98 research outputs found
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
Cytotaxonomy of the Seychelles tree frog, Megalixalus seychellensis (Duméril and Bibron) (Amphibia: Hyperoliidae)
The Seychelles tree frog, Megalixalus seychellensis has 2n=24 chromosomes of gradually decreasing length. Pairs 2, 3, and 4 are submetacentric, and the remaining pairs are metacentric. The karyotype affirms hyperoliid assignment of this species, and indicates a link between the Seychellean fauna and the African-Madagascan faunas.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/42716/1/18_2005_Article_BF01975110.pd
Measurement of the Charged Multiplicities in b, c and Light Quark Events from Z0 Decays
Average charged multiplicities have been measured separately in , and
light quark () events from decays measured in the SLD experiment.
Impact parameters of charged tracks were used to select enriched samples of
and light quark events, and reconstructed charmed mesons were used to select
quark events. We measured the charged multiplicities:
,
, from
which we derived the differences between the total average charged
multiplicities of or quark events and light quark events: and . We compared
these measurements with those at lower center-of-mass energies and with
perturbative QCD predictions. These combined results are in agreement with the
QCD expectations and disfavor the hypothesis of flavor-independent
fragmentation.Comment: 19 pages LaTex, 4 EPS figures, to appear in Physics Letters
Test beam performance measurements for the Phase I upgrade of the CMS pixel detector
A new pixel detector for the CMS experiment was built in order to cope with the instantaneous luminosities anticipated for the Phase I Upgrade of the LHC. The new CMS pixel detector provides four-hit tracking with a reduced material budget as well as new cooling and powering schemes. A new front-end readout chip mitigates buffering and bandwidth limitations, and allows operation at low comparator thresholds. In this paper, comprehensive test beam studies are presented, which have been conducted to verify the design and to quantify the performance of the new detector assemblies in terms of tracking efficiency and spatial resolution. Under optimal conditions, the tracking efficiency is (99.95 ± 0.05) %, while the intrinsic spatial resolutions are (4.80 ± 0.25) Όm and (7.99 ± 0.21) Όm along the 100 Όm and 150 Όm pixel pitch, respectively. The findings are compared to a detailed Monte Carlo simulation of the pixel detector and good agreement is found.Peer reviewe
P-Type Silicon Strip Sensors for the new CMS Tracker at HL-L-HC
Abstract: The upgrade of the LHC to the High-Luminosity LHC (HL-LHC) is expected to increase
the LHC design luminosity by an order of magnitude. This will require silicon tracking detectors
with a significantly higher radiation hardness. The CMS Tracker Collaboration has conducted an
irradiation and measurement campaign to identify suitable silicon sensor materials and strip designs
for the future outer tracker at the CMS experiment. Based on these results, the collaboration has
chosen to use n-in-p type silicon sensors and focus further investigations on the optimization of that
sensor type
Biogéographie de Madagascar = Biogeography of Madagascar
Des modÚles d'endémisme ont été établis pour quatre groupes de vertébrés : Amphibiens, Reptiles, Oiseaux et MammifÚres non volants, dans la région est de Madagascar. Un total de 360 espÚces endémiques pour l'est de Madagascar ont été incluses dans une analyse parcimonieuse de l'endémisme (APE) pour un total de 26 zones observées. Les modÚles d'endémisme sont largement conformes entre chaque groupe de Vertébrés, bien que la classification phytogéographique classique d'Humbert (1955) ne soit pas bien appuyée par aucun des groupes de Vertébrés. (Résumé d'auteur
Morphological assessments and phylogenetic relationships of the Seychellean frogs of the family Sooglossidae (Amphibia : Anura)
The frog family Sooglossidae is endemic to the Seychelles Is. in the Indian Ocean, and consists of 2 genera and 4 species, the monotypic Nesomantis and Sooglossus (3 species). Many previous studies have suggested that Sooglossus sechellensis is more similar to Nesomantis thomasseti than to its congener, S. gardineri. Based on an extensive dataset of 188 morphological characters, we concluded that Nesomantis and S. sechellensis form a monophyletic group with the exclusion of S. gardineri (and S. pipilodryas). We therefore have established a new genus, Sechellophryne, to accommodate the latter 2 species
A new species of Heteroliodon (Reptilia: Squamata: Colubridae) from Montagne des Français, far northern Madagascar
A new species of Heteroliodon (Reptilia: Squamata: Colubridae) from Montagne des Français, far northern Madagascar
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