Crustaceans, like most mineralized invertebrates, adopted calcium carbonate mineralization for bulk skeleton reinforcement. Here, we show that a major part of the crustacean class Malacostraca (which includes lobsters, crayfishes, prawns and shrimps) shifted toward the formation of calcium phosphate as the main mineral at specified locations of the mandibular teeth. In these structures, calcium...

Gammarus aequicauda is a euryhaline amphipod that is a common inhabitant of brackish environments of the Mediterranean Sea. In the Ebro delta, the population density of G. aequicauda is highly variable throughout the year. The main objective of this study is to investigate the effect of salinity on the growth of G. aequicauda juveniles. G. aequicauda embryos and juveniles can survive and grow i...

A phylogeny of the arthropods was inferred from analyses of amino acid sequences derived from the nuclear genes encoding elongation factor-1 alpha and the largest subunit of RNA polymerase II using maximum-parsimony, neighbor-joining, and maximum-likelihood methods. Analyses of elongation factor-1 alpha from 17 arthropods and 4 outgroup taxa recovered many arthropod clades supported by previous...

> Abstract The circulatory system is one of the major organ systems in Malacostraca. As no consensus on malacostracan phylogeny exists it becomes necessary to evaluate different phylogenetic hypotheses for their impact on circulatory system evolution. Four prevailing hypotheses were therefore used to map different circulatory system characters. The comparison shows that the length of the heart,...

Mitochondrial genomes represent an important data source for phylogenetic analyses. Thirty-seven genes encoding for 13 protein subunits, 2 rRNAs and 22 tRNAs are usually present in a bilaterian mitochondrial genome (Boore, 1999; Wolstenholme, 1992). Additionally, a noncoding control region can be identiWed in most cases, probably bearing the transcription initiation sites. DiVerent rates of evo...

to correct Figs 3 and 4 in the online version, which were darker than intended. The publisher apologizes for the error. Please view this article again to see the corrected figures. open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are c...

Anthropogenic impact on the Kaniv Reservoir has led to a deterioration in quality of life aquatic organisms due eutrophication water by pollution with nutrients. Fish mortality is an indicator ecological disadvantage body. A quantitative and species-based inventory control hydrobionts sleep along coastline 1000 m was made. On July 2, 2016 we discovered about 174 dead individuals among which the...

Arthropods are part of important functional groups in soil food webs. Recognizing these arthropods and understanding their function in the ecosystem as well as when they are active is essential to understanding their roles. In the present work, the abundance and diversity of soil arthropods is examined in olive groves in the northeast region of Portugal during the spring. Five classes of arthro...

Survey on zooplankton composition was studied during June 2015 to March 2016, by selecting six stations along the coastal waters of Bushehr (the Northwest Persian Gulf). Twenty four zooplankton taxa were identified, and the different zooplankton groups represented twenty-one families. Copepoda was recorded with the most abundance (53.30 %) followed by Malacostraca (32.87 %), which in turn was f...