The Chalcidoidea bush of life: evolutionary history of a massive radiation of minute wasps.

Chalcidoidea are mostly parasitoid wasps that include as many as 500 000 estimated species. Capturing phylogenetic signal from such a massive radiation can be daunting. Chalcidoidea is an excellent example of a hyperdiverse group that has remained recalcitrant to phylogenetic resolution.

The functional significance of aberrant cervical counts in sloths: insights from automated exhaustive analysis of cervical range of motion.

Besides manatees, the suspensory extant 'tree sloths' are the only mammals that deviate from a cervical count (CC) of seven vertebrae. They do so in opposite directions in the two living genera (increased versus decreased CC). Aberrant CCs seemingly reflect neck mobility in both genera, suggesting adaptive significance for their head position during suspensory locomotion and especially increased ability for neck torsion in three-toed sloths.

Differential proteome profiling of bacterial culture supernatants reveals candidates for the induction of oral immune priming in the red flour beetle.

Most organisms are host to symbionts and pathogens, which led to the evolution of immune strategies to prevent harm. Whilst the immune defences of vertebrates are classically divided into innate and adaptive, insects lack specialized cells involved in adaptive immunity, but have been shown to exhibit immune priming: the enhanced survival upon infection after a first exposure to the same pathogen or pathogen-derived components. An important piece of the puzzle are the pathogen-associated molecules that induce these immune priming responses.

Morphology and ontogeny of carpus and tarsus in stereospondylomorph temnospondyls.

Skeletal development is well known in temnospondyls, the most diverse group of Paleozoic and Mesozoic amphibians. However, the elements of carpus and tarsus (., the mesopodium) were always the last bones to ossify relative to the other limb bones and with regard to the rest of the skeleton, and are preserved only in rare cases.

Small mammal community composition impacts bank vole (Clethrionomys glareolus) population dynamics and associated seroprevalence of Puumala orthohantavirus.

Rodents are important reservoirs for zoonotic pathogens that cause diseases in humans. Biodiversity is hypothesized to be closely related to pathogen prevalence through multiple direct and indirect pathways. For example, the presence of non-host species can reduce contact rates of the main reservoir host and thus reduce the risk of transmission ("dilution effect").

Can Pheromones Contribute to Phylogenetic Hypotheses? A Case Study of Chrysomelidae.

Pheromones mediate species-level communication in the search for mates, nesting, and feeding sites. Although the role of pheromones has long been discussed by various authors, their existence was not proven until the mid-twentieth century when the first sex pheromone was identified. From this finding, much has been speculated about whether this communication mechanism has acted as a regulatory agent in the process of speciation, competition, and sexual selection since it acts as an intraspecific barrier.

Drop dead! Female mate avoidance in an explosively breeding frog.

Males' and females' reproductive strategies may differ, potentially leading to sexual conflict. Increased efforts by males (harassment, forced copulation, intimidation) to gain access to females could even negatively affect female survival and thus lead to reproductive failure for both individuals. In anurans, a higher mortality risk of mating females has been reported in explosive breeding species.

Live-bearing cockroach genome reveals convergent evolutionary mechanisms linked to viviparity in insects and beyond.

Live birth (viviparity) has arisen repeatedly and independently among animals. We sequenced the genome and transcriptome of the viviparous Pacific beetle-mimic cockroach and performed comparative analyses with two other viviparous insect lineages, tsetse flies and aphids, to unravel the basis underlying the transition to viviparity in insects. We identified pathways undergoing adaptive evolution for insects, involved in urogenital remodeling, tracheal system, heart development, and nutrient metabolism.

Estimating plastic pollution in rivers through harmonized monitoring strategies.

Plastics in rivers and lakes have direct local impact, and may also reach the world's oceans. Monitoring river plastic pollution is therefore key to quantify, understand and reduce plastics in all aquatic ecosystems. The lack of harmonization between ongoing monitoring efforts compromises the direct comparison and combination of available data.

Herbicide exposure alters the effect of the enthomopathogen Beauveria bassiana on immune gene expression in mealworm beetles.

Concerns have grown worldwide about the potentially far-reaching effects of herbicides on functional biodiversity in agroecosystems. Repeated applications over time can lead to accumulation of residues in soil, water, and food and may have negative impacts on non-target organisms. However, the effects of herbicide residues on interspecific relationships, such as host-pathogen interactions, are poorly studied.

Homoplasy of Retrotransposon Insertions in Toothed Whales.

Retrotransposon insertion patterns facilitate a virtually homoplasy-free picture of phylogenetic history. Still, a few most likely random parallel insertions or deletions result in rare cases of homoplasy in primates. The following question arises: how frequent is retrotransposon homoplasy in other phylogenetic clades? Here, we derived genome insertion data of toothed whales to evaluate the extension of homoplasy in a representative laurasiatherian group.

Evolution along allometric lines of least resistance: morphological differentiation in Pristurus geckos.

Species living in distinct habitats often experience unique ecological selective pressures, which can drive phenotypic divergence. However, how ecophenotypic patterns are affected by allometric trends and trait integration levels is less well understood. Here we evaluate the role of allometry in shaping body size and body form diversity in Pristurus geckos utilizing differing habitats.

Reed bamboos drive skull shape evolution in bush frogs of the Western Ghats, Peninsular India.

Reed bamboo is a major ecological and economic resource for many animals, including humans. Nonetheless, the influence of this plant's evolutionary role on the morphology of animal species remains unexplored. Here, we investigated the significance of bamboo habitats as ecological opportunities in shaping the skull morphology of bush frogs () from the Western Ghats, Peninsular India.

Global determinants of insect mitochondrial genetic diversity.

Understanding global patterns of genetic diversity is essential for describing, monitoring, and preserving life on Earth. To date, efforts to map macrogenetic patterns have been restricted to vertebrates, which comprise only a small fraction of Earth's biodiversity. Here, we construct a global map of predicted insect mitochondrial genetic diversity from cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 sequences, derived from open data.

A stochastic analysis of the interplay between antibiotic dose, mode of action, and bacterial competition in the evolution of antibiotic resistance.

The use of an antibiotic may lead to the emergence and spread of bacterial strains resistant to this antibiotic. Experimental and theoretical studies have investigated the drug dose that minimizes the risk of resistance evolution over the course of treatment of an individual, showing that the optimal dose will either be the highest or the lowest drug concentration possible to administer; however, no analytical results exist that help decide between these two extremes. To address this gap, we develop a stochastic mathematical model of bacterial dynamics under antibiotic treatment.

Universal DNA methylation age across mammalian tissues.

Aging, often considered a result of random cellular damage, can be accurately estimated using DNA methylation profiles, the foundation of pan-tissue epigenetic clocks. Here, we demonstrate the development of universal pan-mammalian clocks, using 11,754 methylation arrays from our Mammalian Methylation Consortium, which encompass 59 tissue types across 185 mammalian species. These predictive models estimate mammalian tissue age with high accuracy (r > 0.

DNA methylation networks underlying mammalian traits.

Using DNA methylation profiles ( = 15,456) from 348 mammalian species, we constructed phyloepigenetic trees that bear marked similarities to traditional phylogenetic ones. Using unsupervised clustering across all samples, we identified 55 distinct cytosine modules, of which 30 are related to traits such as maximum life span, adult weight, age, sex, and human mortality risk. Maximum life span is associated with methylation levels in subclass homeobox genes and developmental processes and is potentially regulated by pluripotency transcription factors.

A 104-Ma record of deep-sea Atelostomata (Holasterioda, Spatangoida, irregular echinoids) - a story of persistence, food availability and a big bang.

Deep-sea macrobenthic body fossils are scarce due to the lack of deep-sea sedimentary archives in onshore settings. Therefore, hypothesized migrations of shallow shelf taxa into the deep-sea after phases of mass extinction (onshore-offshore pattern in the literature) due to anoxic events is not constrained by the fossil record. To resolve this conundrum, we investigated 1,475 deep-sea sediment samples from the Atlantic, Pacific and Southern oceans (water depth ranging from 200 to 4,700 m), providing 41,460 spine fragments of the crown group Atelostomata (Holasteroida, Spatangoida).

Two new freshwater blennies from the Eastern Mediterranean basin (Teleostei: Blenniidae).

Two new species of Salariopsis are described from the Eastern Mediterranean basin. Salariopsis burcuae, new species, from the Bay of Antalya east to the Jordan, is characterised by having a short cirrus, usually not overlapping the 9th circum-orbital sensory pore, and many tiny black dots on the cheek not organised in rows or bands. The new species shows a 4.

Glyptothorax vatandousti, a new species of torrent catfish from the upper Karkheh drainage in Iran (Teleostei: Sisoridae).

Glyptothorax vatandousti, new species, from the upper Karkheh drainage, a tributary of the Iranian Tigris, is distinguished from its congeners in the Persian Gulf basin by having the flank with a fine, pale-brown mottled pattern overlaid by small and large, blackish or dark-brown blotches, deep caudal-peduncle (its depth 1.1-1.3 times in length), and without, or with a pale-brown triangle-shaped blotch in front of dorsal-fin origin.