Bradykinin and (Thr(6))-bradykinin have been identified in the defensive skin secretion of the fire-bellied toad, Bombina orientalis. The homologous cDNAs for both peptides were cloned from a skin library using a 3'- and 5'-RACE strategy. Kininogen-1 (BOK-1) contained an open-reading frame of 167 amino acid residues encoding four repeats of bradykinin, and kininogen-2 (BOK-2) contained an open-...

A new species of fire-bellied newt, Cynops fudingensis, is described from northeastern Fujian Province, southeastern China. This species forms a well-supported clade with C. orientalis and C. orphicus based on molecular phylogenetic analysis of nucleotide sequences from mitochondrial DNA subunit two of NADH dehydrogenase and its two flanking tRNAs. Further, its genetic distance to each of the t...

The yellow-bellied marmot spends approximately 80% of its life in a burrow. Burrows provide protection from the rigors of the environment, predators and other marmots. They provide a hibernaculum in winter and may function as a nursery in summer. Selection of a burrow site is therefore an important aspect in the biology of marmots. Measurements were made on direction of exposure, angle of slope...

Three new species of the ischnoceran louse genus Emersoniella (Phthiraptera) are described from four species of New Guinean kingfishers and kookaburras (Coraciiformes: Alcedinidae: Halcyoninae). They are: Emersoniella crassicarina n. sp. ex Dacelo gaudichaud Quoy & Gaimard (rufous-bellied kookaburra) and Dacelo leachii intermedia Salvadori (blue-winged kookaburra); E. reninoda n. sp. ex Melidor...

We have compiled the reverse mutation rate data to the white bellied agouti (Aw) allele in heterozygous A/a mice and shown it to be increased by a factor of at least 350 in comparison to the reverse mutation rate in homozygous a/a mice. Employing tightly linked flanking restriction fragment length polymorphism DNA markers, we have shown that reversion to Aw is associated with crossing over in t...