The origin of the German cockroach, , is enigmatic, in part because it is ubiquitous worldwide in human-built structures but absent from any natural habitats. The first historical records of this species are from ca. 250 years ago (ya) from central Europe (hence its name).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPheasants are an important group of birds, valued for their economic benefit as poultry birds, game birds, and as ornamental species for their plumage. Lady Amherst's pheasant Chrysolophus amherstiae is an ornamental species, valued for its elaborate and beautiful plumage. In this study, we present a high-quality de novo hybrid genome assembly of C.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe advent of next generation sequencing technologies (NGS) has greatly accelerated our understanding of critical aspects of organismal biology from non-model organisms. Bats form a particularly interesting group in this regard, as genomic data have helped unearth a vast spectrum of idiosyncrasies in bat genomes associated with bat biology, physiology, and evolution. Bats are important bioindicators and are keystone species to many eco-systems.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBats are reservoirs for several zoonotic pathogens, including filoviruses. Recent work highlights the diversity of bat borne filoviruses in Asia. High risk activities at the bat-human interface pose the threat of zoonotic virus transmission.
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