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Abstract
Dolgan is essentially a dialect of Yakut, but for ethno-historical and administrative reasons counted as a separate language. One of the basic phonetic differences between Dolgan and Yakut is the h- (< s- < y- and č-) in Dolgan vs. s- (< y- and č-) in Yakut. In other words, the initial secondary s of Yakut developed further into h in Dolgan.
Up to the present, only haŋas (< saŋas < *yeŋ(g)eč) with the diminutive suffix -s (< *-č) was known to us as the Dolgan word for ‘elder brother’s wife’. Now, we know the form haŋa without the diminutive suffix -s thanks to the fieldwork studies on Dolgan of the ASK REAL (The Altaic Society of Korea, Researches on the Endangered Altaic Languages).
Brain size varies dramatically between vertebrate species. Two prominent adaptive hypotheses – the Cognitive Buffer Hypothesis (CBH) and the Expensive Brain Hypothesis (EBH) – have been proposed to explain brain size evolution. The CBH assumes that brain size should increase with seasonality, as the cognitive benefits of a larger brain should help overcoming periods of food scarcity via, for example, increased behavioral flexibility. Alternatively, the EBH states that brain size should decrease with seasonality because a smaller brain confers energetic benefits in periods of food scarcity. Here, to test the two adaptive hypotheses by studying the effects of variation in temperature and growth season on variations in overall brain size and the size of specific brain regions (viz. olfactory nerves, olfactory bulbs, telencephalon, optic tectum and cerebellum) among Hylarana guentheri populations. Inconsistent with the predictions of both the EBH and the CBH, variation in temperature and growth season did not exhibit correlations with overall brain size and the size of brain regions across populations. Hence, our data do not provide support for either the EBH or the CBH to explain brain size variation in H. guentheri. Furthermore, brain size variation did not differ between males and females in this species. Our findings suggest that both the variation in temperature and growth season did not shape the variation in brain size in H. guentheri.
Abstract
A sacculinid rhizocephalan parasite, Sacculina lata Boschma, 1933, was discovered in the Beibu Gulf (= Gulf of Tonkin) west of Hainan Island, China, occurring in 7.4% of 363 Charybdis miles (De Haan, 1835) collected by 30 trawls in July 2017. This is the first time that S. lata has been recorded in Beibu Gulf and in the Chinese Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs). Of the sampled crabs from 9 stations, 8 males and 19 females were found bearing externae of S. lata on the abdomen, a prevalence of 4.1 and 11.2% in male and female crabs, respectively. The dominant size group of infected males was larger than that of females. There was no significant relationship between water depth and infection rate of the parasite. A positive correlation was found both between volume and weight of externae, and between surface area of externae and abdomen width of the host crabs. Carapace width and wet weight of infected crabs were significantly less than those of uninfected crabs. In male crabs, the first pleopods of infected individuals were shorter than normal, but their pleons were wider. The propodus of the chela of a parasitized crab was significantly larger than that of normal crabs, both in males and females. No rhizocephalan-infected female crab was found bearing eggs.