The Afro-Brazilian religion of Candomblé arose during the Atlantic slave trade and has unmistakable Yorùbá influences. In the city of Salvador, the term nação ketu [Ketu nation] is used among the oldest temples in describing Yorùbá heritage. This has led some scholars to assume that the founders came from the Yorùbá kingdom by that name. This paper critically examines the idea of Kétu origins, taking as a case study the temple Ilê Axé Iyá Nassô Oká, a national historic heritage site in Brazil that is recognized by UNESCO as a site of diasporic memory. The paper shows that the first generations of leadership were dominated by people from Ọ̀yọ́ and that the term ketu emerged not as an allusion to ethnic origins but perhaps as a metaphor for a heterogeneous cultural context in which Yorùbá speakers from disparate regions lived in close coexistence.

Parisite-(La) (IMA2016-031), ideally CaLa2(CO3)3F2, occurs in a hydrothermal vein crosscutting a metarhyolite of the Rio dos Remédios Group, at the Mula mine, Tapera village, Novo Horizonte county, Bahia, Brazil, associated with hematite, rutile, almeidaite, fluocerite-(Ce), brockite, monazite-(La), rhabdophane-(La) and bastnäsite-(La). Parisite-(La) occurs as residual nuclei (up to 5 mm) in steep doubly-terminated pseudo-hexagonal pyramidal crystals (up to 8.2 cm). Parisite-(La) is transparent, yellow-green to white, with a white streak and displays a vitreous (when yellow-green) to dull (when white) lustre. Cleavage is distinct on pseudo-{001}; fracture is laminated, conchoidal, or uneven. The Mohs hardness is 4 to 5, and it is brittle. Calculated density is 4.273 g cm−3. Parisite-(La) is pseudo-uniaxial (+), ω = 1.670(2) and ε = 1.782(5) (589 nm). The empirical formula normalized on the basis of 11 (O + F) atoms per formula unit (apfu) is Ca0.98(La0.83Nd0.51Ce0.37Pr0.16Sm0.04Y0.03)Σ1.94C3.03O8.91F2.09. The IR spectrum confirms the absence of OH groups. Single-crystal X-ray studies gave the following results: monoclinic (pseudo-trigonal), space group: C2, Cm, or C2/m, a = 12.356(1) Å, b = 7.1368(7) Å, c = 28.299(3) Å, β = 98.342(4)°, V = 2469.1(4) Å3 and Z = 12. Parisite-(La) is the La-dominant analogue of parisite-(Ce).

Almeidaite (IMA 2013-020), ideally Pb(Mn, Y)Zn2(Ti,Fe3+)18O36(O, OH)2, from Novo Horizonte, Bahia, Brazil, occurs in association with quartz, rutile, anatase, hematite, kaolinite, muscovite, xenotime-(Y) and bastnaesite-(La). Almeidaite forms isolated, black, opaque, sub-metallic, platy crystals flattened on [0001], measuring up to 30 mm 6 30 mm 6 6 mm in size, dominated by the basal pinacoid {0001}, which is bounded by various, mostly steep, rhombohedra and the hexagonal prism {1120}. Most of the crystals are multiply twinned, with non-planar contact surfaces that are approximately parallel to the c axis. The streak is brown. Reflectance values are [(Ro, Re) λ (nm)]: (12.78, 15.39) 470; (12.86, 15.43) 546; (12.91, 15.55) 589; (13.04, 15.75) 650. The empirical formula is (Pb0.59Sr0.12Ca0.04La0.03)Σ0.78(Mn0.54Y0.46)Σ1.00Zn1.43(Ti13.02Fe4.983+)Σ18.00(Fe0.323+Mn0.15)Σ0.47[O37.18(OH)0.82]Σ38.00. It is trigonal, space group R3, with the unit-cell parameters a = 10.4359(2), c = 21.0471(4) Å, V = 1985.10(7) Å3 and Z = 3. The crystal structure was solved (R1 = 0.039) using 2110 unique reflections with I > 3σ(I). Almeidaite is a member of the crichtonite group with Pb dominant in the A site (with 12-fold coordination) and Zn dominant in the T site (with 4-fold coordination). It is a Zn analogue of senaite and a Pb analogue of landauite. The mineral is named after Professor Fernando Flávio Marques de Almeida (1916–2013).

Habitat fragmentation may lead to spatial genetic structuring of plant populations, but the magnitude of this effect differs among species. In this study, the effects of fragmentation on spatial genetic structure of Manilkara maxima, an ecologically important tree species endemic to the Atlantic forest of southern Bahia, Brazil, were examined. To address this issue, 222 individuals were sampled across two large-forest sites (200 and 400 ha) and one site comprising eight small fragments (5, 10 and 25 ha) roughly 35 y old. Five microsatellite loci were used. In general, M. maxima exhibited limited genetic structuring within and across the sites examined. At the landscape scale, genetic structure was not shaped by isolation by distance. Within individual sites, weak to moderate genetic structure was observed for both adults and saplings, which represented pre- and post-fragmentation, respectively. Sapling genetic structure did not clearly vary among the study sites, suggesting fragmentation has not affected spatial genetic structure. High levels of migration were observed, which would help maintain genetic connectivity. Taken together, these results suggest M. maxima, a long-lived tree that naturally occurs in low densities, may have limited spatial genetic structuring both within and across forest patches.

Thyone pawsoni and Holothuria (Theelothuria) princeps are reported from shallow water of the South Atlantic Ocean. A morphological description of these new records with colour figures and scanning electron microscopy images of their ossicles are provided. With these two new records for the Brazilian Coast, the genus Thyone is now represented by two species and Holothuria by six.

A majority of Neotropical rain-forest trees have fruits evolved for animal consumption suggesting that seed-dispersal mutualisms are fundamental interactions structuring these ecosystems (Howe 1986, Howe & Smallwood 1982, van Roosmalen 1985). However, whether frugivores act as seed dispersers or predators of particular plant species is unknown for most tropical trees. Trees of the family Lecythidaceae are widespread in Neotropical rain forests forming an important component of the plant community (Aparecida Lopes 2007, Mori 1990, Mori et al. 2001, Sabatier & Prevost 1990), yet studies of plant–animal interactions are few (Jorge & Peres 2005, Silvius & Fragoso 2003, Trivedi et al. 2004). Results suggest that Lecythidaceae trees with zoochoric fruits are principally dispersed by bats, birds, rodents and primates (Prance & Mori 1983), although we know little about animal interactions with Eschweilera seeds.

The parasite–host interactions among two isopod species Cymothoa spinipalpa and Rocinela signata and five marine fish species, Chloroscombrus chrysurus, Caranx crysos, Oligoplites saliens, Lutjanus synagris and Trichiurus lepturus, are described here and registered for the first time on the coast of Bahia, north-eastern Brazil. Based on samples using different fishing techniques in different seasons from 2006 to 2009, discussions of the ecological and clinical association of these interactions are presented in this paper. Most fish species showed high prevalence indices associated with a high abundance of host fish.

The large majority of cetacean interspecific studies report only on dolphin interactions, while studies on interactions between odontocete and mysticete are less common. The present work aims to report on sightings of cetacean interactions, during the breeding season of humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae), along 370 km of the Bahia State, north-eastern Brazil, addressing aspects of cetacean distribution and behaviour. During 7 seasons (2000–2006), a total of 230 research cruises were performed, in which 38 events of interactions among humpback whales and other cetaceans (Tursiops truncatus, Steno bredanensis, Peponocephala electra and Balaenoptera acutorostrata) were observed, plus another 5 encounters without the whale's presence, including T. truncatus, S. bredanensis, P. electra, Stenella clymene and Stenella attenuata. Our results confirm the occurrence of multiple cetacean species in the Bahia State, being the first study in the world to report on a large range of interactions involving another 4 cetacean species, grouped with up to 3 mixed species per sighting, with humpback whales in their annual breeding ground.

The predation of pinnipeds by sharks in tropical or temperate regions is a significant cause of mortality of this group and little is known about these interactions off the Brazilian coast, since the records of these species are occasional, mainly in the north-eastern region. The objective of this study is to report the predator–prey interactions between sub-Antarctic fur seal (Arctocephalus tropicalis) and cookiecutter shark (Isistius brasiliensis) off the coast of Bahia. The present study was based on numbers of pinnipeds stranded, where there had been observed two specimens of sub-Antarctic fur seal, A. tropicalis. The diagnostic identification of shark predators was through the analysis of the morphology and conditions of the wounds compared with specialized literature. The measures are fit in category III, to whose height and width they are similar, suggesting to have been inferred for I. plutodus. This study confirms the necessity for continuing to study the interactions between sharks and pinnipeds in order to better understand the predator–prey relations off the Brazilian coast, as well as to question the extent to which these interactions cause the hindrance of this group.