A viral agent has been isolated from five fatal cases of naturally occurring inclusion body disease in three different falcon species, namely, the prairie falcon (Falco mexicanus), the red-headed falcon (F. chiquera), and the peregrine falcon (F. peregrinus). The virus has been shown to possess the physical, chemical, and biological properties of a herpesvirus and has been used to reproduce inc...

Sakhalin has been affected by several phases of Cretaceous and Tertiary deformation due to the complex interaction of plates in the northwest Pacific region. A detailed understanding of the strain is important because it will provide constraints on platescale processes that control the formation and deformation of marginal sedimentary basins. Anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility (AMS) data wer...

The Cretaceous Period is considered the archetypical greenhouse interval, yet there mounting evidence for intermittent cooler climatic phases throughout this geologic span. Few continental climate histories exist south of paleoequator, and fewer still Africa during time. Galula Formation one few exposed fossiliferous sedimentary successions from what now subequatorial that also contains paleoso...

Rhynchocephalia, a once diverse clade of lizard-like reptiles, had nearly global distribution during much the Mesozoic. By Late Cretaceous rhynchocephalians underwent marked reduction in their diversity and biogeographic range, with sparse records only deeply nested taxa (e.g., Sphenodontinae) found Upper Cretaceous–Paleocene Patagonia Miocene–Recent New Zealand. Here we describe partial dentar...

Morphological variation in Ephedra (Gnetales) is limited and confusing from an evolutionary perspective, with parallelisms and intraspecific variation. However, recent analyses of molecular data provide a phylogenetic framework for investigations of morphological traits, albeit with few informative characters in the investigated gene regions. We document morphological, anatomical and histologic...

The colossal size and body plan of sauropod dinosaurs are unparalleled in terrestrial vertebrates. However, to date, there have been only limited attempts to examine temporal and phylogenetic patterns in the sauropod bauplan. Here, we combine three-dimensional computational models with phylogenetic reconstructions to quantify the evolution of whole-body shape and body segment properties across ...

for study of systematic and palaeoecology of mid-cretaceous oysters, the basab section, with 380 m thickness, west of kuhbanan, northwest of kerman, was measured and sampled. the section comprises a high diverse fauna (macro and microfossils), such as echinoids, bivalves, oysters, brachiopods, gastropods, corals, ammonites, foraminifers and ostracods. the fossils indicate late aptian- early cen...