The genus Streptocarpus comprises species with diverse body plans. Caulescent species produce leaves from a conventional shoot apical meristem (SAM), whereas acaulescent species lack a conventional SAM and produce only a single leaf (the unifoliate form) or clusters of leaves from the base of more mature leaves (the rosulate form). These distinct morphologies reflect fundamental differences in ...

The internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region of the nuclear ribosomal repeat unit is the most popular locus for species identification and subgeneric phylogenetic inference in sequence-based mycological research. The region is known to show certain variability even within species, although its intraspecific variability is often held to be limited and clearly separated from interspecific variabi...

According to 5-Myr-old fossil evidence, ground squirrels within the genus Spermophilus had diverged into subgenera Spermophilus and Otospermophilus by late Miocene times. Radiometric dating has also provided a precise time for the sudden onset of a geological event, occurring 0.725 Myr ago, that initiated the complete and permanent reproductive isolation of two subspecies within the subgenus Ot...

Molecular data on Lutzomyia are very scarce, despite the fact that this genus includes all the species involved in the transmission of leishmaniasis in America. We examine the genetic relationships among eight morphologic groups within the Lutzomyia genus and two Brumptomyia species, using nine enzyme loci and the last 285 basepairs of the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene. The structure of the g...

The para-receptacle structure (PRS) was first described in Neoechinorhynchus (Neoechinorhynchus) qatarensis Amin, Saoud, and Alkuwari, 2002 (Neoechinorhynchidae), as a prominent vesicle connected proximally to the anterior body wall and distally to the posterior wall of the proboscis receptacle then extending into the body cavity of males and females as a posterior conduit tube. The PRS has sin...

The genus Lactobacillus contains over 80 recognized species, and is characterized by a high level of diversity, reflected in its complex phylogeny. The authors' recent determination of the genome sequence of Lactobacillus salivarius means that five complete genomes of Lactobacillus species are available for comparative genomics: L. salivarius, L. plantarum, L. acidophilus, L. johnsonii and L. s...

Isolation due to geographical barriers should promote genetic and morphological divergence among populations. Marine currents flowing in opposing directions along landmasses can constitute barriers that isolate populations dependent upon aquatic dispersal. The distribution of fiddler crabs (genus Uca) is regulated primarily by the oceanic transport of their planktonic larvae and by available ad...

Similarity concept, finding the resemblance or classifying some groups of objects and study their common properties has been the interest of many researchers. Basically, in the studies the similarity between two objects or phenomena, 2-similarity in our words, has been discussed. In this paper, we consider the case when the resemblance or similarity among three objects or phenomena of a set, 3-...