Shorter Claws Research Articles

Four New Taxa and One Rediscovered Species of Mouriri (Melastomataceae)

Three new species of Mouriri from midwestern and southwestern Colombia and eastern Brazil are described and illustrated, as is a new subspecies of Mouriri grandifora from western Amazonia. Mouriri tessmannii, its type and only known specimen destroyed at Berlin, has been recollected and is redescribed and illustrated. Mouriri colombiana Morley, sp. nov. TYPE: Colombia. Antioquia: Municipio de San Luis, Canon del Rio Claro, sector norte, margen derecha, 5?53'N, 74?39'W, 3 June 1984, Alvaro Cogollo 1796 (holotype, COL; isotypes, JAUM, MO). Figure 1. Arbor usque 26 m alta; laminae 2.9-8.6 cm longae, 1.8-3.5 plo longiorae quam latiorae; cryptae stomatophorae nullae, hypodermis absens; pedunculi plerumque 1-flori, pedicelli 0.8-3.5 mm longi; calyx 0.5-0.8 mm findens inter lobos sub anthesi, lobis 1-1.3 mm longis ab staminibus; antherae 3.4-4.1 mm longae, thecae 2.53.3 mm longae, rimis apicalibus dehiscentes; ovarium 1-loculare, ovula 8-11; fructus globosus exterio viscosissimo; semina 1 vel fortasse 2, ca. 22 mm alta, 24 mm lata, 11 mm crassa. Glabrous tree to 26 m high; young twigs rounded. Petioles 3-6 mm long; blades 2.9-8.6 cm long, 1.4-3.8 mm wide, 1.8-3.5 times as long as wide, elliptic to ovate-elliptic or narrowly so, acuminate to abruptly so to caudate at apex, acute and abruptly attenuate at base; midrib grooved above, low-rounded below; lateral nerves slightly visible to invisible above and below when dry; leaves drying dark olive green to black. Midrib xylem open above; stomatal crypts none; upper epidermis one cell thick, lacking mucilaginous walls; hypodermis none; crystals occasional in the upper spongy parenchyma; terminal sclereids stellate with a strong columnar tendency, often with a horizontal central body 2-8 times as long as wide with a columnar extension at each end, sometimes entirely columnar, the columnar parts branching at the epidermis. Flowers axillary and terminal, the peduncles one or two per axil, each 1or rarely 2or 3-flowered, 0.5-4 mm long to base of pedicel measured along the axis with (1)2(-3) internodes in that length; bracts 0.7-1.5 mm long, ovate-triangular, acute, persistent in fruit or deciduous. Flowers pentamerous; true pedicels 0.83.5 mm long; calyx including inferior ovary 4-5 mm long, obconic to campanulate; free hypanthium 2.3-2.5 mm long; calyx lobes before anthesis lowrounded and sometimes with a very small apiculum, 0.2-0.4 mm long, 1.2-1.4 mm wide, 1-1.3 mm long when measured from the stamen attachment, the calyx splitting between the lobes at anthesis a distance of 0.5-0.8 mm, the lobes then 1.7-2.2 mm wide. Petals yellow, 10-11 mm long, 3.5-4 mm wide, narrowly ovate-triangular, acuminate, with a short claw at base. Antesepalous filaments 6.5-7 mm long, antepetalous ones 8-9 mm long; anthers yellow-orange, 3.4-4.1 mm long; thecae 2.5-3.3 mm long, dehiscing by apical slits; gland 0.4-0.8 mm long, 1.3-1.9 mm from apex of anther when measured from center of gland; cauda 0.8-1 mm long. Ovary 1-locular but with a half partition, the ovules technically axile, 8-11; style 13-15 mm long. All flower parts drying blackish except for the anthers. Fruits globose, bearing the remains of the calyx, 23-40 mm diam. when dry, estimated 2750 mm when fresh, then covered with a sticky transparent resin, green to greenish yellow. Seeds 1 or sometimes 2, roughly half spherical, 16-28 mm wide, one studied, this 22.2 mm high, 24 mm wide, 11 mm thick, with an irregular polished area at the base of the outer face 13 mm long by 8 mm wide, the remainder of the outer face irregularly grooved or wrinkled. Distribution. Known only from an area in southern Antioquia, Colombia, about one-third of the way from Medellin to Bogota. Figure 1. Mouriri colombiana Morley. -A. Leaves from various collections. -B. Cleared part of leaf blade showing veins and terminal sclereids. -C. Cross section of leaf blade showing sclereids and upper epidermis. -D. Cross section of leaf midrib. -E. Flowers: a, before anthesis (Renteria 2797); b, at anthesis (Cogollo 1796). -F. Longisection of flower before anthesis. -G. Petal. -H. Anthers, cleared to show veins inside: a, Renteria 2797; NOVON 3: 164-175. 1993. This content downloaded from 157.55.39.15 on Mon, 19 Sep 2016 04:48:08 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms Volume 3, Number 2 Morley 165 1993 Mouriri

The effect of herd characteristics on claw disorders and claw measurements in Friesians

Effects of management and herd characteristics on claw disorders and claw measurements were studied. Data were collected on Friesian heifers in 81 herds with freestalls. Disorders were sole lesions (pododermatitis) and infections (dermatitis interdigitalis). The least squares means for herd effects from genetic analyses were analysed for effects of management factors: level of concentrates, days required to reach maximum level of concentrates after calving, ration components, herd production average and formalin footbath. Herd characteristics involved with claws were also studied: housing before and after calving and pasturing. Correlations among disorders and measurements at the herd level were low. Disorders were only affected by the barn floor type after calving. An increase in concentrates and the use of a formalin footbath were associated with longer claws. Cows housed on a combination of a slatted and a flat floor after calving (nearly all outside feeding systems) had shorter claws. Deeper heels were found in herds feeding a high amount of concentrates and in herds with high production averages. Managemental and environmental factors have to be studied in detail under field conditions before their effects can be clarified.

Título en español

Se describen ocho especies nuevas de Dicranocentrus: capitaneus (Peru), reunionensis (Isla Reunión), indecisus (Nepal); gapudi, luzonensis y litoreus (Filipinas); halophilus y gemellus (Papua Nueva Guinea). Se redescriben las especies D. thaicus Yosii y D. pilosus Mari Mutt. Dicranocentrus litoreus y D. halophilus se recolectaron en playas y presentan varias modificaciones que pueden ser adaptaciones a la zona litoral: uñas gruesas y cortas, mandíbulas alargadas, sedas labrales gruesas y pérdida de la espina del mucrón. Estas dos especies presentan una quetotaxia cefálica y corporal reducida y muy similar a la de las especies de Heteromurus s. str. Ochenta y nueve figuras complementan las descripciones.

A new species of the genus Paracryptops from India, with remarks on the generic and specific characters (Chilopoda: Scolopendromorpha: Cryptopidae)

Paracryptops spinosus, a new centipede species from Delhi, is described. The species is unique in the genus in that its anal legs have their femora and tibiae beset distally with extraordinary spines. It is pointed out that the exceedingly short poison claws supposed to be incapable of meeting in the middle cannot be depended upon to identify the genus Paracryptops. This character is apparent, not real and should be discarded. It is also pointed out that the number of tibial teeth used as a key character at species level, being subject to age variation, can be of limited taxonomic value and should be used with caution.

Experimental studies on nicotine absorption during pregnancy: IV. The postmature neonate

This report deals with 55 pregnant rats assigned randomly, 5 each, to 11 study groups. Three groups were untreated controls delivered either spontaneously on the twenty-second day of gestation (term), or by cesarean section on the twenty-first and twenty-second day. Four groups were rendered postmature by prolonging gestation with chorionic gonadotropin and were delivered by section on days 21, 22, 23, and 24. Four other experimental groups producing postmature young were delivered by section on these same days after having been treated chronically with nicotine throughout pregnancy. While gestation had been equally prolonged in the two experimental groups, hormone-induced postmaturity yielded young with many of the characteristics that have been ascribed to the postmaturity syndrome in man. However, nicotine-exposed young were underweight, virtually fetal in appearance, had narrower transverse head diameters, shorter vibrissae, shorter claws or none at all, and ossification in the long bones had not progressed as far as it had in term young of equal weights. Both groups of experimental animals would have delayed delivery even longer had sectioning not intervened. The nicotine-treated off spring could have passed for premature and were somewhat comparable to the peculiar, small, malnourished infants with prolonged gestations described recently in the human literature.

A NEW NOCTUID FROM THE DESERT REGION OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

Male: Palpi dirty cream color; head and thorax clothed with smooth hair, cream white; abdomen cream white; legs cream white; fore tibia bears two long claws and one or two shorter spines on inside, three short claws and a spine on outside.