A new blue-grey Veturius (Publius) Kaup of the northwestern Sierra de Talamanca,Costa Rica (Coleoptera: Passalidae)

A new species of Veturius (Publius) Kaup, V. unanus n. sp., from a mountain cloud forest of Costa Rica, northwestern Sierra de Talamanca, Tapantí-Río Macho Massif, Province of Cartago, is described and illustrated. It is the first known Publius species with a blue-grey body color, matt elytra and shining or satiny elsewhere. The species is interpreted as sister species of V. (Publius) talamacaensis Boucher, 2006, from which it differs by a few characters. Both species are sympatric. V. unanus n. sp. is the northernmost endemic in the subgenus Publius.     

The freshwater Copepoda (Crustacea) of Costa Rica with notes on some species

Sixteen species of Copepoda were recorded in this first detailed study of Costa Rican zooplankton. Two of these species are halophile. Notes are given on some of the species and their distribution. One new species found will be described elsewhere. The Costa Rican fauna resembles in composition the fauna of other Central American and Caribbean regions. Relatively few species were recorded. This is partly due to a low intensity of sampling but also to the paucity of lentic habitats. The occurrence of two circumtropical species of Mesocyclops is interesting.

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Résumé 16 espèces de Copépodes ont été inventoriées au cours d'une première étude détaillée du zooplankton dulcaquicole de Costa Rica. Deux des espèces trouvées sont halophiles. Des remarques sont faites a propos de quelques espèces et de leur répartition. Une nouvelle espèce est nouvelle — elle sera décrite par ailleurs. La fauna de Costa Rica ressemble par sa composition à celle des autres pays d'Amérique centrale et des îles caraibes. Relativement peu d'espèces sont notées. La faible intensité de l'échantillonnage mais aussi la pauvreté en habitats limniques en sont responsables. La présence de deux espèces circumtropicales de Mesocyclops est intéressante.

     

A new species of Paullinia (Sapindaceae) from Costa Rica

Paullinia fournieri, a new species from Costa Rica is described, illustrated, and its relationships to other species are discussed.     

A new species of Dicrotendipes (Diptera: Chironomidae) from Costa Rica

The adult male of Dicrotendipes baru is described from the Dominical area of southwestern Costa Rica. The species is characterized by its elongate club-like superior volsella. This species represents the third member of the genus known from Costa Rica.     

A preliminary survey of the Chironomidae (Diptera) of Costa Rica,with emphasis on the lotic fauna

Extensive collections of Chironomidae were made in Costa Rica, Central America, during 1986 and 1987. Fifty-five genera and at least 148 species belonging to the subfamilies Podonominae, Tanypodinae, Orthocladiinae and Chironomidae were found. Chironominae and Orthocladiinae predominated. Only one species of Podonominae was collected. Tanypodinae was represented by many genera, but species richness was low.Cricotopus was the most widespread and diverse genus of Orthocladiinae. Among the Chironominae the generaPolypedilum, Pseudochironomus, Tanytarsus andRheotanytarsus showed high species richness. Several species were collected that could not be assigned to genus. A number of range extensions were recorded for taxa found in the Neotropical region for the first time and for Neotropical taxa recorded outside of South America for the first time. The Costa Rican chironomid fauna consists of cosmopolitan, holarctic and neotropical components. There is probably an endemic Central American chironomid fauna at the species level.     

Sustainable ecotourism in Costa Rica: the Monteverde Cloud Forest Preserve

The paper discusses the sustainability of the Monteverde Cloud Forest Preserve in the context of Costa Rican ecotourism. While the history of the Preserve is somewhat unique, the analysis of visitation, financial, ecological and economic factors provides a convincing case that tourism at the Preserve is sustainable. The experience of the Preserve is also put in the context of Costa Rican ecotourism, particularly to the national parks. The paper concludes that the Preserve has played a very important role in the development of Costa Rica as an ecotourism destination. Nonetheless, the failure of experience at the Preserve to inform recent changes in national park pricing policy reveal that Costa Rica has yet to fully capitalize on the experience gained and lessons learned at the Preserve.     

A new species of Tardigrada (Eutardigrada: Milnesiidae): Milnesium krzysztofi from Costa Rica (Central America)

Abstract

A new eutardigrade species Milnesium krzysztofi sp. nov. is described from Costa Rica. M. krzysztofi sp. nov. differs from the most similar Milnesium katarzynae Kaczmarek et al., 2004 mainly by the presence of spurs on internal claws I–III and on external claw IV.     

New species of Oukuriella (Diptera: Chironomidae) from Costa Rica

The males of three new species of Oukuriella Epler are described from Costa Rica. The genus had been previously recorded only from South America. Oukuriella annamae sp. nov. has genitalia similar to O. albistyla Epler, but differs in having transverse bands on abdominal segments In, IV, VI and VII, a lower AR, no humeral setae and fewer dorsocentral setae. Oukuriella costaricense sp. nov. differs from other described species in the genus by its brown abdomen, unnotched posterior margin of tergite IX and distinctive superior volsella, with its sharply bent, thin upper arm directed medially, and digitus small and directed caudad. Oukuriella rushi sp. nov. has apices of femora tipped with brown, a brown abdomen and distinctive superior volsella, with upper arm shorter and broader, and digitus longer then O. costaricense. The female of Oukuriella costaricense is also described. This is the first female described for the genus. Based on male and female genitalia, Oukuriella is closely related to Epedilum Townes and Zavreliella Kieffer. A key is provided to separate the males of the six described species.     

Isolation, characterization and cross-amplification of polymorphic microsatellite loci in Laelia speciosa (Orchidaceae)

Laelia speciosa is an endangered epiphytic orchid endemic to central Mexico. Here, we report on the development of 14 perfect and imperfect microsatellite repeat loci for this species. Numbers of alleles ranged from two to 16 and levels of observed heterozygosities among the 14 loci ranged from 0.28 to 1.00 across two widely divergent populations. All loci were also tested for cross-amplification in four other Laelia species and other selected genera of the subtribe Laeliinae.     

The Phyllodonta latrata (Guenée) species group in Costa Rica (Geometridae,Ennominae)

Historically, the name Phyllodonta latrata (Guenée) has been applied to what is a complex of three undescribed species in Costa Rica. They are very similar in maculation, but can be differentiated by genitalic characters and barcodes. P. alajuela Sullivan, sp. n. occurs at lower altitudes in the northwestern part of Costa Rica whereas P. intermediata Sullivan, sp. n. and P. esperanza Sullivan, sp. n. are found at partially overlapping altitudes in the central mountain ranges.     

Studies in Neotropical paleobotany. XII. A palynoflorafrom the Pliocene Rio Banano Formation of Costa Rica and the Neogenevegetation of Mesoamerica

An assemblage of 17 identified and four unknown pollen and sporetypes is reported from the Pliocene Rio Banano Formation of southeasternCosta Rica. The most abundant are monolete fern spores, Palmae, cf.Antrophyum, Symphonia, Pelliceria,Lacmella (previously unreported in the fossil record),Alchornea, and Sabicea. These arrange into twopaleocommunities-mangroves and lowland tropical rain forest. Annual precipitation is estimated at near the present ～3500 mm, butless seasonal, and the MAT (mean annual temperature) at ～27°C. No pollen taxa representing distinctly arid or high-altitude vegetationwas being blown or washed into the coastal depositional basin, and nopollen grains were recovered of northern temperate elements that arepresent in Neogene floras to the north in Guatemala and southeasternMexico. These data are consistent with those from 12 other Miocene andPliocene palynofloras from northern Latin America, indicating the lateappearance of dry habitats and moderate paleoelevations and aprogressive southward introduction of northern temperate elements withlate Cenozoic cooling.     

Extensive land use and the logic of the latifundio: A case study in Guanacaste Province,Costa Rica

Traditional explanations of extensive land use on large unproductive estates in Latin American have failed to understand important aspects of the economic and political logic behind such enterprises. This article examines the reasons for the low productivity of cattle ranches over a period which spans the consolidation of haciendas in a frontier zone and their subsequent integration into the international beef market. The persistence of extensive land use in a modern export economy is explained as resulting from characteristics of the world beef market, local ecology, the Costa Rican credit and tax systems, and the social composition and political power of the landowning class.     

Re/Making La Negrita: Culture as an Aesthetic System in Costa Rica

In this article, I examine the production of meaning in the veneration of La Negrita, the black Madonna and patroness of Costa Rica. Both an apparition and an icon, La Negrita is a 20-centimeter, dark-colored statue of the Virgin Mary that appeared to a mulata girl on the outskirts of the colonial city of Cartago in 1635. Throughout the ensuing 400 years, La Negrita has been remade in the image of hegemony, even as the experience of her perceived power has challenged that ideological and coercive project. Through an analysis of this historical progression, I argue for a theory of culture as an aesthetic system, where the egalitarianism of experience is always in conflict with the authoritarianism of meaning.     

The East Indian Diaspora in Costa Rica: Inbreeding Avoidance, Marriage Patterns, and Cultural Survival

Anthropologists have long been interested in the survival of Indian cultural traits in the New World. In this article, we present results of an ongoing project with a Costa Rican community that descends from East Indian indentured servants. We focus on the group's marriage patterns and how these patterns might have helped keep the community as a cohesive ethnic group. We investigate the group's level of inbreeding by computing the inbreeding coefficient using two different methods. We show that the community has been successful at keeping its inbreeding low, despite its small size, by allowing marriage with nonmembers of the community. We propose that unless consanguineous marriages are allowed virtually all of the community's marriages will be with noncommunity members. Absorption into tourism, as well as the community's staunch avoidance of consanguineous marriages and virtually universal marriage with noncommunity members, will likely contribute to their disappearance as a viable ethnic group.     

Hand Preference in Free-Ranging White-Throated Capuchins (Cebus capucinus) in Costa Rica

I studied the hand preference patterns of individuals in three troops of white-throated capuchins (C. capucinus) in Palo Verde, Costa Rica, during 11 months from February 1995 to January 1996. I used focal and ad libitum sampling techniques and tested several frameworks that seek to explain and to predict primate hand use patterns via a variety of spontaneous tasks that differ in manipulative difficulty and required postural regulation: reach, tap, grab, carry, and object-use. The monkeys showed symmetrical hand use patterns for the easy tasks, reach and tap; strongly asymmetrical patterns for the highly manipulative task, object-use, at the individual level; and weak population-level biases for tasks requiring a degree of postural regulation, carry. The results for data on grab are inconclusive. These results do not support the available primate hand use frameworks and differ from most of the captive literature on hand preference in Cebus. The findings indicate that postural regulation may influence hand use patterns in nonhuman primates at the population level.     

Primates hunting by Guaymi amerindians in Costa Rica

This paper discuss the socioeconomical and cultural motivations for hunting primates between the Guaymi amerindian native population in Costa Rica, and their ecological implications. Meat consume rate between Guaymi population is very low, less than one time each week. Only 51% of the population use primates like food ocasionally, andAteles geoffroyi shows to be the preferred meat source. Instead of that fight against crop raiders becomes here an important reason to shot primates. All the inquiered claim thatCebus capuchinus is the most destructive species. Other traditional uses of the primates found between Guaymis is the supposed medicinal value of some species, and its condition of preferred pets. Howler monkeys (Alouatta palliata) are hunted to get their fat that is considered a usefull medicine. The species found more frequently like pets areAteles geoffroyi andCebus capuchinus.