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Several genera of frogs from Madagascar, classified in the family Mantellidae, subfamily Mantellinae, possess structures commonly called ‘femoral glands’ on the ventral side of their shanks. The question arises as to the origin and phylogenetic significance of these glands. A molecular phylogeny based on 3601 nucleotide DNA sequences of three mitochondrial and two nuclear genes of 30 mantellid species provided strong support for monophyly of the included mantellines, all characterized by enlarged femoral gland clusters, as well as for those with gland clusters of coordinated central arrangement of secretion ducts. However, the phylogeny also strongly supported the hypothesis of convergent evolution of structurally similar glands in unrelated frogs (Indirana, Petropedetes), and several trends of convergent evolution of gland structure within mantellines. We studied the light microscopic structure of the femoral glands in a representative array of 18 mantellid species. Males of all species of the subfamily Mantellinae were characterized by clusters of distinct single glands. Each was structurally similar to an enlarged granular gland and secreted independently, probably through a single duct. By contrast, the largely semi‐aquatic frogs in the genus Mantidactylus had a specialized cluster of glands, in which the secretion ducts led into a macroscopically recognizable central depression. In Boophis opisthodon, a mantellid species of the subfamily Boophinae without externally recognizable femoral glands, we observed a large number of enlarged granular glands of various sizes in the ventral skin of the shank. This observation is consistent with the hypothesis that the large and more uniform organs of mantellines are derived granular glands. © 2007 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2007, 92, 529–539.

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CRISTIANA BARRETO**, ERÊNDIRA OLIVEIRA*** CERÂMICA, IDENTIDADE E PRÁTICAS RITUAIS NA AMAZÔNIA ANTIGA urante o último século, a maior parte do conhecimento produzido sobre a arqueologia da Amazônia tem origem em análises cerâmicas, sua distribuição, contextos, tipologias, seriações e datações. Com exceção dos contextos mais antigos, onde não há vestígios cerâmicos, os restos de potes e panelas usados pelas populações ameríndias da Amazô-nia pré-colonial foram, sem dúvida, o principal material para a construção do quadro

The subcellular and regional distribution of endo-oligopeptidase (EC 3.4.22.19), an enzyme capable of generating enkephalin by single cleavage from enkephalin-containing peptides, was determined by an enzymatic assay using metorphamide and by immunochemical techniques in the CNS of the rat. The rat CNS contains a membrane-associated form of endo-oligopeptidase, an enzyme predominantly associated with the soluble fraction of brain homogenates. Subcellular fractionation showed that approximately 17% of the total activity of the enzyme is associated with membrane fractions including synaptosomes. Synaptosomal membranes were prepared from neocortex, striatum, hypothalamus, medulla, spinal cord, and cerebellum. The amount of EC 3.4.22.19 activity solubilized by 3-[( 3-cholamidopropyl]dimethylammonio)-1-propanesulfonate from synaptosomal membranes was similar in neocortex, striatum, and hypothalamus, being three- to 10-fold greater than in spinal cord, cerebellum, and medulla. A polyclonal antibody exhibiting high affinity for endo-oligopeptidase was raised in rabbits against the purified rat brain enzyme and used to localize endo-oligopeptidase by Western blotting and by immunoperoxidase techniques. A strong band corresponding to the Mr of EC 3.4.22.19 was found in solubilized proteins obtained from synaptosomal membranes prepared from hypothalamus, neocortex, and striatum when subjected to Western blotting. The immunohistochemical localization of endo-oligopeptidase indicated that the immunoreactivity was confined to gray matter in regions known to be rich in peptide-containing neurons such as the striatum. In the cerebellum, a region poor in peptides, no staining could be detected. The nonuniform distribution of endo-oligopeptidase in rat brain suggests a role in neurotransmitter processing in the CNS.

In the present paper we focus on the study of complex behavioural systems, within an explicit phylogenetic framework. We reconstruct the phylogeny of rodents using grooming sequences from 12 terminals. Using a method derived from graph theory, we decompose complex behavioural systems into strings of behavioural units (behavioural routines) which are then used as behavioural characters to compose the phylogenetic matrix in addition to three mitochondrial markers as molecular characters (the cytochrome b gene (cytb), the 16S ribosomal RNA gene and the 12S ribosomal RNA gene). Our results point to a highly structured behavioural morphospace: only a few characters have been selected for, within the total space of possibilities. The optimization of hundreds of non-homoplastic routines onto three distinct phylogenies (behavioural, combined data and the molecular supertree of Fabre et al., 2012) reveals the same evolutionary trend from simple to complex: while simple behavioural routines (zero- or first-order sequences) are synapomorphies at basal levels of the phylogeny, progressively more complex behaviours evolve later, appearing closer to the tips of the phylogeny. Also, the optimization shows that the organisation of units into modules of coordinated action patterns first evolved around large body parts, namely the head and the trunk, modules that were later fused into one single organising module among rodents. We support the use of complex behavioural systems as a promising tool in the study of evolutionary scenarios and discuss the role of routines length and microstructure to provide phylogenetic information and elucidate evolutionary processes.