The nematode Angiostrongylus cantonensis is the causative agent of human angiostrongyliasis, the main clinical manifestation of which is eosinophilic meningitis. Although this parasite has been found recently in its definitive rat host in Tenerife (Canary Islands, Spain), showing a widespread distribution over the north-east part of the island, there are no available data regarding which snail ...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Mounting concerns about balancing food security with the environmental impacts of agro-chemical use underpin the need to better understand the mechanisms by which crop plants, particularly during the vulnerable seedling stage, attract or repel herbivores. METHODS The feeding preferences of the mollusc Helix aspersa were determined for several oilseed rape (Brassica napus) ...

Recent phylogenies unite two seemingly very different groups of mollusc: the Polyplacophora with multiple shells and the shell-less Aplacophora. The finding of seven muscle rows in larvae of both classes suggests that polyplacophoran-like shell rows have been lost in adult Aplacophora.

Chemical analysis of the secondary metabolite pattern of the sacoglossan mollusc Elysia cf. expansa, collected along South Indian coasts, showed the presence of the typical Caulerpa-derived sesquiterpene caulerpenyne (1) and two new minor co- occurring metabolites, the compounds dihydrocaulerpenyne (4) and expansinol (5). The chemical characterization of these molecules, structurally related to...

Two complete genomes of starling circovirus (StCV) were recovered from Amphibola crenata, an estuarine New Zealand mollusc. This is the first report of StCV outside Europe. The viral genomes were recovered from rolling circle-amplified enriched circular DNA followed by back-to-back primers and specific primer PCR amplification.

Unlike in most vertebrate neurons, the soma of many arthropod and mollusc neurons is placed at the end of a thin neurite. Multi-compartment computational modelling suggests this strategy may reduce the attenuation of signals from the dendrites, reducing the energy costs of signalling.

The geochemistry of Ba, Ra, Th, and U and the potential of using Ra/Ba ratios as an alternative dating method are explored in modern and Holocene marine mollusc shells. Five modern shells of the Antarctic scallop Adamussium colbecki collected from the present day beach and six radiocarbon dated specimens from Holocene beach terraces of the Ross Sea region (Antarctic) between 700 and 6100 calibr...