Evolution Commons^™

Both Studying And Protecting Octopuses “On Their Own Terms”, Jennifer Jacquet, Janelle Kaz, Becca Franks, Christine Webb

Animal Sentience

Cephalopods – indeed, all animals – “must be seen on their own terms,” with respect for their autonomy and their ecological imperatives. This will provide greater scientific insight along with a more ethical and accurate understanding of minds beyond our own.

Cephalopod Consciousness On “Their Own Terms”: Who Are “They”?, Willa M. Lane, Victor Ajuwon, Nicola S. Clayton

Animal Sentience

Mather’s call to consider cephalopods’ consciousness “on their own terms” raises the question of the extent to which cephalopods can be considered a homogenous group. While coloeoid cephalopods share traits that strongly distinguish them from other molluscs and invertebrates, they show vast ecological and morphological diversity, with implications for the design of empirical investigations of consciousness. Extending Mather’s argument, we apply Birch et al.’s (2020) five-dimensional model to compare octopus, cuttlefish, squid, and nautilus. This comparison shows that even within a graded rather than categorical framework, putative consciousness profiles depend on which taxa are included in discussions of “cephalopod consciousness.” …

Population Structure Analysis Of Four Basal Higher-Attines Using Bioinformatic Approaches, Gabriel Mcdanield

Biology Theses

Metapopulations within the family Formicidae are unique among other animals due to the large colonies they build, and the mating strategies required to fertilize a specialized reproductive caste that will often produce young for the life of the colony. One group of ants, the fungus-gardeners (tribe Attini). The population structure of North American non-leafcutting, fungus-gardening ants has been understudied, especially in the southwest of the United States. Additionally, not much is known about their dispersal biology, so the dynamics of dispersal of these species and how they affect population structure is likewise not well known. To shed light on the …

Phylogenetic Comparative Vocal Evolution, Casper W. Buchanan

Master's Theses

Vocal learning is a trait unique to humans, bats, cetaceans, primates, and birds (Jarvis & Nottebohm, 1997; McComb & Semple, 2005; Wilbrecht & Nottebohm, 2003). Although there has been extensive research on vocal learning in songbirds, parrots are an even closer proxy to human learning, as they are social, intelligent, and lifelong learners, with some having repertoires of over 300 sounds (Benedict et al., 2022; Péron et al., 2011; Thomsen et al., 2019; Toft & Wright, 2015). Elevated vocal learning can be attributed to the need for parrots to have strong communication skills through the sharing of information over foraging, …

Multilevel Selection In The Margins: A Review Of Its Representation In Undergraduate Biology Textbooks, C. A. Greene, S. J. Mcpeek, L. Mitchem, A. B. Clark, Vincent A. Formica

Biology Faculty Works

Multilevel selection (MLS) is a foundational framework that expands the concept of natural selection beyond the traditional focus on individuals or genes to larger units, like groups. Despite strong empirical support and applications in a broad range of biological fields, MLS, often referred to as group selection, has a controversial history, which has impeded its wide use and led to incorrect inferences on the sources and strength of selection. Here, we explore how MLS is currently presented to undergraduate biology students by analyzing the content of nine commonly used Evolutionary Biology and Animal Behavior textbooks. We ask whether and how …

Using Rattlesnake Venom To Model Complex Trait Evolution Across Ecological And Evolutionary Scales, Samuel R. Hirst

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A central challenge in evolutionary biology is understanding how genetic variation leads to phenotypicdiversity, particularly for complex traits that strongly influence fitness. Traits form the substrate of natural selection, but it is genes, that are inherited across generations. To fully understand the evolutionary process, we must therefore connect the molecular basis of trait variation with the evolutionary outcomes of such traits.

For relatively simple traits, the genotype–phenotype relationship is well understood. Classic systems, such as coat color in beach mice or toxin resistance in garter snakes, have provided effective examples of how relatively few loci underlie conspicuous adaptive differences across …

The Consciousness Inherent In Chasing Your Tail, Sergio M. Pellis Dr.

Animal Sentience

Who is conscious and how do we know? Complexity in behavior and cognition is certainly a clue that cannot be ignored in identifying this trait, and as Mather’s target article shows, it is hard not to imagine consciousness arising in cephalopods. But how complex is complex? An alternative may be gleaned from the fact that all living things rely on negative feedback to navigate their worlds, and this requires all sentient beings knowing what is to be stabilized in reflection to themselves. If so, consciousness is a universal trait.

The Term Consciousness And Impressive Evidence For Cephalopod Awareness, Donald M. Broom

Animal Sentience

Mather presents comprehensive evidence of cephalopod cognitive ability and of a high level of awareness. The importance of taking account of the biological functioning and adaptations to the living environment is emphasised. An argument is presented that it is better to limit the use of the word conscious to ‘not unconscious’ and to use awareness in relation to the various levels of cognitive functioning.

Mhc Gene Analysis And Immune Variation In Lepidodactylus Lugubris (The Mourning Gecko), Helen T. Vu

2025 Fall Honors Capstones Projects - Archive

The major histocompatibility complex (MHC) plays a central role in vertebrate immune defense by enabling pathogen recognition and initiating adaptive immune responses. While MHC diversity has been extensively studied in sexually reproducing species, comparatively little is known about its evolution in asexual lineages. The parthenogenetic gecko Lepidodactylus lugubris provides a unique opportunity to investigate how clonality and hybrid origins influence immune gene diversity. By leveraging whole-genome data, this study overcomes the limitations of previous transcriptome-based analyses and provides a more comprehensive view of MHC diversity in a clonal vertebrate. As the first step towards understanding MHC evolution in parthenogenetic lizards, …

Cephalopod Consciousness: Asking The Right Questions, Gordon Burghardt

Animal Sentience

Jennifer Mather has provided a comprehensive and fascinating overview of the various cognitive accomplishments of cephalopods and their sensory, behavioral, and neurophysiological attributes. The advances in our understanding of a clade that has been separated from vertebrate evolution by well over half a billion years is a testament to advances in both methodology and the questions we now feel free to address. Mather embeds her review in the issue of consciousness, which is certainly a perennial issue in mental evolution, going back to Romanes and earlier. I argue that the term “consciousness” has such a checkered history and is used …

The Inherent Values Of Observation And Description: A Case Study In The Spiny Solanums Of Australia, Christopher T. Martine

Faculty Journal Articles

The basic exploratory effort of doing descriptive biology is an avenue by which we can deepen our knowledge about taxa and the natural phenomena that drive their diversification. As Conniff (2011) wrote in The species seekers, “we still live in the great age of discovery”, and much like that historically recognized period of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries there remains today a distinct need for the sort of work that might have been attributable to the naturalists of that time. The careful observation of how organisms go about their lives, including how they interact with one another …

Dental Microwear And Diets Of Late Miocene Primates From Rudabánya, Hungary, Peter S. Ungar, Anna K. Wilcox, David R. Begun

School of Dentistry Faculty Publications

Objectives: This study focuses on a dental microwear texture analysis of European pliopithecids and dryopithecins from the Miocene primate site of Rudabánya, Hungary. The goal is to determine whether these taxa, found in part together in the same deposits, differed in their food preferences, or at least consumed, on a daily basis, in a manner that might have facilitated sympatry. Materials and Methods: Here we report on a molar surface texture analysis of all available fossil primates from Rudabánya that preserve antemortem microwear. This includes both Anapithecus hernyaki (n = 14) and Rudapithecus hungaricus (n = 5, including one from …

Two New Species Of Uroplectes Peters, 1861 (Scorpiones, Buthidae) From Somaliland And Mozambique, František Kovařík

Euscorpius

Two new species, Uroplectes elmii sp. n. from Somaliland and U. mossambicensis sp. n. from Mozambique are described, fully illustrated with color photos showing their morphology. Both species are similar to Uroplectes fischeri (Karsch, 1879) from which they differ mainly in finger dentition (Uroplectes elmii sp. n.) and strongly reduced tibial spurs on legs III–IV (U. mossambicensis sp. n.). Uroplectes elmii sp. n. is also compared with U. pardii Kovařík, 2003, from which it differs mainly by extremely reduced to absent metasomal punctation. A distribution map of all …

Alpiscorpius Huyukensis Sp. N., An Unexpected New Species From Sultan Mountains, Konya Province, Turkey (Scorpiones: Euscorpiidae), Ersen A. Yağmur, Halil İ. Yaylı

Euscorpius

A new scorpion species, Alpiscorpius huyukensis sp. n., is described from the western foothills of the Sultan Mountains, Konya Province, in the Aegean Region of western Turkey, based on morphological characters. The species is assigned to the genus Alpiscorpius Gantenbein et al., 1999, due to the presence of three trichobothria in the em series on the external surface of the pedipalp patella. A. huyukensis sp. n. can be readily distinguished from its all congeners by its yellowish-orange or greyish-orange body and yellow metasomal coloration, the fifth metasomal segment bearing distinct ventrolateral carinae, the presence of six trichobothria in the …

Age-Dependent Changes In Reproductive Behaviour And Success In A Long-Lived Beetle (Bolitotherus Cornutus), C. A. Greene, L. D. Mitchem, Vitor Dos Anjos , '21, E. D. Brodie Iii, Vincent A. Formica

Biology Faculty Works

Age-related changes in behaviors often result in shifts in an individual’s competitive ability, reproductive success, and fitness. However, how mating behaviors, aggression, and mating success simultaneously change as individuals age in natural populations remains understudied. Investigating these age-dependent effects in wild populations could reveal how age-specific patterns shape social dynamics and influence natural selection. In this study, we ask how behaviors associated with mating and reproductive success vary across age in a wild metapopulation of a long-lived beetle, Bolitotherus cornutus. We used both cross-sectional and longitudinal data from a multi-year field study of individually marked beetles to investigate how …

The Genus Androctonus Ehrenberg, 1828 (Scorpiones: Buthidae) In Oman, Graeme Lowe

Euscorpius

The taxonomic position of Androctonus populations in Oman was investigated by analyzing morphological variation in a comprehensive sample representing 150 records gathered from 95 localities spread throughout the country. Two new allopatric species are described, separated by multivariate morphometric analysis and meristic characters: (1) A. omanensis sp. n., distributed across most of Oman, is characterized by wider, deeper metasomal segments IV–V, shorter legs, more robust pedipalps, more granules on lateral inframedian carinae of metasoma II–III, and sparser setation on basitarsal spurs; and (2) A. ammophilus sp. n., distributed in the dunes of the Rub’ al-Khali (Empty Quarter) of …

Predation Of Aegaeobuthus Nigrocinctus (Ehrenberg, 1828) (Scorpiones: Buthidae) By A Middle East Black Tarantula, Chaetopelma Olivaceum (C. L. Koch, 1841) (Araneae: Theraphosidae) In Lebanon, Rami Khashab

Euscorpius

I report the first documented case of the buthid scorpion Aegaeobuthus nigrocinctus (Ehrenberg, 1828) serving as prey for the tarantula Chaetopelma olivaceum (C. L. Koch, 1841) in Lebanon. The observation was made during a nocturnal survey in the Mount Lebanon region. The case contributes to the limited records of tarantula predation on scorpions and underscores the role of prey-predator size asymmetry in facilitating high-risk predation among arachnids.

The Evolution And Reproduction Of Andean Miconia (Melastomataceae), Juan Angulo

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Understanding the factors that shape diversification and distribution in tropical plant lineages is central to explaining the origins of Neotropical biodiversity. Assessing evolutionary history with trait evolution and climatic niche dynamics provides key insights into the drivers of diversification and biogeography, while natural history data remains critical for these evolutionary studies. The Tropical Andes, with its exceptional biodiversity and environmental heterogeneity, offers an ideal setting to explore these processes. In this dissertation, I investigate how reproductive systems, climatic niche dynamics, and pollination strategies influence the evolution and biogeography of Miconia III, a large and ecologically diverse clade in the …

Exploring The Role Of Ecological Traits In Shaping Spatial Patterns Of Genetic Diversity, Rilquer Mascarenhas Da Silva

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The field of comparative phylogeography aims at uncovering common underlying causes for shared patterns of diversity and diversification at the population level. However, it is now widely accepted that intraspecific genetic diversity patterns can differ considerably across co-occurring taxa due to ecological processes acting at the population level (and influencing individual movement and abundance). To model the processes underlying lineage diversification and demographic shifts in response to environmental changes, phylogeographers and population geneticists are now faced with the challenge of incorporating measurements of species ecological traits into their molecular studies. This dissertation aimed at investigating how different types of ecological …

Systematics, Biogeography, And Comparative Morphology Of Emerald And Tigertail Dragonflies (Anisoptera: Synthemistidae & Corduliidae), Aaron M. Goodman

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Dragonflies and damselflies (Odonata Fabricius, 1793) are among the most widely recognized and charismatic insect groups, whose significance have permeated throughout artwork, culture, and religion. They are highly mobile predators, currently consisting of ~ 6,500 species, and possessing some of the complex visual color systems, visual acuity, and flight patterns on Earth. Odonata are the among the earliest flying insects, with proto-odonates (Griffinflies) dating back to the Carboniferous (~360mya), with crown-odonata fossils stretching back to the Triassic (~250mya). Overall, dragonflies and damselflies are considered models of ecological and evolutionary research due to their long evolutionary history, range of habitats, and …