Studies of major switches by parasites between highly divergent host lineages are important for understanding new opportunities for parasite diversification. One such major host switch is inferred for avian feather lice (Ischnocera) in the family Goniodidae, which parasitize two distantly-related groups of birds: Galliformes (pheasants, quail, partridges, etc.) and Columbiformes (pigeons and do...

Within Galliformes, megapods (brush turkey, malleefowl, scrubfowl) exhibit unique forms of parental care and growth. Hatchlings receive no post-hatching parental care and exhibit the most exaggerated precocial development of all extant birds, hatching with fully developed, flight-capable forelimbs. Rather than flying up to safety, young birds preferentially employ wing-assisted incline running....

Most of the currently used toxicity assays for environmental chemicals use acute or chronic systemic or reproductive toxicity endpoints rather than neurobehavioral endpoints. In addition, the current standard approaches to assess reproductive toxicity are time-consuming. Therefore, with increasing numbers of chemicals being developed with potentially harmful neurobehavioral effects in higher ve...

introduction: in chick embryo, endodermal component of the liver becomes split into 2 diverticula in a short time. the anterior diverticulum lies to the left of the ductus venosus and the posterior one to its right side. as the liver primordium grows, it is invaded by the embryonic veins. based on the different incubation time periods and evolutionary origin of avian species, various times for ...

Aim Connectivity is vital to the resiliency of populations environmental change and stochastic events, especially for cold-adapted species as Arctic alpine tundra habitats retract climate warms. We examined influence past current landscapes on genomic connectivity in galliformes a critical first step assess vulnerability Alaska ptarmigan grouse change. hypothesize that mosaic physical features ...

The higher level phylogenetic relationships within the avian feather lice (Insecta: Phthiraptera: Ischnocera) are extremely problematic. Here we investigate the relationships of 1 family (Goniodidae), sometimes recognized as distinct within Ischnocera, using parsimony and likelihood analyses of nuclear and mitochondrial DNA sequences. These data support monophyly for a restricted definition of ...

--Dried scleral rings of Opisthocomus, Galliformes, Cuculiformes, and other birds were examined to determine the pattern of ossicle overlap in Opisthocomus and its bearing on the phylogenetic relationships of this taxon. Although Opisthocomus shares a derived number of 12 scleral ossicles with cuculid Cuculiformes, the pattern of ossicle overlap differs. Nevertheless, fewer modifications are re...

We studied polymorphism in all species of birds that are presently known to show intraspecific variation in plumage colour. At least three main mechanisms have been put forward to explain the maintenance of polymorphism: apostatic, disruptive and sexual selection. All of them make partly different predictions. Our aims were to investigate evolutionary causes and adaptive functions of colour pol...