in Brazil. To detect osmophore distribution, whole, newly opened flowers were immersed in Neutral Red Solution. Samples from the corolla tube and lobes were also fixed and analyzed micromorphologically, anatomically, and histochemically. The osmophores showed six markedly different distribution patterns that were not clearly associated with histological features. In most species, osmophores comprised papillose secretory epidermises and a few layers of subepidermal parenchyma. Starch grains, lipid droplets, and terpenes were detected in osmophores. An ornamented cuticle, cuticular folds, glandular and non-glandular trichomes, raised stomata and epicuticular wax granules are common traits in the species studied and may be useful in determining the taxonomy of the group. We found that 94% of the species visited by bees had papillose epidermises while the single hummingbird-pollinated species presented a flattened epidermis. Variations in osmophore pattern among species visited by bees, including variations within the same plant genus, are novel finding. Additionally, the Bignonieae species visited by bees presented a textured corolla surface, which has been reported as facilitating bee attachment and movement towards the floral resource. Future studies with a greater number of Bignonieae species and more detailed pollinator behavioral assays may help in the interpretation of the variations in corolla traits and functional relationships between flowers and pollinators.</p></div></div>","PeriodicalId":794,"journal":{"name":"The Science of Nature","volume":"110 5","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.954,"publicationDate":"2023-09-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"10200850","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Spiro’s portrait of Arnold Berliner—a testimonial to a deep friendship","authors":"Stefan L. Wolff","doi":"10.1007/s00114-023-01872-7","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00114-023-01872-7","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":794,"journal":{"name":"The Science of Nature","volume":"110 5","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.954,"publicationDate":"2023-09-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10474972/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"10161447","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A new large pantherine and a sabre-toothed cat (Mammalia, Carnivora, Felidae) from the late Miocene hominoid-bearing Khorat sand pits, Nakhon Ratchasima Province, northeastern Thailand","authors":"L. de Bonis,&nbsp;Y. Chaimanee,&nbsp;C. Grohé,&nbsp;O. Chavasseau,&nbsp;A. Mazurier,&nbsp;K. Suraprasit,&nbsp;J.J. Jaeger","doi":"10.1007/s00114-023-01867-4","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00114-023-01867-4","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>We describe two large predators from the hominoid-bearing Khorat sand pits, Nakhon Ratchasima Province, northeastern Thailand: a new genus of pantherine, <i>Pachypanthera </i>n. gen., represented by partial mandible and maxilla and an indeterminate sabre-toothed cat, represented by a fragment of upper canine. The morphological characters of <i>Pachypanthera</i> n. gen., notably the large and powerful canine, the great robustness of the mandibular body, the very deep fossa for the m. masseter, the zigzag HSB enamel pattern, indicate bone-cracking capacities. The genus is unique among Felidae as it has one of the most powerful and robust mandibles ever found. Moreover, it may be the oldest known pantherine, as other Asian pantherines are dated back to the early Pliocene. The taxa we report here are the only carnivorans known from the late Miocene of Thailand. Although the material is rather scarce, it brings new insights to the evolutionary history of Neogene mammals of Southeast Asia, in a geographic place which is partly “terra incognita.”</p></div>","PeriodicalId":794,"journal":{"name":"The Science of Nature","volume":"110 5","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.954,"publicationDate":"2023-08-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"4929042","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A Smart Simple Virtual Instrument for Measuring the Electrical Signal","authors":"Ronaldo Talapessy, T. Ikegami","doi":"10.30598/snvol4iss2pp338-345year2021","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.30598/snvol4iss2pp338-345year2021","url":null,"abstract":"Real-time measurement, especially in analyzing the electrical waveform, is necessary to explore physical phenomena. Virtual instrumentations have been studied for various applications such as water existence, characterization and modeling of electrical impedance, and electrical resistivity. This research presents software, a Graphical User Interface (GUI) was programmed in a LabVIEW environment that has been implemented to monitor and analyze the square wave. A pulse generator generated an electrical signal. The alteration of the current and potential wave presented in the measurement is used to determine resistivity. Additionally, the GUI can be proposed to investigate the electrical properties of materials in the subsurface using the electrical method.","PeriodicalId":794,"journal":{"name":"The Science of Nature","volume":"55 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.954,"publicationDate":"2023-08-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"76896155","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Inferring the lifestyles of extinct Crocodyliformes using osteoderm ornamentation","authors":"Mariana Valéria de Araújo Sena,&nbsp;Jorge Cubo","doi":"10.1007/s00114-023-01871-8","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00114-023-01871-8","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Osteoderms are bony plates formed within the dermis of diverse vertebrate groups. They are present in all crocodylomorphs but Metriorhynchidae. Most of them show typical bone ornamentation consisting of pits and ridges on their outer surface. The most widely discussed functional hypothesis suggests that the ornamentation of osteoderms influences heat exchange with the environment through the adjacent vascular network, facilitating the absorption of solar radiation. This process allows semiaquatic crocodiles to compensate for heat loss resulting from the high thermal conductivity of surrounding water. In order to test this assertion, we conducted a phylogenetic logistic regression analysis to evaluate the relationship between osteoderm relative area of pits (RAP) and lifestyle (terrestrial versus aquatic) in a sample of crocodyliforms. Our results revealed that lifestyle is significantly explained by RAP: the lower the degree of ornamentation (RAP), the higher the probability of a terrestrial lifestyle. We used this model to infer the lifestyle of two extinct taxa, <i>Peirosaurus torminni</i> and <i>Microsuchus schilleri</i>. We concluded that terrestrial notosuchians may have lost osteoderm ornamentation due to the lower thermal conductivity of air and reduced heat loss in a terrestrial environment compared to what happens in water. Among these notosuchians, we hypothesize that large terrestrial baurusuchids maintained a stable body temperature due to thermal inertia, whereas small notosuchians took advantage of the early morning sun exposure to warm up and stayed in terrestrial burrows during periods of intense solar radiation. Finally, unlike the almost motionless behavior of freshwater crocodiles, fully marine Metriorhynchidae probably lost osteoderms because they constantly swim, generating heat by muscular contraction, so osteoderms with a thermoregulatory function for heat absorption were no longer positively selected.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":794,"journal":{"name":"The Science of Nature","volume":"110 5","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.954,"publicationDate":"2023-08-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"4289385","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"On the way from Asia to America: eutriconodontan mammals from the Early Cretaceous of Yakutia, Russia","authors":"Alexander O. Averianov,&nbsp;Thomas Martin,&nbsp;Alexey V. Lopatin,&nbsp;Pavel P. Skutschas,&nbsp;Dmitry D. Vitenko,&nbsp;Rico Schellhorn,&nbsp;Petr N. Kolosov","doi":"10.1007/s00114-023-01868-3","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00114-023-01868-3","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Eutriconodonta are an important group of early crown mammals with a wide distribution in the Jurassic-Cretaceous of the Northern Hemisphere and few occurrences in the Southern Hemisphere. Three taxa of eutriconodontans are known from the Early Cretaceous high-latitude Teete vertebrate assemblage in Yakutia, Russia: <i>Sangarotherium aquilonium</i> (Eutriconodonta incertae sedis), <i>Gobiconodon</i> sp. A (large), and <i>Gobiconodon</i> sp. B (small) (Gobiconodontidae). These three taxa are based on four specimens and indicate a remarkable taxonomic diversity of eutriconodontans at this locality. The coexistence of two <i>Gobiconodon</i> species, large and small, is characteristic for several Early Cretaceous vertebrate assemblages in Asia. <i>Gobiconodon</i> sp. A from the Teete locality is the largest species of this genus known from Asia, but is smaller than the North American <i>G. ostromi</i>. The spreading of <i>Gobiconodon</i> from Asia to North America likely occurred during the Aptian-Albian faunal dispersal event. The discovery of <i>Gobiconodon</i> in the Teete locality is further evidence for a dispersal route via Beringia from Asia to North America which previously has been postulated based on the occurrence of Asian dinosaur taxa in western North America at this time. The questionable record of <i>Gobiconodon</i> from Europe and its lack from eastern North America make a dispersal from Asia to North America via Europe less probable.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":794,"journal":{"name":"The Science of Nature","volume":"110 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.954,"publicationDate":"2023-08-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"4070298","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The 2023 Arnold Berliner Award for research on spider photoreceptors","authors":"Matthias Waltert","doi":"10.1007/s00114-023-01870-9","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00114-023-01870-9","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":794,"journal":{"name":"The Science of Nature","volume":"110 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.954,"publicationDate":"2023-08-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s00114-023-01870-9.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"4069197","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Synthesis of Polycyclic Imidazoles via α-C-H/N-H Annulation of Alicyclic Amines.","authors":"Subhradeep Dutta, Kamal Bhatt, Fabian Cuffel, Daniel Seidel","doi":"10.1055/a-2022-1511","DOIUrl":"10.1055/a-2022-1511","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Secondary alicyclic amines are converted to their corresponding ring-fused imidazoles in a simple procedure consisting of oxidative imine formation followed by a van Leusen reaction. Amines with an existing α-substituent undergo regioselective ring-fusion at the α'-position. This method was utilized in a synthesis of fadrozole.</p>","PeriodicalId":794,"journal":{"name":"The Science of Nature","volume":"62 3","pages":"2343-2352"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2023-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10836336/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"72488714","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Diet composition of wild columbiform birds: next-generation sequencing of plant and metazoan DNA in faecal samples","authors":"Yvonne R. Schumm,&nbsp;Juan F. Masello,&nbsp;Jennifer Vreugdenhil-Rowlands,&nbsp;Dominik Fischer,&nbsp;Klaus Hillerich,&nbsp;Petra Quillfeldt","doi":"10.1007/s00114-023-01863-8","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00114-023-01863-8","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Accurate knowledge of a species’ diets is fundamental to understand their ecological requirements. Next-generation sequencing technology has become a powerful and non-invasive tool for diet reconstruction through DNA metabarcoding. Here, we applied those methods on faecal samples of Common Woodpigeons <i>Columba palumbus</i>, European Turtle Doves <i>Streptopelia turtur</i>, and Stock Doves <i>C. oenas</i> to investigate their dietary composition. By applying primer pairs targeting both the ITS2 region of plant nuclear DNA and the mitochondrial COI region of metazoan DNA, we provide a complete picture of the food ingested and estimate the dietary overlap between the columbiform species during the breeding season. Animal DNA was present very rarely, and a diverse range of plants from the class Spermatopsida dominated the diet, with Asteraceae, Brassicaceae, Cucurbitaceae, Fabaceae, and Poaceae as the most frequently represented families. Generally, we detected a variability between species but also amongst individual samples. Plant species already known from previous studies, mainly visual analyses, could be confirmed for our individuals sampled in Germany and the Netherlands. Our molecular approach revealed new plant taxa, e.g. plants of the families Malvaceae for Woodpigeons, Lythraceae for Turtle Doves, and Pinaceae for Stock Doves, not found in previous studies using visual analyses. Although most of the plant species observed were of wild origin, the majority of cultivated plants found were present in higher frequencies of occurrence, suggesting that cultivated food items likely constitute an important part of the diet of the studied species. For Turtle Doves, a comparison with previous studies suggested regional differences, and that food items (historically) considered as important part of their diet, such as Fumitory <i>Fumaria</i> sp. and Chickweed <i>Stellaria media</i>, were missing in our samples. This indicates that regional variations as well as historic and current data on diet should be considered to plan tailored seed mixtures, which are currently proposed as an important management measure for conservation of the rapidly declining Turtle Dove.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":794,"journal":{"name":"The Science of Nature","volume":"110 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.954,"publicationDate":"2023-07-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s00114-023-01863-8.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"4865033","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}