Sicence

Extant cubozoans are voracious predators characterized by their square shape, four evenly spaced outstretched tentacles and well-developed eyes. A few cubozoan fossils are known from the Middle Cambrian Marjum Formation of Utah and the well-known Carboniferous Mazon Creek Formation of Illinois. Undisputed cubozoan fossils were previously unknown from the early Cambrian; by that time probably all representatives of the living marine phyla, especially those of basal animals, should have evolved. Microscopic fossils were recovered from a phosphatic limestone in the Lower Cambrian Kuanchuanpu Formation of South China using traditional acetic-acid maceration. Seven of the pre-hatched pentamerous cubozoan embryos, each of which bears five pairs of subumbrellar tentacle buds, were analyzed in detail through computed microtomography (Micro-CT) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) without coating. The figured microscopic fossils are unequivocal pre-hatching embryos based on their spherical...

The 2011 earthquake off the Pacific coast of Tohoku and the subsequent tsunami severely damaged many cultural facilities along the eastern coast of Japan. The Committee for Salvaging Cultural Properties was established in Tokyo through an appeal to the Agency for Cultural Affairs, and the local headquarters of the Committee in Miyagi was established in the Sendai City Museum beginning April 19. The staffs of local museums and the Cultural Properties Protection Section of Miyagi Prefecture joined operations to salvage cultural properties in Miyagi. Tohoku University Museum joined this enterprise to salvage natural-history collections from 6 facilities. Many museum collections were lost in this disaster, but most of the collections exhibited in the Utatsu Ichthyosaur Museum were successfully rescued. After emergency salvage operations decreased, the Miyagi Liaison Conference for preserving damaged cultural properties was established to assume salvage operations from the local headquar...

Optimality modeling suggests that the choice of resources often represents the best achievable balance of costs and benefits. However, there is no empirical data describing the effect of resource availability on the development of the material choice behavior during construction of a biological structure. Cylindrical case-bearing caddisfly larvae prefer smooth-surface particles to allow construction of a smooth interior case wall. We evaluated the relationship between case material preference and the local availability of sand particle species in 7 distant populations of 2 odontocerid species, Psilotreta kisoensis and Perissoneura paradoxa. The field survey revealed that all populations selectively used the smooth particles from the surrounding sediment to construct their cases. However, when comparing among populations, the larvae originating from areas with relatively few smooth particles constructed cases using rougher particles. We then forced the larvae to choose from a mixture of equal amounts of 2 artificial particles that had different textures (rough and smooth). The preference for smooth artificial particles was lower in populations that naturally incorporated rougher particles in their cases. Our results are consistent with the predictions of optimal foraging theory as the populations living in areas with abundant smooth particles had a stronger preference for smoothness than those in areas where such particles were rare. The abundance of smooth particles in the sediment depended on its mineralogical/ petrological origin. Thus, we suggest that material preference is influenced by local geology. Our results provide important insight into the mechanisms controlling construction behavior.

Many organisms construct external structures to increase their fitness. However, there is a considerable energetic cost for construction that often involves a trade-off with other physical or behavioral traits or construction processes. Cylindrical casebearing caddis fly larvae need a smooth interior case wall, presumably to undulate their abdomen for respiration. We studied 5 species of caddis fly that build cases with sand grains. Experiments were conducted to force these species to reconstruct or repair their cases using 20 paired combinations from 11 types of artificial materials with different surface textures. Surface roughness was determined by confocal laser scanning microscopy. Among the 4 species that display voluntary undulation behavior for respiration, 2 species (Goera japonica and Apatania sp.) that make their case wall smooth by secreting silk showed only moderate preference for smooth particles. The other 2 species (Psilotreta kisoensis and Perissoneura paradoxa; Odontoceridae), which do not line their cases with silk, showed a strong preference for smoother particles. The results suggest that these 2 types of case bearers employ antithetical strategies that being a trade-off between costs for secreting silk and selecting smoother particles to make a smooth case wall. The fifth species (Glossosoma ussuricum), which does not display voluntary undulation behavior or interior silk lining, was nonselective for surface roughness of the case-building particles. It is indicated that these differences are related to both the conformation of cases and respiration behavior.

The monotypic ant genus Xymmer Santschi, 1914 was established for X. muticus (Santschi, 1914) which has so far been known only from the West African subregion. The genus is easily distinguishable from the other amblyoponine genera by the anteromedian part of clypeus which is produced as a short rectangular lobe. Additional undescribed species had been found exclusively from Madagascar and Africa until recently. However, in March, 2015, a Xymmer colony was found in northern Central Vietnam. In the present paper Xymmer phungi sp. nov. is described as the first Oriental species of the genus. Although the worker of X. phungi is morphologically quite similar to that of X. muticus, the former is distinguishable from the latter by the following two characteristics of the worker: clypeal lobe 1/6 times as long as broad (vs. 1/3 times as long as broad in X. muticus); anterior margin of the lobe weakly concave (vs. almost straight in X. muticus). Xymmer phungi is well distinguished from Ethiopian Xymmer spp. for which 28S sequences are available from GenBank. Our observations suggest that the species feeds on geophilids (Chilopoda: Geophilomorpha). An updated key to Vietnamese genera of the subfamily Amblyoponinae is also provided.