The Epidemiological Investigation of , , and Arenavirus Infections in Small Mammals in Northwestern Iran.

The control and prevention of rodent-borne diseases are mainly based on our knowledge of ecology and the infectious status of their reservoir hosts. This study aimed to evaluate the prevalence of , , and arenavirus infections in small mammals and to assess the potential of disease occurrence in East Azerbaijan, northwest of Iran, in 2017 and 2018. Spleen and lung samples were obtained from all trapped small mammals.

Incongruences between morphology and molecular phylogeny provide an insight into the diversification of the Crocidura poensis species complex.

Untangling the factors of morphological evolution has long held a central role in the study of evolutionary biology. Extant speciose clades that have only recently diverged are ideal study subjects, as they allow the examination of rapid morphological variation in a phylogenetic context, providing insights into a clade's evolution. Here, we focus on skull morphological variability in a widely distributed shrew species complex, the Crocidura poensis species complex.

Skull morphological evolution in Malagasy endemic Nesomyinae rodents.

Madagascar is a large island to the south-east of Africa and in many ways continental in size and ecological complexity. Here we aim to define how skull morphology of an endemic and monophyletic clade of rodents (sub-family Nesomyinae), that show considerable morphological variation, have evolved and how their disparity is characterized in context of the geographical and ecological complexity of the island. We performed a two-dimensional geometric morphometric analysis on 370 dorsal and 399 ventral skull images of 19 species (comprising all nine extant endemic genera) and tested the influence of three ecological parameters (climate, locomotor habitat and nychthemeral cycle) in a phylogenetic context on size and shape.

Progressing the aerospace performance factor toward nonlinear interactions.

Evaluation of safety performance remains central to any safety and risk management. Currently, there are very few support tools and methods which allow for quantitative approach in this domain. One of the successful methods available to this end is the Aerospace Performance Factor (APF).

Interrogating Phylogenetic Discordance Resolves Deep Splits in the Rapid Radiation of Old World Fruit Bats (Chiroptera: Pteropodidae).

The family Pteropodidae (Old World fruit bats) comprises $>$200 species distributed across the Old World tropics and subtropics. Most pteropodids feed on fruit, suggesting an early origin of frugivory, although several lineages have shifted to nectar-based diets. Pteropodids are of exceptional conservation concern with $>$50% of species considered threatened, yet the systematics of this group has long been debated, with uncertainty surrounding early splits attributed to an ancient rapid diversification.