Lin, Shou-Wang Lopardo, Lara Uhl, Gabriele
Published in
Frontiers in Zoology
Background Sexual selection has been considered to promote diversification and speciation. Sexually dimorphic species have been used to explore the supposed effect, however, with mixed results. In dwarf spiders (Erigoninae), many species are sexually dimorphic—males possess marked prosomal modifications. These male traits vary from moderate elevati...
Ababaikeri, Buweihailiqiemu Zhang, Yucong Dai, Huiying Shan, Wenjuan
Published in
Frontiers in Zoology
Background The Yarkand hare ( Lepus yarkandensis Günther, 1875) is endemic to oasis and desert areas around the Tarim Basin in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of northwest China; however, genome-wide information for this species remains limited. Moreover, the genetic variation, genetic structure, and phylogenetic relationships of Yarkand hare...
Lin, Feng-Chun Whiting, Martin J. Hsieh, Ming-Ying Shaner, Pei-Jen Lee Lin, Si-Min
Published in
Frontiers in Zoology
Background Quantity discrimination, the ability to discriminate a magnitude of difference or discrete numerical information, plays a key role in animal behavior. While quantitative ability has been well documented in fishes, birds, mammals, and even in previously unstudied invertebrates and amphibians, it is still poorly understood in reptiles and ...
Bernard, Riley F. Willcox, Emma V. Jackson, Reilly T. Brown, Veronica A. McCracken, Gary F.
Published in
Frontiers in Zoology
Temperate bat species use extended torpor to conserve energy when ambient temperatures are low and food resources are scarce. Previous research suggests that migratory bat species and species known to roost in thermally unstable locations, such as those that roost in trees, are more likely to remain active during winter. However, hibernating coloni...
Chirichella, Roberta De Marinis, Anna Maria Pokorny, Boštjan Apollonio, Marco
Published in
Frontiers in Zoology
Background In many mammalian species, once the permanent teeth have erupted, the only change to dentition is a gradual loss of tooth surface/height through wear. The crown of the teeth cannot be repaired once worn. When dental crown tissue has been depleted due to wear, the animal is expected to have a suboptimal body condition. We evaluated the ro...
von Beeren, Christoph Brückner, Adrian Hoenle, Philipp O. Ospina-Jara, Bryan Kronauer, Daniel J. C. Blüthgen, Nico
Published in
Frontiers in Zoology
Background Ant colonies are plagued by a diversity of arthropod guests, which adopt various strategies to avoid or to withstand host attacks. Chemical mimicry of host recognition cues is, for example, a common integration strategy of ant guests. The morphological gestalt and body size of ant guests have long been argued to also affect host hostilit...
Jacobs, Paul Juan Hart, Daniel William Bennett, Nigel Charles
Published in
Frontiers in Zoology
One of the most prominent life-history trade-offs involves the cost of reproduction. Oxidative stress has been proposed to be involved in this trade-off and has been associated with reduced life span. There is currently an unclear relationship between oxidative cost and the reproduction-longevity trade-off. The current study, using a non-lethal and...
Rimskaya-Korsakova, Nadezhda Karaseva, Nadezda Pimenov, Timofei Rapp, Hans Tore Southward, Eve Temereva, Elena Worsaae, Katrine
Published in
Frontiers in Zoology
Background Many annelids, including well-studied species such as Platynereis , show similar structured segments along their body axis (homonomous segmentation). However, numerous annelid species diverge from this pattern and exhibit specialised segments or body regions (heteronomous segmentation). Recent phylogenomic studies and paleontological fin...
Maziarz, Marta Broughton, Richard K. Casacci, Luca Pietro Hebda, Grzegorz Maák, István Trigos-Peral, Gema Witek, Magdalena
Published in
Frontiers in Zoology
Background Interspecific interactions within ecological networks can influence animal fitness and behaviour, including nest-site selection of birds and ants. Previous studies revealed that nesting birds and ants may benefit from cohabitation, with interspecific attraction through their nest-site choice, but mutual interactions have not yet been tes...
Ding, Yuting Chen, Wenli Li, Qianqian Rossiter, Stephen J. Mao, Xiuguang
Published in
Frontiers in Zoology
Background Mitochondrial function involves the interplay between mitochondrial and nuclear genomes. Such mitonuclear interactions can be disrupted by the introgression of mitochondrial DNA between taxa or divergent populations. Previous studies of several model systems (e.g. Drosophila ) indicate that the disruption of mitonuclear interactions, ter...
