Zoology Commons^™

Scorpions Of Iran (Arachnida: Scorpiones). Part Vii. Kerman Province, Shahrokh Navidpour, Majeed Ezatkhah, František Kovařík, Michael E. Soleglad, Victor Fet

Euscorpius

Thirteen species of scorpions belonging to two families are reported from the Kerman Province of Iran. Of these, the species Compsobuthus kaftani Kovařík, 2003, Mesobuthus macmahoni (Pocock, 1900), Orthochirus farzanpayi (Vachon et Farzanpay, 1987), Polisius persicus Fet, Capes et Sissom, 2001, Sassanidotus gracilis (Birula, 1900), and Hemiscorpius lepturus Peters, 1861 are recorded from the province for the first time. Kerman Province contains type localities of six species of scorpions, of which Kraepelinia palpator (Birula, 1903) and Orthochirus gruberi Kovařík et Fet, 2006 are valid. Prionurus crassicauda orientalis Birula, 1900 is a synonym of Androctonus crassicauda (Olivier, 1807), Buthus eupeus kirmanensis …

An Anomaly Of Pectinal Organs In Vaejovis Lapidicola (Scorpiones: Vaejovidae), Richard F. Ayrey

Euscorpius

Among specimens of Vaejovis lapidicola Stahnke, one female was found to have abnormally shaped pectines, both with only distal pectinal teeth. This rare, possibly teratological anomaly is documented and discussed.

Exploitation Of Environmental Noise By An Araneophagic Assassin Bug, Anne E. Wignall, Robert R. Jackson, R. Stimson Wilcox, Phillip W. Taylor

All Peer-Reviewed Publications

Predatory arthropods that specialize in invading webs and preying on the resident spiders ('araneophagic predators') face special challenges. As webs are exceedingly good at transmitting vibrations, it is difficult for a web invader to move through the web and remain undetected by the spider. An araneophagic predator that generates vibrations in the web may risk prey escaping or even counterattacking. To increase the chances of an undetected approach, predators may exploit episodes of environmental noise to approach, while their prey's ability to detect them is compromised ('opportunistic smokescreen behaviour'). Here we provide the first experimental evidence of convergent opportunistic smokescreen …

Looking At Zoos, Irus Braverman

Journal Articles

Looking at zoos from the perspective of zoo personnel, this article explores the importance of vision in the zoo’s presentation of its animals as well as the major technologies that the zoo uses to intensify such animal visions. On the one end of the spectrum, zoogeography and immersion design are used at the zoo exhibit to enable zoogoers to see animals in their naturalistic settings. On the opposite end of the spectrum, animals are caged and cared for in the highly artificial settings of the zoo’s holding area, with little or no exposure to the public gaze. In between these …

African Elephants Change Gaits When Walking Downhill, Robert H.I. Dale, Robert Warren, Brock Ward, Eric Noble

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

Abstract from the International Elephant and Rhino Conservation and Research Symposium, Rotterdam, NL, October 10-14, 2011.

Surveillance Of Selected Diseases In Free-Ranging Elk (Cervus Elaphus Nelsoni) In Nebraska, 1995-2009, Michael A. Cover, Scott E. Hygnstrom, David W. Oates, Kit M. Hams, Kurt C. Vercauteren

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences (through 2013)

Sera samples were collected from 21 free-ranging, captured female elk (Cervus elaphus nelsoni) in 1995- 96, and tissue and sera samples were collected from 415 hunter-harvested elk from 1995 to 2006 and tested for selected diseases. Titers for Anaplasma marginale were detected in 81 of 436 (19%) elk. Occurrence of antibodies to anaplasmosis increased from 4 to 40 elk from 2002 to 2006. Titers for bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV) were detected in 18 of 346 (5%) samples. Titers for Leptospira interrogans serovars were detected in 21 of 289 (7%) of samples from 1995 to 2004. Titers for …

Historical Biogeography Of Nebraska Pronghorns (Antilocapra Americana), Justin D. Hoffman, Hugh H. Genoways, Rachel R. Jones

University of Nebraska State Museum: Mammalogy Papers

Archeological and paleontological records indicate that the pronghorn (Antilocapra americana) have a history of at least 20,000 years of occurrence within the current boundaries of Nebraska. Pronghorns occurred throughout the state for much of its history. With the evidence at hand we concluded that the eastern boundary of the geographic distribution of the pronghorn south of the Niobrara River in Nebraska at the beginning of the 19th century was along the western perimeter of the eastern deciduous forest and tallgrass prairie. This excluded most of the easternmost tier of counties in the state. This geographic arrangement persisted throughout …

The Ecology Of The Timber Rattlesnake (Crotalus Horridus) In Southeastern Virginia, Scott M. Goetz

Biological Sciences Theses & Dissertations

Few studies have examined the relationship between forest canopy structure and the ecology of the timber rattlesnake (Crotalus horridus). I used radiotelemetry to compare the movements, activity range sizes and behaviors of timber rattlesnakes before and after a large-scale natural disturbance that opened a previously closed canopy. The disturbance was Hurricane Isabel which made landfall in northeast North Carolina and southeastern Virginia in 2003. Isabel created gaps in the canopy through tree blowdown, resulting in a 16.6% opening in the forest canopy at my study site, in southeastern Virginia. I compared six years of female tracking data from …

A Review Of The Subgenus Pandinus Thorell, 1876 With Descriptions Of Two New Species From Uganda And Ethiopia (Scorpiones: Scorpionidae), František Kovařík

Euscorpius

Pandinus (Pandinus) ugandaensis sp. n. from Uganda and P. (P.) mazuchi sp. n. from Ethiopia are described and compared with other species of the subgenus. P. ugandaensis sp. n. is characterized by 3-4/3: 3-4/3: 4/3: 4/3 spiniform formula of tarsomere II and only two spines on the inclined anteroventral surface of tarsomere II; eight ventral trichobothria on the chela; 10–11 pectinal teeth in females and 13–14 in males; and 1.6–1.7 length to depth ratio of the fourth metasomal segment. P. (P.) mazuchi sp. n. is characterized by 7/4: 6-7/4: 6-7/5-6: 8/5 spiniform formula of tarsomere II and only …

Redescription Of Centruroides Granosus (Thorell, 1876) And Identity Of Centrurus Granosus Simplex Thorell, 1876 (Scorpiones: Buthidae), Luis F. De Armas, Rolando Teruel, František Kovařík

Euscorpius

Centruroides granosus (Thorell, 1876) is redescribed based on several specimens of both sexes from Panama. We demonstrate that the original description of this species was based on an immature (subadult) male, which is herein designated as the lectotype. We conclude that Centrurus granosus simplex Thorell, 1876 is a senior synonym of Centruroides testaceus arubensis (Bakker, 1963), and elevate it to species level: Centruroides simplex (Thorell, 1876), comb. nov.

Buthus Awashensis Sp. N. From Ethiopia (Scorpiones: Buthidae), František Kovařík

Euscorpius

Buthus awashensis sp. n. from the Awash region of Ethiopia, is described and compared with B. berberensis Pocock, 1900 from Somaliland. The new species is characterized chiefly by the total length of 50–65 mm. B. berberensis reaches only 45–55 mm and differs in coloration, with adults having the chela of pedipalp and chelicerae entirely yellow without dark reticulations, and by mophometric characters, mainly the shape of the chela of pedipalp. Pectinal marginal tips extend the to proximal end of the fourth sternite in males of B. awashensis sp. n. and to proximal end of the fifth sternite in males of …

Summer Field Report, June–July 2011, W. Ross Silcock

Nebraska Bird Review

The effects of major drought in the southwest United States on bird life in Nebraska has yet to be determined, as has the effect of the historic inundation of the Missouri River bottom lands from Gavins Point Dam to Rulo in eastern Nebraska. The water level at McConaughy is coincidentally at a maximum, ensuring that breeding habitat for Piping Plover and Least Tern was much reduced in the state overall. On the other hand, bottom lands wetlands above the flood level were expanded; Black-necked Stilts initiated a late nesting in Dakota Co in flooded fields that also attracted thousands of …

Subscription And Organization Information [September 2011]

Nebraska Bird Review

The Nebraska Bird Review is published quarterly by the Nebraska Ornithologists' Union, Inc., as its official journal, and is sent to members not in arrears of dues. Annual subscription rates (on a calendar-year basis only): $15 in the United States, $18 in Canada, and $30 in all other countries, payable in advance. Single copies are $4 each, postpaid, in the United States, $5 in Canada, and $8 elsewhere. Send orders for back issues to Anita Breckbill, NOU Librarian, c/o Music Library, WMB 30, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE 68588-0101.

Memberships in the NOU (on a calendar-year basis only): Active Household …

Nebraska Bird Review (September 2011) 79(3), Whole Issue

Nebraska Bird Review

Summer Field Report, June–July 2011 ... 82

2010 (22nd) Report of the NOU Records Committee ... 99

2011 Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) Statewide Nesting Survey ... 112

Subscription and Organization Information ... 115

2011 Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus Leucocephalus) Statewide Nesting Survey, Joel G. Jorgensen, Lisa Yager, Lauren R. Dinan

Nebraska Bird Review

The Bald Eagle (Halioeetus leucocephalus) was extirpated as a breeding species in Nebraska for most of the 20th Century. Nebraska's first active, successful, modern Bald Eagle nest was near Valley, Douglas County, in 1991 (Farrar 1991). Jorgensen et al. (2010) summarized modern Bald Eagle nesting records in Nebraska from 1950 to 2009. Jorgensen et al. (2010) noted the highest annual count of active nests was 54 in 2007. In this note we summarize the 2011 Bald Eagle nesting records in Nebraska.

2010 (22nd) 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. Accidental and casual species for which the NOURC seeks documentation (NOURC Review List) can be found at the NOU website www.NOUbirds.org.

All records mentioned here are available to interested persons at the NOU archives at the University of Nebraska State Museum (UNSM), Lincoln, NE. Interested parties should contact the current NOU Librarian, whose address can be found …

Hemiscorpius Novaki Sp. N. From Somaliland (Scorpiones: Hemiscorpiidae), František Kovařík, Tomáš Mazuch

Euscorpius

Hemiscorpius novaki sp. n. from Somaliland is described and compared with other African species of the genus. The new species is characterized chiefly by the total length of 40–46 mm; yellow to yellowish-brown color with pedipalp fingers reddish brown to black, darker than the chela; slightly longer metasoma in the male than in the female. These characters distinguish H. novaki sp. n. from H. somalicus Lourenço, 2011. The third African species of the genus, H. tellinii Borelli, 1904, is known only from the female holotype, which differs from females of H. novaki sp. n. in having much less pronounced granulation …

Scorpions In The Modern Cuban Culture: An Introductory Iconography, Luis F. De Armas

Euscorpius

Some graphic examples of the role of scorpions in the present-day culture of Cuba are presented. They include tattoos, jewels, carpets, caps, and drawings by children, among other objects of personal or social usage. Increased use of this arachnid as a cultural element among Cuban people during last 50 years seems to be directly related with globalization, mostly through the TV and movies.

On Fabre’S Traces: An Important Contributor To The Knowledge Of Buthus Occitanus (Amoreux, 1789), Marco Colombo

Euscorpius

Jean-Henri Casimir Fabre (1823–1915) has probably been one of the most important entomologists of the world in the last two centuries, leaving to posterity a huge amount of manuscripts and books. The Languedoc yellow scorpion, Buthus occitanus (Amoreaux, 1789), has been one of his objects of study: many of its behaviours, including the famous “promenade a deux”, have been described by the careful eye of the French entomologist, giving an interesting contribution to modern scorpiology

The First Record Of The Family Euscorpiidae (Arachnida: Scorpiones) From Central China, With A Key Of Chinese Species Of The Genus Scorpiops, Zhi-Yong Di, Ya-Wen He, Zhi-Jian Cao, Ying-Liang Wu, Wen-Xin Li

Euscorpius

The genus Scorpiops (Euscorpiidae) is recorded for the first time in Central China. Two immature specimens of a form belonging to Scorpiops hardwickii (Gervais, 1843) “complex” were collected from Huzhaoshan Mountains in Hubei Province. A discussion of Chinese species of genus Scorpiops is provided, as well as a key of Scorpiops from China.