A new squat lobster, Uroptychus marissae, is described based upon two specimens taken associated with the antipatharian Tanacetipathes sp. from the northern Gulf of Mexico, at a depth of about 90 m. It closely resembles U. minutus Benedict, 1902, known only from the type material from off Trinidad. The original description is so brief that an opportunity is taken here to redescribe it to help d...

To describe the exceptional mating system of the penduline tit, Remiz pendulinus, we aim to combine field observation records with DNA analysis based on polymorphic microsatellite DNA markers. Here we describe features of nine loci and their corresponding polymerase chain reaction primers. The observed number of alleles varied from four to seven and the observed heterozygosity ranged from 0.419...

The goal of conservation biology should be related to the preservation of species and also to the evolutionary and ecological processes that were responsible to form them and that are still acting. We review the conservation status of the species of tuco-tuco (Ctenomys torquatus, C. lami, C. minutus, and C. flamarioni) from southern Brazil, and relate these data to the geological history of a p...

ed landscape with relatively few native birds. Its original host remains unknown, but unlike many islands, New Zealand had endemic mosquitoes, which could have coevolved with viruses. Another signifi cant disease because of its pandemic potential is avian infl uenza. The normal hosts are waterfowl, shorebirds, and seabirds. Sampling for infl uenza antibodies in Australian seabirds shows variati...

The visual pigments of fish are thought to be adapted to the variable spectral qualities of aquatic light environments. Most research on the role of natural selection on the evolution of rhodopsins and dim-light vision in fish has focused on variation among species and higher taxa. In this issue, Larmuseau et al. reveal substantial intraspecific sequence variation in RH1 (the rhodopsin gene) in...

Characteristics of the cellulolytic system of the anaerobic fungus Piromyces sp. strain E2 with respect to adsorption onto microcrystalline cellulose were examined. Cellulolytic enzymes were separated by gel filtration chromatography into a high-molecular-mass complex with an apparent mass of approximately 1,200 to 1,400 kDa and proteins of lower molecular weights. Adsorption of cellulolytic en...

A mixture of L-(U-14C) amino acids was added to cultures of 11 strains of rumen anaerobic fungi belonging to Neocallimastix frontalis, Neocallimastix joyonii, Sphaeromonas communis and Piromonas communis. Fungi were grown in a complex medium with glucose for 4 days. The radioactivity was found in cellular protein (27.7-65.3% of the total radioactivity recovered), lactate (16.9-41.8%), volatile ...

The degradation and fermentation of cellulose filter paper were studied in axenic cultures of 3 species of rumen anaerobic fungi, Neocallimastix frontalis, Piromyces communis and Caecomyces communis, and in cocultures containing 1 of these fungal strains and Eubacterium limosum, a hydrogenotrophic rumen bacterial species. When E limosum was introduced into fungal cultures a slight decrease in f...