Articles

The male genital system of the cellar spider Pholcus phalangioides (Fuesslin, 1775) (Pholcidae, Araneae): development of spermatozoa and seminal secretion

Most arthropods pass through several molting stages (instars) before reaching sexual maturity. In spiders, very little is known about the male genital system, its development and seminal secretions. For exampl...

Authors: Peter Michalik and Gabriele Uhl

Shape based assignment tests suggest transgressive phenotypes in natural sculpin hybrids (Teleostei, Scorpaeniformes, Cottidae)

Hybridization receives attention because of the potential role that it may play in generating evolutionary novelty. An explanation for the emergence of novel phenotypes is given by transgressive segregation, w...

Authors: Arne W Nolte and H David Sheets

The role of vocal individuality in conservation

Identifying the individuals within a population can generate information on life history parameters, generate input data for conservation models, and highlight behavioural traits that may affect management dec...

Authors: Andrew MR Terry, Tom M Peake and Peter K McGregor

Prospects for surviving climate change in Antarctic aquatic species

Maritime Antarctic freshwater habitats are amongst the fastest changing environments on Earth. Temperatures have risen around 1°C and ice cover has dramatically decreased in 15 years. Few animal species inhabi...

Authors: Lloyd S Peck

Immune response to sympatric and allopatric parasites in a snail-trematode interaction

The outcome of parasite exposure depends on the (1) genetic specificity of the interaction, (2) induction of host defenses, and (3) parasite counter defenses. We studied both the genetic specificity for infect...

Authors: Erik E Osnas and Curtis M Lively

Behavioral and neuroendocrine consequences of social subjugation across adolescence and adulthood

Social subjugation is a very significant and natural stressor in the animal kingdom. Adult animals defeated and subjugated during establishment of dominance hierarchies or territorial encounters can be highly ...

Authors: Craig F Ferris, Tara Messenger and Ross Sullivan

Frontiers in Zoology speeds up

Authors: Jürgen Heinze and Diethard Tautz

Comparative performance of the 16S rRNA gene in DNA barcoding of amphibians

Identifying species of organisms by short sequences of DNA has been in the center of ongoing discussions under the terms DNA barcoding or DNA taxonomy. A C-terminal fragment of the mitochondrial gene for cytochro...

Authors: Miguel Vences, Meike Thomas, Arie van der Meijden, Ylenia Chiari and David R Vieites

Asymmetry in host and parasitoid diffuse coevolution: when the red queen has to keep a finger in more than one pie

Coevolution between pairs of antagonistic species is generally considered an endless "arms race" between attack and defense traits to counteract the adaptive responses of the other species.

Authors: Laurent Lapchin and Thomas Guillemaud

Opisthobranchia (Mollusca, Gastropoda) – more than just slimy slugs. Shell reduction and its implications on defence and foraging

In general shell-less slugs are considered to be slimy animals with a rather dull appearance and a pest to garden plants. But marine slugs usually are beautifully coloured animals belonging to the less-known O...

Authors: Heike Wägele and Annette Klussmann-Kolb

Clash of kingdoms or why Drosophila larvae positively respond to fungal competitors

Competition with filamentous fungi has been demonstrated to be an important cause of mortality for the vast group of insects that depend on ephemeral resources (e.g. fruit, dung, carrion). Recent data suggest ...

Authors: Marko Rohlfs

Linking biogeography to physiology: Evolutionary and acclimatory adjustments of thermal limits

Temperature-adaptive physiological variation plays important roles in latitudinal biogeographic patterning and in setting vertical distributions along subtidal-to-intertidal gradients in coastal marine ecosyst...

Authors: George N Somero

Homologs of wingless and decapentaplegic display a complex and dynamic expression profile during appendage development in the millipede Glomeris marginata (Myriapoda: Diplopoda)

The Drosophila genes wingless (wg) and decapentaplegic (dpp) comprise the top level of a hierarchical gene cascade involved in proximal-distal (PD) patterning of the legs. It remains unclear, whether this cascade...

Authors: Nikola-Michael Prpic

Reticulate sympatric speciation in Cameroonian crater lake cichlids

Traditionally the rapid origin of megadiverse species flocks of extremely closely related species is explained by the combinatory action of three factors: Disruptive natural selection, disruptive sexual select...

Authors: Ulrich K Schliewen and Barbara Klee

The structure of biodiversity – insights from molecular phylogeography

DNA techniques, analytical methods and palaeoclimatic studies are greatly advancing our knowledge of the global distribution of genetic diversity, and how it evolved. Such phylogeographic studies are reviewed ...

Authors: Godfrey M Hewitt

Secondary neurons are arrested in an immature state by formation of epithelial vesicles during neurogenesis of the spider Cupiennius salei

In the spider Cupiennius salei about 30 groups of neural precursors are generated per hemi-segment during early neurogenesis. Analysis of the ventral neuromeres after invagination of the primary neural precursor ...

Authors: Angelika Stollewerk

WWW design code – a new tool for colour estimation in animal studies

The colour of animals' skin, fur, feathers or cuticula has been estimated in a large number of studies. The methods used to do so are diverse, with some being costly and not available to all researchers. In a ...

Authors: Åsa Berggren and Juha Merilä

Introducing "Frontiers in Zoology"

As a biological discipline, zoology has one of the longest histories. Today it occasionally appears as though, due to the rapid expansion of life sciences, zoology has been replaced by more or less independent...

Authors: Jürgen Heinze and Diethard Tautz