Papuzie węże, wężowa cykada. O międzygatunkowym podzielaniu właściwości w etnozoologiach i kosmologiach Indian i Metysów Amazonii

In this article, I present two examples of animals which, according to the Matsigenka and other native and mestizo Amazonians, share important properties with other, unre- lated (from the Western, or scientific point of view) animal species. The first example con- cerns the two-striped forest-pitviper (Bothrops bilineatus), which the Matsigenka and some other indigenous peoples associate with several species of parrots. According to the indig- enous view, there exist several „species” (ethnospecies) of the two-striped forest-pitviper, each of them sharing color patterns with particular parrot species. The second example concerns the lantern-fly (Fulgora laternaria, Fulgora spp.), an insect which in many parts of South America is considered a deadly, venomous snake in cicada-like form.

The exact status and synonyms of three Chinese Afronurus Lestage, 1924 established by Navás in 1936 (Ephemeroptera: Heptageniidae)

Navás named more than 20 mayfly species from China but most of them are not associated with currently known specimens. In 2021, we found three common species of Chinese Afronurus Lestage, 1924 (Heptageniidae), which genitalia and color patterns match three species described and illustrated by Navás in 1936. Therefore, three new synonyms are established: Afronurus pallescens (Navás, 1936) (=Cinygmina obliquistriata You et al., 1981, syn. nov.), Afronurus kiangsuensis (Puthz, 1971) (renamed from Ecdyonurus hyalinus Navás, 1936= Cinygmina rubromaculata You et al., 1981, syn. nov.), Afronurus costatus (Navás, 1936) (=Cinygmina yixingensis Wu & You, 1986, syn. nov.). As the type specimens for Navas’ three species are supposed to be lost, neotypes are designated for them.

Metabolomic and Transcriptomic Analysis of the Anthocyanin Regulatory Networks in Malus Domestica Borkh. Peel with Different Color Patterns

Background:Coloring is an important external quality of ‘Fuji’ apple (Malus domestica Borkh.) and there are two color patterns of apple peels, i.e., stripe and blush. The objectives of this study were to reveal the anthocyanin biosynthesis metabolic pathway in striped and blushed peels of Malus domestica using metabolomics and transcriptomics, to identify different anthocyanin metabolites, and to analyze the differentially expressed genes involved in anthocyanin biosynthesis.Result:The metabolite concentration and gene expression were profiled in the striped and blushed fruit peels of apple harvested at three ripening periods to elucidate the color formation mechanism. At the green fruit period, there were 83 DAMs,including 30 flavonoids, 674 DEGs (521 up-regulated and 153 down-regulated),including 3 MYB related genes (up-regulated, LOC103415449, LOC103421948, LOC103432338) and 2 bHLH genes(up-regulated, LOC103436250, LOC103437863) between striped and blushed apple.At the color turning period, there were 48 DAMs,including 20 flavonoids, 880 DEGs (274 up-regulated and 606 down-regulated), including 3 differentially expressed E2.3.1.133, HCT genes(down-regulated), 2 differentially expressed F3H genes (down-regulated), 1 differentially expressed BZ1 gene (down-regulated) and 2 differentially expressed ANS genes (up-regulated) and 2 up-regulated MYB related genes (LOC103411576, LOC103412495), 5 down-regulated MYB related genes(LOC103400953, LOC103408672, LOC103415404, LOC103420697, LOC103421948), 1 differentially expressed bHLH gene(down-regulated, LOC103400870). At the complete coloring period，there were 95 DAMs,including 34 flavonoids, 2258 DEGs (1159 up- and 1099 down-regulated), including 3 differentially expressed E2.3.1.133, HCT genes(down-regulated), 1 differentially expressed E2.3.1.133, HCT genes(up-regulated), 2 differentially expressed CYP98A genes (up-regulated), 4 differentially expressed CHS genes (up-regulated), 2 differentially expressed E5.5.1.6 genes(up-regulated), 2 differentially expressed CYP75B1 genes (up-regulated), 2 differentially expressed F3R genes (up-regulated), 2 differentially expressed ANS genes (up-regulated), 1 differentially expressed DFR genes (up-regulated), 2 differentially expressed BZ1 genes (up-regulated) and 1 differentially expressed MYB related gene (up-regulated, LOC103401575) .There were both 10 kinds of cyanidin in apple peel at color turning period and complete coloring period, Keracyanin and Cyanin were up-regulated at color turning period and Cyanidin-3-O-(6''-O-malonyl)glucoside was up-regulated at complete coloring period.Conclusions: Our researches provide important information on the anthocyanin metabolites and the candidate genes involved in the anthocyanin biosynthesis pathways of Fuji apple in M.domestcia.

A Review of the Genus Cloeon from Chinese Mainland (Ephemeroptera: Baetidae)

The widely distributed and species diverse genus Cloeon Leach, 1815 has never been reviewed in China, although nine species names have been reported from this country. After checking types of two species (C. viridulum and C. apicatum) and newly collected materials from more than 50 sites, four species are recognized, compared, and photographed in this research. Among them, the species C. bicolor Kimmins, 1947 is first recorded in China, and its nymphs are described for the first time. The distribution in China of two other species (C. dipterum (Linnaeus, 1761) and C. harveyi (Kimmins, 1947)) are also confirmed. The two species established by Navás (C.apicatum Navás, 1933 = C. navasi Bruggen, 1957, C. pielinum Navás, 1933, syn. nov.) and the species C. micki named by Tong and Dudgeon in 2021 are synonymized with C. viridulum Navás, 1931—the fourth species in this study. Furthermore, the C. virens Klapálek, 1905 from the Chinese mainland, found by Ulmer in 1925, is also regarded as the last species. Among the four species, the C. dipterum and C. harveyi seem closer because of the similar female color patterns of their stigma and ventral abdomen, while the species C. viridulum and C. bicolor are more alike because they have neither pigmented stigma nor stripes on abdominal sterna.

Current status and natural history of the critically endangered Variable Harlequin Toad (Atelopus varius) in Costa Rica

The Variable Harlequin Toad (Atelopus varius) has suffered extensive declines in Panama and Costa Rica.Of 169 previously documented populations, only seven are known to survive. Herein we review the status of the survivingpopulations of this species in Costa Rica, describing the results of random visits to five of the seven survivingpopulations during the last six years, novel information on the natural history of three of these, and the results of amonitoring program of one continuous year on one of them. We identify three distinct morphs that might be the onlysurvivors of what once was a wide array of phenotypic color patterns.

Batch-Mask: An automated Mask R-CNN workflow to isolate non-standard biological specimens for color pattern analysis

Efficient comparisons of biological color patterns are critical for understanding the mechanisms by which organisms evolve in ecosystems, including sexual selection, predator-prey interactions, and thermoregulation. However, elongate or spiral-shaped organisms do not conform to the standard orientation and photographic techniques required for automated analysis. Currently, large-scale color analysis of elongate animals requires time-consuming manual landmarking, which reduces their representation in coloration research despite their ecological importance. We present Batch-Mask: an automated and customizable workflow to facilitate the analysis of large photographic data sets of non-standard biological subjects. First, we present a user guide to run an open-source region-based convolutional neural network with fine-tuned weights for identifying and isolating a biological subject from a background (masking). Then, we demonstrate how to combine masking with existing manual visual analysis tools into a single streamlined, automated workflow for comparing color patterns across images. Batch-Mask was 60x faster than manual landmarking, produced masks that correctly identified 96% of all snake pixels, and produced pattern energy results that were not significantly different from the manually landmarked data set. The fine-tuned weights for the masking neural network, user guide, and automated workflow substantially decrease the amount of time and attention required to quantitatively analyze non-standard biological subjects. By using these tools, biologists will be able to compare color, pattern, and shape differences in large data sets that include significant morphological variation in elongate body forms. This advance will be especially valuable for comparative analyses of natural history collections, and through automation can greatly expand the scale of space, time, or taxonomic breadth across which color variation can be quantitatively examined.

Balanced polymorphisms and their divergence in a Heliconius butterfly

The evolution of mimicry in similarly defended prey is well described by Müllerian mimicry theory, which predicts the convergence of warning patterns in order to gain the most protection from predators. However, despite this prediction, we can find great diversity of color patterns amongst Müllerian mimics such as Heliconius butterflies in the neotropics. Furthermore, some species have evolved the ability to maintain multiple distinct warning patterns in single populations, a phenomenon known as polymorphic mimicry. The adaptive benefit of these polymorphisms is questionable since variation from the most common warning patterns is expected to be disadvantageous as novel signals are punished by predators naive to them. In this study, we use artificial butterfly models throughout Central and South America to characterize the selective pressures maintaining polymorphic mimicry in Heliconius doris. Our results highlight the complexity of positive frequency-dependent selection, the principal selective pressure driving convergence amongst Müllerian mimics, and its impacts on interspecific variation of mimetic warning colouration. We further show how this selection regime can both limit and facilitate the diversification of mimetic traits.

A new species of Andean golden poison frog (Andinobates, Dendrobatidae) from the Eastern Andes of Colombia

A new species of Andinobates (Dendrobatidae) is described from the East Andes of Colombia, just 37 km away from the Colombian capital, Bogotá. Andinobates supata sp. nov., represents the second known species of yellow Andinobates, and can be distinguished from the other, Andinobates tolimensis, by an unique combination of ventral and dorsal color patterns. Our phylogenetic analyses, based on ≈ 1120 bp from two mitochondrial markers (16S rRNA and cytochrome b) showed that this new taxon is sister to a clade formed by A. cassidyhornae, A. bombetes, A. opisthomelas, A. tolimensis and A. virolinensis. The new species appears to be restricted to a handful of small forest fragments (<10 ha) distributed in no more than 5 km2, between 1800–2000 m elevation, where the human activity is high. In addition, more than 90% of the original forest has been logged at the type locality, and its watersheds receive considerable agrochemical discharges. Altogether, the evidence suggests that this new species should be listed as Critically Endangered and should receive immediate attention regarding basic research and urgent conservation measures.

Color is necessary for specialized face learning in the Northern paper wasp, Polistes fuscatus

Visual individual recognition requires animals to distinguish among conspecifics based on appearance. Though visual individual recognition has been reported in a range of taxa, the features that animals rely on to discriminate between individuals are often not well understood. Northern paper wasp females, Polistes fuscatus, possess individually distinctive color patterns on their faces, which mediate individual recognition. It is currently unclear what facial features P. fuscatus use to distinguish individuals. The anterior optic tubercle, a chromatic processing brain region, is especially sensitive to social experience during development, suggesting that color may be important for recognition in this species. We sought to test the roles of color in wasp facial recognition. Color may be important simply because it creates a pattern. If this is the case, then wasps should perform similarly when discriminating color or grayscale images of the same faces. Alternatively, color itself may be important for recognition, which would predict poorer performance on grayscale image discrimination relative to color images. We found wasps trained on grayscale faces, unlike those trained on color images, did not perform better than chance. Suggesting that color is necessary for the recognition of an image as a face by the wasp visual system.