Northern Origin Research Articles

Ancestral origins: northern Levantine Funerary Palaces in the Middle Bronze Age

While typically considered a south Levantine palace form, recent research suggests that the Middle Bronze Age Funerary Palace type has its origins in the northern Levant. The Western Palace at Ebla (Building Q) has long been known to feature similarities in plan, layout and contents with south Levantine forms. Of particular note is the shared funerary association in both southern and northern examples, specifically the discovery of elite, possibly royal interments, and associated retainer burials, in association with these complexes. In addition to Ebla, other palace complexes from the northern Levant, broadly defined, should be considered as examples of the Funerary Palace form, namely Byblos and Tell el-Burak. This paper will outline the evidence in support of this association and explore the ramifications of a broadly northern origin of the Funerary Palace form in wider considerations on the nature of MBA urbanism more generally.

Spatial phylogenetics of grasses in the Southern Cone provides insights into ecology and evolution of the family in South America

AbstractIn this study, we explored the distributions of grass genera in the Southern Cone (SC) of South America, applying several phylogenetic diversity (PD) metrics and randomization tests. Grasses appear to have been present in South America since their early evolution as tropical understory species more than 60 Ma. During the course of evolution, grasses have adapted to all terrestrial biomes and become one of the most successful plant families on earth. At present, the SC contains nearly all terrestrial biomes and a wide range of humid to arid ecoregions. Analyzing 126.514 point occurrences and four plastid markers for 148 genera (91% of the native grass genera), we found that tropical humid regions hold the highest PD, with no observed bias in branch lengths. These results indicate that niche conservatism dominates the diversity pattern of grasses in the SC. We found significantly low PD in the Dry Chaco and in the Patagonian Steppe, which suggest ecological filtering in both warm and cold arid regions. The Patagonian Steppe also holds significantly longer branches than expected by chance, as the native grass flora is mainly composed of distantly related Pooideae genera with a northern hemisphere origin. Short branches are found in the Uruguayan Savanna, suggesting that these grasslands could be a cradle for grass diversity within the SC. The dated phylogeny supported the current view of a relatively recent evolution of the family within the SC, with most diversification taking place from the middle Miocene and onwards.

Variation of chlorophyll index and dry mass in Quercus robur L. trees from different provenances

In the comparative forest cultures of the "Plaiul Fagului” Scientific Reserve, an evaluation of the chlorophyll index and dry mass in the leaves of pedunculate oak descendants from the northern, central, and southern regions of the Republic of Moldova was carried out. The obtained data showed significant variations within trees in terms of minimum and maximum values, as well as the position of the median value relative to the mean in the distribution of the chlorophyll index in the investigated provenances. The analysis of the variation indicates significant differences in the distribution of the chlorophyll index of the leaves of trees originating from different ecological zones. Within this variation, two trends can be observed. The first trend refers to the fact that descendants from more distant areas (in the north and south) have a higher chlorophyll index than those from the central area (including local provenance). This difference due to the fact that descendants from ,,foreign” zones are exposed to different environmental conditions than optimal ones, which makes adaptation processes more pronounced compared to descendants from the central zone with similar conditions to the cultivation area. The second tendency consists of the uniformity in the response of different genotypes of non-locally provenance descendants from remote areas in the north and south, in relation to the specific environmental conditions of the common arboretum. This uniformity is indicated by lower coefficients of variation in the chlorophyll index of descendants from ,,foreign” zones compared to local provenance ones. Therefore, descendants of non-local provenance developed adaptation processes in new environmental conditions reflected by differences in the distribution of chlorophyll content. In descendants of northern and southern origin, these differences are lower than those characteristic of local provenance descendants. This view is supported by the fact that the dry mass rate of the leaves of local provenance descendants tends to be lower compared to those from the northern and southern parts of the Republic of Moldova.

Sartorial commemoration of Princess Yennenga through Wiyaala’s War Costume Mimicry

History is an invaluable reflective resource for progressive national development. In Africa, various studies have delved into the memory lane to identify and commemorate past heroic or iconic figures for their diverse contributions to shaping the destinies of societies and nations. However, such commemorative studies are inexhaustive, as many unsung heroic or iconic figures still abound. One such unsung heroic figure is Princess Yennenga. The current study sets out to sartorially commemorate Princess Yennenga’s iconography by delving into Wiyaala mimicry of Princess Yennenga’s war costume regalia for a teaser movie shot by Mothertongue in Ghana. It adopted the methodological blueprint of qualitative historical design, with Wiyaala as the principal and homogeneous respondent purposively sampled and interviewed. An in-depth historical and thematic analysis of primary and secondary data found Princess Yennenga to be a warrioress of northern Ghanaian origin and the emblematic founding mother of the Mossi Kingdom in Burkina Faso. It was also established that the materiality, accessories, and props that constituted Wiyaala’s dramatic mimicry of Yennenga’s war costume were locally self-constructed. The study concludes that the wild, dramatic character projected by Wiyaala through her self-constructed war costume symbolically reimaged Princess Yennenga’s warrioress identity and thereby contributes to commemorating Yennenga’s heroic legacies in the historical development of the Dagomba and Mossi Kingdoms of Ghana and Burkina Faso, respectively. It will, therefore, be plausible if similar sartorial commemorative studies are conducted on other unsung heroic/iconic figures to highlight the instrumentality of costume art in heroic and iconic identity construction.

Comparison of in vitro and in vivo repellency bioassay methods for Ixodesscapularis nymphs

BackgroundNumerous bioassay methods have been used to test the efficacy of repellents for ticks, but the comparability of results across different methods has only been evaluated in a single study. Of particular interest are comparisons between bioassays that use artificial containers (in vitro) with those conducted on a human subject (in vivo) for efficacy testing of new potential unregistered active ingredients, which most commonly use in vitro methods.MethodsWe compared four different bioassay methods and evaluated three ingredients (DEET [N,N-Diethyl-meta-toluamide], peppermint oil and rosemary oil) and a negative control (ethanol) over a 6-h period. Two of the methods tested were in vivo bioassay methods in which the active ingredient was applied to human skin (finger and forearm bioassays), and the other two methods were in vitro methods using artificial containers (jar and petri dish bioassays). All four bioassays were conducted using Ixodesscapularis nymphs. We compared the results using nymphs from two different tick colonies that were derived from I.scapularis collected in the US states of Connecticut and Rhode Island (northern origin) and Oklahoma (southern origin), expecting that ticks of different origin would display differences in host-seeking behavior.ResultsThe results between bioassay methods did not differ significantly, even when comparing those that provide the stimulus of human skin with those that do not. We also found that tick colony source can impact the outcome of repellency bioassays due to differences in movement speed; behavioral differences were incorporated into the assay screening. DEET effectively repelled nymphs for the full 6-h duration of the study. Peppermint oil showed a similar repellent efficacy to DEET during the first hour, but it decreased sharply afterwards. Rosemary oil did not effectively repel nymphs across any of the time points.ConclusionsThe repellency results did not differ significantly between the four bioassay methods tested. The results also highlight the need to consider the geographic origin of ticks used in repellency bioassays in addition to species and life stage. Finally, our results indicate a limited repellent efficacy of the two essential oils tested, which highlights the need for further studies on the duration of repellency for similar botanically derived active ingredients and for evaluation of formulated products.Graphical

Erratum: Genesis of vesiculation in dolerite sills of the Shimokawa ophiolite in the northern Hidaka belt，Hokkaido and origin of albite - K-feldspar veins

地質学雑誌128巻掲載の加藤ほか論文Fig. 7B（p.434）において，誤ったColor compositional map画像が表示されていました．正しい画像に差し替えて，訂正いたします．

GWAS of grain color and tannin content in Chinese sorghum based on whole-genome sequencing

Key messageSeventy-three QTL related to grain color and tannin content were identified in Chinese sorghum accessions, and a new recessive allelic variant of TAN2 gene was discovered.Sorghum is mainly used for brewing distilled liquors in China. Since grain tannins play an important role in liquor brewing, accurately understanding the relationship between grain color and tannin content can provide basis for selection standards of tannin sorghum. We resequenced a panel of 242 Chinese sorghum accessions and performed population structure and genome-wide association study (GWAS) to identify quantitative trait locus (QTL) affecting pericarp color, testa pigment, and tannin content. Phylogenetic analysis, principal component analysis (PCA), and admixture model were used to infer population structure. Two distinct genetic sub-populations were identified according to their corresponding northern and southern geographic origin. To investigate the genetic basis of natural variation in sorghum grain color, GWAS with 2,760,264 SNPs was conducted in four environments using multiple models (Blink, FarmCPU, GLM, and MLM). Seventy-three QTL were identified to be associated for the color of exocarp, mesocarp, testa, and tannin content on all chromosomes except chromosome 5, of which 47 might be novel QTL. Some important QTL were found to colocalize with orthologous genes in the flavonoid biosynthetic pathway from other plants, including orthologous of Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) TT2, TT7, TT12, TT16 and AT5G41220 (GST), as well as orthologous of rice (Oryza sativa) MYB61 and OsbHLH025. Our investigation of the variation in grain color and tannin content in Chinese sorghum germplasm may help guide future sorghum breeding for liquor brewing.

Effect of ripening temperature on the chemical composition of lingonberries (Vaccinium vitis-idaea L.) of northern and southern origin

Lingonberries (Vaccinium vitis-idaea L.) from two locations, northern (69°N, 18°E) and southern (59°N, 10°E) Norway, were grown under controlled conditions in a phytotron at two temperatures (9 and 15 °C) to study the effects of the ripening temperature and origin on the chemical composition of the berries. The concentrations of phenolic compounds, sugars, and organic acids as well as the profile of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) were determined using chromatographic and mass spectrometric methods. Five anthocyanins, eleven flavonols, eight cinnamic acid derivatives, three flavan-3-ols, three sugars, three organic acids, and 77 VOCs were identified, of which 40 VOCs had not previously been reported in lingonberries. Berries from both locations, were found to have higher contents of anthocyanins and cinnamic acid derivatives when ripened at lower temperature (9 °C), compared to the higher temperature (15 °C). Lingonberries of northern origin had a different VOC profile and higher contents of anthocyanins and organic acids than berries originating from the south. Lingonberries from the northern location also had higher proportions of cyanidin-3-O-glucoside and cyanidin-3-O-arabinoside than lingonberries from the southern location. The results show that the composition of lingonberries is influenced by both the environment and the origin of the plants, with phenolic compounds mainly influenced by the growth temperature and VOCs mainly influenced by plant origin.

Two Portrayals of Public Debt in the Formation of Modern Italy: From the Ancien Régime to Modern Capitalism

The unification of Italian public debts in 1861 has been analysed until now without any detailed investigation into the changes that occurred in pre-existent public finance models, particularly as regards the contextualisation of public debt within the evolving framework of Italian capitalism. The Kingdom of Sardinia imposed on the other Italian regions not merely a state, bureaucratic and administrative system, but also an economic and financial one: a modern liberal-capitalist model of northern European origin and inspiration. The transition and incorporation of the Neapolitan public debt into the Great Book of the Italian Public Debt bear witness to this change. The aim of the present article is to investigate the transformation of the Italian public debt's structure. I explore specifically the effects of the shift from registered bonds to bearer bonds in Naples, as exemplifying a more radical metamorphosis and the transition from a public finance model typical of the ancien régime to the modern liberal-capitalist one, which is characterised by the Kingdom of Sardinia.

A recent northern origin for the Uto-Aztecan family

The Uto-Aztecan language family is one of the largest language families in the Americas. However, there has been considerable debate about its origin and how it spread. Here we use Bayesian phylogenetic methods to analyze lexical data from thirty-four Uto-Aztecan varieties and two Kiowa-Tanoan languages. We infer the age of Proto-Uto-Aztecan to be around 4,100 years (3,258–5,025 years) and identify the most likely homeland to be near what is now Southern California. We reconstruct the most probable subsistence strategy in the ancestral Uto-Aztecan society and infer no casual or intensive cultivation, an absence of cereal crops, and a primary subsistence mode of gathering (rather than agriculture). Our results therefore support the timing, geography, and cultural practices of a northern origin and are inconsistent with alternative scenarios.

A recent northern origin for the Uto-Aztecan family: Supplementary Material

A recent northern origin for the Uto-Aztecan family: Supplementary Material

A recent northern origin for the Uto-Aztecan family

The Uto-Aztecan language family is one of the largest language families in the Americas. However, there has been considerable debate about its origin and how it spread. Here we use Bayesian phylogenetic methods to analyze lexical data from thirty-four Uto-Aztecan varieties and two Kiowa-Tanoan languages. We infer the age of Proto-Uto-Aztecan to be around 4,100 years (3,258–5,025 years) and identify the most likely homeland to be near what is now Southern California. We reconstruct the most probable subsistence strategy in the ancestral Uto-Aztecan society and infer no casual or intensive cultivation, an absence of cereal crops, and a primary subsistence mode of gathering (rather than agriculture). Our results therefore support the timing, geography, and cultural practices of a northern origin and are inconsistent with alternative scenarios.

A new species of Plohophorus Ameghino (Cingulata, Glyptodontidae) from the latest Pliocene–earliest Pleistocene of the Pampean Region (Argentina): the last survivor of a Neogene lineage

Within xenarthrans, two large groups are recognized, Pilosa (anteaters and sloths) and Cingulata (armoured xenarthrans). The latter contains Glyptodontidae, one of the most bizarre and enigmatic groups of animals that ever lived. Recent phylogenetic proposals show an early Miocene divergence into two clades, one of northern origin (Glyptodontinae) and the other with its oldest records in the early–middle Miocene of southern South America, which groups most of the recognized diversity. Although knowledge of the ‘austral clade’ has increased recently, several taxa need urgent taxonomic and phylogenetic studies to understand their evolutionary history. One case is represented by the ‘Plohophorini’, a tribe that traditionally included several genera (Plohophorus, Pseudoplohophorus, Phlyctaenopyga, Stromaphorus and Stromaphoropsis), from the late Miocene–Pliocene of the Pampean and North-Western regions of Argentina, and Uruguay. A new and terminal species of Plohophorus, P. avellaneda sp. nov., coming from the El Polvorín Formation (Pampean region of Argentina) is here reported and described, and represents the first case of a Neogene genus of glyptodont crossing the Plio–Pleistocene boundary (c. 2.53 Ma). In addition, the palaeohistological analysis on the osteoderms (the first for ‘Plohophorini’) reveals some characters not observed in other glyptodonts, highlighting its potential phylogenetic importance. The phylogenetic analysis corroborates that the well-characterized species of ‘Plohophorini’ of Uruguay and the Pampean region of Argentina (‘eastern Plohophorini’) constitute a natural group within the austral clade, since both species of Plohophorus (P. avellaneda + P. figuratus) cluster together, and are the sister taxa of Ps. absolutus + Ps. benvenutti. Along the evolutionary history of Plohophorini an increase in body mass is observed, reaching its maximum with P. avellaneda sp. nov. (c. 471 ka). Despite the high frequency of late Pliocene records, Plohophorini disappear completely from the fossil record during the Pleistocene, suggesting that this character was negatively selected. http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:FF11606C-2F27-4309-9DFD-FA74E769E639

Genesis of vesiculation in dolerite sills of the Shimokawa ophiolite in the northern Hidaka belt，Hokkaido and origin of albite - K-feldspar veins

下川オフィオライトの玄武岩類は全般的に発泡度が低いが，一部の比較的厚いドレライト岩床が異常に高い発泡度を示す．本岩体はN-MORBで，大半が無発泡であることから起源マグマは揮発性成分に枯渇していた．高発泡ドレライト岩床の接触急冷縁が無発泡で内部が気泡に富むことから，貫入後に揮発性成分が飽和した．岩床から見つかった曹長石-カリ長石脈は，厚さが太く，不規則な境界をなし，他の脈に切られており，比較的大きな丸みのある気泡を含む．脈はまだ完全に固結していないドレライト中で形成された．脈は粗面岩質の組成を示しMORBの残液ではない．脈の鉱物化学組成は低温のソルバス以下の晶出を示す．気泡に富むドレライトの全岩化学組成はK2OとRbが高い．以上のことから脈は熱水流体の痕跡である．つまり岩床の高発泡の要因は，周囲の堆積物からマグマに熱水流体としてもたらされた揮発性成分であると考えられる．

Genetic structure and trait variation within a maple hybrid zone underscore North China as an overlooked diversity hotspot

Tertiary relict flora in East Asia can be divided into northern and southern regions. North China is a diversity hotspot because it can be the secondary contact zone of ancient lineages from the two regions. To test the extent of ancient lineages hybridization and distinguish between the putative species pair Acer pictum subsp. mono and Acer truncatum, we conducted genetic and ecological studies within a maple hybrid zone in North China. Our results suggest that the two lineages of Acer coexist in the hybrid zone and that adult and offspring populations show typical bimodal genetic patterns. Hybrid individuals are established at intermediate altitudes between the two parental lineages. Flowering phenology is divergent between lineages, whereas the complex sexual system of Acer may ensure pollination among lineages. Leaf and fruit morphologies are different between the northern and southern origin lineages, corresponding to A. pictum subsp. mono and A. truncatum, respectively. Reduced gene flow between lineages suggests that they should be considered as two species. However, large morphological variations within each species and the existence of hybrids offer low reliability of species identification based solely on morphological traits. Our study underscores North China as an overlooked diversity hotspot that requires further study in the future.

Population structure and inbreeding in wild house mice (Mus musculus) at different geographic scales.

House mice (Mus musculus) have spread globally as a result of their commensal relationship with humans. In the form of laboratory strains, both inbred and outbred, they are also among the most widely used model organisms in biomedical research. Although the general outlines of house mouse dispersal and population structure are well known, details have been obscured by either limited sample size or small numbers of markers. Here we examine ancestry, population structure, and inbreeding using SNP microarray genotypes in a cohort of 814 wild mice spanning five continents and all major subspecies of Mus, with a focus on M. m. domesticus. We find that the major axis of genetic variation in M. m. domesticus is a south-to-north gradient within Europe and the Mediterranean. The dominant ancestry component in North America, Australia, New Zealand, and various small offshore islands are of northern European origin. Next we show that inbreeding is surprisingly pervasive and highly variable, even between nearby populations. By inspecting the length distribution of homozygous segments in individual genomes, we find that inbreeding in commensal populations is mostly due to consanguinity. Our results offer new insight into the natural history of an important model organism for medicine and evolutionary biology.

Genetic Diversity Analysis of the Chinese Daur Ethnic Group in Heilongjiang Province by Complete Mitochondrial Genome Sequencing.

Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) has the characteristics of maternal inheritance, high mutation rate, high copy number, and no recombination. As the most powerful tool for studying the origin and evolution of modern humans, mtDNA has great significance in the research of population genetics and evolutionary genetics. Here, we provide new insights into the maternal genetic history of the Daur ethnic group by generating complete mitochondrial genomes from a total of 146 Daur individuals in China. We also collected the published complete mitochondrial genome sequences of 5,094 individuals from 56 worldwide populations as reference data to further explore the matrilineal genetic landscape of the Daur ethnic group. First, the haplotype diversity was 0.9943 ± 0.0019 and nucleotide diversity was 0.0428 ± 0.0210. The neutrality tests of the Daur group showed significant negative values and the mismatch distribution curve was obviously distributed in a unimodal pattern. The results showed that the Daur ethnic group has high genetic diversity and may have experienced recent population expansion. In addition, the main haplogroups of the Daur population were haplogroup D (31.51%), M* (20.55%), C (10.28%), F (7.53%), and B (6.85%), all of which were prevalent in northern China. It probably implies the northern Chinese origin of the Daur population. The PCA, F ST, and phylogenetic analysis results indicated that the Daur group formed a cluster with East Asian populations, and had few genetic differences with the populations in northern China. More importantly, we found that disease-related mutation sites of the mitochondrial genome may be related to ethnic groups, which may have important implications for the prevention and occurrence of specific diseases. Overall, this study revealed the complexity and diversity of the matrilineal genetic background of the Daur ethnic group. Meanwhile, it provided meaningful data for the research on the diversity of the human genome.

THE CURRENT STATE OF THE CASPIAN TERN (<i>HYDROPROGNE CASPIA</i>) IN THE LENINGRAD REGION AND NEW PLACES OF THIS SPECIES REPRODUCTION IN THE EASTERN PART OF THE GULF OF FINLAND

Under the development of warm phase of climate during the recent decades, large-scale changes in the ranges and numbers of a large number of species of both southern and northern origin have occurred in the Baltic region. Thus, various species demonstrate unsynchronized changes. The population growth of the Caspian Tern ( Hydroprogne caspia ) and its active expansion into the north-western direction were fixed in the 1st half of the XXth century; on the contrary, in the last decades, there is a general trend to number decreasing. This article elaborates on the history of settling of the mentioned species into the Eastern part of the Gulf of Finland, its spatial distribution and peculiarities of biotopic preferences of nesting birds. It is shown that, in contrast to other southern migrants in the region, the Caspian Tern remains a rare species over the past 30-40 years with a tendency to strong fluctuations in number. This is probably caused by the lack of a bird stock in the nearest breeding locations. It has been shown that the stenobiontic species Caspian Tern nests usually in open sandy biotopes. Inhabiting the Gulf of Finland, it mastered reproduction in a completely different landscape on selga massive-crystallic granite rocks.

A New Jurassic Kempynine Species With Notes on Historical Distributions of Kempyninae Integrated Both Fossil and Extant Taxa (Neuroptera: Osmylidae)

The extant kempynines, a strict “southern group,” are confined to South America and Australia, while their most fossil relatives are abundantly recorded in the Northern Hemisphere. This pattern of the biogeographic distribution implies the complicated evolutionary scenario of Kempyninae. Herein, a new northern species Arbusella platyptera Ma et Wang, sp. nov. is described from the Jiulongshan Formation in Daohugou, Inner Mongolia, China. Additionally, a key to the extinct species and extant genera of Kempyninae is provided. Integrating all extant and most fossil genera of Kempyninae, we conducted phylogenetic analyses to explore the inner relationships of Kempyninae for the first time. The results corroborate the monophyly of Kempyninae and retrieve three clades within the subfamily, namely, two northern fossil genera (†Arbusellla + †Jurakempynus), constituting the basalmost clade and three other northern fossil genera (†Sauktangida + †Mirokempynus + †Ponomarenkius), forming a monophylic clade, which is sister to the third clade that includes all extant southern genera and the southern fossil genus of †Euporismites. Also, the extant kempynines were hypothesized to evolve independently from their northern Mesozoic relatives. The Dispersal-vicariance (DIVA) analysis revealed a northern and prepangean origin of Kempyninae, and the northern ancestral kempynines first colonized the Southern Hemisphere before the split of Pangea. Our results expose a more complicated evolutionary scenario of the insects with a long evolutionary history and provide new insights into the formation of distribution patterns in current relictual insects.

Evolutionary history of the Australasian Scirtinae (Scirtidae; Coleoptera) inferred from ultraconserved elements

The Scirtidae Fleming, 1821 has been identified as one of the earliest diverging groups of Polyphagan beetles and is particularly speciose in Australia. However, very little is known about the origin of the Australian scirtids and there is a need for a robust, well-supported phylogeny to guide the genus and species descriptions and understand the relationships among taxa. In this study we carried out a phylogenetic analysis of the Australian Scirtinae Fleming, 1821, using DNA sequence data from ultraconserved elements (UCEs) and included representative taxa from New Zealand, New Caledonia, South America, South Africa and Eurasia in the analysis. Bayesian analyses of a concatenated dataset from 79 taxa recovered four major Southern Hemisphere groupings and two Australian–Eurasian groupings. The Veronatus group mainly consisted of genera from New Zealand, with the three Australian representatives only distantly related to each other. Relaxed molecular clock analyses, using the estimated age of the crown node of the Polyphaga for calibration, support a Gondwanan history for four of the groups of Australian Scirtinae and a northern origin for two groups. Our results highlight the value of commercially available UCEs for resolving the phylogenetic history of ancient groups of Coleoptera.