-
Traits allowing some ant species to nest syntopically with the fire ant Solenopsis saevissima in its native range.
-
Supercolonies of the red fire ant Solenopsis saevissima (Smith) develop in disturbed environments and likely alter the ant community in the native range of the species. For example, in French Guiana only 8 ant species were repeatedly noted as nesting in close vicinity to its mounds. Here, we verified if a shared set of biological, ecological, and behavioral traits might explain how these 8 species are able to nest in the presence of S. saevissima. We did not find this to be the case. We did find, however, that all of them are able to live in disturbed habitats. It is likely that over the course of evolution each of these species acquired the capacity to live syntopically with S. saevissima through its own set of traits, where colony size (4 species develop large colonies), cuticular compounds which do not trigger aggressiveness (6 species) and submissive behaviors (4 species) complement each other.
Located in
Library
/
RBINS Staff Publications
-
Leaf-litter ant communities in a pristine Guianese rainforest: stable functional structure versus high species turnover.
-
We compared the ant assemblages from four very heterogeneous habitats over a short-distance elevational gradient of vegetation (due to the presence of an inselberg) at the Nouragues Research Station, French Guiana. We focused on litter- dwelling ants, combining the use of pitfall traps and the Winkler method according to the Ants of the Leaf Litter Proto- col. This permitted us to note (1) a high leaf-litter ant diversity overall and a decreasing diversity gradient from the lowland rainforest to the top of the inselberg, and (2) differences in species density, composition and functional struc- ture. While the ant assemblages on the plateau and inselberg can be considered functionally similar and typical of an Amazonian rainforest, that of the transition forest, relatively homogenous, rather corresponded to an ant fauna typical of open areas. By contrast, the liana forest assemblage was unexpectedly richer and denser than the others, sheltering a litter-dwelling ant fauna dominated by numerous and abundant cryptic species. These taxonomical and functional dissi- milarities may reflect the influence of the environmental heterogeneity, which, through variable abiotic conditions, can contribute to maintaining a notably rich ant biodiversity in these Neotropical habitats.
Located in
Library
/
RBINS Staff Publications
-
Book review - A History of Aerial Photography and Archaeology: Mata Hari's Glass Eye and Other Stories, by M. Barber, English Heritage, Swindon, UK, 2011
-
Located in
Library
/
RBINS Staff Publications
-
DNA barcoding and the differentiation between North American and West European Phormia regina (Diptera, Calliphoridae, Chrysomyinae)
-
Located in
Library
/
RBINS Staff Publications
-
Taxonomic and population genetic re-interpretation of two color morphs of the decollate snail, <i>Rumina decollata</i> (Mollusca, Pulmonata) in southern France
-
Located in
Library
/
RBINS Staff Publications
-
Utility of GenBank and the Barcode of Life Data Systems (BOLD) for the identification of forensically important Diptera from Belgium and France
-
Located in
Library
/
RBINS Staff Publications
-
New data on Middle Devonian conodonts from SW Sardinia: the Su Nuargi II section revisited.
-
Located in
Library
/
RBINS Staff Publications
-
Eifelian (Middle Devonian) to Lower Frasnian (Upper Devonian) conodont biostratigraphy in the Villech section (Spanish Central Pyrenees).
-
Located in
Library
/
RBINS Staff Publications
-
Reduced plumage and flight ability of a new Jurassic paravian theropod from China
-
Feathered theropods were diverse in the Early Cretaceous Jehol Group of western Liaoning Province, China. Recently, anatomically distinct feathered taxa have been discovered in the older Middle-Late Jurassic Tiaojishan Formation in the same region. Phylogenetic hypotheses including these specimens have challenged the pivotal position of Archaeopteryx in bird phylogeny. Here we report a basal troodontid from the Tiaojishan Formation that resembles Anchiornis, also from Jianchang County (regarded as sister-taxa). The feathers of Eosinopteryx are less extensive on the limbs and tail than Anchiornis and other deinonychosaurians. With reduced plumage and short uncurved pedal claws, Eosinopteryx would have been able to run unimpeded (with large foot remiges cursorial locomotion was likely problematic for Anchiornis). Eosinopteryx increases the known diversity of small-bodied dinosaurs in the Jurassic,shows that taxa with similar body plans could occupy different niches in the same ecosystem and suggests a more complex picture for the origin of flight.
Located in
Library
/
RBINS Staff Publications
-
A Jurassic avialan dinosaur from China resolves the early phylogenetic history of birds
-
The recent discovery of small paravian theropod dinosaurs with well-preserved feathers in the Middle–Late Jurassic Tiaojishan Formation of Liaoning Province (northeastern China)1–4 has challenged the pivotal position of Archaeopteryx3,4, regarded from its discovery to be the most basal bird. Removing Archaeopteryx from the base of Avialae to nest within Deinonychosauria implies that typical bird flight, powered by the forelimbs only, either evolved at least twice, or was subsequently lost or modified in some deinonychosaurians3,5. Here we describe the complete skeleton of a new paravian from the Tiaojishan Formation of Liaoning Province, China. Including this new taxon in a comprehensive phylogenetic analysis for basal Paraves does the following: (1) it recovers it as the basal-most avialan; (2) it confirms the avialan status of Archaeopteryx; (3) it places Troodontidae as the sistergroup to Avialae; (4) it supports a single origin of powered flight within Paraves; and (5) it implies that the early diversification of Paraves and Avialae took place in the Middle–Late Jurassic period.
Located in
Library
/
RBINS Staff Publications
