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The re-emergence of tuberculosis in its present-day manifestations - single, multiple and extensive drug-resistant forms and as HIV-TB coinfections - has resulted in renewed research on fundamental questions such as the nature of the organism itself, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the molecular basis of its pathogenesis, definition of the immunological response in animal models and humans, and development of new intervention strategies such as vaccines and drugs. Foremost among these developments has been the precise chemical definition of the complex and distinctive cell wall of M. tuberculosis, elucidation of the relevant pathways and underlying genetics responsible for the synthesis of the hallmark moieties of the tubercle bacillus such as the mycolic acid-arabinogalactan-peptidoglycan complex, the phthiocerol- and trehalose-containing effector lipids, the phosphatidylinositol-containing mannosides, lipomannosides and lipoarabinomannosides, major immunomodulators, and others. In this review, the laboratory personnel who have been the focal point of some to these developments review recent progress towards a comprehensive understanding of the basic physiology and functions of the cell wall of M. tuberculosis.
The Invertebrate section of the Museum of Zoology QCAZ at the Pontifical Catholic University of Ecuador in Quito maintains nearly two million curated specimens, and comprises Ecuador's largest collection of native taxa. We review 1902 type specimens from 6 subspecies and 320 species in 121 genera and 42 families, currently kept in the Museum. The list includes 116 holotypes, 10 allotypes, 1774 paratypes and 2 neoparatypes. The collection of type specimens is particularly strong in the Coleoptera (family Carabidae and Staphylinidae) and Hymenoptera. However, other insect orders such as Diptera and Lepidoptera and non-insect arthropods such as Acari, Aranea and Scorpiones, are moderately represented in the collection. This report provides original data from labels of every type specimen record. An analysis of the geographic distribution of type localities showed that collection sites are clustered geographically with most of them found. towards the northern region of Ecuador, in Pichincha, Cotopaxi and Napo provinces. Sites are mainly located in highly accessible areas near highways and towns. Localities with a high number of type species include the cloud forest reserve Bosque Integral Otonga and Parque Nacional Yasunf in the Amazon rainforest near PUCE's Yasuni Scientific Station. Type localities are not well represented in the Ecuadorian National System of Protected Areas. Future fieldwork Sllould include. localities in the southern region of Ecuador but also target less accessible areas not located near highways or towns. We discuss the value of the collection as a source of information for conservation and biodiversity policies in Ecuador.
Arthropods use fluid medium motion-sensing filiform hairs on their exoskeleton to detect aerodynamic or hydrodynamic stimuli in their surroundings that affect their behaviour. The hairs, often of different lengths and organized in groups or arrays, respond to particular fluid motion amplitudes and frequencies produced by prey, predators, or conspecifics, even in the presence of background noise peculiar to the environment. While long known to biologists and experimentally investigated by them, it is only relatively recently that comprehensive physical-mathematical models have emerged offering an alternative methodology for investigating the biomechanics of filiform hair motion. These models have been developed and applied to quantitatively predict the performance characteristics of filiform hairs in air and water as a function of the relevant parameters that affect their physical behaviour. They even allow the exploration of possible biological evolutionary paths for filiform hair changes resulting from physical selection pressures. In this chapter we review the state of knowledge of filiform hair biomechanics and discuss two physical-mathematical models to predict hair dynamical behaviour. One modelling approach is analytically exact, serving for quantitative purposes, while the other, derived from it, is approximate, serving for qualitative guidance concerning the parameter dependencies of hair motion. Using these models we look in turn at the influence of these parameters and the fluid media physical properties on hair motion, including the possibility of medium-facilitated viscous coupling between hairs. The models point to areas where data is currently lacking and future research could be focused. In addition, new results are presented pertaining to transient tlows. We qualitatively explore the possibility of an overlapping water-air niches adaptation potential that may explain how, over many generations, the filiform hairs of an arthropod living in water could have evolved to function in air. Because flow-sensing hairs have served to inspire corresponding artificial medium motion microsensors, we discuss recent advances in this area. Significant challenges remain to be overcome, especially with respect to the materials and fabrication techniques used. In spite of the impressive technological advances made, nature still remains unrivalled.
The taxonomy, diversity, and distribution of the aquatic insect order Trichoptera, caddisflies, are reviewed. The order is among the most important and diverse of all aquatic taxa. Larvae are vital participants in aquatic food webs and their presence and relative abundance are used in the biological assessment and monitoring of water quality. The species described by Linnaeus are listed. The morphology of all life history stages (adults, larvae, and pupae) is diagnosed and major features of the anatomy are illustrated. Major components of life history and biology are summarized. A discussion of phylogenetic studies within the order is presented, including higher classification of the suborders and superfamilies, based on recent literature. Synopses of each of 45 families are presented, including the taxonomic history of the family, a list of all known genera in each family, their general distribution and relative species diversity, and a short overview of family-level biological features. The order contains 600 genera, and approximately 13,000 species.
The impact of naval sonar on beaked whales is of increasing concern. In recent years the presence of gas and fat embolism consistent with decompression sickness (DCS) has been reported through postmortem analyses on beaked whales that stranded in connection with naval sonar exercises. In the present study, we use basic principles of diving physiology to model nitrogen tension and bubble growth in several tissue compartments during normal div ng behavior and for several hypothetical dive profiles to assess the risk of DCS. Assuming that normal diving does not cause nitrogen tensions in excess of those shown to be safe for odontocetes, the modeling indicates that repetitive shallow dives, perhaps as a consequence of an extended avoidance reaction to sonar sound, can indeed pose a risk for DCS and that this risk should increase with the duration of the response. If the model is correct, then limiting the duration of sonar exposure to minimize the duration of any avoidance reaction therefore has the potential to reduce the risk of DCS.
The following new species are described from the Maghreb: Tapinocyba algirica n. sp. and Walckenaeria heimbergi n. sp. The unknown male of Minicia elegans and the unknown females of Alioranus pauper, Cherserigone graciipes and Entelecara truncatifrons are described. Tmeticus hipponense is transfered to the genus Gongylidiellum and HybocoptliS ericicola is removed from synonymy with H. corrugis and revalidated. The Maghrebian species of the genera Alioranus, Brachycerasphora, Cherserigone, Didectoprocnemis, Entelecara, Eperigone, Erigone, Gnathonarium, Gonatium, Gongylidiellum, Hybocoptus, Lessertia, Maso, Mierargus, Microetenonyx, Minicia, Monocephalus, Nematogmus, Ostearius, Prinerigone, Styloetetor, Tapinocyba, Triehoncoides and Trichoncus are all revised. As a final paper in a series on the Linyphiidae of the Maghreb, all the remaining genera are reviewed. A total of 169 species of Linyphiidae has currently been recorded in the Maghreb.
This review lists Agama smithii Boulenger 1896 as a synonym of Agama agama (Linnaeus 1758), Agama trachypleura Peters 1982 as a synonym of Acanthocercus phillipsii (Boulenger 1895) and describes for the first time Acanthocercus guentherpetersi n. sp. Without more convincing evidence, Chamaeleon ruspolii Boettger 1893 cannot be accepted as specifically distinct from Chamaeleo dilepis Leach 1819, nor Chamaeleo calcaricarens Böhme 1985 from C. africanus Laurenti 1768. Consequently, 101 species of lizard are currently recognised in Ethiopia, of which some 40% appear to be denizens of the Somali-arid zone. This significant proportion is attributable in part to the importance of the Horn of Africa as a centre for reptilian diversification and endemicity, in part to the fact that this lowland fauna was rather extensively sampled during the 1930s, but also to the conspicuous neglect of lizards in other regions of the country. Mountain and forested habitats are widespread in Ethiopia, so it seems extraordinary to record only five saurian species which are believed to be endemic in such environments. The inference that there are many more still to be discovered has important implications for conservation, because montane forest is known to be among the most threatened of Ethiopian biomes and there is clearly an urgent need for its herpetofauna to be more thoroughly researched and documented.
A synthesis of the Carabid fauna of the Central and Eastern Alps and Pre-Alps, from a biogeographical point of view, is presented. Only the Italian side of the Alpine chain is considered, from the basin of the Toce river to the Trieste and Gorizia Karst. Main features of the landscape are: 1. an ancient orogenetic history and evolution, that made this area available to the colonization by carabids, of both gondwanaland and laurasian lineages, since the lower Tertiary; 2. a marked geological and geo-morphological complexity, with highest elevation at Pizzo Bernina m 4.049; 3. the presence of a very developed, dolomitic-calcareous and markedly carsified prealpine belt, rich of deep and large hypogean systems (also at high altitude), which makes this area highly different, from the geo-morphological point of view, from the Western Alps; 4. the geographic position, as a mountain chain of some 750 kms between central Europe and the Padanian plain, connected with the Caravanche and the Dinaric chain and close to the Adriatic sea in me Eastern part; 5. finally, a puzzled climate situation, that includes xero-thermic areas (500-700 mm of rain per year, also in some intra-alpine sectors), close to highly rainy areas - more than 2.500 mm per year - in the westernmost and easternmost parts of the chain. Thus, like in the Western Alps, sub-mediterranean vegetation types, dose to cool-moist forests, coexist with high-altitude environments above the timber line. These facts explain the heterogeneity, the richness, the variety, and the interest of the carabid fauna of the area: the highest number of species (658) ascertained so far, i.e. 112 of the whole Italian carabid fauna and about 115 of the carabid fauna cited so far for the Europe in politic sense, fi·om me Canary islands to the Urals; the high number of euri- or stenoendemites (204, i.e. abour 31 % of the species, 3/5 of which concentrated in the pre-alpine belt), and the complex origins and/or affinities of different taxa. A large number of species (174, i.e. 26%) belongs to European chorotypes (European, South-European or typically Alpine), and even more (255, i.e. 38%) to Holarctic (Holarctic, Palaearccic, West-Palaearctic, Asiatic-European, Siberian-European, Central-Asiatic-European, Central-Asiatic-European-Mediterrancan, Turanic-European, Turanic-EuropeanMediterranean, European-Mediterranean) chorotypes. This darum confirms the well known role, both of connection and separation, that the Alps as a whole played between Europe and the Mediterranean area. Furthermore, it is to be recalled the presence, in some localities of the Eastern Alps, of micro thermophilous, boreal species, like Miscodera arctica, now widespread in Northern regions of the Holarctic Region. Many orophilous, forest-dwelling, riparian and hygrophilolls species, are of northern, north-eastern, ruranic or dinaric-balkanian origin. A very small, bur interesting group of thermophilous elements (mostly Harpalini), originally from the Mediterranean area or temperate steppes, during the hypsothermic periods of the Pleistocene and Olocene, reached the Central and Eastern Alps and Pre-Alps, and persist in xerothermlc biotopes. Some of these could increase their range of distribution as a consequence human activities in agricultural use overgrazing and deforestation. Some others, like Carabus montivagus and Laemostenus algerinus, seem to be present owing to very recent anthropogenic introduction. From the biogeograpic point of view, however the most important group of species is represented by the impressive number of endemics (204, of which 116 species restricted to politic Italy), either eurendemics to Central and Eastern Alps and Pre-Alps, or stenoendemics to single sectors of the area or to very small biotopes (caves, isolated montane massifs): among these, we may cite some large-sized species like Cychrus cylindricollis, endemic at high altitude, to the Central Pre-Alps, several montane, very localized Trechus species, many subterranean, highly specialized Trechini of the peculiar genera Boldoriella, Orotrechus, Anophthalmus, Allegrettia, Italaphaenops, Lessinodytes: many Pterostlchini, and others, Most of them must be considered as pre-Quaternarian elements, With affinltl,es either til Gondwana (such as the blind Reicheina of the genus Alpiodytes), or in the Angarian (as the Broscosoma species) areas, They are, the result of an ancient, subtropical or temperate forest dweller Carabid fauna, tied now to soil: forest littter, superficlal subterranean environment, caves, and upper montane refugia, Both from floristic and faunistic informatlon, It IS a well known fact that the pre-alpine belt as a whole represents a large, unique Pleistocene refugium, that shows a scenario of marked isolation and speciation in mountains, valleys and hypogean compartments. The analysis of the entire Carabid fauna in the Central and Eastern Alps and Pre-Alps shows that the present composition and complexity is the result both of ancient clado-vicariance events and of recellt, ecological factors, These facts surprisingly make this area (not only concerning carabids) very close to important towns and to one of the most populated, cultivated and industrialized area of Italy (the Padanian plain), and in spite of its relatively small surface, one of the most important hot spar of biodiversity in Europe, in which many biotopes are presently highly endangered, or in some cases completely destroyed, A checklist of the Carabid species of the Central and Eastern Alps and Pre-Alps, with their chororypes, is added.
Die Pilzgattung Hygrocybe wird taxonomisch besprochen, wobei die bisherige Sektion Oreocybe Boertmann (subgenus Cuphophyllus) den Status einer eigenen Untergattung erhält. Ein Bestimmungsschlüssel zur Gattung wird vorgelegt, wobei Gruppen sehr ähnlicher Arten, die früher teilweise nicht getrennt wurden, im Hauptschlüssel zu Aggregaten zusammen gefaßt wurden. Diese Aggregate werden getrennt aufgeschlüsselt. 50 europäische Arten der Gattung Hygrocybe werden schließlich hinsichtlich ihrer Morphologie, Taxonomie, Ökologie und Verbreitung vorgestellt.
Aus dem Dogger Norddeutschlands und des nordwestlichen Polens sowie aus Dogger-Geschieben werden 1 Art der Neritimorpha und 30 Arten der Caenogastropoda beschrieben. Neu sind 7 Arten. 14 Arten werden bereits beschriebenen Arten zugeordnet und 10 unter offener Nomenklatur beschrieben. Neu sind die Gattung Bicorempterus (Aporrhaidae) und die Familien Naricopsinidae, Tripartellidae und Maturifusidae. Die beschriebenen Caenogastropoden zeigen mehr Gemeinsamkeiten zu bisher aus dem Dogger Mittel- und Westeuropas bekannt gemachten Faunen als es bei den Archaeogastropoda und den Heterostropha der Fall war. Die Gleichsetzung der hier vorgestellten Arten mit aus der Literatur bekannten ist oftmals problematisch. Taxonomisch relevante Details besonders der Frühontogenese wurden bisher kaum beschrieben. Auch Fragen der innerartlichen Variation wurden nur gelegentlich angesprochen. Vatopsis antiquus n. sp. ist der älteste genauer bekannte Vertreter der Cerithiopsoidea. Pictavia und Oonia konnten als Vertreter der Ampullospiridae erkannt werden (Ausbildung des Protoconchs). Naricopsina repräsentiert eine Gruppe, die möglicherweise zu den echten Naticidae führte. Einige Gattungen der Aporrhaidae können genauer gefaßt werden. Maturifusus ist der älteste sichere Vertreter der höheren Caenogastropoda (Neomesogastropoda).