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An opinion currently shared by taxonomists and non taxonomists alike is that the work of inventorying biodiversity is unbalanced: firstly, in favour of countries in which taxonomy has been studied for a long t...
The axial musculoskeletal system represents the plesiomorphic locomotor engine of the vertebrate body, playing a central role in locomotion. In craniates, the evolution of the postcranial skeleton is character...
The detailed interpretation of mass phenomena such as human escape panic or swarm behaviour in birds, fish and insects requires detailed analysis of the 3D movements of individual participants. Here, we descri...
There is a long-standing controversial about how parthenogenetic species can be defined in absence of a generally accepted species concept for this reproductive mode. An integrative approach was suggested, com...
Most species of birds exhibit well-defined seasonality in their various physiological and behavioral functions like reproduction, molt, bill color etc. such that they occur at the most appropriate time of the ...
The polychaete annelid Platynereis dumerilii is an emerging model organism for the study of molecular developmental processes, evolution, neurobiology and marine biology. Annelids belong to the Lophotrochozoa, th...
The nemertean pilidium is one of the most notable planktotrophic larval types among marine invertebrates. The juvenile forms inside the larva from a series of isolated rudiments, called the imaginal discs. The...
Invertebrate nervous systems are highly disparate between different taxa. This is reflected in the terminology used to describe them, which is very rich and often confusing. Even very general terms such as 'br...
Mating plugs that males place onto the female genital tract are generally assumed to prevent remating with other males. Mating plugs are usually explained as a consequence of male-male competition in multiply ...
Intra-specific competition occurs in all animal species and can lead to escalated conflict. Overt fighting entails the risk of injury or death, and is usually avoided through the use of conventions or pre-figh...
The identification of vast numbers of unknown organisms using DNA sequences becomes more and more important in ecological and biodiversity studies. In this context, a fragment of the mitochondrial cytochrome c ox...
Several lineages within the Crustacea conquered land independently during evolution, thereby requiring physiological adaptations for a semi-terrestrial or even a fully terrestrial lifestyle. Birgus latro Linnaeus...
European robins, Erithacus rubecula, show two types of directional responses to the magnetic field: (1) compass orientation that is based on radical pair processes and lateralized in favor of the right eye and (2...
In the Namib Desert fog represents an alternative water source. This is utilised by Darkling beetles (Tenebrionidae) that employ different strategies for obtaining the fog water. Some dig trenches in the sand,...
In free-living flatworms somatic differentiated cells do not divide, and a separate population of stem cells (called neoblasts) is responsible for cell proliferation and renewal. In cestodes, there is evidence...
Theria (marsupials and placental mammals) are characterized by a highly mobile pectoral girdle in which the scapula has been shown to be an important propulsive element during locomotion. Shoulder function and...
Ants typically distinguish nestmates from non-nestmates based on the perception of colony-specific chemicals, particularly cuticular hydrocarbons present on the surface of the ants' exoskeleton. These recognit...
Territoriality functions to monopolize access to resources including mates, but is costly in terms of energy and time investment. Some species reduce these costs by being less aggressive towards their neighbou...
In social insects, the queen is essential to the functioning and homeostasis of the colony. This influence has been demonstrated to be mediated through pheromone communication. However, the only social insect ...
Members of Family Nereididae have complex neural morphology exemplary of errant polychaetes and are leading research models in the investigation of annelid nervous systems. However, few studies focus on the de...
Taxonomy is the biological discipline that identifies, describes, classifies and names extant and extinct species and other taxa. Nowadays, species taxonomy is confronted with the challenge to fully incorporat...
During the non-breeding period, many birds migrate to milder areas, found closer to the equator than their breeding sites. Opposite movements are very rare. In the Southern Ocean, the abundance of 13C declines ma...
The allosteric respiratory protein hemocyanin occurs in gastropods as tubular di-, tri- and multimers of a 35 × 18 nm, ring-like decamer with a collar complex at one opening. The decamer comprises five subunit...
Paired mushroom bodies, an unpaired central complex, and bilaterally arranged clusters of olfactory glomeruli are among the most distinctive components of arthropod neuroarchitecture. Mushroom body neuropils, ...
Planktonic life history stages of spiralians share some muscular, nervous and ciliary system characters in common. The distribution of these characters is patchy and can be interpreted either as the result of ...
Sodium is critical for many physiological functions in insects. Herbivorous insects should expend considerable energy to compensate for sodium deficiency due to low sodium concentration in most inland plants u...
Methods of alignment masking, which refers to the technique of excluding alignment blocks prior to tree reconstructions, have been successful in improving the signal-to-noise ratio in sequence alignments. Howe...
Domestic animals and their wild relatives differ in a wide variety of aspects. The process of domestication of the domestic guinea pig (Cavia aperea f. porcellus), starting at least 4500 years ago, led to changes...
Visual acuity, the ability of the visual system to distinguish two separate objects at a given angular distance, is influenced by the optical and neuronal properties of the visual system. Although many factors...
Entoprocta is a small phylum of tentacle-bearing spiralian lophotrochozoans that comprises mainly marine representatives, with only two known freshwater species. One of them, Loxosomatoides sirindhornae Wood, 200...
The phylogenetic status of the aplacophoran mollusk taxon Solenogastres (Neomeniomorpha) is controversially discussed. Some authors propose the clade to represent the most basal branch within Mollusca, while o...
Studies on the development of the nervous system and the musculature of invertebrates have become more sophisticated and numerous within the last decade and have proven to provide new insights into the evoluti...
With about 120 colour morphs currently assigned to six nominal species, the genus Tropheus is an ideal model to study evolutionary divergence of populations in allopatry. The morphology of Tropheus has been descr...
The foraging behavior of blood-sucking arthropods is the defining biological event shaping the transmission cycle of vector-borne parasites. It is also a phenomenon that pertains to the realm of community ecol...
The insecticides dichlorvos, paradichlorobenzene and naphthalene have been commonly used to eradicate pest insects from natural history collections. However, it is not known how these chemicals affect the DNA ...
Parental care often increases offspring survival, but is costly to the parents. A trade-off between the cost and benefit of care is expected, so that when care provisioning by both parents is essential for the...
The Recombination Activating Proteins, RAG1 and RAG2, play a crucial role in the immune response in vertebrates. Among the nuclear markers currently used for phylogenetic purposes, Rag1 has especially enjoyed eno...
Using an understudied taxon (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) found on a tropical island (Mauritius) where native flora and fauna have been threatened by 400 years of habitat modification and introduced species, we te...
This study reports progress in assembling a DNA barcode reference library for Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, and Trichoptera ("EPTs") from a Canadian subarctic site, which is the focus of a comprehensive biodivers...
The Palearctic region supports relatively few avian species, yet recent molecular studies have revealed that cryptic lineages likely still persist unrecognized. A broad survey of cytochrome c oxidase I (COI) sequ...
Among metazoans, retention of functional diet-derived chloroplasts (kleptoplasty) is known only from the sea slug taxon Sacoglossa (Gastropoda: Opisthobranchia). Intracellular maintenance of plastids in the sl...
Studies on sex ratios in social insects provide among the most compelling evidence for the importance of kin selection in social evolution. The elegant synthesis of Fisher's sex ratio principle and Hamilton's ...
The invasive Chondrostoma nasus nasus has colonized part of the distribution area of the protected endemic species Chondrostoma toxostoma toxostoma. This hybrid zone is a complex system where multiple effects suc...
Zebra finches can be trained to use the geomagnetic field as a directional cue for short distance orientation. The physical mechanisms underlying the primary processes of magnetoreception are, however, largely...
Many animals face some form of conflict over reproductive opportunities. Queen selection in social insect colonies represents a high-stakes conflict where competition occurs among multiple queens for a few or ...
When mating effort (e.g. via ejaculates) is high, males are expected to strategically allocate their resources depending on the expected fitness gains from a given mating opportunity. One mechanism to achieve ...
Male field crickets produce pure-tone calling songs to attract females. Receivers are expected to have evolved a "matched filter" in the form of a tuned sensitivity for this frequency. In addition, the periphe...
Electric fish navigate and explore their dark and turbid environment with a specialised electric sense. This active electrolocation involves the generation and perception of an electric signal and fish have pr...
Mesopsammic acochlidians are small, and organ complexity may be strongly reduced (regressive evolution by progenesis), especially in microhedylacean species. The marine interstitial hedylopsacean Pseudunela cornu...
Primary agametic-asexual reproduction mechanisms such as budding and fission are present in all non-bilaterian and many bilaterian animal taxa and are likely to be metazoan ground pattern characters. Cnidarian...
Frontiers in Zoology