Ancient oceanic archipelagos of similar geological age are expected to accrue comparable numbers of endemic lineages with identical life history strategies, especially if the islands exhibit analogous habitats. We tested this hypothesis using marine snails of the genus Conus from the Atlantic archipelagos of Cape Verde and Canary Islands. Together with Azores and Madeira, these archipelagos com...

BACKGROUND Commercial available skin prick test with fruits can be negative in sensitized or allergic patients due to a reduction in biological activity during the manufacturing process. Prick-prick tests with fresh foods are often preferred, but they are a non-standardized procedure. The usefulness of freeze-dried extracts of Canary Islands tomatoes, comparing the wheal sizes induced by prick ...

The modern cultivated potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) was fi rst recorded in Europe in the Canary Islands in 1567, but its origin has long been in dispute. Two competing hypotheses have proposed an “Andean” area (somewhere from the Andean uplands from Venezuela to northern Argentina) or a lowland south-central “Chilean” area, but the Andean origin hypothesis is today generally accepted. The ident...

Anatomical and electrophysiological methods were used to map the vocal control nuclei of the budgerigar, Melopsittacus undulatus. Beginning with the motor nucleus of the syrinx, nuclei were located using antidromic stimulation and then injected with horseradish peroxidase (HRP). Retrogradely transported HRP labeled afferents to the injected nucleus. This procedure was repeated at successively h...

BACKGROUND The loss of species during the Holocene was, dramatically more important on islands than on continents. Seabirds from islands are very vulnerable to human-induced alterations such as habitat destruction, hunting and exotic predators. For example, in the genus Puffinus (family Procellariidae) the extinction of at least five species has been recorded during the Holocene, two of them co...

Thirteen species of benthic marine algae are reported new for the isolated mid-Atlantic Azores archipelago and five older records are confirmed. Seven (Bangia atropurpurea, Codium fragile spp. tomentosoides, Ectocarpus fasciculatus, E. siliculosus, Porphyrostromium ciliare, Ulothrix flacca and Ulvaria oxysperma) are widespread amphi-Atlantic species some of which extend in distributional range ...

Molecular phylogenetic analyses of Macaronesian Lotus and related genera were conducted to assess their biogeographic history and taxonomy. Macaronesian Lotus, which are typically classified within one of two subgenera, Lotus subgenus Pedrosia or L. subg. Rhyncholotus, are diagnosed by the presence of a forked or toothed style and differences in corolla morphology. Maximum parsimony and Bayesia...

The geographical and host distributions of Xenopsylla fleas parasitizing murid rodents on the Canary Islands have been reported. Three Xenopsylla species, X. cheopis, X. brasiliensis and X. guancha, have been detected on two rodents species, Mus musculus and Rattus rattus. X. guancha has been the most prevalent species detected, specifically on M. musculus, the most abundant rodent, but it has ...

Diversification between islands and ecological radiation within islands are postulated to have occurred in the Euphorbia species (sect. Aphyllis subsect. Macaronesicae) on the Canary Islands. In this study, the biogeographical pattern of 11 species of subsect. Macaronesicae and the genetic differentiation among five species were investigated to distinguish the potential mode and mechanism of di...