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Here we describe 18 new species of the Marattialean genus Danaea: D. alba, D. ampla, D. antioquiana, D. elongata, D. kessleri and D. panamensis (all in D. subg. Danaea); D. dilatata and D. opaca (in D. subg. Arthrodanaea); and D. andina, D. cuspidopsis, D. erosa, D. nasua, D. peruviana, D. polypinna, D. pumila, D. robbinmoranii, D. ubatubensis, and D. velona (in D. subg. Holodanaea). We provide illustrations, maps of geographical distribution, and nomenclatural notes for the new species. We also lectotypify the name D. media and propose that its recent resurrection was a mistake: both D. media and D. elata are synonyms of D. nodosa, which is widespread in Central America and the Greater Antilles; we find that D. pterorachis is a valid name applicable to the Costa Rican material that has been referred to D. media. We consider D. sellowiana and D. nigrescens as distinct species and these names applicable to D. subg. Danaea material from the Brazilian Atlantic Forest and Amazonia, respectively, and we also lectotypify the name D. nigrescens here. We accept D. cuspidata and D. betancurii as species distinct from D. moritziana. Evolutionary relationships and an identification key for the 79 species we currently recognize in Danaea are published in a parallel paper (Keskiniva & al. 2024). Citation: Keskiniva V. & Tuomisto H. 2024: Danaea (Marattiaceae) keeps diversifying, part 1: eighteen new species. – Willdenowia 53: 173–228 Version of record first published online on 22 January 2024. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper aims to study intragroup variation inside the two pre-Columbian Cuban populations: the aceramic Archaic and the ceramic Taino groups, based on their cranial morphology. The latter applied artificial cranial deformation to all its members, so the groups are referred to as "non-deformed" and "deformed" samples here. Studies across different disciplines suggest evidence of cultural and biological diversity inside the non-deformed group, while local variations of applying the deforming device can be responsible for shape variation across the deformed group. Cranial metrics and non-metric cranial traits of the 92 crania of Cuban origin were analyzed, although the sample size varied between the analyses due to the incompleteness of the crania. Geometric morphometrics was applied to the deformed crania to study the shape variation across the sample. Three deformed crania from the Dominican Republic were analyzed together with the deformed Cuban sample to test the variability of the practice between the islands. Principal component analysis and the Mantel test did not reveal any geographic differences in the cranial metric traits. No morphological differences associated with the antiquity of materials could be seen either based on the available data. The principal component analysis of the Procrustes coordinates of the cranial vault outline in the lateral norm revealed continuous variability of cranial shapes from the ones with more flattened frontal and occipital bones to the more curved outlines, which is probably explained by individual variation. Non-metric traits variation revealed bilateral asymmetry in the expression of the occipito-mastoidal ossicles among the deformed crania. In conclusion, the study did not support assumptions about morphological diversity inside the studied samples or proved the impossibility of available craniological data to reflect possible intragroup differentiation at the moment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cryptofaunal nematodes, those living on the hard substrate of the coral reefs, are largely unknown in terms of diversity and assemblage structure. We described nematode assemblages at seven sites spanning about 200 km along Jardines de La Reina, a well-preserved reef system in the Greater Antilles. We identified about 3000 nematodes, mostly of the families Desmodoridae and Chromadoridae; the most abundant species were Croconema cinctum, Desmodora communis, and Euchromadora vulgaris. The regional richness was moderate with 70 observed species (0.95 confidence interval: 65–75 species) and 75 extrapolated species (0.95 CI: 68–83 species). This richness was lower than in other reef biotopes, maybe reflecting evolutionary constraints due to interactions with stony corals. The local expected richness at 100 individuals was similar among sites, with a median of 26 species (0.95 CI: 20–34 species), and likely caused by diversification rate and evolutionary time acting at the same pace on populations. The taxonomic β-diversity was high and without differences among sites (median: 0.85; 0.95 CI: 0.33–1), probably due to significant substrate heterogeneity at 10-cm scale. The prevalence of replacement over richness difference suggests that local processes (e.g., environmental filtering and competition) contribute more to β-diversity than niche availability, which would be largely similar across the reef terraces. Contrary to our expectations, no gradient of assemblage structure occurred, nor significant effect of benthic cover on nematodes. However, nematode functional structure showed a conservative set of biological traits reflecting adaptations to hydrodynamic regime: armed oral cavity/intermediate colonizing capability/ornamented cuticles/conical tail. Our results provide insights about the taxonomic and functional diversity of nematodes and highlight the vast knowledge gaps about the processes ruling the meiofauna community structure in coral reefs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present paper, the taxonomic status of several Hispaniolan members of the genus Tityus C. L. Koch, 1966 is revised after examination of almost all primary types and abundant supplementary material. This resulted in six new synonymies, which involve both extant and fossil species. The extant taxa herein synonymized are Tityus anasilviae Armas et Abud, 2004 under Tityus ottenwalderi Armas, 1999, Tityus bahoruco Teruel et Armas, 2006 under Tityus crassimanus (Thorell, 1876), Tityus ebanoverde Armas, 1999 under Tityus elii Armas et Marcano, 1992, and Tityus septentrionalis Armas et Abud, 2004 under Tityus portoplatensis Armas et Marcano, 1992. The fossil taxa herein synonymized are Tityus azari Lourenço, 2013† and Tityus (Brazilotityus) hartkorni Lourenço, 2009†, both under Tityus geratus Santiago-Blay et Poinar, 1988†. Updated distribution maps are given for all extant senior synonyms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Jamaican species of the uraniid subfamily Epipleminae have been poorly studied. Only two species, a Calizzia and an Erosia, have been documented from Jamaica in recent species lists. Eight genera are now recognized from Jamaica from the present study. Records of Epipleminae from Florida and the Greater Antilles are tabulated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Field Ornithology is the property of Resilience Alliance and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Indo-Hispanic interaction is an essential issue in the colonial period in the Caribbean, but its study is currently marginalized as an offshoot of pre-Columbian archaeology. This state of affairs denies the indigenous contribution to the past and present ethnocultural composition of the region and privileges a colonial approach in scholarship. This paper reviews important aspects of the history of archaeological research on contact and colonial interaction in the Greater Antilles and its theoretical underpinnings. It also presents two recent archaeological case studies that show different facets of the interaction processes using new methodological approaches: El Cabo, Dominican Republic, with evidence of early contact, and El Chorro de Maíta, Cuba, a context of interethnic interaction under colonial conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through analysis of fossil records, the aim of this paper is to show that fossil representatives of at least three land-mammal clades (pitheciine atelid primates, heteropsomyine echimyid rodents, and megalonychid phyllophagan xenarthrans) that once lived in the Greater Antilles are as old as, if not older than,‘first’ occurrences of these same groups on the South American mainland.Greater Antilles, South America, Antarctic Peninsula.Analysis of Cenozoic land-mammal fossil records for the three areas.Comparison reveals an interesting similarity to the Tertiary vertebrate palaeontological record for the Antarctic Peninsula (Seymour Island), in the sense that the latter also includes early (Eocene) representatives of some typical‘South American’ groups (e.g. meridiungulates, sloths, certain marsupial groups).Given how limited the Antillean and Antarctic records are in quantity and quality, it seems unlikely that these‘first’ appearances have much bearing on real origins (basal divergences). Rather, it suggests that the fossil basis for interpreting the origin and earliest diversification of‘South American’ clades during the latest Cretaceous/early Cenozoic is probably even scantier than generally realized. In particular, the Antillean record strengthens arguments that some crown-group continental lineages are considerably older than fossil evidence currently allows– a point increasingly (if unevenly) supported by molecular studies of many of the same clades. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The GAARlandia hypothesis has produced vigorous debate among biologists regarding whether now-submerged landforms that existed in the Caribbean region during the late Paleogene might have acted as a barrier for marine organisms and as a bridge for terrestrial biotas migrating from South America into the Greater Antilles. This concept derived from the hypothesized emergence history of the Aves Ridge. In the quarter century since GAARlandia was first proposed, new paleontological, geological and geophysical information has greatly extended the database available. Here we reaffirm that GAARlandia was a positive topographic feature from middle Eocene, and was exposed above sea level between late Eocene and early Oligocene when it facilitated biotic colonization of the northern Greater Antilles and their satellite islands, whether as a series of closely spaced islands or as a continuous peninsula projecting from northeastern South America along the crown of the rise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Phylogenetic analyses show that a group of species of Miconia (Melastomataceae: Miconieae) from the Greater Antilles all form a clade. They share the presence of backward-deflexed filaments with the entire androecium turning pink to red after anthesis and placentation reduced axile to basal. Additionally, many of these species are deciduous, and have fruits with few and relatively large seeds. These species have until recently been recognized in Calycogonium, Miconia, Ossaea and Pachyanthus. The group is composed of 14 species, two from Puerto Rico and 12 from Cuba, including the newly described M. matosiana. We formally describe this clade as M. sect. Liogieria and provide a revision of its species, including an identification key, descriptions, maps and photographs or illustrations for all of them. Twelve names are typified: Calycogonium clidemioides Griseb., C. rosmarinifolium Griseb., Charianthus obliquus Griseb., Graffenrieda obtusa Griseb., Miconia baracoensis Urb., M. cerasiflora Urb., M. cerasiflora var. setulifera Urb., M. confusa Cogn., M. obtusa f. glabrior Urb., M. pachyphylla Cogn., M. thomasiana DC. and M. vernicosa Naudin. Citation: Bécquer E. R., Bochorny T., Gavrutenko M. & Michelangeli F. A. 2022: A revision of the "basal-axile placentation clade" of Miconieae the newly erected Miconia sect. Liogieria (Melastomataceae: Miconieae) from the Greater Antilles. – Willdenowia 52: 387–432. Version of record first published online on 31 December 2022 ahead of inclusion in December 2022 issue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Paedomorphosis is a heterochronic syndrome in which adult individuals display features of their immature forms. In beetles, this phenomenon occurs widely in the superfamily Elateroidea, including the net-winged beetles (Lycidae), and, due to the usual flightlessness of paedomorphic females, it is hypothesized to cause speciation rates higher than in non-paedomorphic lineages. However, some fossils of paedomorphic lycids do not support this with palaeobiological data. Discovery of new Lycidae fossils attributed to the West Indian extant paedomorphic genus Cessator Kazantsev in the Dominican amber also suggests morphological stasis within this genus in the Greater Antilles. We describe Cessator anachronicus Ferreira and Ivie, sp. nov. based on adult males, as well as the first ever recorded fossil net-winged beetle larva of the same genus. We propose that the relatively young age of the studied fossils combined with the stable conditions in the forest floor of the Greater Antilles through the last tens of million years could explain the exceptionally conserved morphology in the net-winged beetles affected by the paedomorphic syndrome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Greater Antilles islands of Cuba, Hispaniola, Puerto Rico and Jamaica plus the Virgin Islands host fragments of the fossil convergent margin that records Cretaceous subduction (operated for about 90 m.y.) of the American plates beneath the Caribbean plate and ensuing arc‐continent collision in Late Cretaceous‐Eocene time. The "soft" collision between the Greater Antilles Arc (GAA) and the Bahamas platform (and the margin of the Maya Block in western Cuba) preserved much of the convergent margin. This fossil geosystem represents an excellent natural laboratory for studying the formation and evolution of an intra‐oceanic convergent margin. We compiled geochronologic (664 ages) and geochemical data (more than 1,500 analyses) for GAA igneous and metamorphic rocks. The data was classified with a simple fourfold subdivision: fore‐arc mélange, fore‐arc ophiolite, magmatic arc, and retro‐arc to inspect the evolution of GAA through its entire lifespan. The onset of subduction recorded by fore‐arc units, together with the oldest magmatic arc sequence shows that the GAA started in Early Cretaceous time and ceased in Paleogene time. The arc was locally affected (retro‐arc region in Hispaniola) by the Caribbean Large Igneous Province (CLIP) in Early Cretaceous and strongly in Late Cretaceous time. Despite multiple biases in the database presented here, this work is intended to help overcome some of the obstacles and motivate systematic study of the GAA. Our results encourage exploration of offshore regions, especially in the east where the forearc is submerged. Offshore explorations are also encouraged in the south, to investigate relations with the CLIP. Key Points: We present an overview of the magmatism and metamorphism of the entire Greater Antilles Arc (GAA) convergent margin systemProminent age interval from 95 to 60 Ma might relate to strong thermal/metamorphic events associated with the Caribbean Large Igneous ProvinceImmobile trace element geochemical data show that the GAA is dominated by mafic igneous rocks [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The investigation of social inequality in the Caribbean mainly has focused on the larger islands of the Greater Antilles where ethnohistoric records and monumental architecture form the basis for analysis of precolumbian complex societies. This paper presents evidence for status differentiation in the Lesser Antilles on the small island of Anguilla within a deposit at the Sandy Hill site and evaluates associated archaeofauna for evidence of rank-based differences in food consumption. It hen compared with three other sites, the higher density of status-related artifacts and higher densities of food remains at the Sandy Hill site arc interpreted as the result of feasting. No evidence for inequality is observed in patterns of food consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Choosing among types of genomic markers to be used in a phylogenomic study can have a major influence on the cost, design, and results of a study. Yet few attempts have been made to compare categories of next-generation sequence markers limiting our ability to compare the suitability of these different genomic fragment types. Here, we explore properties of different genomic markers to find if they vary in the accuracy of component phylogenetic trees and to clarify the causes of conflict obtained from different data sets or inference methods. As a test case, we explore the causes of discordance between phylogenetic hypotheses obtained using a novel data set of ultraconserved elements (UCEs) and a recently published exon data set of the cichlid tribe Heroini. Resolving relationships among heroine cichlids has historically been difficult, and the processes of colonization and diversification in Middle America and the Greater Antilles are not yet well understood. Despite differences in informativeness and levels of gene tree discordance between UCEs and exons, the resulting phylogenomic hypotheses generally agree on most relationships. The independent data sets disagreed in areas with low phylogenetic signal that were overwhelmed by incomplete lineage sorting and nonphylogenetic signals. For UCEs, high levels of incomplete lineage sorting were found to be the major cause of gene tree discordance, whereas, for exons, nonphylogenetic signal is most likely caused by a reduced number of highly informative loci. This paucity of informative loci in exons might be due to heterogeneous substitution rates that are problematic to model (i.e. computationally restrictive) resulting in systematic errors that UCEs (being less informative individually but more uniform) are less prone to. These results generally demonstrate the robustness of phylogenomic methods to accommodate genomic markers with different biological and phylogenetic properties. However, we identify common and unique pitfalls of different categories of genomic fragments when inferring enigmatic phylogenetic relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies of the biogeography of the West Indies are numerous but not all taxonomic groups have received the same attention. Many of the contributions to this field have historically focused on terrestrial vertebrates from a perspective closely linked to the classical theory of island biogeography. However, some recent works have questioned whether some of the assumptions of this theory are too simplistic. In this review, we compiled information about the West Indies biogeography based on an extensive and rigorous literature search. While we offer some background of the main hypotheses that explain the origin of the Caribbean biota, our main purpose here is to highlight divergent diversification patterns observed in terrestrial versus aquatic groups of the West Indian biota and also to shed light on the unbalanced number of studies covering the biogeography of these groups of organisms. We use an objective method to compile existing information in the field and produce a rigorous literature review. Our results show that most of the relevant literature in the field is related to the study of terrestrial organisms (mainly vertebrates) and only a small portion covers aquatic groups. Specifically, livebearing fishes show interesting deviations from the species‐area relationship predicted by classical island biogeography theory. We found that species richness on the Greater Antilles is positively correlated with island size but also with the presence of elevations showing that not only island area but also mountainous relief may be an important factor determining the number of freshwater species in the Greater Antilles. Our findings shed light on mechanisms that may differently drive speciation in aquatic versus terrestrial environments suggesting that ecological opportunity could outweigh the importance of island size in speciation. Investigations into freshwater fishes of the West Indies offer a promising avenue for understanding origins and subsequent diversification of the Caribbean biota. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Comparing distributional information derived from fossils with the modern distribution of species, we summarize the changing bird communities of the Bahamian Archipelago across deep ecological time. While our entire dataset consists of 7,600+ identified fossils from 32 sites on 15 islands (recording 137 species of resident and migratory birds), we focus on the landbirds from four islands with the best fossil records, three from the Late Pleistocene (~25 to 10 ka [1,000 y ago]) and one from the Holocene (~10 to 0 ka). The Late Pleistocene sites feature 51 resident species that have lost one or more Bahamian populations; 29 of these species do not occur in any of the younger Holocene sites (or in the Bahamas today). Of these 29 species, 17 have their closest affinities to species now or formerly living in Cuba and/or North America. A set of 27 species of landbirds, most of them extant somewhere today, was more widespread in the Bahamas in the prehistoric Holocene (~10 to 0.5 ka) than they are today; 16 of these 27 species were recorded as Pleistocene fossils as well. No single site adequately captures the entire landbird fauna of the combined focal islands. Information from all sites is required to assess changes in Bahamian biodiversity (including endemism) since the Late Pleistocene. The Bahamian islands are smaller, flatter, lower, and more biotically depauperate than the Greater Antilles, resulting in more vulnerable bird communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intriguing latest Eocene land-faunal dispersals between South America and the Greater Antilles (northern Caribbean) has inspired the hypothesis of the GAARlandia (Greater Antilles Aves Ridge) land bridge. This landbridge, however, should have crossed the Caribbean oceanic plate, and the geological evolution of its rise and demise, or its geodynamic forcing, remain unknown. Here we present the results of a land-sea survey from the northeast Caribbean plate, combined with chronostratigraphic data, revealing a regional episode of mid to late Eocene, trench-normal, E-W shortening and crustal thickening by ~25%. This shortening led to a regional late Eocene-early Oligocene hiatus in the sedimentary record revealing the location of an emerged land (the Greater Antilles-Northern Lesser Antilles, or GrANoLA, landmass), consistent with the GAARlandia hypothesis. Subsequent submergence is explained by combined trench-parallel extension and thermal relaxation following a shift of arc magmatism, expressed by a regional early Miocene transgression. We tentatively link the NE Caribbean intra-plate shortening to a well-known absolute and relative North American and Caribbean plate motion change, which may provide focus for the search of the remaining connection between 'GrANoLA' land and South America, through the Aves Ridge or Lesser Antilles island arc. Our study highlights the how regional geodynamic evolution may have driven paleogeographic change that is still reflected in current biology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The immense geologic and ecological complexity of the Caribbean has created a natural laboratory for interpreting when and how organisms disperse through time and space. However, competing hypotheses compounded with this complexity have resulted in a lack of unifying principles of biogeography for the region. Though new data concerning the timing of geologic events and dispersal events are emerging, powerful new analytical tools now allow for explicit hypothesis testing. Arthropods, with varying dispersal ability and high levels of endemism in the Caribbean, are an important, albeit understudied, biogeographic model system. Herein, we include a comprehensive analysis of every publicly available genetic dataset (at the time of writing) of terrestrial Caribbean arthropod groups using a statistically robust pipeline to explicitly test the current extent of biogeographic hypotheses for the region. Results: Our findings indicate several important biogeographic generalizations for the region: the South American continent is the predominant origin of Caribbean arthropod fauna; GAARlandia played a role for some taxa in aiding dispersal from South America to the Greater Antilles; founder event dispersal explains the majority of dispersal events by terrestrial arthropods, and distance between landmasses is important for dispersal; most dispersal events occurred via island hopping; there is evidence of 'reverse' dispersal from islands to the mainland; dispersal across the present-day Isthmus of Panama generally occurred prior to 3 mya; the Greater Antilles harbor more lineage diversity than the Lesser Antilles, and the larger Greater Antilles typically have greater lineage diversity than the smaller islands; basal Caribbean taxa are primarily distributed in the Greater Antilles, the basal-most being from Cuba, and derived taxa are mostly distributed in the Lesser Antilles; Jamaican taxa are usually endemic and monophyletic. Conclusions: Given the diversity and deep history of terrestrial arthropods, incongruence of biogeographic patterns is expected, but focusing on both similarities and differences among divergent taxa with disparate life histories emphasizes the importance of particular qualities responsible for resulting diversification patterns. Furthermore, this study provides an analytical toolkit that can be used to guide researchers interested in answering questions pertaining to Caribbean biogeography using explicit hypothesis testing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ida Altman writes explicitly against this tradition, giving us a synthetic account of the first six decades of Spanish settlement in the Greater Antilles. Isabel de Maraver's household was multiethnic - containing Spanish settlers, enslaved Africans, and Indigenous people in various states of dependency. Ida Altman, I Life and Society in the Early Spanish Caribbean: The Greater Antilles, 1493-1550 i . [Extracted from the article]

The fall armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda, J.E. Smith) is a noctuid moth that is a major and ubiquitous agricultural pest in the Western Hemisphere. Infestations have recently been identified in several locations in Africa, indicating its establishment in the Eastern Hemisphere where it poses an immediate and significant economic threat. Genetic methods were used to characterize noctuid specimens infesting multiple cornfields in the African nation of Togo that were tentatively identified as fall armyworm by morphological criteria. Species identification was confirmed by DNA barcoding and the specimens were found to be primarily of the subgroup that preferentially infests corn and sorghum in the Western Hemisphere. The mitochondrial haplotype configuration was most similar to that found in the Caribbean region and the eastern coast of the United States, identifying these populations as the likely originating source of the Togo infestations. A genetic marker linked with resistance to the Cry1Fa toxin from Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) expressed in transgenic corn and common in Puerto Rico fall armyworm populations was not found in the Togo collections. These observations demonstrate the usefulness of genetic surveys to characterize fall armyworm populations from Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two new scorpion species of the family Buthidae are described herein: Microtityus vieques sp. n. (a member of the subgenus Parvabsonus Armas, 1974) and Tityus alejandroi sp. n. (belonging to the "quisqueyanus" species-group). Both were collected from pitfall traps in the Puerto Rican satellite island of Vieques, in the Greater Antilles, and the former represents the first official record of the occurrence there of the gens Microtityus Kjellesvig-Waering, 1966. As expected, the new species have their closest relatives in Puerto Rico. Fully illustrated descriptions and detailed comparisons are provided. Additionally, two other Puerto Rican species of Tityus currently not assigned to any group are herein formally transferred to the "quisqueyanus" species group: Tityus angelesae Santiago-Blay, 2009 and Tityus juliorum Santiago-Blay, 2009. After this contribution, the scorpion fauna of Puerto Rico is now composed of 19 species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Aedes mediovittatus mosquitoes are found throughout the Greater Antilles in the Caribbean and often share the same larval habitats with Ae. Aegypti, the primary vector for dengue virus (DENV). Implementation of vector control measures to control dengue that specifically target Ae. Aegypti may not control DENV transmission in Puerto Rico (PR). Even if Ae. Aegypti is eliminated or DENV refractory mosquitoes are released, DENV transmission may not cease when other competent mosquito species like Ae. Mediovittatus are present. To compare vector competence of Ae. Mediovittatus and Ae. Aegypti mosquitoes, we studied relative infection and transmission rates for all four DENV serotypes. Methods: To compare the vector competence of Ae. Mediovittatus and Ae. Aegypti, mosquitoes were exposed to DENV 1–4 per os at viral titers of 5–6 logs plaque-forming unit (pfu) equivalents. At 14 days post infectious bloodmeal, viral RNA was extracted and tested by qRT-PCR to determine infection and transmission rates. Infection and transmission rates were analyzed with a generalized linear model assuming a binomial distribution. Results: Ae. Aegypti had significantly higher DENV-4 infection and transmission rates than Ae. mediovittatus. Conclusions: This study determined that Ae. Mediovittatus is a competent DENV vector. Therefore dengue prevention programs in PR and the Caribbean should consider both Ae. Mediovittatus and Ae. Aegypti mosquitoes in their vector control programs. Author Summary: Dengue is a potentially life-threatening tropical disease caused by four serotypes of virus, dengue virus 1, -2, -3, and -4. Worldwide, as many as 390 million people become infected with dengue virus each year after being bitten by infectious Aedes mosquitoes. Unfortunately, there is no commercially available vaccine to prevent dengue; so, dengue prevention is attempted by controlling Aedes mosquitoes. Since the Aedes aegypti mosquito is responsible for most dengue virus infections worldwide, most dengue control efforts target this mosquito. However, Aedes mediovittatus, a common mosquito in the Caribbean, may also transmit dengue virus in Puerto Rico. Our goal was to compare dengue virus transmission by Aedes mediovittatus and Aedes aegypti mosquitoes for four serotypes of dengue virus. In the laboratory, we exposed Aedes mediovittatus and Aedes aegypti mosquitoes with dengue virus-1–4. We found that similar numbers of Aedes mediovittatus and Aedes aegypti mosquitoes became infected with dengue virus-1–3, but differed in dengue virus 4 infection rates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Island biogeographers have long sought to elucidate the mechanisms behind biodiversity genesis. The Caribbean presents a unique stage on which to analyze the diversification process, due to the geologic diversity among the islands and the rich biotic diversity with high levels of island endemism. The colonization of such islands may reflect geologic heterogeneity through vicariant processes and/ or involve long-distance overwater dispersal. Here, we explore the phylogeography of the Caribbean and proximal mainland spiny orbweavers (Micrathena, Araneae), an American spider lineage that is the most diverse in the tropics and is found throughout the Caribbean. We specifically test whether the vicariant colonization via the contested GAARlandia landbridge (putatively emergent 33–35 mya), long-distance dispersal (LDD), or both processes best explain the modern Micrathena distribution. We reconstruct the phylogeny and test biogeographic hypotheses using a 'target gene approach' with three molecular markers (CO1, ITS-2, and 16S rRNA). Phylogenetic analyses support the monophyly of the genus but reject the monophyly of Caribbean Micrathena. Biogeographical analyses support five independent colonizations of the region via multiple overwater dispersal events, primarily from North/Central America, although the genus is South American in origin. There is no evidence for dispersal to the Greater Antilles during the timespan of GAARlandia. Our phylogeny implies greater species richness in the Caribbean than previously known, with two putative species of M. forcipata that are each single-island endemics, as well as deep divergences between the Mexican and Floridian M. sagittata. Micrathena is an unusual lineage among arachnids, having colonized the Caribbean multiple times via overwater dispersal after the submergence of GAARlandia. On the other hand, single-island endemism and undiscovered diversity are nearly universal among all but the most dispersal-prone arachnid groups in the Caribbean. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Species-rich adaptive radiations typically diversify along several distinct ecological axes, each characterized by morphological, physiological, and behavioral adaptations. We test here whether different types of adaptive traits share similar patterns of evolution within a radiation by investigating patterns of evolution of morphological traits associated with microhabitat specialization and of physiological traits associated with thermal biology in Anolis lizards. Previous studies of anoles suggest that close relatives share the same 'structural niche' (i.e., use the same types of perches) and are similar in body size and shape, but live in different 'climatic niches' (i.e., use habitats with different insolation and temperature profiles). Because morphology is closely tied to structural niche and field active body temperatures are tied to climatic niches in Anolis, we expected phylogenetic analyses to show that morphology is more evolutionarily conservative than thermal physiology. In support of this hypothesis, we find (1) that thermal biology exhibits more divergence among recently diverged Anolis taxa than does morphology; and (2) diversification of thermal biology among all species often follows diversification in morphology. These conclusions are remarkably consistent with predictions made by anole biologists in the 1960s and 1970s. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conservation planning and implementation require identifying pertinent habitats and locations where protection and management may improve viability of targeted species. The winter range of Bicknell's Thrush (Catharus bicknelli), a threatened Nearctic-Neotropical migratory songbird, is restricted to the Greater Antilles. We analyzed winter records from the mid-1970s to 2009 to quantitatively evaluate winter distribution and habitat selection. Additionally, we conducted targeted surveys in Jamaica (n = 433), Cuba (n = 363), Dominican Republic (n = 1,000), Haiti (n = 131) and Puerto Rico (n = 242) yielding 179 sites with thrush presence. We modeled Bicknell's Thrush winter habitat selection and distribution in the Greater Antilles in Maxent version 3.3.1. using environmental predictors represented in 30 arc second study area rasters. These included nine landform, land cover and climatic variables that were thought a priori to have potentially high predictive power. We used the average training gain from ten model runs to select the best subset of predictors. Total winter precipitation, aspect and land cover, particularly broadleaf forests, emerged as important variables. A five-variable model that contained land cover, winter precipitation, aspect, slope, and elevation was the most parsimonious and not significantly different than the models with more variables. We used the best fitting model to depict potential winter habitat. Using the 10 percentile threshold (.0.25), we estimated winter habitat to cover 33,170 km² , nearly 10% of the study area. The Dominican Republic contained half of all potential habitat (51%), followed by Cuba (15.1%), Jamaica (13.5%), Haiti (10.6%), and Puerto Rico (9.9%). Nearly one-third of the range was found to be in protected areas. By providing the first detailed predictive map of Bicknell's Thrush winter distribution, our study provides a useful tool to prioritize and direct conservation planning for this and other wet, broadleaf forest specialists in the Greater Antilles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The genus Scrophularia L. (Scrophulariaceae) comprises 200-300 species, of which approximately 19 are distributed in North America and the Greater Antilles. To investigate phylogenetic and biogeographic relationships of the New World species, two intergenic spacers ( trnQ- rps16 and psbA- trnH) of chloroplast DNA and nuclear ribosomal ITS were sequenced. Phylogenetic analyses revealed three distinct New World clades that correspond to their geographical distribution and are corroborated by morphological characters. Phylogenetic inference indicates the eastern American S. marilandica L. as sister to all Antillean species; for colonization of the Caribbean archipelago, a late Miocene dispersal event from the North American mainland is assumed. There is evidence for a hybrid origin of the most widespread North American species, S. lanceolata Pursh. The results further suggest that S. nodosa L. is sister to all New World and three Japanese species of Scrophularia. The latter form an Eastern Asian-Eastern North American (EA-ENA) disjunction with six New World species. We propose an eastern Asian origin for the New World taxa of Scrophularia. Divergence times estimated using a relaxed molecular clock model suggest one or more Miocene migration events from eastern Asia to the New World via the Bering Land Bridge followed by diversification in North America. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evolutionary biology is a historical science, like astronomy and geology. Understanding how and why evolution has occurred requires synthesizing multiple lines of inquiry. Historical studies, such as those that estimate phylogenetic trees, can detail the pattern of evolutionary diversification, whereas studies on riving species can provide insight into the processes that affect ecological interactions and evolutionary change. The evolutionary radiation of Anolis lizards in the Greater Antilles illustrates the interplay between historical and modern-day approaches and strongly supports the hypothesis that interspecific interactions drive adaptive diversification. Studies of these species also demonstrate the rote that manipulative experiments can play in understanding evolutionary phenomena. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anolis lizards in the Greater Antilles are thought to have diversified through natural selection on body size and shape, presumably due to interspecific competition and variation in locomotor performance. Here we measure natural selection on body size over three years and across seven replicate populations of the brown anole, A. sagrei. We experimentally manipulated an important component of the environment (population density) on several small islands to test the role of density in driving natural selection. Results indicate that the strength of natural selection was proportional to population density (r² = 0.81), and favored larger body sizes at higher density, presumably owing to the enhanced competitive ability afforded by large size. Changes in the distribution of body size by selective releases of lizards to islands show that this effect did not arise by pure density dependence, since smaller individuals were disproportionately selected against at higher densities. We measured significant broad sense heritability for body size in the laboratory (h² = 0.55) indicating that selection in the wild could have an evolutionary response. Our results suggest an important effect of population density on natural selection in Anolis lizards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Island arc volcanism in the Greater Antilles persisted for >70 m.y. from Middle Cretaceous to Late Eocene time. During the initial 50 m.y., lavas in central Puerto Rico shifted from predominantly island arc tholeiites (volcanic phase I, Aptian to Early Albian, 120–105 Ma), to calc-alkaline basalts (phase II, Late Albian, 105–97 Ma), and finally to high-K, incompatible-element-enriched basalts (phases III and IV, Cenomanian–Maastrichtian, 97–70 Ma). Following an island-wide eruptive hiatus, geochemical trends were reversed in the Eocene with renewed eruption of calc-alkaline basalts (phase V, 60–45 Ma). Progressive increases in large-ion lithophile elements (LILE)/light rare earth elements (LREE), LILE/high field strength elements (HFSE), LREE/HFSE, and HFSE/heavy rare earth elements (HREE) characterize the compositional evolution of the first four volcanic phases. The shift in trace element compositions is mirrored by increasing radiogenic content of the lavas. PbΔ8/4 values, representing deviations of 208Pb/204Pb from the Northern Hemisphere Reference Line (NHRL), range from −20 to almost +2·0 in phases I and II, and up to +25 in phase III. Similarly, εNd values decrease slightly from +8 to almost +6 between volcanic phases I and III. Finally, initial (i) 87Sr/86Sr values in phase I basalts have a narrow range from 0·7033 to 0·7040, near the upper limit of altered mid-ocean ridge basalt (MORB), whereas values from phases III and IV basalts have a broader range from 0·7034 to 0·7044. N-MORB-normalized incompatible element distribution patterns of Puerto Rican volcanic rocks have uniformly flat HREE segments and Y/Yb is ∼1, indicating that garnet and amphibole were insignificant as residual phases and that melting occurred predominantly within relatively dry spinel lherzolite. Yb concentrations, which provide constraints on degree of melting, are consistent with a narrow range from 30 to 35% melting in volcanic phase I, but with a much broader range from 25 to 40% melting during phase III. It seems likely that such high degrees of melting were attained through a combination of flux-related melting and buoyancy-driven pressure-release fusion. Nb abundances, which reflect degree of incompatible element enrichment compared with fertile MORB mantle (FMM), are low in volcanic phase I, consistent with ∼2% low-degree pressure release melting of source material in the back-arc region before entry into the arc melting zone. Subsequent lavas from phases II and III have N-MORB-like or higher Nb abundances, indicating that (1) back-arc processes peaked in intensity during the first 10−20 m.y. and later declined in significance, and/or (2) the degree of incompatible element enrichment gradually increased as a result of subduction of a thickening accumulation of pelagic sediment. Isotope mixing models indicate that the proportion of authigenic pelagic sediment incorporated into Puerto Rican basalts increased from negligible levels in phase I to as high as 2% in phases III and IV. Although the absolute magnitude of the sediment component increased progressively, a narrow range of Th/La in mafic end-members indicates that the terrigenous contribution remained uniform throughout volcanism, consistent with the insular setting of the eastern Greater Antilles Arc. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Amazon parrots (Amazona spp.) colonized the islands of the Greater Antilles from the Central American mainland, but there has not been a consensus as to how and when this happened. Today, most of the five remaining island species are listed as endangered, threatened, or vulnerable as a consequence of human activity. We sequenced and annotated full mitochondrial genomes of all the extant Amazon parrot species from the Greater Antillean (A. leucocephala (Cuba), A. agilis, A. collaria (both from Jamaica), A. ventralis (Hispaniola), and A. vittata (Puerto Rico)), A. albifrons from mainland Central America, and A. rhodocorytha from the Atlantic Forest in Brazil. The assembled and annotated mitogenome maps provide information on sequence organization, variation, population diversity, and evolutionary history for the Caribbean species including the critically endangered A. vittata. Despite the larger number of available samples from the Puerto Rican Parrot Recovery Program, the sequence diversity of the A. vittata population in Puerto Rico was the lowest among all parrot species analyzed. Our data support the stepping-stone dispersal and speciation hypothesis that has started approximately 3.47 MYA when the ancestral population arrived from mainland Central America and led to diversification across the Greater Antilles, ultimately reaching the island of Puerto Rico 0.67 MYA. The results are presented and discussed in light of the geological history of the Caribbean and in the context of recent parrot evolution, island biogeography, and conservation. This analysis contributes to understating evolutionary history and empowers subsequent assessments of sequence variation and helps design future conservation efforts in the Caribbean. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on a proposal to conserve the name of the plant Mascagnia at the place of Triopterys belonging to the family Malphigiaceae. Mascagnia is a genus of Neotropical flowering plants in the family and contains five species generally found in Bahamas and Greater Antilles and two have the samaras like Mascagnia.