Phylogenetic relationships of African Caecilians (Amphibia: Gymnophiona): insights from mitochondrial rRNA gene sequences

Africa (excluding the Seychelles) has a diverse caecilian fauna, including the endemic family Scolecomorphidae and six endemic genera of the more cosmopolitan Caeciliidae. Previous molecular phylogenetic studies have not included any caecilians from the African mainland. Partial 12S and 16S mitochondrial gene sequences were obtained for two species of the endemic African Scolecomorphidae and five species and four genera of African Caeciliids, aligned against previously reported sequences for 16 caecilian species, and analysed using parsimony, maximum likelihood, Bayesian and distance methods. Results are in agreement with traditional taxonomy in providing support for the monophyly of the African Caeciliid genera Boulengerula and Schistometopum and for the Scolecomorphidae. They disagree in indicating that the Caeciliidae is paraphyletic with respect to the Scolecomorphidae. Although more data from morphology and/or molecules will be required to resolve details of the interrelationships of the African caecilian genera, the data provide strong support for at least two origins of caecilians in which the eye is reduced and covered with bone, and do not support the hypotheses that the caecilian assemblages of Africa, and of East and of West Africa are monophyletic

Calculated phase diagrams, iron tolerance limits, and corrosion of Mg-Al alloys

The factors determining corrosion are reviewed in this paper, with an emphasis on iron tolerance limit and the production of high-purity castings. To understand the iron impurity tolerance limit, magnesium phase diagrams were calculated using the Pandat software package. Calculated phase diagrams can explain the iron tolerance limit and the production of high-purity castings by means of control of melt conditions; this is significant for the production of quality castings from recycled magnesium. Based on the new insight, the influence of the microstructure on corrosion of magnesium alloys is reviewed

The impending crisis in forestry

Item consists of a digitized copy of an audio recording of a Cecil and Ida Green lecture delivered at the Vancouver Institute by W.E. Hillis on November 5, 1983. Original audio recording available in the University Archives (UBC AT 1081).Non UBCUnreviewedOthe