Integrating evolution into medical education for women's health care practitioners.

Evolution is a fundamental principle in biology; however, it has been neglected in medical education. We argue that an evolutionary perspective is especially important for women's health care providers, as selection will act strongly on reproductive parameters, and the biological costs of female reproduction are generally more resource expensive than for men (e.g.

After 157 years, a second specimen and species of the phylogenetically enigmatic and previously monobasic genus Gemminger & Harold, 1868 (Coleoptera, Carabidae, Nototylini).

The enigmatic beetle tribe Nototylini (Carabidae) is revised and a key to species is provided. Two species from South America are included in the genus. One species, (Schaum), is reviewed and a second, Erwin & Kavanaugh, , is described as new.

Animal bioturbation preserved in Pleistocene magadiite at Lake Magadi, Kenya Rift Valley, and its implications for the depositional environment of bedded magadiite.

Magadiite, a rare hydrous sodium-silicate mineral [NaSiO(OH)·4(HO)], was discovered about 50 years ago in sediments around Lake Magadi, a hypersaline alkaline lake fed by hot springs in the semi-arid southern Kenya Rift Valley. Today this harsh lacustrine environment excludes most organisms except microbial extremophiles, a few invertebrates (mostly insects), highly adapted fish (Alcolapia sp.), and birds including flamingos.

Archaeology, climate, and global change in the Age of Humans.

We live in an age characterized by increasing environmental, social, economic, and political uncertainty. Human societies face significant challenges, ranging from climate change to food security, biodiversity declines and extinction, and political instability. In response, scientists, policy makers, and the general public are seeking new interdisciplinary or transdisciplinary approaches to evaluate and identify meaningful solutions to these global challenges.

Checklist, Bibliography and Quantitative Data of the Arthropods of Hispaniola.

An updated and extensively revised checklist of the arthropods of Hispaniola (Dominican Republic and Haiti) is presented 11 years after the publication of the original in 2008. It integrates and quantifies all the terrestrial and surrounding marine arthropod species (plus those of Tardigrada and Onychophora), reported in the zoological literature for Hispaniola through the middle of 2019.        A total of 9,920 valid species (8,202 extant and 1,718 fossil) are listed, which represents an increase of 1,683 species (1,369 extant and 314 fossil) from the original list.

Testing morphological trait evolution and assessing species delimitations in the grape genus using a phylogenomic framework.

The grape genus (Vitis L.) is of great agronomic importance and represents an economically valuable resource. Researchers have explored the phylogenetic relationships of subgenus Vitis for decades.

Phylogeny and divergence time estimation of the walnut family (Juglandaceae) based on nuclear RAD-Seq and chloroplast genome data.

The walnut family Juglandaceae was widely distributed in the Northern Hemisphere while several extant genera now exhibit intercontinental disjunctions. Recent progress in the systematics of Juglandaceae has greatly broadened our knowledge about its origin and evolution. However, there are still uncertainties about the intergeneric relationships within Juglandaceae, and discrepancies between fossil records and inferred divergence times for certain lineages were observed.

Variable and sexually conflicting selection on Silene stellata floral traits by a putative moth pollinator selective agent.

Conflicting selection is an important evolutionary mechanism because it impedes directional evolution and helps to maintain phenotypic variation. It can arise when mutualistic and antagonistic selective agents exert opposing selection on the same trait and when distinct phenotypic optima are favored by different fitness components. In this study, we test for conflicting selection through different sexual functions of the hermaphroditic plant, Silene stellata during its early and late flowering season.

Global Diversification of Anelosimus Spiders Driven by Long-Distance Overwater Dispersal and Neogene Climate Oscillations.

Vicariance and dispersal events, combined with intricate global climatic history, have left an imprint on the spatiotemporal distribution and diversity of many organisms. Anelosimus cobweb spiders (Theridiidae), are organisms ranging in behavior from solitary to highly social, with a cosmopolitan distribution in temperate to tropical areas. Their evolutionary history and the discontinuous distribution of species richness suggest that 1) long-distance overwater dispersal and 2) climate change during the Neogene (23-2.

Phylogenetic relationships and chloroplast capture in the Amelanchier-Malacomeles-Peraphyllum clade (Maleae, Rosaceae): Evidence from chloroplast genome and nuclear ribosomal DNA data using genome skimming.

The Amelanchier-Malacomeles-Peraphyllum (AMP) clade consists of ca. 26 species distributed in North and Central America, Europe, Asia, and northwestern Africa. While molecular and morphological data strongly support this clade, relationships of its genera are uncertain.

Typification of 23 names in (Maleae, Rosaceae).

As part of a comprehensive systematic study on the genus and its close relatives from the E & SE Asia, new typifications of 23 names are presented here, along with some nomenclatural notes of the names involved. We lectotypified 22 names including accepted names and synonyms. They are: , E.

The origin of animal body plans: a view from fossil evidence and the regulatory genome.

The origins and the early evolution of multicellular animals required the exploitation of holozoan genomic regulatory elements and the acquisition of new regulatory tools. Comparative studies of metazoans and their relatives now allow reconstruction of the evolution of the metazoan regulatory genome, but the deep conservation of many genes has led to varied hypotheses about the morphology of early animals and the extent of developmental co-option. In this Review, I assess the emerging view that the early diversification of animals involved small organisms with diverse cell types, but largely lacking complex developmental patterning, which evolved independently in different bilaterian clades during the Cambrian Explosion.

, a new species from México (Poaceae, Stipeae).

, is described and illustrated. The new species was found growing on calcareous rocky slopes and hillsides between 1700-2721 m in Coahuila, Nuevo León, San Luis Potosí, and Tamaulipas. The new species is morphologically similar to but differs in having ligules (2-) 4.

Termite colonies from mid-Cretaceous Myanmar demonstrate their early eusocial lifestyle in damp wood.

Insect eusociality is characterized by cooperative brood care, reproductive division of labour and multiple generations of adults within a colony. The morphological specializations of the different termite castes from Burmese amber were recently reported, indicating the termites possessed advanced sociality in the mid-Cretaceous. Unfortunately, all the reported Cretaceous termites are individually preserved, which does not cover the behaviours of the cooperative brood care and multiple generations of adults in the nests of the Cretaceous termites.

Climate change and ecosystems: threats, opportunities and solutions.

The rapid anthropogenic climate change that is being experienced in the early twenty-first century is intimately entwined with the health and functioning of the biosphere. Climate change is impacting ecosystems through changes in mean conditions and in climate variability, coupled with other associated changes such as increased ocean acidification and atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations. It also interacts with other pressures on ecosystems, including degradation, defaunation and fragmentation.

How colonial animals evolve.

The evolution of modular colonial animals such as reef corals and bryozoans is enigmatic because of the ability for modules to proliferate asexually as whole colonies reproduce sexually. This reproductive duality creates an evolutionary tension between modules and colonies because selection operates at both levels. To understand how this evolutionary conflict is resolved, we compared the evolutionary potential of module- and colony-level traits in two species of the bryozoan , grown and bred in a common garden experiment.

SURVEY OF CLINICAL OPHTHALMIC DISEASE IN THE GIANT PANDA () AMONG NORTH AMERICAN ZOOLOGICAL INSTITUTIONS.

This study surveyed six North American zoologic institutions to collect retrospective information on the incidence of ocular disease in the giant panda. Reported information included sex and age at presentation, as well as diagnosis, treatment, duration, and clinical outcome for each episode of ocular disease. Among the 42 animals included in the survey, 10 (23.

A new leafmining pest of guava: sp. nov., with comments on the diagnostics of the endemic Neotropical genus van Nieukerken (Lepidoptera, Nepticulidae).

We describe a new pest of guava ( L.), Stonis & Vargas, , that was recently discovered in western Colombia. van Nieukerken is a small, Neotropical genus of pygmy moths (Nepticulidae).

Systematics and relationships of (Melastomataceae), with a second species from the Pakaraima Mountains of Guyana.

The systematics of , herbs endemic to the Pakaraima Mountains of western Guyana, is reviewed and K.Wurdack & Michelang., from the summit of Kamakusa Mountain is described as the second species in the genus.

A new sawfly of Megalodontesidae (Insecta, Hymenoptera, Pamphilioidea) with pectinate antennae from the Early Cretaceous of China.

A new sawfly of Megalodontesidae, , is described from the Lower Cretaceous Yixian Formation of Northeastern China. It is established mainly based on the pectinate antenna comprising 42 flagellomeres and the proximal 28 bearing apical rami, which gradually shorten in length toward the apex of the flagellum. The pterostigma of the forewing is infuscated apically and on the hind wing, vein 1-Rs is nearly equal to 1r-m and slightly shorter than 1-M.

New insects feeding on dinosaur feathers in mid-Cretaceous amber.

Due to a lack of Mesozoic fossil records, the origins and early evolution of feather-feeding behaviors by insects are obscure. Here, we report ten nymph specimens of a new lineage of insect, Mesophthirus engeli gen et. sp.