aug 2008
Photo of the day (18): Plekocheilus
27-08-2008 22:31
Roy McDiarmid, a herpetologist from the Smitsonian
Institution, has been kind enough to send me some
pictures of Plekocheilus species from the Cerro de la
Neblina on the border of Venezuela and Brazil. He
lead expeditions to that area from 1983-1987 and
supplied valuable information from his archives.
The snail depicted here is P. (Eurytus) juliani Haas, 1955, described from the Chimantá massif in the eastern part of the Guayana Highlands.
The snail depicted here is P. (Eurytus) juliani Haas, 1955, described from the Chimantá massif in the eastern part of the Guayana Highlands.
In Czech and some snailing
25-08-2008 22:11
The past two weeks were family holidays, this time in
Czech. Discounting days in Prague and for traveling,
I had not much "field time" but did spend quite some
time on preparing an upcoming presentation.
In the central part of the country, near Bílkovice, I found a specimen of Arianta arbustorum on Urtica sp. during a walk. It was a sunny day and no other snails were found. But during an evening stroll near the same place after a drizzling day, snails were out and abundant. Helix pomatia , with light grey animals, and Arianta arbustorum with black bodies. Alas, no camera ready...
Later, in the eastern part of the country, two specimens of Lehmannia marginata were spotted on a rock face in Orlické National Park after a rainy day. The same species was found some days later when we were in Jeseniky National Park. Finally, two empty shells of Discus sp. were found when walking nearby Pastviny.
Not much, but after all, it was holidays :-)
In the central part of the country, near Bílkovice, I found a specimen of Arianta arbustorum on Urtica sp. during a walk. It was a sunny day and no other snails were found. But during an evening stroll near the same place after a drizzling day, snails were out and abundant. Helix pomatia , with light grey animals, and Arianta arbustorum with black bodies. Alas, no camera ready...
Later, in the eastern part of the country, two specimens of Lehmannia marginata were spotted on a rock face in Orlické National Park after a rainy day. The same species was found some days later when we were in Jeseniky National Park. Finally, two empty shells of Discus sp. were found when walking nearby Pastviny.
Not much, but after all, it was holidays :-)
Experimenting
07-08-2008 21:32
This was a "slow" week, mainly because of my upcoming
holiday. But I did an interesting experiment,
applying the new methodology of
network
analysis in biogeography.
Here is a first impression.
Although the method uses freeware (a big +) and the paper describes it clearly, I found the link between the methodological steps and the software rather cryptic. With the help of one of the developers I managed to apply it to a wide-spread genus in South America. I used 193 records of 25 species, ranging from the Caribbean to Bolivia.
My preliminary analysis revealed that there may be two groups involved, a "northern" and a "southern". The results can be easily mapped to a KML or a grid file.
The results certainly warrant a further analysis. But that has to wait a little bit...
All in all, despite some hurdles, I found the method straightforward and leading quickly to results.
Many thanks Gabriela for the guidance!
Although the method uses freeware (a big +) and the paper describes it clearly, I found the link between the methodological steps and the software rather cryptic. With the help of one of the developers I managed to apply it to a wide-spread genus in South America. I used 193 records of 25 species, ranging from the Caribbean to Bolivia.
My preliminary analysis revealed that there may be two groups involved, a "northern" and a "southern". The results can be easily mapped to a KML or a grid file.
The results certainly warrant a further analysis. But that has to wait a little bit...
All in all, despite some hurdles, I found the method straightforward and leading quickly to results.
Many thanks Gabriela for the guidance!