Abstract This checklist of parasites Kerodon rupestris, an endemic rodent from the Brazilian semiarid region, revealed records 25 enteroparasite taxa comprising Cestoda (Anoplocephalidae), Trematoda, Acanthocephala and Nematoda (Ancylostomidae, Ascarididae, Heterakidae, Oxyuridae, Pharyngodonidae, Trichuridae, Capillariidae, Trichostrongylidae, Strongyloididae), two coccidian. Paleoparasitologi...

Developmental mechanisms can evolve even when the trait they produce does not, and the nematode vulva has become a model organ for detecting such "developmental system drift". A new study reveals what may be the very earliest stages of this process by experimentally modifying key vulval signaling pathways in different species of Caenorhabditis, and carefully quantifying the results.

[This corrects the article on p. 162 in vol. 9, PMID: 26778973.].

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1002034.].

Number of Pratylenchus spp. (primarily P. penetrans) were recorded at planting in experimental potato plots over a 9-year period at one location on Prince Edward Island. Tuber yields of 'Superior' and 'Russet Burbank' potatoes in plots treated with aldicarb were compared with yields in adjacent untreated plots. There was a linear relationship between the number of root lesion nematodes at plant...

The mechanism by which the apoptosome activates caspases during apoptosis has been controversial. Qi et al. (2010) now present a crystal structure of a funnel-shaped octameric apoptosome complex from the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans that challenges currently held assumptions about the human apoptosome structure.

What is it? Major sperm protein, commonly referred to as MSP, is the centerpiece of the motility machinery that propels the crawling movement of nematode sperm. MSP was originally identified in Caenorhabditis elegans, but has since been found in sperm from several other species of nematode. The name derives from the abundance and cellular specificity of the 14 kDa protein: MSP makes up 15–20% o...

Although small nematodes significantly impact human and animal health, agriculture, and ecology, little is known about the role of hydrodynamics in their life cycles. Using the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans as a model undulatory microswimmer, we have observed that animals are attracted to and swim along surfaces. The attraction to surfaces does not require mechanosensory neuron function. In d...

Aging affects nearly all organisms, but how aging evolves is still unclear. The central prediction of classic theory is that high extrinsic mortality leads to accelerated aging and shorter intrinsic life span. However, this prediction considers mortality as a random process, whereas mortality in nature is likely to be condition dependent. Therefore, the novel theory maintains that condition dep...