Otoacoustic emissions in African mole-rats.

African mole-rats display highly derived hearing that is characterized by low sensitivity and a narrow auditory range restricted to low frequencies < 10 kHz. Recently, it has been suggested that two species of these rodents do not exhibit distortion product otoacoustic emissions (DPOAE), which was interpreted as evidence for a lack of cochlear amplification. If true, this would make them unique among mammals.

First record of the order Polyzoniida from the Indian subcontinent with an integrative description of a new genus (Diplopoda, Colobognatha, Siphonotidae).

Considering the large area of the Indian subcontinent, its known millipede diversity is sparse with only ca. 270 described species in 90 genera, 25 families and 11 orders. So far, not a single polyzoniidan millipede has been described from India.

A previously unknown feeding mode in millipedes and the convergence of fluid feeding across arthropods.

We report fluid feeding with a sucking pump in the arthropod class Diplopoda, using a combination of synchrotron tomography, histology, electron microscopy, and three-dimensional reconstructions. Within the head of nine species of the enigmatic Colobognatha, we found a pumping chamber, which acts as positive displacement pump and is notably similar to that of insects, showing even fine structural convergences. The sucking pump of these millipedes works together with protractible mouthparts and externally secreted saliva for the acquisition of liquid food.

Penetrative and non-penetrative interaction between Laboulbeniales fungi and their arthropod hosts.

Laboulbeniales are a highly specialized group of fungi living only on arthropods. They have high host specificity and spend their entire life-cycle on an arthropod host. Taxonomic characters of Laboulbeniales are based on the architecture of the cells of the parenchymal thallus, i.

Description of the first species of Glomeridesmida from Thailand (Diplopoda, Glomeridesmida, Glomeridesmidae).

With three genera and 35 previously known species from India, SE Asia, Central and South America, Glomeridesmida are one of the least diverse Diplopoda groups. Here we describe , the first species of the order Glomeridesmida from Thailand. The geographically nearest confamiliar species have been described from southern India, Sumatra and Java.

No Tömösváry organ in flat backed millipedes (Diplopoda, Polydesmida).

The Tömösváry organ is a sensory structure of the head in myriapods and some other terrestrial arthropods. Due to its variable shape, size, and position in millipedes (Diplopoda) the Tömösváry organ is commonly used as diagnostic character in taxonomic descriptions and often included in phylogenetic analyses. For the Polydesmida, the largest millipede order, the Tömösváry organ is inconsistently stated as being either absent or present as a pear-shaped pit covered by a membrane or cuticular disc.

Dwarfs under dinosaur legs: a new millipede of the order Callipodida (Diplopoda) from Cretaceous amber of Burma.

The entire Mesozoic Era is rather poor in millipede (class Diplopoda) fossils, with less than a dozen species being taxonomically described. Here, we describe the first fossil millipede of the order Callipodida, , found in early Cenomanian amber of Burma, 98.79±0.

An apparently non-swinging tentorium in the Diplopoda (Myriapoda): comparative morphology of the tentorial complex in giant pill-millipedes (Sphaerotheriida).

The presence of a swinging tentorium is a key apomorphy of Myriapoda, but this character has been studied in detail in only few species. Here the tentorium, i.e.

Photosynthate accumulation in solar-powered sea slugs - starving slugs survive due to accumulated starch reserves.

Background: Solar-powered sea slugs are famed for their ability to survive starvation due to incorporated algal chloroplasts. It is well established that algal-derived carbon can be traced in numerous slug-derived compounds, showing that slugs utilize the photosynthates produced by incorporated plastids. Recently, a new hypothesis suggests that the photosynthates produced are not continuously made available to the slug.