Two sibling species, Metellina orientalis (Spassky, 1932) and M. kirgisica (Bakhvalov, 1974), occurring in the Middle East and Central Asia are redescribed and their distributions mapped. The previously unknown male of M. kirgisica is described for the first time. Stridulatory files on male chelicera of Metellina are also documented for the first time. The occurrence of M. kirgisica in Azerbaij...

Hyla versicolor, a tetraploid treefrog, is reported to have originated via multiple hybridization events involving three diploid ancestors. Its complex reticulate history provides insights into the roles that polyploidy and hybridization can play in the origin of species.

The aim of this study was to explore the volatile compounds of hind leg, foreleg, abdomen and Longissimus dorsi in both male and female Hyla rabbit meat by solid phase microextraction tandem with gas chromatography mass spectrometry, and to seek out the key odorants via calculating the odor activity value and principal component analysis. Cluster analysis is used to study the flavor pattern dif...

Ecnomiohyla tuberculosa is an Amazonian hylid of uncertain phylogenetic position. Herein DNA sequences of mitochondrial and nuclear genes are used to determine its phylogenetic relationships. New sequences and external morphology of Trachycephalus typhonius are also analyzed to assess the status of Ecuadorian and Peruvian populations. The phylogeny shows unequivocally that Ecnomiohyla tuberculo...

In recent decades, the field of historical biogeography has become increasingly divorced from evolutionary biology, ecology, and studies of species richness. In this paper, we explore the evolutionary causes of patterns of biogeography and species richness in Northern Hemisphere treefrogs, combining phylogenetics, ancestral area reconstruction, molecular dating methods, and ecological niche mod...

In ?How do Embryos Assess Risk? Vibrational Cues in Predator-Induced Hatching of RedEyed Treefrogs? (2005), Karen Warkentin reported on experiments she conducted to see how red-eyed treefrog embryos, Agalychnis callidryas [5], can distinguish between vibrations due to predator attacks and other environmental occurrences, such as storms. Though the ability of red-eyed treefrogs to alter their ha...

Models currently used to estimate patterns of species co-occurrence while accounting for errors in detection of species can be difficult to fit when the effects of covariates on species occurrence probabilities are included. The source of the estimation problems is the particular parameterization used to specify species co-occurrence probability. We develop a new parameterization for estimating...

The flattop mountains (tepuis) of South America are ancient remnants of the Precambrian Guiana Shield plateau. The tepui summits, isolated by their surrounding cliffs that can be up to 1000 m tall, are thought of as "islands in the sky," harboring relict flora and fauna that underwent vicariant speciation due to plateau fragmentation. High endemicity atop tepui summits support the idea of an an...

In the present study, the new biological sources in the form of lichen Usnea orientalis Motyka was screened for its antidermatophytic potential. Six species of dermatophytes were chosen on the basis of their prevalence for antidermatophytic assays, and the Clinical Laboratory Standard Institute (CLSI)-recommended broth microdilution procedure was used to detect the efficacy of extract against d...

The purpose of this paper is to compare major models for height estimation of Picea orientalis L trees based on the individual tree diameter and certain other stand variables. The data were collected from 440 trees of pure and even-aged P. orientalis stands that are located near Artvin in the northeastern part of Turkey. The data from 406 trees were used for model development and the remaining ...