- by Sani, A., Abubakar, M. Y., Ahmad, M. M., Batagarawa, U. S., Abdullahi, M. A.Background Malaria and other mosquito-borne diseases remain major public health in Nigeria. Insecticide-based interventions are vital for disease control but their effectiveness is threatened by the limited knowledge of local mosquito species and their resistance to insecticides. Aim The aim of this research is to determine the specie composition and pyrethroid resistance status of mosquitoes in Daura, Maiadua and Sandamu local governments, Katsina state. Materials and Method Mosquito larvae were collected from different locations in the study area between July […]
- by Flores, I. S., Nguyen, V. T., Bae, J. S., Urlaub, A., Gellner, R., Kading, R. C., Romero-Weaver, A. L., Simubali, L., Saili, K., Simulundu, E., Reeves, L. E., Lee, Y.The biodiversity of mosquito taxa beyond Anopheles malaria vectors has been understudied in many parts of Africa. Here, we provide a new species record of mosquitoes from Macha and its surrounding locations in southern Zambia, as well as an updated list of species from the region. With the addition of 19 new species records in this region, the total list of mosquito species reported in Macha is now 46. We present high-resolution focus-stacked photographs of some of these species, many […]
- by Lopez-Alonso, R., Pascual-Parra, E., Labrada, L., Luque, C. G., Cires, E., Arias, A., Gonzalez-Toral, C.Ischyropsalis is a genus of harvestmen inhabiting both terrestrial and caves in central and southern Europe. The accepted number of species is controversial due to feature similarities and their strong sexual dimorphism. The northern part of the Iberian Peninsula harbours 11 accepted taxa, four of which are terrestrial, while the other seven exclusively live in caves. Some of these species have not been included in the only phylogenetic study conducted on this genus, so their taxonomic status has not been […]
- by Medkour, H., Bocci, F., Schneider, N., Serrato-Pomar, I., Rey-Cadilhac, F., Miot, E. F., Saron, W., St. John, A., Maarifi, G., Liu, Y., Misse, D., Nie, Q., Smith, D. R., Nisole, S., Plikus, M., Pompon, J.Cutaneous events determining transmission of mosquito-borne orthoflaviviruses remain largely uncharacterized. Here, we report single-cell RNA-sequencing of skin from immunocompetent mice exposed to West Nile virus-infected mosquitoes, capturing early response at a critical transmission bottleneck. Skin-resident fibroblasts, keratinocytes, and myeloid cells were exposed to infectious saliva. At the bite site, neutrophils and mast cells diminished, while lymphoid cells augmented. Cell-cell communication analysis showed that structural skin cells activate immune signaling targeting myeloid populations, which signal to lymphoid cells. Transcriptional profiling revealed […]
- by Barnett, S., Bull, J. C., Ross, A. N., Wanless, S., Shepard, E. L.Risk is a key currency in animal ecology, yet studies of risk have almost exclusively focused on predation. Accidents, defined as a momentary loss of control, represent another potential source of injury and mortality. Such events are seldom documented and are generally assumed to be vanishingly rare in natural systems. Nonetheless, regular crash-based mortality has been documented in a population of northern gannets through monthly surveys conducted over three years in the 1970s. We revisit these data, using hindcasting, environmental […]
- by Mondal, J. K., Rabbi, M. R. R., Anjum, M., Chowdhury, M. F. S., Ahmed, R., Lamia, A. I., Hossain, M., Miti, A. A., Guala, C., Amin, I., Nobel, F., Rahman, S. C., Roos, C., Ahmed, T.Purpose: The Bengal slow loris (Nycticebus bengalensis) is a globally Endangered nocturnal primate with limited health data across its South and Southeast Asian range. Methods: During necropsies of two deceased individuals from northeastern Bangladesh, numerous live adult pinworms were recovered. Results: Morphological examination combined with mitochondrial cox1 gene sequencing identified the parasites as Lemuricola (Protenterobius) nycticebi. Both hosts exhibited severe gastrointestinal and peritoneal lesions consistent with high-intensity helminth infection. This represents the first confirmed record of L. nycticebi in the […]
- by Pettrich, L. C., Suwanngam, A., Guiglielmoni, N., Ledoux, N., Villegas, L. I., Treonis, A., Stevens, L., Kieninger, M., Paulini, M., Blaxter, M., Waldvogel, A.-M., Holovachov, O., Schiffer, P. H.Identifying nematodes to the species level is known to be complicated due to their morphological plasticity and limited number of taxonomically important characters. This is especially apparent in the genus Panagrolaimus, which comprises many cryptic species that are morphologically difficult to distinguish but differ genetically. These roundworms are particularly notable for their adaptation to extreme environments that are inhospitable to many other forms of life. Traditional morphological identification methods often fail at distinguishing genetically divergent populations due to high morphological […]
- by Wang, C., Ma, H., Wang, X., Hao, Y., Zhu, J., Wang, H., Wang, Y., Gao, X., He, M., Chen, S., Sun, Y.AbstactThe conservation of genetic resources from aquaculture species and endangered fish is increasingly challenged by large body size, long reproductive cycles, and limited opportunities for timely intervention after death. Here, we establish and validate an ultra-fast genetic platform based on germline stem cell transplantation to enable postmortem genetic recovery in fish. Using grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella) as a representative warm-water species, we systematically quantified the relationships among postmortem tissue freshness, germline stem cell viability, and transplantation efficiency, and demonstrated that […]
- by Yen, E. C., Carvajal, G. A., Bazely, J. O., Gilbert, J. D., Taxonera, A., Fairweather, K., Lopes, A., Afonso, I. O., Newlands, D., Bentley, B. P., Correia, S. M., Allen, C. D., Staman, M. K., Sifuentes-Romero, I., Martin-Duran, J. M., Komoroske, L. M., Wyneken, J., Eizaguirre, C.Species with temperature-dependent sex determination (TSD), including all sea turtles which produce females at warmer temperatures, face projections of demographic collapse under climate-driven sex ratio skews. However, the accuracy of such predictions remains uncertain, as current models rely heavily on indirect sex ratio proxies due to the lack of a scalable, non-invasive method for sexing hatchlings. Through whole methylome sequencing, we identified 777 sex-associated DNA methylation markers from blood samples of sex-verified loggerhead turtle (Caretta caretta) hatchlings incubated at three […]
- by Cucchi, T., Hulme-Beaman, A., Orton, D., Peng, L., Li, Z., Yuan, J.Due to its commensal relationship with humans, facilitating its dispersal from its natural range in East Asia, the brown rat (Rattus norvegicus) is now one of the most cosmopolitan and invasive mammals. Brown rats are also vectors of human pathogens and the most commonly used mammalian model (after mice) for biomedical research. Despite their major role in biodiversity loss and medicine, our understanding of a likely origin for their commensal relationship with humans in China still relies on modern population […]
- by Bakai, A., Figarski, T., Grzedzicka, E., Kusal, B., Gorman, G., Cerny, M., Fiserova, A., Vesely, P., Zielinski, P., Smykla, J., Pochłopien, Z., Leso, P., Czajkowski, K., Aleksandrowicz, M., Borowik, M., Bronski, S., Chodkiewicz, T., Janiszewska, A., Kawka, J., Kłonowski, P., Krzyzanowski, M., Kuczmarski, S., Lason, W., Ludova, K., Matysek, M., Mazgaj, S., Miedviedieva, I., Murzyn, B., Niedziołka, M., Puchala, P., Schmidt, A., Sobus, T., Tchon, K., Veszelinov, O., Wehrichova, K., Zhulenko, V., Ziołkowski, T., Zycki, A., Kajtoch, ŁukaszThe Syrian Woodpecker (hereafter SW) expansion into Europe since the end of the 19th century has enabled its hybridisation with the Great spotted Woodpecker (hereafter GW). This phenomenon, however, has generally been considered sporadic. Here, we examined the occurrence of mixed pairs and hybrids based on our own field observations and citizen science data. Interspecific pairs and individuals of SW and GW were found to be generally scarce but occurred in all parts of the area investigated, not only at […]
- by Srivathsan, A., Lee, L., Feng, V., Meier, R.Here we present IntegraTax, a tool for analysing and managing taxonomic projects that combine DNA data with other evidence such as morphology to arrive at integrative species boundaries. IntegraTax visualizes genetic clusters through single-linkage clustering ("Objective Clustering") and provides an interactive browser interface that allows users to record taxonomic decisions regarding species limits. Projects can be saved at any stage, thus allowing continuous tracking of annotations and taxonomic decisions across many sessions. A typical IntegraTax session starts with a set […]
- by Morandi, I., Jaramillo Rodriguez, M. A., Kwak, M., Petruskova, T., Linhart, P.Individual Acoustic Monitoring (IAM), especially when combined with passive acoustic monitoring (PAM), offers a non-invasive alternative to traditional mark-recapture methods to gain insights into species demography. Few studies have examined how identification decreases over distance along with degradation of identity cues. In this study, we conducted a song transmission experiment to quantify the range at which individual Yellowhammers (Emberiza citrinella) can be reliably identified. Songs from ten males (20 songs per individual, covering their full repertoire) were broadcast and re-recorded […]
- by Kunselman, L., Seaver, E.Regeneration abilities vary among species, but they can also vary within individuals depending on factors such as developmental stage, amputation location and nutritional status. Many annelids (segmented worms) have well-documented cases of regeneration variation along the anterior-posterior (AP) body axis. However, mechanistic explanations for the diverse regeneration outcomes at different amputation positions remain unknown. Capitella teleta is an annelid with robust posterior regeneration ability but lacks anterior regeneration, although anterior regeneration ability has not been rigorously assessed at multiple amputation […]
- by Kolics, E., Praphawilai, P., Chuttong, B., Poor, J., Kolics, B.The escalating threat of the ectoparasitic mite Tropilaelaps mercedesae requires novel control strategies for honey bee (Apis mellifera) health4. In this study, we provide the first evidence of the acaricidal efficacy of lithium chloride (LiCl) against this emerging parasite. Ex situ contact bioassays quantified the dose-response relationship, revealing a 12-hour LC50 of 45.9 mM. These results indicate that T. mercedesae is intrinsically more than 3.5 times more sensitive to LiCl than the widespread Varroa destructor. We translated these findings to […]
- by Fernandez-Bejarano, E., Nores Quesada, C., Serrulla Rech, F., Palacios Alberti, B., Martin Otero, J., Gonzalez-Fortes, G., Grandal-d'Anglade, A.The Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx) was historically native to the Iberian Peninsula, as evidenced by scarce paleontological records and sightings across northern Spain, dating from the Last Glacial Maximum until the 17th century. A novel and nearly complete skeleton of a medium-sized felid, morphologically identified as L. lynx, was recently recovered from Sima Topinoria in Picos de Europa (Cantabria, Spain). The present study aims to recover and analyze the full skeletal assemblage, establishing its chronological framework, taxonomic identification, and comparative […]
- by Kloepper, L. N., Fry, R. N., Maliszewski, O., Hahn, R. S., Simmons, J. A., Simmons, A. M.With the rise of accessible recording technology, passive acoustic monitoring can be an affordable and rapid way to assess species richness, even when individual animals cannot be captured due to regulatory or practical obstacles. Motivated by the relative lack of data and in partnership with the local populace, we recorded echolocation calls of freely-flying bats across six locations in rural western Uganda using opportunistic passive acoustic recordings. Frequency-modulated echolocation calls were recorded at all six locations, while constant-frequency calls were […]
- by Cucchi, T., Hays, L.-M., Veneziano, A., Michaud, M., Brassard, C., Arbogast, R.-M., Petrequin, P., Germonpre, M. B., Cregut-Bonnoure, E., Elleboudt, F., Czeibert, K., Garamszegi, L. Z., Kubinyi, E., Kolm, N., Csorgo, T., Joseph, J., Leroy, S., Guintard, C., Fusellier, M., Duchamp, C., Herrel, A., Koungoulos, L. G., Peachey, T. J., Scarsbrook, L., Frantz, L., Madurell-Malapeira, J., Ladeveze, S.The timing and causes of brain size reduction in domestic dogs remain uncertain. Using endocasts volume as a proxy for brain size, this study provides a first insight into long-term brain size evolution in the wolf-dog lineage. We compared endocranial volumes of 185 modern and 22 prehistoric wolves and dogs ranging from Western Europe to Australia, and spanning the Pleniglacial (35 Ky BP) to the Late Neolithic (5 Ky BP). Our results reveal that Pleistocene so called "protodogs" show no […]
- by Kostin, D. S., Martynov, A. A., Cherepanova, E. V., Yihune, M., Wale, M., Pavlickova, B., Bryja, J., Lavrenchenko, L. A.The genus Gerbillus represents an example of the successful Pleistocene radiation among rodents, leading to the emergence of almost 50 currently recognized species inhabiting Asia (from the Middle East to northwest India) and Africa (the Saharo-Sahelian region and eastern Africa). During the last two decades, multiple molecular phylogenetic studies helped to decipher the complex subgeneric structure of this speciose group. However, questions concerning the number of phylogenetic lineages (species) within the genus and their evolutionary relationships remained open, especially because […]
- by Hoitsy, M., Gal, J., Sos, E., Nagy, A., Hornok, S., Keve, G.Parasitic crustaceans represent a significant threat to both freshwater and marine aquaculture, with several families capable of inducing severe diseases with high mortality rates and therefore significant economic losses. Among them, isopods of the genus Braga (Cymothoidae) are haematophagous parasites of neotropical fish, causing anaemia, tissue damage, and mortality. Braga nasuta, endemic to Brazil, has been reported from various hosts, including ornamental species exported worldwide. During routine examination of imported cardinal tetra (Paracheirodon axelrodi, Schultz, 1956), the authors detected that […]
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