Zoology Commons^™

Тaxonomic Position Of Orthochirus Olivaceus (Karsch, 1881), The Type Species Of The Genus Orthochirus Karsch, 1892 (Scorpiones: Buthidae), František Kovařík, Victor Fet, Manal Siyam

Euscorpius

We address the taxonomic position of Orthodactylus olivaceus Karsch, 1881, the type species of the genus Orthochirus Karsch, 1892. For over a century, this taxon was considered a synonym of Orthochirus scrobiculosus (Grube, 1873); however, the latter was recently limited to Central Asia (Turkmenistan) (Kovařík et al., 2020). Analysis of Karsch’s holotype confirmed that Orthochirus olivaceus (Karsch, 1881), is a valid species. Its type locality published as “Sicily” is clearly incorrect. It is a senior synonym of Butheolus aristidis Simon, 1882, syn. n., described from Sudan (Nubia). We confirm its distribution in northern Sudan and southern Egypt.

Environmental Variability Supports Chimpanzee Behavioural Diversity, Ammie K. Kalan, Lars Kulik, Mimi Arandjelovic, Christophe Boesch, Fabian Haas, Paula Dieguez, Christopher D. Barratt, Ekwoge E. Abwe, Anthony Agbor, Samuel Angedakin, Floris Aubert, Emmanuel Ayuk Ayimisin, Emma Bailey, Mattia Bessone, Gregory Brazzola, Valentine Ebua Buh, Rebecca Chancellor, Heather Cohen, Charlotte Coupland, Bryan Curran, Emmanuel Danquah, Tobias Deschner, Dervla Dowd, Manasseh Eno-Nku, J. Michael Fay, Annemarie Goedmakers, Anne-Celine Granjon, Josephine Head, Daniela Hedwig, Veerle Hermans, Kathryn J. Jeffery, Sorrel Jones, Jessica Junker, Parag Kadam, Mohamed Kambi, Ivonne Kienast, Deo Kujirakwinja, Kevin E. Langergraber, Juan Lapuente, Bradley Larson, Kevin C. Lee, Vera Leinert, Manuel Llana, Sergio Marrocoli, Amelia C. Meier, Bethan Morgan, David Morgan, Emily Neil, Sonia Nicholl, Emmanuelle Normand, Lucy Jayne Ormsby, Liliana Pacheco, Alex Piel, Jodie Preece, Martha M. Robbins, Aaron S. Rundus, Crickette Sanz, Volker Sommer, Fiona Stewart, Nikki Tagg, Claudio Tennie, Virginie Vergnes, Adam Welsh, Erin G. Wessling, Jacob Willie, Roman M. Wittig, Yisa Ginath Yuh, Klaus Zuberbuhler, Hjalmar S. Kuehl

Anthropology & Sociology Faculty Publications

Large brains and behavioural innovation are positively correlated, species-specific traits, associated with the behavioural flexibility animals need for adapting to seasonal and unpredictable habitats. Similar ecological challenges would have been important drivers throughout human evolution. However, studies examining the influence of environmental variability on within-species behavioural diversity are lacking despite the critical assumption that population diversification precedes genetic divergence and speciation. Here, using a dataset of 144 wild chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) communities, we show that chimpanzees exhibit greater behavioural diversity in environments with more variability - in both recent and historical timescales. Notably, distance from Pleistocene forest refugia is associated …

Summer Field Report, June-July 2020, W. Ross Silcock

Nebraska Bird Review

Overall, this was a fairly routine summer although birders in Nebraska know that “routine” still holds promise of a few happenings out of the ordinary. The summer season primarily examines new breeding records, range expansions, and changes in numbers, up or down. Mississippi Kites were conspicuous, a pair providing Scottsbluff’s first breeding record, but a repeating pair in Lincoln, Lancaster lost its nest in a windstorm. The first nesting record for Violet-Green Swallow for Sheridan, 7th nesting for White-winged Dove, and 9th for Short-eared Owl were all encouraging, as was an apparent family group of Northern Saw-whet Owls in Sioux. …

Robert Wolcott And The Art Of Nest Records, Thomas E. Labedz

Nebraska Bird Review

The autumn of 1894 was fortuitous for Nebraska ornithology because it is when Robert Henry Wolcott accepted an assistantship at the University of Nebraska, moving to Lincoln from the University of Michigan (Swenk 1935). Wolcott, from that point onward, made significant contributions to our knowledge of Nebraska birds (Bruner et al. 1903, Wolcott 1909, 1919), was a founding member of the Nebraska Ornithologists’ Union (NOU), and was editor for the first three Proceedings of the NOU from 1899-1902. His work expanded beyond local focus and he eventually authored a text on animal biology (Wolcott 1933). The topic of this paper, …

The Nebraska Bird Review, Volume 88 September 2020, Number 3

Nebraska Bird Review

Summer Field Report, June - July 2020, by W. Ross Silcock …94.

Robert Wolcott and the Art of Nest Records, by Thomas E. Labedz …112

2019 (31st) Report of the NOU Records Committee, by Mark A. Brogie …124

Subscription and Organization Information …135

Dietary Development And Nutritional Ontogeny In Gorilla Beringei : A Multi-Layered, -Omics Approach, Emma C. Cancelliere

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In species who consume folivorous diets, immature individuals must contend with the challenges of extracting nutrients from fibrous foods before dietary adaptations and strategies are fully developed. Additionally, immatures have distinct nutritional needs to support their stage-specific metabolic and biophysiological requirements. To meet these stage-specific needs, while constrained by underdeveloped feeding strategies and digestive capacities, immatures may adopt distinct diets better suited to their specific developmental context. However, where dietary modification is constrained by low dietary diversity or landscape homogeneity, it is unclear how immature individuals compensate through alternative strategies. In turn, little is known about the nutritional and life …

Vampire Bats: Preparing For Range Expansion Into The U.S., Michael J. Bodenchuk, David L. Bergman

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

The common vampire bat apparently is expanding its range northwards in Mexico and seems poised to enter the southern United States. Climate models predict suitable habitat in the U.S. in south Texas and parts of southern Arizona. While vampire bats’ northward range expansion is not unexpected, the fact that this species brings a strain of rabies that impacts livestock and people warrants a strategic response. Annual economic damages from bats are estimated between $7M and $9M, largely associated with deaths of livestock from rabies. To prepare for the emerging rabies issue, USDA Wildlife Services programs in Texas and Arizona have …

Intensive Animal Farming Conditions Are A Major Threat To Global Health, Cynthia Schuck-Paim

Animal Sentience

Wiebers & Feigin accurately propose that reducing the risks posed by infectious disease outbreaks and other global health challenges will depend critically on transitioning away from intensive animal farming practices. Creating the right incentive structure for this transition to happen is one of the great challenges in the years to come, but a much-needed step to ensure the health and well-being of current and future generations.

Further Review Of Orthochirus Karsch, 1892 (Scorpiones: Buthidae) From Asia: Taxonomic Position Of O. Melanurus, O. Persa, O. Scrobiculosus, And Description Of Six New Species, František Kovařík, Victor Fet, Ersen A. Yağmur

Euscorpius

We describe six new species of Orthochirus: O. birulai sp. n. (Pakistan), O. formozovi sp. n. (Afghanistan, Iran, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan), O. grosseri sp. n. (Uzbekistan), O. kryzhanovskyi sp. n. (Pakistan), O. nordmanni sp. n. (Afghanistan), and O. sejnai sp. n. (Iran). Descriptions are complemented with color photographs of preserved specimens. The identities of Orthochirus melanurus (Kessler, 1874) (Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan), O. persa (Birula, 1900), stat. n. (Afghanistan, Iran), and O. scrobiculosus (Grube, 1873) (Turkmenistan) are reexamined, based on detailed study of the type specimens; lectotypes of all three species are designated. We demonstrate for the first time that the name …

Description Of The Male Of Wernerius Mumai (Sissom, 1993) From Western Arizona, With Data On Reproduction (Scorpiones: Vaejovidae), Richard F. Ayrey, Brandon T. Myers

Euscorpius

A male of Wernerius mumai (Sissom, 1993) is described for the first time, collected at the type locality (Gold Road, Black Mountains, Mohave County, Arizona). Originally placed in the genus Vaejovis, this species later was transferred by Soleglad & Fet (2008) to the genus Wernerius. It is one of the smallest vaejovid species known. The pedipalp fixed finger usually has 6 ID denticles and the movable finger has 7. The most unique characteristic of this species is the long, pointed, subaculear tubercle.

Integrative Species Delimitation And Taxonomic Status Of The Scorpion Genus Vaejovis Koch, 1836 (Vaejovidae) In The Santa Catalina Mountains, Arizona, Emma E. Jochim, Lillian-Lee M. Broussard, Brent E. Hendrixson

Euscorpius

Scorpions belonging to the Vaejovis vorhiesi species complex are widely distributed throughout the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. Most species are endemic to single mountain ranges but two species, Vaejovis deboerae Ayrey, 2009 and V. brysoni Ayrey & Webber, 2013, have been documented from the Santa Catalina Mountains in Arizona. We reevaluated the taxonomic diversity of these scorpions by integrating data from several different sources. Phylogenetic analyses indicate that scorpions in the Santa Catalina Mountains are monophyletic but comprise two divergent mitochondrial lineages that overlap at the type locality of V. deboerae. We failed to detect congruence between …

Data For "Consistent Differences In A Virtual World Model Of Ape Societies", Bart J. Wilson, Sarah F. Brosnan, Elizabeth V. Lonsdorf, Crickette M. Sanz

Business and Economics Faculty Data Sets

The zip file contains the data for the paper entitled "Consistent Differences in a Virtual World Model of Ape Societies" which appears in Scientific Reports.

2019 (31st) Report Of The Nou Records Committee, Mark A. Brogie

Nebraska Bird Review

The functions and methods of the Nebraska Ornithologists’ Union Records Committee (NOURC) are described in its bylaws (NOURC 2010). The committee’s purpose is to provide a procedure for documenting unusual bird sightings and to establish a list of all documented birds for Nebraska. Species for which the NOURC seeks documentation (NOURC Review List) can be found at the NOU website www.NOUbirds.org. Starting in 2020, the NOURC will deal mainly with those species deemed as Accidental on the “Official List of the Birds of Nebraska”. Casual species and out-ofrange species will continue to be summarized in the “Seasonal Reports” of the …

Interrelationships Among Monorchiid Trematodes With Special Emphasis On Some Northwestern Atlantic Genera, Apryle Panyi

Master's Theses

The Monorchiidae Odhner, 1911 is a cosmopolitan family of flukes (Trematoda: Digenea) comprising species that parasitize the digestive tract of estuarine and marine fishes as adults. Compared with other oceans, recent morphological or molecular taxonomic work conducted on monorchiid species from the northwestern Atlantic Ocean has been sparse (Manter, 1931; Overstreet, 1969; Andres et al., 2018; Wee et al., 2018, 2019, 2020). Therefore, the present work investigated the interrelationships of some monorchiids from the northwestern Atlantic Ocean with emphasis on several genera and investigated if Lasiotocus minutus (Manter, 1931) Thomas, 1959 constitutes a complex of cryptic species. New morphological and …

An Evaluation Of Bird And Bat Mortality At Wind Turbines In The Northeastern United States, Daniel Y. Choi, Thomas W. Wittig, Bryan M. Kluever

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Wind energy offers substantial environmental benefits, but wind facilities can negatively impact wildlife, including birds and bats. Researchers and managers have made major efforts to chronicle bird and bat mortality associated with wind facilities, but few studies have examined the patterns and underlying mechanisms of spatial patterns of fatalities at wind facilities. Understanding the horizontal fall distance between a carcass and the nearest turbine pole is important in designing effective search protocols and estimating total mortality. We explored patterns in taxonomic composition and fall distance of bird and bat carcasses at wind facilities in the Northeastern United States using publicly …

Estimation Of Wildlife Damage From Federal Crop Insurance Data, Sophie Mckee, Stephanie A. Shwiff, Aaron M. Anderson

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

BACKGROUND: Wildlife damage to crops is a persistent and costly problem for many farmers in the USA. Most existing estimates of crop damage have relied on direct assessment methods such as field studies conducted by trained biologists or surveys distributed to farmers. In this paper, we describe a new method of estimating wildlife damage that exploits federal crop insurance data. We focused our study on four crops: corn, soybean, wheat, and cotton, chosen because of their economic importance and their vulnerability to wildlife damage.

RESULTS: We determined crop-raiding hot spots across the USA over the 2015–2019 period and identified the …

Genotoxic And Hematological Effects Of Endocrine Disruptive Chemicals, Bisphenol A And Nonylphenol, On Nile Tilapia (Oreochromis Niloticus), Sahardin Muhammad Faris

Student Works (2020-2029)

This study was performed to evaluate the genotoxicity and hematology effects of single and binary exposure of bisphenol A and nonylphenol towards Oreochromis niloticus. O. niloticus was singly exposed to bisphenol A at concentration of 2 mg/l and nonylphenol at concentration of 0.04 mg/l in 16 L glass tank. O. niloticus was also synergistically exposed to the both concentration of 2 mg/l of bisphenol A and 0.04 mg/l of nonylphenol. Four fishes were randomly used for four exposures after two weeks acclimatization. All of them were exposed to the compound for 96 hours without water change prior observation. Fishes were …

Spatial Ecology And Resource Selection Of Bighorn Sheep (Ovis Canadensis) Ewes In A Prairie Badlands Population, Erin Wood

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The basic spatial ecology and habitat relationships of female bighorn sheep in Nebraska are poorly understood. Establishing seasonal patterns of space use and resource selection for this population at the margin of their historical and current range addresses a key knowledge gap and provides important baseline information for ongoing conservation efforts in Nebraska. We deployed GPS radio-collars on 56 adult ewes in western Nebraska to quantify seasonal space use, movements, and resource selection of ewes. To investigate spatial ecology, we quantified movements of ewes and the factors that influence home range size, seasonal use, and spatial stability across seasons. Home …

Consider The Agent In The Arthropod, Nicolas Delon, Peter Cook, Gordon Bauer, Heidi Harley

Animal Sentience

Whether or not arthropods are sentient, they can have moral standing. Appeals to sentience are not necessary and retard progress in human treatment of other species, including invertebrates. Other increasingly well-documented aspects of invertebrate minds are pertinent to their welfare. Even if arthropods are not sentient, they can be agents whose goals—and therefore interests—can be frustrated. This kind of agency is sufficient for moral status and requires that we consider their welfare.

Effects Of Freshwater Crayfish On Influenza A Virus Persistence In Water, J. Jeffrey Root, Jeremy W. Ellis, Susan A. Shriner

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Several investigations have recently assessed the ability of some aquatic invertebrates to act as tools for avian influenza A virus (IAV) surveillance as well as their potential role(s) in IAV ecology. Because of this, as well as the high IAV seroprevalence rates noted in select mesocarnivores that commonly inhabit aquatic and semi-aquatic habitats, we evaluated the effects that freshwater crayfish have on IAV in water at three dose levels and monitored for the presence of IAV in crayfish tissues (gill and green gland) and haemolymph at multiple time points. At relatively high, medium 432 and low (approximately 10 , 10 …

Five New Species Of Euscorpius Thorell, 1876 (Scorpiones: Euscorpiidae) From Albania, Greece, North Macedonia, And Serbia, František Kovařík, František Šťáhlavský

Euscorpius

Five new species are described: Euscorpius bonacinai sp. n. (Albania), E. janstai sp. n. (North Macedonia), E. kabateki sp. n. (Greece), E. sadileki sp. n. (Serbia), and E. scheraboni sp. n. (Greece), fully complemented with color photographs. New species are distinguished from all other species of the genus on the basis of five taxonomic characters. Two other new characters, shape of the pedipalp chela fingers and number of chromosomes, are presented and discussed. In addition to the analyses of external morphology, we also describe karyotypes of two species: E. janstai sp. n. (2n=112) and E. sadileki sp. n. (2n=90).

Avoiding Anthropocentrism In Evolutionarily Inclusive Ethics, Simon Fitzpatrick

Animal Sentience

Mikhalevich & Powell are to be commended for challenging the “invertebrate dogma” that invertebrates are unworthy of ethical concern. However, developing an evolutionarily inclusive ethics requires facing some of the more radical implications of rejecting hierarchical scala naturae and human-centered conceptions of the biological world. In particular, we need to question the anthropocentric assumptions that still linger in discussions like these.

Zones Of Precaution, Jonathan Birch

Animal Sentience

My commentary focusses on Mikhalevich & Powell’s criticisms of the Animal Sentience Precautionary Principle. I emphasize the pragmatic nature of my rationale for proposing that, rather than extending the scope of animal welfare protection on a species-by-species basis, we should be willing to protect entire Linnaean orders on the basis of evidence from a single species.

Brain Complexity, Sentience And Welfare, Donald M. Broom

Animal Sentience

Neither sentience nor moral standing is confined to animals with large or human-like brains. Invertebrates deserve moral consideration. Definition of terms clarifies the relationship between sentience and welfare. All animals have welfare but humans give more protection to sentient animals. Humans should be less human-centred.

Invertebrate Cognition, Sentience And Biology, Georges Chapouthier

Animal Sentience

All animal species have adapted for survival and no species is superior overall. For cognitive capacities and sentience, invertebrates such as the octopus, although quite unlike vertebrates, can achieve similar performance levels. So can other invertebrates with small brains; hence they too, as sentient beings, deserve moral consideration from humans. How are we to identify these species? Only though a detailed analysis of their behavior. The decision, which is a moral judgment, depends on biological knowledge that still needs to be acquired.

Convergent Evolution Of Sentience?, Culum Brown Prof.

Animal Sentience

Mikhalevich & Powell make a compelling case that some invertebrates may be sentient and that our moral obligations in the context of welfare should hence extend to them. Although the case is similar to that made for fishes, there is one obvious difference in that examples of invertebrate sentience probably arose independently from vertebrate sentience. We have unequivocal proof that complex cognition arose multiple times over evolutionary history. Given that cognition is our best tool for indirectly quantifying sentience, it seems highly likely that this multiple polygenesis may also have occurred for sentience. In acknowledging this, we must accept that …

Notes On The Diet And Reproduction Of The Bark Scorpion Centruroides Gracilis (Scorpiones: Buthidae) On Utila Island, Honduras, Anna M. Davison, Tom W. Brown, Cristina Arrivillaga

Euscorpius

The brown bark scorpion Centruroides gracilis (Latreille, 1804) (Buthidae) is an abundant and widespread species, however, fairly little is known about its ecology and natural history. We include several observations from Utila Island, Honduras, that expand on the known literature regarding the diet and reproductive behavior of C. gracilis. We report several prey items for this opportunistic species, which include invertebrates such as spiders (including tarantulas), centipedes, katydids, and crickets; as well as a case of cannibalism between two adult females C. gracilis. We suggest that such cannibalism may be driven by high population densities and/or strong intraspecific …

Minds, Morality And Midgies, Brian Key, Deborah Brown

Animal Sentience

Mikhalevich & Powell argue that the exclusion of the vast majority of arthropods from moral standing is unwarranted, particularly given the purported evidence for cognition and sentience in these organisms. The implied association between consciousness and moral standing is questionable and their assumption that rich forms of cognition and flexible behavior are dependent on phenomenal consciousness needs to be reconsidered in light of current neuroscientific evidence. We conclude by proposing a neural algorithmic approach for deciphering whether organisms are capable of subjective experience.

Discovery Of The World’S Highest-Dwelling Mammal, Jay F. Storz, Marcial Quiroga-Carmona, Juan C. Opazo, Thomas Bowen, Matthew Farson, Scott J. Steppan, Guillermo D’Elía

Jay F. Storz Publications

Environmental limits of animal life are invariably revised when the animals themselves are investigated in their natural habitats. Here we report results of a scientific mountaineering expedition to survey the high-altitude rodent fauna of Volcán Llullaillaco in the Puna de Atacama of northern Chile, an effort motivated by video documentation of mice (genus Phyllotis) at a record altitude of 6,205m. Among numerous trapping records at altitudes of >5,000 m, we captured a specimen of the yellow-rumped leaf-eared mouse (Phyllotis xanthopygus rupestris) on the very summit of Llullaillaco at 6,739 m. This summit specimen represents an altitudinal world …

Spatiotemporal Genetic Diversity Of Lions Reveals The Influence Of Habitat Fragmentation Across Africa, Caitlin J. Curry, Brian W. Davis, Laura D. Bertola, Paula A. White, William J. Murphy, James N. Derr

Publications and Research

Direct comparisons between historical and contemporary populations allow for detecting changes in genetic diversity through time and assessment of the impact of habitat fragmentation. Here, we determined the genetic architecture of both historical and modern lions to document changes in genetic diversity over the last century. We surveyed microsatellite and mitochondrial genome variation from 143 high-quality museum specimens of known provenance, allowing us to directly compare this information with data from several recently published nuclear and mitochondrial studies. Our results provide evidence for male-mediated gene flow and recent isolation of local subpopulations, likely due to habitat fragmentation. Nuclear markers showed …