Bacteria present in natural environments such as soil have evolved multiple strategies to escape predation. We report that natural isolates of Enterobacteriaceae that actively hydrolyze plant-derived aromatic β-glucosides such as salicin, arbutin and esculin, are able to avoid predation by the bacteriovorous amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum and nematodes of multiple genera belonging to the famil...

Bacteria present in natural environments such as soil have evolved multiple strategies to escape predation. We report that natural isolates of Enterobacteriaceae that actively hydrolyze plant-derived aromatic b-glucosides such as salicin, arbutin and esculin, are able to avoid predation by the bacteriovorous amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum and nematodes of multiple genera belonging to the famil...

Rhabditis (Oscheius) pheropsophi n. sp., associated with cadavers of the bombardier beetle, Pheropsophus aequinoctialis, is described from material collected in Brazil. Mean body length of the female is 1,217 mum, of the male 872 mum, and of the dauer juvenile 568 mum. The female has six lips with one papilla on each lateral lip and two on each sublateral lip; stoma wall thickened dorsally, met...

Fossil evidence can reveal a wealth of information regarding entomogenous nematodes. Amber is an excellent medium for the preservation of such fossils because it protects delicate organisms like nematodes, often along with their insect hosts. Such fossils establish a baseline for the appearance and continuation of parasite lineages as well as parasite-host associations. Thus far, fossil records...

Cephalobium magdalensis n. sp. (Rhabditida: Diplogasteridae) found in Magdalena, Buenos Aires, and Cruznema lincolnensis n. sp. (Rhabditida: Rhabditidae) found in Lincoln, Buenos Aires, parasitizing the cricket Gryllodes laplatae (Orthoptera: Gryllidae) are described and illustrated. C. magdalensis n. sp. is characterized by having the excretory pore between the pseudobulb and the basal bulb an...

Mutational bias is a potentially important agent of evolution, but it is difficult to disentangle the effects of mutation from those of natural selection. Mutation-accumulation experiments, in which mutations are allowed to accumulate at very small population size, thus minimizing the efficiency of natural selection, are the best way to separate the effects of mutation from those of selection. ...

石井直 明,鈴 木堅之:東 海大学医学部分子生物学教室 伊勢原市望星台 〒259-11 Nematode/Radiation/Aging The life-shortening effects of ultraviolet light (UV) and X-rays were investigated with a strain of free-living nematode, Rhabditidae tokai . UV exhibited a significant life-shortening effect on adult worms, and it also inhibited growth of larvae , hatching of eggs and reproduc tion. Sensitivity to UV was decreased with increa...

The rapid pace of species discovery outstrips the rate of species description in many taxa. This problem is especially acute for Caenorhabditis nematodes, where the naming of distinct species would greatly improve their visibility and usage for biological research, given the thousands of scientists studying Caenorhabditis. Species description and naming has been hampered in Caenorhabditis, in p...