Amphimallon menorcanum Reitter, 1902, nouveau synonyme de Rhizotrogus pallidipennis Blanchard, 1850 (Coleoptera, Melolonthidae)

Abstract not availabl

Contrail microphysics in the near wake of a realistic wing through RANS simulations

This paper focuses on Steady Reynolds Average Navier Stokes simulations (RANS) of ice particles growth in the near field of a wing-injector configuration. The multiphysics multiphase flow solver CEDRE, enriched with a microphysical model, has been developed in order to simulate the impact of a more real aircraft geometry in contrail formation studies. As a first evaluation case, a simplified aircraft description, i.e. a NACA0012 2D wing with two injectors, has been used. Ice formation has been simulated by assuming water condensation and instantaneous freezing on activated soot particles, initially emitted by aircraft engines. Our investigation focuses on the near field, extending from the nozzle exit until eight wing spans. Although the main goal is to address the question of ice formation, the aerodynamic flow field has been investigated and numerical results compared with existing experimental data. The first results indicate that the exhaust jet is correctly wrapped around the vortex and that the pattern of dilution qualitatively matches observations in the near field. Sensitivity studies to humidity and to the initial soot particle radius have also been performed

New records of Glaphyridae (Col., Scarabaeoidea) from Iran

New distributional data are given for 27 species of Iranian Glaphyridae. Two of them, Glaphyrus calvaster Zaitzev, 1923, and Pygopleurus transcaucasicus (Petrovitz, 1962), are recorded from Iran for the first time. Further data on Glaphyridae species and their status in Iran is provided

Genome sequencing reveals extraordinary cephalic horns in the Madagascan dung beetle genus Helictopleurus (Coleoptera, Scarabaeinae) : insight from a revision of fungicola species group

In this study, we test and corroborate the phylogenetic position of Heterosyphus within Helictopleurus using mitogenomes and nuclear loci. Our recent samplings revealed that males of the former Heterosyphus sicardi Paulian, 1975 (today under Helictopleurus d'Orbigny, 1915) have extraordinary bilateral clypeal horns which are exclusive within the genus. We provide a taxonomic review of the fungicola species group of Helictopleurus and discuss the systematic position of H. sicardi within the group. The male phenotype of H. sicardi is described and photographs of the body and genitalia of the members of the fungicola group are given, as well as a diagnostic key to species of the group. Helictopleurus fungicola peyrierasi is considered to be a distinct species within the genus (H. peyrierasi stat. rest.). Helictopleurus pluristriatus d'Orbigny, 1915 syn. nov. is established as a junior synonym of H. fungicola (Fairmaire, 1899).Peer reviewe

Towards computable taxonomic knowledge: Leveraging nanopublications for sharing new synonyms in the Madagascan genus Helictopleurus (Coleoptera, Scarabaeinae)

Numerous taxonomic studies have focused on the dung beetle genus Helictopleurus d’Orbigny, 1915, endemic to Madagascar. However, this genus stilll needs a thorough revision. Semantic technologies, such as nanopublications, hold the potential to enhance taxonomy by transforming how data are published and analysed. This paper evaluates the effectiveness of nanopublications in establishing synonyms within the genus Helictopleurus.In this study, we identify four new synonyms within Helictopleurus: H. rudicollis (Fairmaire, 1898) = H. hypocrita Balthasar, 1941 syn. nov.; H. vadoni Lebis, 1960 = H. perpunctatus Balthasar, 1963 syn. nov.; H. halffteri Balthasar, 1964 = H. dorbignyi Montreuil, 2005 syn. nov.; H. clouei (Harold, 1869) = H. gibbicollis (Fairmaire, 1895) syn. nov. Helictopleurus may have a significantly larger number of synonyms than currently known, indicating potentially inaccurate estimates about its recent extinction.We also publish the newly-established synonyms as nanopublications, which are machine-readable data snippets accessible online. Additionally, we explore the utility of nanopublications in taxonomy and demonstrate their practical use with an example query for data extraction

Amplicon metagenomics of dung beetles (Coleoptera, Scarabaeidae, Scarabaeinae) as a proxy for lemur (Primates, Lemuroidea) studies in Madagascar

Dung beetles (Scarabaeidae, Scarabaeinae) are among the most cost-effective and informative biodiversity indicator groups, conveying rich information about the status of habitats and faunas of an area. Yet their use for monitoring the mammal species, that are the main providers of the food for the dung beetles, has only recently been recognized. In the present work, we studied the diet of four endemic Madagascan dung beetles (Helictopleurus fissicollis (Fairmaire), H. giganteus (Harold), Nanos agaboides (Boucomont), and Epilissus splendidus Fairmaire) using high-throughput sequencing and amplicon metagenomics. For all beetle species, the ⅔–¾ of reads belonged to humans, suggesting that human feces are the main source of food for the beetles in the examined areas. The second most abundant were the reads of the cattle (Bos taurus Linnaeus). We also found lower but significant number of reads of six lemur species belonging to three genera. Our sampling localities agree well with the known ranges of these lemur species. The amplicon metagenomics method proved a promising tool for the lemur inventories in Madagascar

Living ethics: a stance and its implications in health ethics

Moral or ethical questions are vital because they affect our daily lives: what is the best choice we can make, the best action to take in a given situation, and ultimately, the best way to live our lives? Health ethics has contributed to moving ethics toward a more experience-based and user-oriented theoretical and methodological stance but remains in our practice an incomplete lever for human development and flourishing. This context led us to envision and develop the stance of a “living ethics”, described in this inaugural collective and programmatic paper as an effort to consolidate creative collaboration between a wide array of stakeholders. We engaged in a participatory discussion and collective writing process known as instrumentalist concept analysis. This process included initial local consultations, an exploratory literature review, the constitution of a working group of 21 co-authors, and 8 workshops supporting a collaborative thinking and writing process. First, a living ethics designates a stance attentive to human experience and the role played by morality in human existence. Second, a living ethics represents an ongoing effort to interrogate and scrutinize our moral experiences to facilitate adaptation of people and contexts. It promotes the active and inclusive engagement of both individuals and communities in envisioning and enacting scenarios which correspond to their flourishing as authentic ethical agents. Living ethics encourages meaningful participation of stakeholders because moral questions touch deeply upon who we are and who we want to be. We explain various aspects of a living ethics stance, including its theoretical, methodological, and practical implications as well as some barriers to its enactment based on the reflections resulting from the collaborative thinking and writing process

Photography-based taxonomy is inadequate, unnecessary, and potentially harmful for biological sciences

The question whether taxonomic descriptions naming new animal species without type specimen(s) deposited in collections should be accepted for publication by scientific journals and allowed by the Code has already been discussed in Zootaxa (Dubois & Nemésio 2007; Donegan 2008, 2009; Nemésio 2009a–b; Dubois 2009; Gentile & Snell 2009; Minelli 2009; Cianferoni & Bartolozzi 2016; Amorim et al. 2016). This question was again raised in a letter supported by 35 signatories published in the journal Nature (Pape et al. 2016) on 15 September 2016. On 25 September 2016, the following rebuttal (strictly limited to 300 words as per the editorial rules of Nature) was submitted to Nature, which on 18 October 2016 refused to publish it. As we think this problem is a very important one for zoological taxonomy, this text is published here exactly as submitted to Nature, followed by the list of the 493 taxonomists and collection-based researchers who signed it in the short time span from 20 September to 6 October 2016

Polyphylla persica Brenske, 1902, bona species (Coleoptera, Melolonthinae)

Polyphylla persica Brenske, 1902, bona species (Coleóptera, Melolonthinae). After the study of new materials housed in the Hayk Mirzayans Insects Museum of Tehran, Polyphylla persica Brenske, 1902, is considered a valid species.Après l'étude de matériels inédits conservés au Hayk Mirzayans Insects Museum de Téhéran, Polyphylla persica Brenske, 1902, est bien considérée comme une bonne espèce.Montreuil Olivier, Montreuil-Fazaeli Farnaz. Polyphylla persica Brenske, 1902, bona species (Coleoptera, Melolonthinae). In: Bulletin de la Société entomologique de France, volume 112 (3), septembre 2007. pp. 285-287