jun. 2008
AMS2008
30-06-2008 07:40
This week the Annual Meeting of the American Malacological Society is being held in Carbondale. One of the themes is the Leslie Hubricht memorial symposium on terrestrial snails. Francisco Borrero will deliver today the presentation that we both worked on:
I'll be 'virtually present' to support him :-)
Network analysis in biogeography
27-06-2008 16:58
In the last issue of Systematic Biology there is a
paper of Dos Santos et al.*, describing a new
methodology to find patterns of sympatry with the use
of a network model analysis. Patterns of sympatry are
important in biogeography, to find areas of endemism.
The paper proposes some new definitions (sympatry,
intermediate species) and offers a new tool, Network
Analysis Method (NAM), as an add-on to the
statistical package R (freeware, open source).
The NAM is a method that follows a strict algorithm:
The paper gives three examples applied to empirical data: land snails from northwestern Argentina, Neotropical fishes and South African weevils. When applied to land snails, Epiphragmophora, I find the results convincing, despite the fact that occurrence records from single localities (qu, es, vi, pl in figure a below) are not taken into account. These 'singletons' are often a signal of range-stricted endemic species.
The new methodology may be compared to other methods, of which the parsimony analysis of endemicity (PAE) is probably most used.
In total I think that this is a promising methodology and I look forward to see new applications of it to Neotropical land snails.
Reference
Dos Santos, D. A., H.R. Fernández, M.G. Cuezzo & E. Domínguez. (2008). Sympatry inference and network analysis in biogeography. Systematic Biology, 57, 432-448.
The NAM is a method that follows a strict algorithm:
The paper gives three examples applied to empirical data: land snails from northwestern Argentina, Neotropical fishes and South African weevils. When applied to land snails, Epiphragmophora, I find the results convincing, despite the fact that occurrence records from single localities (qu, es, vi, pl in figure a below) are not taken into account. These 'singletons' are often a signal of range-stricted endemic species.
The new methodology may be compared to other methods, of which the parsimony analysis of endemicity (PAE) is probably most used.
In total I think that this is a promising methodology and I look forward to see new applications of it to Neotropical land snails.
Reference
Dos Santos, D. A., H.R. Fernández, M.G. Cuezzo & E. Domínguez. (2008). Sympatry inference and network analysis in biogeography. Systematic Biology, 57, 432-448.
Photo of the day (16): Drymaeus
26-06-2008 16:26
Drymaeus aequatorianus (E.A. Smith, 1877) was until
recently only known from "Ecuador". In collections it
was found from two specified localities in Ecuador,
but recently Francisco Borrero found it alive near
Mindo.
Photo of the day (15): Thaumastus
22-06-2008 20:06
Another photograph of the series that I received from
Francisco Borrero. This time from Ecuador, Prov.
Zamora-Chinchipe, Tapichalaca. It depicts Thaumastus
(Kara) thompsonii (Pfeiffer, 1845).
Social Networking
21-06-2008 16:40
Although it may seem to be off topic, it is perhaps
interesting to know that I joined the Scoutle
network. This facilitates Automated Social
Networking, linking people with similar interests. No
idea what I'm talking about? Then visit the website
for a clear and crisp explanation!
One of the websites I came across when wandering through their Guide, was JunglePhotos. Devoted to nature conservation etc., it contains some very nice pictorial material on Amazonia, the Galápagos and Ecuador in general.
One of the websites I came across when wandering through their Guide, was JunglePhotos. Devoted to nature conservation etc., it contains some very nice pictorial material on Amazonia, the Galápagos and Ecuador in general.
Checklist of Mexico and Central America
21-06-2008 12:36
This week Fred Thompson published his
Checklist and bibliography of the
land and freshwater snails of Mexico and Central
America.
It is a very impressive work, bringing together
all information on taxa from this vast and
interesting area. All together it list 1491
species, 278 subspecies, all native, and 20
introduced species. Of these, terrestrial species
number 1139 (130 operculates, 1109 pulmonates).
The importance of this work, even without any revisionary work or photographs, is large. And it will be an invaluable source of reference and future research, both in the short and long term.
By making the publication free online at the website of the Florida Museum of Natural History, it will undoubtedly stimulate the interest of malacologists in Mexico and Central America.
Chapeau Fred!
The importance of this work, even without any revisionary work or photographs, is large. And it will be an invaluable source of reference and future research, both in the short and long term.
By making the publication free online at the website of the Florida Museum of Natural History, it will undoubtedly stimulate the interest of malacologists in Mexico and Central America.
Chapeau Fred!
Photo of the day (14): Porphyrobaphe
20-06-2008 07:45
This is Porphyrobaphe (P.) iris (Pfeiffer, 1852),
found at Colombia, Dept. Riseralda, Sanctuario de
Fauna y Flora Otun-Quimbaya. The picture was talen by
Gustavo Kattan; courtesy of Francisco Borrero.
Photo of the day (13): Simpulopsis
19-06-2008 15:23
Here is another picture that Francisco Borrero took
while in Ecuador. It depicts Simpulopsis (Eudiotus)
citrinovitreas (Moricand, 1836) near Mindo, Prov.
Pichincha.
Photo of the day (12): A snail twin
15-06-2008 14:05
Francisco Borrero sent me some pictures from his
recent trip to Ecuador. This one is from a pair of
snails (probably Sultana sp.) which were said to have
been collected locally around Mindo, Prov. Pichincha.
They were kept as pets by a young girl in the
village.
Update: Carl C. Christensen suggested that this species may be Achatina fulica, the Giant African Snail which is an agricultural pest and an intermediate host of angiostrongyliasis, a zoonose that may cause meningitis. Carl kindly drew my attention to the fact that these snails now seem to be cultured in Ecuador and are exported as "Chinese Escargot".
CORPEI is a private nonprofit institution, regarded by the Government of Ecuador "as the official body of the promotion of exports and investments of Ecuador".
Update: Carl C. Christensen suggested that this species may be Achatina fulica, the Giant African Snail which is an agricultural pest and an intermediate host of angiostrongyliasis, a zoonose that may cause meningitis. Carl kindly drew my attention to the fact that these snails now seem to be cultured in Ecuador and are exported as "Chinese Escargot".
CORPEI is a private nonprofit institution, regarded by the Government of Ecuador "as the official body of the promotion of exports and investments of Ecuador".
You win some and you lose some?
03-06-2008 21:32
The fact that I haven't been publishing here, does
not mean that I have not been active with my snails.
Perhaps I was just too busy with them... ;-)
One of the topics with progress was the Peruvian Bostryx. I wrote before on the material of Weyrauch and, although his localities are usually rather precise, I feel a bit stuck on the Rio Rimac valley material, by lack of adequate collecting data. Not only is it important to have precise localities (in this case very precise), I would recommend every collector to make additional field notes on habitat (occurrence on vertical or horizontal faces*) and other ecological data. Since all possible notes have been destroyed after his death by his ignorant spouse, we will never know where Weyrauch collected some of his material and in which habitats.
On the contrary, e.g. are the very adequate data supplied by Fred Thompson. During all his collecting trips he made extensive notes on habitats, soils and circumstances. I used some of them in a paper on enigmatic species (to be published) and in forthcoming papers on Venezuela and Hispaniola.
That being the positive side on the coin, there is also some negative news. My applications for the Synthesys programma, viz. to study type material in London, Berlin and Stockholm, have all been rejected. While decision making was separate for each museum, they have in common that it has been a nearly complete 'black box'. In London there were nearly 200 applications, which made competition stiff. The Berlin committee argued that my last publication was in the 1980s, simply ignoring my recent Zootaxa paper... Perhaps I have been just too long "out" to be able to do relevant research?
One of the topics with progress was the Peruvian Bostryx. I wrote before on the material of Weyrauch and, although his localities are usually rather precise, I feel a bit stuck on the Rio Rimac valley material, by lack of adequate collecting data. Not only is it important to have precise localities (in this case very precise), I would recommend every collector to make additional field notes on habitat (occurrence on vertical or horizontal faces*) and other ecological data. Since all possible notes have been destroyed after his death by his ignorant spouse, we will never know where Weyrauch collected some of his material and in which habitats.
On the contrary, e.g. are the very adequate data supplied by Fred Thompson. During all his collecting trips he made extensive notes on habitats, soils and circumstances. I used some of them in a paper on enigmatic species (to be published) and in forthcoming papers on Venezuela and Hispaniola.
That being the positive side on the coin, there is also some negative news. My applications for the Synthesys programma, viz. to study type material in London, Berlin and Stockholm, have all been rejected. While decision making was separate for each museum, they have in common that it has been a nearly complete 'black box'. In London there were nearly 200 applications, which made competition stiff. The Berlin committee argued that my last publication was in the 1980s, simply ignoring my recent Zootaxa paper... Perhaps I have been just too long "out" to be able to do relevant research?