Lophotidae, or crestfishes, is a family of rare deep-sea teleosts characterised by an enlarged horn-like crest on the forehead. They are poorly represented in the fossil record, by only three described taxa. One specimen attributed to Lophotidae has been described from the pelagic fauna of the middle-late Eocene Zagros Basin, Iran. Originally considered as a specimen of the fossil lophotid †Pro...

M ore than 7,000 years ago, when grapes and yeast joined forces for the first time to lift the spirit of humankind, the ancients imbibed with joy, unknowingly celebrating the beginnings of one of the world’s oldest biotechnological processes. The first “magical” juice came from spontaneously fermented grapes cultivated in the Zagros Mountains of Ancient Persia and the Caucasus Mountain Range be...

Shakeri, Z., K. Mohammadi-Samani, E. Bergmeier, and T. Plieninger. 2021. Spiritual values shape taxonomic diversity, vegetation composition, conservation status in woodlands of the Northern Zagros, Iran. Ecology Society 26(1):30. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-12290-260130