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Zoology and entomology.

Article Excerpt
Chair: Julius Ikenga, Mississippi Valley State University

Vice-chair: Alex D. W. Acholonu, Alcorn State University

THURSDAY MORNING

Hunter Henry Executive Room 8

9:00 PHYLOGENY OF LARGE WOLF SPIDERS FROM THE SOUTHEASTERN UNITED STATES.

Gail Stratton*, University of Mississippi, University, MS 38677

The large wolf spiders in the Southeastern United States include members of the current genera, I>Gladicosa, Geolycosa, Hogna, Rabidosa and others. Although there have been taxonomic revisions of wolf spiders in the last 30 years of several of the genera, there has not yet been a comprehensive revision of lycosids since Chamberlin 1908. In addition there has not been a phylogenetic study to test ideas of generic placements and to present hypotheses of relationship. The present study investigated 36 species of wolf spiders by scoring 115 morphological characters including somatic characters, male palpal characters and female epigynal characters. Data were recorded in MacClade, and maximum parsimony analyses were conducted using Paup (ver. 4.0b 10) by using heuristic searches with 1000 random starting points and the Stepwise-addition option. Characters of interest were then mapped onto the resulting trees to investigate evolution of characters such as burrowing behavior. This study suggests that some genera are monophyletic but others are not.

9:15 WATER QUALITY STUDIES ON FRESHWATER BODIES IN NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA AFTER HURRICANE KATRINA

Alex D. W. Acholonu, Tiffari Jenkins*, Michelle Kinnard, Sherita White, Tandeka Phipps, and Tammy Williams, Alcorn State University, Lorman, MS 39096

After Hurricane Katrina occurred on August 28-29, 2005, on the Gulf Coast, much of New Orleans was flooded. Freshwater bodies and drinking water in the affected areas were polluted with high levels of coliform bacteria, fungi, pesticides and toxic chemicals. Lake...

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