No abstract

The scorpion family Typhlochactidae Mitchell, 1971 is endemic to eastern Mexico and exclusively troglomorphic. Six of the nine species in the family are hypogean (troglobitic), morphologically specialized for life in the cave environment, whereas three are endogean (humicolous) and comparably less specialized. The family therefore provides a model for testing the hypotheses that ecological specialists (stenotopes) evolve from generalist ancestors (eurytopes) and that specialization (in this case to the cavernicolous habitat) is an irreversible, evolutionary dead-end that ultimately leads to extinction. Due to their cryptic ecology, inaccessible habitat, and apparently low population density, Typhlochactidae are very poorly known. The monophyly of these troglomorphic scorpions has never been rigorously tested, nor has their phylogeny been investigated in a quantitative analysis. We test and confirm their monophyly with a cladistic analysis of 195 morphological characters (142 phylogenetically informative), the first for a group of scorpions in which primary homology of pedipalp trichobothria was determined strictly according to topographical identity (the ''placeholder approach''). The phylogeny of Typhlochactidae challenges the conventional wisdom that ecological specialization (stenotopy) is unidirectional and irreversible, falsifying CopeÕs Law of the unspecialized and DolloÕs Law of evolutionary irreversibility. Troglobitism is not an evolutionary dead-end: endogean scorpions evolved from hypogean ancestors on more than one occasion.Ó The Willi Hennig Society 2009.Caves are among the most fascinating environments on Earth, where a specialized underground biota provides evidence of evolutionary adaptations for life under severe conditions: reduction or absence of light, constant (usually very high) humidity, extremely stable temperature, and very limited energy (food) input (Barr

In this paper, a new version of the field-mill sensor\ud structure for atmospheric electric fieldmeasurements is presented.\ud Both the hardware components (i.e., the mechanical structure,\ud the electronic front end, and the acquisition and control systems)\ud and the data processing software are designed in order to reduce\ud power consumption and enhance the instrument metrological performance\ud in terms of accuracy, sensitivity, and frequency band

New molecular and morphological data on the "Euscorpius carpathicus" species complex (Scorpiones: Euscorpiidae) from Italy, Malta, and Greece justify the elevation of E. c. sicanus (C. L. Koch, 1837) to the species level. -The first mitochondrial DNA phylogeny (based on 17 unique haplotypes) is presented for a number of scorpion populations from Italy, Malta, and Greece, previously classified under the "catch-all" name Euscorpius carpathicus (Linnaeus, 1767). A comparative analysis of the mitochondrial gene for 16S (large subunit) ribosomal RNA suggests that at least two clearly separated lineages are present. However, neither of these belongs to E. carpathicus (L.) in a strict sense, which was limited to Romania in a recent morphological study. The first, "western" lineage, found in northern and central Italy (also present in southern France, Slovenia, Croatia, and Austria) corresponds to E. tergestinus (C. L. Koch, 1837) as recently defined by Fet & Soleglad. Another monophyletic, "southern" lineage is elevated here to the species rank as E. sicanus (C. L. Koch, 1837). Originally described from Sicily, E. sicanus includes as new synonyms E. carpathicus canestrinii (Fanzago, 1872) and six subspecies described by Caporiacco: E.

TiO2 nanoparticles coating has been proven to be an extremely performing sensing material for relative humidity (RH) measurements. The chemical activity of TiO2 toward water vapor adsorption and the very large surface to volume ratio typical of nanostructures are ideal characteristics for the development of RH fast and sensitive sensors. Different sensor technologies can be used in conjunction with this material to realize devices with satisfactory performance. In this paper, the authors aim to describe and discuss the main different possible choices and highlight the advantages and disadvantages, and linking them both to the underlying mechanism of water adsorption on the TiO2 sensing layer and to the modification of the electrical behavior due to the water adsorption. In particular, the authors start from results obtained by depositing TiO2 nanoparticles on a novel MEMS microbalance operating at low frequency, which allows to sense only the adsorbed water mass, and they exploit the sensor output to obtain a dynamic model of the water adsorption. They also link these results to those obtained with a Quartz Crystal Microbalance (QCM) functionalized with the same material operating at 10 MHz as a part of an oscillator. Finally, they establish a link with the results obtained by an RH impedance sensor, which exploits the same active material and the same deposition technique. With this sensor technology, the conductive and electrical behavior of the sensing and adsorbed films play a role. The whole work tries to unravel the different phenomena that contribute to the response of RH sensors not only based on TiO2 nanoparticles but also, more generally, based on nanostructured metal oxide materials.