Caribbean Island Of Hispaniola Research Articles

Dioptine Moths of the Caribbean Region: Description of Two New Genera with Notes on Biology and Biogeography (Lepidoptera: Notodontidae: Dioptinae)

ABSTRACT Two new species of dioptine moths (Lepidoptera: Noctuoidea: Notodontidae: Dioptinae) are described from the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, and placed in two new monobasic genera. These are the first records of subfamily Dioptinae in the Caribbean Region. Eremonidia mirifica new genus, new species, is a plesiotypic member of the tribe Dioptini, and Caribojosia youngi new genus, new species, is placed in the tribe Josiini. Both species are described from cloud forest habitats in the Sierra de Neiba (Dominican Republic and adjacent Haiti); E. mirifica is also known from similar habitats in the Cordillera Central (Dominican Republic). The larvae of C. youngi are described feeding on mature leaves of Passiflora sexflora Jussieu (Violales: Passifloraceae). Habitats, relationships, ecological associations, behavior, and conservation issues for these species are discussed.

Migration and Development: Whither the Dominican Republic and Haiti?

The 10th Migration Dialogue seminar was held March 7-9, 2002 in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Migration Dialogue seminars provide a setting for 40 opinion leaders from Europe and North America to learn about and discuss the major migration management issues of the twenty-first century. Seminars include day-long field trips that enable participants to observe real-world migration issues, and to discuss them with government officials, employers, and migrant advocates and migrants. Reports of past seminars are at: The Caribbean island of Hispaniola is divided between two quite different countries, the Dominican Republic (DR) and Haiti. Emigration pressures from the Dominican Republic are often described as structural, suggesting that foreign investment and the creation of factory jobs in export-processing zones or services would not reduce the desire of many Dominicans to emigrate. The Dominican Republic is a transnational society 1 in 9 residents lives abroad, and many shuttle between New York City or Boston and the Dominican Republic in a lifestyle characterized by work-in-the-U.S. and vacation or retirement in the Dominican Republic: Over there (U.S.) is the country of work. This is the country of the heart. The central issues explored in the 2002 seminar included:

Update: Outbreak of Poliomyelitis—Dominican Republic and Haiti, 2000-2001

From July 12, 2000, through September 18, 2001, a total of 21 cases of poliomyelitis (including two fatal cases) were reported from the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, divided between Haiti and the Dominican Republic. In the Dominican Republic, 13 of 168 reported cases of acute flaccid paralysis (AFP) were confirmed as polio by isolation of poliovirus type 1 from either patients or their healthy contacts. The median age of the patients was 3 years (range: 9 months-14 years). None was vaccinated adequately. The most recent confirmed case-patient in the Dominican Republic had paralysis onset on January 25, 2001. In Haiti, eight of 40 AFP cases were confirmed virologically; seven of the confirmed cases occurred during January-July 2001. The median age of the patients was 7 years (range: 2-12 years). One patient had received at least 3 doses of oral poliovirus vaccine (OPV). The most recent confirmed case occurred in Haiti and the patient had paralysis onset on July 12, 2001. Eighteen AFP cases from the Dominican Republic and three from Haiti are pending final classification.

Garnet peridotite found in the Greater Antilles

Although Alpine peridotites are relatively common in collisional orogenic zones, garnet‐bearing peridotites are rare and only associated with high pressure/ultra‐high pressure or temperature (HP/UHP or T) terranes [Brueckner and Medaris, 2000; Medaris, 1999]. Until recently all reported occurrences of Alpine‐type garnet peridotites and HP/UHP terranes were in Eurasia and Africa, with one occurrence in the Seward Peninsula, Alaska [Till, 1981;Lieberman and Till, 1987]. Now a new Alpine‐type garnet peridotite locality has been discovered in the Caribbean island of Hispaniola. This discovery is the second of its kind in the Americas.

Experimental Transmission of African Swine Fever Virus by the Tick Ornithodoros (Alectorobius) puertoricensis (Acari: Argasidae)

The soft tick Ornithodoros puertoricensis Fox has been found on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola (Haiti and the Dominican Republic) where African swine fever (ASF) was endemic from 1978 to 1984. To evaluate the vector potential of O. puertoricensis for African swine fever virus (ASFV), second-instar nymphs were experimentally infected by feeding on a viremic pig that was infected with the Dominican Republic isolate (DR-II) of ASFV. Subsequent infection rates and mean virus titers for individually triturated ticks were: second-instar nymph (95.4%, 10(4.38 +/- 0.85)), third-instar nymph (48.9%, 10(4.59 +/- 0.61)), male (46.7%, 10(4.36 +/- 0.61)), and female (35.3%, 10(4.38 +/- 1.09)). Infected ticks transmitted ASFV to susceptible pigs by bite 23, 85, 126, 160, 182, and 239 d after the infective blood meal. These findings show that ASFV is passed transstadially among O. puertoricensis and that O. puertoricensis can be an efficient vector of African swine fever virus.

New Cavernicolous Proptomaphaginus from Hispaniola and Mexico (Coleoptera: Leiodidae: Cholevinae)

Two new species of the genus Proptomaphaginus are described: P. hispaniolensis, collected at an ultraviolet light trap in a bat-guano cave in the Dominican Republic and at other cave and forest sites on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola; and P. reddelli from a cave in Oaxaca, Mexico. The species are not cave-specialized. The evolution of the 6 known species in the genus is diagrammed and discussed.

Last Endemic Mammals in Hispaniola

After searching many remote regions in the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, the author discovered that the island's last two endemic mammals, formerly believed to be rare, are in fact common in some areas. But human pressures on the hutia Plagiodonria aedium and the solenodon S. paradoxus are such that, unless the Governments of Haiti and the Dominican Republic take effective steps both could soon become extinct.

Endemic dengue virus infection in Hispaniola. I. Haiti.

Antibodies to group B arbovirus were common among coastal populations in the Haitian part of the Caribbean island of Hispaniola. Antibodies were present in 43% of children one to five years old; prevalence in older persons increased with age. In nine asymptomatic persons serodiagnostic changes indicative of group B arbovirus were detected during six of twelve consecutive months. In port cities where antibodies were common in children, Aedes aegypti indices of 50%-70% were observed; in contrast, no A. aegypti mosquitoes were found in an inland village in which children lacked denjue hemagglutination-inhibiting antibodes. Between 1969 and 1971, dengue 2 virus was isolated from 11 persons with episodic febrile illnesses, although no epidemic was apparent. These findings indicate that dengue virus infection was endemic in Haiti during the period of the study.