Caribbean Central America Research Articles

Extension of the known geographic distribution of Greenhall’s Dog-faced Bat, Cynomops greenhalli Goodwin, 1958 (Chiroptera, Molossidae): first records in Costa Rica

Specimens of the Neotropical dog-faced bats of the genus Cynomops Thomas, 1920 are poorly represented in museum collections, and the geographical distributions of the eight species are not well known. We report voucher specimens that confirm the presence of C. greenhalli Goodwin, 1958 in the Tropical Wet Forest of Costa Rica. These specimens represent an extension of the distribution into the Caribbean Central America.

Becoming Creole, Becoming Black: Migration, Diasporic Self-Making, and the Many Lives of Madame Maymie Leona Turpeau de Mena

Abstract This article examines the complex life of one of the Universal Negro Improvement Association’s most charismatic but undertheorized figures, Madame Maymie Leona Turpeau de Mena. Relegated to the footnotes of UNIA history, the existing version of de Mena’s biography identifies her as an Afro-Nicaraguan immigrant who rose to the upper echelons of the UNIA. After years of serving as assistant international organizer and electrifying audiences throughout the hemisphere, she eventually assumed control of all the North American chapters of the UNIA, the editorship of the Negro World, and acted as Marcus Garvey’s representative in the United States and globally. Recently uncovered archival materials reveal that de Mena was actually born in St. Martinville, Louisiana, in 1879. How could such a prominent UNIA figure vanish from the historical record only to reappear and be so misunderstood? Part of the dilemma lies in the fact that de Mena appears to have intentionally altered the key elements of her biography to reflect her changing personal life and political commitments. This article maps de Mena’s shifting racial and political subjectivities as a transnational proto-feminist, moving through the landscapes of the U.S. Gulf South, Caribbean Central America, the U.S. Northeast, and preindependence Jamaica. It provides a critical corrective to de Mena’s existing biography and examines how black women moved through transnational political and cultural movements of the early twentieth century, authoring themselves into existence through intimate and public acts of diasporic self-making.

El Niño-Southern Oscillation is linked to decreased energetic condition in long-distance migrants.

Predicting how migratory animals respond to changing climatic conditions requires knowledge of how climatic events affect each phase of the annual cycle and how those effects carry-over to subsequent phases. We utilized a 17-year migration dataset to examine how El Niño-Southern Oscillation climatic events in geographically different regions of the Western hemisphere carry-over to impact the stopover biology of several intercontinental migratory bird species. We found that migratory birds that over-wintered in South America experienced significantly drier environments during El Niño years, as reflected by reduced Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) values, and arrived at stopover sites in reduced energetic condition during spring migration. During El Niño years migrants were also more likely to stopover immediately along the northern Gulf coast of the southeastern U.S. after crossing the Gulf of Mexico in small suboptimal forest patches where food resources are lower and migrant density often greater than larger more contiguous forests further inland. In contrast, NDVI values did not differ between El Niño and La Niña years in Caribbean-Central America, and we found no difference in energetic condition or use of coastal habitats for migrants en route from Caribbean-Central America wintering areas. Birds over-wintering in both regions had consistent median arrival dates along the northern Gulf coast, suggesting that there is a strong drive for birds to maintain their time program regardless of their overall condition. We provide strong evidence that not only is the stopover biology of migratory landbirds influenced by events during the previous phase of their life-cycle, but where migratory birds over-winter determines how vulnerable they are to global climatic cycles. Increased frequency and intensity of ENSO events over the coming decades, as predicted by climatic models, may disproportionately influence long-distance migrants over-wintering in South America.

Using Historical Newspaper Accounts to Reconstruct the Impacts of Eighteenth Century Hurricanes in Central America

Historical newspaper accounts can be used to supplement scientific evidence of tidal surge that accompanied major tropical cyclones that struck Caribbean Central America in the eighteenth century.

Clinical and Epidemiological Characteristics of Imported Infectious Diseases in Spanish Travelers

Spain could be a potential area in Europe for the development and spread of emerging diseases from the tropics due to its geoclimatic characteristics, but there is little information on infectious diseases imported by travelers. The aim of this article was to analyze clinical-epidemiological characteristics of infectious diseases imported by Spanish travelers from the tropics. A retrospective descriptive study of 2,982 travelers seeking medical advice who return ill from the tropics was conducted. Demographic data, details of travel (destination, type, and duration), preventive measures, clinical syndromes, and diagnoses were analyzed. Nearly half (46.5%) the travelers had traveled to sub-Saharan Africa; 46.5% reported a stay exceeding 1 month (and almost a quarter more than 6 months). Following pre-travel advice, 69.1% received at least one vaccine and 35.5% took malarial chemoprophylaxis with variations according to geographical area of travel. In all, 58.8% of this took chemoprophylaxis correctly. Most common syndromes were fever 1,028 (34.5%), diarrhea 872 (29.3%), and cutaneous syndrome 684 (22.9%). Most frequent diagnoses were traveler's diarrhea (17.2%), malaria (17%), and intestinal parasites (10.4%). The three main syndromes in travelers to the Caribbean-Central America, Indian subcontinent-Southeast Asia, and other areas were diarrhea, fever, and cutaneous syndrome (p < 0.05); in sub-Saharan Africa were fever, cutaneous syndrome, and diarrhea (p < 0.05); and in South America were cutaneous syndrome, diarrhea, and fever (p < 0.05). Travelers to sub-Saharan Africa showed a higher frequency of malaria, rickettsiosis, filariasis, and schistosomiasis (p < 0.05); those to South America showed cutaneous larva migrants, other ectoparasitosis, and cutaneous/mucocutaneous leishmaniasis; and those to the Indian subcontinent-Southeast Asia showed intestinal parasitosis, arboviriasis, and enteric fever (p < 0.05). Increased international travel is a key factor for the development and spread of emerging pathogens. Information on these diseases is essential to establish early warning mechanisms and action plans. Spain represents a unique setting for this.

Diaspora Sounds from Caribbean Central America

Bearing a proud, militant history of resistance to slavery, the Garinagu1 comprise a unique African-Amerindian maroo people dating to the early seventeenth century, when indigenous Carib and Arawak-speaking peoples of the eastern Caribbean took in Afri cans escaped from bondage. In their native St. Vincent, the Garinagu (or Black Caribs, as they were known during the colonial era) resisted French and English forces who sought to take control of the island's cultivable lands.

Revision of the species of the genus Cathorops (Siluriformes: Ariidae) from Mesoamerica and the Central American Caribbean, with description of three new species

The ariid genus Cathorops includes species that occur mainly in estuarine and freshwater habitats of the eastern and western coasts of southern Mexico, Central and South America. The species of Cathorops from the Mesoamerica (Atlantic slope) and Caribbean Central America are revised, and three new species are described: C. belizensis from mangrove areas in Belize; C. higuchii from shallow coastal areas and coastal rivers in the Central American Caribbean, from Honduras to Panama; and C. kailolae from río Usumacinta and lago Izabal basins in Mexico and Guatemala. Additionally, C. aguadulce, from the río Papaloapan basin in Mexico, and C. melanopus from the río Motagua basin in Guatemala and Honduras, are redescribed and their geographic distributions are revised.

Chiriqui Beach, Panama, the Most Important Leatherback Nesting Beach in Central America

Chiriqui Beach, in the Comarca Ngöbe-Buglé on the Caribbean coast of Panama, is the most important nesting beach for leatherback turtles (Dermochelys coriacea) in Caribbean Central America. Beach surveys during the 2003 and 2004 nesting seasons documented 3077 leatherback nests in one season and a minimum of 234 individual leatherbacks. Monitoring of nest fate revealed that predation by dogs represents the greatest human-related survival threat to leatherbacks at Chiriqui Beach, although the killing of leatherbacks from the same nesting population on beaches near the Panama–Costa Rica border also is of concern.

Possible decline in leatherback turtle Dermochelys coriacea nesting along the coast of Caribbean Central America

Leatherback turtle Dermochelys coriacea nesting has declined on Pacific beaches and as a result the species is considered Critically Endangered. Atlantic populations are, however, also important for the species' survival and therefore we undertook a study to quantify the size and nesting trend of the Caribbean Costa Rica and Panama leatherback turtle rookery. Tag returns show that post-nesting females from the rookery disperse throughout the Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico and North Atlantic. Aerial and track survey results were used to estimate 5,759–12,893 nests per year between San Juan river and Chiriquí beach, making this the fourth largest rookery worldwide. Monitoring results from three beaches (Tortuguero, Pacuare and Gandoca) were used to examine any temporal trend in nesting using nonparametric regression. Nesting appeared to decline slightly from 1995 to 2003 but the trend could be an artefact of interannual variation in nest numbers. Explanations for the difference in nesting trends over the past 15 years for Pacific (rapid decline) and Caribbean (slight decline or stable) rookeries include: (1) hatching success on Caribbean beaches has been higher due to dispersed nesting, (2) fisheries bycatch has been greater in the Pacific, and (3) less overlap between fishing areas and leatherback turtle habitats in the Atlantic. Quantification of human-caused mortality of all life stages and knowledge of the marine habitats used by Atlantic leatherback turtles are required to facilitate the development and implementation of effective strategies to reduce threats and avoid a repeat of the decline that has occurred in the Pacific population.

Molecular Phylogenetics and Biogeography of Tanagers in the GenusRamphocelus(Aves)

Ramphocelustanagers are distributed throughout the Neotropical lowlands. In this paper, mitochrondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequence data from cytochrome b and ND2 genes are used to estimate relationships among seven of nine species of the avian genusRamphocelus.Genetic differentiation is high betweenRamphocelus passerinii passeriniiandRamphocelus passerinii costaricensis,and the two subspecies are diagnosable and distinct from one another both morphologically and genetically. Thus, elevation to species status is recommended. Three clades are supported by both gene sequences; one clade containsR. passerinii, R. costaricensis,andR. icteronotus;the second clade containsRamphocelus carbo, Ramphocelus bresilius,andRamphocelus nigrogularis;the third clade containsRamphocelus sanguinolentus.The degree of saturation was assessed for both genes and saturation of third position of codons occurs by 10–12% uncorrected pairwise sequence divergence. The general area cladogram suggests the following area relationships: Pacific and Caribbean Central America are sister areas, Choco is the sister to the Central American area, and Amazonia/southeastern Brazil is the outgroup area to the Choco/Central American clade.

The military history of the Third World since 1945: a reference guide

Acknowledgments General Military Patterns within the Third World Since 1945 An Overview of the Effects of the Korean, Vietnamese, Arab-Israeli, and Desert Storm Operations International Peacekeeping and Disarmament Activities The Middle East The Indian Ocean Area Southeast Asia East Asia North Africa Central Africa Eastern and Western Africa Caribbean Central America South America The Pacific Area Appendix: Important Events Since 1945 Bibliography Index

Colonialism and Resistance in Belize: Essays in Historical Sociology.

The social history of Belize is marked by conflict between British settlers and the Maya, between masters and slaves, between capitalists and workers, and between the colonial administration and the Belizean people. Belize shares many features with other parts of the Caribbean Central America, including a long history of colonialism and slavery, a dependent economy in which the ownership of land is highly concentrated and the population is largely poor. In this collection of essays, Boland analyses the most important topics during three centuries of colonialism. Part 1 examines the early British settlement, the nature of slavery in Belize and the development of Creole culture in the nineteenth century. Part 2 analyses the relations of between the Maya and the British in the nineteenth century. Part 3 considers systems of labour control after emancipation and discusses the origins of modern politics in the labour movement of the 1930s and 1940s. Part 4 considers the complex issues of ethnicity and politics in the contemporary arena.

Taxonomy of the Common Meadowlark (Sturnella magna) in Central and Southern México and Caribbean Central America

Journal Article Taxonomy of The Common Meadowlark (Sturnella Magna) in Central and Southern México and Caribbean Central America Get access Robert W. Dickerman, Robert W. Dickerman Department of Microbiology Cornell University Medical College New York, New York 10021 Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Allan R. Phillips Allan R. Phillips Instituto de Biologia Universidad National Authoma de Mkxico México, D. F. Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar The Condor, Volume 72, Issue 3, 1 July 1970, Pages 316–324, https://doi.org/10.2307/1366008 Published: 01 July 1970 Article history Accepted: 29 December 1969 Published: 01 July 1970