Shape differences rather than size differences between castes in the Neotropical swarm-founding wasp Metapolybia docilis (Hymenoptera: Vespidae, Epiponini)

Abstract Background Swarm-founding epiponine wasps are an intriguing group of social insects in which colonies are polygynic (several queens share reproduction) and differentiation between castes is often not obvious. However, caste differences in some may be more pronounced in later phases of the colony cycle. Results Using morphometric analyses and multivariate statistics, it was found that caste differences in Metapolybia docilis are slight but more distinct in latter stages of the colony cycle. Conclusions Because differences in body parts are so slight, it is proposed that such variation may be due to differential growth rates of body parts rather than to queens being larger in size, similar to other previously observed epiponines.

Paternal and maternal DNA lineages reveal a bottleneck in the founding of the Finnish population.

An analysis of Y-chromosomal haplotypes in several European populations reveals an almost monomorphic pattern in the Finns, whereas Y-chromosomal diversity is significantly higher in other populations. Furthermore, analyses of nucleotide positions in the mitochondrial control region that evolve slowly show a decrease in genetic diversity in Finns. Thus, relatively few men and women have contributed the genetic lineages that today survive in the Finnish population. This is likely to have caused the so-called "Finnish disease heritage"-i.e., the occurrence of several genetic diseases in the Finnish population that are rare elsewhere. A preliminary analysis of the mitochondrial mutations that have accumulated subsequent to the bottleneck suggests that it occurred about 4000 years ago, presumably when populations using agriculture and animal husbandry arrived in Finland.

Indian Missionaries and the Founding of Dartmouth College

This folder includes a twentieth century handwritten transcription of Kirkland's work, portions of which do not correspond with Indian Missionaries and the Founding of Dartmouth College.

The Congo and the founding of its free state : a story of work and exploration /

Mode of access: Internet.

An historical discourse, on the two hundredth anniversary of the founding of the Hopkins grammar school, New Haven, Connecticut. Delivered before the "Hopkins grammar school association", July 24th, 1860 / by Leonard Woolsey Bacon. With notes and an appendix. Pub. by request of the Association.

Mode of access: Internet.

The lives of the deans of Canterbury, 1541 to 1900 /

Mode of access: Internet.

The founding of the first California missions under the spriritual guidance of the Venerable Padre Fray Junípero Serra : an historical account of the expeditions sent by land and sea in the year 1769 /

Mode of access: Internet.