Morphology and anatomy of the diaspores and seedling of Paspalum (Poaceae, Poales)

RESUMO O conhecimento relativo ao diásporo e ao desenvolvimento pós-seminal de Paspalum L. é importante para a conservação da biodiversidade dos campos, devido sua importância na representatividade e no melhoramento genético de pastagens. A morfologia do diásporo e do desenvolvimento pós-seminal de Paspalum dilatatum Poir. (rizomatosa); P. mandiocanum Trin. var. subaequiglume Barreto (estolonífera), P. pumilum Nees. (cespitosa decumbente) e P. urvillei Steud. (cespitosa ereta) foi descrita procurando distinguir as espécies com diferentes formas de crescimento, e levantar características úteis para a taxonomia. P. dilatatum se diferencia por apresentar diásporo oval, de maior tamanho que as demais, com cinco nervuras salientes e tricomas; P. urvillei por apresentar diásporo com uma nervura central mais desenvolvida do que as duas nervuras laterais e tricomas; P. mandiocanum var. subaequiglume por apresentar diásporo com tricomas apenas na margem; e P. pumilum por apresentar diásporo glabro. A cariopse envolve a semente que apresenta embrião diferenciado, disposto lateralmente; apresenta hilo elíptico em todas as espécies estudadas e rostelo em P. dilatatum e P. mandiocanum var. subaequiglume. O desenvolvimento pós-seminal é semelhante nas quatro espécies e se inicia com a germinação, que é marcada pela emergência da coleorriza, seguida pelo coleóptilo. Essas características são comuns às demais Poaceae já estudadas, indicando um padrão para a família e não diferenciam as formas de crescimento.

Leaf and inflorescence axis anatomy of Brazilian species of Rapateoideae (Rapateaceae, Poales)

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Comparative neurocranial morphology of angelsharks from the south-western Atlantic Ocean (Chondrichthyes, Elasmobranchii, Squatinidae): implications for taxonomy and phylogeny

Neurocrania of three species of angelsharks from the south-western Atlantic Ocean, occurring off south-eastern and southern Brazil, are described. A detailed morphological description is provided of the neurocranium of Squatina guggenheim and compared with S. argentina and S. occulta. Despite being generally conservative, the neurocranium of Squatina presents significant differences among these species which aid in their identification, which is otherwise problematical. The main distinctions were found in rostral projections, anterior fontanellae, supraorbital crests, upper and lower postorbital processes, otic capsules, suborbital crests, and pterotic processes. Squatina guggenheim and S. occulta share more neurocranial characters when compared to S. argentina. No basal angle was found, but we confirm the presence of a very much reduced and barely noticeable basioccipital fovea in Squatina; systematic implications within elasmobranchs of these and other features are discussed.

ANATOMY OF NERITINA ZEBRA FROM GUYANA AND BRAZIL (MOLLUSCA: GASTROPODA: NERITIDAE)

Neritina zebra is a common brackish water gastropod living on muddy bottoms with poorly known morphological characters. The morphology, including the variety of colour and pattern of shells, and the anatomy are described. We mainly analyzed the animals collected in the estuary of the Ceara river, Ceara, Brazil, from "Parque Estadual do rio Coco", and specimens from other places deposited in institutional collections, from French Guyana (topotypes) to Sao Paulo. A complete anatomical description is performed, including illustration and discussion ninth concerned to systematics. Amongst the more important anatomical data are: heart diotocardian; kidneys solid; anterior esophagus with pair of ventral esophageal pouches; odontophore with 4 cartilages and 2 horizontal muscles (m6, m6a); males with penis dorsal-right to snout, bearing a terminal papilla; pallial oviduct triaulic, possessing 3 pallial apertures.

Molecular phylogeny, morphology and their implications for the taxonomy of Eriocaulaceae

The pantropical family Eriocaulaceae includes ten genera and c. 1,400 species, with diversity concentrated in the New World. The last complete revision of the family was published more than 100 years ago, and until recently the generic and infrageneric relationships were poorly resolved. However, a multi-disciplinary approach over the last 30 years, using morphological and anatomical characters, has been supplemented with additional data from palynology, chemistry, embryology, population genetics, cytology and, more recently, molecular phylogenetic studies. This led to a reassessment of phylogenetic relationships within the family. In this paper we present new data for the ITS and trnL-F regions, analysed separately and in combination, using maximum parsimony and Bayesian inference. The data confirm previous results, and show that many characters traditionally used for differentiating and circumscribing the genera within the family are homoplasious. A new generic key with characters from various sources and reflecting the current taxonomic changes is presented.

Anatomy and variability of "Cuvierichelys parisiensis", a geoemydid turtle that crosses the Eocene-Oligocene boundary in Belgium

Abundant material of turtles from the early Oligocene site of Boutersem-TGV (Boutersem, Belgium), is presented here. No information on the turtles found there was so far available. All the turtle specimens presented here are attributable to a single freshwater taxon that is identified as a member of Geoemydidae, Cuvierichelys. It is the first representative of the ‘Palaeochelys s. l.–Mauremys’ group recognized in the Belgian Paleogene record. This material, which allows to know all the elements of both the carapace and the plastron of the taxon, cannot be attributed to the only species of the genus Cuvierichelys so far identified in the Oligocene, the Spanish form Cuvierichelys iberica. The taxon from Boutersem is recognized as Cuvierichelys parisiensis. Thus, both the paleobiogeographic and the biostratigraphic distributions of Cuvierichelys parisiensis are extended, its presence being confirmed for the first time outside the French Eocene record. The validity of some European forms is refuted, and several characters previously proposed as different between Cuvierichelys iberica and Cuvierichelys parisiensis are recognized as subjected to intraspecific variability.

Improving behaviour classification consistency: a technique from biological taxonomy

Quantitative behaviour analysis requires the classification of behaviour to produce the basic data. In practice, much of this work will be performed by multiple observers, and maximising inter-observer consistency is of particular importance. Another discipline where consistency in classification is vital is biological taxonomy. A classification tool of great utility, the binary key, is designed to simplify the classification decision process and ensure consistent identification of proper categories. We show how this same decision-making tool - the binary key - can be used to promote consistency in the classification of behaviour. The construction of a binary key also ensures that the categories in which behaviour is classified are complete and non-overlapping. We discuss the general principles of design of binary keys, and illustrate their construction and use with a practical example from education research.

Assessing the structure of learning outcomes from counselling using the SOLO taxonomy: an exploratory study

Thirty-five clients who had received counselling completed a letter to a friend describing in as much detail as possible what they had learned from counselling. The participants' written responses were analysed and classified using the Structure of Learning Outcomes (SOLO) taxonomy. The results suggested that an expanded SOLO offers a promising and exciting way to view the outcomes of counselling within a learning framework. If the SOLO taxonomy is found to be stable in subsequent research, and clients are easily able to be classified using the taxonomy, then this approach may have implications for the process of counselling. To maximise the learning outcomes, counsellors could use strategies and techniques to enhance their clients' learning.

Personalized recommender systems integrating social tags and item taxonomy

The social tags in web 2.0 are becoming another important information source to profile users' interests and preferences to make personalized recommendations. To solve the problem of low information sharing caused by the free-style vocabulary of tags and the long tails of the distribution of tags and items, this paper proposes an approach to integrate the social tags given by users and the item taxonomy with standard vocabulary and hierarchical structure provided by experts to make personalized recommendations. The experimental results show that the proposed approach can effectively improve the information sharing and recommendation accuracy.

Taxonomy and diagnostics of fruit fly infesting Opiine Braconids in Australia and the South Pacific

Opiine wasps (Hymenoptera: Braconidae: Opiinae) are parasitoids of dacine fruit flies (Diptera: Tephritidae: Dacinae), the primary horticultural pests of Australia and the South Pacific. Effective use of opiines for biological control of fruit flies is limited by poor taxonomy and identification difficulties. To overcome these problems, this thesis had two aims: (i) to carry out traditional taxonomic research on the fruit fly infesting opine braconids of Australia and the South Pacific; and (ii) to transfer the results of the taxonomic research into user friendly diagnostic tools. Curated wasp material was borrowed from all major Australian museum collections holding specimens. This was supplemented by a large body of material gathered as part of a major fruit fly project in Papua New Guinea: nearly 4000 specimens were examined and identified. Each wasp species was illustrated using traditional scientific drawings, full colour photomicroscopy and scanning electron microscopy. An electronic identification key was developed using Lucid software and diagnostic images were loaded on the web-based Pest and Diseases Image Library (PaDIL). A taxonomic synopsis and distribution and host records for each of the 15 species of dacine-parasitising opiine braconids found in the South Pacific is presented. Biosteres illusorius Fischer (1971) was formally transferred to the genus Fopius and a new species, Fopius ferrari Carmichael and Wharton (2005), was described. Other species dealt with were Diachasmimorpha hageni (Fullaway, 1952), D. kraussii (Fullaway, 1951), D. longicaudata (Ashmead, 1905), D. tryoni (Cameron, 1911), Fopius arisanus (Sonan, 1932), F. deeralensis (Fullaway, 1950), F. schlingeri Wharton (1999), Opius froggatti Fullaway (195), Psyttalia fijiensis (Fullaway, 1936), P. muesebecki (Fischer, 1963), P. novaguineensis (Szépliget, 1900i) and Utetes perkinsi (Fullaway, 1950). This taxonomic component of the thesis has been formally published in the scientific literature. An interactive diagnostics package (“OpiineID”) was developed, the centre of which is a Lucid based multi-access key. Because the diagnostics package is computer based, without the space limitations of the journal publication, there is no pictorial limit in OpiineID and so it is comprehensively illustrated with SEM photographs, full colour photographs, line drawings and fully rendered illustrations. The identification key is only one small component of OpiineID and the key is supported by fact sheets with morphological descriptions, host associations, geographical information and images. Each species contained within the OpiineID package has also been uploaded onto the PaDIL website (www.padil.gov.au). Because the identification of fruit fly parasitoids is largely of concern to fruit fly workers, rather than braconid specialists, this thesis deals directly with an area of growing importance to many areas of pure and applied biology; the nexus between taxonomy and diagnostics. The Discussion chapter focuses on this area, particularly the opportunities offered by new communication and information tools as new ways delivering the outputs of taxonomic science.

Effective pattern taxonomy mining in text documents

Many data mining techniques have been proposed for mining useful patterns in databases. However, how to effectively utilize discovered patterns is still an open research issue, especially in the domain of text mining. Most existing methods adopt term-based approaches. However, they all suffer from the problems of polysemy and synonymy. This paper presents an innovative technique, pattern taxonomy mining, to improve the effectiveness of using discovered patterns for finding useful information. Substantial experiments on RCV1 demonstrate that the proposed solution achieves encouraging performance.