We compared body temperature (T(b)) and metabolic rates, measured as oxygen consumption (VO(2)), daily rhythms of two sibling species of the genus Mastomys. We also studied their responses to long day (16L: 8D, LD) and short day (8L: 16D, SD) photoperiod manipulations at a constant ambient temperature of 26+1 degrees C. We noted significant differences in T(b) and VO(2) daily rhythm patterns, u...

Chemical signals are prevalent in sexual communication systems. Mate recognition has been extensively studied within the Lepidoptera, where the production and recognition of species-specific sex pheromone signals are typically the defining character. While the specific blend of compounds that makes up the sex pheromones of many species has been characterized, the molecular mechanisms underpinni...

Recent discoveries of several new, cryptic bat species in Europe, and the growing importance of bat conservation have resulted in an increased research effort to study roost site selection, habitat use and spacing/foraging behaviour of (rare) bat species (Arlettaz, 1999; Mayer and von Helversen, 2001; Mickleburgh et al., 2002; Di Salvo et al., 2009; Whitaker and Karataş, 2009). In fact, before ...

CONTEXT While parental cardiovascular disease (CVD) doubles the risk for CVD in offspring, the extent of increased risk associated with sibling CVD is unclear. OBJECTIVE To determine, using validated events, whether sibling CVD predicts outcome in middle-aged adults independent of other risk factors. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS The Framingham Offspring Study, an inception cohort of th...

The two sibling mouse-eared bats, Myotis myotis and M. blythii, cope with similar orientation tasks, but separate their trophic niche by hunting in species-specific foraging microhabitats. Previous work has shown that both species rely largely on passive listening to detect and glean prey from substrates, and studies on other bat species have suggested that echolocation is ;switched off' during...

Sibling competition is widespread among bird and animal species and sometimes leads to siblicide. By influencing the strategies that siblings employ in their struggles for dominance, birth order affects the outcomes of such contests. In our own species, birth order is a proxy for disparities in age, physical size, and status, all of which contribute to personality. In addition, birth order is r...

The Drosophila melanogaster mutation Hmr rescues inviable hybrid sons from the cross of D. melanogaster females to males of its sibling species D. mauritiana, D. simulans, and D. sechellia. We have extended previous observations that hybrid daughters from this cross are poorly viable at high temperatures and have shown that this female lethality is suppressed by Hmr and the rescue mutations In(...

BACKGROUND Anopheles fluviatilis, one of the major malaria vectors in Iran, is assumed to be a complex of sibling species. The aim of this study was to evaluate Cytochrome oxidase I (COI) gene alongside 28S-D3 as a diagnostic tool for identification of An. fluviatilis sibling species in Iran. METHODS DNA sample belonging to 24 An. fluviatilis mosquitoes from different geographical areas in so...

This study describes the distribution of hobo-hybridizing sequences in the genus Drosophila. Southern blot analysis of 134 species revealed that hobo sequences are limited to the melanogaster and montium subgroups of the melanogaster-species group. Of the hobo-bearing species, only D. melanogaster and two of its sibling species, D. simulans and D. mauritiana, were found to contain potentially c...