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Full-Text Articles in Biodiversity

A Taxonomic Review Of The Genus Psephenops Grouvelle Of The Lesser Antilles With Description Of New Species Psephenops Trini, And Reassignment Of Peruvian Species Psephenus Robacki Spangler (Coleoptera: Psephenidae: Psepheninae), Cheryl B. Barr, William D. Shepard Apr 2024

A Taxonomic Review Of The Genus Psephenops Grouvelle Of The Lesser Antilles With Description Of New Species Psephenops Trini, And Reassignment Of Peruvian Species Psephenus Robacki Spangler (Coleoptera: Psephenidae: Psepheninae), Cheryl B. Barr, William D. Shepard

Insecta Mundi

An overview of the genus Psephenops Grouvelle (Coleoptera: Psephenidae: Psepheninae) is provided with geographic distributions of the species. The taxonomic history of Psephenops smithi Grouvelle, the type species from Grenada and St. Vincent, and junior synonym Xexanchorinus latus Grouvelle from Grenada, is discussed, and lectotypes and paralectotypes are designated for both. Photographs of the type series and a non-type specimen with illustrated male genitalia, along with new distributional information for the species, are provided. The male, female, and associated larva of Psephenops trini Barr and Shepard, new species, are described and illustrated, as is the habitat of this species …


Size And Density Of Upside-Down Jellyfish, Cassiopea Sp., And Their Impact On Benthic Fluxes In A Caribbean Lagoon, Chester B. Zarnoch, Noshin Hossain, Erika Fusco, Mary Alldred, Timothy J. Hoellein, Sophia Perdikaris Jan 2020

Size And Density Of Upside-Down Jellyfish, Cassiopea Sp., And Their Impact On Benthic Fluxes In A Caribbean Lagoon, Chester B. Zarnoch, Noshin Hossain, Erika Fusco, Mary Alldred, Timothy J. Hoellein, Sophia Perdikaris

School of Global Integrative Studies: Faculty Publications

Anthropogenic disturbances may be increasing jellyfish populations globally. Epibenthic jellyfish are ideal organisms for studying this phenomenon due to their sessile lifestyle, broad geographic distribution, and prevalence in near-shore coastal environments. There are few studies, however, that have documented epibenthic jellyfish abundance and measured their impact on ecological processes in tropical ecosystems. In this study, the density and size of the upside-down jellyfish (Cassiopea spp.) were measured in Codrington Lagoon, Barbuda. A sediment core incubation study, with and without Cassiopea, also was performed to determine their impact on benthic oxygen and nutrient fluxes. Densities of Cassiopea were 24–168 …


A New Island Species Of Centruroides Marx, 1890 (Scorpiones: Buthidae) From The Southwestern Caribbean, Rolando Teruel, Brandon Myers Dec 2017

A New Island Species Of Centruroides Marx, 1890 (Scorpiones: Buthidae) From The Southwestern Caribbean, Rolando Teruel, Brandon Myers

Euscorpius

Herein we describe a new species of the Buthidae scorpion genus Centruroides Marx, 1890. It occurs at least in two small offshore islands of the southwestern Caribbean: Cozumel in Mexico and Guanaja in Honduras, based upon type specimens from the former and photographic evidence from the latter. It belongs in the "gracilis" species-group and is most closely related to both Centruroides gracilis (Latreille, 1805) and Centruroides nigrescens (Pocock, 1898).


Patterns Of Morphological And Molecular Evolution In The Antillean Tree Bat, Ardops Nichollsi (Chiroptera: Phyllostomidae), Roxanne J. Larsen, Peter A. Larsen, Caleb D. Phillips, Hugh H. Genoways, Gary G. Kwiecinski, Scott C. Pedersen, Carleton J. Phillips, Robert J. Baker Mar 2017

Patterns Of Morphological And Molecular Evolution In The Antillean Tree Bat, Ardops Nichollsi (Chiroptera: Phyllostomidae), Roxanne J. Larsen, Peter A. Larsen, Caleb D. Phillips, Hugh H. Genoways, Gary G. Kwiecinski, Scott C. Pedersen, Carleton J. Phillips, Robert J. Baker

University of Nebraska State Museum: Mammalogy Papers

Species endemic to oceanic islands offer unique insights into the mechanisms underlying evolution and have served as model systems for decades. Often these species show phenotypic variation that is correlated with the ecosystems in which they occur and such correlations may be a product of genetic drift, natural selection, and/or environmental factors. We explore the morphologic and genetic variation within Ardops nichollsi, a species of phyllostomid bat endemic to the Lesser Antillean islands. Ardops nichollsi is an ideal taxon to investigate the tempo of evolution in Chiroptera, as it: is a recently derived genus in the family Phyllostomidae; contains …


On The Distribution Of The Genus Rhopalurus Thorell, 1876 (Scorpiones: Buthidae) In The Southern Caribbean Islands, Rolando Teruel, Michiel A.C. Cozijn Jan 2016

On The Distribution Of The Genus Rhopalurus Thorell, 1876 (Scorpiones: Buthidae) In The Southern Caribbean Islands, Rolando Teruel, Michiel A.C. Cozijn

Euscorpius

In the present note, we report on the occurrence of the genus Rhopalurus Thorell, 1898, in the southern Caribbean islands offshore Venezuela. The only published records are from Isla Margarita and Los Roques, but our study of new specimens (including an important collection assembled by the late Pieter Wagenaar Hummelinck) proved this genus to be widely distributed along several archipelagos such as Los Testigos, Los Frailes, and Los Hermanos, as well as the larger, separate islands of Margarita, Cubagua, La Tortuga, and Coche. These specimens are tentatively referred here to Rhopalurus laticauda Thorell, 1876, but their precise identity still warrants …


Cuban Treefrogs, Osteopilus Septentrionalis (Duméril & Bibron 1841) (Anura: Hylidae), And Other Nonindigenous Herpetofauna Interdicted In Grenada, Lesser Antilles., Louis A. Somma, Paul R. Graham Mar 2015

Cuban Treefrogs, Osteopilus Septentrionalis (Duméril & Bibron 1841) (Anura: Hylidae), And Other Nonindigenous Herpetofauna Interdicted In Grenada, Lesser Antilles., Louis A. Somma, Paul R. Graham

Papers in Herpetology

The number of introduced nonindigenous species of amphibians and reptiles within the greater Caribbean, including Grenada, is escalating and has become an ever-increasing critical conservation concern (Daudin and de Silva 2011; Powell et al. 2011; Powell and Henderson 2012). The amount of development, tourism, and consequent import commerce is increasing, requiring careful regulation of the pet trade and fauna introduced for biological control as well as diligence in cargo inspection. Herein we document the first records of nonindigenous Cuban Treefrogs, Osteopilus septentrionalis (Duméril and Bibron 1841), interdicted from cargo, along with recent interceptions of two species of nonindigenous lizards already …


Coral-Fish Dynamics And Interactions: A Case Study Of Grand Cayman, Eileen Shea Davis Jun 2014

Coral-Fish Dynamics And Interactions: A Case Study Of Grand Cayman, Eileen Shea Davis

Lawrence University Honors Projects

To better understand the ecological interactions of coral reefs, it is important to understand the mechanisms that control the distribution and abundance of reef-building corals as well as the mechanisms that control the diversity and abundance of the fish community that inhabits these reef habitats. The purpose of this study was to identify specific coral-fish interactions among the reefs of Grand Cayman in order to gain insight into the biological effects of fish on the assemblage of hard corals. Using data collected by the Lawrence University Marine Program (LUMP), a number of exploratory statistical analyses were run in order to …


A New Species Of Eptesicus From Guadeloupe, Lesser Antilles (Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae), Hugh H. Genoways, Robert J. Baker Jul 1975

A New Species Of Eptesicus From Guadeloupe, Lesser Antilles (Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae), Hugh H. Genoways, Robert J. Baker

University of Nebraska State Museum: Mammalogy Papers

In the course of field studies on bats of the Antillean region, three specimens of the genus Eptesicus were obtained on the island of Guadeloupe in the Lesser Antilles. The nearest known populations of this genus are on Puerto Rico 500 kilometers to the west (E. fuscus wetmorei), on the northern coast of South America 850 kilometers to the southwest (E. fuscus miradorensis), and on Tobago 550 kilometers to the south (E. brasiliensis melanopterus). Study of the specimens from Guadeloupe reveals that they represent a distinct species that is most closely related to Eptesicus …