Articles

Activity patterns of the soprano pipistrelle Pipistrellus pygmaeus throughout the year in southern Norway

Most temperate bats are regular hibernators in the winter. Knowledge about the length of their active season and how they adjust their nightly activity throughout the season, is critical to conservation. The c...

Authors: Karl Frafjord

Investigation of epididymal proteins and general sperm membrane characteristics of Formosan pangolin (Manis pentadactyla pentadactyla)

Formosan Pangolin (Manis pentadactyla pentadactyla) is one of the three subspecies of Chinese pangolins, it is also an isolated sub-species naturally habitat in Taiwan. Despite earlier report on successful breedi...

Authors: Yu-Chia Chang, Jane-Fang Yu, Tse-En Wang, Shih-Chien Chin, Yu-Syuan Wei, Ting-Yu Chen and Pei-Shiue Tsai

The development of body and organ shape

Organisms show an incredibly diverse array of body and organ shapes that are both unique to their taxon and important for adapting to their environment. Achieving these specific shapes involves coordinating th...

Authors: Ansa E. Cobham and Christen K. Mirth

Structural organization and cohesiveness of foraging groups in Camponotus sericeus (Fabricius) (Hymenoptera: Formicidae): locally regulated or self-organized?

In Camponotus sericeus (Fabricius), foraging ants are recruited mostly as individuals but occasionally as small groups that move in a single file. We studied the structure and organization of these small foraging...

Authors: Panayanthatta Ashwathi, Barman Puspita and K. N. Ganeshaiah

Indication of lethal interactions between a solitary bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) and harbor porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) in the German Baltic Sea

Aggressive interactions between bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) and harbor porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) have been reported in different parts of the world since the late 1990s. In the Baltic Sea, harbor...

Authors: Stephanie Gross, Philip Claus, Peter Wohlsein, Tina Kesselring, Jan Lakemeyer, Anja Reckendorf, Marco Roller, Ralph Tiedemann and Ursula Siebert

Moonlight is a key entrainer of lunar clock in the brain of the tropical grouper with full moon preference

Many animals in coral reefs exhibit lunar cycles in their reproduction, showing synchronous gametogenesis and spawning at a particular moon phase. How these lunar reproductive cycles are endogenously regulated...

Authors: Kodai Fukunaga, Fumika Yamashina, Yuki Takeuchi, Chihiro Yamauchi and Akihiro Takemura

Widely distributed breeding populations of Canada warbler (Cardellina canadensis) converge on migration through Central America

To effectively conserve migratory species, the entire range encompassed by their annual life cycle needs to be considered. Most research on Nearctic-Neotropical migratory birds has focused on the breeding grou...

Authors: A. Roberto-Charron, J. Kennedy, L. Reitsma, J. A. Tremblay, R. Krikun, K. A. Hobson, J. Ibarzabal and K. C. Fraser

3D printed spermathecae as experimental models to understand sperm dynamics in leaf beetles

Postcopulatory mate choice occurs ubiquitously in the animal kingdom. However, it is usually a major challenge to visualise the process taking place in a body. This fact makes it difficult to understand the me...

Authors: Yoko Matsumura, Sinje Gürke, Halvor T. Tramsen and Stanislav N. Gorb

Surrounding landscape influences the abundance of insect predators in rice field

Natural enemy abundance in a crop plot depends on its prey presence and also influenced by habitats close to field. Landscape changes are also important factors driving pest and natural enemy population abunda...

Authors: M. P. Ali, M. M. M. Kabir, S. S. Haque, S. Afrin, N. Ahmed, Barry Pittendrigh and Xinghu Qin

The hummingbird syrinx morphome: a detailed three-dimensional description of the black jacobin’s vocal organ

The ability to imitate sounds depends on a process called vocal production learning, a rare evolutionary trait. In addition to the few mammalian groups that possess this ability, vocal production learning has ...

Authors: Amanda Monte, Alexander F. Cerwenka, Bernhard Ruthensteiner, Manfred Gahr and Daniel N. Düring

Response of a rice insect pest, Scirpophaga incertulas (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) in warmer world

Increases in global mean temperature, changes in rainfall patterns, and extreme climatic events are expected results of climate change. The individual effects of elevated temperature and precipitation on insec...

Authors: M. P. Ali, M. N. Bari, S. S. Haque, M. M. M. Kabir, F. Nowrin, T. R. Choudhury, R. W. Mankin and N. Ahmed

Sea anemones (Exaiptasia pallida) use a secreted adhesive and complex pedal disc morphology for surface attachment

The mechanism by which sea anemones attach to surfaces underwater remains elusive, which is surprising given their ubiquitous distribution in the world’s oceans and tractability for experimental biology. Their...

Authors: Jessica L. Clarke, Peter A. Davey and Nick Aldred

Drosophila melanogaster chemical ecology revisited: 2-D distribution maps of sex pheromones on whole virgin and mated flies by mass spectrometry imaging

Sexual behavior in Drosophila melanogaster flies is greatly influenced by chemical cues. In this study, a spatial distribution of female and male sex pheromones was investigated on the surface of virgin and mated...

Authors: Filip Kaftan, Purva Kulkarni, Markus Knaden, Sebastian Böcker, Bill S. Hansson and Aleš Svatoš

Four new species of Isepeolini (Hymenoptera; Apidae) from northern Chile

Cleptoparasitic bees are less commonly collected than their hosts and often more difficult to identify and additional descriptions and treatment of diagnostic characteristics are needed.

Authors: Laurence Packer and Liam Graham

Detection of neopterin in the urine of captive and wild platyrrhines

Non-invasive biomarkers can facilitate health assessments in wild primate populations by reducing the need for direct access to animals. Neopterin is a biomarker that is a product of the cell-mediated immune r...

Authors: Alexandra J. Sacco, Jessica A. Mayhew, Mrinalini Watsa, Gideon Erkenswick and April K. Binder

What wild dogs want: habitat selection differs across life stages and orders of selection in a wide-ranging carnivore

Habitat loss is a key threat to the survival of many species. Habitat selection studies provide key information for conservation initiatives by identifying important habitat and anthropogenic characteristics i...

Authors: Helen M. K. O’Neill, Sarah M. Durant and Rosie Woodroffe

Morphology of powerful suction organs from blepharicerid larvae living in raging torrents

Suction organs provide powerful yet dynamic attachments for many aquatic animals, including octopus, squid, remora, and clingfish. While the functional morphology of suction organs from some cephalopods and fi...

Authors: Victor Kang, Richard Johnston, Thomas van de Kamp, Tomáš Faragó and Walter Federle

What influences road mortality rates of eastern grey kangaroos in a semi-rural area?

Roads have major ecological impacts on wildlife. Vehicle collisions most frequently impact large herbivores due to their larger home range compared to smaller animals, and higher population density compared to...

Authors: Jai M. Green-Barber and Julie M. Old

Caste-specific morphological modularity in the ant tribe Camponotini (Hymenoptera, Formicidae)

The morphological structures of organisms form tightly integrated but mutually independent character complexes (modules) linked through common development and function. Even though their abundance, diversity, ...

Authors: A. Laciny, H. L. Nemeschkal, H. Zettel, B. Metscher and I. S. Druzhinina

Nerves innervating copulatory organs show common FMRFamide, FVRIamide, MIP and serotonin immunoreactivity patterns across Dinophilidae (Annelida) indicating their conserved role in copulatory behaviour

Males of the microscopic annelid family Dinophilidae use their prominent glandomuscular copulatory organ (penis) to enzymatically dissolve the female’s epidermis and thereafter inject sperm. In order to test f...

Authors: Alexandra Kerbl, Emilie Winther Tolstrup and Katrine Worsaae

Spatial distribution and seasonal movement patterns of reintroduced Chinese giant salamanders

Very little is known about the temporal or spatial movement patterns of Chinese giant salamanders (Andrias davidianus) due to their rarity, remote habitat and secretive nature. Commercial breeding farms provide a...

Authors: Lu Zhang, Hu Zhao, Scott Willard, Qijun Wang, Wei Jiang, Hong-Xing Zhang and Andrew Kouba

Ecology and trophic role of Oncholaimus dyvae sp. nov. (Nematoda: Oncholaimidae) from the lucky strike hydrothermal vent field (Mid-Atlantic Ridge)

Nematodes are an important component of deep-sea hydrothermal vent communities, but only few nematode species are able to cope to the harsh conditions of the most active vent sites. The genus Oncholaimus is known...

Authors: Daniela Zeppilli, Laure Bellec, Marie-Anne Cambon-Bonavita, Wilfrida Decraemer, Diego Fontaneto, Sandra Fuchs, Nicolas Gayet, Perrine Mandon, Loïc N. Michel, Marie Portail, Nic Smol, Martin V. Sørensen, Ann Vanreusel and Jozée Sarrazin

Fishing for iodine: what aquatic foraging by bonobos tells us about human evolution

Expansion of brain tissue and development of advanced cognitive skills are characteristic traits of human evolution. Their emergence has been causally linked to the intake of nutrients that promote brain devel...

Authors: Gottfried Hohmann, Sylvia Ortmann, Thomas Remer and Barbara Fruth

Sexual, ontogenetic, and geographic variation of the Neotropical freshwater ostracod Cytheridella ilosvayi

The Neotropics are considered to represent one of the most biologically diverse areas on Earth. Nonetheless, many species are assumed to have widespread distributions and occur in the entire Neotropical range....

Authors: Claudia Wrozyna, Juliane Meyer, Martin Gross, Maria Ines F. Ramos and Werner E. Piller

Nasal administration of gonadotropin releasing hormone (GnRH) elicits sperm production in Fowler’s toads (Anaxyrus fowleri)

Declining amphibian populations around the world necessitate the establishment of captive assurance colonies as a hedge against extinction. For species that are difficult to breed in captivity, assisted reprod...

Authors: Allison R. Julien, Andrew J. Kouba, David Kabelik, Jean M. Feugang, Scott T. Willard and Carrie K. Kouba

Elevated neopterin levels in wild, healthy chimpanzees indicate constant investment in unspecific immune system

Ecological immunology proposes that the optimal immune defence, and the costs coming with it, vary across environments. In environments with higher pathogen load, the immune system should experience greater ch...

Authors: Verena Behringer, Jeroen M. G. Stevens, Roman M. Wittig, Catherine Crockford, Klaus Zuberbühler, Fabian H. Leendertz and Tobias Deschner

External body temperature and vigilance to a lesser extent track variation in predation risk in domestic fowls

The animal ecology literature proposes the view that predation risk induces fear in prey animals, but it is also possible that behavioral and physiological changes induced by predation risk are not associated ...

Authors: Guy Beauchamp

Structure and function of the musculoskeletal ovipositor system of an ichneumonid wasp

Modifications of the ovipositor appear to have played a prominent role in defining the host range of parasitoid hymenopterans, highlighting an important contributing factor in shaping their oviposition strateg...

Authors: Benjamin Eggs, Annette I. Birkhold, Oliver Röhrle and Oliver Betz

Could prenatal sound discrimination predict vocal complexity later in life?

Greater complexity of the learned vocal repertoire has been shown to increase mating and territory defence success in songbirds. Vocal learning in some songbird species begins in the egg and these songbird emb...

Authors: Sonia Kleindorfer, Christine Evans, Mark E. Hauber and Diane Colombelli-Négrel

Immunosenescence in a captive semelparous marsupial, the red-tailed phascogale (Phascogale calura)

The red-tailed phascogale is a ‘Near Threatened’ dasyurid marsupial. Males are semelparous and die off shortly after the breeding season in the wild due to a stress-related syndrome, which has many physiologic...

Authors: Corinne Letendre, Ethan Sawyer, Lauren J. Young and Julie M. Old

Turbulence exposure recapitulates desperate behavior in late-stage sand dollar larvae

A common life cycle pattern in benthic-dwelling taxa in the ocean is an obligate pre-competent dispersal period of microscopic propagules followed by their entry into a competent period, during which they are cap...

Authors: Jason Hodin, Matthew C. Ferner, Gabriel Ng and Brian Gaylord

Natural selection in bats with historical exposure to white-nose syndrome

Hibernation allows animals to survive periods of resource scarcity by reducing their energy expenditure through decreased metabolism. However, hibernators become susceptible to psychrophilic pathogens if they ...

Authors: Markéta Harazim, Ivan Horáček, Lucie Jakešová, Kristína Luermann, Jiří C. Moravec, Shannon Morgan, Jiri Pikula, Petr Sosík, Zuzana Vavrušová, Alexandra Zahradníková Jr., Jan Zukal and Natália Martínková

Life as a fortress – structure, function, and adaptive values of morphological and chemical defense in the oribatid mite Euphthiracarus reticulatus (Actinotrichida)

Oribatid mites are among the primordial decomposer faunal elements and potential prey organisms in soil. Among their myriad morphological defenses are strong sclerotization and mineralization, cuticular tecta,...

Authors: Michael Heethoff, Adrian Brückner, Sebastian Schmelzle, Mario Schubert, Maria Bräuer, Reinhard Meusinger, Stefan Dötterl, Roy A. Norton and Günther Raspotnig

The future of clay model studies

Many intriguing questions about predator-prey interactions can be addressed by using clay models of prey animals. These are placed in the field to test predators’ avoidances or preferences (testing e.g. color ...

Authors: Daniela C. Rößler, Heike Pröhl and Stefan Lötters

Brain investment under colony-level selection: soldier specialization in Eciton army ants (Formicidae: Dorylinae)

In eusocial animal colonies, individuals from different castes often play divergent behavioral roles and confront distinct cognitive demands. Neuroecology theory predicts variation in cognitive demands will co...

Authors: Sean O’Donnell, Susan Bulova, Meghan Barrett and Christoph von Beeren

Three new species of the fairy shrimp Eubranchipus Verill, 1870 (Branchiopoda: Anostraca) from northern Japan and far Eastern Russia

Small crustaceans in the order Anostraca that lack a carapace are commonly referred to as fairy shrimps. Eubranchipus is an Anostracan genus distributed across the Holarctic region. E. uchidai has been recorded o...

Authors: Norihito Takahashi, Takashi Kitano, Yushi Hatanaka, Yoshiyuki Nagahata, Yu A. Tshistjakov, Masayoshi Hamasaki, Hiraku Moriya, Keiji Igarashi and Kazuo Umetsu

Molecular phylogeny of the Palaearctic butterfly genus Pseudophilotes (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae) with focus on the Sardinian endemic P. barbagiae

The Palaearctic butterfly genus Pseudophilotes Beuret, 1958 (Lycaenidae: Polyommatinae), that today occurs in North Africa and in Eurasia, includes ten described species with various distribution ranges, includin...

Authors: Valentina Todisco, Andrea Grill, Konrad Fiedler, Brigitte Gottsberger, Vlad Dincă, Raluca Vodă, Vladimir Lukhtanov and Harald Letsch

The effects of group versus intensive housing on the retention of genetic diversity in insurance populations

Retention of genetic diversity and demographic sustainability are the cornerstones of conservation breeding success. In theory, monogamous breeding with equal reproductive output will retain genetic diversity ...

Authors: Rebecca M. Gooley, Carolyn J. Hogg, Katherine Belov and Catherine E. Grueber

Low H₂O₂ and enhanced oxidative resistance in the diapause-destined pupa of silkworm, Antheraea mylitta (Lepidoptera:Saturniidae) suggest their possible involvement in dormancy and lifespan extension

Insect diapause is associated with physiological dormancy, extension of life span and an altered developmental programme. Reactive oxygen species, oxidative damaged products and antioxidants are being increasi...

Authors: Alpana Sahoo, Abinash Dutta, Jagneshwar Dandapat and Luna Samanta

Demography of a small, isolated tiger (Panthera tigris tigris) population in a semi-arid region of western India

Tiger populations have declined globally due to poaching, prey depletion, and habitat loss. The westernmost tiger population of Ranthambhore in India is typified by bottlenecks, small size, and isolation; prob...

Authors: Ayan Sadhu, Peter Prem Chakravarthi Jayam, Qamar Qureshi, Raghuvir Singh Shekhawat, Sudarshan Sharma and Yadvendradev Vikramsinh Jhala

Indigenous house mice dominate small mammal communities in northern Afghan military bases

Small mammals are important reservoirs for pathogens in military conflicts and peacekeeping operations all over the world. This study investigates the rodent communities in three military bases in Northern Afg...

Authors: Christoph Gertler, Mathias Schlegel, Miriam Linnenbrink, Rainer Hutterer, Patricia König, Bernhard Ehlers, Kerstin Fischer, René Ryll, Jens Lewitzki, Sabine Sauer, Kathrin Baumann, Angele Breithaupt, Michael Faulde, Jens P. Teifke, Diethard Tautz and Rainer G. Ulrich

High-resolution monitoring from birth to sexual maturity of a male reef manta ray, Mobula alfredi, held in captivity for 7 years: changes in external morphology, behavior, and steroid hormones levels

In this study, we report the first case of a male reef manta ray, Mobula alfredi, becoming sexually mature in captivity and present its reproductive characteristics.

Authors: Ryo Nozu, Kiyomi Murakumo, Rui Matsumoto, Yosuke Matsumoto, Nagisa Yano, Masaru Nakamura, Makio Yanagisawa, Keiichi Ueda and Keiichi Sato

Effects of agrochemicals on disease severity of Acanthostomum burminis infections (Digenea: Trematoda) in the Asian common toad, Duttaphrynus melanostictus

Agrochemicals are widely used in many parts of the world posing direct and indirect threats to organisms. Xenobiotic-related disease susceptibility is a common phenomenon and a proposed cause of amphibian decl...

Authors: Uthpala A. Jayawardena, Jason R. Rohr, Priyanie H. Amerasinghe, Ayanthi N. Navaratne and Rupika S. Rajakaruna

White-nose syndrome fungus, Pseudogymnoascus destructans, on bats captured emerging from caves during winter in the southeastern United States

Emerging infectious diseases in wildlife are an increasing threat to global biodiversity. White-nose syndrome (WNS) in bats is one of the most recently emerged infectious diseases in North America, causing mas...

Authors: Riley F. Bernard, Emma V. Willcox, Katy L. Parise, Jeffrey T. Foster and Gary F. McCracken

Whole mitochondrial genomes provide increased resolution and indicate paraphyly in deer mice

Recent phylogenies of deer mice, genus Peromyscus, have relied heavily on mitochondrial markers. These markers provided resolution at and below the level of species groups, but relationships among species groups ...

Authors: Kevin A. M. Sullivan, Roy N. Platt II, Robert D. Bradley and David A. Ray

Micro-CT imaging of live insects using carbon dioxide gas-induced hypoxia as anesthetic with minimal impact on certain subsequent life history traits

Live imaging of whole invertebrates can be accomplished with X-ray micro-computed tomography (micro-CT) at 10-100 μm spatial resolution. However, image quality could be compromised by the movement of live subj...

Authors: Danny Poinapen, Joanna K. Konopka, Joseph U. Umoh, Chris J. D. Norley, Jeremy N. McNeil and David W. Holdsworth

Shoaling promotes place over response learning but does not facilitate individual learning of that strategy in zebrafish (Danio rerio)

Flexible spatial memory, such as “place” learning, is an important adaptation to assist successful foraging and to avoid predation and is thought to be more adaptive than response learning which requires a con...

Authors: Claire L. McAroe, Cathy M. Craig and Richard A. Holland

Erratum to: Survey of avifauna of the Gharana wetland reserve: implications for conservation in a semi-arid agricultural setting on the Indo-Pakistan border

Authors: Pushpinder S. Jamwal, Pankaj Chandan, Rohit Rattan, Anupam Anand, Prameek M. Kannan and Michael H. Parsons

Survey of avifauna of the Gharana wetland reserve: implications for conservation in a semi-arid agricultural setting on the Indo-Pakistan border

The Gharana wetland conservation reserve (GWCR) is a semi-arid wetland adjacent to agricultural areas on the Indo-Pakistani border. Despite being declared an Important Bird Area (IBA) by Birdlife International...

Authors: Pushpinder S. Jamwal, Pankaj Chandan, Rohit Rattan, Anupam Anand, Prameek M. Kannan and Michael H. Parsons

Rediscovering a forgotten canid species

The African wolf, for which we herein recognise Canis lupaster Hemprich and Ehrenberg, 1832 (Symbolae Physicae quae ex Itinere Africam Borealem er Asoam Occidentalem Decas Secunda. Berlin, 1833) as the valid spec...

Authors: Suvi Viranta, Anagaw Atickem, Lars Werdelin and Nils Chr. Stenseth