The stripe-backed weasel Mustela strigidorsa: taxonomy, ecology, distribution and status

1. The stripe-backed weasel Mustela strigidorsa is one of the rarest and least-known mustelids in the world. Its phylogenetic relationships with other Mustela species remain controversial, though several unique morphological features distinguish it from congeners. 2. It probably lives mainly in evergreen forests in hills and mountains, but has also been recorded from plains forest, dense scrub, secondary forest, grassland and farmland. Known sites range in altitude from 90 m to 2500 m. Data are insufficient to distinguish between habitat and altitudes which support populations, and those where only dispersing animals may occur. 3. It has been confirmed from many localities in north-east India, north and central Myanmar, south China, north Thailand, north and central Laos, and north and central Vietnam. Given the limited survey effort, the number of recent records shows that the species is not as rare as hitherto believed. Neither specific nor urgent conservation needs are apparent.

Theoretical analysis of xuv photoabsorption spectra of laser-produced iodine plasmas

The 4d photoabsorption spectra of I2+, I3+, and I4+ have been obtained in the 70-127 eV region with the dual laser-produced plasma technique at time delays ranging from 400 to 520 ns. With decreasing time delay, the dominant contribution to the spectra evolves from the I2+ to the I4+ ions, and each spectrum contains discrete 4d-nf transitions and a broad 4d-epsilon f shape resonance, which are identified with the aid of multiconfiguration Hartree-Fock calculations. The excited states decay by direct autoionization involving 5s or 5p electrons, and rates for the different processes and resulting linewidths were calculated. With increasing ionization, the 4d-epsilon f shape resonance become intense and broader in going from I2+ to I3+, and then vanishes at I5+. In addition, the discrete structure of the calculated spectrum of each ion gradually approaches the corresponding shape resonance position. Based on the assumption of a normalized Boltzmann distribution among the excited states and a steady-state collisional-radiative model, we reproduced spectra which are in good agreement with experiment.