Amphipods are commonly parasitized by acanthocephalans and microsporidians and co-infections are found frequently. Both groups of parasites are known to have severe effects on their host. For example, microsporidians can modify host sex ratio and acanthocephalans can manipulate the behavior of the amphipod to promote transmission to the final host. These effects influence host metabolism in gen...

Abstract Associations of insects that live in nests and burrows small mammals are relatively poorly explored. This work therefore tries to expand the knowledge about Diptera communities (Psychodidae Sphaeroceridae) two mammals, namely Micromys minutus (Pallas, 1771) Muscardinus avellanarius (Linnaeus, 1758). In Eurasian harvest mouse psychodid species one sphaerocerid species, while hazel dormo...

A new squat lobster, Uroptychus marissae, is described based upon two specimens taken associated with the antipatharian Tanacetipathes sp. from the northern Gulf of Mexico, at a depth of about 90 m. It closely resembles U. minutus Benedict, 1902, known only from the type material from off Trinidad. The original description is so brief that an opportunity is taken here to redescribe it to help d...

To describe the exceptional mating system of the penduline tit, Remiz pendulinus, we aim to combine field observation records with DNA analysis based on polymorphic microsatellite DNA markers. Here we describe features of nine loci and their corresponding polymerase chain reaction primers. The observed number of alleles varied from four to seven and the observed heterozygosity ranged from 0.419...

The goal of conservation biology should be related to the preservation of species and also to the evolutionary and ecological processes that were responsible to form them and that are still acting. We review the conservation status of the species of tuco-tuco (Ctenomys torquatus, C. lami, C. minutus, and C. flamarioni) from southern Brazil, and relate these data to the geological history of a p...

ed landscape with relatively few native birds. Its original host remains unknown, but unlike many islands, New Zealand had endemic mosquitoes, which could have coevolved with viruses. Another signifi cant disease because of its pandemic potential is avian infl uenza. The normal hosts are waterfowl, shorebirds, and seabirds. Sampling for infl uenza antibodies in Australian seabirds shows variati...

The visual pigments of fish are thought to be adapted to the variable spectral qualities of aquatic light environments. Most research on the role of natural selection on the evolution of rhodopsins and dim-light vision in fish has focused on variation among species and higher taxa. In this issue, Larmuseau et al. reveal substantial intraspecific sequence variation in RH1 (the rhodopsin gene) in...