Clinal morphometric variation in wild honey bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae) in South Africa
- Authors: Steele, G R , Villet, Martin H , Radloff, Sarah E , Hepburn, H Randall
- Date: 1998
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/442622 , vital:74015 , https://www.jstor.org/stable/2999809
- Description: As a result of side effects of the accidental dispersal of the Cape honey bee, it has become of agroeconomic importance to delineate the region within South Africa where thelytokous worker honey bees occur so that apicultural movement of bees does not exacerbate the problem. Thelytokous workers are believed to be unique to Apis mellifera capensis, so that the problem is to find morphological markers distinguishing this race from its A. m. scutellata neighbours. However, no evidence of the expected hybrid zone demarcating races could be found. Factor analysis revealed only one spherical cluster of samples. Trend surfaces of the local mean morphometric factor scores showed a cline that paralleled latitude, with distortions relating to montane and continental effects. Discriminant function analysis implicated certain mountain ranges in amplifying the effects of latitude. Trend surfaces of local intercolony factor variance showed morphometric homogeneity across most of the country. We conclude that there is only a single population of honey bees in South Africa, and that it shows climate-correlated clinal variation. If the transportation of bees for commercial apiculture is to be successfully regulated to solve the `capensis calamity', further research should focus on the geographical distribution of thelytokous workers rather than on the capensis phenotype. Such workers have a wider distribution than capensis, occurring also at high frequencies around the type locality of A. m. scutellata.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1998
In vitro permeation of progesterone from a gel through the shed skin of three different snake species
- Authors: Haigh, John M , Beyssac, E , Chanet, L , Aiache, J M
- Date: 1998
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6366 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006066
- Description: The in vitro diffusion of progesterone from a gel formulation using the European Pharmacopoeia method for transdermal dosage forms is described. The membranes used were the dorsal and ventral portions of the shed skin of three different species of snake. Considerable differences are apparent between the dorsal and ventral sites and between the different species of snake. The dorsal area shows better permeability for progesterone and the permeability order for the different species is python>cobra>viper. These differences may be due to the thickness of the skin and the hinge:scale ratio. The results indicate that shed snake skin is not a model membrane for human skin.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1998
Pictograms in pharmacy:
- Authors: Dowse, Roslind , Ehlers, Martina S
- Date: 1998
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/157048 , vital:40082 , https://0-doi.org.wam.seals.ac.za/10.1111/j.2042-7174.1998.tb00924.x
- Description: This review examines the use of pictograms in health care. Well designed pictograms are simple, clear, graphic symbols able to convey their intended meaning to all patients, including those who are illiterate, elderly or visually impaired. Although some research on the effectiveness of pictograms has not supported the hypothesis that pictograms are beneficial for the acquisition and comprehension of information, most studies investigating health‐related applications of pictograms have shown them to be of benefit in the comprehension and recall of instructions on prescription and over‐the‐counter medicines. However, the success of pictograms as a communication aid in pharmacy depends first on a rigorous design process, followed by well‐designed, randomised, controlled trials using an appropriate method of evaluation. The final stage is to investigate the optimal way of using pictograms in practice and to assess their effect on behavioural outcomes, such as compliance.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1998
Successes and challenges of the NUMSA Gender Committee
- Authors: National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa
- Date: 1998
- Subjects: Uncatalogued
- Language: eng
- Type: text , pamphlet
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/${Handle} , vital:32406
- Description: This session will try to cover policies adopted at the Congress and Central committee and will be divided in the following sections: collective bargaining, campaigns, gender structures/coordination, education, recommendations for discussion.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1998
The larva of Rhinocoeta sanguinipes (Gory and Percheron 1833) (Coleoptera Scarabaeidae) description and phylogenetic inferences
- Authors: Smith, Tamara J , Perissinotto, Renzo , Villet, Martin H
- Date: 1998
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/453942 , vital:75299 , https://doi.org/10.1080/03946975.1998.10539365
- Description: The genus Rhinocoeta Burmeister 1842 is unusual among cetoniines, as adults do not feed on flowers or fruits. The biology and ecology of the genus are still completely unknown, and only for three of the six species representing the group have adults of both sexes been described. No information is available for the larval stages of any of the species. Here, we present the first discription of the third instar larvae of one of the species, Rhinocoeta sanguinipes (Gory and Percheron 1833). Cladistic analysis of larval characters confirms the primitive phylogenetic position of this species relative to a small sample of other South African cetoniines, and supports the hypothesis that the genus might belong in the subtribe Xiphoscelidina rather than the Cetoniina, thereby constituting part of a relict lineage derived directly from the most primitive Cetoniinae.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1998
A new species of Bothus (Pleuronectiformes: Bothidae) from Mozambique
- Authors: Hensley, Dannie A , J.L.B. Smith Institute of Ichthyology
- Date: 1997-02
- Subjects: Fishes -- Mozambique
- Language: English
- Type: text , book
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/70976 , vital:29767 , Margaret Smith Library (South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity (SAIAB)) Periodicals Margaret Smith Library (South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity (SAIAB))
- Description: Online version of original print edition of the Special Publication of the J.L.B. Smith Institute of Ichthyology; No. 58 , Bothus swio is described based on one adult male specimen collected off the coast of Mozambique. Males of this species appear to differ from all known congeners because of their narrow interobital region. Other characters useful for its identification are lack of ocular appendages, relative positions of the anterior margins of the eyes, number of lateral-line scales, length and colour pattern of the ocular-side pectoral fin, lack of orbital spines, dorsal- and anal-fin ray counts, and lack of colour pattern on the blind side. Bothus swio most closely resembles B. pantherinus and B. tricirrhitus.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1997-02
Comparative ultrastructure of plasmodesmata of Chara and selected bryophytes: towards an elucidation of the evolutionary origin of plant plasmodesmata
- Authors: Cook, Martha E , Graham, Linda E , Botha, Christiaan E J , Lavin, Colleen A
- Date: 1997
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6506 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1005933 , http://www.amjbot.org/cgi/reprint/84/9/1169
- Description: We have used transmission electron microscopy to examine plasmodesmata of the charophycean green alga Chara zeylanica, and of the putatively early divergent bryophytes Monoclea gottschei (liverwort), Notothylas orbicularis (hornwort), and Sphagnum fimbriatum (moss), in an attempt to learn when seed plant plasmodesmata may have originated. The three bryophytes examined have desmotubules. In addition, Monoclea was found to have branched plasmodesmata, and plasmodesmata of Sphagnum displayed densely staining regions around the neck region, as well as ring-like wall specializations. In Chara, longitudinal sections revealed endoplasmic reticulum (ER) that sometimes appeared to be associated with plasmodesmata, but this was rare, despite abundant ER at the cell periphery. Across all three fixation methods, cross-sectional views showed an internal central structure, which in some cases appeared to be connected to the plasma membrane via spoke-like structures. Plasmodesmata were present even in the incompletely formed reticulum of forming cell plates, from which we conclude that primary plasmodesmata are formed at cytokinesis in Chara zeylanica. Based on these results it appears that plasmodesmata of Chara may be less specialized than those of seed plants, and that complex plasmodesmata probably evolved in the ancestor of land plants before extant lineages of bryophytes diverged.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1997
Glandular trichomes on the exotic Solanum sisymbriifolium Lamarck (Solanaceae): effective deterrents against an indigenous South African herbivore
- Authors: Hill, Martin P , Hulley, Patrick E , Allsopp, J , van Harmelen, G
- Date: 1997
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/451413 , vital:75047 , https://hdl.handle.net/10520/AJA10213589_152
- Description: An examination of the leaves of several native and exotic Solanum species revealed that they all possessed glandular and non-glandular trichomes. The density of glandular trichomes was, however, very much lower on the leaves of the indigenous species than on the leaves of a weed species, Solanum sisymbriifolium Lamarck, and two other South American Solanum species. This difference could have contributed to the depauperate faunas supported by the exotic species. The morphology and behaviour of an indigenous Solanum-feeding tortoise beetle, Conchyloctenia tigrina Oliver (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae), and a South American tortoise beetle, Gratiana spadicea (IQug) (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae), were compared. The study revealed that while the exudate produced by the glandular trichomes afforded S. sisymbriifolium a level of resistance to C. tigrina, it is probably only one of the factors limiting the recruitment of indigenous herbivores onto S. sisymbriifolium.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1997
Reproductive and feeding biology of the Natal mountain catfish, Amphilius natalensis (Siluriformes: Amphiliidae)
- Authors: Marriott, Michael S , Booth, Anthony J , Skelton, Paul H
- Date: 1997
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/125837 , vital:35823 , https://doi.10.1023/A:1007361511052
- Description: The family Amphiliidae comprises nine genera and about 60 species. Only five species are found in southern Africa, three of which belong to the genus Amphilius (Skelton 1993). These soft-bodied catlets inhabit clear, fast flowing mountain streams where they live amongst cobbles, feeding predominantly on benthic invertebrates (Crass 1964, Skelton 1993). The Natal mountain catfish, A. natalensis Boulenger, 1917, is a small, nocturnal species with a restricted distribution along the eastern seaboard of southern Africa. It occurs in mountain streams from the Umkomaas River north to the Limpopo system in South Africa. It is also present in the Marozi River, a tributary of the Zambezi River in Zimbabwe and in the Ruo River, Malawi (Skelton 1984, 1993). Skelton (1993) suggested that predation by introduced trout species has led to scarcity of A. natalensis in many streams. In spite of this, no studies on the biology of this catfish species have been published. This study presents the first quantitative information on the biology of an amphiliid catfish, A. natalensis including gametogenesis, spawning seasonality, size-at-maturity, adult sex ratio and diet.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1997
The petrology and significance of a stratiform mafic segregation pegmatite in a Karoo-aged dolerite sheet
- Authors: Mitchell, Andrew A , Naicker, S B , Marsh, Julian S , Dunlevey, J N
- Date: 1997
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/149496 , vital:38858 , https://hdl.handle.net/10520/EJC-9293fd659
- Description: A sub-horizontal stratiform mafic segregation pegmatite, of the order of 30 cm thick, occurs within 25 m of the top contact of a Karoo-aged dolerite sheet at Pietermaritzburg, South Africa. The host rock is an orthopyroxene-rich dolerite containing 5 - 8% interstitial granophyre. The pegmatite is similar to the host dolerite in many respects, except that the granophyre content is higher, and acicular augite is the only pyroxene. At its upper contact, a laterally continuous sub-horizontal joint forms a sharp boundary to the pegmatite, whilst the lower contact is gradational over a few millimetres. Low MgO and chalcophiles, and elevated incompatible element contents, are the main geochemical attributes of the pegmatite.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1997
Feeding, tentacle and gut morphology in five species of southern African intertidal holothuroids (Echinodermata)
- Authors: Foster, Gregory G , Hodgson, Alan N
- Date: 1996
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/447392 , vital:74621 , https://hdl.handle.net/10520/AJA00445096_757
- Description: Compares the structure of the tentacles and digestive tracts of four species of intertidal dendrochirote, and one species of aspidochirote holothuroid by using light, scanning and transmission electron microscopy. Gut contents were sieved to determine the size of the particulate matter ingested. Concludes that there appears to be a relationship between tentacle morphology and the size and type of food ingested. Gut length, the thickness of the digestive epithelial layer and the number of vesicles present in the enterocyte cells of the digestive epithelium also differ in relation to the food ingested. Illustrates with several photographs.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1996
Municipal Infrastructure Investment Framework
- Authors: SAMWU
- Date: Mar 1996
- Subjects: SAMWU
- Language: English
- Type: text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/111085 , vital:33376
- Description: We enclose our preliminary response to the report. This serves as our contribution to the agenda for the meeting currently scheduled for 22 March 1996 in Cape Town. Intended to commence early and continue until lunch time - if not beyond. We record that we have discussed the representation of different departments which need to be present from Governments side -including yourselves, Constitutional Development, Water Affairs, Finance, and Labour. We would further note that the participants need to understand that we are not impressed in general when we arrange meetings only to have details change at the last moment. From our side you can expect a delegation of between 12-14 persons including representatives of our 9 regions and national office bearers. SAMWU first became aware of the MIIF during the Portfolio Committee Public Hearing on local government legislation held in November 1995. A copy of the full document was received by our office in mid-January 1996. A covering letter indicated that a key issue in the MIIF was the " nature and extent of private sector involvement in extending service delivery". A meeting was held, on 21 February 1996, between the Minister without Portfolio, the Director General in the RDP Office and a delegation from SAMWU. It is necessary to note that this first formal contact was very belated and does not serve to engender trust in any process. We do not accept that any serious attempt was made to involve the union prior to the document being made public. It is our view that the attitude to unions , as reflected in the document, was one of “unions will have to be accommodated “ (our Italics). Implying more of a necessary evil than any concern for a partnership. “ Partnerships” being reserved for business, small entrepreneurs and big capital. We have been assured that the document remain a consultative document and that we can still make our input. The fact is that it is already taken to represent government policy and is being acted upon in such terms. A case in point being the planning already being done by the DBS A in respect to water and sanitation (Municipal Engineer - Jan 96 ). It is necessary that Government correct this impression if further consultation is to be taken seriously. It is our view that in its current form the document is being used as a means of mounting an attack on the direct provision of services by local government.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: Mar 1996
SACCAWU National Newsletter - The Finance worker
- Authors: SACCAWU
- Date: Feb 1996
- Subjects: SACCAWU
- Language: English
- Type: text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/113678 , vital:33819
- Description: Workers in the finance sector's struggle against low wages, unfair labour practice, racial and gender discrimination by their wealthy bosses have been ignored for too long. We are seen as pencil pushers and white collar workers who earn big salaries. Now, the time has come for the truth, to put the record straight and speak as one voice through. The Finance Worker, our own mouthpiece, spearheaded by our union SACCAWU. SACCAWU is the only union that recognises the struggle of the comrades in the finance sector, therefore those workers who are not yet members of our union should organise and join SACCAWU to become a strong force in the finance sector. Workers at Sanlam, Fust National Bank, Metropolitan, Standard Bank, African Bank, Price Forbes &. .Alexander and others have already joined SACCAWU. The time to sit and watch our wealthy bosses (fat cats ) in their flashy cars and huge palaces, whilst we go home with a starting wage, is over. We must organise, unite and support each other to fight for a liting wage, better working conditions, and basic trade union rights. This newsletter will give all the workers in the finance sector the opportunity to have their say on worker issues. It will be up to you the workers, to make this newsletter a success and a pain in the (SjSSS of the bosses. We plan to publish an issue every month, depending on contributions from vou, the workers. The names of workers who'll be sending, in articles and other contributions will remain anonymous if the}- so wish, to prevent them from bemg victimised and intimidated by Management. SACCAWU accept full editorial responsibility for the newsletter and the production thereof.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: Feb 1996
SADTU's Major three year capacity building programme
- Authors: SADTU
- Date: 1996
- Subjects: SADTU
- Language: English
- Type: text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/134593 , vital:37180
- Description: SADTU has planned to launch a major capacity building programme in 1996. SADTU is a young union. Formed in 1990 as the only non-racial, non-sexist and democratic teachers’ union in South Africa, SADTU was viewed as a champion of teacher rights and thus the ideal organisation to campaign for transformative change. Consequently there was a significant shift of membership from established teacher associations. SADTU grasped this initiative and was able to earn an enviable position in educational struggles. The Union’s tremendous growth in size however has meant more responsibility at all organisational levels. Teachers’ demands and expectations have increased in the post apartheid era. Also the demands of educational reconstruction have become more complex. The country’s constitution and the new political demarcations have necessitated a realignment of our structures. The creation of nine provincial education departments with concurrent powers with the National Ministry of Education has introduced still more challenges for the Union. SADTU is now faced with the task of co-ordinating its activities at five levels, namely: National, Provincial, Regional, Branch and Site.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1996
Seed dispersal in an African fig tree: birds as high quantity, low quality dispersers?
- Authors: Compton, Stephen G , Craig, Adrian J F K , Waters, I W R
- Date: 1996
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/465445 , vital:76610 , https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2699.1996.tb00017.x
- Description: Ficus burtt‐davyi is a shrub or small tree found in the south and east of South Africa. Based on studies carried out in an area where the plant grows mainly as a rock‐splitter, we first describe the nature and timing of the fruit resources it offers to potential dispersal agents, and then the animals that feed on the fruits. The figs are eaten by a diverse avian disperser assemblage, although just two species comprised about half of the recorded visits to the trees. Germination trials with seeds defecated by the birds found that they germinated more quickly than control seeds. Small terrestrial mammals and ants were also found to have a role in fig seed dispersal which may be disproportionate to the number of seeds they transport.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1996
AIA's Southern Africa Chronicle - Volume VIII No.1
- Authors: Africa Information Afrique (AIA)
- Date: 1995
- Subjects: AIA
- Language: English
- Type: text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/169377 , vital:41744
- Description: Sowa, January 3, 1994 (AIA/Caitlin Davies) — Mercy Manakedi Theetso is 29 and has four children. She breast-fed her first child for 18 months, her second for eight months, and she didn’t breast-feed her third child at all. “I was working and the baby stayed with my mother so we used a bottle for the first four months, then we used a cup,” explains Theetso. “Myself, I like to breast-feed but I don’t have the time.” In the 1960s Botswana’s medical practitioners began giving new-born babies the bottle. Now, 30 years later, there is a concerted effort by the Botswana government to promote a return to breast-feeding. But as women have gone out of the home to work, reversing the trend is not an easy task. However, breast-feeding does remain popular in Botswana. “It’s a culturally acceptable norm,” says Virkloti Morewane of UNICEF, and boys and girls are fed for the same amount of time.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1995
Insertion of a measurable function
- Authors: Kotzé, W , Kubiak, T
- Date: 1994
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6785 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006928
- Description: Some theorems on the existence of continuous real-valued functions on a topological space (for example, insertion, extension, and separation theorems) can be proved without involving uncountable unions of open sets. In particular, it is shown that well-known characterizations of normality (for example the Katětov-Tong insertion theorem, the Tietze extension theorem, Urysohn's lemma) are characterizations of normal σ-rings. Likewise, similar theorems about extremally disconnected spaces are true for σ-rings of a certain type. This σ-ring approach leads to general results on the existence of functions of class α.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1994
Potential pollinators of the Cape Group of Crotalarieae (sensu Polhill)(Fabales: Papilionaceae), with implications for seed production in cultivated rooibos tea
- Authors: Gess, Sarah K , Gess, Friedrich W
- Date: 1994
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/452372 , vital:75123 , https://hdl.handle.net/10520/AJA10213589_414
- Description: This study characterizes the assemblages of Hymenoptera that visit flowers of the genera Aspalathus Linnaeus, Lebeckia Thunberg, Wiborgia Thunberg and Rafnia Thunberg, the Cape Group of Crotalarieae (sensu Polhill1981) (Papilionaceae) , and evaluates the potential of their members as pollinators. All the assemblages from the western and eastern Cape are characterized by the presence of Megachilinae (Megachilidae) and Xylocopinae and/or Anthophorinae (Anthophoridae), and those from the west (excluding Rafnia) by the presence of Masarinae (Vespidae). Although not restricted to Polhill's Cape Group, the Megachilinae and Xylocopinae are potential pollinators. Two species of Masarina Richards (Masarinae) are apparently restricted to Aspalathus, Lebeckia and Wiborgia, and are potential pollinators of the smaller-flowered species of these genera. Two species of Ceramius Latreille (Masarinae) are apparently restricted to Aspalathus and are potential pollinators and, within their distribution ranges, the most dependable visitors of this genus. Apis mellifera Linnaeus (Apidae) and Eumeninae (Vespidae) visit all four genera but are probably of little importance as pollinators. Apis mellifera is certainly able to obtain nectar from the smaller-flowered species without tripping the flowers. The implications of these findings for seed production in the rooibos tea industry are discussed.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1994
IEC CONFERENCE ON PROFIT SHARING
- Authors: NUM
- Date: 1993
- Subjects: NUM
- Language: English
- Type: text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/174134 , vital:42445
- Description: At present, profit sharing does not fit into the philosophy of any trade unions in South Africa. It is not a part of the policy of any union I know about. Where profit sharing schemes exist and are accepted by the unions, this is because of special circumstances. This talk is in three parts: First, I will explain where my union, the National Union of Mineworkers, has accepted profit sharing schemes and why it has done so. Secondly, I will outline the different levels of agreements that we have negotiated on profit sharing and the principles we have agreed should govern such schemes Thirdly, I will speak of the implementation of the schemes, and their potential for providing a basis for greater worker participation in the enterprises which have negotiated profit sharing agreements.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1993
Acanthurus tristis, a valid Indian Ocean surgeonfish (Perciformes: Acanthuridae)
- Authors: Randall, John E, 1924- , J.L.B. Smith Institute of Ichthyology
- Date: 1993-01
- Subjects: Surgeonfishes , Fishes -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: text , book
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/70933 , vital:29762 , Margaret Smith Library (South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity (SAIAB)) Periodicals Margaret Smith Library (South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity (SAIAB))
- Description: Online version of original print edition of the Special Publication of the J.L.B. Smith Institute of Ichthyology; No. 54 , After examination of Col. Tickell’s unpublished manuscript and colour paintings of Burmese fishes, Day (1888) listed the surgeonfish Acanthurus tristis Tickell as a synonym of A. tennentii Gunther (1861); he gave the dorsal-fin spine count of 8 and provided a colour description, including mention of a white margin on the caudal fin. Of the species of Acanthurus, only A. pyroferus Kittlitz from the Pacific has 8 dorsal spines. Randall (1956a) treated tristis as a synonym of this pecies; the differences in colouration between tristis and pyroferus were regarded as within the range of variability of the latter. Both forms were observed together in Bali in 1982-1991. A. tristis is therefore regarded as a valid species and is redescribed. In the interest of stability of nomenclature, a neotype for A. tristis is designated.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1993-01