Velvet worms, "peripatus" or onychophorans, are "living fossils" that were geographically widespread in Cambrian seas but now occur exclusively on terrestrial habitats. The only extant species studied in some detail are those from Costa Rica, but their real geographic distribution was in urgent need of revision. To solve this problem we visited the localities mentioned in all the original taxonomic descriptions and redescriptions. These visits covered a 25 year period and included interviews with local residents. We also examined all Costa Rican collections, and checked the information in old maps and books. Here we critically review geographic data, correct errors, assign neotype localities, report on the survival of populations after heavy volcanic eruptions or urbanization, and present the correct geographical distribution for the seven currently described Costa Rican species. Rev. Biol. Trop. 64 (4): 1401-1414. Epub 2016 December 01.

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Aims:To document and preserve folkloric beliefs and art inspired by velvet worms (Onychophora), rare invertebrates that are considered "living fossils" , have full placental organs and capture prey with a rough "net" built in a fraction of a second. Study Design:This study is a combination of field interviews, online surveys and automatic database search. Methods:We asked open-ended questions to farmers who know the worms, consulted experts and searched the Internet to document folkloric and artistic instances using all the names that these animals receive in English, Spanish and Portu-

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BINABITROP is a bibliographical database of more than 38 000 records about the ecosystems and organisms of Costa Rica. In contrast with commercial databases, such as Web of Knowledge and Scopus, which exclude most of the scientific journals published in tropical countries, BINABITROP is a comprehensive record of knowledge on the tropical ecosystems and organisms of Costa Rica. We analyzed its contents in three sites (La Selva, Palo Verde and Las Cruces) and recorded scientific field, taxonomic group and authorship. We found that most records dealt with ecology and systematics, and that most authors published only one article in the study period (1963-2011). Most research was published in four journals:

Smoking is one of the leading worldwide causes of cardiovascular disease and cancer development, and it not only affects the consumer but also those who are exposed to secondhand smoke. The economic cost of caring for the sick affects resources needed for education and prevention of addiction to cigarettes. This topic has been extensively studied in industrialized countries, but the information from Latin America is less available and seldom is based on inferential statistics applied to clear hypotheses, both central aspects in this article. To test several hypotheses on consumption and characteristics of patients we did an email survey to the entire staff of a state university in Costa Rica (N=2 850) in 2012. A 20% responded in a period of ten weeks and we applied a multiple regression to their answers. The results are statistically consistent with the hypothesis that being single, occupying high job positions and being male lead to increased consumption of tobacco and to an earlier start. To our knowledge, this is the first study using this methodology for the staff of any university in Central America.KEY WORDSFactors associated with smoking, Latin culture and smoking, use of tobacco by university staff, legal drugs, addiction.

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En comparación con las demás universidades costarricenses, la UNED se encuentra muy limitada en la producción científica, lo cual entra en contradicción con el hecho de que la UNED ha asumido el compromiso de fortalecer, ampliar y adaptar las líneas de investigación en las áreas de competencias básicas del aprendizaje, medios didácticos, cognición y lenguaje. Esto se ha hecho para desarrollar la investigación en fundamentos de la educación a distancia, así como en los aspectos ambientales, de desarrollo sostenible y equidad social. Por ello proponemos que sea política de la UNED crear comunidades científicas interdisciplinarias o multidisciplinarias con al menos un investigador de impacto internacional; fomentar la movilidad de los investigadores y su interacción nacional e internacional; dar los recursos y estímulos necesarios para hacer investigación de impacto nacional e internacional en mayor escala; dar divulgación científica especializada y popular; ofrecer flexibilidad a los estudiantes para que desarrollen competencias en investigación y en temas científicos innovadores; y crear mecanismos para la participación activa de los estudiantes en las comunidades científicas y en los proyectos.