Mutations of the segment polarity group in Drosophila melanogaster produce additional denticles with reversed polarity in every segment of the larval cuticle. We have investigated the effect of mutations in different elements of the bithorax complex on the segmental identity of these additional pattern elements. Our results suggest that they are derived, primarily, from the anterior compartment...

Denticles are small, tooth-like protrusions that are commonly found on the palate of early tetrapods. Despite their widespread taxonomic occurrence and similar external morphology to marginal teeth, it has not been rigorously tested whether denticles are structurally homologous to true teeth with features such as a pulp cavity, dentine, and enamel, or if they are bony, tooth-like protrusions. A...

Although the functional properties of shark skin have been of considerable interest to both biologists and engineers because of the complex hydrodynamic effects of surface roughness, no study to date has successfully fabricated a flexible biomimetic shark skin that allows detailed study of hydrodynamic function. We present the first study of the design, fabrication and hydrodynamic testing of a...

With fascination we read a recent paper in Biology Letters, in which Braddy et al. (2008) report the find of a 46 cm long claw (chelicera) of the pterygote eurypterid Jaekelopterus rhenaniae from the Early Devonian Willwerath Lagerstätte of Germany, the largest claw ever found from arthropods. The authors conclude that this claw belonged to the largest arthropod fossil ever discovered and estim...

Infections by ectoparasitic trichodinid ciliates cause epidermal damages to artificially reared juvenile barfin flounder Verasper moseri of mariculture fisheries in Hokkaido, northern Japan. ​In the present study, morphological observation and molecular phylogenetic analysis using small subunit ribosomal RNA gene (SSU rDNA) were performed identify ciliates. ​Morphological denticles adoral cilia...