A study on the parasitofauna of 7 species of Iraqi reptiles revealed the presence of at least 8 adult helminth species and some tentatively identified larvae. The reptiles were Hemidactylus flaviviridis, H. persicus, Asaccus elisae, Spalerosophis d. cliffordi, Testudo g. terrestris, Mauremys c. caspica and Trionyx euphraticus. The helminths found comprised 1 species of digenetic trematodes (Tel...

Five new species of Berlandina Dalmas, 1922 are described from Mongolia: B. koponeni sp. n. (♂), B. mishenini sp. n. (♂), B. nakonechnyi sp. n. (♂), B. ovtsharenkoi sp. n. (♂♀) and B. yakovlevi sp. n. (♂♀). Nine other species occurring in Mongolia and adjacent Russia, China and Kazakhstan are illustrated: B. caspica Ponomarev, 1979; B. hui Song, Zhu & Zhang, 2004; B. nabozhenkoi Ponomarev& Tsve...

Laboratory and field experiments were performed to assess the ecological roles of natural products produced by the Brazilian red seaweed Laurencia obtusa. Laboratory assays revealed that the natural concentration of the crude organic extract of L. obtusa significantly inhibited feeding by two herbivores: the crab Pachygrapsus transversus and the sea urchin Lytechinus variegatus. It was verified...

There are many examples of cryptic species that have been identified through DNA-barcoding or other genetic techniques. There are, however, very few confirmations of cryptic species being reproductively isolated. This study presents one of the few cases of cryptic species that has been confirmed to be reproductively isolated and therefore true species according to the biological species concept...

Nonea Medik. is a genus of the Boraginaceae tribe Boragineae, with approximately 35 species worldwide. Examination of their palynological characters supported the separation of taxa, which is usually based on morphological and micromorphological reproductive features. Pollen grains of 10 taxa representing three groups of taxa in Iran, the N. caspica group, the N. persica group and the N. lutea ...