Search results for "Old World"
showing 6 items of 36 documents
A taxonomic revision of the Capparis spinosa group (Capparaceae) from eastern Africa to Oceania
2015
The variability, autecology and distribution of the Capparis spinosa group have been studied in eastern Africa, Madagascar, southern Asia, Australia and Oceania. In these areas the taxonomic treatment of the group, also represented in holoarctic Regions of the Old World, is still critical. The forms widespread in the study area are here referred to four subspecies of C. spinosa . The recognized subspecies mostly show geographical vicariance, except in some contact areas of the Middle East and western Himalaya. Two nomenclatural novelties, i. e. C. spinosa subsp. cordifolia comb. et stat. nov. and C. spinosa subsp. himalayensis stat. nov., are proposed. Among the recognized taxa, C. spinosa …
Molecular phylogeny of the Old World representatives of Papaveraceae subfamily Papaveroideae with special emphasis on the genus Meconopsis
1995
The RFLP-analysis of PCR amplified cpDNA fragments of 42 representatives of Papaveraceae subfam. Papaveroideae resulted in six most parsimonious cladograms. The subfamily can be divided into a New World group (Arctomecon, Argentone, Canbya, Romneya and Platystemon) and an Old World group (Meconopsis, Papaver s.l. and Roemeria) containing Stylomecon heterophylla and Papaver californicum as New World taxa. In the Old World group neither Meconopsis nor Papaver are monophyletic. Whereas Meconopsis consists of three clades, Papaver comprises five clades, with Roemeria as sister group to P. sect. Argemonidium and Stylomecon as sister group to P. californicum. Various lines of evidence suggest tha…
Rapid Detection of the ERV-K(C4) Retroviral Insertion Reveals Further Structural Polymorphism of the Complement C4 Genes in Old World Primates
2001
The fourth component of complement (C4) is coded for by two tandem-duplicated genes located in the class III region of the MHC of humans as well as a number of primates. A C4 gene size polymorphism giving rise to two gene variants of 16 and 22.3 kb length can be attributed to a complete endogenous retroviral insertion of 6.3 kb termed ERV-K(C4) in intron 9 of the long C4 genes. We developed a simple PCR-based screening assay to detect the presence of this insertion, and tested a number of unrelated animals from old world primate species. The presence of the ERV insertion in the orangutan, rhesus macaque and green monkey as well as its absence in gorillas and chimpanzees could be confirmed. …
Brain, Sociobiology, and Evolution in Primates
1981
Socialization in primates can be understood essentially as a function of the information processing ability of the CNS, which can be roughly measured in terms of relative brain size in closely related species groups. Both the cephalization constant (Hemmer 1971, 1974) and the extra neuron number (Jerison 1964, 1973) may be used for relevant quantification, as there is a highly significant correlation of both parameters in primates (7 ape species: r = 0.97, 20 Old World monkey species: r = 0.99; Hemmer 1978). The author has shown in a previous paper (Hemmer 1979) close negative correlations of relative brain size and the social organization as expressed in troop size (r = −0.92) and of relat…
Patterns of Old World Hipparionine Evolutionary Diversification and Biogeographic Extension
1990
Hipparionine horses have long been united evolutionarily by the presence of three toes per digit, having high crowned cheek teeth with cement, and isolated proto-cones on upper cheek teeth (Christol, 1832). Geochronologically they have further been recognized as the preeminent large mammal “index” fossils for late Neogene Old World deposits. Their abundance in later Neogene mammal faunas has prompted the production of a staggering body of systematic and interpretive literature during the last 150 years. In the last 40 years there has been an increasing number of attempts to reorganize parts of Old World hipparionine systematics by regional studies of variable scope including Europe in gener…
A Synopsis of the Genus Stipa (Poaceae) in Middle Asia, Including a Key to Species Identification, an Annotated Checklist, and Phytogeographic Analys…
2020
The genus Stipa L. comprises over 150 species, all native to the Old World, where they grow in warm temperate regions throughout Europe, Asia, and North Africa. It is one of the largest genera in the family Poaceae in Middle Asia, where one of its diversity hotspots is located. However, identification of Middle Asian Stipa species is difficult because of the lack of new, comprehensive taxonomic studies including all of the species recorded in the region. We present a critical review of the Mid-Asian representatives of Stipa, together with an identification key and taxonomic listing. We relied on both published and unpublished information for the taxa involved, many of which are poorly known…