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Zoology

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Selected Works

2009

Articles 1 - 2 of 2

Full-Text Articles in Animal Sciences

Life History, Sexual Dimorphism And 'Ornamental' Feathers In The Mesozoic Bird Confuciusornis Sanctus., Winfried S. Peters, Dieter Stefan Peters Sep 2009

Life History, Sexual Dimorphism And 'Ornamental' Feathers In The Mesozoic Bird Confuciusornis Sanctus., Winfried S. Peters, Dieter Stefan Peters

Winfried S. Peters

The life history of Confuciusornis sanctus is controversial. Recently, the species’ body size spectrum was claimed to contradict osteohistological evidence for a rapid, bird-like development. Moreover, sexual size dimorphism was rejected as an explanation for the observed bimodal size distribution since the presence of elongated rectrices, an assumed ‘male’ trait, was uncorrelated with size. However, this interpretation (i) fails to explain the size spectrum of C. sanctus which is trimodal rather than bimodal, (ii) requires implausible neonate masses and (iii) is not supported by analogy with sexual dimorphisms in modern birds, in which elongated central rectrices are mostly sex-independent. Available …

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Two New Species Of Cave-Dwelling Beetles Trechus Clairville Of Fulvus-Group In Portugal, Ana Reboleira, Fernando Gonçalves, Artur Serrano Apr 2009

Two New Species Of Cave-Dwelling Beetles Trechus Clairville Of Fulvus-Group In Portugal, Ana Reboleira, Fernando Gonçalves, Artur Serrano

Ana Sofia P.S. Reboleira

Two new cave-dwelling ground beetle species, Trechus gamae sp. n. and Trechus lunai sp. n., from Portugal, are described. The new species are included in the Trechus fulvus-group by their morphological characters. The work provides diagnostic characters in particular those of the structure of male genitalia, and the distribution of the hypogean species of the fulvus -group at the Estremenho Karstic Massif is mapped. Some comments on the seasonal activity of T. gamae sp. n. are also given. An identification key to the males of the T. fulvus-group species from the Estremenho Karstic Massif is presented, and biogeographical comments are …

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