The eagle and the starlings: Galileo's argument for the autonomy of science-how pertinent is it today?

After Galileo's argument for the autonomy of science is analysed and adapted to take into account later developments of scientific practices, we conclude that, in the final analysis, it is not compelling. Nevertheless, Galileo's argument still provides a useful point of reference, for aspects of it can be interpreted to anticipate central components of the often acclaimed ideal of science as value free, so that appraising it contributes to the larger purpose of exploring how well that ideal stands up today. Finally, we will argue that residue from Galileo's struggle with the Church remains with us, making it difficult to identify the conditions that would need to be put into place today for any robust sense of the autonomy of science to be defensible. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Notes and new taxa in Acanthoderini (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae: Lamiinae). V. Three new genera and notes on Irundisaua.

Generic characters of Irundisaua Martins & Galileo, 2005 are expanded (antennal formula, width of prosternal process inferior or equal to the diameter of procoxa, protibia enlarged and flattened) and two species are transferred from Acanthoderes Audinet-Serville, 1835: I. forsteri (Tippmann, 1960) comb. nov from Peru and Brazil (Amazonas) and I. ucayalensis (Tippmann,1960) comb. nov from Ecuador, Peru and Brazil (Amazonas).Three new genera are described: (1) Catuana gen. nov., type species, C. spinicornis (Tippmann, 1960) comb. nov, characterized by the mesosternal tubercle; (2) Mundeu gen. nov, type species, M. maculicollis (Bates, 1861) comb. nov, with rounded sides of protorax and expanded protibiae; (3) Urangaua gen. nov, with eyes divided and finelly granulated, length of antenomeres III-IV subequal to V-XI; the genus is proposed of two species: U. analis Melzer, 1935 comb. nov, type species, and U. subanalis (Zajciw,1964) comb. nov. A key to the species of Urangaua is added.

New taxa and new record of Hemilophini (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae: Lamiinae).

New species described and illustrated: Adesmus nigrolineatus sp. nov from Mexico (Oaxaca). From Costa Rica: A, moruna sp. nov. (Heredia); Corcovado bezarki sp. nov. (Guanacaste); Alampyris fuscus sp. nov. (Guanacaste), Cariua gen. nov type species C. sulphurea sp. nov. (Guanacaste). From Bolivia: Phoebemima albomaculata sp. nov. (Cochabamba); Ipepo gen. nov type species I. dilatatus sp. nov. (Santa Cruz). From Brazil: Adesmus facetus sp. nov and Canarana arguta sp. nov. (Rondonia). A new record from Costa Rica of Piruanycha pitilla Galileo & Martins, 2005 is added. The three new species of Adesmus are recognized: A. nigrolineatus by the longitudinal black stripes on elytra; A. moruna by the elytra entirely black; A. facetus by the white belts behind the middle of the elytra and white maculae on apical quarter. Phoebemima albomaculata is characterized by the white macula on the elytral suture. Corcovado bezarki sp. nov is distinguished by the black antennal scape and whitish flagelomeres. Canarana arguta sp. nov has prothorax and urosternites I-IV covered by dense yellowish pubescence. Alampyris fusca sp. nov differs from A. cretaria by the antenomere III longer than scape. Cariua sulphurea sp. nov is distinguished by the urosternites covered by compact white pubescence and Ipepo dilatatus is characterized by the elytra with three carinae.

New taxa of Hemilophini (Coleoptera, Cerambycidae, Lamiinae) of the Americas

New taxa of Hemilophini (Coleoptera, Cerambycidae, Lamiinae) of the Americas. The new genus Mexicoscylus is described to include: M. rosae sp. nov., type species of the genus, and M. bivittatus (Gahan, 1892), comb. nov. both from Mexico. A key to the species of Mexicoscylus is added. More three species are described: Cotycuara villosa sp. nov., from Costa Rica; Phoebe parvimacula sp. nov., from Bolivia and Adesmus beruri sp. nov., from Brazil (Amazonas). All new species are illustrated.

Novos táxons de Cerambycidae (Coleoptera) das Américas Central e do Sul

Novos táxons descritos: em Cerambycinae, Bomarion caudatum sp. nov., da Bolívia (Ectenessini); Nephalius levigatus sp. nov., do Brasil, Paraíba (Elaphidiini); Bothriospila pulcherrima sp. nov., do Brasil, Bahia (Bothriospilini); Cycnidolon rufescens sp. nov., do Brasil, Paraíba (Neoibidionini). Em Lamiinae: Cicatricallia gen. nov., espécie-tipo: C. cicatricosa sp. nov. de Trindade e Tobago (Calliini); Mimasyngenes clarkei sp. nov., de Trinidad e Tobago e Mimasyngenes fonticulus sp. nov., do Brasil, Piauí; Ibypeba gen. nov., espécie-tipo: I. camiri sp. nov., da Bolívia; Micratelodesmis gen. nov., espécie-tipo: M. minor sp. nov. (Desmiphorini); Lycidola affinis sp. nov. de Trinidad e Tobago (Hemilophini). Novos registros: Lycidola beltii Bates, 1872 para a Costa Rica e Alampyris fuscus Martins & Galileo, 2008 para o Panamá (Hemilophini).

Notas, novos registros e novas espécies de Ibidionini (Coleoptera, Cerambycidae)

Novas espécies descritas do Brasil: Tropidion terminatum sp. nov. e Tropidion una sp. nov. (Rondônia); Tropidion buriti sp. nov. (Piauí); Compsibidion manauara sp. nov. (Manaus), Compsibidion elianae sp. nov. (Goiás); Compsibidion novalimae sp. nov. e Compsibidion peti sp. nov. (Minas Gerais). Do Brasil (Mato Grosso) e da Bolívia (Santa Cruz), Compsibidion ybyra sp. nov.; da Venezuela (Guarico), Tropidion jolyi sp. nov.; da Bolívia (Santa Cruz), Dodecaibidion bolivianum sp. nov. e Pygmodeon maculatum sp. nov. Minibidion captiosus nom. nov. é proposto para Minibidion bicolor Martins, Galileo & Limeira-de Oliveira, 2011. São estabelecidos novo status para Compsibidion rubricolle Melzer, 1935, e notas sobre Heterachthes tysiphonis (Thomson, 1867). São apresentados novos registros para Tropidion zonapterum (Martins, 1962), Compsibidion campestre (Gounelle, 1908) e Kolonibidion femoratum (Martins, 1971).

Relationships of Photosynthetic Photon Flux Density, air Temperature and Humidity with Tomato Leaf Diffusive Conductance and Temperature

The objective was to study the leaf temperature (LT) and leaf diffusive vapor conductance (gs) responses to temperature, humidity and incident flux density of photosynthetically active photons (PPFD) of tomato plants grown without water restriction in a plastic greenhouse in Santa Maria, RS, Brazil. The plants were grown in substrate and irrigated daily. The gs was measured using a steady-state null-balance porometer on the abaxial face of the leaves during the daytime. Both leaf surfaces were measured in one day. The PPFD and LT were measured using the porometer. Leaf temperature was determined using an infrared thermometer, and air temperature and humidity were measured using a thermohygrograph. The leaves on the upper layer of the plants had higher gs than the lower layer. The relationship between the gs and PPFD was different for the two layers in the plants. A consistent relationship between the gs and atmospheric water demand was observed only in the lower layer. The LT tended to be lower than the air temperature. The mean value for the gs was 2.88 times higher on the abaxial than adaxial leaf surface.

KRONBERGER 49: A NEW LOW-MASS GLOBULAR CLUSTER OR AN UNPRECEDENTED BULGE WINDOW?

We employ optical and near-infrared photometry to study the stars in the direction of the star cluster candidate Kronberger 49. The optical color-magnitude diagrams (V, I, and Gunn z photometry obtained with the Galileo Telescope) are tight and present evidence of a main-sequence turnoff. We may be dealing with a low-mass, metal-rich globular cluster located in the bulge at a distance from the Sun of d(circle dot) = 8 +/- 1 kpc. Alternatively, it may be a dust hole through which we are sampling the bulge stellar population affected by a very low amount of differential reddening.

Novos táxons e novos registros sobre Cerambycidae (Coleoptera) Neotropicais

Novos táxons e novos registros sobre Cerambycidae (Coleoptera) Neotropicais. Novos táxons descritos em Cerambycinae, Eligmodermini: Eligmoderma lara sp. nov. da Venezuela; Elaphidiini: Cratericus gen. nov., espécie-tipo, C. divaricatus sp. nov., da Jamaica. Em Lamiinae, Desmiphorini: Capillicornis gen. nov., espécie-tipo, C. basilaris sp. nov. do Equador; Cotycicuiara acuminata sp. nov. do Panamá; C. guiana sp. nov. da Guiana Francesa; Eupromerini: Puanama skillmani sp. nov. do Brasil (Rondônia). Novos registros são feitos para Temnopis martinezi Martins, 1995 (Oemini) e Estoloides (E.) aurantius Martins & Galileo, 2010 (Desmiphorini). A localidade-tipo de Hovorelus adiectus Galileo & Martins, 2010 (Prioninae, Anacolini) é corrigida e novos dados são acrescentados.

Novos táxons de Lamiinae (Coleoptera, Cerambycidae) da América do Sul

Novos táxons descritos: Acanthoderini, Nesozineus osorioensis sp. nov., do Brasil (Rio Grande do Sul); Calliini, Drycothaea clara sp. nov., do Brasil (Rondônia) e Drycothaea hovorei sp. nov., do Equador (Napo); Forsteriini, Itacolomi gen. nov., espécie-tipo I. letiziae sp. nov., do Brasil (Minas Gerais); Yapyguara gen. nov., espécie-tipo Y. fusca sp. nov., da Bolívia (Santa Cruz); Xenofreini, Xenofrea zischkai sp. nov., do Equador (Napo) e da Bolívia (Santa Cruz).

Nova espécie do gênero Galissus Dupont (Coleoptera, Cerambycidae) e chave para identificação das espécies

Galissus nigrescens sp. nov. é descrita da Costa Rica (Veragua Rainforest Reserve, Brisas de Veragua, Liverpool, Limón) e é fornecida chave para identificação das espécies.

Duas espécies de Onciderini (Cerambycidae, Lamiinae) do Institut Royal des Sciences Naturelles de Belgique, Bruxelas

Hypsioma brabanti sp. nov. de Trinidad and Tobagoé descrita e ilustrada. Novo registro (Trinidad and Tobago) para Leus ramuli (Bates, 1865) é apresentado.

Novos táxons e notas sobre Cerambycidae (Coleoptera) da Costa Rica

Nova espécie descrita: Eupogonius intonsus sp. nov. de Guanacaste. Nova subespécie descrita: Eburia lanigera costaricensis subsp. nov. de Guanacaste. Novos registros: Cymatonycha meridionalis Martins & Galileo, 1995 (Puntarenas) e Nesozineus triviale Galileo & Martins, 1996 (Guanacaste). É comentada a variabilidade no colorido elitral de Eburodacrys havanensis Chevrolat, 1862.

Relationships of photosynthetic photon flux density, air temperature and humidity with tomato leaf diffusive conductance and temperature

The objective was to study the leaf temperature (LT) and leaf diffusive vapor conductance (gs) responses to temperature, humidity and incident flux density of photosynthetically active photons (PPFD) of tomato plants grown without water restriction in a plastic greenhouse in Santa Maria, RS, Brazil. The plants were grown in substrate and irrigated daily. The gs was measured using a steady-state null-balance porometer on the abaxial face of the leaves during the daytime. Both leaf surfaces were measured in one day. The PPFD and LT were measured using the porometer. Leaf temperature was determined using an infrared thermometer, and air temperature and humidity were measured using a thermohygrograph. The leaves on the upper layer of the plants had higher gs than the lower layer. The relationship between the gs and PPFD was different for the two layers in the plants. A consistent relationship between the gs and atmospheric water demand was observed only in the lower layer. The LT tended to be lower than the air temperature. The mean value for the gs was 2.88 times higher on the abaxial than adaxial leaf surface.

Seven new species of Cerambycidae (Coleoptera) from South America with the proposal of three new genera

The following new species are described - Cerambycinae, Sydacini: Sydax flechtmanni sp. nov. from Brazil (São Paulo); Eburiini: Ebrodacrys biffipradorum sp. nov. from Brazil (Roraima); - Lamiinae, Pteropliini: Ataxia piauiensis sp. nov. from Brazil (Piuaí); Calliini: Amucallia carbonaria sp. nov. from French Guiana; A. citrina sp. nov. from Guiana. Also in Lamiinae, two new genera of Onciderini are proposed. Ubytyra gen. nov., type species U. tuberosa sp. nov. from Peru (Junin) e Japi gen. nov., type species J. duartei sp. nov., from Brazil (São Paulo); Ubytyra gen. nov. can be distinguished by the sides of prothorax with long central spine rounded at apex, and this new feature among Onciderini is discussed. Japi gen. nov., is characterized by a fringe of long hairs on the inner side of antennomere III, present only in species from North and Central America, and gender comparison of these species is done and discussed. In Hemilophini, Pseudotacocha gen. nov., type species P. magnifica sp. nov. from Peru (Cuzco), are described. The new genera can be distinguished by eyes well developed, elytra with two carinae and the apices outer with short spine; a comparison with related genera is done.