Entered North America Research Articles

First record of the archaic Eurasian cricetid rodent Microtodon from North America

ABSTRACT A new species of the archaic arvicoline-like cricetid rodent Microtodon is described from the Hoye Canyon Local Fauna (LF), Douglas County, Nevada, U.S.A. This occurrence represents the first record of Microtodon and only the second record of ancient arvicolid-like cricetids from North America. The first, Ellesmereomys haringtoni, was described from the Strathcona locality, Canadian Arctic, about 4.0 Ma. The new Microtodon is characterised by a short anteroconid complex, shallow fourth lingual re-entrant angle (LRA4), and narrow anteroconid width on the first lower molar (m1). The new species resembles other Microtodon species and differs from Baranomys and all Promimomys species by lacking LRA1 on m3. Based on biostratigraphic correlations, the Hoye Canon LF was deposited about 5.8–5.6 Ma, roughly at the same time as the first Promimomys, P. mimus from the McKay Reservoir assemblage of Oregon, entered North America. Neither the Hoye Microtodon nor Ellesmereomys haringtoni are likely ancestral to Promimomys, but the two arvicoline-like cricetids attest to a previously unknown late Miocene – early Pliocene dispersal of these taxa into North America.

Highly pathogenic avian influenza A (H5N1) in marine mammals and seabirds in Peru

Highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) A/H5N1 viruses (lineage 2.3.4.4b) are rapidly invading the Americas, threatening wildlife, poultry, and potentially evolving into the next global pandemic. In November 2022 HPAI arrived in Peru, triggering massive pelican and sea lion die-offs. We report genomic characterization of HPAI/H5N1 in five species of marine mammals and seabirds (dolphins, sea lions, sanderlings, pelicans and cormorants). Peruvian viruses belong to lineage 2.3.4.4b, but they are 4:4 reassortants where 4 genomic segments (PA, HA, NA and MP) position within the Eurasian lineage that initially entered North America from Eurasia, while the other 4 genomic segments (PB2, PB1, NP and NS) position within the American lineage (clade C) that circulated in North America. These viruses are rapidly accruing mutations, including mutations of concern, that warrant further examination and highlight an urgent need for active local surveillance to manage outbreaks and limit spillover into other species, including humans.

A New Species of Monocystis (Apicomplexa: Gregarina: Monocystidae) from the Asian Invasive Earthworm Amynthas agrestis (Megascolecidae), with an Improved Standard for Monocystis Species Descriptions.

Monocystis perplexa n. sp., a parasite of an important invasive Japanese earthworm in North America, Amynthas agrestis, is described from a site in Vermont. An improved standard for Monocystis species descriptions is proposed including a standard nomenclature to reduce synonymies, a standard set of biometrics and shape descriptions for living cells, and a DNA genomic sequence for the 18S rRNA (∼1,700 base pairs). Comparing morphologies of Monocystis parasites in sympatric earthworm species indicates that M. perplexa is specific to A. agrestis in the study region. Also, polymerase chain reaction primers specific to M. perplexa amplified samples of A. agrestis earthworms taken from several sites in Japan. This suggests the parasite entered North America from Japan, the origin of the invasive Amynthas earthworm, and thus M. perplexa would be the first Monocystis described from the diverse Japanese Amynthas earthworms and the first from East Asia. Monocystis perplexa was found in every population of A. agrestis surveyed in Vermont, always reaching 100% prevalence by late summer (the host has an annual life cycle in Vermont). The 18S gene sequence differed from that of Monocystis agilis from the sympatric earthworm Lumbricus terrestris (the only other sequence available for Monocystis), and a genetic similarity tree places them closest among other gregarines. Many of the 95 described species of Monocystis are very similar in morphology (based on species descriptions), so the 18S gene can act as a barcode for Monocystis species and thus will help to eliminate both synonymies and reveal cryptic species.

Causes of mortality at different stages of Cactoblastis cactorum in the native range

Cactoblastis cactorum (Berg) (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) is native to South America and has been used successfully as a biocontrol agent against invasive species of Opuntia (Cactaceae). After its release in the Caribbean, it entered North America, dispersed to southeastern USA, and may reach Mexico threatening native cacti biodiversity and industry based on Opuntia spp. Identifying mortality factors acting on insect populations is central to develop pest management programs. The objective of this study was to estimate mortality causes of C. cactorum in its native range through life table experiments conducted on the exotic O. ficus-indica (L.) Miller and the native species O. quimilo K. Schum. and O. megapotamica Arechav., to detect vulnerable stages and natural enemies. The main mortality factors were generalist predators and native plant defenses. Apanteles opuntiarum Martinez & Berta (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) was found to be the parasitoid with the highest potential as a biocontrol agent.

Setting the Stage: The Late Pleistocene Colonization of North America

The timing of human entrance into North America has been a topic of debate that dates back to the late 19th century. Central to the modern discussion is not whether late Pleistocene-age populations were present on the continent, but the timing of their arrival. Key to the debate is the age of tools—bone rods, large prismatic stone blades, and bifacially chipped and fluted stone weapon tips—often found associated with the remains of late Pleistocene fauna. For decades, it was assumed that this techno-complex—termed “Clovis”—was left by the first humans in North America, who, by 11,000–12,000 years ago, made their way eastward across the Bering Land Bridge, or Beringia, and then turned south through a corridor that ran between the Cordilleran and Laurentide ice sheets, which blanketed the northern half of the continent. That scenario has been challenged by more-recent archaeological and archaeogenetic data that suggest populations entered North America as much as 15,300–14,300 years ago and moved south along the Pacific Coast and/or through the ice-free corridor, which apparently was open several thousand years earlier than initially thought. Evidence indicates that Clovis might date as early as 13,400 years ago, which means that it was not the first technology in North America. Given the lack of fluted projectile points in the Old World, it appears certain that the Clovis techno-complex, or at least major components of it, emerged in the New World.

Pre-Clovis projectile points in North America

Archaeology The Clovis culture was a prehistoric Paleoindian culture. Archaeological research over the past decades has refuted the Clovis-first hypothesis in the peopling of the Americas. However, controversy continues over the timing of earlier migrations, the identification and description of the material culture possessed by these early migrants, and the likely routes by which these peoples entered North America. Waters et al. studied the Debra L. Friedkin site in Texas to resolve some of these questions. They performed careful stratigraphic excavation and a meticulous program of chronometric dating to identify a style of projectile points with triangular blades and stemmed bases. These projectiles were dated to have been made between 13,500 and 15,500 years ago and were found below typical Clovis-style points dated to 13,000 years ago. Thus, either the stemmed form was transformed locally over time into the more widespread Clovis style or it is a style created by people of an earlier and separate migration. Sci. Adv. 10.1126/sciadv.aat4505 (2018).

Improving the resistance of eastern white pine to white pine blister rust disease

Eastern white pine (EWP), Pinus strobus L., is an iconic forest tree in the north woods of eastern North America. White pine blister rust, caused by Cronartium ribicola, an invasive pathogen, entered North America in the early 20th century and infected all five-needled pines across the continent. Few genotypes of eastern white pine have demonstrated consistent, elevated resistance to the pathogen, so our objective was to identify additional genotypes with resistance. Since 1970, the USDA Forest Service has identified and grafted over 800 phenotypic plus tree selections from Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota. A protocol to artificially inoculate one-year old seedlings was used to screen 228 genotypes along with rust-resistant and susceptible standards across a four-year period, from 2010 to 2013. We identified 25 genotypes, based on survival assessed two years after inoculation, which exceeded the resistant standard. These genotypes will be grafted into new seed orchards to aid reforestation efforts aimed at restoring this keystone species to suitable habitats where regeneration is currently hindered by blister rust on privately-held land, state forests and national forests in the Lake States region.

Assessing the proposed pre-last glacial maximum human occupation of North America at Coats-Hines-Litchy, Tennessee, and other sites

Genomic studies indicate that the first Pleistocene foragers who entered North America diverged from ancestral populations in Beringia sometime after the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM); however, several archaeological sites in North America have been proposed to predate the LGM. We present the results of our excavation and analysis of one such site, Coats-Hines-Litchy, Tennessee, which show that this site is a paleontological locality containing a geofact assemblage that pre-dates the LGM. Other sites in North America that purportedly predate the LGM occur in geomorphic contexts that are also conducive to the formation of geofact assemblages. As such, we propose that the reported artifacts from these sites were created by natural processes. No sites in North America currently provide credible evidence of a pre-LGM occupation.

Afterword: Black Migrations and Urban Realities

BLACK HISTORY BULLETIN VOL. 81, NO. 2 | 29 28 | BLACK HISTORY BULLETIN VOL. 81, NO. 2 81 81 No.2 No.2 30 | BLACK HISTORY BULLETIN VOL. 81, NO. 2 81 No.2 AFTERWORD: BLACK MIGRATIONS AND URBAN REALITIES By Greg Wiggan Through the enduring influence of Mary McLeod Bethune, educator and philanthropist, Carter G. Woodson founded the Black History Bulletin (BHB) in 1937, which makes it one of the oldest Black history journals in the United States. Born in New Canton, Virginia, in 1875, also the year of Bethune’s birth in Mayesville, South Carolina, Carter G. Woodson was the first and only African American of slave parentage to earn a doctorate in history.1 It is important to note that one year before Woodson’s birth (in 1874), Patrick Francis Healy, who was of mixed parentage with a Black slave mother (mulatto) (Mary Eliza) and White Irish father (Michael Healy), became the first Black president of a university in North America, Georgetown University (1874–1882). Because Healy could pass as White, his father sent him to study in Europe at the University of Louvain, Belgium, where he earned his doctorate in philosophy in 1865.2 Upon returning to the US, he later taught at and became twenty-ninth president of Georgetown University. Although Healy probably avoided being associated with Blackness because of racial stigma, the fact that he was racially mixed points to the privilege of “White” as a social construction. Also, one year after Woodson’s birth, in 1876, Edward Alexander Bouchet graduated from Yale University with a PhD in physics, making him the first African American to receive a doctorate from an American university.3 In honor of the eightyfirst volume of the BHB and the 104th year of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, both founded by Carter G. Woodson, this volume addresses the central theme of “Black Migrations.” In doing so, the volume is both local and international in scope. It also addresses the newly approved 2017 standards of the National Council for the Social Studies, which will affect all social studies teachers. The eighty-first volume honors the vision and pioneering work of Carter G. Woodson and the development of Black History Week (Negro History Week), which evolved into Black History Month; for these and many other accomplishments, Woodson has been rightfully crowned the “Father of Black History.” In fact, Woodson’s Education of the Negro Prior to 1861,4 though a lesser known work, is still a must read for all educators, as it provides some of the best documentation on Black education before the Civil War. During the time of Woodson, Joel Augustus Rogers also held a commanding audience with his many publications on Black history. Rogers’s books such as 100 Amazing Facts About the Negro, Facts about Ethiopia, and World’s Great Men of Color vols. 1 and 2 were widely read among the global Black population. Together, Woodson and Rogers (and Ida B. Wells, Hubert H. Harrison, W. E. B. Du Bois, Marcus Garvey, etc.) represented a commanding educational force against the global “miseducation” of Black people. International Black Migrations As we usher in the four hundredth year since Africans involuntarily entered North America as slaves in the newly formed colony at James Town, Virginia (1619), there is much to explore in the context of “Black Migrations.” Africans were brought to the Caribbean and enslaved as early as the 1500s. In 1492, with the approval of Pope Alexander VI and funding from King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain, Christopher Columbus’s voyages would set in motion global slavery, international Black migrations, and race relations the world had never known. This would prove to have enduring legacies in modern societies (e.g., unemployment, underemployment, school and neighborhood segregation, “White flight,” the prison industrial complex, etc.). On January 8, 2018, Congress passed H.R. 1242, the 400 Years of African American History Commission Act, which is supposed to legally provide support and resources to set up a commission to explore the four hundred years of African Americans being in North America. Although the Commission will end on July 1, 2020, suggesting a rather brief...

Increased xenarthran diversity of the Great American Biotic Interchange: a new genus and species of ground sloth (Mammalia, Xenarthra, Megalonychidae) from the Hemphillian (late Miocene) of Jalisco, Mexico

AbstractA new genus and species of megalonychid sloth,Zacatzontli tecolotlanensisn. gen. n. sp., is described from the late Hemphillian of Jalisco, Mexico. Comparison and analysis of the type specimen, a mandible, with other megalonychid sloths shows a closer relationship to South American taxa than those from North America or the Caribbean. This suggests that during the early stages of the Great American Biotic Interchange there were two separate dispersal events of megalonychid sloths—an earlier one represented byPliometanastesand the later one byZacatzontlin. gen. While the morphology of the spout ofZacatzontlimore closely resembles that ofMegalonyx, based on the current record,Zacatzontlidoes does not enter North America until after the evolution ofMegalonyxfromPliometanastes. The role of the northern neotropics in South America as a staging area for South American taxa that entered North America is discussed.

No rest for the laurels: symbiotic invaders cause unprecedented damage to southern USA forests

Laurel wilt is an extraordinarily destructive exotic tree disease in the southeastern United States that involves new-encounter hosts in the Lauraceae, an introduced vector (Xyleborus glabratus) and pathogen symbiont (Raffaelea lauricola). USDA Forest Service Forest Inventory and Analysis data were used to estimate that over 300 million trees of redbay (Persea borbonia sensu lato) have succumbed to the disease since the early 2000s (ca 1/3 of the pre-invasion population). In addition, numerous native shrub and tree species in the family are susceptible and threatened in the Western Hemisphere. Genetic markers were used to test the hypothesis that the vector and pathogen entered North America as a single introduction. With a portion of the cytochrome oxidase I gene, a single X. glabratus haplotype was detected in the USA. Similarly, Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphisms indicated that 95% (54 of 57) of the isolates of R. lauricola that were examined were of a single clonal genotype; only minor variation was detected in three polymorphic isolates. Similar levels of disease developed after swamp bay (P. palustris) was inoculated with each of the four genotypes of R. lauricola. It is proposed that a single founding event is responsible for the laurel wilt epidemic in the United States.

Fossil and genomic evidence constrains the timing of bison arrival in North America

The arrival of bison in North America marks one of the most successful large-mammal dispersals from Asia within the last million years, yet the timing and nature of this event remain poorly determined. Here, we used a combined paleontological and paleogenomic approach to provide a robust timeline for the entry and subsequent evolution of bison within North America. We characterized two fossil-rich localities in Canada's Yukon and identified the oldest well-constrained bison fossil in North America, a 130,000-y-old steppe bison, Bison cf. priscus We extracted and sequenced mitochondrial genomes from both this bison and from the remains of a recently discovered, ∼120,000-y-old giant long-horned bison, Bison latifrons, from Snowmass, Colorado. We analyzed these and 44 other bison mitogenomes with ages that span the Late Pleistocene, and identified two waves of bison dispersal into North America from Asia, the earliest of which occurred ∼195-135 thousand y ago and preceded the morphological diversification of North American bison, and the second of which occurred during the Late Pleistocene, ∼45-21 thousand y ago. This chronological arc establishes that bison first entered North America during the sea level lowstand accompanying marine isotope stage 6, rejecting earlier records of bison in North America. After their invasion, bison rapidly colonized North America during the last interglaciation, spreading from Alaska through continental North America; they have been continuously resident since then.

Tree pests and diseases: the threat to biodiversity and the delivery of ecosystem services

The increasing number of invasive pests and pathogens entering North America and Europe indicate that the threat which they pose to forests is increasing concurrently with climate change and globalisation. To date research has mainly focussed on the protection of trees of economic importance. In most countries the major portion of research costs tend to be borne by the state with governments funding tree health research and the implementation of statutory work (risk assessment, border inspection and surveillance), whilst commercial enterprises cover the costs of ongoing management of established pests and pathogens. The costs of responding to new outbreaks tend to be shared with government or regional authorities organising initial response but owners covering subsequent operational costs without state compensation. However in recent years a number of major epidemics have devastated natural ecosystems and landscapes valued both for timber and for their wider benefits to the general public. Against this background it is helpful to consider more explicitly the consequences of pests and pathogens for the full range of ecosystem services. Biodiversity was originally perceived to be an ecosystem service but is now recognised as fundamental in supporting ecological function. Many ecosystem services are uncosted and enjoyed by a range of stakeholders raising important questions about who is responsible for measures to protect tree health. We present data here on the new outbreaks which have occurred in the UK and, as an example of rapid spread of a disease, on the development of Hymenoscyphus fraxineus in the UK over the last 3 years. These data indicate that tree pests and diseases represent a major contemporary problem to which the ecosystem services concept, and its associated implications for cost sharing, can move forward our approach to prevention and outbreak management and may improve the outcomes of international measures to minimise the man-mediated movement and impacts of pests and pathogens.

Calibrating snakehead diversity with DNA barcodes: expanding taxonomic coverage to enable identification of potential and established invasive species.

Detecting and documenting the occurrence of invasive species outside their native range requires tools to support their identification. This can be challenging for taxa with diverse life stages and/or problematic or unresolved morphological taxonomies. DNA barcoding provides a potent method for identifying invasive species, as it allows for species identification at all life stages, including fragmentary remains. It also provides an efficient interim taxonomic framework for quantifying cryptic genetic diversity by parsing barcode sequences into discontinuous haplogroup clusters (typical of reproductively isolated species) and labelling them with unique alphanumeric identifiers. Snakehead fishes are a diverse group of opportunistic predators endemic to Asia and Africa that may potentially pose significant threats as aquatic invasive species. At least three snakehead species (Channa argus, C. maculata, and C. marulius) are thought to have entered North America through the aquarium and live-food fish markets, and have established populations, yet their origins remain unclear. The objectives of this study were to assemble a library of DNA barcode sequences derived from expert identified reference specimens in order to determine the identity and aid invasion pathway analysis of the non-indigenous species found in North America using DNA barcodes. Sequences were obtained from 121 tissue samples representing 25 species and combined with public records from GenBank for a total of 36 putative species, which then partitioned into 49 discrete haplogroups. Multiple divergent clusters were observed within C. gachua, C. marulius, C. punctata and C. striata suggesting the potential presence of cryptic species diversity within these lineages. Our findings demonstrate that DNA barcoding is a valuable tool for species identification in challenging and under-studied taxonomic groups such as snakeheads, and provides a useful framework for inferring invasion pathway analysis.

Increased Frequency of Tim-3 Expressing T Cells Is Associated with Symptomatic West Nile Virus Infection

More than a decade after West Nile virus (WNV) entered North America, and despite a significant increase in reported cases during the 2012 and 2013 seasons, no treatment or vaccine for humans is available. Although antiviral T cells contribute to the control of WNV, little is known about their regulation during acute infection. We analyzed the expression of Tim-3 and PD-1, two recently identified T cell negative immune checkpoint receptors, over the course of WNV infection. Symptomatic WNV+ donors exhibited higher frequencies of Tim-3+ cells than asymptomatic subjects within naïve/early differentiated CD28+/–CD57–CD4+ and differentiated CD28–CD57–CD8+ T cells. Our study links Tim-3-expression on T cells during acute WNV infection with the development of symptomatic disease, suggesting Tim-3 and its ligands could be targeted therapeutically to alter anti-WNV immunity and improve disease outcome.

Evidence of Repeated Wildfires Prior to Human Occupation on San Nicolas Island, California

Understanding how early humans on the California Channel Islands might have changed local regimes requires a baseline knowledge of the frequency of natural wildfires on the islands prior to human occupation. A sedimentary sequence that was recently discovered in a small canyon on San Nicolas Island contains evidence of at least 24 burn events that date to between ~37 and 25 ka (thousands of calibrated 14C years before present), well before humans entered North America. The evidence includes abundant macroscopic charcoal, blackened sediments, and dis- crete packages of oxidized, reddish-brown sediments that are similar in appearance to sedimentary features called fire areas on Santa Rosa Island and elsewhere. Massive fine-grained sediments that contain the burn evidence are inter- preted as sheetwash deposits and are interbedded with coarse-grained, clast-supported alluvial sediments and matrix- supported sands, pebbles, and cobbles that represent localized debris flows. These sedimentary sequences suggest that the catchment area above our study site underwent multiple cycles of relative quiescence that were interrupted by and followed by slope instability and mass wasting events. Our 14C-based chronology dates these cycles to well before the arrival of humans on the Channel Islands and shows that natural wildfires occurred here, at a minimum, every 300-500 years prior to human occupation.

Estimates of background surface ozone concentrations in the United States based on model-derived source apportionment

We analyze background surface ozone (O3) concentrations as estimated by coupled GEOS-Chem/CAMx models for 23 monitoring sites across the US at high- and low-elevation, rural and urban locations during 2006. Specifically, we consider hourly contributions from global tropospheric O3 entering North America, stratospheric O3 over North America, and natural O3 formed from continental biogenic, fire, and lightning sources according to CAMx source apportionment calculations. Unlike historical modeled background definitions that reflect the absence of anthropogenic emissions, we define “Emissions-Influenced Background” (EIB), which includes chemical interactions with anthropogenic emissions and thus reflects “current” background levels at the sites analyzed. We further define global background O3 (GBO3) as the sum of the global tropospheric and stratospheric components and find that higher modeled GBO3 occurs during the spring at sites across the US. At many of the sites during the spring, fall, and winter months higher GBO3 is associated with more frequent stratosphere-to-troposphere transport to the surface (STT-S) events according to independent three-dimensional trajectories based on global meteorological analyses. Patterns of higher spring EIB O3 are followed by lower values during the summer, due to heightened chemical interaction with anthropogenic sources, which are then followed by rising EIB O3 during the fall and winter months. For some high-elevation western US sites, this seasonal pattern is less discernible due to relatively small anthropogenic contributions and the high EIB O3 estimated throughout the year. EIB O3 at all high-elevation sites contributes a significant proportion to total O3 throughout the year and throughout the observed total O3 frequency distribution, while EIB O3 at most urban sites contributes a major portion to total O3 during non-summer months and to the mid-range concentrations (30–50 ppb) of the frequency distribution.

THE EARLY DIVERSIFICATION HISTORY OF DIDELPHID MARSUPIALS: A WINDOW INTO SOUTH AMERICA'S “SPLENDID ISOLATION”

The geological record of South American mammals is spatially biased because productive fossil sites are concentrated at high latitudes. As a result, the history of mammalian diversification in Amazonia and other tropical biomes is largely unknown. Here we report diversification analyses based on a time-calibrated molecular phylogeny of opossums (Didelphidae), a species-rich clade of mostly tropical marsupials descended from a Late Oligocene common ancestor. Optimizations of habitat and geography on this phylogeny suggest that (1) basal didelphid lineages inhabited South American moist forests; (2) didelphids did not diversify in dry-forest habitats until the Late Miocene; and (3) most didelphid lineages did not enter North America until the Pliocene. We also summarize evidence for an Early- to Middle-Miocene mass extinction event, for which alternative causal explanations are discussed. To the best of our knowledge, this study provides the first published molecular-phylogenetic evidence for mass extinction in any animal clade, and it is the first time that evidence for such an event (in any plant or animal taxon) has been tested for statistical significance. Potentially falsifying observations that could help discriminate between the proposed alternative explanations for didelphid mass extinction may be obtainable from diversification analyses of other sympatric mammalian groups.

Squamates from the Jurassic and Cretaceous of North America

Squamates from the Mesozoic of North America have been collected since the end of the nineteenth century. To date, the fossils are known to occur in the Late Jurassic, Aptian-Albian, Cenomanian, Turonian, Santonian, Campanian, and Maastrichtian. Most of the records are from the Western Interior in the arid regions associated with the Rocky Mountains. Geographically, these records extend from central Alberta, Canada, south to northern Mexico. The earliest squamates are primitive forms of scincoideans and anguimorphans from the Late Jurassic–Early Cretaceous. At the beginning of the Late Cretaceous, the squamate fauna in North America changes dramatically to include a much greater diversity of taxa with a mix of lineages now extinct (e.g. Polyglyphanodontini, Chamopsiidae, Contogeniidae) and lineages still alive today (e.g. Anguidae, Xantusiidae, Platynota, Serpentes). The greatest diversity appears to be during the late Campanian, but diversity appears correlated with number of localities sampled and the late Campanian is the best sampled horizon in the Mesozoic of North America. The apparent sudden change in the North American squamate fauna is coincident with similar changes to other vertebrates (mammals, dinosaurs) and the opening of a land bridge with Asia. The lack of taxonomic and systematic study of the squamates from the Early Cretaceous of Asia makes comparison difficult, but it is likely that introduction of Asian taxa into North America was responsible, at least in part, for the relatively rapid change in the North American fauna. The hypotheses of an additional invasion from Asia during the Turonian is not supported, but the hypothesis of a second opening with Asia during the Santonian is weakly supported by the appearance of an iguanian in North America. Additional iguanians from the Campanian may have evolved in situ or may have entered North America from Asia as late as the mid-Campanian. Many of the most conspicuous lizards of the Late Cretaceous (Polyglyphanodontini, Chamopsiidae, paramacellodid-cordylid grade scincoideans) went extinct at the terminal Cretaceous extinction event, while most of the anguimorphans and snakes appear little affected. Amphisbaenians do not appear in North America until after the early Paleocene.

Beyond the “Gollygee” Stage; The Inspiration of Academics who Study Arctic Sovereignty

This research addresses a contention in some literature on sovereignty. Noted expert Franklyn Griffiths argues that a certain bias pervades more alarmist work on sovereignty. He argues that a southern, Victorian vision of inspires a significant group of academics.1 He calls this first and foremost perspective. Political scientist Andrea Charron picks up Griffiths' s view and argues, Many experts believe that claim of sovereignty over Archipelago is uniquely tied to country's sense of national pride and identity.2 She says that this view is not valid.3 It is clear that Griffiths and Charron, among others, do not believe many of Canada's top experts are objective in their analysis - a view I seek to evaluate in this article.In what follows, I seek to determine what inspires concern about Canada's legal sovereignty among Canadian academics. I address whether Arctic's place in Canadian culture provides inspiration in any way, or if there is a better explanation. I argue that none of legal sovereignty issues, Canadian culture, or even concern about climate change, completely inspire concerns about sovereignty; rather, concerns for Inuit livelihood fostered during visits to region inspire academics.In first section, I discuss background about sovereignty and review its divergent literature to situate my research question in debate. In second section, I answer my research question by probing inspirations and underlying biases of those academics who create literature on sovereignty. Toward this end, I interviewed 17 of Canada's top academics and five graduate students, a former minister of defence, and Honourable Bill Graham. Of 17 academics, I interviewed 10 who have created major academic works on sovereignty and security. I also interviewed seven non-security scholars who write about issues but not explicitly about sovereignty or security.In third section, I demonstrate that concerns for Inuit livelihood and engagement with region drive academic work on sovereignty. I analyze results of my interviews in context of work of geographer Cole Harris. I focus on academics because they strongly influence public discourse and government policy on Arctic.Before proceeding, three definitions are in order. First, where is Arctic? Some people uphold a strict distinction between the north and the while others use terms interchangeably. Since scholars in question do not provide a consistent definition of Arctic, I resist urge to do so. In interviews, my definition of the Arctic is definition used by my interviewee. Second, an academic in this paper is someone with a high level of education who publishes in scholarly publications consistently. Third, sovereignty in this paper specifically refers to challenges to Canada's legal control over Arctic.THE EXISTING LITERATURE ON ARCTIC SOVEREIGNTYCanadian sovereignty writers focus mainly on four security challenges to Canada's legal sovereignty in Arctic. As others detail,4 Canada faces at least four sovereignty challenges: delineation and delimitation of outer continental shelf; legal status of Northwest Passage; Canada's Beaufort Sea maritime boundaries, and; ownership of Hans Island.Although I group writers, this grouping does not suggest that writers agree about security implications of sovereignty challenges. There are three reasons for this. First, many writers agree is under threat, but disagree about nature of threat. Some argue that Canada must control Northwest Passage as internal waters because terrorists, illegal immigrants,5 and smugglers6 want to use passage to enter North America and threaten Canadian national and environmental security; meanwhile, some scholars7 argue that this idea is not valid. …