The earliest large carpenter bee () and its adhering pollen (Araliaceae, Theaceae).

The association of pollinators with their host plants is a critical element of ecosystem functioning and one that is usually determined indirectly in the fossil record from specific morphological traits of flowers or putative pollinating animals. The exceptionally fine preservation at Messel, Germany, offers an excellent source of data on pollen from fossil flowers as well as preserved adhering to insects as direct evidence of their association with specific floral lineages. Here, we report on pollen recovered from the body and legs of a large carpenter bee (Apidae: Xylocopinae: Xylocopini) from the Eocene of Messel.

Computational self-assembly of a six-fold chiral quasicrystal.

Quasicrystals are unique materials characterized by long-range order without periodicity. They are observed in systems such as metallic alloys, soft matter, and particle simulations. Unlike periodic crystals, which are invariant under real-space symmetry operations, quasicrystals possess symmetry that requires description by a space group in reciprocal space.

Three new species of the extant genus Eucinetus from mid-Cretaceous amber of northern Myanmar (Coleoptera: Eucinetidae).

Three new species of plate-thigh beetles are described and figured from mid-Cretaceous Kachin amber, all representing the extant genus Eucinetus Germar. The species, Eucinetus debilispinus Li & Cai sp. nov.

A Double-edged Sword: Evolutionary Novelty along Deep-time Diversity Oscillation in An Iconic Group of Predatory Insects (Neuroptera: Mantispoidea).

Evolutionary novelties are commonly identified as drivers of lineage diversification, with key innovations potentially triggering adaptive radiation. Nevertheless, testing hypotheses on the role of evolutionary novelties in promoting diversification through deep time has proven challenging. Here we unravel the role of the raptorial appendages, with evolutionary novelties for predation, in the macroevolution of a predatory insect lineage, the Superfamily Mantispoidea (mantidflies, beaded lacewings, thorny lacewings, and dipteromantispids), based on a new dated phylogeny and quantitative evolutionary analyses on modern and fossil species.

Microvascular Reconstructions in Elderly Patients With Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma - Too Old for Surgical Treatment?

Study Design: Retrospective cohort study.

Objective: A major risk factor for oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is advanced age. Ablative surgery combined with microvascular reconstruction has become routine for OSCC.

Geometric Frustration Directs the Self-assembly of Nanoparticles with Crystallized Ligand Bundles.

Polymer-grafted nanoparticles are versatile building blocks that self-assemble into a diverse range of mesostructures. Coarse-grained molecular simulations have commonly accompanied experiments by resolving structure formation pathways and predicting phase behavior. Past simulations represented nanoparticles as spheres and the ligands as flexible chains of beads, isotropically tethered to the nanoparticles.

Regulatory elements in (7q21.3) locus contribute to genetic control of coronal nonsyndromic craniosynostosis and bone density-related traits.

Purpose: The etiopathogenesis of coronal nonsyndromic craniosynostosis (cNCS), a congenital condition defined by premature fusion of 1 or both coronal sutures, remains largely unknown.

Methods: We conducted the largest genome-wide association study of cNCS followed by replication, fine mapping, and functional validation of the most significant region using zebrafish animal model.

Results: Genome-wide association study identified 6 independent genome-wide-significant risk alleles, 4 on chromosome 7q21.

Preserving surface strain in nanocatalysts via morphology control.

Engineering strain critically affects the properties of materials and has extensive applications in semiconductors and quantum systems. However, the deployment of strain-engineered nanocatalysts faces challenges, in particular in maintaining highly strained nanocrystals under reaction conditions. Here, we introduce a morphology-dependent effect that stabilizes surface strain even under harsh reaction conditions.

Revisiting the four Hexapoda classes: Protura as the sister group to all other hexapods.

Insects represent the most diverse animal group, yet previous phylogenetic analyses based on morphological and molecular data have failed to agree on the evolutionary relationships of early insects and their six-legged relatives (together constituting the clade Hexapoda). In particular, the phylogenetic positions of the three early-diverging hexapod lineages-the coneheads (Protura), springtails (Collembola), and two-pronged bristletails (Diplura)-have been debated for over a century, with alternative topologies implying drastically different scenarios of the evolution of the insect body plan and hexapod terrestrialization. We addressed this issue by sampling all hexapod orders and experimenting with a broad range of across-site compositional heterogeneous models designed to tackle ancient divergences.

A light in the dark: a mid-Cretaceous bioluminescent firefly with specialized antennal sensory organs.

The beetle superfamily Elateroidea comprises the most biodiverse bioluminescent insects among terrestrial light-producing animals. Recent exceptional fossils from the Mesozoic era and phylogenomic studies have provided valuable insights into the origin and evolution of bioluminescence in elateroids. However, due to the fragmentary nature of the fossil record, the early evolution of bioluminescence in fireflies (Lampyridae), one of the most charismatic lineages of insects, remains elusive.

Early Pennsylvanian Lagerstätte reveals a diverse ecosystem on a subhumid, alluvial fan.

Much of what we know about terrestrial life during the Carboniferous Period comes from Middle Pennsylvanian (~315-307 Mya) Coal Measures deposited in low-lying wetland environments. We know relatively little about terrestrial ecosystems from the Early Pennsylvanian, which was a critical interval for the diversification of insects, arachnids, tetrapods, and seed plants. Here we report a diverse Early Pennsylvanian trace and body fossil Lagerstätte (~320-318 Mya) from the Wamsutta Formation of eastern North America, distinct from coal-bearing deposits, preserved in clastic substrates within basin margin conglomerates.

Comparative analysis of 12 water lily plastid genomes reveals genomic divergence and evolutionary relationships in early flowering plants.

Unlabelled: The aquatic plant , a model genus of the early flowering plant lineage Nymphaeales and family Nymphaeaceae, has been extensively studied. However, the availability of chloroplast genome data for this genus is incomplete, and phylogenetic relationships within the order Nymphaeales remain controversial. In this study, 12 chloroplast genomes of were assembled and analyzed for the first time.

Swarming caddisflies in the mid-cretaceous.

Swarming, as a special form of mating aggregation, is most noteworthy in insects of the orders Ephemeroptera, Diptera, and Trichoptera. Swarming in extant trichopterans is well understood in terms of sex composition, specific mating behaviors, and functional morphological specializations of adults, but an exploration of the evolution of such aggregative behaviors is hampered by the dearth of available examples from the fossil record as well as the ability to reliably distinguish the few gatherings as the result of swarming relative to other taphonomic or behavioral factors. Herein we describe five new fossil species of caddisflies preserved in mid-Cretaceous amber from Myanmar, all preserved as large aggregations.

Cretaceous crown male ant reveals the rise of modern lineages.

Most described Mesozoic ants belong to stem groups that existed only during the Cretaceous period. Previously, the earliest known crown ants were dated to the Turonian (Late Cretaceous, ca. 94-90 million years ago (Ma)) deposits found in the USA, Kazakhstan, and Botswana.

Nanocrystal Assemblies: Current Advances and Open Problems.

We explore the potential of nanocrystals (a term used equivalently to nanoparticles) as building blocks for nanomaterials, and the current advances and open challenges for fundamental science developments and applications. Nanocrystal assemblies are inherently multiscale, and the generation of revolutionary material properties requires a precise understanding of the relationship between structure and function, the former being determined by classical effects and the latter often by quantum effects. With an emphasis on theory and computation, we discuss challenges that hamper current assembly strategies and to what extent nanocrystal assemblies represent thermodynamic equilibrium or kinetically trapped metastable states.

Mesomorphology of clathrate hydrates from molecular ordering.

Clathrate hydrates are crystals formed by guest molecules that stabilize cages of hydrogen-bonded water molecules. Whereas thermodynamic equilibrium is well described via the van der Waals and Platteeuw approach, the increasing concerns with global warming and energy transition require extending the knowledge to non-equilibrium conditions in multiphase, sheared systems, in a multiscale framework. Potential macro-applications concern the storage of carbon dioxide in the form of clathrates, and the reduction of hydrate inhibition additives currently required in hydrocarbon production.

Variation of resection margins in oral cancer in dependence of tumor stage and subsite - a retrospective cohort study.

Objectives: Surgical resection is a key component of the treatment of head and neck cancer and the achievement of free surgical margins are essential for the patients' outcome in terms of survival. While there is a general recommendation for a free resection range of 5 mm, up to date, there is a lack of investigations on the quality of tumor resection in dependence of affected subsite and tumor stage. In the presented study, predictors for the achieved resection margins in surgically treated oral squamous cell carcinomas were analyzed.

A new species of from Vietnam and an updated key to species of the genus (Hymenoptera, Apidae).

The rare bee genus Lieftinck, 1974 is recorded for the first time from Vietnam. The genus is represented by a new species, Tran, Engel & Nguyen, , from Cao Bang Province and can be most easily confused with Wu from China. The species is most easily differentiated by the unique form of the male terminalia but can also be distinguished by differences in integumental and setal coloration.