Virginia Museum of Natural History

We revise the millipede genus Apheloria Chamberlin, 1921a colorful and often encountered group of millipedes in eastern North America. With molecular phylogenetics, we estimate the evolutionary history of the genus, and use it in combination with morphology to understand species diversity. We describe a new species, Apheloria uwharrie sp. nov. from North and South Carolina, synonymize Apheloria tigana Chamberlin, 1939 syn. nov. with Apheloria virginiensis (Drury, 1770), and remove Apheloria luminosa (Kenyon, 1893) syn. nov. from the genus and place it in synonymy with Pleuroloma flavipes Rafinesque, 1820. Currently there are six species of Apheloria: Apheloria corrugata (Wood, 1864) stat. nov.; Apheloria montana (Bollman, 1887); Apheloria polychroma Marek, Means & Hennen, 2018; Apheloria uwharrie sp. nov.; Apheloria virginiensis (Drury, 1770); and Apheloria whiteheadi (Shelley, 1986).

Abstract When the colonists who made up the Virginia Company of London established James Fort on the banks of the James River in 1607, they brought with them sheets of scrap copper. Based in large part on the experience of the earlier Roanoke Colony, the English knew that copper was a highly prized material among Native peoples of the Chesapeake, and they brought it with them as a trade item. Artifacts made from European smelted copper (impure copper and copper alloy) have been found at contact period sites (ca. AD 1607–1680) throughout Virginia, and James Fort has long been hypothesized to be the primary distribution point for that material. To test this hypothesis, we analyzed the elemental composition of a sample of smelted copper artifacts from James Fort (1607–ca. 1625), as well as samples of copper artifacts from five Native sites in central Virginia. We also analyzed a sample of copper artifacts from another well-known European fort site—Fort San Juan (1567–1568) in North Carolina. The results suggest that although a portion of the smelted copper that circulated through Native networks in Virginia came from James Fort, the rest of it possibly came from English, French, or Dutch distribution points to the northeast.

Environmental change is intensifying the biodiversity crisis and threatening species across the tree of life. Conservation genomics can help inform conservation actions and slow biodiversity loss. However, more training, appropriate use of novel genomic methods and communication with managers are needed. Here, we review practical guidance to improve applied conservation genomics. We share insights aimed at ensuring effectiveness of conservation actions around three themes: (1) improving pedagogy and training in conservation genomics including for online global audiences, (2) conducting rigorous population genomic analyses properly considering theory, marker types and data interpretation and (3) facilitating communication and collaboration between managers and researchers. We aim to update students and professionals and expand their conservation toolkit with genomic principles and recent approaches for conserving and managing biodiversity. The biodiversity crisis is a global problem and, as such, requires international involvement, training, collaboration and frequent reviews of the literature and workshops as we do here.

Abstract Millipedes are well-known for their limited dispersal abilities with species restricted to mountains, islands, and patches of forest being important models for formulating and testing biogeographic hypotheses. The order Spirostreptida is composed of nearly 1,300 species distributed across the Afrotropical, Oriental, and Neotropical regions. The order is divided into the suborders Cambalidea and Spirostreptidea with the families Pseudonannolenidae (Cambalidea) and Spirostreptidae (Spirostreptidea) occurring in Brazil. To date, there have been no studies on the biogeography of Neotropical Spirostreptida. We employed a multi-approach analysis with Parsimony Analysis of Endemicity, Endemicity Analysis, and Infomap, to detect areas of endemism and patterns of distribution of the order in Brazil. Six areas of endemism are proposed for the 133 Brazilian species: Northern Serra Geral, Southeastern mountain ranges, Cerrado and Atlantic Forest zone, Eastern Cerrado and Serra do Espinhaço, Pantanal, and Southern Amazon and Cerrado zone. Most endemic areas fall within the Atlantic Forest, which has been previously shown to be an important area of endemism for many invertebrate taxa. The richest biomes are the Atlantic Forest with 75 species and the Cerrado with 55 species, while the least rich biomes are the Caatinga with six species and the Pampa with three species. Although the southeastern region of Brazil has the highest species richness, it also has the highest concentration of threatened species. Based on International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) criteria, most Brazilian Spirostreptida are either endangered or critically endangered, with the highest concentration of endangered taxa occurring in the Atlantic Forest biome.

ABSTRACT Studies of plantation surveillance have provided important understandings of the material dimensions of elite power and control over enslaved people. These studies have emphasized inter-visibility of managerial housing and the living/working spaces of enslaved people, as a panoptic strategy to enforce self-discipline. This emphasis on inter-visibility of living and working spaces, however, assumes a static population, rather than a complex, industrial society in motion. Using Space Syntax analysis, cartographic records, historic travelers’ accounts, and landscape documentation, this study addresses surveillance and planter control through a mobilities approach, elevating the status of road networks, while identifying the plantation as a carefully orchestrated landscape of movement. I demonstrate how understanding the manner in which movement is limited or itinerated, and for whom, represents a productive avenue of research at the intersection of inequality, control, and mobility. This approach is developed through a distinct archaeology of infrastructure.

The raccoon (Procyon lotor) is an ecologically important mesopredator that threatens at least 11 species of beach-nesting and colonial waterbirds on the Virginia barrier islands. An understanding of population dynamics, reproductive sources and sinks, and dispersal pathways among the islands and the adjacent Delmarva Peninsula mainland will help prioritize allocation of scarce resources for managing these raccoon populations. We characterized these metapopulation processes by examining variation across mitochondrial (mtDNA) and nuclear DNA (microsatellite) markers. We sequenced a 515-base pair fragment of mtDNA (containing the 5-end of the cytochrome-b gene, the 3-end of the D-loop, and the intervening tRNA genes) in 164 animals from 22 localities. We detected 7 unique mtDNA sequences, distributed along a presumably long-term, north-south genetic gradient on the islands and on the mainland, reflecting the temporal sequence of colonization of these areas. We also genotyped 13 nuclear microsatellite loci in 314 individuals from 24 localities, and we found complex patterns of spatial population structure, dispersal, and gene flow among island and mainland localities. Whereas mainland localities showed considerable admixture, suggesting multiple waves of colonization, most islands showed little admixture, suggesting single founding events and relative isolation since founding. Islands formed 2 genetically cohesive groups, 1 in the north and another in the south. Based on patterns of genetic variation, estimates of effective population size, and immigration-emigration rates, Parramore and Revel islands serve as the major demographic source of raccoons on the northern islands, whereas Smith Island is the major source of raccoons on the southern islands. Most inferred movements of raccoons occurred among adjacent groups of islands that are interconnected by marsh and relatively shallow, narrow, open-water channels. These genetic results are consistent with our empirical studies of raccoon movement and support predictions from a cost-distance model of raccoon movement, which assumes that gene flow is primarily constrained by a combination of spatial distance and landscape resistance. Our landscape genetic analyses indicated that: 1) raccoons occur in a series of semi-independent local populations that exhibit significant genetic structure and are characterized by historical and ongoing colonization events, 2) island populations exhibit evidence of source-sink dynamics in patterns of variation in genetic diversity, effective population size, and emigration-immigration rates, 3) the Delmarva Peninsula mainland is not a major source of raccoons dispersing to most of the islands, and 4) individuals dispersed mostly among nearby islands and along least-cost pathways of landscape resistance, in agreement with predictions based on cost-distance models of raccoon movement in this system.

Students are often averse to interacting with insects. Yet children benefit from having live, non-traditional animals in the classroom or at home, because such animals provide opportunities to learn respect for all living things; the students can practice skills of careful scientific observation, explore behavioral and structural adaptations, and in the case of silkworms, become a first-hand witness to the marvel of metamorphosis. This chapter discusses obtaining living organisms, setting up habitats, and learning to care for the animals. It also provides ideas for testing their environmental preferences and behavior. Also included are notes on the historical, sociological and economic background of one particular organism, the silkworm (Bombyx mori). Children learn about this fascinating organism and its habitats, but they can also study their ecological niche and history. Children can investigate their domestication and economic value over thousands of years, and research their use as a source of income for people in many countries today.

Abstract We describe a new species of the aetosaurCoahomasuchus,C.chathamensis, based on an incomplete, but largely articulated, anterior portion of a skeleton recovered from a quarry in the Upper Triassic Pekin Formation of Chatham County, North Carolina. This is only the second documented occurrence ofCoahomasuchus, with the other being the holotype ofC.kahleorumHeckert and Lucas, 1999 from the Upper Triassic Colorado City Formation of Texas. Although much of the specimen is the same size as the holotype ofC.kahleorum, the dorsal paramedian osteoderms of the North Carolina taxon are considerably (~1.3×) wider than homologous counterparts inC.kahleorum, and the ventral thoracic osteoderms are also rectangular (~1.5× wider than long), rather than square, presumably to accommodate the wider body. This is a rare instance where two articulated specimens of closely related aetosaur species are available for direct comparison of homologous osteoderms. Isolated osteoderms with similar ornamentation from the same locality indicate thatC.chathamensismay have been one of the earliest aetosaurs to attain the broad osteoderm proportions (width:length >3.5:1) otherwise known solely from later branching, spinose taxa such asTypothorax. The co-occurrence ofLucasuchusandCoahomasuchusin both North Carolina and Texas supports past correlations indicating an Otischalkian (Carnian) age for these strata and demonstrates that plesiomorphic, non-spinose aetosaur genera were not necessarily endemic to a single basin in North America.