Generic Boundaries Research Articles

Historical biogeography and the evolution of habitat preference in the North American camel spider family, Eremobatidae (Arachnida:Solifugae)

Abiotic variables can influence species distributions, often restricting taxa to an acquired climatic signature or conversely, related species are conserved in the same ecological space over millions of years. An investigation into how abiotic change has shaped geographic distributions of taxa may be key to understanding diversification of lineages, and in the absence of reliable morphological characteristics, such information may support taxonomic units at multiple scales.Here, we examine the historical biogeography and patterns of habitat preference within the North American solifuge family, Eremobatidae. A previous study demonstrated that a major taxonomic revision of Eremobatidae is warranted, however recent studies demonstrate high levels of morphological convergence within the group, thus a re-classification of generic boundaries using additional information must be prioritized before we can formally begin solid revisionary efforts. In this study, we aimed to reconstruct a well-resolved phylogenetic hypothesis of Eremobatidae by filtering UCE loci based on informativeness, by mitigating the effect of cogenic UCE on phylogenetic estimation, and by supplementing our curated UCE loci with mitochondrial information. Using our preferred topology, in conjunction with published estimated divergence dates for Eremobatidae, we inferred a time-calibrated phylogenetic hypothesis to inform the historical biogeography and patterns of habitat preference. The two major habitat types that were observed for Eremobatidae were warm deserts for early diverging taxa and a subsequent evolution to cold deserts and Mediterranean California ecoregions for later diverging taxa. Eremobatid niche space, determined by temperature and precipitation, has been conserved for at least 25 million years in North America, supporting a warm desert origin, and thus supporting high species richness in the Sonoran and Mexican Plateau. Overall, our study provides support for new generic level designations within Eremobatidae.

Seed morphological diversity of Egyptian Allium L. (Amaryllidaceae) and its taxonomic significance

Allium L. (Amaryllidaceae, Allioideae, Allieae) has disputed generic delimitation and species boundaries, compounded by the proliferation of the species' synonyms. This study provides for the first time a comprehensive description of the seed morphology of native, endemic, and near-endemic species in Egypt and addresses the significance of seed traits for infrageneric classification. Twenty-two Allium taxa belonging to four subgenera and six sections were investigated using fresh or dry materials from their mature seeds. Thirty-eight quantitative and qualitative traits of the seeds' dorsal and ventral sides were investigated using stereomicroscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Statistical and multivariate analyses were performed. This work provides the first description of the seeds of 13 Allium taxa, including A. artemisietorum Eig & Feinbrun, A. barthianum Asch. & Schweinf., A. blomfieldianum Asch. & Schweinf., A. crameri Asch. & Boiss., A. desertorum Forssk., A. erdelii Zucc., A. mareoticum Bornm. & Gauba, A. papillare Boiss., A. roseum subsp. tourneuxii Boiss., A. sativum L., A. sinaiticum Boiss., A. spathaceum Steud. ex A.Rich., and A. trifoliatum Cirillo. This study reports for the first time a comparative investigation of dorsal seed surface traits against ventral traits, revealing conspicuous differences for most species and highlighting the most informative diagnostic seed traits for distinguishing taxa. Allium subg. Allium L. has a broader range of variation than any of the other subgenera.

Generic delimitation of Bolanthus and resurrection of Jordania within Caryophylleae (Caryophyllaceae)

AbstractDespite remarkable progress in taxonomy within Caryophyllaceae and the tribe Caryophylleae gained from molecular phylogenetic evidence, there are some unresolved issues on generic boundaries in this tribe mainly due to poor sampling of some crucial taxa. This study builds upon previous phylogenetic analyses to clarify the generic boundaries of Bolanthus and its associated taxa in Turkey. We used tribe‐wide molecular phylogenies and reviewed the taxonomic history to address the controversies surrounding the classification of Bolanthus. In 2018, a new genus, Graecobolanthus, was proposed for Greek members of Bolanthus, while the monotypic genus Phrynella was synonymized under Bolanthus. Subsequent research suggested that Bolanthus hirsutus, the type of the genus name, aligns with the Greek clade, casting doubt on the validity of Graecobolanthus. Here we suggest the resurrection of the generic name Jordania for the Turkish species of Bolanthus (including Phrynella), with Jordania minuartioides designated as the lectotype. This reclassification aims to resolve the nomenclatural confusion and reflect phylogenetic relationships accurately. According to this concept, the necessary combinations are made.

Root patterns and exact surface energy of the spin-1 Heisenberg model with generic open boundaries

We investigate the thermodynamic limit and exact surface energy of the isotropic spin-1 Heisenberg chain with integrable generic open boundary conditions by a novel Bethe ansatz method. We obtain the homogeneous (or two-term) Bethe ansatz like equations for the zero roots of the transfer matrix. Based on the patterns of the zero roots, we analytical calculate the densities of zero roots and the surface energies of the model in all regimes of the boundary parameters.

From Melmoth to Maqroll: The Wanderer in Latin America

From Roberto Jorge Payró’s Violines y toneles (1908) to Álvaro Mutis’s Maqroll novellas (1986–1993), Maturin’s Melmoth the Wanderer (1820) repeatedly resurfaces across Latin America’s shifting cultural landscapes of the twentieth century. This article argues that the text’s influence testifies to the malleability and dynamism of Gothic’s transnational transmission from the late eighteenth century to the present day. Drawing on the concept of ‘globalgothic’, it traces the elaborate nexus of cultural and political channels through which Melmoth circulated in Latin America. The mapping of Melmoth’s journey across Latin America reveals a world of gothic interchange that traverses and, at times, transcends national, temporal, and generic boundaries. In so doing, this article situates the text and its afterlives within an intricate yet uneven economy of colonial and postcolonial exchange where generic and national hierarchies are often mutually reinforcing but equally unstable. Ultimately, Melmoth’s Latin American afterlives evidence a dynamic interplay between nation, genre, and form in the globalgothic.

Recircumscription of the genera Goniozus and Sierola (Hymenoptera: Bethylidae) based on morphological and molecular evidence

A number of undescribed species of the bethylid genera Goniozus and Sierola have been discovered in Australia and North America with character states that had previously been thought to be exclusive to one or the other, prompting a re-examination of the generic boundaries. Analysis of a large dataset of cytochrome oxidase I mtDNA sequences and key morphological characters found that Goniozus is well defined by two insertion-deletion events in COI. The traditional morphological characters can also be used to separate the genera, but variation within the regional fauna must be taken into account. Sierola always has four maxillary palpomeres; Goniozus usually has five, but some Nearctic species have four. Goniozus always has cell 2R1 of the fore wing open, with vein Rs weakly curved; Sierola has Rs bent sharply towards the wing margin, usually closing 2R1, but a small number of recently-described Hawaiian species and many undescribed Australian species and have it narrowly to moderately open. As a result of these changes, two species are transferred from Goniozus to Sierola: Sierola angulata (Muesebeck, 1933) comb. nov. from Australia, and Sierola jamiei (Ward, 2013) comb. nov. from New Zealand.

Crisis of Genre and Diasporic Identity in Maxine Hong Kingston's The Woman Warrior

Maxine Hong Kingston makes a conscious choice of presenting a multi-generic narrative in her autobiography, The Woman Warrior (1975) as a method of structural navigation which describes her experiences and struggles while growing up as a Chinese-American girl in California. As a diasporic text this choice of stretching the sacred conventions of autobiographical genre subjects it to scrutiny which primarily focuses on the text’s impact rather than search for meaning for the protagonist. The dispute among critics essentially considers the novel as fiction clumsily disguised as autobiography. This paper argues that the incorporation of talk stories, memory, fact, fiction along with elements of Chinese and American culture enables Kingston to truthfully comprehend a disoriented past where stories of the ‘other’ coexist and help in reconstructing a unique personal self. The deconstruction of generic boundaries in the text become tools for questioning the public-private binary associated with history and autobiography respectively. However, this blurring of distinctions between fiction and non-fiction in the novel is brought about not by ignoring norms of genre but by actively evaluating and engaging with it. An objective retelling of Kingston’s story then relies on multiple subjective experiences and fictious accounts which enable her to situate herself within her family and community and to understand the complexities of Asian-American identity.

First record of a cylindrical Dipterocladia (Ceramiales, Delesseriaceae), D. cylindrica sp. nov., from Korea based on morphological and molecular analyses

Abstract We describe a new species, Dipterocladia cylindrica, found in the subtidal zone of the eastern and southern coasts of Korea. This species has cylindrical branches with numerous sub-dichotomously branching monosiphonous determinate branchlets without adventitious filaments, heavy cortication throughout the thallus, and alternating clockwise periaxial cell formation. The external features of the new species are closer to those of the genus Dasya than to those of Dipterocladia, which have flattened thalli with pairwise distichously arranged monosiphonous pseudolateral and polysiphonous determinate laterals. However, based on the combined results of plastid rbcL and mitochondrial COI–5P sequences, the molecular phylogenetic relationships clearly indicate that our specimens belong to the genus Dipterocladia. We also detected more meaningful morphological characters for delineating the genus within the subfamily Dasyoideae by comparing the morphology and phylogeny, but we could not find unique characters for each clade. Further studies based on reproductive morphology and molecular phylogeny for delimiting the generic boundaries are needed.

Transgressing Translation/Translating Transgression: The Lili Elbe Digital Archive and the Modalities of Translation

This essay addresses a work that might fruitfully be approached as an international (auto)biography, the life narrative of Lili Elbe (published 1931), a major work in the history of gender variance. Using the versions of the narrative in a range of languages in the recently constructed, free-to-view Lili Elbe Digital Archive, this essay considers the many modalities of translation and transgression which comprise any effort to transition across linguistic, cultural, corporeal, epistemic, and generic boundaries. A concern with how bodies of knowledge as well as corporeal bodies are codified and circulated is fundamental not just to Translation Studies but to transgender studies and to the digital humanities as well, making these fields integral to any theoretical understanding of translation as such. It is argued not just that transgender should be understood as a mode of translation, but that translating transgender across languages, historical eras, and media provides an exemplary instance of, and a model for, the broader field of Translation Studies.

One-dimensional run-and-tumble motions with generic boundary conditions

The motion of run-and-tumble particles in one-dimensional finite domains are analyzed in the presence of generic boundary conditions. These describe accumulation at walls, where particles can either be absorbed at a given rate, or tumble, with a rate that may be, in general, different from that in the bulk. This formulation allows us to treat in a unified way very different boundary conditions (fully and partially absorbing/reflecting, sticky, sticky-reactive and sticky-absorbing boundaries) which can be recovered as appropriate limits of the general case. We report the general expression of the mean exit time, valid for generic boundaries, discussing many case studies, from equal boundaries to more interesting cases of different boundary conditions at the two ends of the domain, resulting in nontrivial expressions of mean exit times.

‘An Awakening of the Senses’: Reading Julia Child's My Life in France as Gastrography

ABSTRACT This paper explores the generic boundaries of Julia Child's My Life in France, and argues for its inclusion in non-fiction narrative food writing forms—variously termed food memoir, gastrography, and culinary autobiography, to name a few—typified by gastronomic literature. Food writing has been underpinned by a gendered philosophical framework that pits the (female-coded) domestic cookbook against a more generically malleable, narratively confessional, and structurally playful food writing, like (male-coded) gastronomic literature. Given its parallels to gastronomic literature—its irreverent tone, deep appreciation for cooking and eating, and dynamic form that melds travel writing, food writing, recipe, photo, and personal memory—I argue that to read Child's book as just ‘memoir’ would be to elide its connection to a broader culinary and literary tradition. Instead, I demonstrate the opportunity to reconsider women's existing contributions to a food writing style previously categorised as male. Reading My Life in France as an example of a specific kind of food/life writing builds on the work of Alice McLean and Traci Marie Kelly in contributing to an aesthetics of women's narrative nonfiction food writing.

Phylogeny and morphology of the Australian snake genus Neelaps Günther, 1863 (Squamata: Elapidae), with resurrection of Narophis Worrell, 1961

Recent phylogenetic studies have shown that the affinities of the two currently recognised species of Neelaps Günther, 1863, Neelaps bimaculatus (Duméril, Bibron & Duméril, 1854) and Neelaps calonotos (Duméril, Bibron & Duméril, 1854), are unresolved. Here we provide an expanded molecular phylogeny and new morphology data to clarify generic boundaries. We did not find support for monophyly of Neelaps, confirming previous evidence. As a consequence, we allocate bimaculatus to the available synonym Narophis Worrell, 1961 and restrict calonotos to Neelaps, forming two monotypic genera. We redescribe both species under this revised classification. Neelaps calonotos adds to the list of endemic monotypic vertebrates in southwestern Western Australia, recognised globally as a biodiversity hotspot, and we comment on the name spelling, type specimens and conservation status of this distinctive species.

A global phylogeny of grammitid ferns (Polypodiaceae) and its systematic implications

AbstractGrammitidoideae are the largest subfamily in Polypodiaceae and contain about 911 species. Progress has been made in understanding the overall phylogeny and generic boundaries in the light of recent molecular works. However, the majority of species, especially Asian species, and some critical type species of genera remain unsampled. In this study, a dataset of six plastid markers of 1003 (112 new) accessions representing ca. 412 species of Grammitidoideae including the type species of Ctenopterella, Grammitis, Moranopteris, Radiogrammitis, and Themelium, was assembled to infer a phylogeny. Our major results include: (1) the type species of Grammitis is successfully sequenced using a next‐generation sequencing technique and is resolved in Grammitis s.str. as expected; (2) Ctenopterella is found to be polyphyletic and a new clade consisting of C. khaoluangensis is resolved as sister to Tomophyllum; (3) the type species of Ctenopterella is resolved in a clade sister to the C. lasiostipes clade; (4) Oreogrammitis is found to be polyphyletic and three clades outside of the core Oreogrammitis are identified containing O. subevenosa and allies, O. orientalis, and O. beddomeana (+ O. cf. beddomeana); (5) Prosaptia is found to be paraphyletic with P. nutans being sister to a clade containing the rest of Prosaptia and Archigrammitis; (6) the intergeneric and major relationships within the Asia‐Pacific clade are well resolved and strongly supported except for a few branches; (7) extensive cryptic speciation is detected in the Asia‐Pacific clade; and (8) based on the polyphyly of Ctenopterella we describe three new genera, Boonkerdia, Oxygrammitis, and Rouhania, for species formerly in Ctenopterella; because the type species of Grammitis belongs to Grammitis s.str., we describe five new genera, Aenigmatogrammitis, Grammitastrum (stat. nov.), Howeogrammitis, Nanogrammitis, and Thalassogrammitis for species formerly in Grammitis s.l. A key to the 35 Old‐World genera is given, a taxonomic treatment is presented, and the morphology of all new genera is shown with either a color plate and/or a line drawing.

Developing a boundary crossing learning trajectory: supporting engineering students to collaborate and co-create across disciplinary, cultural and professional practices

ABSTRACT The competence to work together and co-create with others outside one’s own scientific domain, culture or professional practice is a critical competence for engineers to respond to global challenges. In this context, boundary crossing (BC) competence is crucial. We reflect on a university-wide participatory action research educational innovation project for developing and implementing BC in its education, draw conceptual and practical lessons learned and identify success factors. The BC theory and its four learning mechanisms (identification, coordination, reflection, transformation) are introduced and we argue that they provide a solid foundation for BC competence development in courses and curricula. We show that BC can relatively easy be implemented in existing education, yet it is crucial to use experiential types of learning to make this rather abstract concept tangible for both teachers and students. Two key lessons learned for developing BC education are to see BC competence as a generic competence and boundaries as learning opportunities.

Wonder and loss in Céline Sciamma's Petite maman

This article reads Céline Sciamma's 2021 film Petite maman in relation to the widespread isolation and loss experienced during the Covid-19 pandemic. The film offers a poignant meditation on the mother–child relationship and the vital role of wonder and imagination in mourning. Drawing on Descartes and feminist philosophers Luce Irigary and Catherine Malabou, this article seeks to understand why wonder is so critical to empathy and presence. It then traces the ways in which Sciamma introduces wonder into the film: through the circulation of stories and objects, through a heightened diegetic use of sound that draws the spectator in, through references to fairy tales, through an elastic approach to time and a blurring of spatial and generic boundaries, through the positioning of the camera at the child's eye level, through an astonishing series of doubles and mirrors that provoke curiosity rather than fear, and through a queering of the characters’ relations to one another and to their surroundings. Ultimately, Sciamma's Petite maman explores the creative and reparative potential of wonder in forging more expansive, fluid notions of self, opening up new intergenerational connections among women, and coming to terms with the loss.

Supermatrix analyses reveal the importance of outgroup, gene and taxon sampling in Onosma (Boraginaceae) phylogenetics

Tribe Lithospermeae (Boraginaceae) consists of ca. 26 genera and 470 species, in which Onosma constitutes approximately one third of the species (~150). Although the tribe is strongly supported as monophyletic, both generic and species boundaries remain ambiguous. Among them, not only the phylogenetic position of Eastern Asian Onosma species, but also the taxonomic limits of the genus remain unclear. Whether Eastern Asian Onosma is monophyletic, or the genus should be widened to include Maharanga, and maybe Cystostemon, are still open questions. For these reasons, I performed 16 phylogenetic analyses with different taxon coverages, alignments, gene regions and outgroups, with up to 746 taxa of tribe Lithospermeae and with five DNA regions, using data from GenBank. The results, with the widest taxon coverage to date, show that while genus Onosma is not monophyletic in any of the analyses, the phylogenetic relationships among Onosma s.s., Eastern Asian Onosma, Maharanga and Cystostemon differ among analyses. However, the approximately unbiased (AU) test showed that the topology (((Eastern Asian Onosma+Maharanga) Cystostemon) Onosma s.s.) is overwhelmingly supported. Therefore, the current study highlights the importance of taxon, gene and outgroup sampling in Onosma phylogenetics.

(2959–2960) Proposals to conserve the name Abelmoschus against Laguna, and Pavonia, nom. cons., against the additional names Malvaviscus and Malachra (Malvaceae)

(2959–2960) Proposals to conserve the name <i>Abelmoschus</i> against <i>Laguna</i>, and <i>Pavonia</i>, nom. cons., against the additional names <i>Malvaviscus</i> and <i>Malachra</i> (<i>Malvaceae</i>)

Creativity and Critique in Asian American Literature: From Juxtaposition to Articulation

ABSTRACT This essay introduces Amerasia Journal’s special issue on “Creativity and Critique in Asian American Literature.” Drawing upon multi-genre and multimodal contributions to this issue, we theorize different ways of joining creative and critical modes, offering five suppositions as to what this articulation enables for Asian American representation; autobiography and art; embodiment and living archives; generic, epistemological, and structural boundaries; as well as collaborative care and stewardship of Asian American literary and creative arts. In conversation with the contributors, we reflect on creative-critical convergences and how they transform the broader social and ethical ecosystem of Asian American literature.

Methodological framework for Life Cycle Assessment of sustainable aviation (SA) systems

A comprehensive framework is proposed for Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) in the field of commercial aviation (passengers and cargo), capable to ensure transparency and comparability when evaluating the overall environmental performances of four emerging aviation systems, i.e., biofuels, electrofuels, electric, and hydrogen. The projected global revenue passenger kilometer (RPK) and is suggested as the functional unit for two timeframes representing near-term (2035) and long-term (2045), and for two segments, namely domestic and international. To solve the difficulty of comparing liquid fuels and electric aviation, the framework proposes a methodology to translate projected RPK into energy requirements for each of the studied sustainable aviation systems. Generic system boundaries are defined with their key activities for all four systems, with the biofuel system being sub-divided into two categories to distinguish whether it stems from residual or land-dependent biomass. The activities are grouped in seven categories: (i) conventional (fossil-based) kerosene activity, (ii) conversion processes from feedstock supply (to fuel or energy production for aircraft operation), (iii) counterfactual uses of constrained resources and displacement effects associated to co-products management, (iv) aircraft manufacture, (v) aircraft operation, (vi) additional infrastructure needed, and (vii) end-of-life management (aircraft and batteries). Considering applying regulations, the framework also includes a methodology to handle: (i) hybridization (the use of more than one source of energy/propulsion system to power an aircraft), (ii) the mass penalty affecting the number of carried passengers in some of the systems, and (iii) impacts stemming from non-CO2 tailpipe emissions - aspects that are currently neglected in most LCA studies. The proposed framework builds upon the most recent knowledge in the field; however, some choices are dependent on upcoming scientific advances concerning e.g., tailpipe emissions at high altitude and their environmental impacts, new aircraft configuration, etc., and are subject to significant uncertainties. Overall, this framework provides a guideline for LCA practitioners addressing new energy sources for future aviation.

‘A Poem Made Flesh’: Necromancing the Sovereignty Goddess in Emma Donoghue’s Hood

This essay explores the role of the sovereignty goddess in Emma Donoghue’s Hood (1995) and its protagonist’s efforts to come to terms with the death of her newly deceased girlfriend. Taking its impetus from Donoghue’s self-characterization as a literary ‘grave robber’, this essay examines how Hood’s protagonist, Pen, necromances the sovereignty goddess in an effort to produce and legitimize a recognizable lesbian subject in late twentieth-century Ireland. Framing Donoghue’s queer, feminist engagement with the goddess in relation to Mikhail Bakhtin’s theorization of the ‘chronotope’ – a narratological device that expresses a novel’s interfused time and space – this essay illustrates how Pen’s posthumous re-construction of her partner, Cara, comes to function as an anthropomorphic chronotope, whose body delineates the temporal, geographical, and generic boundaries of the novel. At the same time, drawing on Kristevan notions of abjection, it also traces how the simulacrum of Cara’s corpse decays across the novel, and explores the implications of this dissolution on the viability of the queer sovereignty mode the novel envisages. Refiguring the novel as a gothic tale about lesbian love, death, and grief, this essay demonstrates how Hood deploys an abject sovereignty goddess to both deconstruct the nightmare of Ireland’s social and cultural history, and produce inchoate, utopian daydreams for the nation’s future. In doing so, it argues that Hood performs a post-mortem on both Cara’s memory and the sovereignty tradition itself, resurrecting the goddess to mourn the Irish canon’s hetero-patriarchal sovereignty tradition, even as it facilitates the necromantic conversion of Ireland into a queer nation.