Recognition of Chyrsobothris thoracica guadeloupensis Descarpentries, 1981 at the species level (Coleoptera: Buprestidae)

Evidence is presented that the subspecies Chrysobothris thoracica guadeloupensis Descarpentries, 1981 (Coleoptera: Buprestidae) should be recognized at the species level. Character evidence is provided to separate C. guadeloupensis, new status, from C. thoracica Fabricius, 1798. Both species are illustrated with habitus photographs and images of the male genitalia

Taxonomic placement and nomenclatural revisions for five species of Neotropical Buprestidae (Coleoptera)

Autarcontes lopezi Fisher, 1925 (Coleoptera: Buprestidae), is transferred to the genus Agrilus Curtis, 1825 (new combination). Colobogaster bella Kirsch, 1873, is transferred to the genus Chrysobothris Eschscholtz, 1829 (new combination). Ectinogonia isamarae Moore, 1994, is resurrected as the valid name for the species previously called E. obscuripennis Cobos, 1954, as the latter is unavailable as infrasubspecific. Conognatha jakobsoni Obenberger, 1928, is resurrected over C. germaini Théry in Hoscheck, 1934, as the for­mer name has priority. Callimicra lucida Waterhouse, 1889, is resurrected as the valid name over C. hoscheki Obenberger, 1922, which has been used due to several historical errors and misinterpretations

A new species of \u3ci\u3eParaberismyia\u3c/i\u3e Woodley (Diptera, Stratiomyidae, Beridinae) from Chiapas, Mexico

A new species of Paraberismyia Woodley (Diptera, Stratiomyidae, Beridinae), P. imitator, n. sp., is described from Chiapas, Mexico. The new species is compared to previously described species and diagnostic notes are presented for separation of Paraberismyia from Berismyia Giglio-Tos

A new species of Culcua Walker (Diptera: Stratiomyidae) from Vietnam

A new species of Culcua Walker (Diptera: Stratiomyidae), C. lingafelteri Woodley, new species, is described from northern Vietnam. It is diagnosed relative to other species using the recent revision of the genus by Rozkošný and Kozánek (2007). This is the first species of Culcua reported from Vietnam

The first OSCE; Does students' experience of performing in public affect their results? Assessment and evaluation of admissions, knowledge, skills and attitudes

Background: Personal qualities have been shown to affect students' exam results. We studied the effect of experience, and level, of public performance in music, drama, dance, sport, and debate at the time of admission to medical school as a predictor of student achievement in their first objective structured clinical examination (OSCE). Methods: A single medical school cohort (n=265) sitting their first clinical exam in 2011 as third year students were studied. Pre-admission statements made at the time of application were coded for their stated achievements in the level of public performance; participation in each activity was scored 0-3, where 0 was no record, 1=leisure time activity, 2=activity at school or local level, 3=activity at district, regional or national level. These scores were correlated to OSCE results by linear regression and t-test. Comparison was made between the highest scoring students in each area, and students scoring zero by t-test. Results: There was a bell shaped distribution in public performance score in this cohort. There was no significant linear regression relationship between OSCE results and overall performance score, or between any subgroups. There was a significant difference between students with high scores in theatre, debate and vocal music areas, grouped together as verbal performance, and students scoring zero in these areas. (p<0.05, t-test) with an effect size of 0.4. Conclusions: We found modest effects from pre-admission experience of verbal performance on students' scores in the OSCE examination. As these data are taken from students' admission statements, we call into question the received wisdom that such statements are unreliable

Comprehensive inventory of true flies (Diptera) at a tropical site

Peer reviewe

Comprehensive inventory of true flies (Diptera) at a tropical site

Estimations of tropical insect diversity generally suffer from lack of known groups or faunas against which extrapolations can be made, and have seriously underestimated the diversity of some taxa. Here we report the intensive inventory of a four-hectare tropical cloud forest in Costa Rica for one year, which yielded 4332 species of Diptera, providing the first verifiable basis for diversity of a major group of insects at a single site in the tropics. In total 73 families were present, all of which were studied to the species level, providing potentially complete coverage of all families of the order likely to be present at the site. Even so, extrapolations based on our data indicate that with further sampling, the actual total for the site could be closer to 8000 species. Efforts to completely sample a site, although resource-intensive and time-consuming, are needed to better ground estimations of world biodiversity based on limited sampling

Notes on South American Dasyomma, with the description of a remarkable new species from Chile (Diptera: Athericidae)

A new species of Dasyomma Macquart, D. chrysopilum sp. nov., is described from Chile (Malleco and Ñuble Provinces). This species differs from all other known species in having dense golden pilosity on the abdominal tergites of both sexes. Dasyomma basale Malloch is redescribed, with the female described for the first time