A new horseshoe crab species, Limulus darwini, is described from the uppermost Jurassic (ca. 148 Ma) near-shore sediments of the Kcynia Formation, central Poland. The only extant species Limulus polyphemus (Linnaeus) inhabits brackish-marine, shallow water environments of the east coast of the United States. Here it is shown that there are no important morphological differences between the Kcynia Formation specimens and extant juvenile representatives of the genus Limulus. The palaeoecological setting inhabited by the new species and the trophic relationships of extant horseshoe crabs are discussed in an attempt to determine the potential range of food items ingested by these Mesozoic xiphosurans. In this paper we propose the adoption of a new term stabilomorphism, this being: an effect of a specific formula of adaptative strategy among organisms whose taxonomic status does not exceed genus-level. A high effectiveness of adaptation significantly reduces the need for differentiated phenotypic variants in response to environmental changes and provides for long-term evolutionary success.
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http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0108036 | PLOS |
J Zoo Wildl Med
December 2024
National Aquarium, Baltimore, MD 21202, USA.
Serial health assessment of a managed population of American horseshoe crabs (HSC; ) was performed. Twenty HSC were examined once a month for 7 mon; this included a physical exam with a standardized scoring sheet, HR, morphometrics, and hemolymph evaluation with hemocyte count, copper concentration, and biochemistry panel. The HSC in this population had varying levels of external lesions at enrollment.
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December 2024
South China Sea Fisheries Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Fisheries Sciences, Guangzhou 510300, China; Key Laboratory of South China Sea Fishery Resources Exploitation & Utilization, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of China, Guangzhou 510300, China; Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Fishery Ecology and Environment, Guangzhou 510300, China; Sanya Tropical Fisheries Research Institute, Sanya, Hainan 572019, China. Electronic address:
Mercury (Hg) contamination is a major environmental concern that continuously impacts marine organisms, including the mangrove horseshoe crab (Carcinoscorpius rotundicauda). As a vulnerable species, C. rotundicauda holds significant ecological and evolutionary value, making it particularly susceptible to Hg pollution and deserving of focused conservation efforts.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTalanta
December 2024
Faculty of Life Science and Technology, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming 650500, Yunnan, PR China. Electronic address:
Endotoxins are found in the outer membrane of all gram-negative bacteria and are a primary cause of endotoxemia, organ failure, and significant harm to human health. Limulus reagent as traditional detection method has certain limitations for the rapid and accurate detection of endotoxin due to the high costs associated with the horseshoe crab used in the sensing process. Herein, a fluorometric and colorimetric dual-mode biosensor was prepared for the rapid and sensitive detection of endotoxin.
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November 2024
Department of Microbiology and Parasitology, Faculty of Medical Science, Naresuan University, Phitsanulok, 65000, Thailand.
Fish Shellfish Immunol
January 2025
Key Lab of Freshwater Animal Breeding, Key Laboratory of Agricultural Animal Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction, Ministry of Education, College of Fisheries, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, 430070, China. Electronic address:
Antibacterial peptide (AMP) is a crucial component of the innate immune system in most organism, play an important role in host defense processes. Many of these peptides have broad antimicrobial activity against Gram-negative, -positive bacteria and fungi. In the present study, a novel AMP named CpAMP was identified using transcriptome analysis in Chinese horseshoe crab.
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