Infestation with nonnative, "exotic" lice was first noted in Washington black-tailed deer (Odocoileus hemionus columbianus) in 1994 and has since then spread throughout the western United States. In California, infestation with the exotic louse Damalinia (Cervicola) sp. was first detected in black-tailed deer from northern California in 2004, and, in 2009, the exotic louse species Bovicola tibi...

Discovered in 2008, the site of Malapa has yielded a remarkable assemblage of early hominin remains attributed to the species Australopithecus sediba. The species shows unexpected and unpredicted mosaicism in its anatomy. Several commentators have questioned the specific status of Au. sediba arguing that it does not exceed the variation of Au. africanus. This opinion however, does not take into...

BACKGROUND Asparagus africanus is claimed to have use in reproductive related health problems in some areas of Ethiopia. OBJECTIVE To study the potential antifertility effect of the aqueous and ethanol extracts of the leaves and roots of Asparagus africanus in rats. METHODS Water and ethanol extracts were given by gavages to rats in the in vivo test at a dose of 300 mg/kg of body weight, an...

Water, soil sediment and seafood [crab (Sudananautes africanus africanus), lobster (Palaemon paucidens), African catfish (Clarias gariepinus) and African catfish (Synodontis schall)] samples collected from River Benue (Nigeria) were analysed for sodium (Na), potassium (K), copper (Cu), magnesium (Mg), iron (Fe), calcium (Ca), zinc (Zn), lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd), arsenic (As), selenium (Se), chro...

Earlier reconstructions of the Taung endocast, from the juvenile type specimen for Australopithecus africanus, were achieved without benefit of the advanced computer technology that is available today and before morphological differences were identified that distinguish endocasts of Paranthropus from those of A. africanus. Here, we reconstruct and measure a relatively complete virtual endocast ...

Excellent growth responses were achieved by treating a sugarcane plant crop with the following nematicides: Di-Trapex, EDB, aldicarb, a combination treatment of EDB and aldicarb and a combination treatment of soil and foliar applied oxamyl. Fairly satisfactory responses were obtained when using oxamyl as a foliar spray only, and as a soil treatment only, and as a foliar treatment in combination...

We report on the paleopathological analysis of the partial skeleton of the late Pliocene hominin species Australopithecus africanus Stw 431 from Sterkfontein, South Africa. A previous study noted the presence of lesions on vertebral bodies diagnosed as spondylosis deformans due to trauma. Instead, we suggest that these lesions are pathological changes due to the initial phases of an infectious ...

Complete, articulated crinoids from the Ordovician peri-Gondwanan margin are rare. Here, we describe a new species, Iocrinus africanus sp. nov., from the Darriwilian-age Taddrist Formation of Morocco.The anatomy of this species was studied using a combination of traditional palaeontological methods and non-destructive X-ray micro-tomography (microCT). This revealed critical features of the colu...

A study on the bioremediation potentials of the earthworm Hyperiodrilus africanus (Beddard) in soil contaminated with crude oil was investigated. Dried and sieved soils were contaminated with 5 ml each of crude oil with replicates and inoculated with earthworms and monitored daily for 12 weeks. Physicochemical parameters such as pH, total organic carbon, sulfate, nitrate, phosphate, sodium, pot...

Numerous studies suggest that the transition from Australopithecus to Homo was characterized by evolutionary innovation, resulting in the emergence and coexistence of a diversity of forms. However, the evolutionary processes necessary to drive such a transition have not been examined. Here, we apply statistical tests developed from quantitative evolutionary theory to assess whether morphologica...