Extension of the geographic distribution of Plecturocebus baptista (Pitheciidae, Primates) and a possible hybrid zone with Plecturocebus hoffmannsi: evolutionary and conservation implications

ABSTRACT Titi monkeys (family Pitheciidae) are Neotropical primates highly diversified in morphology, ecology and genetics, with a wide geographic distribution, including the Amazon, Atlantic Forest, Cerrado, Pantanal and Caatinga. This diversity, together with knowledge gaps, generates uncertainties in titi monkey taxonomy and distribution. An example is Plecturocebus baptista, with only 14 occurrence records and an ill-defined distribution based on untested geographical barriers. Here, we report the occurrence of this species at a new locality outside its known range, across the Paraná-Urariá River, which was considered a distributional limit for the species. The new record implies an overlap of P. baptista with the range of P. hoffmannsi. We document the sighting of an apparent hybrid animal. Our observations suggest that i) the distribution of P. baptista needs to be reviewed, and ii) the evolutionary relationships between P. baptista and P. hoffmannsi may be more complex than previously assumed. Since both species share contiguous areas of potential hybridization, we question whether the two species arose via allopatric speciation.

Bracelet from Salamatino: Problem of Identifying Zoomorphic Images

The article is devoted to the analysis of zoomorphic images on a spiral gold bracelet from the Sarmatian burial of the 1st century AD in Salamatino village in Volgograd region, as well as the problem of interpreting the image of a fantastic animal on the bracelet ends. The stylistic and technological peculiarities of the jewelry can serve as indicators of cultural identity of the subject. The bracelet is made, most likely, by a barbarian craftsman modeled after some kind of non-locally made jewelry. The closest dupe in compositional and pictorial characteristics to the incomprehensible animal on the ends of the Salamatino bracelet is a fantastic creature on the pair of bracelets from the Oxus Treasure (British Museum), stylistically different from the images of Iranian art of the Achaemenid era. The origin of this pair of bracelets is unknown, however, some stylistic features allow for non-exclusion of the assumptions of Chinese or Central Asian jewelry production or the existence of certain jewelry workshops in a region affected by the cultural influence of both Iran and China. Another distant analogy in style for the pair of bracelets from the Oxus Treasure is represented by images of predatory animals on gold torcs from the Stavropol treasure. The chronological gap between the Salamatino bracelet and the jewelry from the Oxus and Stavropol treasures does not allow one to link them unequivocally, but the similarity features certainly indicate the presence of common cultural roots. Identifying a fantastic hybrid animal on the ends of the Salamatino bracelet as any specific mythological creature is not yet possible.

Centaurs at the Symposium: Two Types of Hybridity in Lucian

Two dialogues of Lucian are discussed in order to further evaluate the critique of contemporary philosophy that so often pervades the author’s satirical works. In Lucian’s Zeuxis and Symposium, the reader is offered two distinct ‘versions’ of the hybrid animal. In the first instance, the traditionally uncivilised centaur is portrayed as almost human in nature and representative of successful hybridity, while the hybrid philosopher-sophist is a corruption of the ideal form.Megan Hancock is a PhD candidate at the University of Tasmania, and her research interests are primarily focussed around the figure of Lucian. Her doctoral thesis assesses the role of hybridity throughout Lucian’s works, and to demonstrate the means by which this theme informs his critique of the philosophers of the Second Sophistic. She is the 2018 recipient of the Tasmanian Friends of the Australian Archaeological Institute at Athens Greek Scholarship, allowing her to study in Greece in the later part of the year.

Saraz method adjustment for the quantification of ammonia emissions generated in opened or hybrid animal production facilities

The objective of this study was to evaluate the efficiency of the Saraz method in order to quantify ammonia emissions generated in opened or hybrid animal production facilities, and to determine an equation for the adjustment method. To do this, we developed beacon equipment, with input and output gas sectors, hoods and absorbent porous material. After the collection, the amount of ammonia captured in the environment was determined in the laboratory. Different ammonia concentrations were evaluated in addition to the different speeds of the exhaust air. Considering the results, it can be concluded that for the situations analyzed the Saraz method is efficient, but as with other methods, with an increase of air velocity and concentration, its efficiency decreases. An equation for the adjustment of the Saraz method was generated to determine the concentration and the rate of ammonia emissions inside animal facilities.

Experimenting with Chymical Bodies: Reinier de Graaf's Investigations of the Pancreas

In the late seventeenth century, traditions in anatomy and chymistry came together to ground new theoretical and experimental approaches to understanding the animal body. The researches of Dutch experimenters Reinier de Graaf and his mentor Franciscus Sylvius provide keen insight into the ways experiments were constructed, negotiated, and thought about by leading anatomists and physicians of the time. The objects and approaches de Graaf used in the laboratory—ligature, inflation, injection, tubes, vessels, tasting—were derived from broadly Harveian anatomical and Helmontian chymical traditions. Experimental traditions and a comprehensive and materialistic chymical theory of acid-alkali interactions unified the artificial and the natural and allowed de Graaf to create and use hybrid animal-apparatus constructions as tools to collect and assay the key ingredients of digestion and disease.

No genomic mosaicism in a putative hybrid butterfly species

Recent descriptions of hybrid animal species have spurred interest in this phenomenon, but little genomic data exist to support it. Here, we use frequency variation for 657 amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) markers and DNA sequence variation from 16 genes to determine whether the genome of Heliconius pachinus , a suspected hybrid butterfly species, is a mixture of the putative parental species, Heliconius cydno and Heliconius melpomene . Despite substantial shared genetic variation among all three species, we show that the genome of H. pachinus is not a mosaic; both AFLP and DNA sequence data overwhelmingly associate H. pachinus with just one of the potential parents, H. cydno . This pattern also applies to the gene wingless , which is tightly linked to the locus that determines forewing colour—one specific H. pachinus trait that has been hypothesized to have originated from H. melpomene . As a whole, the data support a traditional, bifurcating model of speciation in which H. pachinus split from a common ancestor with H. cydno without a genetic contribution from H. melpomene . However, comparison of our data to DNA sequence data for another putative hybrid Heliconius species, Heliconius heurippa , suggests that the H. heurippa genome may be a mosaic.