Thermal melanism explains macroevolutionary variation of dorsal pigmentation in Eurasian vipers.

Colouration may endorse thermoregulatory and antipredatory functions in snakes. The thermal melanism hypothesis predicts that dark-coloured individuals are ecologically favoured in cool climates. However, the loss of aposematic and cryptic colourations may imply high predation for melanistic snakes.

First report on MRSA CC398 recovered from wild boars in the north of Portugal. Are we facing a problem?

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the resistance of Staphylococcus aureus recovered from wild boars, to analyze their genetic lineages, and to investigate the susceptibility to oxacillin. Samples from mouth and nose of 45 wild boars (Sus scrofa) were collected during hunt activity from November 2012 to January 2013 in the North of Portugal. S.

Azorean wild rabbits as reservoirs of antimicrobial resistant Escherichia coli.

Antibiotic resistance in bacteria is an increasing problem that is not only constrained to the clinical setting but also to other environments that can lodge antibiotic resistant bacteria and therefore they may serve as reservoirs of genetic determinants of antibiotic resistance. One hundred and thirty-six faecal samples from European wild rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus algirus) were collected on São Jorge Island in Azores Archipelago, and analysed for Escherichia coli isolates. Seventy-seven isolates (56.